Perhaps your sophistication in knots and tie-ing methods makes it seem like a simple matter. But would a "civilian" knotter really know about sequential knotting and looping to adjust rope lengths - and if that's what she was doing was she also measuring lengths from bed to balcony to rail to ground, and then re-sliding the loops for adjustment? At the least she would have to have more than an arbitrary acquaintance with knotting techniques, or she just got lucky. To ensure a proper hold, an unsophisticated knotter it would seem to me would multiply over-tie and make a real tangle of knots if they didn't know what they were doing but wanted to make sure. This knotting on the bedpost looks more well-planned and orderly than that. So the question would be: did Rebecca have a basic acquaintance with knotting techniques. The folks to ask would be the family. It sounds like LE was perhaps not including them very much in the investigation, rather going on their own hunches and assumptions and discarding questions that went contrary to their strongly held theses (LE offered no knotting analysis at their presentation btw). I don't know for sure that the Zahau's were left out, but the quotes in the papers make Rebecca's sister sound like she felt brushed aside. I agree that the Zahau's should have had their own representation during the autopsy and investigation. It sounds like the head guy from San Diego went to them at the beginning and assured them no stone would go unturned and they believed him, and remained passive. Not the best move, looking back.
