IDI theorists, how do you explain Patsy's staying on the couch?

[gumshoe1]

When John found JonBenet's dead body and carried JonBenet upstairs, John and Fleet White were screaming that they found JonBenet. Fleet was screaming that someone should call an ambulance. Everyone in the room with Patsy heard that JonBenet was found and went running to check on JonBenet except Patsy. If IDI , JonBenet could have still been alive for all Patsy knew, yet Patsy just kept sitting on the couch instead of running to check on JonBenet like everyone else did. Patsy hesitated.

If IDI, it should have taken a team of wild horses to keep Patsy from immediately checking on JonBenet when JonBenet was found.

If IDI, why the heck did Patsy just keep sitting on the couch for a few minutes after Patsy knew JonBenet was found?

The answer is that Patsy did not immediately run to check on JonBenet like everyone else did because Patsy knew JonBenet was already dead because RDI.

 

[Lebowski]

strongly agree.

IMO, you do have to put an asterisk next to any psychology-based inference, because people are weird and complicated, and arguments of the form "this is how the person should have acted" are unreliable. but in this situation it seems like a near-certainty. a parent who's spent the morning thinking her daughter was kidnapped suddenly learns she's not kidnapped and has been in the house all along and HERE SHE IS. like you said, it should have taken a team of wild horses to hold her back. hell, some of the moms i know would have even shoved dad out of the way. yes, the daughter was dead, but she couldn't have known that yet. not from another room. even JR, who'd found her and carried her body up, wasn't sure yet. (only det. arndt realized it immediately, afaict.) everyone else ran in. there was yelling and excitement. yet PR sits.

someone might also imagine she was tired or still weak from cancer/chemo/etc., but i don't buy it. sure, it had been an emotionally exhausting morning, but i think the adrenaline would trump that. after all, the thing that had been draining you was worrying about whether your daughter would be ok, and now you're about to get the answer to that... right? and you did get a full night's rest... right? ... as far as health, cancer was in remission and it had been a year or two since chemo. it's not like she was disabled. AIUI, she had been active, and did not need help walking when she was at the party, etc. ... i speculate the "needing help" to walk over to see JBR's body was BS theatrics she made up on the spot, when she realized her lack of a reaction may have looked suspicious.

 

[gumshoe1]

I don't understand why Patsy's remaining on the couch when Patsy knew that JBR's body was found gets so little attention. It seems VERY damning to me.

 

[Lebowski]

yeah. i wonder if she was ever asked about it.

 

[Lebowski]

and then she did the ridiculous thing where she called out for jesus to resurrect her like lazarus

edit: no offense to people of faith, but COME ON

 

[gumshoe1]

The IDI theorists are ignoring this thread.

 

[Lebowski]

before we lean too hard on it, it might be worthwhile to track down exactly where we get this information from? sorry to toss that out there and then disappear, but i have work to do that i'm avoiding, lol.

 

[887sMtreme]

and then she did the ridiculous thing where she called out for jesus to resurrect her like lazarus

edit: no offense to people of faith, but COME ON

I never bought that. If she had just learned that her child was dead, there would have been some processing time between that shock and the Lazarus idea.

 

[Lebowski]

trying to trace this information to the best possible sources

LA notes, pages 12-13:
LA is in the den. at 13:05 she hears a shout and sees *redacted* (FW?) run from the basement door into the den. he dials a couple numbers on the phone and then hangs up and says someone should call an ambulance. LA goes to the basement door, sees JR bringing up JBR, tells him to set her down. she looks at JBR, checks for vitals. after she tells JR JBR is dead, he tells her to go to the den "where the other persons in the house were congregated", and to go to PR. so PR isn't there in the hall. JR goes, LA moves the body into the living room. LA then hears a loud moan and wail from the den. then 1 or 2 minutes later, JR comes back, throws the blanket over JBR's body, spends time on the floor saying his goodbyes, and only then does PR enter the room, with people helping her walk.

-----

so LA's notes do make it clear that a good minute or two of commotion happens before JR goes to PR and PR wails, and then another minute or two before she shows up. (not clear from LA's notes whether a bunch of people rushed in as i'd been picturing or it was just LA who immediately approached JR and JBR's body. if anything, she seems to say most of the crowd stayed in the den)

now, as a parent who's thankfully never had to deal with that moment of unimaginable shock and grief, i am willing to buy the weakness and delay after she gets the news. what i have trouble with is the minute or two before JR goes to her, where she apparently doesn't leave the den. FW (?) has already run in, did the abortive phone call, run back toward the basement door, and yelled to call an ambulance. obviously something is happening. even if FW (?) doesn't spell it out clearly, i think the people in the den should be able to see JBR, JR, and LA from where they are ... right? and that is the direction FW (?) came from and returned to, so they would have looked that way. and JR has not yet brought the news to PR that JBR is dead, which even JR wasn't sure of after holding her body, so JBR might just be unconscious for all PR knows.