It was John who told the story about helping Burke with a toy in order to get him to bed quicker, and that was John's story not Burke's. Burke very specifically told Dr. Phil that he snuck downstairs after being put to bed, and after (he thought) everyone else had gone to bed in order to put together a toy that he was obsessed with. He never mentions John.
Actually, he didn't. If you rewatch the interview, what Burke says he remembers is being downstairs alone with his toy, matching John's account. The bits about sneaking downstairs comes from Dr Phil.
John's first story about what occurred when they arrived home, as told to 3 separate police personnel was that he read to the kids in the solarium before going to bed. This story changed after they lawyered up to the one where JonBenet is "zonked" and never woke up. This story was only told months after the murder. Susan Stine told police she saw the whole family, intact and bubbly about the upcoming trips when they dropped off presents before heading home. The Stine's house was less than a two minute drive from the Ramseys. Burke has also said that she was awake and walked upstairs by herself with Patsy following behind. And we know she ingested pineapple within a short period of time before her death. She was awake.
Three officers? I know of French (which I regard as the actual source for the rest) and Arndt in her late, error-riddled report. There's no reason in my mind to think this comes from anyone other than French. And it's an easy mistake to make, John saying he put the children to bed then read for a while, and French interpreting it as "read to the children" (or just JonBenet per Armdt).
Because here's the thing - in each scenario, JonBenet goes straight to bed, awake or asleep. People lie for reasons, and here there's no reason to lie and change the story since the outcome is functionally the same.
(And the Stines and Burke may remember wrong, though I wouldn't trust Thomas on what Burke said in that interview - he also said Burke claimed JonBenet wetting the bed was a big problem, yet when footage emerged it turned out Burke had said the opposite)
The dark colored animal fur was thought to have come from either or both a jacket and boots that Patsy had that were lined with beaver fur. She refused to hand those over to the PD for examination and testing. The dark cotton fibers it was determined may have come from a shirt of John's that he was wearing that night.
The police believed she had fur boots that they didn't find. Yet they checked every single closet for hairs and fibers and could never match anything to those hairs. Plus, why hide the boots and hand over the jacket (with the red fibers) and John's shirt, if they were guilty and had worn those? And the sole source for the black fibers being from John's shirt is from the 2000 interviews (contradicting Schiller, but LE is allowed to lie in interviews).
Even if that is accepted, it still means that the Beaver fur and the brown cotton fibers are unsourced.
Fibers consistent with things found in the basement were found on the floor where JonBenet's bedroom was. It is possible that the blow to the head occurred there and then she was carried downstairs where the green garland could have made contact with her hair.
Actually, that would make more likely that someone who had been in the basement came up to the second floor to carry her down.
The DNA evidence in this case is not at all conclusive. After retesting the underwear and finding a small amount of unidentified touch DNA (unknown male profile 1), Mary Lacy sent the long johns off to be tested too.
That there was an unknown male profile mixed with her blood was clear since first years, and by 2003 they had enough identified alleles to have it entered into CODIS.
There was a mixture of DNA found, the major contributor of which was JonBenet. There was a partial profile of possibly two other contributors aside from JonBenet. Unknown male profile 1 could neither be excluded or concluded as being a contributor.
That is incorrect. From one spot on the waistband UM1 "
cannot be excluded". The other spot says UM1 "
cannot be excluded or included". So on the first case we essentially have an identification. And while there are too few alleles identified in the second spot,
what we see is consistent with
UM1. The additional contributor represents two faint alleles (which weren't present in the UM1 sample) neither belonging to JonBenet or UM1, but this is common in touch DNA testing.
There was no single source profile found. The sample on the underwear could not be determined as saliva or sweat as it was compromised by the amount of urine that was present. It is a misstatement to say that there were two separate sources of DNA confirmed to have come from the same contributor, that has not been proven at all.
Amylase was found in the foreign stain swab of the underwear. That indicates saliva but could be another body fluid. Either way, it's not touch DNA.
We know that JonBenet was not wearing the same articles of clothing when her body was found that she was wearing when put to bed according to the Ramseys claim.
The Ramsey's say they put her to bed in the top she wore at the Whites and exchanged her pants for a pair of longjohns. Those are the clothes she was found in. The sole disagreement is the French report which doesn't make sense. Why would they exchange her top for a red turtleneck when putting her to bed. Again, it's easy to see where French got confused given that the turtleneck is what she was originally supposed to wear at the Whites.
We also know from the coroner's report that she was wiped down with something.
Yes. And then the same urine soaked underwear and longjohns she wore when killed were pulled up again.
Patsy's comments about the size 12 underwear are confusing and suspect. She stated she had bought them as a present for her niece, but JonBenet wanted them even though she already had the same underwear in her size. Supposedly the size 12 underwear, brand new and fresh from the package were in JonBenet's drawer in her bedroom rather than wrapped and in the basement. The rest of the package with the other days was never found. If that's what she was wearing initially, which I doubt Patsy would have dressed her in to begin with knowing that it was highly likely that JonBenet would ask someone at the party to wipe her after going to the bathroom, where were the rest of the underwear? They were nowhere to be found.
I wonder how well they looked. And JonBenet dressed herself that day, going against what Patsy wanted her to wear.
Some of the items used in the crime could very easily have been disposed of before police came on the scene, and it makes perfect sense that they would be disposed of.
Why, when they didn't dispose of the other objects that were used, like pen, pad and paintbrush? Duct tape and cord are things any household could have, why remove the source? Especially when the potentially incriminating bits - i.e. those used in the crime - were left behind.
Patsy had made purchases at a local hardware store that matched the pricing and location in the store of the tape and other items.
Which was ridiculously generic prices and still doesn't explain why none of the tape and cord were used in the house.
The stun gun theory doesn't hold water. The marks do not match any stun gun in existence at that time, and using a stun gun does not result in the effect many have tried to claim. At the time they were not mainstream other than for law enforcement. They were loud and resulted in those who were stunned or tased to loudly express pain and discomfort. It's highly likely the firing of the stun gun and JonBenet's reaction would have been heard.
As per Schiller, Lou Smit found stun guns that matched the markings as well as a local store that sold them to the public. Michael Doberson, a coroner who had conducted extensive testing with stun guns for a recent case, agreed that it was likely a stun gun, as did another coroner who had worked on a similar case.
Kolar (I believe that is where the notion comes from) may not have found a stun gun that matched, but since I've seen one myself, I'm going with Smit. And Kolar's train track theory certainly doesn't hold up.
It seems a little odd that this mysterious intruder would bring a stun gun in order to kidnap his victim, but not think to bring a pre-written concise ransom note. And then decide to SA his victim in the house instead of or before actually kidnapping her, then kill her and still leave the War and Peace of ransom notes. None of that makes any sense.
The presumption is that kidnapping was the plan. I don't believe that. The ransom note was an afterthought, he came in to assault and kill JonBenet.
Remaining in the house for as long as what is being attributed to this person having done there also makes no sense. His or her movements within the house could have been noticed by neighbors, he or she could have been discovered by a family member at any given moment.
There was of course risk involved, but the other side of risk is thrill. And if someone in the house had woken up and confronted him? The likeliest murder weapon (for the head bash) was the baseball bat, which had fibers consistent with the mat in the boiler room. Where was the bat found? On a ledge on the north side of the house, just before a person would leave the shadows and become visible when leaving the house. I believe the bat was his security measure in case a parent woke up.
And then of course there's the question of how he or she got in and out without being noticed and without leaving any clues behind. It's just too far of a reach IMO.
Except for DNA, rope, fibers, shoeprint...
And the window in the train room is the likeliest point of entry.