As you stated, SuperDave, you talk about this at length in your book. So, you must've done research on this particular subject, so hopefully you can provide some insight into my question.
Bear with me here, I realize this is a touchy subject and I will try to phrase my question with as much dignity and maturity as possible. Forgive me if I offend anyone, that is not my intent.
Question: All hymens are not "constructed" in the same fashion, i.e., they are very different in appearance from girl to girl. See, it's like noses. Everyone has a different shaped nose, some are big, some are little, some are boney, some are bumpy---they vary greatly in size, shape, appearance, consistency...etc, etc, you get the picture.
Can you tell me HOW it is that this particular anatomy can be distinguished from being "eroded" versus being "different" in appearance? In other words, is it not possible that it can APPEAR eroded, however, the appearance of erosion is simply the specific physicality of it? Like, if I have a bumpy nose, a doctor may visualize it and deem that it had been broken or fractured in the past, however, maybe I was born with a bumpy nose and it had never been broken or fractured before in my life???
A doctor (or in this case, a Medical Examiner) can tell. The membrane covers certain structures in the vagina until broken or otherwise removed. There may be differences like thickness or size, but no CHILD will have an eroded hymen. The report mentions exposure of the vaginal rugae which is a part of the vagina that should not be visible in someone of that age where an intact hymen would be expected.
Certainly the coroner may have noted a "differently appearing" hymen as such without suspicion but in this case the erosion itself was suspicious because of her age. In a girl or woman who may be presumed to be old enough to have had sexual activity (not necessarily intercourse) this would not be noteworthy, but in a child it is evidence of sexual contact of some type. The coroner mentioned to Det. Arndt (who was present at the autopsy) that it looked to him to be evidence of digital, not penile, penetration, though he did not write it in the report. This is not unusual, because a coroner will report what he observes, not necessarily his opinions about it. He may share that with LE even if it is not in the report.
As far as the broken nose- if you were dead and had an autopsy the coroner would know whether your bumpy nose was the result of having been broken or was simply the nose you were born with. From the outside no one would know but when your nose was dissected the evidence of the bone healing would be seen.