UKGuy, I think we are on the same page with this and I don't mind being wrong so don't worry about that, please. Ligature strangulation is the method of death with a knotted device and we agree. In my mind, however, it is critical if we are to use that piece of data to determine something about the killer, whether staged or truly done with the intent to kill, that the method be properly identified. Someone who strangles says something about the killer. Someone who strangles by pulling a knotted rope around a throat is a bit different than someone who uses a a tightening device to strangle (the device being a stick inserted into a rope and using that stick to tighten the rope).
Hope that makes sense. Communications on message board is hard work. :waitasec:
By the way, I do think it was staged, for what that's worth and I appreciate your thoughtful response.
Edited to add: I asked my husband what he thinks of when he thinks of a garrotte. He replied he would think of a piece of metal wrapped around the neck, criss-crossing at a point on the metal, then tightened by pushing or pulling on the ends of the metal.
BOESP,
Sure it makes sense. The crime-scene down in the wine-cellar is wholly staged, including possibly, even her head injury!
A small caveat, if you know that some evidence has been staged then you cannot use it to generate conclusions about the offender, not without making mistakes anyway.
So its not very constructive to get hung up on the garrote. Which is simply staging.
The autopsy itemises JonBenet's injuries e.g. a ligature strangulation and her head fracture, both of which may have contributed towards her final cause of death which was hypoxia by asphyxiation, or an absence of oxygen.
One thing to note is that her vaginal injury did not contribute towards her death, and is not staged with this in mind.
Consider JonBenet's neck injuries, she has a near perfect circumferential furrow, and beneath this abrasions that are
not circumferential, its probably safe to speculate that neither the nylon cord or the garrote caused these abrasions, so was she manually strangled?
Its possible that the garrote has been applied to mask the manual strangulation, and her sexual assault to mask prior sexual activity?
So its possible that JonBenet was manually strangled first, then whacked on the head, or both occurred together, and the rest is staging to hide this.
If you consider the amount of violence inflicted upon JonBenet, and the total absence of any medical assistance, then its safe to assume that someone wanted JonBenet dead, if you then add in the staging, of which there was probably more than one, then imo it all points to an intentional homicide that is intended to silence the victim, since JonBenet posed no physical threat to anyone.
You can say Patsy did it, or John did it, even that Burke did it, but they all certainly colluded with each other after JonBenet's death to synchronise their individual version of events that night.
If you think it is Patsy you have to explain why she would kill her own daughter and deny her medical assistance, similar applies to John, and why they should both defend and assist each other after her death?
No other 6-year old girl has died in such a manner in the USofA, so I doubt very much if she died an accidental death!
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