It would not make sense for a staging to tie the hands and rest them down on her chest. It would make more sense to position them over her head.
If it was an intruder, then surely the perp would tie her hands above her head while she was stunned, so as to immobilize her.
She was no doubt garroted face down. If her hands were tied then, they must have been raised above her head. Otherwise the autopsy would have pointed something out. Her hands were tied with the same cord. Which came first the tying of hands or the tying of the garrote?
Simply put:
If the cord was cut first to immobilize her by tying her hands above her head, then that would support the intruder theory.
If the cord was cut first to set up the garrote, then that would support the staging theory.
Now, a cord is a linear thing with a start and a finish. Is there a way to tell which end is the start? If so, then they could line up the cord cuts and figure which happened first: the tying of her hands or the set up of the garrote.
Hint: the first cut could be done by something different than the paring knife. Under microscope, I'm sure they can tell different cuts and they must still have the cord.