The latch/chair

[JimmyWells]

I'm not sure if this is like the Topix board where you state something and people jump down your throat taking pot shots and what not so I'm going to make this brief. There are maybe a handful of you who know more about this case than me and I'm not trying to sound cocky or arrogant, that's just in my opinion, more likely factual than not. I've read every book, every transcript, seen every crime scene pic, and corresponded with a handful of the investigators of this case, post retirement of course, of which I will not divulge names of substance of those conversations because ethically it's not cool. I wrote what I just wrote because historically people are quick to take pot shots on message boards and I don't want to go back and forth about who is "More dumber" with other posters. With that being said here's my post:

I've taken a long time off from this case because I think this is as solved as it's ever going to be without a confession but due to sheer Covid boredom I started poking around again. Was it ever theorized that Burke used the chair blocking the door in the train room to remove the latch from the wine cellar? I'm not big on what if's and what not but there are a few things overlooked in this case, that chair being one of them.

 

[JimmyWells]

I need to clarify for the sake of sounding ridiculous. I do not think Burke staged anything, but he could have been in the cellar at some point, using the chair to do so. Logistically, the chair would and should not be there if there was an intruder who had exited from the window well and I don't think this guy was setting childish booby traps for unsuspecting pursuers. Now I understand the house was a maze and there were several ways to exit why would he take the path of the most resistance? We know for a fact the killer was on the first floor, allegedly scouted the house all night, so he knew where the doors were. And lets say we do the IDI he walked out the butler pantry angle? Because it negates the suitcase, crawling through window angle. And why not play the IDI intruder molested her and murder her in the basement angle? Because it's devoid of reason and historically unprecedented. Stranger danger sex offenders don't offend on the premises unless that stranger is no stranger and a family member or person of trust. And if they do a home invasion, they universally intend to take their child to a place familiar to them, not the victim's basement when their whole modus operandi requires a level of privacy.

I'm not sure if this is like the Topix board where you state something and people jump down your throat taking pot shots and what not so I'm going to make this brief. There are maybe a handful of you who know more about this case than me and I'm not trying to sound cocky or arrogant, that's just in my opinion, more likely factual than not. I've read every book, every transcript, seen every crime scene pic, and corresponded with a handful of the investigators of this case, post retirement of course, of which I will not divulge names of substance of those conversations because ethically it's not cool. I wrote what I just wrote because historically people are quick to take pot shots on message boards and I don't want to go back and forth about who is "More dumber" with other posters. With that being said here's my post:

I've taken a long time off from this case because I think this is as solved as it's ever going to be without a confession but due to sheer Covid boredom I started poking around again. Was it ever theorized that Burke used the chair blocking the door in the train room to remove the latch from the wine cellar? I'm not big on what if's and what not but there are a few things overlooked in this case, that chair being one of them.

 

[Cottonstar]

The chair really never was blocking the train room door. This is something John added in his 1998 interview, to muddy the waters and create a red-herring ruse. Crime scene photos taken of the basement on the morning of the 26th, show the red chair, flush against the train room door. Subsequently, crime scene photos/video taken some 12-13 hours later, on the night of the 26th, show the chair in the same exact spot.

 

[JimmyWells]

Oh, thanks for the clarification.

 

[thedutchessbell]

Your power is in your space.

 

[fr brown]

rashomon has pointed out that the train room door opened inward into the train room. That seems right: a crime scene photo taken from the hallway (I believe) shows no hinges visible. And opening into a room from a hallway is pretty standard for doors.

Lou Smit is unaware that the door opens inward and thinks that a chair could not have been put there by someone entering the room and closing the door. Smit thought that threw a wrench into his theory that the intruder left by the train room window.

It's a nothing burger anyway, imo.

 

[fr brown]

The sequence of basement exploration is either White, French, Ramsey or White, Ramsey, French. (Kolar says that French explored the basement before White arrived at the house, but when you look at the footnote, Kolar says it might have been after. Guess he doesn't actually have good information one way or another....)

In Foreign Faction, Kolar says: "French apparently did not think the Train Room window a likely point of entry and left the basement as he had found it. He did not report placing a chair in the doorway to block the Train Room."

I looked at French's report as reproduced in We Have Your Daughter. It's true that French doesn't mention a chair blocking the train room. French doesn't even mention entering the train room. He doesn't mention the train room at all. (Does that mean the train room wasn't there?)

Very deceptive writing on Kolar's part.