Interpreting Evidence
How was JonBenet Killed?
As with any homicide, we start with the body, including what we can deduce about how JBR was killed. We know from the autopsy that both a severe head blow from an unknown object and strangulation from a ligature found on her neck contributed to her death.
Which Injury came first?
This is a question that hypothetically can be answered even if we never determine for certain what specific object was used to deliver the head blow.
What object was used for the head blow?
Moreover, the answer to this question may be important in determining what kind of perpetrator killed her.
Why a Garrote?
The evidence related to the garrote may reveal something about the killer's motivation in using such a device rather than manual strangulation or any alternative form of lethal violence.
Stun gun; sexual assault; and prior sexual assault
Forensic evidence obtained from the body may be critical in narrowing down the range of plausible suspects.
Remaining Forensic Evidence
The remaining forensic evidence comes both from her body, her clothing, or other locations in the house as the answers to these two would greatly constrain who might be regarded as a plausible suspect: Is this a DNA case? Was JonBenet really fed pineapple? Where was JBR killed? Was this a kidnapping for ransom? Other evidence entails how to interpret forensic evidence unrelated to her body--including the ransom note and house itself--which speaks to the issue of motivation or nature of the suspected killer.
Which Came First: the Head Blow or Strangulation?
Many theories of the case rest decisively on whether the head blow preceded the strangulation. If Steve Thomas's "bedwetting rage" theory is to be accepted for example, it is critical that the headblow precede the "strangulation" used to cover this up. Conversely, if Cyril Wecht's "sex-game-gone-awry" theory is correct, the accidental strangulation would have to precede the head-blow used as part of staging. The experts are divided on this issue.
Expert Opinions
Internet poster reported that Drs. Werner Spitz, Tom Henry, Henry Lee, and Ron Wright all concluded the head blow came first. Ronald Wright, MD "director of the forensic pathology department at the University of Miami School of Medicine, reviewed JonBenet's autopsy report Tuesday at the request of the Rocky Mountain News." RMN stated: "The blow to her head -- which Wright is convinced was not from a golf club but more likely a blunt object such as a baseball bat or heavy flashlight -- came first, Wright said. "She was whopped on the head a long time before she was strangled," said Wright. 'That might or might not have rendered her unconscious. But this is not anything that kills her right away.' He said 20 to 60 minutes elapsed between the skull fracture and the strangulation." [Emphasis added]
Head Blow with Little Bleeding Possible
Kerry Brega, chie neurologist at Denver Health Medical Center, said it is not uncommon for people with skull fractures to not have any bleeding. "We see a lot of people with skull fractures without bleeds in the brain, and they didn't all get strangled on the way in," she said. "So it is actually possible to get a skull fracture without getting an underlying bleed in the brain."
Petechiae
Petechiae (puh-TEE-key-eye) are tiny little broken capillary blood vessels. Everyone has had them. A hard bout of coughing or vomiting can cause facial petechiae, especially around the eyes. Newborns often have facial petechiae from the tight squeeze through the cervix. Thus, petechiae are fairly common and in general of no concern. Some see the presence of Petichia as evidence JonBenet was alive while being strangled and an indication she was strangled first.
Wecht View
Wecht's explanation is as follows: "If you inflict a blow like that on someone whose heart is beating," he asserts, "the heart doesn't stop, because the cardiac and respiratory centers are at the base of the brain. You're not damaging that with a blow to the top of the head. It'll become compromised as the brain swells, but initially there's no compromise. They control your heart and lungs. The heart continues to beat. The blood continues to flow. But in the Ramsey case, they got less than a teaspoon and a half of blood. If you have a beating heart and the carotid arteries are carrying blood, this person doesn't die right away. That means that blow was inflicted when she was already dead or dying."
Doberson View
"Arapaho County Coroner Mike Dobersen said he reviewed the autopsy photographs and thinks there would have been much more internal bleeding inside the brain if JonBenét had been struck first and strangled later."
Yeager View
The Seraph report dated July 29, 1997 and written by Dale Yeager at the request of BPD concluded from the available forensic evidence "the strangulation and blunt trauma to the skull meant that the offender tried one method of killing the girl and then changed to a different method out of frustration. One of these methods failed and the person resorted to a second method to kill the victim." If the forensic information that I have is correct, the offender attempted strangulation first.
What Object Was Used for the Head Blow?
Police collected several pieces of evidence that could have served as head blow weapons, including a large flashlight found in the kitchen, a baseball bat, golf clubs, a red clay brick and a hammer Daily Camera 1/12/98.
Flashlight
"Cops had long suspected that a weighty black flashlight was used to inflict the fatal 8-inch head wound on the six-year-old beauty queen after she was garroted," reported Dick Woodbury, Time's Denver bureau chief. Boulder Police Chief Tom Koby declined to comment on the report. "We have never commented on rumors and speculations, and we are going to stay consistent with that," City of Boulder spokeswoman Leslie Aaholm said." "Police believe the flashlight's heavy rubber coating seems consistent with an instrument that could deliver a crushing blow yet not cause bleeding," the magazine reports, without identifying a source." Daily Camera, 1/12/98.
Werner Spitz Account
"Dr. Werner Spitz, Macomb County, MI Medical Examiner, who worked on the JonBenet Ramsey case has demonstrated that "you can place the end of the flashlight perfectly into her wound." No one has demonstrated that such a flashlight could deliver a blow of sufficient force to create the observed injuries without damaging the light end of it.
Jeff Shapiro
He was the alleged source for the story that police thought a flashlight had been used and that Shapiro was being fed bogus information by Alex Hunter. He claimed to have interviewed a detective involved in testing possible objects used to deliver the blow and in this detective's opinion, a flashlight was not that object.
Baseball Bat
Except for fiber(s) from the carpet on which JBR was killed, the only thing that links the bat to the crime is its unusual location and the possibility that a bat could have created the metal scraping sound heard by a neighbor.
Tricia Griffith View
Internet poster Tricia argues that there's no proof the bat had anything to do with the crime. She states: "The baseball bat is not linked to the murder. It was not shown to be used in any way during the commission of the murder. The only thing that can be proven is that a fiber from the room in which JBR was found was also on the bat. The Ramseys make no attempt to connect the bat in any way to the murder. There is no way to know how long the bat had lain in the location it was found. There are no fingerprints on the bat that are connected to the murder. There is no DNA. Even Patsy Ramsey wasn’t sure if the bat was Burke’s or not [see ]. There is no evidence to show when or how the baseball bat got in the location it was found, and there is no useful evidence other than small fibers on the bat to suggest it was used in the crime; yet.
The Garrote
The autopsy alludes to "ligature cord" but most people refer to the strangulation device as a garrote since it included a stick that hypothetically could be used to tighten the noose. Some argue that this garrote (found around JBR's neck) was used as a sexual device; "sex-game-gone-awry" theories such as Cyril Wecht's entail the garrote's being used as an erotic asphyxiation (EA) device which is somewhat more consistent with her being killed by a family member or close family friend. Conversely some intruder theories posit a pedophile or other type of sex offender who used the garrote as part of a sexual fantasy. A related question is whether JBR struggled while being strangled; evidence that she did would argue against a voluntary "sex game."
Was the Garrote a Sexual Device?
A story about the "choking game" that apparently was familiar to Boulder area schoolchildren aged 10-16. Thus, even if the device was not used for a sexual purpose, its intention may well have been for choking, as opposed to staging.
Delmar England, Knot Expert
A self-reported expert in knots, has done extensive experimentation with the knots used in the ligature device and argues that it could serve only as a noose. That is, it could only be used to tighten, but not easily released. If so, this rules it out as an erotic asphyxiation device.
Did JBR Struggle While Being Strangled?
Lou Smit, under questioning by Lin Wood in a sworn deposition in the Wolf v. Ramsey case, stated "The most significant part of this photograph and what it tells me is the marks above the garotte." Petechiae that was found in the eyes are very tiny, tiny little pinpoint hemorrhages. These are larger abrasions. Dr. Doberson and I both agree that these marks that above the garotte are fingernail marks made by JonBenet as she was struggling to get that garotte off of her neck. They are half moon in shape. JonBenet also, under her fingernails, the primary source of DNA, is JonBenet's." Q. On both hands? A. On both hands."
Internet poster Jameson (the source of this leaked deposition) states: "Note - not all of these photos are available to the public, nor will they be made public by my hand. But Lou is accurately describing them here." Thus, it appears that the particular photo Smit is alluding to (containing half-moon shaped marks) may not be in the public record.
No Skin Under Fingernails
"Meyer did not find her skin under her nails. If she scratched at her throat during strangulation enough to leave fingernail marks, then her skin should have been under her nails. It wasn't." "Not only that, there is very little damage to the interior of her neck, as if she didn't struggle at all. The hyoid bone is still intact as were the thyroid and cricoid cartilages, and her trachea. The strap muscles of her neck were not hemorrhaged." "Her tongue and the insides of her cheeks were unblemished as well, and usually stragulation victims will bite their tongue and cheeks during the strangling."
"JonBenet's neck gives no indication that she was struggling or even conscious while she was being strangled, and when you consider the killer tied the knot and the back of neck and that her long johns were urine-stained in the crotch and in the front, it sounds to me like she was strangled facedown from behind, and she did not struggle against her killer at all."
Evidence of Sexual Assault
There is little question JBR endured some sort of vaginal penetration on the night she was killed, as there was both vaginal bleeding and fragments of wood shards from the paintbrush used in the garrote as well as birefringent material consistent with said paintbrush also found in her vagina. The only question is whether this was the result of a deliberate sexual assault by a killer motivated in that direction or instead was part of staging after the fact to hide past sexual abuse or perhaps mislead authorities about how or why she actually was killed.
In the Burke Ramsey v. CBS defamation case, Lin Wood argued "the evidence clearly demonstrated that JonBenét’s murderer also sexually assaulted her: (1) there was blood on JonBenét’s underwear and the entrance of her vagina; (2) JonBenét’s hymen had been freshly broken, likely close in time to her death; (3) forensic pathologists that examined her found that she had been penetrated; and (4) fragments of wood that matched the garrote handle were found in her vagina" (paragraph #528).
Lin Wood also asserted: "In the 1990s, before he sold his services to participate in the Documentary, Pseudo-Expert Spitz examined evidence regarding JonBenét’s vaginal injury. He found that the injuries to JonBenét’s vagina showed she was sexually assaulted at or near the time of death" (paragraph #529).
Rebuttal of CBS Documentary Claims
Lin Wood has asserted: "The secondary transfer theory regarding the piece of wood is so inherently improbable and absurd as to be obviously false. As Defendants knew, the piece of wood was traced to the very same paintbrush that was used to make the garrote handle. Further, the secondary transfer theory assumes that wood from the paintbrush somehow crawled through JonBenét’s pajamas, then through her underwear, and then up into her vagina, all because her body was moved or a blanket was placed on top of her. That is nothing short of nonsensical and demonstrates the lengths these “experts” were willing to go to in order to support their false accusation against Burke" (paragraph #536).
Evidence Against a Sexual Assault
Werner Spitz. In the CBS documentary Who Killed JonBenet?, Dr. Werner Spitz argued against the evidence of a sexual assault (paragraph #530).
Henry Lee. The Documentary dismissed the piece of wood by strongly suggesting that it found its way into her vagina due to a secondary transfer. Henry Lee stated that the secondary transfer could have occurred when JonBenét’s body was moved repeatedly or when a blanket was put on her (paragraph #535).
"According to Dr. McCann, JonBenet's labia would have to be manually separated, as with someone's fingers, in order to place something inside. Also, the place where the vaginal injury happened is consistent with a right-handed person inserting the object or a finger into her while she was lying on her back. Ergo, the killer would have to have her on her back, holding her labia open with one hand while inserting the paintbrush handle (IF that's what did it) with the other hand. So if I'm reading this right, the killer would need one hand to hold her down, two to make and tighten the ligature, and another two to penetrate her. That's five arms! PLUS, they'd have to be able to have her upper half facing down while her lower half was facing up! Just what the hell was this guy? A Greek mythological monster?" (post).
Evidence About Where JBR Was Killed
The Basement
The conventional wisdom is that JBR was killed somewhere in the basement. Internet poster Jameson has recently summarized the conventional wisdom:
Wine Cellar Room Ruled Out
The mold and dirt on the floor of the wine cellar room shows too few footprints for there to have been a scuffle in there.
Hallway Outside Wine Cellar Room
There was a urine stain on the floor immediately outside that room, and a few feet away was the paint tote containing the remaining piece of the paintbrush used for a garrote; small bits of paintbrush handle also were found at the same location, suggesting this is where the garrotte was made. Jameson asserts "most investigators" believe this is the area in which she was killed.
Train Room
John Mark Karr claimed to have used the train room, i.e., the basement room with window through which he allegedly entered, but there was no evidence of urine found on the floor in that room and DNA evidence ruled out Karr as a suspect.
Outside the Basement
However, "There is no forensic evidence, like some tufts of hair, or pieces of skin, or blood stains and blood spots, to indicate that she was murdered in the basement. and wonders whether the killing occurred elsewhere." Moreover, some theories such as the bed-wetting rage theory involving Patsy Ramsey or Burke's striking JBR in anger over her having snatched pineapple, imply that the initial violence occurred in a completely different part of the house. Such theories therefore require further explanation as to why the suspects would have taken her body to the basement to finish her off and/or why her body was taken to the wine cellar room if she was killed elsewhere etc.
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