In-Depth Discussion of Kolar's Book "Foreign Faction: Who Really Kidnapped JonBenet?"

BobC, on pg. 134 of Kolar's book: "The house creaked and groaned. Hard to move around without being heard from another area of the house. Nearly every step taken seemed to cause some type of audible response from floor joists of the structure. Also hard to move around in the darkness".

When I read this I thought that the family was used to the noises their house made and didn't really pay attention to it. My house is old and it creaks and groans and snaps all the time. My cats are alerted every time but I don't pay it any attention anymore. I think Burke and his "sleeping" that morning is a crock. Just because if any kid heard his Mother screaming let alone his Father I bet they would come running. The fact that he didn't says to me that he knew enough to stay there and keep quiet or was ordered to stay put or else. I know there is no proof of that but it seems likely.

 

I agree, Zoomie.

 

I think the ransom note was written to delay the discovery of the body. They needed to send the police on a wild goose chase to distract from the reality that JonBenet had been killed in her own house, which means that someone in that house had caused her death. I think they got advice on how to accomplish that goal.

I'm not sure when the staging happened or what it consisted of. I think that a person most of us didn't consider, could have done all of the things that happened to JonBenet. If you think about it, that jab with the paint brush wasn't the most effective way to cover up previous sexual abuse. Maybe it was just a continuation of the abuse after all. Did the parents even know about the abuse, then? Perhaps not.

 

Yes, Elle, it was Patsy's way to overdramatize things. And, as BobC wrote, the scene is one of confusion.

Yet, everything that was done by the stager, was done for a purpose even though the stager might have changed tracks in the middle of the staging.
For example. Someone violated JBR for a purpose. Was it done for sexual gratification, punishment or a coverup for prior molestation? If we can arrive at the motivation (purpose) for each stage, we can get close to what happened and who did what.

For instance. If the head trauma was inflicted on purpose, and by a family member, I think most of us agree that Burke was the culprit. I simply don't believe JR or PR took an object and struck JBR with it. If PR was the cause of the head trauma, then, I believe most of us think it was an accident which happened during a flare-up, scuffle.

This is why it is of utmost importance to find out what caused the head wound. If the head wound was caused by the flashlight, golf club or baseball bat, then, someone purposely swung it at JBRs head. That someone, if it was a family member, would most likely have been BR.

It is, also of utmost importance, to establish a timeline of trauma which I think has pretty well been established.

But returning to the discussion at hand. Even though the crime scene is confusing, the perp(s) had a purpose in mind for everything we see at the crime scene. JBR was jabbed for a reason. She was cleaned for a reason and that ransom note was written for a reason. So, returning to the question at hand.

Was JBR jabbed in order to coverup prior abuse? If she was, then, the stager jabbed JBR in order to make it look like it was a sexual assault. But if this is the case, then, why clean her up? The stager cleaned JBR for a reason and, if the jab was to mimic a sexual assault, then, the stager changed his or her mind. Why?

 

You're asking my opinion?

I believe Patsy started the staging and didn't have the heart to do anything too violent. JR, on the other hand, went into Ice Man mode, knew Patsy's staging wasn't convincing enough, and really tightened that garrote until it was convincing.

I believe that this incident started upstairs--the head blow and manual strangulation were part of a flare-up of rage that quickly subsided. Then guilt and remorse set in and the body of JBR was wrapped in the blanket with the Barbie nightgown to comfort JBR--the blanket also made it so that Patsy didn't have to look at what had happened.

The body was taken downstairs so Burke wouldn't have to see anything more. At some point JR became involved and started telling Patsy what to do--and his background in True Crime made him wise enough to let her forensic material be all over everything (and hence the separate lawyers--how could Patsy prove he had anything to do with it? John left himself an out).

The first plan was to make the crime look like a predator did it. Then, as panic and nerves set in, the parents started thinking a kidnapping might be safer--they could write a note and dump the body in some ravine. That would give them time to get away and plan and get their stories straight. Patsy stopped John--she couldn't bear to think of her baby lying in a ravine.

Time was running out. Both were panicking. Patsy was assigned the duty of making the ransom note, conveniently leaving her forensic evidence on the note. John was probably in and out, mostly with Burke, driving it into the kid's mind that he had to shut up and not say anything to anybody.

I think Patsy did the garrote and ligatures at John's suggestion, but when he saw what she did, he came in and "fixed it" so the garrote looked convincing. Time was up, they were due to be at the airport, and it was time to contact 911.

 

By "manual strangulation," you mean she was grabbed by her collar which was twisted by hand? How and when would that have happened relative to the blow on the head? Did she escape from that hold and THEN the head blow happened? Think about trying to hold someone by the collar (have to pull them close to yourself) and also trying to really wallop them over the head at the same time - can't happen.

JonBenet was not strangled by hands upon her throat. The cord is what finally killed her, and I don't think that purple mark on her throat signifies that there was another other form of choking done to her. We have a photo of another person who'd had a scarf used to strangle her, and she has a similar mark in that same location.

 

Interesting. So, you believe that the jab was an attempt to stage a sexual assault scenario then minds were changed and a kidnap scenario was hatched? I tend to agree with this. I think the stager(s) stopped and thought. "Wait a minute! Sexual assault... body found in my house....I'm the main suspect!"

 

The twisting of a shirt collar, and subsequent head blow, could have taken place any where from 10 seconds to an hour or two later. There could have been a scuffle, a separation by the parents, and then a head blow after BR stewed about the situation.

 

Learnin--I feel almost certain that the head blow and manual strangulation happened within seconds of each other. I think something happened that resulted in a fit of rage, and JBR was grabbed by her shirt and shaken--as parents occasionally do to crying infants. The twisting was just part of a rage reaction--maybe JBR was throwing a tantrum, maybe Patsy walked in on Burke and JBR experimenting, it's hard to say. I think the shaking/choking might have elicited a fighting back response from JBR, and in a blind rage the perp picked up something and just cracked her over the head or knocked her into something that cracked her skull.

 

I don't believe there was any manual strangulation. I think the cord was tightened twice around her neck. The "triangular" bruise was due to blood pooling under the skin and being limited within the physical boundaries of the carotid triangle. This is why that same type mark can be seen on other victims of strangulation.

 

O--you don't think the multiple abrasions all over the neck are consistent with a violent grabbing of the kid by the shirt and shaking, causing some degree of strangulation? When you say "other victims of strangulation"--what was the method of strangulation on these other cases you refer to? I am with you about the pooling blood, but don't understand why that has to be from two twistings of the cord?

 

The two marks of the ligature didn't cause the triangular bruise. The reason I think it was tightened twice is because of the obvious deep furrow and the lighter blanched band lower on her throat which would have been perimortem. The triangular bruise is described in much greater detail on WS here:
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123333

 

I, also, think they happened within a few seconds of each other.

 

I don't have much time--can you give me the abbreviated version of what you think happened there?

 

Am I correct in understanding that the depressed fracture in JB's skull was located more to the back/side and not on top? That's what the diagrams look like.

Is it at all conceivable that the head blow could've happened like this - attacker (BR, IMO) grabs JB by the shirt, violent scuffle ensues with perp driving her backward, then both fall hard, ramming JB's head into an object on the floor, with BR landing hard on top of her head. Considering momentum and pressure from him landing on top of her, would that be enough of an impact to cause that fracture?

 

I think that's very possible.

 

If you're asking me, BobC, I don't have a blow by blow scenario down as of yet. I'm a BDI with PR and JR covering...that's the theory I give most credence to but I have other theories listed in order of less credence.

As I say, I don't have a blow by blow description of what happened. When I wrote that I think the collar twisting and headblow would've happened within seconds of each other, I mean to say that, if a collar twisting struggle took place, the head blow probably took place within seconds.

At the present, I'm trying to narrow down certain things in order to come up with a best case blow by blow.

What caused the head wound
Where did the head wound occur...etc.etc.

Here's the most frustrating thing about this case....pinning down certain evidence. For instance.

1. The 911 call. Are there definitely voices heard after Patsy ended the call?
Kolar's book seems to support that there is. This is something that ought to be a clear yes or no. This enhanced version ought to prove that BR was either awake or not. If he is heard speaking, Ramseys ought to have been arrested. If it's questionable... a matter of interpretation, then, it ought to be thrown out and not considered.

2. The dust and lint on JBR's feet. How much? Was it located on the soles of her feet? Very important. If there was dust on the soles of her feet, then, she was felled in a room with a dirty floor....LE has to know this.

3. What about this golf club with the blonde hair on it? Was it JBR's hair?

 

I agree with so much of what you're saying here Learnin, and Bob is right. The scene is one of confusion, but Patsy pulled it off with her War and Peace ransom note, and with her Cancer illness, she never spent one day in jail. Life itself seems to have balanced the scales here, don't you think?

Whether JonBenét's head injury was caused by a showerhead,being thrown against the toilet, or hit on the head with a golf club or flashlight (?), Patsy and John Ramsey must have been shocked to the core when they saw JonBenét's poor little head with her scalp pulled back, displaying the horrendous injury to her head. I wonder if Chief Kolar mentions anything of this in his book (?). I've never read anything relating to this (?).

You ask if it was done for sexual gratification? This is a tough one. Learnin. My own personal thoughts, Burke coming on ten wouldn't know too much about this part of life(?). I have trouble pointing a finger at John Ramsey or Patsy, but wondered about John Andrew Ramsey (?).
Plus, I also have trouble about this sexual interference with JonBenét not being discovered long before Christmas of 1996! (?).

Yes, I think it was Burke who caused the head injury.

I really think Patsy's theatrical brain kicked in with the War and Peace ransom note. This plus hysteria. panic etc. Help me here and add a few words, Learnin! Even with tragedy, she couldn't cut it short.

I will be so happy when you and Bob solve it all!

 

I don't think so, Britt. Landing forcefully on the floor might have indeed given her a skull fracture, but not that specifically punched-in oval with the long crack going forward. I am not even 100% sure that she would have gotten any skull fracture, since her hair would have helped to cushion her skull, and she probably would have landed on her backside first.

 

Okay that makes sense, heymom.

What about the corner of that kitchen counter? It's a rounded rather than a sharp corner, isn't it? If she were flung or driven right into that corner, could it cause that type of fracture?
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