Forensic evidence

Fairly centered, yes. I think the photo proves the person was definately standing on her right side when the blow was struck.

The oval-shape of the hole in her skull supposedly matched the end of the maglight, but I think it would also match the rounded end of the baseball bat too. A lot more force would be generated by swinging a bat versus a flashlight. Anyone, including a kid, could crack a person's skull if they took a full-wind swing with a bat.

 

I think

If the person who hit her was standing in front of her, then when they brought down the weapon it would hit slightly to the right side of her head if they were right handed.

 

Well, I think if hit from the front, the skull displacement wouldn't be at the back and to the right side of the crack at the back of the head, unless somehow the weapon was an odd shape. I can't think of what might have caused a long displacement of skull like that if struck from the front. Anyone?

However, I do think that it's clear that JonBenet was upright when hit. If she'd been lying down, even somewhere that it was possible to swing the weapon with enough force and arc to do that damage, I think the break would have been on one side or the other, much moreso than on the top/back portion of the skull.

 

How about a VERY dull axe?
Seriously, I don't see any object causing that oval-shape if struck from the front. Remember, the object used has to be blunt enough not to break the skin on her head.

My vote has always gone for the bat as the weapon since I can't see any reason one would be laying outside, next to the house, right outside a door, in the middle of winter. There are a lot of boys Burke's age in my neighborhood, and NONE of them are outside playing baseball at this time of year.

 

hhmmm

I guess we have different ideas of how this could happen because I don't see how something could cause a crack on her head running from almost directly above her eye, down the entire length of the side/top of her head to almost the back of her head by standing at her side. If someone were holding a flashlight, standing in front of her and brought the flashlight almost straight down, I can see how it would fracture her skull and the broad end of the flashlight could leave the rectangular shape depression. The end of a flashlight seems as though it would fit the rectangular area pretty well. I don't know why a baseball bat would leave a rectangular depression at the end of the crack because the bat just gets gradually wider instead of having an end that is differentiated from the shaft.

I think it depends on how you would position someone at her side, but if the person is standing at her side facing her, wouldn't the crack go over the top of her head?

 

Texan, why would anyone need to go to these drastic lengths to knock a little six year old girl out? Doesn't make sense to me. To me, it's more like she was thrown into a solid object by Patsy in a rage, into the sink, tub or toilet. or something else that was solid(?).

Another possibility discussed on this forum was Patsy may have been colouring JonBenBenét's hair for Charlevoix. There may have been a pageant in Charlevoix at Christmas(?). I would need to research that. Hypothetically, if Patsy was rinsing JonBenét's hair in the tub with the hand held shower, and there was an argument. Is it possible that a heavy shower head could have caused this?

 

We've got a handheld shower head in my daughter's shower. The shower head is attached to a hose. The ones now are lighter than they were in the past, but I think even the heavier ones would not be able to hit with enough force to cause that sort of injury. I have been hit with our shower head when I thought it was hooked back onto the hook that holds it up. It wasn't secure and ended up hitting me. It made quite a noise, but didn't even leave much of a bruise, so I think it would be hard to get much of a severe injury from being hit by one.
I can see Patsy coloring JB's hair (maybe with JB standing on the closed toilet seat to get her head at a comfortable height for Patsy to work at while she stood. If JB fell off the toilet, she could hit some bathroom surface (the side of the tub maybe) with enough force to cause a lot of damage.

 

OK, I had bookmarked this thread from about a year and a half ago, and it's a good thread on this topic. Some of you are on it. Lots of good detailed stuff, research and discussion.

Here is a picture of Dr. Spitz's re-enactment...sort of...of the way the flashlight could have struck her head and done the damage:

http://www.forumsforjustice.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1407&stc=1

And here is the thread:

http://www.forumsforjustice.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6121&page=1&pp=12

 

oh, ok then

Now I see what you're talking about and it does make sense. Thanks for the visual KK. I think then that the crack radiated out from the depression caused by the flashlight.

 

I really, really don't see how the side of the tub could cause that kind of displacement of the skull. Maybe a crack, but the hole? Of course I am also puzzled about how this happened and her skin wasn't even broken at the site. That argues for a flatter surface. It's a real puzzlement. Clearing it up would require the killer to tell us what happened.

 

It would depend on just how/where it hit. If she fell into the tub and hit the spout, that would concentrate the force in a small area. I believe that Dr. Lee thinks the tub is the most likely.

Another thing that would fit the injury very well is the bedpost at the end of her bed. Falling forcefully (or being pushed) could cause the same sort of injury.

 

Thanks for the refresher KK. To read everything, it will take special time, so I'll read part of it, and the rest later. It's good to read what we have written before, because it keeps changing.

All I can think of right now, is the dilemma of Patsy Ramsey finding out her daughter died as a result of her rage, and it took hours of planning and scheming
to make the end result look like a homicide.

 

Right you are HeyMom. we will never know exactly what caused that hole in her skull and MANY different situations are possible. That hole might have even been caused by a fall from the 2nd story stairway landing if her head landed on something blunt of the same size and shape. (However, that type of event can be virtually ruled out since it would have resulted in a call to 911 and an accidental fall reported.)

The head blow is somehow tied into the sexual molestation, which is the reason 911 couldn't be called.

 

One thing about a long fall, ending with a land on the head: very likely her neck would have been broken if that happened.

 

Well, again, the thing about any scenario involving her body flying through the air at a high enough velocity to cause such a horrific skull fracture would seem to include some kind of neck injury. Her body would have been the larger weight being stopped upon impact, which would have caused it to whiplash, wouldn't it?

(I wish wombat would weigh in. She's the one with the physics knowledge. I think I made her upset with me...sorry, wombat, come back and I'll give you first pull on the crack pipe.)

 

Wombat, here Wombat, nice kitty kitty...come on, you fat cat!!

 

I have seen patients with skull fractures who had what initially seemed like a not very high velocity injury. All it takes is a hit to the right place.

 

JonBenét could have been right in the tub if she had been dragged from a soiled bed, not just a wet bed. Therefore this could have been why Patsy was in a rage to begin with. If JonBenét had soiled herself before the midnight check, which Patsy Ramsey told her friend Pam Griffin that she did this every night at midnight, then maybe all hell broke loose (?).

Nedra stated JonBenét screamed blue bloody murder if she was hauled out of her bed. It's possible!

Edited to add that JonBenét's body was washed down. Whose to say all this didn't happen right in the bathtub? Her body had to be washed down before the garrote was placed around her neck.

 

True, true, she could have been in the tub. We will just never know, unless some miracle makes John confess (sorry Blues, I just don't think BDI!).

Off to find The Old Dinosaur!

 

When you stop to think about it HM, how could a young nine year old wash down the body by himself? It's believable when you think the parents are involved, but a nine year old boy wouldn't think of washing his sister down.
A nine year old could not have created the so-called garrote and washed the body down. No way! His mind wouldn't work like that.

If Burke was involved, then his parents had to be involved in the staging. He could never have pulled all this off by himself.

If JonBenét's body was just washed down with a cloth (?), then there must have been water available to carry this function out. Was there water available close to the windowless/wine room? A bit inconvenient, I'm thinking. This is something a more mature adult would think of.

Makes sense to me that Patty in a hissy fit threw her in the tub upstairs because she had soiled the bed. Linda Hoffman Pugh felt the sheets had been changed from the ones she had put on the bed the day before.

So many unanswered questions HM (?).