Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [271]
Next the police presented the facts about the noose—also called a garrote by some—the rope, the type of knot, and the broken paintbrush attached to the rope that was used to strangle JonBenét. The knot on the stick and the knot on the wrist were different. The one on the wrist ligature was a “capsized square knot.” The rope had been pulled through a knot and acted as a noose rather than a true garrote. The point where the rope became a noose was at the back of the neck, which suggested to some that JonBenét was lying facedown when the ligature was tied. That seemed to be consistent with the bruises on the front of her face that the coroner had noted in the autopsy.
The police did not say whether the garroting had occurred before, during, or after the blow to the child’s head. The coroner himself wasn’t sure if strangulation by the noose or garroting was the sole cause of death. He had said—and the police now repeated—that death had been caused by the noose in association with a blunt cranial trauma. Though there was no expert opinion to confirm it, a reasonable person listening to the presentation could conclude that the blow to the head had probably come first.
Also unclear from the crime scene was where JonBenét had been when she suffered the blow to the head. The injury hadn’t produced any bleeding to leave a trail. She could have had her skull fractured in her bedroom, the kitchen, or the basement. Nobody could be sure that the scream heard by the neighbor was JonBenét’s, the police said. Sound tests indicated that a scream should also have been audible to the parents on the third floor, but whether it would have been loud enough to awaken them was unclear.
The police addressed the likelihood of staging at the crime scene. Their analysis of the ransom note indicated that it was evidence of staging. The white blanket in which JonBenét’s body was enveloped and the Barbie nightgown found next to her body were strong indications of staging, as was the cord tied lightly around her wrist, the police said. All suggested compassion, caring, and emotional attachment. The FBI profile said that parents typically found it harder to dispose of a child’s body than an intruder would. Listening to the presentation, one investigator theorized that the nightgown might have been bundled up together with the blanket, a gesture not unlike burying the child with her favorite stuffed animal.
Throughout the presentation, Dr. Lee took notes by hand. Scheck typed on his laptop. Pete Hofstrom had three legal pads. On one, he took notes with a blue pen; it indicated significant evidence that implicated the Ramseys. On the second pad he used a red pen, to record evidence of an intruder. The third pad, on which he used a black pen, was for inconclusive evidence. Everyone paid strict attention to the speakers. No one left until breaks were called.
Detective Harmer covered the family history of the Ramseys and the Paughs and reviewed the medical findings about JonBenét’s genital injuries. Several well-known experts had concluded that the child’s hymen was torn weeks or even months before her murder, Harmer said, but other experts had said the tear was recent. Broken blood vessels inside the child’s vagina clearly indicated that she was penetrated that night, but there was no conclusive evidence of a sexual assault before that time. The blood stained her underpants. The state of the hymen offered clues, but they were open to interpretation. Experts were also divided over the act of penetration. Some said it occurred before she suffered the blow to the head; others thought it was part of the staging. Several experts had told the police that the microscopic piece of cellulose found in JonBenét’s vagina was wood. Most likely it came from the same splintered