dasgal said:
I really don't understand this statement at all. Firstly I see that you are an obtrician, so I am assuming that you have a decent working knowledge of anatomy. What I am not sure of however, is how familiar you are with the case and the theories.
Now, having said that, I can't fathom why you would think that one "intruder" had a better knowledge of anatomy than another. One boy was asleep and never moved from the place of his attack, and I believe the other woke up and was obviously found away from his attack origination. Wouldn't you as an obviously bright person assume that other factors would play into this such as tension, fatigure, stress, frenzy on the part of the attacker, especially because the second child has tried to escape during his attack?
Any why would you assume that anyone conducting such a savage attack would be taking the time to look at placement of the wounds based on medical knowledge. It simply doesn't happen that way.
I'm not trying to be a smart a$$. I'm really wondering where you came up with this.
I get this from a couple of places reading other true crime books and also the testimony of Frosch.
Tate-LaBianca murders in California. Knives used were mutiple, obvious "style" differences as evidenced by the depths of the wounds. When the pieces all came together with the arrests and confessions of the "Manson Family" is when the police realized they had more than 1 killer in those houses. Much was learned forensically speaking from those two murder cases.
Hunting and fishing, not optometry, is what confirms my anatomy knowledge as we only treat your eyes in optometry.
When it comes to dressing out an animal, having knowledge of anatomy helps. Someone could have had a basic idea that is all that is needed to know the chest is easier to penetrate than the back. An animal is never cut down the back to harvest the meat. A hunter knows this, you don't need a degree to learn it either.
Frosch-He testifies that a serrated edge is found on the edged of the knife wounds on Devon. This could be a burr, or nick in the blade not a totally serrated knife.
The wounds on Darlie and Damon can be traced to the same knife. No their wounds did not penetrate as far but the vertical slicing of the neck of Darlie's wound should show where the nick or burr in the blade is if it is fact the same knife used.
Frosch testified that he could not identify the weapon found as the one used on both boys and Darlie. His testimony could only say that the knives were of similar classification. If it was the same knife he would have stated it as "proof positive".
No blood was found on the knife, that belonged to Devon. I know the expert says he only tested 4 areas.
I'm sure one of the areas would be the blade shaft where it joins the handle. This is a good place for blood to "hide" as it would resist cleaning efforts better. In fact if the knife was taken apart you might still find blood at the blade and handle joining point. How did Darlie eliminate his blood from the knife. How did she get rid of the burrs and/or nicks in the knife edge.
The depth of wounds is also what makes me conclude we have two perps not one. The sleeping child, Devon, didn't stay asleep as he has a defensive wound on his buttocks, surmised that he kicked at the killer in defense. He struggled too and was a larger child. Damon was stabbed in the back and you have shoulder blades, spine, larger amounts of rib cartilage etc in the back and it is much more difficult to stab someone in the back than chest.
The number of wounds inflicted upon the 2nd child Damon are more numerous and show a different " style" shallower, hitting bone, all in the back. He also seems to move around the crime scene going towards the couch then away towards the direction of the front door. Less control of him, less force used to subdue him. His wounds were less severe than his brothers, less strength used on him than Devon. If the killer(s) were the parents couldn't it be surmised that Devon was killed by Darin and Damon by Darlie. Two people two different hand strengths 2 knives.
