Hi Revampz - I think we are all still waiting to the answers to your questions in your second paragraph. Unless the stepmonster confesses (truthfully this time), we won't know for sure. When I read some more details this week that they released about finding a bloody pair of girl's pants and dots of Zahra's blood on the wall at the head of the bed and more blood on the floor, a chill came over me because it seems Zahra was killed in the most violent way possible. Stepmonster is a true psycotic murderer. I believe she kept Zahra out of school to pimp her for sex so that she could get drug money. I think something went wrong during one of the rapes and Zahra was badly injured -- hence the bloody pants. As Zahra lay in bed badly injured like that, I think Stepmonster got scared and knew she couldn't let anyone know Zahra was injured like that so she had to 'disappear her' so she struck her in the head with a sharp blow with something very heavy. Blood that splatters like that on the wall comes from a living person whose heart is still pumping. I read they found a pink paintbrush in that fire, too, so Stepmonster proably painted the stain on the wall and didn't notice the tiny dots of blood further down. I pray they find that child's skull because I think that skull will tell the story. This woman is SICK -- Charles Manson-type sick. Demented and psychotic to the max.
As sad as it makes me feel, I somehow think your hypothesis is in the right direction. I have always felt that whatever made EB dismember and scatter the remains of Zahra so maliciously and disrespectfully must have been the result of a massive error on her behalf. A foiled plan (such as the theory you have proposed), fit of rage, or something similar. I doubt she initially set out to kill poor Zahra, as frankly that's a complicated and inconvenient situation to deal with.
I suspect she thought she was incredibly clever in the way she handled the cover up dismembering and removing the body as she did, covering up the pink paint over blood spatter on the wall, burning the paint brush, scattering all the body parts and evidence, continuing to pretend to AB that Zahra was alive and well, and then the ultimate cover-up with the ransom note.
Fortunately she just wasn't smart enough. She failed from the outset of playing out the plan: 1) with the comment to authorities about the taping up of the area, asking if that was because they suspected Zahra was killed there; and 2) because she clearly messed up with the ransom note and was left with no choice but to confess. I'm certain she was put through incredibly gruelling questioning as they would have smelled a stench reeking from her that left little doubt in their minds of her ultimate involvement. And then she crumbled. Not entirely as she wove stories one on top of the other ... but all these stories really did was illustrate how indecent and horrid she really was.
No parent (biological or step) would desecrate the body of a child, dismember her, then scatter her remains and conjure up a ludicrous abduction cover-up story, if that child had truly died from an illness as EB claimed. Nor would any parent (biological or step) dismember a child unless there was a seriously good reason too. It's too much trouble, and honestly I can't even begin to imagine how horrid a process it was. There had to be a very significant reason for going to that effort! The only reason I can imagine is in order to hide other incriminating evidence to protect yourself.
If you wanted to commit such a murderous and sadistic act for the challenge or excitement of it, I think you'd choose a stranger, not a family member living under your own roof. Because you can guarantee you'd be under the spotlight continuously, your behaviour would be constantly monitored, and the questioning would be extensive. If you let your guard down, or acted inappropriately or unexpectedly at any time your cover would be blown instantly. IMO that's just too much hard work.
Which brings me back to your hypothesis, DLT88. If Zahra was being prostituted or was raped (the blood-covered pants) then this would explain the need for dismemberment of the legs from the torso to damage the area and make it impossible to detect any existing damage. Removing her head (as many have suggested here) would hide a blow to the head (after all, the blood spatter at her bed-head end on the wall indicates this is highly probable). And obviously to scatter the remains would reduce the chance of recovery and "putting the pieces together" (as has sadly occurred).
Question if they determined for whatever reason from this time forth, that Zahra was prostituted and this resulted in her murder, would the US system be able to deliver more charges against EB? Also, if they recovered her skull and were able to establish a specific cause of death would more charges be laid?