Autopsy Report - 13 Fatal wounds ***DISCUSSION***

[KeyboardPlayer]

That was a very touching statement. Excellent post, Lauren.

 

[k4kathy]

Anybody notice that Skyla had a pretty serious head injury?I didn't until now.I guess I was too focused on the gun shot wounds before.

 

[Ruflossn]

Anybody notice that Skyla had a pretty serious head injury?I didn't until now.I guess I was too focused on the gun shot wounds before.

I have never noticed this b4. I will go review my notes.

 

[k4kathy]

The type of head trauma described in the autopsy makes me think this was an impact injury/striking the head on a hard surface,from falling???,also these types of head injuries are the same ones found with shaken baby syndrome/non-accidental head trauma.Just my opinion...

 

[Mysterylover]

Anybody notice that Skyla had a pretty serious head injury?I didn't until now.

I guess I was too focused on the gun shot wounds before.

K4kathy,
Thanks for pointing the head injury out. I was not aware of Skyla's head injury...
This injury makes me wonder IF something happened to the girls earlier that Sunday,
causing Skyla's head injury and scratches to her foot..and the scratches on Taylor..leading up to them being shot...:bud:

 

[k4kathy]

K4kathy,
Thanks for pointing the head injury out. I was not aware of Skyla's head injury...
This injury makes me wonder IF something happened to the girls earlier that Sunday,
causing Skyla's head injury and scratches to her foot..and the scratches on Taylor..leading up to them being shot...:bud:

Skyla might have struck her head when she fell,or someone might have struck her head against something.Whatever the case may be,her head had to of struck a hard surface....concrete bridge,pickup bed,packed road,etc.,something like that.I always thought Skyla was dragged at some point,due to the abrasions on the top of her foot(she was wearing slippers) and not present on Taylors feet(she was wearing tennis shoes).Plus the abrasions on Skylas lower back.Those abrasions didn't just appear,something happened to cause the abrasions.

 

[Mysterylover]

Skyla might have struck her head when she fell,or someone might have struck her head against something.
Whatever the case may be,her head had to of struck a hard surface....concrete bridge,pickup bed,packed road,etc.,something like that.

I always thought Skyla was dragged at some point,due to the abrasions on the top of her foot(she was wearing slippers) and not present on Taylors feet(she was wearing tennis shoes).
Plus the abrasions on Skylas lower back.Those abrasions didn't just appear,something happened to cause the abrasions....

K4Kathy, I agree. Wonder if Le ever inspected T.'s tennis shoes for scrapes?

Could the little dog have been left where the abrasions and head injury happened...

Thinking outside the box, could Skyla have fallen off the back of a 4-wheeler that day.
Remember 4-wheelers was seen near/or at the P.'s on that Saturday.

When Skyla was found she was laying off the road more in the weeds..I do not believe she could have hit her head that hard falling in the sand...

or scratched the top of her feet when falling to the ground...
Does anyone know IF the girls was laying face up or face down when they were found?

 

[Ruflossn]

K4Kathy, I agree. Wonder if Le ever inspected T.'s tennis shoes for scrapes?

Could the little dog have been left where the abrasions and head injury happened...

Thinking outside the box, could Skyla have fallen off the back of a 4-wheeler that day.
Remember 4-wheelers was seen near/or at the P.'s on that Saturday.

When Skyla was found she was laying off the road more in the weeds..I do not believe she could have hit her head that hard falling in the sand...

or scratched the top of her feet when falling to the ground...
Does anyone know IF the girls was laying face up or face down when they were found?

From what I understand, both girls were found face up. Iirc, Skyla's autopsy states she was found in a supine position. I am not sure that I have ever read that both girls were found face up, but that is the way it has always been explained to me.

 

[Mysterylover]

Just a though:
I've read a person can not bruise after death.....and they don't bleed after the heart stops pumping....Correct me if I'm wrong...:hand:

 

[k4kathy]

You are correct.

 

[Ruflossn]

Anybody notice that Skyla had a pretty serious head injury?I didn't until now.I guess I was too focused on the gun shot wounds before.

k4kathy~
Could you please tell me what page on the autposy report you read about the head injury? I have just finished reading Skylas report (for the 100th time! ) and can not figure out what exactly you are referring to. I see references to head trauma but, from my perspective, it references it all back to gunshot wounds. I am unfamiliar w/ reading autopsy results so, any help is much appreciated. Below is a part of the autposy that copied / pasted directly from the autopsy result of Skyla:

http://downloads.newsok.com/documents/Skyla_Whitaker_autopsy.pdf
Externally the brain is diffusely edematous symmetric, and multiple serial sections of cerebral hemispheres, pons, medulla, and cerebellum show diffuse edema. The ventricular system is also symmetric and unremarkable. The base of the skull is intact without osseous abnormality.

When I read this entry from the coroner, I always assumed the edema (swelling) was caused from the trauma inflicted by the gunshot. Specifically gunshot wound #8. Description from the autopsy result is as follows:

VIII. Entrance gunshot wound, right neck under the mandible: There is 0.4 cm entrance gunshot wound having gray-brown peripheral abrasion rim. There are scattered powder-like grayish particles attached to the skin surface mainly over the right lateral chest, right lower cheekjust behind the ear lobe measuring overall 15.5 x 13.5 cm. There is no evidence of powder stippling or soot blackening around the wound. The direction of the wound is slightly backward toward the left penetrating through the pharynx to the left mastoid region with focal fracture and small region hemorrhages. There is a damaged small copper stained lead bullet recovered.

X. Localized subarachnoid hemorrhages of left temporal lobe (6 x 4 cm), likely due to gunshot wound
#8.


I have always been suspicious of the abrasions and wondered exactly when they occurred and exactly what happened to cause them.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me in reference to the autopsy reports!

Flossie.

 

[Ruflossn]

K4Kathy,
Does anyone know IF the girls was laying face up or face down when they were found?

ML,
This is what the autopsy result says about the position of Skyla's body:

http://downloads.newsok.com/documents/Skyla_Whitaker_autopsy.pdf

The decedent was located on the west side of the roadway. The decedent was supine on the ground approximately head southwest approximately 5 feet west of the her friend

 

[Mysterylover]

Think about this:
If both girls were laying face up, seems the frontal shots
would have been fired after the girls were down on the ground.

how would these front shots occurred IF the killer was not almost over the girls bodies when the last shots were fired?..
Did LE see any shoe/boot/4-wheeler or truck prints on the road next to the girls bodies?

If LE tracked the girls, did they track any dog paw prints on the dirt road that day?.:detective:

 

[sheza]

Didn't the OSBI say Taylor faced her killer or died where she stood something like that..
I will try and find the statement OSBI made about Taylor, if so Taylor would have died first.

 

[Ruflossn]

Does anyone know IF the girls was laying face up or face down when they were found?

http://downloads.newsok.com/documents/Taylor_Dawn_Paschal_autopsy.pdf

The back is unremarkable other than exit gunshot wound of the back of the neck at the mid-line and partial exit gunshot wound with bullet that is partly exposed located over the left upper back. There are similar words and designs made by markers over the lower back.

There are blood stains mainly over the front part of the t-shirt and left groin region of the shorts. There is blood spattering over the front part of the tshirt and the front sleeve region. The back of the shirts are soaked with blood mainly on the upper part and right sleeve.

ML,
Because of the above entries by coroner, I have always assumed Taylor was found on her back. Reason being: 1) Gunshot wound #IV is said to have been a "partial exit gunshot wound". I wonder if Taylor was laying on the ground when this shot was fired and because she was laying on the ground, the ground "stopped" the bullet from exiting all the way. 2) The enrty that states the "back of the shirts are soaked w/ blood" led me to believe that the blood pooled in the direction of gravity. Indicating that because the back of the shirts were soaked w/ blood, Taylor had been laying on her back, thus the blood pooled towards gravity / the ground.

I hope this makes sense.
It is all just my opinion.

 

[sheza]

OSBI had a picture of a boot print on their bulletin board "since removed"
but LKPlacker said she thought that was her boot print.

 

[Ruflossn]

Didn't the OSBI say Taylor faced her killer or died where she stood something like that..
I will try and find the statement OSBI made about Taylor, if so Taylor would have died first.

Skyla has gunshot wound entrances in her back, thus implying that Sklya had time to react to the shooter. Imo, she was running away from danger. While running, she was shot in the back.

Taylor does not have gunshot wound entrances in her back, to me this indicates she was shot first. She did not have time to run. I do believe she "threw up" her right hand out of instinct. She threw her hand up because she realized that her life was in danger and she reacted w/o thought. Again, this is jmo.

 

[k4kathy]

Ruflossin,
The trauma to the brain and meninges appears to be caused from more than a gun shot,my opinion only,of course.Sounds like an impact injury as well.
Maybe I missed something???Can you direct me to the page where the ME documented all of this head trauma as a result of a gun shot wound?

 

[Mysterylover]

Skyla might have struck her head when she fell,or someone might have struck her head against something.

Whatever the case may be,her head had to of struck a hard surface....concrete bridge, pickup bed, packed road, etc.,something like that.

I always thought Skyla was dragged at some point,due to the abrasions on the top of her foot(she was wearing slippers) and not present on Taylors feet(she was wearing tennis shoes).

Plus the abrasions on Skylas lower back.Those abrasions didn't just appear,something happened to cause the abrasions...

k4kathy: With Skyla having abrasions to her lower back and a hard impact to the back of her head..... leads me to agree with you, that Skyla possibly fell backward off 'something' that day before the murders..:Bicicleta:

 

[domesticmess]

Skyla might have struck her head when she fell,or someone might have struck her head against something.Whatever the case may be,her head had to of struck a hard surface....concrete bridge,pickup bed,packed road,etc.,something like that.I always thought Skyla was dragged at some point,due to the abrasions on the top of her foot(she was wearing slippers) and not present on Taylors feet(she was wearing tennis shoes).Plus the abrasions on Skylas lower back.Those abrasions didn't just appear,something happened to cause the abrasions.

Okay not sure if I am doing this right, but the abrasions on Skyla's foot could be from her running from her killer. To me, it makes sense that if she turned to run and was shot from behind she would fall and trip over something possibly causing the abrasion on her foot.