Ok, I didn't realize you could pull yourself up to your armpits there. That makes sense. I don't think that window was the best route to break in, but I also think it's very stupid to leave a turd at the murder scene. So I'm not going to second-guess exactly how stupid (and not rational) RG's decision making can be.
Was there a working telephone at the flat?
There were wet flip flops downstairs?
I read that MK was watering her boyfriends pot plants (not feeding his cat). I kind of wonder if she went down there to water the plants that night. (The Massai reports states that she was watering pot plants).
When did RS's dad state that his son said there was a broken pipe at his flat? I do find that story very strange. Why not use towels?
However, if you used a mop to clean up evidence at the cottage, why would only Rudys prints show up in the hallway? If I remember (from watching TV) the only way to hide blood evidence is to bleach it. But then the bleach shows up under luminol, letting them know that you did a cover up.) And there was no evidence of a cleaning cover up.
So, with lone wolf scenario....
Rudy has to break into the flat before Meredith arrives, because he has to go to the bathroom before he has blood evidence on him. So he breaks in prior to 9pm. He is surprised by Meredith. He either plays it off that he is supposed to be there (to see Amanda, or to buy drugs from the guys downstairs), or he hides. Because when Meredith gets home she starts the laundry, right? Meaning she is not attacked immediately. (maybe Rudy didn't flush the toilet b/c then she would know he is there). She goes to her bedroom, begins to call her mother, and the call is cancelled (she hears something? The attack begins?) Her scream causes Rudy to flee in a panic. Leaving blood stained prints through the door. BUt he's left all of his belongings and he has no money. He waits for a while, then when he realizes the calvary isn't coming, he returns for his stuff. He goes into the room and gets his bag and grabs her cell phones intending to use them himself (b/c he no longer has a cell phone of his own). He then realizes how bloody his shoes are getting and takes them off? Goes to the bathroom to wash up, and exits. It occurs to him that taking Meredith's cell phones was a bad idea b/c he can be tracked with them, so he throws them away.
Does that fit all the evidence? In this scenario I find the bathroom scene the least plausible b/c I think there should be some DNA evidence putting him in there (and there is none correct?). Unless the forensics show that the attack could have started in the bathroom, and that's why there was blood evidence in there.
Yeah, If you'll notice in that picture, that guy, who the defense said was just as tall as RG, only had to take one more step on the top of that grate, and you can tell that he'd be basically armpit level with that windowsill. That's all that really matters. You're right, even if it's not your ideal entry, it's still possible.
Phones
According to RG, and apparently it's true, because his trial papers gave him "credit" for trying to save MK. RG said there was no phone to call for help--except the two cell phones he just stole of MK, but who I am to point that out....? Anyways, the jury apparently did not believe he stole her phones, so that would mean the phones were supposed to already "be gone" by the time RG was trying to "save her." that would also mean he was trying to save her after 1013pm, because the phones were no longer at the house after that time.
He could not have been trying to save her at that time, because by his own admission, he was there at the house and left in a panic after trying to save her. So if he says the attack happened between 920pm and 930pm, what is his plausible reason for hanging around trying to "save her" until after 1013pm?
The prosecution claims her phones were in the house until 1013pm. The defense says that the 1013pm download happened enroute or at the final resting point. The defense has a very, very detailed explanation of the phone towers, while the prosecution erroneously deterimined that PL's phone ALSO rang in the vacinity of the cottage.
Since the pros. got it wrong about PL's phone, I'll go ahead and believe the Defenses cell tower studies.
Flipflops
(Consider this hearsay until I find it)
I'd have to go back and find the specific info about the flipflops, but injusticeinperugia has an interesting thread called the "cat and the burglar," which discusses how they think RG got the scratches on his hand from the cat downstairs. There was a wet comforter down there, and blood, non-human on the mattress. The cat had an ear infection. Anyways, you have to register to access their threads to read that. It'll tell you about the wet flipflops. until I find it, you might google knox and wet flipflops to see what comes up. There was also a bloody tissue on the walkway down there to the boy's flat and some bloody tissues in the street.
I THINK they said it was some in MK's room, but none of this blood matched RG, RS, or AK, or the cat either, apparently--which might lend some credence to the mobster brother's story.....Just saying.....because I still see no evidence of anyone else in the house (well except those 19 pesty unidentified samples...)
The boyfriend asked her to water the pot and watch the sick cat. Both things.
RS told his father about the pipe somehwere around 840pm, I think. I was told the landlord produced proof of this leak. RS said he did not have enough towels nor a mop. He was a twenty-something bachelor. I believe it.
Clean up
You cannot clean evidence without leaving streaks. Imagine washing a window with baby oil. That's what the cleaned area will look like under luminol. They didn't discover areas that looked wiped down. They discovered discernable prints, therefore, no clean up. The best evidence of no clean up is that big, blarring footprint on the bathmat and the crap in the toilet. If AK and RS cleaned up, why in the world would RS leave his footprint on the bathmat like that?
MK started her laundry before she left to visit her friends. RG says he heard no washer going in the house. He also seemed disturbed by that claim in the skype call, and kept telling his friend that MK was dressed when he left. I don't believe she was dressed, but he then said someone else must have come back there, because he was insistent about the washing machine. So I think he was thinking that he knew he didn't wash her clothes and he didn't start a washer, so it HAD to be someone else. Like I said, I believe some stuff he says when it coincides with evidence.
Your theory
I believe him because she parted with her friend about 850pm, the call to her parents was 856pm. Abruptly cut off with no more attempts. He says she got home at 9pm. This fits the evidence. I just dont believe there was time before her arriving home and 920 or 930pm to do laundry while fighting for her life, especially after not even completing a call to her mom. TOD has been stated to be between 9pm and 10pm.
Now, he possibly could have returned for a bag, which he might have left in FR's room, which would explain him tracking MK and AK dna in there, since he'd been in their bathroom. they said his footprints faded on the way out the door, so if he reentered, maybe he had no more blood on his shoes. That's possible, I guess.
I can't explain the blood evidence in the bathroom, except my theory about the rug. I really don't know if they took enough bathroom swabs to find his DNA. They seemed to have swabbed everywhere blood was, so that doesn't account for dripping, versus him leaving DNA by touching something. I don't know what they found in the shower, if anything either. I do believe that no one's DNA was found on the light switch. That's where I'd expect something.
anyways, that's the best I can tell you on theorizing about things. You're off to a good start.
