JMO, what you said seems most likely, especially since based on police interviews with Patsy, they questioned her about the opened gift packages that were found in the basement. I believe Patsy said she had to open the corners of the packages to peek in and see if she could find Burke's birthday gifts that were among the wrapped Christmas gifts. Apparently, according to Patsy, she bought this stuff in New York and had the store gift wrap the presents and ship them to Boulder for her. The birthday gifts and Christmas gifts were wrapped in like paper and she couldn't tell them apart.
It would be interesting to know if photographs taken in the basement could pinpoint the time the gifts were unwrapped.
By the way, I believe, if I remember correctly, Melinda, her fiance, and John Andrew had to change planes somewhere along the route from Atlanta to Charlesvoix. John called the layover airport and left an emergency message for the children to call Boulder before changing planes. At that point, John told them JonBenet had been kidnapped and for them to fly to Boulder. I believe this is covered in DOI. I'm not sure what to read into that action -- why not tell them to return to Atlanta? It would seem only an innocent parent (or maybe a truly cagey one) would tell the kids to come on to Boulder. Why would John risk letting the older children see JonBenet in rigor if John already knew JonBenet was dead. Seems like John would want to protect the older children from being exposed to that.
