The opening paragraph of the Bonita Papers is this:
Melody Stanton aw(o)ke abruptly from a deep sleep - the prior stillness of the Boulder night ha(d) been pierced by the harrowing scream of a child. She assumed it was somewhere between midnight and 2:00 a.m., but didnt look at the alarm clock. The scream lasted three to five seconds and stopped as abruptly as it started. Melody momentarily wondered what to do, but thought that surely the parents would hear and come to the childs rescue. Although still bothered by the scream and the thought that a child had been injured, Melody eventually went back to sleep.
Later, in more detail it says:
Melody Stanton was interviewed by Det. Barry Hartkopp on January 3. Stanton lives across the street and one house to the south of the Ramseys. Her bedroom is on the second floor of the west side of the house which faces the Ramsey home. On Christmas night she had gone to bed at approximately 10:00 p.m. Stanton always sleeps with her window slightly open, and on that night she had opened it 6-8 inches. She related that she had fallen asleep shortly after she went to bed, but was awakened by one loud, incredible scream. She related that it was obviously from a child and that it lasted 3 to 5 seconds and then abruptly stopped. It appeared that the sound came from across the street, south of the Ramsey residence. She did not look at the clock, but estimated the time at somewhere between 12:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. She stayed awake and listened for any other noises for five to ten minutes, but heard absolutely nothing after that no cars, no voices, no footsteps, so she eventually went back to sleep.
Stanton said she had not left on any televisions or radios when she went to bed. She admitted that she did not sit up in bed to look out the window, so she did not see any activity outside her window. When asked why she had not come forward with this information right after the homicide when detectives had canvassed the neighborhood, Stanton said she was so shocked by JonBenets death that she at first did not make any connection to the scream. Also, since none of the other neighbors had not mentioned to her about hearing a scream, she began to doubt she actually heard it. In fact, when she told her husband he said she had probably imagined it. It was Diane Brumfitt, a friend of Stanton's, who reported this incident to the Boulder Police after her conversation with Stanton.
At another point, Dr. John McCann, an expert on child sexual abuse gave the following opinion:
McCann stated that this injury (to the hymen) would have been very painful because the area of the injury as indicated by the bruise was at the base of the hymen w(h)ere most of the nerve endings are located. Such an injury would have caused a six year old child to scream or yell.
I understand why people can have doubts about the scream, and even whether or not it was JonBenet who screamed, or possibly Patsy (given the circumstances). Mrs. Stanton has since died. We'll never know with any more certainty about the scream than we do now. For my money, I would bet that it was JonBenet whose scream
"lasted 3 to 5 seconds and then abruptly stopped" (when she was hit over the head).
