Anything that might be used in replacing the water heater (tools, supplies, etc.) could have been in the bucket. We can't see it well because of the lighting, but anything that might have been used, could have been there or lying on the floor in that area. And yes, I imagine that would include some sort of hammer.
If you can find a hammer with a cylindrical head that has a diameter of somewhere between 1/2" to 1", then I would say it's possible. That possibility was discussed somewhere earlier in this thread, but I don't think anyone came up with one that would match that size and shape.
It's called the "socket," and you're not the first to suggest this. Here's a thread you might be interested in:
Now that we know this family used a flashlight in the middle of the night to navigate through the house instead of just turning on lights, its location isn't weird no matter who placed it there. I'd like to know how long they were doing this. Its potentially another layer of dysfunction being ignored just because the flashlight has been placed on front street as the murder weapon.
So to sum up all of what is shown in the enlarged photo of the depressed fracture, let me state the following (and it is my opinion): The depressed fracture is almost a perfect oval, and in the only photo we have access to, it is covered in the posterior one-third with a layer of pericranial membrane which was left attached to the skull when the posterior scalp reflection was done by Dr. Meyer. (One more thing here that I feel compelled to note... I have to say that after seeing the work done by other physicians on scalp reflection, the coroner in JonBenets autopsy is about the sloppiest butcher I can imagine. Ill add this to my list of failures on his part.)
The darkened areas in this part of the photo:
are hemorrhagic tissue -- not missing fragments of skull on the edge of the fracture as evidenced by the glistening light circled in the following photo (If the dark area is missing skull, there should be nothing there to reflect the light.):
There is one fragmented edge on the right anterior edge of the depressed fracture.
I believe this to be simply incidental and not related to the shape of the weapon that caused the fracture. It could have been a weaker spot in the skull, or it could have been a small spot in the surface of her skull that was slightly higher than the area around it causing it to see more impact from the weapon.
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Hopefully, you saw the post on the "CBS" thread showing the difference between Spitz's sketch of the fractures and the sketch made of the actual autopsy photo. I can't believe it's so difficult for anyone else to see the difference. The bruised membrane is the pericranium (or periosteum) and the edge shown in the autopsy photos is where her scalp was cut to allow it to be peeled back exposing the skull. Since it is semi-transparent, the back portion being left over the depressed fracture made the "hole" look different. Dr. Meyer has to know this now, but of course he does not comment publicly and he's now retired from the coroner position.
Okay so Burke demonstrated what he thought happened. I think its really what happened and what he described are very similar. I could see a type of hammer causing the damage or a pipe. That's the first picture I've seen of the pipes.(excuse me while I enjoy another beer and rest for the night. I will promise to continue this tomorrow! We had a recovery of a child and that's something to celebrate! Thank you for responding!Always enjoy reading your insights!:tyou:
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