I went into that interview with the BDI mindset. Nothing I heard in the interview changed my mind at all. actually the fact that he admitted both he and John used the flashlight that night, and that he was downstairs after bed confirmed my view even further. The flashlight was always a huge sticking point for me, as i see no reason at all why it would be wiped down, including the batteries. So now we have no fingerprints on the flashlight that both Burke and John used (finally admitted, rather than the 'we have no flashlight' line). Why?
I do not find the manic grinning odd. To me it really came across as a guy who was extremely uncomfortable.
I actually believe he believes his version 100% too. I imagine going through something like that as a child..witnessing it or being part of it (of which there is no doubt in my mind one of these happened) would really **** you up. A friend of mine, when 10 years old opened her bedroom window wide whilst her new puppy was sat on her bed, it immediately jumped onto the windowsill and out of the window and died. I know this happened as I was there but even to this day she does not 'think' this happened. She remembers it as the window was already open, thus absolving herself of any blame in it. I imagine if the adults around her were constantly drumming a completely different story into her she may have the view now that the puppy didn't even die that day. Or that some stranger purposely pushed the puppy out of the window. The human brain is a weird thing and I do believe it reacts to conditioning, especially when started from a very young age.
What I saw was a hugely ****ed up adult, and oddly enough I actually felt sorry for him?! Which I did not expect at all.
The pineapple reaction..I did see a change in his demeanor at that stage. I believe this could have been a slight recollection that he did eat pineapple with JonBenet that night (or day..as Dr Phil stupidly put it). But he has been told..and maybe 'remembers'...that he did not. There was no pineapple eaten that day/night is the parents version and they have stuck to it rigidly. I do not see any reason to think they would not also drum into Burke that the pineapple was a nono..or that it didn't even happen. Another thing that struck me as hugely odd was him saying he would have heard it if his parents had hit his sister with a baseball bat. But this leaves me this question...if he would have heard his parents kill her, how would he not equally hear an intruder killing her? Sound levels and everything would be the same, just different perpetrators.
It was an interesting show. To me, it really humanized Burke and I found myself feeling a lot of sympathy for him at various stages. I always thought he was involved but it was not planned or malicious or anything, more some silly argument gone wrong. Kids can be brutal but I do not believe he intentionally hurt his sister to that degree. I believe this case may finally be 'cracked' once John is no longer with us. It would be very interesting to see what memories Burke has repressed. I have no doubt he is the key to this case. I also feel he made the wrong decision putting himself into the spotlight like that. Though I guess he had no choice given the CBS documentary was due to be shown the week after.
