BrotherMoon said:
Facts; the skin on the head was not lascerated, there was no external swelling, there was bruising on the neck below the position of the cord., there was a small rectangular displacement of the skull.
Beliefs; the bleeding in the skull was small.
My conclusions; the strangulation came first, the head was covered or the object that was used was padded, the final position of the cord was not for strangulation. The final postion of the neck cord matches the purpose of the wrist cords; staging and or the posing of a body part. Most importantly, the head blow, the position of the body and the position of the cords, had meaning for the perp. The initial strangulation was functional only.
The small amount of internal bleeding and the lack of swelling indicate a lack of blood pressure when the head blow was delivered. The petechial hemorrhaging indicates blood pressure when the strangulation occured.
The skin on the head was not lacerated: Apparently not, so no sharp-edged object was employed or involved. FACT I agree.
There was no external swelling of the head: FACT I agree.
Rectangular displacement of skull: FACT I agree.
Strangulation came first: yes, I think so too.
The head was covered or the weapon padded: I might agree with this if it weren't for the fact of the displaced fragment. It seems to me the displaced fragment suggests no padding; however, if you can explain to me how the fragmentation could have occurred with the padding, I will concede, and be delighted. Considering that the displaced fragment (DF) occurred toward the back of the skull, where the radius of curvature is smallest, it's possible that the bulk of the impact (highest perpendicular pressure) occurred elsewhere; e.g., along the crack, and the fragment was expelled outward when the skull distorted. Do you know whether the fragment was expelled outward or pushed inward? If it was pushed inward, I'm more inclined to think the impacting surface was hard and like that of a baseball bat, flashlight, banister or some such thing. It interested me to read, in Patsy's deposition of 98', that when Haney posed the question regarding the possibility that the child might have been pushed down the stairs (the accident theory), she answered, "I.......don't know." As an aside, as much or more damage can be done to the brain (more extensive) with a padded device and/or with a padded head (folded towel) as can be done in the absence of padding, because with no padding, some of the energy of the blow is expended in tissue damage and bone fracture. In short, a person can succumb to brain damage without any visible sign of scalp damage or fracture. In JonBenet's case, the brain directly underneath the fracture was bruised along the entire length of the fracture and we know that arteries were torn, because she hemorrhaged subdurally and subarachnoidally. We also know that some scalp arteries were torn, apparently along the fracture, because an "extensive area of hemorrhaging", which bordered the fracture, was noted.
The final position of the cord was not for strangulation: I'm not exactly sure I understand what you mean by this. What was the position of the cord prior to it's final position? I note that there are abrasions on the front and sides of the neck that aren't explained by the cord in it's final position.
The purpose of neck cord matches the purpose of wrist cord: What was the purpose of the wrist cord? Symbolic bondage? If so, why wasn't the neck cord also symbolic? If it had been, no strangulation would have occurred, right? Or are you suggesting that stunning, binding (sort of), strangling and clubbing satisfy a deep psychological need for this perp? That's interesting.
The initial strangulation was functional only: yes, to render her unconscious, but what is the evidence for this initial strangulation?
Small amount of bleeding: What about the extensive area of hemorrhaging in/of the scalp? I'm inclined to agree with you on this.
Lack of swelling of the brain: I'm inclined to agree with you on this also. Some swelling is usually seen with strangulation. Some have speculated that the swelling in JBR's brain-apparently minimal-indicated that she had been alive some minutes (10-40) prior to death. That lended credence to the blow-first theory.
Bruising on the neck below the position of the cord: This was described as abrasion, I think.
Thanks, BrotherMoon!
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