JonBenet was a six year old female. Some people hold the view that she may have engaged in autoerotic practices thereby incurring a fatality, or been party to consensual activity?
What follows is a brief overview of FEMALE SEXUAL ASPHYXIA, taking particular note of any gender differences. Some of the examples may OFFEND since they are GRAPHIC so please dont read any further if you dislike sexual details.
Byard, Hucker and Hazelwood ( 1990 ) presented a comparison of male and female autoerotic death scenes. They gave an age range in males of 9 to 80 years and in females 19 to 68 years, they atribute the use of bizarre props, unusual clothing, *advertiser censored*, devices to cause pain etc, evidence of fetishism to the male death scene, and their absence to the female death scene.
So in statistical terms the likelyhood of Burke engaging in autoerotic activity is close to zero ie on the bottom left side of the bell curve tail. And JonBenet at 6-years old does not even fall into the female range!
So next lets consider Consensual Autoerotic Asphyxia. In the context of JonBenet's death, Burke has been proposed, possibly including an unknown accomplice.
Whilst its not possible to rule this out completely its probabilty or likelyhood is very very low.
Anyone wanting to construct the death of JonBenet by consensual autoerotic asphyxia, and taking into account the above information on Female Sexual Asphyxia may wish to factor Patsy or another female relative into the frame?
In the United States deaths are commonly classified as Natural, Suicide, Accident, or Homicide.
Now in the event where a death has occured and it can be shown to be from an accident some Insurance Companies will pay out higher insurance claims.
Also when true consensual sexual asphyxia results in death, say as in between Burke and JonBenet, the death is ACCIDENTAL, and NOT a homicide!
Although well meaning relatives may alter the crime scene or the surviving actor does not wish to trust the police with a valid version of events. It is still the case it would be judged as an accident and NOT a homicide!
Recent insurance claim refused by the Danaher Corporation and its appeal.
Excerpt:
... In its decision, the court agreed that the autoerotic behaviour engaged in by Mr Parker was foolish, and high risk. However, the court also recognized that research regarding autoerotic asphyxiation suggests that it is "a repetitive pattern of behaviour that individuals engage in over a period of years and that the intent of the individuals performing this act is not death" ( Danaher Corporation et al vs Parker 1994 )
They also believed that the "common understanding of man" would be that Mr Parker's death was the result of an accident. They subsequently ruled it was an accident, and awarded Mary Parker the accidental death benefits.
So did the Ramsays file an insurance claim after the Grand Jury decision? If they did not, why not?
Obviously any non-consensual autoerotic asphyxia, that is where some person restricts the air supply of another person, then this is an intentional criminal act, any subsequent death would be classified as a homicide!
References:
Turvy1995 :- http://www.corpus-delicti.com/auto.html
Autoerotic Asphyxiation Paraphilia:-
http://www.cwu.edu/~jenkinsa/aeaarticle.html
What follows is a brief overview of FEMALE SEXUAL ASPHYXIA, taking particular note of any gender differences. Some of the examples may OFFEND since they are GRAPHIC so please dont read any further if you dislike sexual details.
These cases highlight the fact that female autoerotic deaths do NOT appear to present the same as male autoerotic deaths scenes.Turvy1995 said:MYTH # 1 - AGE
"Decedents tend to be young boys"
Adelson[1], in his book, The Pathology of Homicide, published in 1974, was a proponent of this theory. He stated, in reference to autoerotic deaths, that they were "A unique group of accidental hangings usually involving young boys ages nine and fourteen or fifteen." And he described it as the termination of a dangerous game played by boys. He was later cited by Geberth[4] and Holmes[6] concerning this specific issue.
This statement is a myth because it is only partly accurate. According to the study of autoerotic asphyxial deaths published by Hazelwood, Burgess, & Dietz[5], operating with the largest subject population of any study to date (N=132), 37 of the subjects were white teenage males. However, 42 of the subjects were white males (plus one black) between the ages of 20 and 29. An additional 28 subjects were white males (plus one Hispanic and two black) between the ages of 30 and 39. This clearly shows that each of those three age clusters are strongly represented by the data. In light of this sampling, the age generalization cannot practically be applied to the occurrence of autoerotic fatalities. When applied to a death investigation, the need for reconciliation of this myth is compounded.
MYTH # 2 - GENDER
"Autoerotic Fatalities occur only in men"
This is by far the most concerning myth. It harkens back to a misguided male mind set that females do not have the same sexual desires as males, and therefore do not masturbate. Not only is it supported by Adelson[1], but Geberth[4]. Similarly, DiMaio & DiMaio[3] minimize female occurrences by saying of sexual asphyxia "Such deaths are rare, with the victim virtually always a male. Only a few cases involving a females have been reported,".
The inferences made by the above authors are entirely misleading. Although female occurrences are not as frequent as male occurrences, they do exist in the data. If the Pathologist or death investigator does not think to look at female cases with the possibility of autoerotic fatality in mind, then something may be overlooked in the examination of the body, the scene or the history.
In a lecture that the author attended in the winter of this year given by S.A. Max Thiel(ret.)[8] of the FBI on the subject of autoerotic fatalities, there was a marked show of public embarrassment and disbelief in the audience. One female attendee asked how any female could possibly perform an autoerotic act. She seemed unbelieving of the answer that she received.
Female data are presented by Hazelwood, Burgess, and Dietz[5], Sass[7], and Holmes[6].
Example [5]: "A thirty year old single woman was found dead in her locked apartment. She was nude and lying supine on a blanket on the bedroom floor. A pillow beneath her buttocks elevated them. Her legs were slightly spread, and her arms were by her sides. A blouse was lodged in her mouth and covered her face. Next to the body was a dental plate belonging to the victim. Near her left foot were an empty beer can, an ashtray, and a drinking glass. Neither the body nor the scene exhibited signs of a struggle. The victim's clothes and purse (containing her keys) were on her bed. A vibrator and leather bondage materials were found in her closet. The door was locked with a spring bolt. The autopsy report indicated that she had choked to death."
Example [5]: "A black woman in her early twenties was discovered in a severely decomposed condition. She was found on a bed in her locked apartment where she had resided alone. She was nude and lay face down with a pillow under her abdomen and her buttocks in the air. Her right hand was beneath her, near her vagina. Her face was turned to one side, and a knife was beneath her cheek. On the bed immediately below her vagina lay a long sausage, which in all probability, fell from her vagina after death. On the kitchen counter a package of similar sausages, once frozen, had since thawed. The apartment door had been locked from within, and no other persons were known to posses a key."
Hazelwood, Burgess, and Dietz[5] note that the cause of death in this second example remained undetermined due to severe decomposition, but included it because of a similar Japanese case that presented a woman who died while masturbating with a carrot (Tomita & Uchida[9]). The cause of death was determined, in that case, to have been a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which is a form of stroke.
Example [7]: "This case occurred in a midwestern city...and involved a woman 35 years of age, a divorcee with a nine-year-old daughter. The mother was found deceased by the daughter in the morning after the child arose from a night's sleep in an adjoining room.
The child had gone to bed at 10:00 p.m....upon awakening noticed a strange humming noise coming from her mother's room. After entering the room, she found her mother hanging deceased in a small closet off the bedroom.
The victim was found completely nude lying on a small shelved space at the rear of the closet. Her feet were against the wall and her body was extended in a prone position, head downward...There was a folded quilt placed on the front portion of the shelf that was immediately under he abdomen and upper thighs...
...She died of strangulation. An electric vibrator connected to an extension cord was found running. The vibrator was positioned between her thighs and the hard rubber massage head in contact with the victim's vulva. There was a string-type clothespin on the nipple of her right breast, compressing the nipple, and another clothespin of the same type was found immediately below her left breast.
Example[8]: "A twenty-two year old single woman was discovered dead by her sister, who had been staying with the victim temporarily. The sister had been away for two days and returned on Sunday at 9:00 p.m....She went directly to her bedroom and did not discover the victim until the following morning.
The deceased was found in an arched position with an electrical cord attached to her neck by a slip knot, passing over a doorknob, and wrapped around her ankles. Her abdomen, thighs, and forearms rested on the floor, and her feet were pulled back toward her head. The right side of her head was against the door's edge, and her hair was entangled in the slip knot. She was clothed in a blouse that she normally wore for sleeping. Commercial lubrication cream was found in the victim's vagina, and a battery-operated vibrator was found 4 feet from her body. The only trauma was a 1 1/2-inch contusion above and behind her right ear. The scene was not disturbed, and there was no sign of a struggle. On her bed were a series of drafted letters she had written in response to an advertisement seeking a possible sexual liaison.
Autopsy revealed no evidence of recent intercourse, and no alcohol or other drugs were detected in the body. The cause of death was determined to be asphyxia due to laryngeal compression.
The victim had been in excellent physical condition, had made plans for a canoe trip on the day following her death, and had recently been in good spirits. She was sexually active but was reportedly disappointed in her sexual relationships as she had difficulty attaining orgasm. She used contraceptive cream and a diaphragm to prevent pregnancy, and these items were located in her car.
...Over the place where the body was lying on this shelved area was a small narrow shelf 66in. above the floor. This was attached to the wall by two steel brackets and the one closest to the shelved area had a nylon hose tied around it which formed a long loop. The victim has placed her head in the loop and placed a hand towel between her neck and the nylon hose. Her face was turned toward the wall and laying against it."
Example[10]: A 19-year old white female was found dead in her bedroom by family. She was lying on the bed with rope wrapped around her neck and tied to her ankles. She was wearing panties and a hairbrush handle was inserted into the vagina. [Byard and Bramwell 1988 ]
Women masturbate. Women engage in autoerotic behavior. Women who engage in dangerous forms of autoerotic behavior can die from it. Asphyxia and trauma are not sexually discriminate in their effects on human anatomy. If that tenet of autoerotic fatalities is ignored by a death investigator, or a pathologist, then autoerotic fatalities among women may be overlooked. The belief that it doesn't happen among women may create classification errors in future reporting despite any previous documentation to the contrary.
Byard, Hucker and Hazelwood ( 1990 ) presented a comparison of male and female autoerotic death scenes. They gave an age range in males of 9 to 80 years and in females 19 to 68 years, they atribute the use of bizarre props, unusual clothing, *advertiser censored*, devices to cause pain etc, evidence of fetishism to the male death scene, and their absence to the female death scene.
So in statistical terms the likelyhood of Burke engaging in autoerotic activity is close to zero ie on the bottom left side of the bell curve tail. And JonBenet at 6-years old does not even fall into the female range!
So next lets consider Consensual Autoerotic Asphyxia. In the context of JonBenet's death, Burke has been proposed, possibly including an unknown accomplice.
Whilst its not possible to rule this out completely its probabilty or likelyhood is very very low.
Anyone wanting to construct the death of JonBenet by consensual autoerotic asphyxia, and taking into account the above information on Female Sexual Asphyxia may wish to factor Patsy or another female relative into the frame?
In the United States deaths are commonly classified as Natural, Suicide, Accident, or Homicide.
Now in the event where a death has occured and it can be shown to be from an accident some Insurance Companies will pay out higher insurance claims.
Also when true consensual sexual asphyxia results in death, say as in between Burke and JonBenet, the death is ACCIDENTAL, and NOT a homicide!
Although well meaning relatives may alter the crime scene or the surviving actor does not wish to trust the police with a valid version of events. It is still the case it would be judged as an accident and NOT a homicide!
Recent insurance claim refused by the Danaher Corporation and its appeal.
Excerpt:
... In its decision, the court agreed that the autoerotic behaviour engaged in by Mr Parker was foolish, and high risk. However, the court also recognized that research regarding autoerotic asphyxiation suggests that it is "a repetitive pattern of behaviour that individuals engage in over a period of years and that the intent of the individuals performing this act is not death" ( Danaher Corporation et al vs Parker 1994 )
They also believed that the "common understanding of man" would be that Mr Parker's death was the result of an accident. They subsequently ruled it was an accident, and awarded Mary Parker the accidental death benefits.
So did the Ramsays file an insurance claim after the Grand Jury decision? If they did not, why not?
Obviously any non-consensual autoerotic asphyxia, that is where some person restricts the air supply of another person, then this is an intentional criminal act, any subsequent death would be classified as a homicide!
References:
Turvy1995 :- http://www.corpus-delicti.com/auto.html
Autoerotic Asphyxiation Paraphilia:-
http://www.cwu.edu/~jenkinsa/aeaarticle.html