Solace said:
Hi Rash,
How are you? Love reading your posts. I agree with you 1000% Patsy is strong as steel; this is not to say she wishes it did not happen, but it is not going to destroy her life - A reporter asked her "you must be going crazy" and she replied "I am not going crazy for anyone". She is tough as nails. I hear she is free of the cancer again, but am not sure what I am reading is accurate.
I have a question for you. Was reading Wecht's book and he is convinced from the small amount of blood in JB's skull that the crushing took place after the strangulation since her heart had virtually stopped. HOWEVER, Steve Thomas in his book says "there was massive hemmorhaging". I read the autopsy and it agrees with Wecht although it also says there was "extensive hemmorhaging" under the skull (I think under the skull - could be wrong - but it was in the area of the assault on her head. What do you think?
Another thing, I was reading the interview that Barbara Walters did with them (John and Patsy) and she asked why they never took a poly and they replied "we were never asked". She lets them off the hook, because ST says he did ask her, (but I did read his transcript and he says "I am not asking you but how would you do with a poly". So I am still trying to find out if they were asked to take it. PM/PT author Schiller says they were asked, but according to the transcripts they were only "alluded to". Can you help with that?
Rash, I am obsessed by this case and I think I am obsessed because of the absolute violence of it all. In looking at JB's skull, I am still speechless. In reading the note, I am shocked that Patsy has the audacity to think she can get away with it (to write such a long one), but then she has, hasn't she. But she has audacity to even contemplate it.
And in the back of my mind I am still wondering every once in a while, because the crime is so horrific; and then I remember, oh yes, they tell lies when none are needed and that tells me so much. Usually when people are lying, it is a part of something bigger. They both tell lies that really there is no need to, but apparently they feel there is.
Hi Solace, great to see you posting here! When we got into our off-topic talk about the JBR case on another forum, I thought how great it would be if you could become a poster on the JB forums on the net, and it is so good to see you over here - you ask such pivotal questions about this case, and have already read much more than I, who have just started reading PMPT after finishing ST's book.
In terms of your question re the bleeding inside JB's skull: I haven't read Wecht's book (did he actually write a book about the case?), but this is what I read about Dr. Meyer's autopsy report (PMPT pb, p. 156/157) [bold type mine]:
"The next thing Meyer noted in is report was a fracture of the skull that had not be visible before he removed part of the skull. There was subdural hemorrhaging over the surface of the right cerebral hemisphere and a thin film of subarachnoid hemorrhaging over the whole right cerebral hemisphere. In the report, he wrote about an extensive purple bruise, about 8 by 1 3/4 inches in area, underlying the skull fracture, as well as a bruise at the tip of the right temporal lobe measuring about 1/4 inch square."
And I think that this is what Steve Thomas meant by 'extensive hemorrhaging' of the brain, because the surface below the skull where bleeding was noted was indeed extensive: 8 by 1 3/4 inches.
And doesn't an amount of bleeding like that show even to laypeople that the damage done to JB's brain was horrendous?
Which is why I'd like to read Wecht's book. What is the exact title?
Rash, I am obsessed by this case and I think I am obsessed because of the absolute violence of it all. In looking at JB's skull, I am still speechless. In reading the note, I am shocked that Patsy has the audacity to think she can get away with it (to write such a long one), but then she has, hasn't she. But she has audacity to even contemplate it.
Is it a wonder that people are obsessed by this case? A case were in the initial investigation everything that could go wrong, went wrong?
A case which will probably never see the inside of a courtroom because the affluent perps (I'll call them perp
s because I think (for whatever reason) John helped Patsy with the cover-up) lawyered up with top-flight attorneys right from the start, and a spineless DA let himself be intimidated by them?
This strategy seems to be working down to the present day. The Ramseys' aggressive attack-dog lawyer Lin Wood sued everyone who tried to challenge the Ramseys. So it it seems that even judges were afraid of that big-mouthed lawyer. What a shame!
Re the ransom note: I think when Patsy's wrote the ransom note she was operating on some kind of psychological 'auto-pilot': the damage had been done, nothing would bring her daughter back, and she just threw everything into that note which in her opinion would point away from the parents as the perps.
In terms of the polygraph, maybe the other posters know more about it.
I vaguely remember reading that the Ramseys did take a polygraph after all, but only by a polygrapher they themselves had chosen after their results of a previous polygraph had turned out not to be in their favor. But I'm not sure, so anyone correct me if I'm wrong.