Madeline- there was at least one unwrapped gift in the wineceller, and as has been mentioned, the corner of the gift wrap paper can be seen in a crime photo of the wineceller.
However, there may be evidence that the garrote was tied elsewhere in the basement and NOT in the wineceller, and I agree. There are four reasons why:
First, there were urine stains on a carpet in an area of the basement outside the wineceller, suggesting this was the place she died and voided her bladder at moment of death. This was not far from the location of the paint tote.
Second, the garrote was tied while she lay on her stomach (the knot was at the back of her neck).
Third, her longjohns had urine stains on the anterior (front) surface, also indicating she was on her stomach when her bladder voided.
And fourth, she had fibers from that same basement carpet on her.
To me, this suggests a scene where she was already unconscious from the head bash, and was placed on her stomach on a carpeted area of the basement near the wineceller. The garrote was tied as she lay there, and she died at some point. Primary flaccidity occurred there, and that's why the urine stains were there. Then, she was moved into the wineceller, where the blanket was already in place, put down on the blanket and partially covered up.
One thing to remember about her arms- there is some confusion about the position her arms are described as being in when she was first brought up (straight up over her head) and yet her arms are shown in a crime photo as she lay on the living room carpet as being bent at the elbow in an almost right-angle. This could have been he result of the shortening of the muscle fibers as rigor mortis progressed, and is a fairly common occurrence. The crime photo shows the coroner's metal ruler lying over her cheek, and the coroner didn't arrive until 8 PM on the 26th. This was about 7 hours after she was found, and almost 20 hours after she died. Rigor takes about 12 hours to reach maximum levels and it remains that way for another 12 hours. This brings her to being in full rigor for the crime photo and coroner's first exam. Then, other autopsy photos show her arms and hands flaccid again. This is because by the time of the autopsy at 8 AM on the 27th, rigor was in the receding stage and her arms would have been easier for the coroner to "break" rigor.
