Good day, I have a theory to run by you WSers.
I have almost always believed in PR’s guilt in the death of JBR, and that JR was only involved in the cover up. Recently, I began to consider, what if JR is the killer, and PR merely an accomplice in the cover up? I came up with a theory featuring JR as killer.
Either IDI or RDI. I do not think IDI. There is no evidence, and for a killer to remain in the house that long, there had to be some forensic evidence left behind. The degraded dna does not count to me as evidence. I am sure RDI. But which RDI? I do not believe that BR did it. I do believe that both parents participated in the cover up. In order to believe the Rs both participated in JBR’s death, I would have to believe that they (1) premeditated it, which makes no sense to me that they would do that on Christmas of all days, and on the eve of a planned early morning flight to Michigan, or (2) that they accidentally killed her; either innocently, ie. in an innocent accident, or else in the course of doing something evil to her that would come to light if they called 911. Again, if she was killed by accident, say dropped on her head coming in from the garage, it’s an obvious accident, and a parent would call 911. On the other hand, if she was killed accidentally in the middle of a sexual abuse session, again, I just don’t think JR and PR would together decide to get their jollies with JBR late on the eve of an early flight. For these reasons, I do not think JR and PR both participated in the death of JBR.
I remember not long after JBR’s death, seeing an interview with Linda Arndt, in which she described looking into JR’s eyes moments after the body had been discovered, and believing with certainty that she was looking into the cold calculating eyes of the killer (I forget her exact words)
There is evidence that JBR had been sexually abused, and I believe it was at the hands of someone in her household. It makes the most sense to me that it was someone with regular access to her, and who she is more likely to obey and “keep the secret”. My theory is that it was her father, JR. I think she was too feisty to put up with abuse by BR, and in any event, I find the notion of a 9 year old sexually abusing his sister to be highly unlikely. PR was not the abuser because if she was, she would never have taken the risk of taking JBR to the doctor so many times for irritations to her genital region. No way.
This murder was not premeditated, it just happened, and the subsequent staging was necessary to save the killer from blame.
The pineapple she consumed before her death could only have been served to her by JR, PR, or BR. I think BR would be the least likely to be able to sustain a lie about pineapple (or anything else) in the long run. The parents remained so adamant about no pineapple having been consumed, that I conclude that one was genuinely at a loss as to explain the pineapple snack, while the other was simply lying. I believe it was JR who knew JBR had eaten the pineapple. He may have allowed her to help herself, which is why the leftover dishes may have looked like a child had laid them out – the too large spoon, the mess not put away. PR would have tidied the mess up – they were leaving early the next morning, and would not have time to clean up later.
Somehow, there is either an altercation between JR and JBR, or he puts her to bed and begins some sort of sexual abuse of her. Perhaps JBR expresses a determination to stop keeping the secret, or a defiance about any continued fondling/sex play. The panty switch makes me think his escalating contact with JBR has drawn blood this time, or has caused an injury he’ll never be able to keep hidden. Maybe she calls out for mommy. Something happens which causes JR to react – either out of anger, or to silence her. I envision him angrily tossing her across the room, or onto her bed. Perhaps she lands headfirst on the flashlight, or on a dumbbell (there was discussion of dumbbells in JBR’s room on a recent thread….) and she appears either dead or at least to have a grievous head injury. What to do now? How does JR explain this? This is a moment where he has to make a choice – her or me.
He comes up with a plan to save himself from blame, and for his family to come out of this without being fingered as child abusers/murderers.
I don’t believe that JR could risk PR finding any sign of life in JBR because she would have called 911 immediately. He needed PR to believe BR had accidentally killed JBR. He finishes JBR off with strangulation, either using cords found in their home and which are later found on the body, or he strangles her then substitutes the cords later as part of the staging. There is a small amount of blood on her from the assault. He must remove the evidence, and so wipes her down and takes her soiled panties off and discards them (down the toilet? Cut into bits? Burns them to ash? Hides them in golf bag?) Being a grown man with not much insight into little girls and their panty wearing habits, he feels a need only to replace the Wednesday panties with an identical Wednesday pair, for PR’s benefit, as she may have noticed if JBR turned up in the wrong panties. He does not clue in that size 12 bloomies would be huge on little JBR. 9 year old BR would not have been detail oriented enough to take this care in changing the panties. PR would not have made this mistake. I used to think the “Potty Rage” theory had merit, but I now believe PR would not substitute the size 12s – if it really mattered to her, she would simply wash and dry the correct size 6 Wednesday pair and put them back on JBR. I also found it a stretch to fathom the degree of frustration or rage over wet pants that would compel her to snap so severely as to cause death.
JR concocts a story for Patsy that implicates BR, and suggests that, whatever has happened to JBR, she’s gone, it was an accident, and they must now do everything in their power to protect their remaining child. BR has already once been implicated in an assault on JBR (with a golf club), and who will believe that this was just another accident? JR explains to PR that BR is not fully aware of the extent to which he has harmed his sister, and therefore, they need to shield him from the knowledge of his own actions. BR cannot be implicated because he will be taken away from his parents, he didn’t mean to do it and he will be scarred for life by guilt and by any experience of the criminal justice system. With Patsy’s failing health, she could lose out on the chance to spend time with her last remaining child. PR unwittingly becomes JR’s accomplice; partly out of the shock of her angel JBR’s death, partly out of a mother’s fierce need to protect her son from accusation. She needs to depend on JR directing her actions; she surrenders her will, so to speak.
My theory is that JR intended originally to remove JBR’s body from the home, but later, either PR could not bear it, or he felt it was too great a risk to drive out of his house – what if he was seen by a neighbour? How could he explain away a nocturnal outing? Perhaps the ransom note took too long, and they felt they were out of time. He had to turn to setting up a staged sexual assault, tied hands. With rigor mortis setting in, he was not able to tie the hands in a manner that provided any true restraint, and this is why there was so much slack in the cords.
I believe JR oversaw the staging, thinking that any redirection of the police attention was helpful to their cause – to point every finger away from them. Stage a sexual assault, suggesting a sexual deviant is on the loose. Probably the staged sexual assault was done in the hopes it would also help cover his tracks from any evidence of previous sexual contact he’d had with JBR. Stage a ransom note, with clues leading to possible business related motives, and a hint of terrorism added for flavour. I think JBR’s body was stowed as far away as possible from where she really died, partly as a complete redirection of attention from the site of her death, and probably in PR’s mind, as physically far as possible away from any hint of an association with BR.
In the morning, the Rs knew they had to act as though the original plan to rise early and fly to Michigan was interrupted by the discovery of a ransom note. This is why the 911 call was placed when it was – they could not have delayed any longer without arousing suspicion.
Even in the (disputed enhanced tape) 911 recording, at the point in which JR is heard in the background saying “we are not talking to YOU!” , this angry comment, imo, is made for PR’s benefit –to demonstrate to her JR’s stress towards BR, for whom they have worked under great duress all night to protect from implication. This is why PR goes along with the lie later on that BR was still in bed at the time of the 911 call – anything said to protect BR.
PR goes along with all the lies, because she has participated all night long – in writing a ransom note, in staging a sexual crime scene. My theory is that JR made PR do the truly awful stuff – the staged penetration with her paintbrush (this is why, when interviewed later, PR has such a hard time “remembering” if this is indeed her paintbrush – she remembers all too well) and the ransom note (which really, who would it implicate in the long run of PR fails to adequately disguise her handwriting? Not JR!) PR accumulates so much after the fact guilt; she can never second guess their actions without admitting to the unimaginable. She has to entrench herself in their lies forever, relying on 2 things – the knowledge that she did it to save BR, and her belief that God forgives and her faith will sustain her.
This is another point – I cannot see JR ever going through any of this at PR’s urging. If PR had somehow killed JBR, I see JR asking 1,000 questions of PR about what happened, and I don’t think he would ever believe her that BR harmed JBR and they need to cover it up. She would never be able to convince him of the lie.
Many posters here at WS comment on the crime, stating that parents would only lie and cover up in order to protect their child, in this case, BR. I agree that the Rs appeared to be united in their stand. But I believe only one parent believed the child had committed the crime, because the other parent had told her so.
BR could not have written the ransom note – no 9 year old could. I don’t think my 14 year old could. BR would not have cared to swap in Wednesday panties. He is unlikely to have been involved in any sexual play with JBR at age 9. He did not, imo, have the strength to inflict the head bash. He could not, imo, have kept up a secret of this magnitude for all these years.
That is the theory. Your feedback is most welcome.