I had forgotten this, and just reread the autopsy report - there was no damage to the tongue, no damage to the frenulum (that bit of tissue that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth) the hyoid bone was not damaged, no strap muscles damaged and no internal damage to the larynx, etc. In aphixiation and strangulation cases where the victim is conscious, there is damage to the tongue - the victim bites it, cuts it along the edge of the teeth as it presses down on them and very often the frenulum is cut or torn, cheeks are bitten. The hyoid bone is broken because it is a very delicate bone and as people struggle, arch their necks and pressure is put upon it, it fractures or breaks. There is always damage to other parts of the neck, such as bruising, tearing of muscles, etc. In this case, there was no damage to any of these body parts - no bruising, nothing. There was bruising, there were abrasions, but they were on the outside, not the inside of throat or mouth. Since there were no signs of a struggle then she was probably unconscious.
IMO, this is more consistent with what Dave* suggested earlier and I had remembered from quite some time ago, that someone grabbed the neck of the shirt, twisted it, and at the same time began to shake the little girl. If the little girl had resisted, and arched her head and reared back, she might have hit her head on the edge of the sink counter and become immediately unconscious. In looking at the autopsy pictures, I noticed that there were also at least what appeared to be another furrow mark, wider and not as deep, with a v shaped bruise on the anterior of the neck which looks like knuckles pressed into the skin - there's another furrow closer to the top of the neck also. The ligature made by the white string, (which looks like a tie for sweatpants or a shoe string with the nibs missing) is horizontal, no pulling up or down or to any side that again would indicate a conscious struggle to breathe.
Another odd anomoly is that the long underwear she had on was stained with urine anteriorly. That would mean that if she had had an accident while she had the longjohns on, she would have to have been on her stomach. However, I vaguely remember reading that the longjohns were on backwards, does anyone else remember that? That would of course mean that someone had redressed her, beside the fact that they had wrapped her in a blanket and layed the body on top of a throw in the basement room. I won't get into all the psychological implications of that, but it is very odd.
If someone had come up from behind the kid and hit her little head with a flashlight, why would they need to use a stun gun, (not that they'd need to in any case) and if they strangled her first, why would a head blow be needed?
In my opinion, the reason one person in that relationship kept quiet, is because he/she might have heard an altercation taking place and thought to him/herself "let the other person handle it, I'm too tired to get up" and then felt overcome with guilt that he/she didn't go see what was happening.
*I should let Dave speak for himself, but by posting that, he did remind me, and I didn't want him to think I was ignoring his ideas or thoughts.
I'm also thinking of starting a thread called "the guys I'd like to tro a beatin' to for screwin this up by openin ther traps and bein arrogant *ssh*les"
Wecht, Eller, Arndt, The Denver FBI office, Smit, Darnay Hoffman (a real good beatin to him) Hunter... (just kidding...sort of)
IMO, this is more consistent with what Dave* suggested earlier and I had remembered from quite some time ago, that someone grabbed the neck of the shirt, twisted it, and at the same time began to shake the little girl. If the little girl had resisted, and arched her head and reared back, she might have hit her head on the edge of the sink counter and become immediately unconscious. In looking at the autopsy pictures, I noticed that there were also at least what appeared to be another furrow mark, wider and not as deep, with a v shaped bruise on the anterior of the neck which looks like knuckles pressed into the skin - there's another furrow closer to the top of the neck also. The ligature made by the white string, (which looks like a tie for sweatpants or a shoe string with the nibs missing) is horizontal, no pulling up or down or to any side that again would indicate a conscious struggle to breathe.
Another odd anomoly is that the long underwear she had on was stained with urine anteriorly. That would mean that if she had had an accident while she had the longjohns on, she would have to have been on her stomach. However, I vaguely remember reading that the longjohns were on backwards, does anyone else remember that? That would of course mean that someone had redressed her, beside the fact that they had wrapped her in a blanket and layed the body on top of a throw in the basement room. I won't get into all the psychological implications of that, but it is very odd.
If someone had come up from behind the kid and hit her little head with a flashlight, why would they need to use a stun gun, (not that they'd need to in any case) and if they strangled her first, why would a head blow be needed?
In my opinion, the reason one person in that relationship kept quiet, is because he/she might have heard an altercation taking place and thought to him/herself "let the other person handle it, I'm too tired to get up" and then felt overcome with guilt that he/she didn't go see what was happening.
*I should let Dave speak for himself, but by posting that, he did remind me, and I didn't want him to think I was ignoring his ideas or thoughts.
I'm also thinking of starting a thread called "the guys I'd like to tro a beatin' to for screwin this up by openin ther traps and bein arrogant *ssh*les"
Wecht, Eller, Arndt, The Denver FBI office, Smit, Darnay Hoffman (a real good beatin to him) Hunter... (just kidding...sort of)