both of her legs had to be broken to be placed in the coffin.
i know the sexual position you are talking about, but i do not believe that was the position she was in. i've read the scene article many times over the years, so i know it says her leg was 'straight'. but it didn't extend down from her hip in a straight line, it was off somehow.
did you see the bondage photo i posted? flip it around. you see how the one leg is straightish. but it is not straight like it was against something.
he didn't carry her and lay her down in the field. he threw her out of the car as if she was trash. he threw her stuff out as if it was trash and he drove away. none of this was done with any consideration. so, it didn't take much time or effort to manage.
she could not have been lying there so many days because it was only cold at night. during the days, it was in the 40s. also, this is in the middle of a city.
then, there are the bruises that have formed. this takes time.
maybe he did continue to rape and beat her after he killed her, but some of the attack happened while she was alive. in fact, i thought MOST of the attack occurred while she was alive.
i wish he'd just killed her 11/29. but, i honestly do not believe this is what happened. everything is not in these newspaper.
the reason i am responding is because people will become confused about the known facts. there are so few. if i do not say that something conflicts with what is known, then other people may base their theories on wrong information. there are quite a few times where people have decided someone's theory makes sense. and then it is accepted and agreed upon and built upon. but, if there is a conflict with what happened... i just don't know what to do except to write what i know over and over and over.
it's not what i want to believe, it's what i have been told by family members who spoke to the police. and some things are just from having been to that area of nashville and knowing what some of this looks like.
for example, i just read a quote of a quote of someone who now thinks she was mostly raped after she died. this isn't true. she was severely raped while she was alive. this is a huge discrepancy and i don't even know how it happened. the rapist may have continued on afterwards, but she went through a terrible ordeal while still alive.
i know this is not a logical murder. but, murders and murderers are not logical. if we had all of the information, things might make sense.
for a long time, my family did not tell me Kathy had been held captive. i thought it was all over with quickly. i was wrong because it was not. maybe it all took place in a vehicle right beside the lot, but it did not take place on the lot itself.
i have never heard the grass was smushed down. i have gone over in my mind, since the theory emerged in this thread, every way in the world it could take place in the lot.
but, everything has three problems
1. smashed down grass (this would occur whether he used her coat or a tarp or a tent)
2. people seeing (people might not be able to see her, but they would see him... this was not a remote or secluded location), his behavior would look aggressive and weird which would expose him to getting caught more than making a brief trip to the lot to leave her and dump out her stuff
3. noise, although she is gagged and cannot scream, some of the things he would be doing would make noise. even when i lived in nashville (much later), sound carried at night. i've been in that area at night. i think there is a good chance someone would have heard something and gone to investigate. and this doesn't take into account dogs barking.
i am trying to find out the exact search history of the lot. i understand nashville only had a coroner, but with the mild temperatures during the day, i believe this would have left unmistakable signs as she was found lying on the ground. on 11/29 (as an example as i did look it up) the high was 46 degrees. it only got down to 23 degrees at night.
the coat lying in front of her probably orients on the road or alley rather than on Kathy's body. this is how i would take and/or describe a photo anyway.
then there is the bruising. bruises had formed. i don't mean the ones described in the scene. i mean the ones seen when she was examined (there wasn't an autopsy, but there was a physical exam).
i will also try to find out the weather and wind speed, etc. on the day she was found. this might explain some of the lighter items being a little bit scattered.
i always thought he put everything in a sack and just dumped it out.
i do believe you may be right and he went through her purse at the last moment.
you're welcome about the shoes... i think the police officer thought it was an interesting theory (taken while changing into her skates). he has to check the evidence inventory list to be sure they didn't find them somewhere else.
i don't know of anyone other than police and the scene writer who has seen the crime scene photos. if there is a diagram drawn on paper (as there often is) i might ask if i can get/post that.
as far as photos of the area circa 1969, i have searched the interwebs since before i even started posting. i haven't been too lucky. i agree those would be useful. maybe the police took a few, but idk.