You can see that the garotte has hair in it - it was made while the person was in control of this little girl.

She fought the garotte - she struggled.

And yet the person tightened the garotte and took the time to kill her - - - not seconds but MINUTES.

Can you imagine doing this to a dog down the street? The one who barks all night keeping you awake?

Can you imagine doing this to the kid down the street who picks on your child until your child cries?

Could you do it to your own child?

The BORG is willing to place this at the feet of the parents - - it makes me wonder about their lives - - their own tempers and the safety of those around them.

I think most normal people can not imagine hurting another human being like that. We all know it happens - and sometimes perfectly normal people snap - - but they sure as hell don't snap back with no problems later. just doesn't happen that way.

There have been posts about Patsy Ramsey not having to 'snap' and then 'snap back to normalcy' because she is a sociopath or some such thing. Why anyone would want to believe in the absurd rather than accept the much more reasonable conclusion that the parents were not involved is beyond me.

I wonder however if the garotte itself is more of a clue than we have been thinking about.

I've always assumed that the garotte was fashioned because he wanted to have precise and prolonged control over her strangulation. He wanted to make it last! That instead of a mighty yank, there was repeated application of minute pressure and then repeated relaxation as the uniquely well-suited cord got tighter and tighter and really made her death a prolonged experience. I thought this mainly because I could see no actual need for a garotte since manual strangulation is not all that difficult if your victim is only six years old and is restrained.

However, I've recently begun to wonder if the use of the garotte indicates an excessively weak grip strength. Something like the bottom ten percent of the population or something. Really weak!
Did he choose a garotte for fun or did he fashion one out of necessity?

That cord (not the knot) just looks like childs play to me so I'm saying for fun. It is hard for me to imagine purchasing cord like that with an intent to strangle someone, I think I'd go for rope not cord.

Coincidence? or careful selection?

"Coincidence? or careful selection?"

Don, I never read that the rope was flat on the inside and round on the outside. Did I miss that information? It certainly does sound optimal which would, under normal circumstances, seem like a careful selection,,,however, we probably need to throw that in with the rest of the coincidences involving the McReynolds.

BTW, does anyone know where Bill McReynolds had his "near death experience" heart surgery? Which hospital, which town, which doctor? Also, I wonder if the cops checked his itinerary from 1968 through the time of his demise. The obit published in the campus paper has him in a couple of places at the same time,,,no surprise there!

I've been thinking along those same lines, myself. Maybe not a weak grip all the time, but sustained application of pressure may be a problem for him. Maybe a weak grip in only one hand. I'm really starting to wonder if the guy has some neurological problems.

I'm thinking the breaking of the paintbrush had something to do with the way he tied the knot. I think the stick had to be short enough to go through a small loop that was made in the making of the knot.

Good explanation about why the paintbrush may have been broken.

My description of the cord is based on having been told that the edge against the neck is flat and my impression from the autopsy photo that the outer edge appears to be rounded.

It looks like 1/4" nylon, hollow, braided cord. It lies flat but can be rounded also.

Who told you that the edge against the neck is flat?

Go look at the cord photos. The cord is flat cord. It's hollow, though. If you laid it flat on the table and rolled it with your hands, it will round. Leave it alone, it goes flat again. It's hollow-braided.

It appears as though the ransom note may have been written by someone who experienced such tremors.

"People with schizophrenia often suffer terrifying symptoms such as hearing internal voices not heard by others, or believing that other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them. These symptoms may leave them fearful and withdrawn. Their speech and behavior can be so disorganized that they may be incomprehensible or frightening to others."

Had this murder been committed by someone suffering from schizophrenia, there would have been an abundcance of physical evidence found at the scene and more than likely, the injuries done to JonBenet would also have been far greater.

One of the reasons the FBI coined the terms "Organized" and "Disorganized" for killers was to help law enforcement differentiate between psychopaths (Organized) and schizophrenics (Disorganized).

This crime scene shows both organized and disorganized traits, but rarely do the crime scenes of a disorganized killer show any organization at all.

Rainsong

"disorganized schizophrenia
Noun 1. disorganized schizophrenia - a form of schizophrenia characterized by severe disintegration of personality including erratic speech and childish mannerisms and bizarre behavior; usually becomes evident during puberty; the most common diagnostic category in mental institutions"

>And yet the person tightened the garotte and took the time
>to kill her - - - not seconds but MINUTES.
Perhaps a far longer time than we imagine since it is possible that the ligature could have been tightened and relaxed a multitude of times, the handle providing him with precise control and the cord being of a material that would remain in place.

>I think most normal people can not imagine hurting another human being like that.
Normal people? I wonder if a normal person is involved here or not.

I think the primary questions shoule be:
Was the garotte needed? If not, what advantages did it in fact provide or could it have reasonably been expected to provide?
In other words, WHY a garotte.
Why take the time to fashion it, why employ it?

Don, you have posted over and over again about you thinking that the perp enjoyed his torture of JonBenet and her terrible suffering. You have used the word, "ecstasy", and similar phrasing, over and over.

No one else on this forum uses these terms or seems to think that the murder was a source of pleasure or "ecstasy" during the murder. Also no one else in LE has ever expressed the opinion that the murderer was experiencing joy or ecstasy during the killing of JonBenet.

Could you please post why you think there was this ecstasy of the torture and murder of JonBenet?

By way of comparison, a revenge/hate murderer would not have lots of joy or ecstasy. Just anger.

Please tell why you seem so convinced that the killer experienced joy and ecstasy from JonBenet's horrible suffering and pain while he was murdering JonBenet?

This is a very, very sick, twisted, disturbed beast. Yes, there was anger too. We're just not sure who it was directed at. John or JB!

Possibly both? Possibly neither!

If the note were of reasonable content in terms of length and ransom amount I would be more puzzled, but with the note being a mere fantasy I focus on his motives for it. Seeing that he concocted the note as a lark, I wonder if the murder and molestation were not also done for fun.

It all just seems too elaborate for a simple "grab a little girl, take her some place quiet and have some perverted sex, then get rid of the witness".

Shock value: imagine finding your child seemingly alive, duct tape over her mouth, covered with a blanket, arms above head in plain view. The entire implication is one of 'she is still alive.' But when the blanket is pulled away, the garrote is "in your face."

Rainsong

>Shock value: imagine finding your child seemingly alive,
>duct tape over her mouth, covered with a blanket, arms above
>head in plain view. The entire implication is one of 'she is
>still alive.' But when the blanket is pulled away, the
>garrote is "in your face."

>Rainsong

I wonder how the shock value would have worked out for him if that terrible blow to the head had bled profusely? Could someone know for sure that wouldn't happen?

Rainsong

>Rainsong

It's creepy to think the offender in the Ramsey case may have known he could strike such a vicious blow without breaking the skin. Makes you wonder just how much time and research went into the planning of this crime, doesn't it? Still, he couldn't know for sure, could he? Would it have mattered anyway?

The BORG wants to say otherwise. In an effort to make this a less vicious crime where the killer did not have to see a little girl fighting for her life, they would say those marks were "petechial hemorrhages".

But petechial hemorrhages are not crescent shaped.

Look it up - petechial hemorrhages are "small, pin-point blotches or dark red spots"

I have seen them before - they are not easily confused with fingernail imprints, not at all.

But a man who had to be so much larger and stronger had no heart and took her life.

It wasn't over in a second - it took time.

When we hear about people like Joseph Smith who has some bad things going on in his life so he grabs a child and uses and abuses and kills...

The senselessness, the brutality, the total lack of heart... that is the enemy and why we are still here. We need to identify the killers among us - we need to remove them from the streets where our children walk and play.

Look at the garrotte - - look at what he did. Then do all you can to make sure he is found.

There are a couple of options:

1: It was part of a fantasy involving:

A. Sexual motive with a bondage component
B. Thrill and curiosity about killing another human being in that
particular way. Perhaps he saw that imagery somewhere.

2: It was not fantasy material and was done for utilitarian purposes:

A: It hurt his hands
B: He is unable to sustain the pressure for several minutes because
of grip strength.
C: It was meant to give the appearance, along with the wrist cords,
of a sexually motivated crime so investigators would not dig
deeper for any other motive. Add in a ransom note, and you've got
a very confusing crime scene.

I also believe the garotte was first tied in the front while JonBenet was lying on her back and then she was turned over. (This may have been the time when she was able to get the offender's skin cells under her fingernails.) Then the cord was tightened. Some of her hair was entangled in the knot and broke off when the offender changed the position from front to back. If you look at the autopsy photos, there is what appears to be a blood blister or pinch mark at the top of the abrasion on the front of her throat. What does it mean? It could just be a large petechia, but it's got me wondering. It's obvious pressure was applied both lower down on the throat and in the final furrow. There is the lower linear mark and petechia both above and below the furrow. Petechia are only found above the strangulation point.

Also, doesn't it look like the ligature marks are directional from right to left?

I'm also wondering why JonBenet's hair is so badly tangled and matted up on the right side.

>The senselessness, the brutality, the total lack of heart...
Senselessness is only from our point of view, not his. He had a reason, one that, for him, made sense that night and makes sense now!