Foreign Faction: Who Really Kidnapped JonBenet? Page 6

  Dr. Meyer carefully cut, marked, and removed the garrote from JonBenét’s neck. The remaining furrow was dark red in color and revealed how deeply embedded the cord had been buried into the flesh of her neck.

  An examination of her eyelids and the conjunctiva of her eyes revealed the presence of petechial hemorrhages, pinpoint blood vessels that had burst when JonBenét had been strangled. These hemorrhages indicated that JonBenét had been alive when the garrote had been applied and tightened around her throat.

  A triangular shaped bruise was observed on the front of JonBenét’s throat and below the line of the embedded cord. It was approximately the size of a quarter and located left of the midline of her throat.

  Dried mucous from her nose had been smeared down the right lip and cheek. Marks from the straight edge of the duct tape that had once been placed over her mouth appeared visible, suggesting that the mucous was already in place before the duct tape had been applied.

  Photo 8 - Neck abrasions and garrote. The triangular shaped bruise was thought to have been caused by the twisting of JonBenét’s shirt while tightened around her neck. Note the other lower abrasions, and suspected fingernail marks above the cord. Source: Boulder PD Case File / Internet

  There was an orange-red colored circular shaped mark on JonBenét’s right cheek, between her ear and jaw line of undetermined origin.

  Paper bags had been secured over JonBenét’s hands before she had been removed from the living room of her home the previous evening. These were removed and the fingernails of each hand were carefully clipped into envelopes with the hopes that DNA, epithelial cells, or trace blood evidence would be there to help identify her attacker(s).

  A heart drawn in red ink was observed in the palm of her left hand.

  JonBenét’s clothing was removed and bagged for the collection of other trace fibers and evidence that might be present. Obvious items of trace evidence, fibers, hair, were collected from the clothing before they were removed from her body and bagged.

  Upon their removal, the underwear and long-johns were observed to contain dried, yellowish colored urine stains and the underwear contained two small circular stains of blood in the crotch. The location of the urine stains were to the front of the clothing, and it was thought that JonBenét had been lying on her stomach when her bladder let go at the time of her death.

  The examination of the outer skin of her body revealed some other minor scrapes, abrasions, and marks. Located upon the top of her left shoulder were signs of scrape marks. Her lower left leg had another abrasion that was thought to be a scratch mark.

  On the lower left quadrant of her back were two distinct red marks that, upon closer inspection, Dr. Meyer identified as abrasions. They appeared similar in size and round in shape, measuring 3.5 mm in distance from one another.

  At some point during the process, investigators decided to stop their examination of JonBenét and considered the possibility of fingerprinting her skin. Several telephone calls were made to other agencies in an attempt to determine if there was a successful method for retrieving latent fingerprints from the skin of a deceased person.

  They weren’t able to determine if there was any tried and true technique that would be successful, but they did try a technique that involved the use of Magna powder, a specific type of fingerprint powder that utilized a magnetic brush to move and collect the powder over the surface believed to hold latent fingerprints. Investigators were not successful in lifting any latent fingerprints from JonBenét in this fashion.

  Dr. Meyer conducted an external examination of JonBenét’s genitalia. He had observed spots of blood in the crotch of the underwear she had been wearing when her clothing had been removed, and this alerted him to the possibility that there was a cause for this evidence to be present.

  He observed that there was fresh trauma located at the 7:00 o’clock position at the hymeneal opening. The area was inflamed and had been bleeding, and it appeared to Dr. Meyer that a foreign object had been inserted into JonBenét’s genitalia at or near the time of her death.

  The site of the damaged tissue was excised and prepared for a pathology slide. Later examination would reveal the presence of ‘cellulose material’ in the membrane of the hymeneal opening that was consistent with the wood of the paintbrush used as a handle in the cord of the garrote.

  He noted that he didn’t consider this injury the result of a particularly vicious assault with a foreign object. A very small splinter of material was discovered during microscopic examination, and more trauma to the site would have been expected if the perpetrator had been intent on physically torturing the child.

  Dr. Meyer also observed signs of chronic inflammation around the vaginal orifice and believed that these injuries had been inflicted in the days or weeks before the acute injury that was responsible for causing the bleeding at the time of her death. This irritation appeared consistent with prior sexual contact.

  An alternate light source (ALS) was used to scan JonBenét’s body in search of other trace evidence and fluids. The area around her upper thighs illuminated traces of fluid and indications that she may have been wiped clean with some type of cloth. Investigators thought perhaps that the fluid source reacting to the ALS was semen, but swabs of the area would later reveal it to be a smear of blood.

  Per autopsy protocols, Dr. Meyer collected tissue samples from of a variety of internal organs, and this included the contents of JonBenét’s stomach. He found no traces of food present in her stomach but did collect the remnants of what appeared to him to be raw pineapple from the upper duodenum of her digestive tract. Scientific examination would later confirm his preliminary opinion: JonBenét had consumed raw pineapple not long before her death.†

  There had initially been no outward appearance of an injury to JonBenét’s head. No trace of blood had been observed in her hair, and the scalp did not reveal signs of any type of injury. So as Dr. Meyer began his internal examination, investigators were surprised to learn that she had suffered a severe blow to the upper right side of her skull. A linear fracture covered the entire length of the upper right side of her head, from the parietal to occipital bones of her skull.

  The injury was rectangular in shape measuring approximately eight and one half inches (8 ½”) in length by one and three quarters (1 ¾”) to one and one- half inches (1 ½”) in width, and fractured bone from the skull had caused extensive damage to the brain below. Fresh subdural hematoma was apparent as well as subarachnoid hemorrhaging. There was cerebral edema (brain swelling) observed.

  Photo 9 - Rectangular shaped skull fracture that traverses the right side of the head. Source: Boulder PD Case File / Internet

  Dr. Meyer told the investigators that it would have taken some time for the brain swelling to develop, and there likely had been a period of JonBenét’s survival from the time she received the blow to her head and when she was eventually strangled. He reported that this would have been a lethal blow, and that he did not think it likely that she regained consciousness.

  The bulk of the autopsy had been completed by mid-afternoon, but Dr. Meyer wanted another opinion about the injuries that had been inflicted upon the genitalia. Over the course of the investigation, a number of forensic pathologists would study JonBenét’s injuries and offer their professional insight into what had happened to this little girl.

  Dr. Meyer called together the Boulder County Child Fatality Advisory Review Team that afternoon, a protocol established by the coroner’s office that called for the review of all child fatalities that took place in the county. Members who served on the team were comprised of people from the Boulder Police Department, Boulder County Coroner’s Office, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department, the Boulder District Attorney’s Office, and the Boulder County Department of Social Services.

  The team was provided with a briefing on what had taken place at the Ramsey home following the report of the kidnapping, and Dr. Meyer gave an overview of the autopsy findings. A number of things
were discussed during the meeting, and the group determined that there were a number of questions that needed to be researched.

  They were interested in the family history and wanted to know if there had been any signs of previous sexual abuse with members of the family. There was an interest in determining if there had been any recent behavioral changes with the children at their schools. It was suggested that the teachers and classmates of JonBenét and Burke be interviewed.

  They were interested in determining if Patsy had ever been abused as a child and what kind of behavioral changes had taken place after her bout with cancer.

  They also wanted to know how the parents were interacting with their son, and felt it necessary that an interview be conducted with him by investigators.

  The first meeting of the Child Fatality Review Team completed, Boulder Police investigators now had another set of investigative priorities established for them in the early stages of this investigation.

  Following the meeting, Dr. Meyer returned to the morgue with Dr. Andy Sirontak, Chief of Denver Children’s Hospital Child Protection Team, so that a second opinion could be rendered on the injuries observed to the vaginal area of JonBenét. He would observe the same injuries that Dr. Meyer had noted during the autopsy protocol and concurred that a foreign object had been inserted into the opening of JonBenét’s vaginal orifice and was responsible for the acute injury witnessed at the 7:00 o’clock position.

  Further inspection revealed that the hymen was shriveled and retracted, a sign that JonBenét had been subjected to some type of sexual contact prior to the date of her death.

  Dr. Sirontak could not provide an opinion as to how old those injuries were or how many times JonBenét may have been assaulted and would defer to the expert opinions of other medical examiners.

  Dr. Meyer would prepare a brief press release at the end of the day, announcing that the cause of JonBenét’s death had been “asphyxiation by strangulation.” Estimating the time of death would take a little longer to establish and was not mentioned in the announcement regarding her murder.

  The manner of death was ruled to be a Homicide.

  Chapter Six

  Interpreting the Injuries

  Dr. Meyer was concerned about JonBenét’s vaginal injuries, and he, along with Boulder investigators, sought the opinions of a variety of other physicians in the days following her autopsy. Dr. Sirontak, a pediatrician with Denver Children’s Hospital, had recognized signs of prior sexual trauma but neither he nor Dr. Meyer were able to say with any degree of certainty what period of time may have been involved in the abuse.

  Experts in their field, physicians and forensic pathologists were consulted from St. Louis, Missouri; Dade County, Florida; Wayne County, Michigan, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to name just a few. They examined the series of photographs that depicted the injuries and came to the opinion that JonBenet had been subjected to sexual intrusion prior to the insertion of the foreign object that had created the injury at the time of her death.

  It was their opinion that the type of injury present with the hymen suggested that several different contacts had been made in the past and that digital penetration was consistent with this type of injury. The physicians were unable to date the previous injury or specifically quantify the number of times JonBenét had been assaulted, but were confident in their opinions that she had been subjected to sexual contact prior to the day of her murder.

  This particular information suggested that someone close to JonBenét had been responsible for abusing her in the weeks or months preceding her murder. As is often the case involving this type of childhood abuse, investigators had to consider the possibility that a family member, relative, or someone close to the inner circle of the family was responsible for the prior acts and possibly the murder of JonBenét. Someone had to have had access to JonBenét on repeated occasions to have perpetrated these injuries.

  Dr. Lucy Rorke, a neuro-pathologist with the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital, helped explain the timing of some of the injuries sustained by JonBenét. She told investigators that the blow to the skull had immediately begun to hemorrhage, and it was not likely that she would have regained consciousness after receiving this injury. The blow to the head, if left untreated, would have been fatal.

  The presence of cerebral edema, swelling of the brain, suggested that JonBenét had survived for some period of time after receiving the blow to her head. Blood from the injury slowly began to fill the cavity of the skull and began to build up pressure on her brain. As pressure increased, swelling was causing the medulla of the brain to push through the foramen magnum, the narrow opening at the base of the skull.

  Dr. Rorke estimated that it would have taken an hour or so for the cerebral edema to develop, but that this swelling had not yet caused JonBenét’s death. “Necrosis,” neurological changes to the brain cells, indicated a period of survival after the blow that could have ranged from between forty-five (45) minutes and two (2) hours.

  As pressure in her skull increased, JonBenét was beginning to experience the effects of “brain death.” Her neurological and biological systems were beginning to shut down, and she may have been exhibiting signs of cheyne-stokes breathing. These are short, gasping breaths that may be present as the body struggles to satisfy its need for oxygen in the final stages of death.

  The medical experts were in agreement: the blow to JonBenét’s skull had taken place some period of time prior to her death by strangulation. The bruising beneath the garrote and the petechial hemorrhaging in her face and eyes were conclusive evidence that she was still alive when the tightening of the ligature ended her life.

  The medical consultants considered the timing of the tracking of the pineapple that had moved through JonBenét’s digestive track. It was generally agreed that the timing of the ingestion of this fruit could have coincided with the time frame regarding her head injury. It was estimated that it would have taken between two to five hours for the pineapple to move through her system. It appeared to investigators that she had eaten the pineapple not long before receiving the blow to her head.

  Dr. Werner Spitz, forensic medical examiner for Wayne County, Michigan, had conducted extensive studies on the wounds caused by the application of force and was considered a leading expert on the topic.

  He offered an opinion on the sequencing of injuries that had been inflicted upon JonBenét during her murder:

  This first injury sustained by JonBenét was believed to have been the constriction marks on the sides and front of her throat. He believed that her assailant had grabbed her shirt from the front and twisted the collar in their fist. The cloth from the edge of the collar had created the discolored, striated bruising and abrasions on the sides of her neck, and the knuckles of the perpetrator had caused the triangular shaped bruise located on the front side of her throat.

  JonBenét reached up to her neck with her hands to attempt to pull away the collar causing some nail gouges / abrasions with her fingernails on the side of her throat.

  Released from the grasp of the perpetrator, JonBenét turned and was struck in the upper right side of her head with a blunt object. Dr. Spitz would subsequently offer the opinion that the barrel of the Maglite brand flashlight found on the kitchen counter of the Ramsey home was consistent with the rectangular shape of the skull fracture. JonBenét’s head injury continued to bleed internally until her strangulation.

  The blow would have rendered JonBenét unconscious and accounted for the absence of any additional defensive wounds on her body. (Dr. Meyer had noted during autopsy no further signs of struggle, i.e. broken fingernails, bruising on her hands or fingernail scrapes on her face near the duct tape.)

  Inflicted perimortem with her death, was the insertion of the paintbrush handle into JonBenét’s vaginal orifice. The presence of inflammation and blood in the vaginal vault indicated that she was still alive when this assault took place, but it was believed that this took place at or very near the actual time of her
death.

  The last injury sustained was the tightening of the garrote around JonBenét’s throat that resulted in her death by strangulation / asphyxiation.

  Investigators would also enlist the aid of a knot expert, John Van Tassel of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He would eventually determine that the slip knots used in the wrist and neck ligatures were of standard fare. The end of the cord wrapped around the remains of the paintbrush were observed to be concentric loops and ended in a simple hitch that secured the knot in place. Again, there was nothing particularly fancy about the knots suggesting that a skilled perpetrator had been responsible for tying them.

  Investigators took note of the fact that the end of the cord wrapped around the broken paintbrush handle was burned – melted. The manufacturer of these types of nylon cords will burn or melt the ends during production so that the ends will not fray and disassemble. In this instance, it appeared that the cord tied around the handle of the garrote was the first piece used from a new roll of cord and that the pieces of the other ends, all frayed, had been cut with a sharp instrument.

  Photo 10 - Wrist bindings used to tie JonBenét. The length of cord between the wrist loops was 15 ½ inches Source. Boulder PD Case File / Internet

  If the pieces of cord had been used in sequence to their cutting and assembly, it appeared to investigators that the garrote could have been the first of the pieces applied in JonBenét’s death. The piece of cord used to bind her wrists, an important element in the control of a kidnap victim, might not have been applied until after the noose had been wrapped around JonBenét’s neck.

  This fact, coupled with the odd length of cord that separated the loose bindings used on her wrists suggested that some form of “staging” might be taking place.1 It was a matter of speculation to be certain, but only the killer would know for sure the sequence in which the cord had been applied to JonBenét.