Maybe I'm late on this, but did anyone hear that there were in fact TWO separate DNA samples in/about the underwear? That's the source, they're saying, of all the confusion. One was not useful but the other had 10 markers, enough to put into the FBI db. That's the one they are going to compare to.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4940501,00.html
Time of death:
rm: 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
putrefaction: no later than 11 p.m.
GI transit: pineapple consumed 1 to 2 hours before death
Looks to me like the time of death had to be really close to 10 p.m.
I'm hard pressed to see how an intruder did that. Anyone?
But I'm puzzled by the manner of death. As a poster pointed out, it does appear from patechial hemorrhage that she was alive when strangled - even if it was just a shallow 'hanging on'. That means if it was a family member they did indeed bash her head AS WELL as strangle her. It seems odd that a family member would kill her that way.
Any psych experts out there? Is a 9 year old even capable of that kind of thing? I honestly don't know.