Didn't see this last post.
It's my understanding that the classic lung/pancreas findings would not be caused by a traumatic head injury.
And we can't forget the petechial hemorrhaging at the site of the ligature. She was most definately alive when she was being strangled.
I think the reason people want the head injury to happen right about the same time that she was strangled is because it otherwise doesn't make sense why the injury would happen after she died. What would be the point, right?
But if her head was accidentally whacked on the way through the basement and up the stairs when her body was found then that would make sense.
If anyone can find an autopsy report of someone who was strangled to death, please look at the portion of the report that discusses the brain. See what it says.
If anyone can find an autopsy report on someone who had a closed head injury then see what it says about the lungs and pancreas, and any petechial hemorrhaging.
That would go a long way in understanding what happened to JonBenet.
"And we can't forget the petechial hemorrhaging at the site of the ligature. She was most definately alive when she was being strangled."
I see what you're saying but I'm not entirely convinced about that. Since ph is the result of bursting capillaries I'm not sure what would happen within minutes of death if pressure in those capillaries was increased under the pressure of a ligature. The blood isn't circulating, but I don't know how long it takes the blood to 'back-drain' out of the capillaries after death...
"I think the reason people want the head injury to happen right about the same time that she was strangled is because it otherwise doesn't make sense why the injury would happen after she died. What would be the point, right?"
I think that's key to why some experts have given a window of about 45 minutes max between the events. I suspect there are some subtle issues about blood back-flow and hemorrhage that is the basis for that conclusion - but I don't know yet.
"But if her head was accidentally whacked on the way through the basement and up the stairs when her body was found then that would make sense."
Then why would blood DIFERENTIALLY pool BETWEEN layers of the BBB if it wasn't due to the head injury itself? And why would the coroner not mention livor mortis in that area when he mentions it elsewhere? In fact, Meyer specifically identified it as subdural hemorrhage. I think that's perfectly clear. So, the idea that the head injury was sustained after death is scientifically untenable.
"If anyone can find an autopsy report of someone who was strangled to death, please look at the portion of the report that discusses the brain. See what it says.
If anyone can find an autopsy report on someone who had a closed head injury then see what it says about the lungs and pancreas, and any petechial hemorrhaging.
That would go a long way in understanding what happened to JonBenet."
I agree. I had googled this before and read that head trauma can create ph and conditions very similar to death by asphyxiation and it can be hard to distinguish them. I'll try to find that link again...
When John Ramsey found her, he said she was lying on her back with her arms in what would be a raised position at the sides of her head, prone to the floor. Her elbows were bent outward at about ear level, with her wrists tied together and the length of cord connecting them lying behind her head.
He picked her up to carry her upstairs and she was apparently in full rigor. Det. Arndt said he was carrying her upright, holding her under her armpits, with his arms extended to hold her out away from his body. He had loosened one wrist loop so that her hands were no longer tied together, but her arms were raised in the air.
The level of the top of her head was above the top of his head.
There was nothing that would've obstructed the headspace on his way between the wine cellar room, the basement stairs, the main level doorway and the entry hall.
No blood was flowing and couldn't have pooled upward into her skull area.