[Devil_Anse]

I don't know about the knots on that shoelace-looking thing I saw tied on Jonbenet (tabloid pictures, I think.) The scouts idea is a good one--there was probably a scout manual around if either Burke OR John had ever been a scout. (People keep those old scouting manuals.) If Burke had been one, one of the parents may have learned some knots in the process of helping him learn his--that's the case with me, anyway, I've learned some while helping a boy learn them for scouts.

I always thought Jonbenet died from the fractured skull and the "garrotte" was perhaps something the killer put on her later to confuse things and make it look more like a "serial" or "psycho" killer. If John or Patsy put the knotted string/rope/whatever on her after the fact, some of the knots could have been tied beforehand (either by them or by the boy practicing tying knots.)

Did Patsy ever do crocheting or macrame? Someone like that knows a lot about such things.

[jandji]

the "kidnapper's note" was the thing put there to divert attention, as an afterthought to the garotte and the cracked skull.