A best-fit analysis of the facts and circumstances related to the death of JonBenet Patricia Ramsey

We finally have enough information for a more precise determination of death. Pulmonary vascular congestion in the lungs occurs with left side heart failure. The left-side heart failure is secondary to asphyxiation indicating that the victim was asphyxiated before receiving any significant head trauma. But it also indicates that asphyxiation was the event at expiration, not the head blow. This is likely why the cause of death read as it did. The lack of “organization” mentioned in the autopsy report is a reference to the fact that the victim appeared to be either dead or nearly dead when the head trauma occurred because the body did not engage in the usual biological reactions to injury. No inflammation, no bleeding in consequence of blood under pressure, and no contusions forming beneath the wound all indicate a heart that is not pumping; i.e. a systolic and diastolic difference of 0. When a person is strangled to death, the heart increases its beat rate to compensate for lower levels of oxygen in the blood, attempting to send more blood to the organs in the same amount of time to allow for the same amount of oxygen delivery. But, as the oxygen supply diminishes the heart can’t keep up. Eventually, the heart beats itself to death, literally beating so hard and fast that it kills itself. This is what happened to JBR. But we must point out that the physiological exit of a person, especially in children, and when oxygen supplies are depleted, can be unpredictable. Children have been known to drown in cold water, be declared dead by a physician, only to be revived afterward. So, the exact timing of the start of this runaway heart beat cannot be known for sure. This will have significance in what follows. On the other hand, there is a limit to how far we can, in reasonable likelihood, stretch this.