Facts of Joanna Yeates murder and possible scenario
Joanna’s movements:
Friday Dec 17th
6pm – arrives at Ram Pub on Park Street, Bristol for drinks with collegues. She leaves at 8pm
8:10pm – visits Waitrose, Clifton Triangle, near top of Park Street
8:30pm – while walking home Joanna phones her friend, Rebecca Scot, for a chat
Before 8:40pm – buys two 330ml bottles of fruity cider at Bargain Booze
8:40pm – leaves Tesco Express on Regents Street in Clifton. Buys Tesco Finest Mozzarella, Tomato & Basil Pesto pizza (£4.50). (notes: unfrozen, 6-8 mins to cook)
9:00pm – Landlord Chris Jeffries says he saw three people, one may have been Joanna. (He has since said that he did not see Joanna that night)
9:00pm – woman opposite steps outside from a Xmas party to have a cigarette. Heard two short, sharp screams. As it was Xmas season she thought it was probably revellers. Joanna’s flat was obscured by trees, but the screams came from that direction. Went back inside.
Body found on Xmas day by couple walking dog, on Longwood Lane, near Long Ashton Golf Course, three miles from her home. Sources pointed out that her body was left in a spot at which it would be expected to be found quickly (indicates her body was probably moved there from another spot)
Facts:
• Body fully clothed, but was found with no coat or boots and only one (grey) sock. The sock has not been found at Longwood Lane (where her body was found) nor at her home address.
• Nothing to suggest she was sexually assaulted.
• Post mortem examination shows she was strangled
• Joanna’s flat has its own separate side entrance
• No signs of forced entry or struggle
• Apparently nothing missing
• Receipt for pizza in flat
• The bottles were found in her flat after she disappeared, one of which had been opened and half consumed. (Indicates that she had time to start relaxing)
• Coat, keys, purse, mobile phone and bank cards found at home (presumably in her bag left on the table)
• Police now looking for owner of light coloured 4x4 which was seen driving slowly near to the lane where Joanna’s body was found
Hypothesis
It stands to reason that the police will have more information than they’re releasing to the public – and rightly so too – so it’s difficult to reach any conclusions when we’re not in full view of all the facts. Unlike the McCann case, there are no police files readily available on the internet to plough through. But going by what has been released and trying to piece it together, it seems that Joanna may have been attacked as she answered her front door.
Witness heard two screams
A woman on the opposite side of the road to Joanna and Greg’s flat stepped outside of a party to have a cigarette. She told the police that she heard two short sharp screams at around 9:00pm. The police have taken her statement seriously because it links into the time that Joanna may have arrived home. It seems unlikely that anything would be heard from across the road if Joanna’s windows and front door were closed....that’s if the woman wasn’t mistaking something else for screams of course.
Assuming that the party-goer did hear two short sharp screams then a possible scenario is that her attacker perhaps forced his way in as she opened the door (first scream of surprise) and if she stumbled to the ground, turned onto her hands and knees to make an escape then it’s not impossible to imagine that the attacker grabbed her ankles (second scream of surprise) and pulled her sock off in the process.
The attacker probably didn’t use his hands to strangle Joanna because the police have suggested that the sock may have been used as a ligature. That seems a reasonable assumption to make under the circumstances. As the sock was missing from Joanna’s body when it was found on Christmas day, the police have also made the suggestion that the attacker may have kept it as a ‘trophy.’ Obviously I’m no expert and really have no room to contradict those that are, but it just seems that they’re moving into the traits of a perverse serial killer who is most likely to keep some sort of trophy from his victim. Isn’t it more likely that after pulling the sock from Joanna in the above scenario that he simply placed it in his pocket to dispose of later?
Stranger attack or known to Joanna?
It appears that Joanna and her boyfriend of two years, Greg Reardon, were together around the clock. They worked and lived together so it seems likely that her murderer may have known that she would be having a rare weekend alone rather than this being a random stranger attack. The only scenario I can think of that may point to this being a stranger attack is if someone outside of her circle of friends was in earshot and overheard a conversation in the pub discussing the fact that she would be alone and then followed her home. What are the odds of that happening?
Having said that, I was under the impression that bodies tend to be left in situ when the victim is unknown to the attacker, whereas most murders that are at the hands of someone the victim knew (family member; friends; associates; spurned lover etc) tend to remove the body from the scene. Apparently a lot can be learned from the way the body is placed to what kind of person was behind the murder. But that’s a subject best left to Criminal Profilers.
Frozen body
Joanna’s body was discovered on a grass verge near a road that is frequented by dog-walkers so it stands to reason that the likelihood of her body being discovered sooner than it was is pretty high. This seems to indicate that Longwood Lane may have been her second placing. If so, then that obviously begs the question, where was she before Christmas day? The post-mortem was delayed because of the frozen state of her body. This is most probably due to the severe weather conditions, but is it possible she was kept in a freezer somewhere? It’s not unknown for working chest freezers to be housed in garages. It’s also not uncommon for bodies to be frozen to ‘fool’ forensics regards the time of death...or perhaps stored until a more permanent ‘hiding place’ can be sought or a more ‘secure’ time to move the body. Just a thought.
One or two murderers?
The police have said that they’re keeping an open mind on whether there were one or two people involved and went further to say that they believe the perpetrator’s intention may have been to push her body over the wall into the quarry rather than leave her on the grass verge. If there were two people involved then this would not be a problem. Unless by means of two people they are hinting that the murderer had a later accomplice to help move her body? They also speculate that another reason for her sock to be missing is that the attacker may have removed it because the intention was to strip Joanna but a passing car interrupted him and he decided to leave the scene. This seems unlikely but only because if a person intended on removing her clothing (and later dispose of the clothing) then surely the last items to be removed would be socks? But also, if Longwood Lane was the second place rather than the first as speculated above, then the murderer had ample time to remove her clothing before arriving at Longwood Lane.
The Vanishing Pizza
The missing pizza is the most bizarre part of this crime. There’s some speculation racing around the internet that the pizza was too large for one person and two bottles of cider indicates she was expecting a visitor that night. The bottles of fruity cider were only 330ml – not exactly party size and most likely for personal consumption. If Joanna is anything like me and is aware of the dangers of soy, then perhaps she’s careful on what she eats. Tesco Finest is one of the few pizza’s which doesn’t contain soy flour...or perhaps Joanna merely likes the more adventurous pizza toppings which isn’t on offer with smaller portions, so I think the size of the pizza is probably irrelevant and indicates nothing.
Besides, we are not even sure if the pizza was intended for Friday evening or the following day. The reason I say this is because “Tesco Finest Mozzarella, Tomato & Basil Pesto Pizza” is unfrozen (found in the fridge section of Tesco) and only takes 6-8 minutes in the oven at 200c/400f (Gas Mark 6). Joanna had time to remove her coat and boots and drink around half of one bottle of fruity cider before her attack. If the pizza was intended for that evening then it seems likely that she would have turned on the oven to preheat it somewhere between taking off her outdoor clothing and opening a bottle of cider...yet Greg doesn’t mention that the oven was on when he arrived home on Sunday evening. Or would the attacker be so concerned that he switched the oven off? That’s extremely doubtful...unless it was someone who had a vested interest in the flat or fuel bill of course. Or perhaps the oven was never on in the first place and the pizza was intended for the following day...or perhaps she intended to have the pizza later that evening. Whenever the consumption of the pizza was intended, the fact remains that it vanished from her flat and that is a bizarre thing for a murderer to do!Or...
...Perhaps the pizza never reached Joanna’s flat? A friend may have asked Joanna to buy a pizza and drop it off on the way home...but with the huge media coverage over the importance of the pizza we’d expect someone to come forward by now and as no one has then that hypothesis can be ruled out for now....
...Or...
...Perhaps Greg ate it during his four hour wait for Joanna on Sunday evening when he arrived home from Sheffield? Let’s not forget that he arrived home at 8:00pm on Sunday and didn’t phone the police until midnight. Again that can be ruled out because the packaging would most likely be found in the kitchen bin. Besides, Greg would surely have told the police if he’d eaten it?
So where did that pizza vanish to? Why on earth would a murderer take it? Recently the police are being cagey on whether or not anything else had been taken from the flat. If there were other things removed then the disappearance of the pizza may make more sense. One thing is for sure, the police seem to hinge some importance on it. Perhaps they believe it may have the murderer’s fingerprints on it – if that’s so, then that would indicate that they believe the person who took Joanna’s life also took the pizza and in turn that suggests that they seem pretty sure that the pizza was, once upon a time, in her flat.
Of course, I’m not an expert and all that I’ve written are only theories.
Friday Dec 17th
6pm – arrives at Ram Pub on Park Street, Bristol for drinks with collegues. She leaves at 8pm
8:10pm – visits Waitrose, Clifton Triangle, near top of Park Street
8:30pm – while walking home Joanna phones her friend, Rebecca Scot, for a chat
Before 8:40pm – buys two 330ml bottles of fruity cider at Bargain Booze
8:40pm – leaves Tesco Express on Regents Street in Clifton. Buys Tesco Finest Mozzarella, Tomato & Basil Pesto pizza (£4.50). (notes: unfrozen, 6-8 mins to cook)
9:00pm – Landlord Chris Jeffries says he saw three people, one may have been Joanna. (He has since said that he did not see Joanna that night)
9:00pm – woman opposite steps outside from a Xmas party to have a cigarette. Heard two short, sharp screams. As it was Xmas season she thought it was probably revellers. Joanna’s flat was obscured by trees, but the screams came from that direction. Went back inside.
Body found on Xmas day by couple walking dog, on Longwood Lane, near Long Ashton Golf Course, three miles from her home. Sources pointed out that her body was left in a spot at which it would be expected to be found quickly (indicates her body was probably moved there from another spot)
Facts:
• Body fully clothed, but was found with no coat or boots and only one (grey) sock. The sock has not been found at Longwood Lane (where her body was found) nor at her home address.
• Nothing to suggest she was sexually assaulted.
• Post mortem examination shows she was strangled
• Joanna’s flat has its own separate side entrance
• No signs of forced entry or struggle
• Apparently nothing missing
• Receipt for pizza in flat
• The bottles were found in her flat after she disappeared, one of which had been opened and half consumed. (Indicates that she had time to start relaxing)
• Coat, keys, purse, mobile phone and bank cards found at home (presumably in her bag left on the table)
• Police now looking for owner of light coloured 4x4 which was seen driving slowly near to the lane where Joanna’s body was found
Hypothesis
It stands to reason that the police will have more information than they’re releasing to the public – and rightly so too – so it’s difficult to reach any conclusions when we’re not in full view of all the facts. Unlike the McCann case, there are no police files readily available on the internet to plough through. But going by what has been released and trying to piece it together, it seems that Joanna may have been attacked as she answered her front door.
Witness heard two screams
A woman on the opposite side of the road to Joanna and Greg’s flat stepped outside of a party to have a cigarette. She told the police that she heard two short sharp screams at around 9:00pm. The police have taken her statement seriously because it links into the time that Joanna may have arrived home. It seems unlikely that anything would be heard from across the road if Joanna’s windows and front door were closed....that’s if the woman wasn’t mistaking something else for screams of course.
Assuming that the party-goer did hear two short sharp screams then a possible scenario is that her attacker perhaps forced his way in as she opened the door (first scream of surprise) and if she stumbled to the ground, turned onto her hands and knees to make an escape then it’s not impossible to imagine that the attacker grabbed her ankles (second scream of surprise) and pulled her sock off in the process.
The attacker probably didn’t use his hands to strangle Joanna because the police have suggested that the sock may have been used as a ligature. That seems a reasonable assumption to make under the circumstances. As the sock was missing from Joanna’s body when it was found on Christmas day, the police have also made the suggestion that the attacker may have kept it as a ‘trophy.’ Obviously I’m no expert and really have no room to contradict those that are, but it just seems that they’re moving into the traits of a perverse serial killer who is most likely to keep some sort of trophy from his victim. Isn’t it more likely that after pulling the sock from Joanna in the above scenario that he simply placed it in his pocket to dispose of later?
Stranger attack or known to Joanna?
It appears that Joanna and her boyfriend of two years, Greg Reardon, were together around the clock. They worked and lived together so it seems likely that her murderer may have known that she would be having a rare weekend alone rather than this being a random stranger attack. The only scenario I can think of that may point to this being a stranger attack is if someone outside of her circle of friends was in earshot and overheard a conversation in the pub discussing the fact that she would be alone and then followed her home. What are the odds of that happening?
Having said that, I was under the impression that bodies tend to be left in situ when the victim is unknown to the attacker, whereas most murders that are at the hands of someone the victim knew (family member; friends; associates; spurned lover etc) tend to remove the body from the scene. Apparently a lot can be learned from the way the body is placed to what kind of person was behind the murder. But that’s a subject best left to Criminal Profilers.
Frozen body
Joanna’s body was discovered on a grass verge near a road that is frequented by dog-walkers so it stands to reason that the likelihood of her body being discovered sooner than it was is pretty high. This seems to indicate that Longwood Lane may have been her second placing. If so, then that obviously begs the question, where was she before Christmas day? The post-mortem was delayed because of the frozen state of her body. This is most probably due to the severe weather conditions, but is it possible she was kept in a freezer somewhere? It’s not unknown for working chest freezers to be housed in garages. It’s also not uncommon for bodies to be frozen to ‘fool’ forensics regards the time of death...or perhaps stored until a more permanent ‘hiding place’ can be sought or a more ‘secure’ time to move the body. Just a thought.
One or two murderers?
The police have said that they’re keeping an open mind on whether there were one or two people involved and went further to say that they believe the perpetrator’s intention may have been to push her body over the wall into the quarry rather than leave her on the grass verge. If there were two people involved then this would not be a problem. Unless by means of two people they are hinting that the murderer had a later accomplice to help move her body? They also speculate that another reason for her sock to be missing is that the attacker may have removed it because the intention was to strip Joanna but a passing car interrupted him and he decided to leave the scene. This seems unlikely but only because if a person intended on removing her clothing (and later dispose of the clothing) then surely the last items to be removed would be socks? But also, if Longwood Lane was the second place rather than the first as speculated above, then the murderer had ample time to remove her clothing before arriving at Longwood Lane.
The Vanishing Pizza
The missing pizza is the most bizarre part of this crime. There’s some speculation racing around the internet that the pizza was too large for one person and two bottles of cider indicates she was expecting a visitor that night. The bottles of fruity cider were only 330ml – not exactly party size and most likely for personal consumption. If Joanna is anything like me and is aware of the dangers of soy, then perhaps she’s careful on what she eats. Tesco Finest is one of the few pizza’s which doesn’t contain soy flour...or perhaps Joanna merely likes the more adventurous pizza toppings which isn’t on offer with smaller portions, so I think the size of the pizza is probably irrelevant and indicates nothing.
Besides, we are not even sure if the pizza was intended for Friday evening or the following day. The reason I say this is because “Tesco Finest Mozzarella, Tomato & Basil Pesto Pizza” is unfrozen (found in the fridge section of Tesco) and only takes 6-8 minutes in the oven at 200c/400f (Gas Mark 6). Joanna had time to remove her coat and boots and drink around half of one bottle of fruity cider before her attack. If the pizza was intended for that evening then it seems likely that she would have turned on the oven to preheat it somewhere between taking off her outdoor clothing and opening a bottle of cider...yet Greg doesn’t mention that the oven was on when he arrived home on Sunday evening. Or would the attacker be so concerned that he switched the oven off? That’s extremely doubtful...unless it was someone who had a vested interest in the flat or fuel bill of course. Or perhaps the oven was never on in the first place and the pizza was intended for the following day...or perhaps she intended to have the pizza later that evening. Whenever the consumption of the pizza was intended, the fact remains that it vanished from her flat and that is a bizarre thing for a murderer to do!Or...
...Perhaps the pizza never reached Joanna’s flat? A friend may have asked Joanna to buy a pizza and drop it off on the way home...but with the huge media coverage over the importance of the pizza we’d expect someone to come forward by now and as no one has then that hypothesis can be ruled out for now....
...Or...
...Perhaps Greg ate it during his four hour wait for Joanna on Sunday evening when he arrived home from Sheffield? Let’s not forget that he arrived home at 8:00pm on Sunday and didn’t phone the police until midnight. Again that can be ruled out because the packaging would most likely be found in the kitchen bin. Besides, Greg would surely have told the police if he’d eaten it?
So where did that pizza vanish to? Why on earth would a murderer take it? Recently the police are being cagey on whether or not anything else had been taken from the flat. If there were other things removed then the disappearance of the pizza may make more sense. One thing is for sure, the police seem to hinge some importance on it. Perhaps they believe it may have the murderer’s fingerprints on it – if that’s so, then that would indicate that they believe the person who took Joanna’s life also took the pizza and in turn that suggests that they seem pretty sure that the pizza was, once upon a time, in her flat.
Of course, I’m not an expert and all that I’ve written are only theories.
http://littlemorsals.blogspot.com/2011/01/facts-of-joanna-yeates-murder-and.html
