mcginnis. and if virginia was the photographer, why did she take what was perhaps the most incriminating photo of all? a photograph of donna just before she was pushed over the cliff. i think virginia wanted a souvenir. i think virginia wanted to revisit the death of donna and enjoy it over and over again. i think she believed that by having that picture she would have something that would arouse in her the same excitement and the same violation of rules that she had felt live on the cliff when donna died. virginia had apparently picked donna as an ideal victim. just as donna was separating from her husband, virginia befriended her. donna was vulnerable and an easy mark for an experienced con artist like virginia. 52-year-old b.j. mcginnis never made it to court. he died in prison while awaiting
in her coke. but it s speculation. but there was no way to prove it. so investigators turned to another set of pictures, the ones taken during donna s autopsy. they were analyzed by forensic pathologist dr. barbara weekly jones. she noticed two things which were barely mentioned in the original autopsy, wounds on the back of donna s hands, but not on her palms, and her fingernails were broken. she is up like this, and she is grabbing hold of the edge, the nails would break off. you should then have abrasions on the palm surface of your hands as you re going down, and she did not have that. all of her injuries are on the back of her hands. why would someone who slid down a cliff have bruises on the backs of her hands, but virtually no marks on her palms? dr. weekley jones said it was impossible to be sure, but she
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told investigators that donna was wearing high-heeled shoes which might have caused her to lose her footing as she stood at the edge of the cliff. in the photographs taken by the mcginnises shortly before the fall, donna was wearing high-heeled shoes. the autopsy of donna hartman was routine. the autopsy on our victim was not a true forensic autopsy. it was an autopsy and it did show cause of death, but it was not in the greater detail you would want had you suspected foul play from the get-go. the cause of death was a basal skull fracture, a massive blow to the back of the head, skin with someone falling 500 feet to their death. but donna s family in louisville, kentucky, had questions about what happened, so they hired a civil attorney named steve keeney to help them get answers. i wish the coroner had done a better job.
even one pill could cause them to be very drowsy, dizzy, possibly disoriented. but how did elavil get into her system? the presence of elavil in the victim s body was crucial because she had no prescription for it. mr. mcginnis had prescription for it. moreover, the effects of elavil are evidenced by her behavior as seen in the photographs, dizziness, disorientation, sluggishness. the dose of elavil is determinative. a tiny dose may have little or no effect. a large dose can be so disorienting, you will be so drowsy you might fall asleep standing on your feet. at the very least you won t be alert. investigators discovered donna and the mcginnises had lunch about two hours before she died. the waiter who served them said donna ordered a soft drink. it s anyone s guess, but if i had to speculate, i would say at that point they put the elavil