Assault shortly before death

Despite decomposition of Jessica Lunsford's body, medical examiner Steven Cogswell said he found a wound in her vaginal area "consistent with sexual battery."

Given the minimal healing of the wound, Cogswell said he estimated it occurred only a couple hours before her death.

-- Elena Lesley

Why didn't someone hear her?

One of the most troubling questions surrounding Jessica Lunsford's death has always been, how could she be buried alive, so near her own home, without someone hearing her screams? Did she cry out at all?

While questioning medical examiner Steven Cogswell, Prosecutor Pete Magrino asked whether someone could have covered Jessica's mouth (to muffle screams) without leaving any marks. Jessica's body showed no external injuries, other than in the vaginal area.

The answer: Yes.

In medical examination, "absence of something doesn't mean it didn't happen," Cogswell said. "It means it didn't happen with enough force to cause an injury."

-- Elena Lesley

Is Couey's timeline bogus?

Once a body starts to decay, examination involves a lot of guesswork.

Parts of Jessica Lunsford had started to liquefy by the time she was found; "her hair, clothing, the dolphin were all saturated" with decompositional fluid, said medical examiner Steven Cogswell. Trace evidence may have pooled at the bottom of the bags.

Cogswell estimates that Jessica died around three weeks before she was found, sometime in late February or early March. She went missing Feb. 24.

While Couey claims he kept her in his house for several days, feeding her pizza, the Citrus County Sheriff's Office has always contended that she died much sooner. Cogswell can't say definitively which version of events is correct.

As decomposition progresses, it becomes increasingly hard to pinpoint when, exactly, someone died. The margin of error is greater.

The sheriff's office has also challenged Couey's claims that he fed Jessica. While Cogswell said that her stomach was empty, he added that different types and amounts of food digest at different rates. If Jessica ate a cracker, for example, it could pass through her stomach quickly.

It appears she didn't eat recently before her death. But "recently" could mean anywhere from 12 hours to three to four days, Cogsell said.

-- Elena Lesley

A gruesome morning

Medical examiner Steven Cogswell started today's testimony describing, in detail, the state in which Jessica Lunsford's body was found.

The little girl was sitting, knees to chest, inside two trash bags. It was if she had stepped into the first one, which was tightly knotted above her head, and then a second bag was thrust over her head, tied beneath her.

She had poked her right middle and index fingers through both bags.

Testimony became more graphic as Prosecutor Pete Magrino asked Cogswell to describe what he saw once the trash bags were removed from Jessica's body, and outline the process of decomposition.

Jessica's body was in the "bloat stage" of decomposition, characterized by discoloration, "marbling" (where veins near the skin form a marble-like pattern), swelling and the slopping off of skin.

Given environmental factors, she probably died around three weeks before she was found, Cogswell said. Decomposition is hastened in Florida -- particularly the southern part of the state -- due to the climate. But because Jessica was wrapped in trash bags and placed in a shallow grave, her body was somewhat protected from external forces.

-- Elena Lesley