I didn't express an opinion as to whether he would have panicked. I explained why I think the physical evidence shows he disrobed Meredith after cutting her throat.
Well, you said that you didn't believe for a second that Guede would've grabbed the towels to staunch the bleeding. I was just saying that it's quite possible that he panicked, and that this could make it plausible that he fetched the towels for the reasons he states.
Guede's background is generally consistent with this kind of crime. But I think the most accurate way to determine what happened is to look at the details of the crime scene.
Yes, Guede was certainly putting himself in situations where violence became a possibility - breaking into houses either armed with a knife or finding a knife once inside - and was therefore far more likely to carry out this sort of crime than either Amanda or Raffaele. The fact remains though that he'd never been involved in any serious violent crime or sexual assault previously. My point on this was to suggest that his lack of experience with this type of crime and the fact he obviously didn't break into the house intending to kill anyone could explain why he panicked, if he did.
It's possible that it was on the floor, but she was moved so that her body was on top of it, and it was off center in such a way that her body ended up on the far side of the pillow relative to the spot where she collapsed. It seems clear that someone deliberately put it under her buttocks.
What is your theory as to the sequence of events?
If we accept that the pillow was already on the floor prior to the injuries, I don't agree that it's clear that it was then deliberately placed beneath her. Here are pictures of the footprints on the pillow (left, obviously) and the location of the pillow in the room, taken from Vinci's report:
From what you say, the prints are in the area which would have been covered by Meredith's body; it also looks as if Guede walked over the pillow several times, back and forth. This seems like a strong indication that it was already on the floor prior to the injuries, rather than having been deliberately taken from the bed to use during a sexual assault. You could argue that the fact Meredith was lying on the left side of it (further from where she was lying originally) indicates it was deliberately placed, but then I could equally argue that it certainly doesn't
look deliberately placed, not being positioned centrally and only one half of it lying beneath her. Given that the pillow was probably already on the floor, the evidence to suggest it was placed deliberately is pretty inconclusive.
There's a further problem with the shoe prints, and the fact Meredith's body was lying on top of them. It's been argued that the reason Guede didn't leave shoe prints on the way into the bathroom is because he hadn't stepped on blood at that point, but did so just before he left, yet the prints on the pillow show that he stepped in blood before Meredith was turned onto her back. I've thought previously that he took off his shoes in the bedroom and that this explains the bare footprint in the bathroom. However, I wonder whether another possibility might be that Meredith was lying on her side for a while initially, and that it was only at a later point that she was moved onto her back and covered with the duvet, shortly before Guede left. This could explain why one of the towels - perhaps initially lying at her side - was found beneath her.
In terms of my 'theory' as to the sequence of events, well, I've already mentioned a few things, but a couple more points: first, I think the attack was more prolonged than the 5-10 minutes that's been suggested, mainly because Guede (assuming he was alone) was likely still in the house at 10 p.m.: I can't square this with an assault that was over at about 9:10 p.m. I think it was probably an attack which escalated gradually over, let's say, 30-40 minutes, maybe a bit less, rather than Guede suddenly deciding to rape and kill a resident because he couldn't get out of the house. Due to the lack of blood on the back strap of the bra, together with the spots of blood on the front of it, I think the injuries were made as he struggled to remove the bra (she was probably mostly undressed at this stage). Perhaps the fact he would've had to take the knife from her neck momentarily encouraged Meredith to fight back, and it was in this struggle to regain control that Guede made the injuries. I've said that I believe Guede may have panicked on seeing how serious the injuries were, and that he was telling the truth about the towels; however, I think the third towel (the one on the bed) was used by Guede to clean himself up. This paragraph/post is getting ridiculously long - but at any rate those are a few points on what I think happened.
