Murder Of Rabecca Zahau

Rebecca Zahau, aged 32, was discovered dead hanging from a balcony, nude, with her wrists and ankles bound, at around 6:45 AM on the morning of July 13th, just two days after the death of her boyfriend's son, Max.

Background

Rebecca was born in Burma. She had resided in Nepal and Germany and moved to America around 10 years before her death. In 2002, she married nursing student Neil Nalepa; they divorced in 2011. She began dating Jonah Shacknai (CEO of Medicis Pharmaceutical) in 2008, while still married to Nalepa. In August 2009, Rebecca was arrested for shoplifting under the name Rebecca Nalepa. She pleaded guilty to stealing $1,000 worth of jewels from Macy's in Phoenix, Arizona.

Max Shacknai's death

On July 11th, 2011, Rebecca was at the Spreckels Beach House in Coronado, California (owned by Jonah Shacknai) with her teenage sister Xena, and Jonah's son Max. Max fell over a second-floor banister, suffering pains to his spinal cord and facial bones. Rebecca said she was in the bathroom when this occurred, and found Max moments later. Xena called 911. Max died in hospital on 16th July 2011 due to brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation resulting from his injuries. On 26th July, detectives ruled the boy’s death an accident. However, a trauma doctor who examined Max before his death and autopsy stated to police that he did not believe Max's visible injuries from his fall were consistent with the cardiac arrest and brain swelling experienced by him and indicated that Max may have suffocated before his fall.

Rebecca's death

On 12th July, Rebecca had dropped Xena off at the airport for her flight back to Missouri and then picked up Jonah's brother Adam Shacknai, who had just come on a flight from Memphis. Rebecca ate dinner with Jonah, Adam, and Jonah's friend Howard that night, before returning to the beach house, where Adam was also staying that night. There were reports of loud music coming from the beach house that evening.

The next morning, Adam declared that he found Rebecca hanging nude from a balcony, with her wrists and ankles bound. He called 911 and sent a text to Jonah to inform him. Jonah had supposedly been keeping a vigil at Max's bedside with Max's mother Dina Romano; he then left the hospital to heal at a nearby Ronald McDonald House.

Rebecca was gagged with a blue, long-sleeve T-shirt wrapped around her head with the sleeves double knotted and stuffed into her mouth. There was also what appeared to be tape residue on her legs. Medics tried to revive her but pronounced her dead at the scene. The police began forensic and toxicology testing on her body as part of a postmortem to determine the cause of death. On 2nd September, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department ruled Rebecca's death a suicide. It has been assumed that she murdered herself over guilt about what occurred to Max.

Interesting points

Several people, including Rebecca's family, do not believe she committed suicide. They question how she could have hung herself when her wrists and ankles were bound. However, police re-enacted the scenario to determine whether it would have been possible for Rebecca to bind herself in that fashion and showed a video demonstration in which a woman wrapped a rope around her hands several times in front of her, slipped one hand out of the binding, then placed her hands behind her back, rebound them, and tightened the bindings with the aid of a string similar to the one which police found in Rebecca's hands.

Her family described her as a happy person who valued life and lived it to the fullest. They stated that as a Christian, she believed suicide was wrong. Rebecca's ex-husband does not believe she committed suicide and said it was out of character. On 20th September, Jonah wrote a letter to California Attorney General Kamala Harris requesting a state review of the inquiry. Shacknai himself did not doubt the findings of inquiries but said he hoped a review would bring "confidence, comfort, and resolution" to others close to Rebecca. This request was denied.

Rebecca's postmortem revealed four instances of head trauma. It has been indicated she may have hit her head on the balcony while hanging herself, however, others have dismissed this idea, stating it's unlikely she would have hit her head four times.

Rebecca's family thinks her and Max's deaths might be connected, and that Adam, Dina Shacknai (Jonah's ex-wife and Max's mother), and Nina Romano (Dina's twin sister) conspired to kill her, and have since filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

Cell phone records show that on the night before her death, Rebecca received a text message from Nina Romano, who wanted to stop by and speak about Max's accident. Rebecca never replied to this text. At 12:50 amm, Rebecca heard a voicemail, but this message was deleted and the contents have never been revealed. Rebecca's mother said police told her the voicemail was from Jonah.

A black message had been painted on the door of the room leading to the balcony below where police found Rebecca's body. According to Rebecca's ex-husband, it read "She saved him, can he save her". Officers refused to confirm this. Detectives took this as further proof of suicide, however, Sheriff Gore stated it was "not a clear suicide note". Rebecca's sisters told the note did not match her handwriting. Rebecca's ex-husband also stated the note "did not appear to be something Rebecca would have written".

Adam cut Rebecca's body down before police arriving - why? I could understand if he was close to her, maybe he didn't like seeing that, but being her boyfriend's brother, I don't think they were that close, so why not leave the scene as it is until police arrived?