On July 11, Coronado police were called to the home of Jonah Shacknai, founder/CEO of a pharmaceutical company, after receiving a 911 call that a little boy had fallen down the mansion stairs. Max Shacknai, Jonah’s 6-year-old son, had been at home with Jonah’s girlfriend Rebecca Zahau, 32, and Rebecca’s 13-year-old sister, when the accident occurred. Max was rushed to the hospital, and was kept there for several days, before tragically passing away.
Two days later on July 13, police received another 911 call from the home, this time from Jonah’s brother, reporting that he had found Rebecca’s body hanging from the upstairs balcony. She was naked, her feet were bound together, and her wrists were tied together behind her back. There was a message scrawled on the bedroom door in black paint that said “She saved him can you save her?”
Police investigated Rebecca’s death, and concluded that Rebecca had hanged herself. Rebecca’s family contends that she would never commit suicide, and cites some unusual circumstances in the autopsy report to prove it. They believe she was murdered.
So what really happened to Rebecca?
Police Theory: Suicide
Police seem adamant to conclude that this was a suicide, citing the fact that there were no other fingerprints or DNA at the scene aside from Rebecca’s. Only Rebecca’s fingerprints were found on the rope, on the tube of paint used to scrawl the message on the door, and the door itself. On the balcony, police say they found a set of footprints that appeared to be the same size as Rebecca’s, consistent with someone flinging themselves over the edge.
Police held a press conference in August and told reporters that there was no indication of foul play. They released this video, showing how a woman would be able to tie her hands and feet in the manner they believe Rebecca did. They then officially closed the case after the San Diego County Coroner ruled the manner of death on the autopsy report a suicide. San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore told reporters at the press conference:
“Were these deaths the result of criminal conduct? Was Max’s death a homicide? The answer is no,” Gore told a news conference. “It was a tragic accident. Was Rebecca’s death a homicide? Again the answer is no. It was a suicide … These deaths were not the result of any criminal acts.”
According to police, they believe Rebecca was distraught after receiving a voicemail in the late hours of July 13, informing her that Max Shacknai’s condition had worsened and that he was not expected to make it. Police believe she was racked with guilt over Max’s accident, and that could have been a possible reason for her to want to commit suicide.
Something more sinister?
After police made the announcement that the case was closed, Rebecca’s family hired high-profile attorney Anne Bremner, who is working to get the case re-opened. Bremner, as well as members of Rebecca’s family, has been making the rounds in the media to try and bring more attention to the case. According to Bremner, she has a team of forensic experts who all believe Rebecca’s death was not a suicide.
Rebecca’s autopsy report reveals some disturbing details that certainly cast some doubt on the suicide ruling. Strange hemorrhages were found on the top of Rebecca’s skull, and there was tape residue and blood found on the backs of her legs. A Tshirt that was wrapped around her neck was partially stuffed in her mouth.
Dr. Cyril Wecht, a renowned forensic pathologist (think JonBenet Ramsey and JFK), was hired by the Zahau family to review the autopsy report. Dr. Wecht concluded that the hemorrhages on top of Rebecca’s skull are extremely suspicious, and weren’t likely caused by her fall:
“A blow or blows sufficient to produce subgaleal, subscalpular hemorrhage could be sufficient for someone to be knocked out, just temporarily, not to produce any damage to the brain, not to cause any prolonged unconsciousness; but one cannot say,” Dr. Wecht said. “They are clearly indicia of some kind of blunt force trauma. So, for someone to say there is no evidence whatsoever of any kind of a struggle is not correct.”
It absolutely boggles my mind that 1) the San Diego County Coroner would have determined this to be a suicide, and 2) that the police were willing to just accept it and call it a day.
For this to have been a suicide, Rebecca would have had to paint the message on the bedroom door, tie her feet together, tie her wrists together, wrap the rope around her neck and then tie the other end to the bed, gag herself with a Tshirt, and then shuffle over to the balcony and fling herself over. This definitely seems like a lot of work for someone who just wanted to end her life. Why did she have to take her clothes off, and why did she have to tie her hands and feet together?
The message that was scrawled on the bedroom door read, “She saved him can you save her?” Unless Rebecca had a habit of referring to herself in the third person, this certainly does not sound like something she would write. Rebecca’s family also claims that the writing was not in Rebecca’s handwriting. It does, however, seem more likely that whoever wrote it may have been sarcastic about Rebecca not saving Max…kind of like a “save her just like how she saved Max” type of thing.
Although police revealed that riveting (sarcasm alert) video of the woman tying herself up, it only adds to the speculation. Dr. Drew had a knotting expert on his show, Lyndsey Philpott, who shows in further detail here how the knots would have been tied. In the expert’s opinion, this would have been very difficult for Rebecca to do, if not impossible. Rebecca’s family told Nancy Grace that they had no knowledge of Rebecca ever learning how to tie knots like that.
And what about the tape residue and blood on the backs of Rebecca’s legs? The tape residue was stated in the autopsy report to have been similar to duct tape residue. Why would Rebecca have tried taping her legs? And if she did try to use duct tape to bind herself at first, where is the duct tape roll? No tape roll was found at the scene. Nothing in this case seems to make any sense.
The only person who was also in the home when Rebecca allegedly killed herself was Jonah’s brother, who had been staying with them in the guest house. Jonah was at the hospital with his son and ex-wife when Rebecca’s body was found. RadarOnline says that Jonah’s brother was allegedly given a polygraph test, and that the results were inconclusive. The polygrapher who administered the test, however, also says that inconclusive results don’t necessarily mean anything and that he personally feels that Jonah’s brother doesn’t have anything to do with Rebecca’s death.
Rebecca had no known prior mental illnesses or depression.
Case closed?
Amid media scrutiny, in September, Jonah made an official request to the state Attorney General’s Office to have the case re-opened. In his letter, Jonah said that while he has no reason to question the investigation, he hopes that an additional investigation into the department’s findings would help quiet the speculation that Rebecca’s death was a homicide.
Jonah’s request was denied.
The case is far from over, however. Just last week, Rebecca’s family officially had Rebecca’s body exhumed and a second autopsy is currently underway.
And what would a case like this be without Dr. Phil McGraw stepping in? According to the San Diego Union Tribune, Dr. Phil is funding the exhumation of Rebecca’s body, and is planning to release the results of the second autopsy on his show sometime in November.
UPDATE: 11/21 5:33 PM
The Dr. Phil episode aired last week, and I have to say I was a little disappointed. No new info was really revealed, and although Dr. Cyril Wecht said he strongly suspected foul play, he could not say with certainty that Rebecca’s death was caused by a homicide.
Sheriff Bill Gore issued the following statement in response to the show:
“No new information has been provided by this second autopsy… Further, Dr. Wecht did not reach out to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office or the sheriff’s office to attend the autopsy, as is normal protocol to establish and maintain a clean chain of custody, should new evidence be found,” Gore said.
The sheriff concluded his rebuttal by suggesting that the two-part show hosted by “entertainment psychologist” McGraw was a calculated bid to achieve high TV ratings by exploiting Zahau’s grieving survivors.”This is nothing more than sensationalism at its lowest point, and the family is only enduring more suffering from this insensitivity,” Gore said.
The case remains closed.
SOURCES:
– http://abcnews.go.com/US/coronado-mansion-death-rebecca-zahau-ruled-suicide-sister/story?id=14435011
– http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/oct/27/body-rebecca-zahau-exhumed-autopsy-set-friday/
– http://www.760kfmb.com/story/15388199/autopsy-rebecca-zahau-found-gagged-with-t-shirt-in-mouth
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