Rebecca Nalepa Zahau Found Hanging, Bound Mansion of Jonah Shacknai (Suicide)

[Puzzler]

Just listend to JVM and NG -

Man - this woman, Rebecca, had 4 hemorrages at the top of her head.  No way that happened by suicide.

There IS a problem here that is being covered up, IMO.

[Puzzler]

Money talks.

I do not believe this woman committed suicide. 

Another thing which really bothers me.  Shaknai's brother just cut her down and let her drop to the lawn below.  That seems so inhumane to me.  Shouldn't he have lifted her up to the balcony?  There is something very, very wrong here.

How or why did the brother find her - the picture of the front of the house shows no balcony - so did he walk outside in the middle of the night and see the body hanging there?  If he was in the bedroom and walked out onto the balcony, then surely his shoeprints would have been on what was called a "dusty" balcony.

[Puzzler]

So much of this makes no sense...I don't believe she gagged herself - maybe someone gagged her to keep her quiet if they were going to hit her on the head.  Someone was close to her - close enough to surprise her with the gagging.

Someone hit her on the head 4 times....no matter how you look at it - you can't hit yourself in the head 4 times while going over a balcony.

The balcony - said to be "dusty" - a few "toe" prints - how does a person with their legs bound get from the bedroom to the balcony and over the balcony without more than a few toe prints?

"What" was the uncle, the father's brother, doing at the home in the wee hours of the morning?  We heard that the body was discovered in the early morning hours.  She was called at 12:15 a.m. and told the boy was not going to make it (words to that effect) and was found in the early morning hours - determined to be dead 3-4 hours when found by the uncle.

Uncle, father and bio mother had dinner together the evening before.

So, the father was at the hospital when the body was discovered.

Where was the father when the body was killed, hours before?

Where was the brother then?
Where was the bio mom then?

[Puzzler]

WARNING - potentially disturbing photos to some - crime scene photos - body on ground (not "clear" pictures - but somewhat graphic) and picture of rope tied to bed and the paint brush used with black paint on it (on TV tonight I saw a slightly different picture that included a small tube with black paint in it) and a picture of the back of the house where the balcony is.

http://celebritydaily.net/tv/snowem-horwath-and-mary-zahau-loehner-are-rebecca-nalepas-sisters/

[Puzzler]

Seems Shacknai's ex-wife had problems with him:

http://crimesceneusa.blogspot.com/2011/07/rebecca-nalepas-boyfriend-set-dog-on.html

REBECCA NALEPA'S BOYFRIEND SET DOG ON HIS EX-WIFE

[Puzzler]

Scroll down to: Maxfield Aaron Shacknai

http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/me/press/press.html

[Puzzler]

According to JVM and NG shows tonight - the family says that Rebecca didn't know about "sailor's knots".

If that's the case - would she be able to tie those knots and measuring lengths from the bed to balcony to rail, etc., and fixing the loops for adsustment?  Could any person just get that lucky without some knowledge of what they're doing?

If you didn't know about knots and how to tie properly, wouldn't the chances be greater that you would just make one big tangle of knots - especially if one is so distraught as to be committing suicide?

Look at the picture of the knot on the bedpost (link in post above that begins with WARNING)...I know I couldn't tie a knot like that - look how neat it is.  Looks to me like it's a knot tied by someone who "knows how" to tie sophisticated knots.

[Puzzler]

A timeline of events: 

http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-business/shacknai-mansion-death-suicide-finding-wont-end-the-drama/9556


(snip)
Wednesday July 13, 12.05 a.m.: Rebecca calls her voicemail and listens to a message that says Max is likely to die imminently.
 6.45 a.m.: Shacknai’s brother, Adam, discovers Nalepa hanging naked from an outdoor balcony by her neck, with her hands and feet bound in orange cord. He calls 911. No suicide note is found. Adam and Nalepa are the only people on the property at the time, police said. Adam is currently not considered a suspect. Later, Jonah’s ex-wife Dina Shacknai is reported to be “a witness in Zahau’s death.”
(snip)

BBM above - what?  what does it mean that Jonah's ex-wife is reported to be "a witness in Zahau's death"???

[Puzzler]

Four hemorrhages on the underside of the scalp, tape residue on the legs, gagging with a blue shirt - something bad wrong here:


Pathologist:Zahau’s head injuries unexplained by hanging scenario


http://www.cbs8.com/story/15388199/autopsy-rebecca-zahau-found-gagged-with-t-shirt-in-mouth

[Puzzler]

Some interesting information in this article.  I noted July 24 and August 12.


Who is Jonah Shaknai? Who Killed Rebecca Nalepa-Zahau?Update: Police said it was suicide!


http://kims3003.hubpages.com/hub/Who-is-Jonah-Shaknai-Who-Killed-Rebecca-Nalepa-Zahau

[Puzzler]

Detailed report on suicide findings in death of Rebecca Zahau


Click on the Slideshow where the picture of a blue figure is falling off the stairs for crime scene photos


Scroll down to the bottom for an interview with Ann Bremner: Interview with Anne Bremner - Zahau family attorney debunks suicide findings


http://www.examiner.com/news-analysis-in-national/detailed-report-on-suicide-findings-death-of-rebecca-zahau

[Puzzler]

Link to video:  http://www.examiner.com/news-analysis-in-national/coronado-death-now-ruled-suicide-video


Two things stand out to me - LE shows a woman perfoming how Rebecca could have tied the rope around her hands, but to me the rope the girl is using is much more soft and pliable than the red rope in the video tied around the bed and the balcony looks.  Also, the picture of the rope over the balcony doesn't look like it's hanging low enough for the brother to have gotten up on a table and cut it off - in other words - the end of the rope looks to be "too high off the ground".

[Babybear]

Good morning Monkey,

Last night Dr. Drew Pinsky repeatedly referred to someone as a "Tug boat captain."
I was busy with other things, but I think he was referring to Max Shancknai's brother, the one who thoughtlessy cut Ms. Zahau down and let her drop to the ground.  Did anyone else hear this? I can't understand why anyone would bind their own wrists with about a zillion loops of a rope rather than one or two.  When one is trying to prove something, a person with an agenda would use this "Overkill," as I believe LE did in this case.

Anyway, the knots look to me as if they were tied by a person familiar with boats and knots, such as maybe a tugboat captain, certainly not a beautiful young slip of a girl. 
I do not usually entertain unproven conspiracy theories, but this looks to me like a hot potato the police and trying to get off their hands, rather than call it a murder, which is what it seems to be by the evidence as we know it.

And the head injuries--four of them as she hanged herself?  With no apparent obstacle on which to hit her head?  Even the Medical Examiner said they were not consistent with a suicide.  It's true that science doesn't lie, but I see a significant lack of scientific evidence of a suicide here.

[Nut44x4]

ITA......super fishy to me.

Autopsy report reveals new details in Coronado mansion death

Authorities stand by suicide ruling

The autopsy report for Rebecca Zahau revealed the unexplained presence of possible tape residue on her legs and that a shirt sleeve was stuffed into her mouth when her body was found.
snipped

According to the autopsy report, a piece of gray material and sticky residue, possibly tape residue, were found on Zahau’s lower legs.

The Medical Examiner’s Office issued a statement Tuesday saying the significance of the tape is unclear, although its position and small size of about an inch would have been unusual for evidence of leg binding.

The report also states that when Shacknai’s brother, Adam, discovered her body, he removed a piece of a long-sleeved T-shirt from her mouth. The light blue shirt had been wrapped around her neck under the rope.

Dr. Jonathan Lucas, deputy medical examiner, said it was not clear why the shirt was in her mouth, although it is not unusual in suicides.

Investigators said there was no sign of a struggle, either on Zahau’s body or at the scene, and that there was no evidence of her being drugged or sedated. According to the autopsy report, bruises were found on the right side of her scalp, and some small abrasions were on her forehead. Lucas said Tuesday that the wounds were “relatively minor” and possibly came from her striking her head as she fell from the balcony.

snipped
Investigators said all evidence points toward the following scenario: Zahau tied a piece of water skiing rope to a bed leg, tied her ankles, put the shirt and rope around her neck and tied her hands behind her back. She then shuffled to the balcony railing and leaned over until she fell. 

snipped
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/sep/06/autopsy-report-reveals-new-details-coronado-mansio/
anyway.....there is much more at the link

[tcumom]

The brother is the tugboat captain . . . interesting.  Wonder if his trip was planned or last minute.

If no other fingerprints were found on the rope, then how did the brother (Adam, I think is the name) cut her down?

Can't believe this site isn't blocked (yet!) . . . I'm at school shoveling in my lunch, and thought I'd give the monkeys a try ~ our district blocks *everything* .  sigh.

[Puzzler]

San Diego Sheriff's Department Attempts To Explain Rebecca Zahau’s Stunning Autopsy Report

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2011/09/rebecca-zahau-autopsy-report-explained-san-diego-sheriffs-department

[Puzzler]

Yes, this is very fishy circumstances.

I read somewhere that San Diego LE is not experienced in "murder" cases.  If not, the public is going to give them a very, very hard time because this case is not going away.

LE needs to explain how Rebecca had 4 hemorrahges on her head, where the blood came from on her legs, the tape residue that brings up the thought that her legs were taped before she was tied up.

No fingerprints on anything simply implies that someone else could have worn gloves or the prints were smudged.  Footprints on the dusty balcony could have been there from some "other" time of having stepped out onto the balcony.  Those type balconies are small and IMO a person could have bound Rebecca and carried her to the balcony, leaned out of the bedroom door and put her onto the railing and shoved her off.  The police reports say she did not fall straight down and IMO the footprints are too clear for someone who was bound to have hopped onto the balcony and maneuvered over to the edge of the balcony in order to go over it.

There are elements of rage in his death.  This woman was humiliated in death.  Nude, in the open, blood between her legs, hit on the head mulitple times, tied up, gagged and that cryptic note on the door - she didn't write that note - someone filled with rage "expressed" themself by painting on the door.   

The "knots", which her family says she did not know about, and the rope, which the homeowner said he wasn't even sure if there was any rope on the shelves anywhere in the house, all sound like someone who knows how to tie knots and would have access to that kind of rope would have used.  In the pictures, the rope looks like it's manufactured with "slips" in it.

Another thing that bothers me - look at the pictures of the balcony with the rope hanging off and of Rebecca on the ground.  She has her legs bent and they aren't laying together - they're apart a little bit.....looks like (pardon my language) she's in rigor a little bit, else the legs would lay down together - automatically - and if that's the case, then she would have had to be in a position like that for a while - almost like she had been sitting in a chair - legs bent and apart.   It's wierd and notable.
 

[Babybear]

The brother is the tugboat captain . . . interesting.  Wonder if his trip was planned or last minute.

If no other fingerprints were found on the rope, then how did the brother (Adam, I think is the name) cut her down?

Can't believe this site isn't blocked (yet!) . . . I'm at school shoveling in my lunch, and thought I'd give the monkeys a try ~ our district blocks *everything* .  sigh.

tcumom--About the lack of fingerprints on the rope--That's a very good point.  Hope they don't block you from us.

[Babybear]

Yes, this is very fishy circumstances.

I read somewhere that San Diego LE is not experienced in "murder" cases.  If not, the public is going to give them a very, very hard time because this case is not going away.

LE needs to explain how Rebecca had 4 hemorrahges on her head, where the blood came from on her legs, the tape residue that brings up the thought that her legs were taped before she was tied up.

No fingerprints on anything simply implies that someone else could have worn gloves or the prints were smudged.  Footprints on the dusty balcony could have been there from some "other" time of having stepped out onto the balcony.  Those type balconies are small and IMO a person could have bound Rebecca and carried her to the balcony, leaned out of the bedroom door and put her onto the railing and shoved her off.  The police reports say she did not fall straight down and IMO the footprints are too clear for someone who was bound to have hopped onto the balcony and maneuvered over to the edge of the balcony in order to go over it.

There are elements of rage in his death.  This woman was humiliated in death.  Nude, in the open, blood between her legs, hit on the head mulitple times, tied up, gagged and that cryptic note on the door - she didn't write that note - someone filled with rage "expressed" themself by painting on the door.   

The "knots", which her family says she did not know about, and the rope, which the homeowner said he wasn't even sure if there was any rope on the shelves anywhere in the house, all sound like someone who knows how to tie knots and would have access to that kind of rope would have used.  In the pictures, the rope looks like it's manufactured with "slips" in it.

Another thing that bothers me - look at the pictures of the balcony with the rope hanging off and of Rebecca on the ground.  She has her legs bent and they aren't laying together - they're apart a little bit.....looks like (pardon my language) she's in rigor a little bit, else the legs would lay down together - automatically - and if that's the case, then she would have had to be in a position like that for a while - almost like she had been sitting in a chair - legs bent and apart.   It's wierd and notable.
 

Puzzler, I noticed the position of her legs too.  It occured to me that if she were hanging by the neck when she died, her legs would be straight down and would have stayed in that position had she been dead long enough for rigor mortis.  I guess everybody loved little Max and the fact that his accident occured when Ms. Zahau was watching him, must have been a bitter pill to swallow for some.  I'm not accusing anyone, but it is quite clear that this case has been hushed up by LE for some reason and that their judgement that she committed suicide is not substantially supported by the evidence, IMO. You are right.  I will go further and say this woman was sitting in a chair when she died and she remained there for some time after her death.

I lived in a small town once where the local librarian was found dead in her home with a telephone cord wrapped around her neck.  It was called a suicide, but that method of suicide seemed impossible.  I think if she were holding the telephone cord, it would be released as she lost consciousness and she would not have died.  But no one ever challenged LE.  This seems similar to me.   

[Babybear]

And further, I thought her legs were tied together.  That's what the cops say.  What about if her legs were taped to the legs of a chair when she died and that accounts for the position.  Maybe someone straightened them and tied them together before they threw her over the balcony, but they sprang back into that position when the bindings holding her legs together were loosened.  Anyway, Unless Adam released her legs, how is it she fell to the ground in that position.  Fishy, fishy, fishy.