REBECCA ZAHAU FROM BURMA FOUND HANGING IN AN OCEAN FRONT HOUSE II
Kyaemon
Rebecca Zahau’s Death In Mansion Ruled A Suicide,…
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Rebecca Zahau’s Death In Mansion Ruled A Suicide, Sister Says (VIDEO)
SAN DIEGO — Investigators have ruled that a woman who was found hanging naked from a second-floor balcony at a historic California mansion with her wrists and ankles bound committed suicide, the woman’s sister said Thursday.
Mary Zahau-Loehner said she found investigators unconvincing during a visit to her home Wednesday in St. Joseph, Mo., to break the news.
“It doesn’t add up,” she told The Associated Press. “Nothing adds up.”
San Diego County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Jan Caldwell declined to comment. Sheriff Bill Gore planned a news conference Friday to discuss investigators’ findings.
Rebecca Zahau, 32, was found dead July 13 at the mansion in suburban Coronado, two days after a 6-year-old boy under her care was seriously injured in a fall down the stairs. Max Shacknai later died.
Both were linked to Jonah Shacknai, an Arizona pharmaceuticals magnate who owns the 27-room waterfront mansion. Zahau was his girlfriend of two years. Max was his son from a marriage that ended in divorce in 2008.
Zahau-Loehner said investigators told her they found no suicide note. They did share text messages on her phone from months earlier about “issues” between her and Shacknai’s children.
Zahau-Loehner said she spoke with her sister the night before her body was found and she gave no hint that she planned to take her life. She said she planned to bring Jonah Shacknai breakfast and a change of clothes the next morning to the hospital where his son was being treated.
Zahau also told her sister that she would call her parents in the morning on the way to the hospital. She emailed another sister in Germany to say she would be updating throughout the next day.
“Too detailed planning for someone who’s planning to end their life that night,” Zahau-Loehner said.
When Max fell down the stairs, Zahau was at home with a 13-year-old girl who was related to her, authorities say. He was hospitalized after paramedics found the boy wasn’t breathing and did not have a pulse.
Two days later, Shacknai’s brother, Adam, called 911 to report that Zahau appeared to be dead, investigators said. The brother was staying in a mansion guesthouse. Jonah Shacknai was not at home.
Investigators will also announce their findings on the boy’s death Friday. They initially said they believed the fall was an accident.
The home, known as the Spreckels mansion, is one of the more storied properties in Coronado, a small suburb of multimillion-dollar homes on the tip of a peninsula across a bay from downtown San Diego. The home has unobstructed beach views and sits near Coronado’s main street, which is lined with palm trees and upscale boutiques…..
Zahau, a native of Myanmar, was an ophthalmic technician at Horizon Eye Specialists & Lasik Center in the Phoenix area from April 2008 to December 2010.
Zahau-Loehner urged investigators keep the investigation open and said the family has hired an attorney.
“There are many unanswered questions,” she said.
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Coronado Mansion Victim Rebecca Zahau Painted Message on Door
Coronado Mansion Victim Painted Message on Door Before She Died – ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/US/coronado-mansion-victim-painted-message-door-died/story?id=14435011
CLICK LINK FOR VIDEO INSIDE ABC NEWS ARTICLE
A naked woman found bound and hanged at a California millionaire’s historic mansion left a note written in black paint on the door leading to the balcony where she hung herself, investigators said today.
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore would not describe the message painted on the door other than to say it was “not a clear suicide note.”
Nevertheless, the starkly written message helped convince investigators that Rebecca Zahau, 32, committed suicide and was not a homicide vicitm.
Zahau was the girlfriend of pharmaceutical mogul Jonah Shacknai. Her death came two days after Shacknai’s 6-year-old son Max fell down the stairs at the historic Spreckels Mansion where they were staying. The boy died of his injuries.
Jonah Shacknai released a statement today indicating that he accepts the results of the investigation, saying, “Nothing will ever be the same for our families after these losses, but with today’s information providing some much needed answers, we will try to rebuild our lives and honor the memories we carry with us.”
Police have concluded that Zahau killed herself after she learned that Max was going to die from his injuries.
“She was obviously distraught,” Gore said. “Remember she was the person who found Max.”
“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.”
Family Rejects Suicide Conclusion at Spreckels Mansion
Zahau’s sister, Mary Zahau-Loehner told ABCNews.com today the family will request that police look further into her sister’s death and not rush into any conclusions.
“I do not want my sister’s death to be ruled a suicide just because you don’t have enough evidence to rule a homicide,” she said. “Nothing adds up.”
She said that her family has hired Seattle attorney Anne Bremner, who said the sheriff’s conclusion “doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Bremner said Zahau never expressed guilt to her family about Max’s accident.
The lawyer told ABCNews.com the family said the painted handwriting on the door did not match that of Zahau, who liked to paint as a hobby and had signed her paintings in the past.
Zahau’s body was found on the grounds of the mansion in Coronado, Calif., July 13. When police arrived they found her on the back lawn, her hands tied behind her back and her feet bound. Zahau is believed to have died early in the morning that day.
Zahau was found hanging by Shacknai’s brother Adam who was staying at the mansion. He told police he cut the body down.
“There’s mixed DNA [on the rope] — it’s what they told us,” Bremner said. Police told Zahau-Loehner they could not identify that DNA, Bremner said.
On the day that Max fell, Zahau’s 13-year-old sister was also at the home. Rebecca Zahau heard a loud noise and found Max at the bottom of the staircase next to a broken chandelier, police said.
Zahau, a former ophthalmic technician, performed CPR on Max and asked her younger sister to call 911, Zahau-Loehner told ABCNews.com today.
Max was hospitalized, but because he had hit his head on the floor “he suffered injury to his upper spinal cord that stopped his heart and lungs. That resulted in brain damage. He subsequently died from that brain injury five days later,” said Dr. Jonathan Lucas, who conducted Max’s autopsy.
At about 12:50 a.m. on July 13, police say Zahau listened to a message from an unidentified person telling her that Max’s condition had taken a turn for the worse. Bremner said that message was from Zahau’s boyfriend, Jonah Shacknai.
“We know from our investigation that message left on her phone was to inform Rebecca of Max’s grave condition and imminent death,” said San Diego County Sgt. Dave Nemeth.
It was at that time that police believe she decided to end her life.
Investigators say she likely found the red rope wrapped around her hands, neck and feet in the garage….
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Coronado mansion death called suicide; family objects – USATODAY.com
LOS ANGELES – A woman found dead, hanging naked with her hands bound behind her back at a historic Coronado, Calif., mansion in July, killed herself hours after learning that her boyfriend’s 6-year-old son was near death from injuries sustained in a fall two days earlier, authorities said Friday.
An attorney for the family of Rebecca called the medical examiner’s suicide conclusion “ridiculous.”
The two mysterious deaths in one week at the historic $12 million Spreckels mansion in a tony beach resort near San Diego has captivated this normally reserved community and the nation as the bizarre details trickled out.
Zahau, 32, the girlfriend of Jonah Shacknai, CEO of the Arizona-based pharmaceutical company that produces cosmetic drugs such as Restylane, used kitchen knives to cut lengths of red nautical rope she found in the oceanfront mansion’s garage and then bound her own hands and feet with it, said homicide Sgt. Dave Nemeth of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
She attached the rope to the footboard of a bed in the guest room, slipped a noose around her neck, went through the room’s double doors onto the balcony and hurled herself over the scrollwork, wrought-iron railing, he said.
Shacknai’s brother, Adam, who was visiting from Memphis and was staying in the mansion’s guest house, found Zahau’s body at 6:48 a.m. on July 13, Nemeth said.
“When she was found in the courtyard, part of the rope was still grasped in her fingers,” Nemeth said.
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said Zahau left a “message” scrawled in black paint on the door of the guest room. He would not disclose what the message said, but did not characterize it as a suicide note.
Investigators found black paint on Zahau’s hand, torso and the rope around her neck. They found only Zahau’s fingerprints in the guest room and on the knives and two paintbrushes left on the bedroom floor. Footprints left on the balcony match Zahau’s and the boot of police officers who investigated the scene, Nemeth said. Police also re-enacted their scenario to determine whether it’s possible to bind one’s own hands and feet, he said.
“No one witnessed this event. We don’t know in what order things were done,” he said. “This was the best conclusion we could come to: She made the decision to take her own life.”
Medical examiner Jonathan Lucas found no evidence of a struggle or sexual assault and said he easily removed the bindings from her hands and wrists.
“I’ll be the first to admit this is a unique and unusual case,” Lucas said.
Such suicides are “unusual, but I don’t think it’s unprecedented,” Gore said. “There were indications she’d been unhappy for a while.”
A friend told investigators Zahau had been depressed for several months, Nemeth said. Investigators also found a journal on her phone that confirmed the friend’s conclusion, he said.
Nemeth also said Zahau was “distraught over Max’s injury,” although she never visited him in the hospital.
Police believe Zahau checked her voicemail for the last time at 12:50 a.m., when she listened to a message indicating Shacknai’s son Max’s condition was increasingly grave and his death was imminent. Zahau was at the mansion in the bathroom when the boy apparently ran down a third-floor hallway, tripped and soared over the balcony onto the carpet three floors below.
The fall bent Max’s head backwards, injuring his upper cervical spinal, which interfered with his breath and heartbeat, Lucas said. A lack of oxygen damaged the boy’s brain, which led to his death six days later.
Coronado Police Cmdr. Mike Lawton said investigators found no sign of foul play and believe Max’s death was “a tragic accident.” He added that Shacknai was at the hospital with his son when Zahau died.
Shacknai in a statement said the investigation provided “some much-needed answers.”
Anne Bremner, a Seattle lawyer hired by the Zahau family this week, said the San Diego Sheriff’s Department’s finding “doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Bremner said she and the family met with investigators for more than three hours this week and that the family was distraught over the conclusion. Zahau’s sister Mary Zahau-Loehner said she disagreed with investigators and was disappointed with the conclusion.
Bremner said there is no precedent for a woman committing suicide in the manner in which San Diego authorities contend.
“This would be the first case in the history of the world that a woman killed herself like this,” she said. “It’s ridiculous on the face of it.”
She complained that the meeting was the first time investigators had met in person to discuss the case with Zahau’s relatives, who live in Missouri, and that the San Diego authorities had already reached their conclusions.
Bremner said the family does not believe the note found on the door was in Rebecca Zahau’s handwriting. She said the note was ambiguous in meaning.
“They strongly believe the note found at the scene was not her handwriting,” Bremner said.
She said authorities need to have an outside review of some of the evidence, including an analysis of the handwriting in the note, and that polygraph tests should be conducted of “those closest to the victim.”
She said Zahau had never displayed depression or signs of suicide, and had not indicated to others that she blamed herself for the accident that led to the boy’s death. She had been upbeat in an evening phone call with family before her death, Bremner said.
She said officials explained Zahau’s nudity in death by saying she routinely slept without clothing.
Bremner said Zahau was not alone in the mansion when Max had his accident. She said that two of the child’s teenage siblings were present and that Zahau was in the shower at the time of the accident. Max’s mother and Jonah Shacknai were divorced, and Zahau had recently divorced as well.
“I really hope they will reconsider and really fully investigate this case,” Bremner said. “This department needs to be more measured and careful. … My belief is she did not kill herself.”
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Woman killed herself after learning that boy would die
Woman killed herself after learning that boy would die – latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-coronado-death-20110903,0,1323371.story
Rebecca Zahau committed suicide at the Spreckels mansion after being told the son of boyfriend Jonah Shacknai was fatally injured from falling while he was in her care, officials say.
Reporting from San Diego — The girlfriend of pharmaceutical executive Jonah Shacknai committed suicide at his Coronado mansion after learning that his son would not survive injuries suffered in an accident while in her care, authorities announced Friday.
Rebecca Zahau, 32, killed herself within hours of learning that 6-year-old Max Shacknai was going to die of an injury incurred when he tumbled down the grand staircase at the Ocean Boulevard mansion, San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said at a morning news conference. The boy’s death was a “tragic accident,” he said.
Shacknai expressed his appreciation Friday for the “professionalism and dedication” of San Diego County law enforcement officials who spent seven weeks “investigating and explaining these terrible events.”
“While the investigation is over,” Shacknai said in a statement, “the emptiness and sadness in our hearts will remain forever. Max was an extraordinarily loving, happy, talented and special little boy…. Rebecca too was a wonderful and unique person who will always have a special place in my heart.”
Zahau’s nude body was found hanging by her neck in the courtyard of the mansion on the morning of July 13.
Two days earlier, Max Shacknai had tumbled down stairs from a second-story landing at the Coronado home, landing on his head. He was not breathing and had no pulse when paramedics arrived moments later, investigators said.
Zahau was found with her hands and feet loosely bound, and a rope around her neck was tied to a second-story balcony outside her bedroom. Although the way she killed herself may seem unusual, it is not unprecedented in suicide cases and there is no evidence that there was foul play, Gore and others said.
“It’s not something you come across every day, but it does occur,” said Dr. Jonathan Lucas, deputy county medical examiner. “People bind themselves so they don’t change their minds midway through.”
Zahau’s fingerprints and DNA were the only ones found on the rope and on the knife she used to cut it into pieces and place sections around her feet and hands and around her neck, said Sgt. David Nemeth of the sheriff’s homicide squad…..
EARLIER 8/9/11 VIDEO
Jonah Shacknai Talks Publicly About Mansion Tragedy [8-09-2011]
Jonah Shacknai Talks Publicly About Mansion Tragedy [8-09-2011] – YouTube
7 comments
zoe
September 5, 2011 at 10:29 am
The out-come is disappointing but what one expecting, since the the police can’t proof any evidence to nail for homicide. 🙁
Kyaemon
September 7, 2011 at 2:43 am
Living in America, generally speaking, one has the feeling that even the rich and powerful, if they did wrong, might not get away with it, after all. At least, not that easy.
People are very outspoken and won’t be afraid to stand for justice – in spite of the wealth, power, and highly paid lawyers.
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Famed Forensics Doc: Rebecca Zahau’s Autopsy Evidence Doesn’t Add Up to Suicide
By Elizabeth C.
http://crabbygolightly.com/mt/2011/09/famed_forensics_doc_rebecca_za.html
THERE’S SOMETHING HARD TO SWALLOW ABOUT A WOMAN HANGING HERSELF AFTER BOUNDING HER OWN HANDS AND FEET. SO you can forgive conspiracy theorists who think San Diego cops were paid off by the pharmaceuticals entrepreneur whose girlfriend died inside his million dollar mansion.
San Diego detectives ruled Rebecca Zahau’s death a suicide seven weeks after she was found hanging inside the sprawling home of politically connected Medicis Pharmaceuticals CEO Jonah Shacknai. Earlier reports claimed that a strange message — “She Saved Him Can You Save Her” — was found painted on a door of the balcony where Zahau was found hanging July 13, according to San Diego’s CBS 8.
But family members of Zahau have claimed publicly that Zahau was an unlikely suspect to commit suicide even though she was reportedly watching Shacknai’s son Max two days earlier when he fell inside the historic Spreckles Mansion; he died several days later from his injuries.
And now famed forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht, who’s been hired to review Zahau’s autopsy findings, is questioning the ruling that the 32-year-old Zahau committed suicide. Zahau’s official autopsy records “described four injuries under Zahau’s scalp, tape residue and bruising on her legs and part of a shirt stuffed in her mouth as a gag” — evidence that casts doubt on the suicide ruling.
“You don’t get four anatomically separate hemorrhages,” Dr. Cyril Wecht told the Daily News. “Your head is contoured, and these are caused by direct trauma. I just don’t understand.”
Wecht stopped short of calling Zahau’s death murder. “I don’t want to be premature or make wild criticisms,” he said. “But I would not have signed this out so quickly as a suicide.”
Nor it seems would commenters at the Daily News, many of whom attributed the suicide ruling to Shacknai’s position and money.
“Sounds like a wealthy CEO helped the SD Police Department conclude that this was a suicide,” opined sadtruth. “Bunch of brain surgeons working over at homicide,” snarled NYCBabe.
And HippoHorns blasted, “If this guy did customer service for the same company he would’ve been in jail no bond since this story broke. We have motive, we have the bound arms/legs, we have the head injuries, we have the strange message…WHO CARES HOW MUCH MONEY THIS FOOL HAS? BOOK HIM!!!”
While I won’t jump on the “San Diego police are corrupt” bandwagon, I will point out that the California city had only 29 reported murders in 2009, and it’s doubtful that any of them happened in the same socioeconomic bracket as that of Schacknaid. So it’s less likely that San Diego detectives fell victim to bribery than suffered paralysis or self-censorship when confronting a citizen with wealth and power.
Did detectives interview Shacknai and his brother Adam — who found Zahau — alone or with their attorneys? Did they banish them from the mansion while physical evidence was collected? Did they perform indepth background investigations on the two? Did cops interview Shacknai’s exwife with whom he had a history of domestic fights?
Despite San Diego officials’ claims to the contrary, this case is a long way from being closed.
Comments
Just like the OJ Simpson murder case, the DSK NY rape case, money buys corrupt & clever lawyers who dug into witnesses / accusers’ background and the guy walked.
“Nauseating affairs!”
Posted by: Tin Tin | September 6, 2011 08:25 AM
Kyaemon
September 7, 2011 at 11:55 pm
(Probably, the details, previously omitted, had to be released now. An opposing forensic expert is now challenging their original version).
More details released on death at Coronado mansion
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/09/authorities-release-more-information-on-coronado-death-but-still-label-it-suicide.html
In an unusual move, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and medical examiner on Tuesday released additional details about the death of Rebecca Zahau at the Spreckels mansion in Coronado.
But Dr. Jonathan Lucas, deputy medical examiner, said none of the findings change the conclusion that Zahau, 32, committed suicide by hanging.
“As in any comprehensive investigation, some findings cannot be entirely explained,” Lucas said in a statement. “None of the observations listed … are inconsistent with the conclusions reached regarding the cause and manner of death of Rebecca Zahau.”
On Friday, Lucas, Sheriff William Gore and other law enforcement officials held a news conference to announce that their investigation had determined that Zahau killed herself after learning that the 6-year-old son of her boyfriend, pharmaceutical executive Jonah Shacknai, was going to die of injuries suffered in a fall at the mansion while he was in her care.
Zahau’s family has told reporters that they do not believe she committed suicide. The family was briefed by investigators in the days before the news conference.
In a release Tuesday, Lucas said there were bruises on Zahau’s scalp, a T-shirt had been wrapped around her neck and was stuffed in her mouth, and there was blood on her inner thighs.
Lucas said the bruises were minor and may have been caused when she slipped over the balcony with the rope around her neck.
The T-shirt in the mouth is not unusual, he said. “It is not clear why it was there, although people can place material in her mouth prior to hanging,” he said.
The blood was not the result of rape but probably due to an intrauterine device or menstruation, Lucas said.
Zahau was found hanging by her neck July 13, two days after Max Shacknai was injured in a fall. He died July 16 at Rady Children’s Hospital.
Kyaemon
September 9, 2011 at 11:02 am
Rebecca Zahau’s Death a Ritualistic Killing?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/rebecca-zahaus-death-ritualistic-killing-expert/story?id=14463695
By CHRISTINA CARON (@cdcaron) Sept. 7, 2011
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Rebecca Zahau, found naked, bound and hanging at a Coronado, Calif., mansion, may have been the victim of a ritualistic killing, a forensic psychologist told ABCNews.com today.
The bedroom near the balcony where Zahau was reportedly found hanging appeared “staged,” said Maurice Godwin, who has a Ph.D. in criminal psychology and runs a forensic consultancy business in Fayetteville, N.C.
“This death has many hallmarks of a ritualistic killing,” he said. “I think someone assaulted her physically. I think she was dazed, and they bound her.”
Zahau allegedly used black paint to write the words “she saved him can you save her” on a bedroom door near the balcony where she was found hanging.
Godwin, who has been investigating crime scenes for 15 years, believes the black paint, which was also found on Zahau’s breasts, collarbone and hands has a “ritualistic overtone.”
The odd circumstances of Zahau’s death, including the red rope tied around her ankles and wrists, as well as the autopsy report detailing hemorrhages, bruises, and blood on the body of 32-year-old Zahau, have raised several questions among forensics experts.
“It’s the entirety [of the case] that’s troubling. And I think to write it off as a suicide, it’s premature,” said Dr. Lawrence Kobilinsky, a DNA expert and forensic scientist who heads the Department of Sciences at the City University of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
According to both Kobilinsky and Godwin, the injuries as described in the autopsy report suggest “a substantial blow to the head.”
“There are four hemorrhages in four different positions,” Kobilinsky said. “When you see these kinds of scalp hemorrhages you have to explain them.”
Godwin concurred, adding, “The chances of bumping into the railing, going over the balcony and hitting your head four times is highly unlikely.”
On Tuesday San Diego medical examiner Dr. Jonathan Lucas issued a statement to respond to press inquiries about the autopsy report. With regard to the hemorrhages, he said, “Because there was evidence that she went over the balcony in a non-vertical position, she may have struck her head on the balcony on the way down.”
Renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz, who testified during the Casey Anthony trial, told ABCNews.com today it’s entirely possible Zahau hit her head while hanging.
“When the body first dropped, she doesn’t necessarily jump to her death, so she would drop directly downward and she could easily hit against the side of the structure from which she is hanging,” he said.
Even so, he admits it’s not a cut and dried case.
“I would love to see a picture of the body before the removal of the wrist bindings,” he said.
The autopsy revealed blood on Zahau’s legs, as well as bruises and tape residue. It also showed that part of a T-shirt had been in Zahau’s mouth. The medical examiner said the blood could have been either from a menstrual period or an intrauterine device, but could not explain the significance of the tape residue or T-Shirt.
Kyaemon
September 9, 2011 at 11:03 am
Rebecca Zahau Autopsy Reveals Startling Details
http://abcnews.go.com/US/rebecca-zahau-autopsy-raises-questions/story?id=14451270
digGetAd(“SponsoredByLogo”);
New details have emerged about the mysterious death of 32-year-old Rebecca Zahau, who was found hanged, bound and naked at a California millionaire’s historic mansion.
On Friday investigators announced the case was closed and ruled her death a suicide, but Zahau’s last cryptic message — and information from the autopsy that had not been divulged during Friday’s press conference — have raised new doubts about the sheriff’s conclusion.
The message painted in black on the door of the bedroom near where Zahau was found hanging said, “She saved him can you save her?”
In addition, the autopsy report revealed there were hemorrhages under Zahau’s scalp, tape residue and blood on her legs, and the T-shirt that was wrapped around Zahau’s neck had been partially stuffed in her mouth.
Zahau’s family has hired Seattle lawyer Anne Bremner and are asking the police to reopen the case.
Bremner told ABCNews.com today the message scrawled in black paint is just one of the many reasons why Zahau’s death warrants further investigation.
Kyaemon
September 9, 2011 at 11:04 am
Sheriff’s office ‘considering’ reopening Rebecca Zahau case after it’s revealed she had blood on her thighs and a T-shirt stuffed in her mouth
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2034965/Rebecca-Zahau-death-Sheriffs-office-considering-reopening-case.html
The San Diego Sheriff’s Department is willing to reopen the Rebecca Zahau case if they get a new lead.
The department ruled the death of the woman found hanging at billionaire Jonah Shacknai’s mansion a suicide last week.Zahau was found dead two days after her boyfriend’s son died in her care.
The latest comments come just two days after medical examiners revealed that she had blood on her inner thighs when her dead body was discovered.
….And Dr Wecht was concerned by haemorrhages found under her scalp surface, saying it was evidence of blunt force trauma. ‘For someone to say there isn’t any kind of struggle is not correct,’ he told KFMB-AM.
The new details are the latest twist in the mysterious story of Ms Zahau’s death….
The lawyer representing her family has said that they do not want police to close the case.
‘Rebecca had no history of suicidal tendencies, no psychological problems and no history of depression,’ Anne Bremner told RadarOnline.
‘The family wants justice. The police have a duty to fully investigate the case and we don’t want them to close the investigation today. The family does not believe it was a suicide.’
Ms Zahau’s sister Snowem Horwath believes her sister was murdered. ‘Becky did not kill herself, someone killed her,’ she told RadarOnline.
‘Time will reveal who killed Becky. I think I know who killed my sister. We are not stupid, she never had any enemies.’
The family is calling for a forensic psychiatrist and a criminal profiler to investigate the case and say the cryptic message in black paint was not Ms Zahau’s handwriting…..
Kyaemon
September 9, 2011 at 11:06 am
Rebecca Zahau’s Boyfriend Warns He Might Sue Her Family’s Lawyer
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/09/rebecca-zahaus-boyfriend-warns-he-might-sue-her-familys-lawyer/#comment-704701
…ABCNews.com has obtained an email lawyer Dan K. Webb of the law firm Winston & Strawn LLP sent to Bremner Tuesday morning warning that “your false public statements constitute defamation, per se, and under law, entitle Mr. Shacknai to recover from you, and your law firm, substantial damages.”
“What is most concerning are recent false public statements you have made that Mr. Shacknai, because of his business success, has somehow improperly influenced the investigations… You have further made public comments that these agencies have applied a different standard in conducting their investigations because of Mr. Shacknai’s wealth,” the letter said.
Webb called Bremner’s statements “highly insensitive on a human level. Mr. Shacknai and his family have suffered two tragic losses under the harsh and unkind glare of a national media frenzy you have now helped sustain.”
Bremner responded to the allegations Thursday night, telling ABCNews.com, “I haven’t said anything about his wealth nor have I said anything that could be considered false or defamatory … We are simply seeking the truth and justice.”
In the email, Webb emphasized that he was not advocating that Bremner’s clients accept the results of the police investigation. “They are, of course, entitled to their point of view regarding this matter,” he wrote.
The email concludes with, “You must cease and desist from making any further false public statements about Mr. Shacknai.”
A spokesman for Shacknai, Terry Fahn, declined to comment.
In July when police arrived at Shacknai’s mansion they found Zahau on the back lawn, her hands tied behind her back and her feet bound. Her body had been cut down by her boyfriend’s brother, Adam Shacknai, who was staying at the home. A message in black paint on a bedroom near where Zahau was found hanging said, “She saved him can you save her?”
The autopsy report also states there were hemorrhages under Zahau’s scalp, tape residue and blood on her legs, and a T-shirt that was wrapped around Zahau’s neck had been partially stuffed in her mouth.