Billionaire’s Son and Girlfriend Die Within Days of Each Other; Girlfriend’s Bound and Naked Body Found Hanging from Mansion’s Balcony
July 18th, 2011Update: Death of Rebecca Zahau Officially Declared a Suicide
Via: Los Angeles Times:
Rebecca Zahau, the girlfriend of pharmaceutical executive Jonah Shacknai who committed suicide at his Coronado mansion, was distraught over injuries his son suffered in her care and that is apparently why she decided to hang herself, authorities said Friday.
Zahau’s nude body was found in the courtyard of the historic Spreckels mansion on Ocean Boulevard on the morning of July 13. Her hands and feet had been loosely tied, and a noose was around her neck and tied to a second-story balcony, officials said.
Although how she killed herself may seem unusual, it is not unprecedented and there is no evidence that there was foul play, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said at a Friday morning news conference.
Her fingerprints and DNA were the only ones found on the rope as well as the knife she used to cut it into pieces and place sections around her feet, hands and around her neck, Gore and other authorities said. Investigators also conducted an experiment with a woman of similar size to see if she could tie herself up in the same way with the same knots, and they concluded that she could, authorities said.
“Science does not lie,” Gore said.
Zahau, 32, also had taken some black paint and painted a message on the door to a guest room where she had been staying, authorities said, declining to reveal what the message was. Toxicology tests revealed that there was nothing in her system that would have impaired her judgment, they said.
Investigators said they spoke to someone who knew Zahau and that that person said she had been upset for months, was losing weight and not exercising. They described Zahau as being 5-foot-3 and weighing 100 pounds at the time of her death. Authorities also said they found notes in Zahau’s personal journal indicating emotional distress.
The evidence is “compelling” and points “persuasively” to suicide, Gore said.
—End Update—
Update: Nalepa Was Completely Nude, Feet Bound, Hands Bound Behind Back
What color were the candles?
Via: San Diego Reader:
Investigators are still investigating the death of 32-year-old Rebecca Zahau, an attractive woman who was found several days ago hanging by her neck from the second-story balcony of the mansion she shared with pharmaceutical tycoon Jonah Shacknai. Her wrists were bound behind her back, and her ankles were also bound. But most notable of all, according to sources close to the case, is the fact that she was completely and utterly naked.
“At this point, we can’t be certain whether Zahau’s death was a homicide or a suicide,” said Sheriff’s Captain Tim Curran at a joint news conference held with Coronado Police Chief Lou Scanlon. “It’s possible that after slowly removing all of her clothes in a mysteriously symbolic candlelit ritual, she slipped the rope over her own neck, then had an accomplice tie her wrists and feet before hurling her bare-skinned self over the balcony rail.”
“Alternatively,” added Scanlon, “She may have stripped out of her clothing in preparation for a luxurious bubble bath and then been surprised in the altogether by an assailant, who seized her exposed body, bound her unguarded flesh, and sent her plummeting nakedly to her death.”
—End Update—
Via: ABC15:
The 6-year-old son of a pharmaceutical company executive died Sunday, almost a week after falling down the stairs at his father’s historic mansion — the same house where his father’s girlfriend was found dead hanging nude from a balcony two days later.
In an email Sunday, Scottsdale billionaire Jonah Shacknai said his son Max died “despite heroic efforts on the part of paramedics and hospital staff.”
Police said the young boy fell down the main staircase of the family’s Coronado Island mansion on Monday, in what appeared to be a tragic accident.
At least two TV stations said that Shacknai, who is the CEO of Medicis Pharmaceuticals, was at the hospital with his ex-wife at Max’s bedside while doctors arranged to have his organs donated.
The boy’s father was not home at the time. Instead, Max was in the care of Shacknai’s live-in girlfriend, 32-year-old Rebecca Nalepa.
Nalepa was found dead on Wednesday by Shacknai’s brother Adam, who was staying in the guest house. Police said she was found dead hanging nude from a balcony at the mansion, her hands and feet bound.
Sheriff’s Capt. Tim Curran has called the death “very bizarre.”
Sheriff’s investigators have not established any connection between the two deaths, and have not determined if Nalepa was a crime victim and have made no arrests. They said they have not ruled out suicide.
Wonder why the sheriff would say something like that, rather than simply incarcerate the fellow up in a county/state facility and making him wear an orange jumper until everything was sorted.
That’s what would happen to me. And probably you.
Unless you’re a pharmaceutical billionaire. Who also *just happens* to be a brother in the craft, like the Sheriff. Protect and serve indeed.
III
Looks to me as if the brothers blamed the girlfriend for the little boy’s accident, and took their revenge.
Indeed now the Sheriff’s Department is calling her death a suicide :/