Last edited by loonywop; 07-23-2013 at 12:00 AM.
Can't get this page to open.Originally Posted by loonywop
"Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; They listen with the intent to reply." ~ anonymous
"Keep calm and sing Soft Kitty"
"it is what it is!"
its good now, read the comments too
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/...?#article-copyLawsuit alleges murder in Coronado hanging death
CORONADO - The family of Rebecca Zahau, whose hanging death at her boyfriend?s Coronado mansion was determined to be a suicide, filed a $10 million federal wrongful death lawsuit on Friday claiming she was murdered.
The lawsuit names Adam Shacknai and Dina Shacknai, brother and ex-wife of Zahau's Arizona millionaire boyfriend Jonah Shacknai, as well as Dina Shacknai's twin sister, Nina Romano, as defendants. Jonah Shacknai is not named in the suit.
The suit was filed by Zahau's mother, Pari Zahau, and sister, Mary Zahau-Loehner, in San Diego federal court a day before the two-year anniversary of Zahau's July 13, 2011, death.
It alleges that Adam Shacknai, Dina Shacknai and Nina Romano "participated in some manner in the planning, implementation, execution and subsequent concealment of the scheme to murder" Zahau.
The claim does not provide any specific evidence against the three. They were never named as suspects by sheriff's investigators.
Adam Shacknai, of Tennessee, was staying in a guesthouse at his brother?s historic Spreckels mansion at the time of Zahau's death. Dina Shacknai, of Arizona, was staying in a separate vacation home a few blocks away, and Nina Romano had flown in from Sacramento to be with her sister.
The lawsuit states that while each defendant might not have had a hand in Zahau's strangulation death, they threatened her and had a duty to warn her against a scheme to harm her. The suit alleges assault, battery, negligence and wrongful death.
The suit says the family represents Zahau's estate, and that her father, Robert Zahau, passed away on Tuesday.
Contacted by email, Mary Zahau-Loehner, of Missouri, said their father's funeral was held Saturday and she asked that U-T San Diego "give us a few days" before they would comment on the lawsuit.
Adam Shacknai told police he found the nude body of Zahau, 32, hanging by a rope from a second-story balcony at his brother's vacation home on Ocean Boulevard, and cut her down. Her hands were bound behind her back, her feet were bound, and a T-shirt was wrapped around her lower face.
Investigators announced seven weeks later that they had concluded her death was a suicide.
A possible motive, they said, was Zahau's distress over the fact that she had been the only adult in the house two days earlier when Jonah and Dina Shacknai's 6-year-old son Max fell from an inside staircase and suffered massive injuries. He died several days later. Zahau's younger sister also was in the house, and both told police they didn't see the boy's fall.
Nina Romano told CBS 8 in a 2011 interview that the night before Zahau's death, she knocked on the mansion door and got no answer. She also was quoted as saying she texted Zahau to ask more details about Max's fall, but got no reply.
The suicide ruling outraged Zahau's family, who hired attorneys and forensics experts to pressure authorities into further investigation. Sheriff Bill Gore said then that if more evidence surfaced, they would investigate it.
Attempts on Saturday to reach Adam Shacknai, Dina Shacknai and Nina Romano were not successful.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Caldwell emailed a statement that the Medical Examiner?s Office ruled the death a suicide ?after an exhaustive and thorough investigation was conducted by the Sheriff?s Department and Coronado Police Department.?
The Zahau family lawsuit states that the defendants "threatened to cause immediate physical harm to Rebecca by threatening to stalk, attack, choke, gag, bound and hang her" at the mansion.
The suit continues, saying "it reasonably appeared to Rebecca, prior to her death, that defendants were about to carry out their threat."
No details were given to explain how Zahau was threatened.
Zahau had been living for about two years with Jonah Shacknai, founder of Medicis Pharmaceuticals Corp., an Arizona biotech company.
The remodeled Spreckels mansion was sold last month for $9 million to the owner of a private aircraft company in Utah.
Staff writer Kristina Davis contributed to this report.
C&P'd this article for perpetuity.
Last edited by nestlequikie; 07-23-2013 at 03:29 AM.
I hope that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to. - Donnie Darko
I can't buy the suicide angle...just my thought.
"Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; They listen with the intent to reply." ~ anonymous
"Keep calm and sing Soft Kitty"
"it is what it is!"
I don't buy it either. Anyone know how they can prove any type of culpability?
From the comments of the article. I thought they were interesting.
Kim Moreno ? Top Commenter ? Works at Neala Estate Vineyard LLC
One clue to this mystery that has never been tapped is Rebecca's little sister. No effort seems to have been made to reveal her story and what she witnessed.
Reply ? 2 ? Like ? Follow Post ? July 14 at 11:01am
Debra Kuzma ? Top Commenter ? Ocean Beach California
Yep. And WHY didn't Dina Schacknai want Max alone with her--ever? The doctors at the hospital on Coronado saw from Max's injuries that the "accident" had taken place a lot longer ago, than what was reported. Even the police were suspicious of what Rebecca and her "sister" told them, of what had happened that morning. "In the shower/not in the shower/blow drying hair" but heard the commotion when he "fell?" Very, very interesting.
Reply ? 1 ? Like ? July 14 at 9:15pm
Also, I wonder why the community has not caused a stink over this. Picketing the police departments, demanding justice.
Last edited by morbidT; 07-23-2013 at 05:31 AM.
Recording has witness stating she heard screaming coming from the house before Rebecca Zahau was found. A judge has granted a 10 million lawsuit can move forward after the lawsuit was rejected multiple times.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca...303178091.html
God, this fucking case. So messed up.
Oh wow. I used to check in on this one because it was just so bizarre but I kind of gave up on anything major developing.
Ok, so as the site hasn't been working , I've been forced to do other things to keep myself entertained. I've been listening to true crime podcasts and came across the old generation why podcast about this case. It seems to have stalled. I've been reading a lot and I totally think Adam shacknai did it.
Here's her autopsy report http://www.autopsyfiles.org/reports/...cca_report.pdf
Also, I came across a comment somewhere that said that Xena Zahau, Rebecca's sister who was visiting at the time of Max's accident is actually Rebecca's daughter. Probably not true, but I can't find much about either family online.
Rebecca's brothers https://www.facebook.com/solomonsolozahau and https://www.facebook.com/joey.zahau
Rebecca's FB (don't think it was ever linked) https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.zahau.1
The house was up for sale in 2013. Not sure if it sold but here's a ton of pics, including the staircasePic of the Chandelier:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...atal-fall.html
Eta - sold for 9 mil, down from an almost 17 mil asking price
http://patch.com/california/coronado...-for-9-million
Also, I suspect Jonah has retired. There is no corporate info on him recently and he sold his company Medicis in 2012 for over TWo BILLION. ?Based on the merger price of $44 per share, the deal would return Shacknai $41 million based on shares he currently owns. The deal would net him more after he exercised existing stock options.'
Read more: [url]http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2012/09/03/20120903b-deal-buy-scottsdale-based-medicis.html#ixzz41vcCZcSz
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100008...29612452953028
Last edited by Olivia; 03-04-2016 at 01:22 AM.
Eye for an eye. Case closed. Who cares.
You obviously do. Enough to comment?
It's been awhile since I heard about this case. If I remember correctly, Rebecca was elaborately tied and gagged when they found her body. It was obvious she didn't kill herself. I'm not sure if she killed Max or not, but what if she didn't? Kids have accidents all of the time. Only filthy rich people can play judge,jury, and executioner and get away with it.
"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man" -Charles Darwin
The evidence room has been unlocked in the mysterious death of a woman at the Spreckels Mansion in Coronado.
In 2011, Rebecca Zahau was found dead at the historic home -- her hands and legs were bound by a red rope, which was also used to hang her nude body over a balcony on the property.
While the San Diego County Sheriff's Department ruled Zahau's death a suicide, her family insists she was a murder victim.
Attorney Keith Greer, who is representing the Zahau family in a wrongful death lawsuit, gave 10News exclusive access to pictures and video from the evidence room that he said holds countless clues that point to murder.
Greer said, "The evidence is very strong ? One of the unusual things about this case is there is really a lack of DNA."
"What do you attribute that to?" asked 10News anchor Itica Milanes.
"I think somebody cleaned everything up," Greer answered.
One of the most perplexing pieces of evidence is a bedroom door with a hand-painted riddle on it that says: "She saved him. Can he save her?"
"The note was written by the person who killed Rebecca," said Greer.
Greer said the sheriff's department never analyzed the handwriting.
However, Greer did, and his experts say it implicates one person -- Adam Shacknai, the man named in the civil suit.
Adam Shacknai is the brother of Zahau's boyfriend, Jonah, a pharmaceutical tycoon. Adam was staying in his guest house at the time.
As for the knots that bound Zahau, Greer said, "This wasn't a novice. You had to have some understanding of knot tying. There are marine knot characteristics involved and principles which is consistent with Adam being a tugboat captain."
Investigators believe Zahau was overwhelmed with guilt and ended her life because of an accident in the home two days earlier that led to the eventual death of Jonah Shacknai's young son Max, who was under Zahau's care.
Greer has a theory about why Sheriff Bill Gore was so quick to wrap up the investigation by insisting it was suicide.
"I think they were having heavy pressure from Jonah Shacknai," said Greer. "Would she humiliate her family and embarrass her family if that's the way she was going to kill herself? No way. No way."
Dina Shacknai, Jonah's former wife and the mother of Max, is also named in the lawsuit.
The Zahau family had the opportunity to settle the lawsuit for millions of dollars, but they refused. Greer said for the family, this is about honor.
A trial is scheduled to begin in June.
http://www.10news.com/news/evidence-...eckels-mansion
WHAT HONOR.
These people are so creepy and crazy. It's so painfully obvious that they murdered her and paid the cops off.
I think it's the victims family that wants the honor. They know she didn't kill herself, so they are pursing the lawsuit instead of settling for the money.
"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man" -Charles Darwin
Oh, you're right. I didn't read closely. Makes a lot more sense.
This case always infuriated me because it was obvious that she was murdered and it was a case of the rich getting away with anything. I'm glad that they're finally doing something about it.
You can take those Fleets and shove them up your ass
Phone posting but this is interesting
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/investiga...419896223.html
So now Rebecca's family is only suing the bazillionaire's brother Adam. It's a civil suit, which means they only have to convince a jury with a preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt like in a criminal trial- is that right?
It's absurd to believe she committed suicide, but I wonder if they have evidence to prove that it was Adam who killed her besides "Well Jonah & Dina & Nina weren't home, so it had to be Adam!" Still- I totally think he did it. I'm not sure her family will get a bunch of money from him to if they do win, but if money was their motivation, they would've settled by now. They're defending her honor <---looking at that, I know it sounds corny, but it sure seems like that's what they want to accomplish.
QUESTION:
If the Zahau family wins the civil suit against Adam, and there's enough evidence against him, could the DA legally charge him for Rebecca's murder in a criminal trial?
[I've never heard of a civil trial coming before a criminal trial, but maybe it's possible?]
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