Dateline: Secrets Uncovered - How did Rebecca Zahau die?
On November 15, 2022, Dateline: Secrets Uncovered will re-air its episode titled The Mansion on Ocean Boulevard to revisit Rebecca Zahau's 2011 death case. The episode will air on Oxygen at 7:00 pm ET. The synopsis says:
"It was a riveting mystery with two puzzling deaths, both at the same mansion; first, a boy was found near the bottom of the stairs and police ruled it an accident; then there was an apparent suicide at the guest house."It’s been over a decade since Zahau’s mysterious death, which took place only days after her boyfriend, pharmaceutical tycoon Jonah Shacknai's young son, Max, gravely wounded himself after falling over the home's second-floor balcony.
The boyfriend's brother reportedly found the 32-year-old tied up and naked on the balcony of the Spreckels Mansion in Coronado, California, in July 2011.
Although her death was initially ruled a suicide, multiple clues indicated that it may have been a possible homicide. Not long after, Max also succumbed to his wounds. Both the mysterious deaths led to a media frenzy and a few high-profile trials, given the unnerving circumstances the two completely unrelated deaths occurred in.
This article will further discuss the death of Rebecca Zahau and the events that followed.
Weeks after Rebecca Zahau's body was found, medical examiners ruled the cause of death as suicide
On July 13, 2011, Adam Shacknai called 911 and reported discovering Rebecca Zahau hanging from a bedroom balcony. During the incident, Shacknai, who was staying at the guesthouse, was the only person present on the premises of the mansion. He reportedly brought her body down upon noticing her.
Zahau was found naked and her wrists and feet were discovered ligatured together in an intricate pattern. She had a T-shirt stuffed in her mouth. Officers entered the room and discovered a rope draped across the balcony that was fastened to the bed frame. They also discovered a message written in black paint on the bedroom's locked door, which stated:
"She saved him. Can you save her?"Both the Coronado Police Department and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, along with the county medical examiner, determined Rebecca Zahau's cause of death as suicide seven weeks after she was found dead.
The authorities came to the conclusion that she killed herself because she felt responsible for Max. They thought the letter on the door was a suicide note.
Investigators alleged that Zahau carried out her plan alone in the mansion shortly before one in the morning. They claimed that she executed the plan after learning from her boyfriend, Jonah Shacknai, that his son Max, who met with a fatal accident on her watch, was not going to make it.
They stated that she took off all her clothes, fastened the rope's end to the bed's footboard, made a noose at the other end, tightened it and slid it over her head. She later secured her ankles with a knot, climbed up onto a little balcony, bound her hands at the back, and subsequently leaned over for a 9-foot drop. She slowly died about 20 minutes after losing consciousness for about 15 seconds.
Later findings in the Rebecca Zahau case pointed towards a possible murder
Later findings in the case revealed that forensic evidence showing Rebecca may have been hit on the head was dismissed by the medical examiner, along with other factors that hinted towards a probable murder case.
Her family also claimed that she was far from suicidal at the time. Furthermore, the cryptic message stated a different story altogether.
Zahau's family, however, alleged that Jonah's brother, Adam Shacknai, strangled her and staged a suicide scene. They filed a federal lawsuit in 2014, claiming that Rebecca Zahau was murdered for revenge for allowing Max to get hurt. In the $10 million lawsuit, Adam was charged with planning to murder Rebecca Zahau along with Dina Shacknai and her twin sister, Nina Romano.
Dateline: Secrets Uncovered will narrate Rebecca Zahau's case at 7:00 pm ET this Tuesday.
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