# Anyone else following the Rebecca Zahau mystery. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 23, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352 "2011-09-23T17:26:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/1 "2011-09-23T17:26:38Z")
> **[Death of Rebecca Zahau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Zahau)** > > Rebecca Mawii Zahau (March 15, 1979 – July 13, 2011), also known as Rebecca Nalepa, was a Burmese American woman who was found hanging at the Spreckels Mansion in Coronado, California, United States, on July 13, 2011, and pronounced dead by first responders called to the residence. Her death occurred two days after 6-year-old Max Shacknai, the son of her boyfriend Jonah Shacknai, had fallen from the staircase of the mansion. At the time he was in critical condition in a hospital. Rebecca and her ... Some basic info on this very weird case. A little boy was playing on the second story of his house and fell over the stair railing and died. His father’s girlfriend (Rebecca Zahau) was at home at the time, but everything points to it being just a tragic accident. Two days later Rebecca’s body was found hung from an exterior balcony. Hands tied behind her back, ankles tied together, t-shirt stuffed into her mouth. Written by the door was “She saved him, can he save her.” Police have ruled it a suicide. There are a lot of ??? about this case. It’s either the weirdest suicide I’ve ever heard of, or something else is going on. Newsweek did a big story on it, but no real conclusions. [Rebecca Zahau Suicide at Shacknai Mansion Ruling Questioned](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/07/rebecca-zahau-suicide-at-shacknai-mansion-ruling-questioned.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/2 "2011-09-23T18:06:00Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#): > > [Death of Rebecca Zahau - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Zahau) > > Some basic info on this very weird case. A little boy was playing on the second story of his house and fell over the stair railing and died. His father’s girlfriend (Rebecca Zahau) was at home at the time, but everything points to it being just a tragic accident. > > Two days later Rebecca’s body was found hung from an exterior balcony. Hands tied behind her back, ankles tied together, t-shirt stuffed into her mouth. Written by the door was “She saved him, can he save her.” Police have ruled it a suicide. > > There are a lot of ??? about this case. It’s either the weirdest suicide I’ve ever heard of, or something else is going on. > > Newsweek did a big story on it, but no real conclusions. [Rebecca Zahau Suicide at Shacknai Mansion Ruling Questioned](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/07/rebecca-zahau-suicide-at-shacknai-mansion-ruling-questioned.html) I dunno. The Wikipedia article seems to have some claims that are dubiously sourced. [QUOTE=Wikipedia] Zahau’s autopsy would go on to reveal four unexplained instances of head trauma.[19] [/QUOTE] Footnote 19 turns out to be an article quoting a paid expert hired by Zahau’s family. The enigmatic message “She saved him, can he save her” turns out to be sourced from an ex-husband: [QUOTE=Wikipedia] according to Zahau’s ex-husband Nalepa, it read “She saved him, can he save her”. but officials declined to confirm this.[6] [/QUOTE] Presumably an ex-husband is not a strictly unbiased source when it comes to implicating as a murderer the new husband who replaced him. Other parts of the case report do not make any sense as written: > [@](#): > > Adam Shacknai stated that he found Zahau nude, hanging from a balcony, with her wrists and ankles tied with electrical wiring, at roughly 6:45 AM on the morning of July 13.[9][10] He called 911 at 6:48 AM, and then sent a text message to his brother to inform him of the news.[16][17] He cut the body down prior to police’s arrival, so they did not see it hanging.[18] > [@](#): > > Speculations of foul play began early on in the case; however, investigators were unable to find any other DNA at the scene besides Zahau’s.[22] If Adam Shacknai handled the body, what this should say is “unable to find any other DNA at the scene besides Zahau’s _and Adam Shacknai’s_.” It’s also full of entirely spurious complaints: > [@](#): > > True crime writer Cathy Scott on September 6 reported on Forbes that investigators, during a two-hour news conference where they announced their findings, failed to include vital details and evidence from the scene.[35] So the police didn’t satisfy a “true crime writer’s” thirst for vital details? > [@](#): > > On September 19, it was reported that local Coronado author Kathleen McKenna would be writing a book on the case; McKenna also expressed doubts that Zahau’s death was a suicide, stating “This case is so goofy … [t]here are so many things that don’t add up.”.[40] McKenna, whose book will sell well if this is a mystery or miscarriage of justice, and not a boring suicide, thinks “things…don’t add up.” I am not arguing that it _was_ suicide, but the folks breathlessly suggesting it was murder-by-billionaire all seem to be interested parties making difficult-to-independently-verify claims. So for now I will raise one eyebrow and await developments. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/3 "2011-09-23T18:18:51Z")
You have to where the evidence leads and there just didn’t appear to be enough evidence pointing to murder. It’s very bizarre, though. There’s not much information on her bahavior the evening of the incident, other than she spoke with and texted her sister for about 2 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/4 "2011-09-23T18:19:35Z")
[Eliza Doolittle] “It’s \*my \*belief they done her in. And what become of her new straw hat that should have come to me?” [/Eliza Doolittle] ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/5 "2011-09-23T18:30:48Z")
There have been plenty of weird suicides. And there isn’t any evidence of a murder. It is a wierd story. It almost begs for an underlying secret to be exposed which explains the bizarre nature of it, but when people commit suicide they can do it with means and reasons that no one else can understand. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/6 "2011-09-23T18:36:24Z")
If her hands were tied behind her back, there’s at least grounds to speculate about another person being involved. That would difficult–but I suppose not impossible–to accomplish alone. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/7 "2011-09-23T18:43:18Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > [Eliza Doolittle] “It’s \*my \*belief they done her in. And what become of her new straw hat that should have come to me?” [/Eliza Doolittle] So you’re saying gin was mother’s milk to her? ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/8 "2011-09-23T18:50:44Z")
I don’t think anyone suspect the child’s father. He was pretty clearly at the hospital all night when she died. That would be even more attractive to the tabloid writers, if they could somehow blame the millionaire. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/9 "2011-09-23T19:04:01Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > So you’re saying gin was mother’s milk to her? Drank? My word, something chronic. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/10 "2011-09-23T22:02:39Z")
I guess she isn’t going to come to so fast that she bites the bowl off the spoon. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/11 "2011-09-23T22:32:34Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > If her hands were tied behind her back, there’s at least grounds to speculate about another person being involved. That would difficult–but I suppose not impossible–to accomplish alone. Hands tied behind the back, feet tied, tshirt jammed into her mouth. That sort of screams suicide like “34 stab wounds in the back, worst case of suicide I ever saw…” Seriously … I know people have done some whacked suicides, but this really does scream murder. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/12 "2011-09-23T23:36:57Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > If her hands were tied behind her back, there’s at least grounds to speculate about another person being involved. That would difficult–but I suppose not impossible–to accomplish alone. > [@aruvqan](#): > > Hands tied behind the back, feet tied, tshirt jammed into her mouth. > > That sort of screams suicide like “34 stab wounds in the back, worst case of suicide I ever saw…” > > Seriously … I know people have done some whacked suicides, but this really does scream murder. They had a policewoman demonstrate how it could be done. It was on TV, it must be out on the web somewhere. It’s possible, and similar to other cases of suicide. It still could be murder. There aren’t any witnesses. But there isn’t any evidence of anyone else being there. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/13 "2011-09-24T01:28:53Z")
Is it just one guy’s word that she was hanging from the balcony? ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-following-the-rebecca-zahau-mystery/597352/14 "2011-09-28T01:33:26Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > If Adam Shacknai handled the body, what this should say is “unable to find any other DNA at the scene besides Zahau’s _and Adam Shacknai’s_.” Err… if the guy was bleeding, ejaculating or shedding hair all over her, then sure. Otherwise, no, not so much.