Woman's naked body found hanging from balcony after boyfriend's son's fall

Daily Mirror

27-05-2025

Rebecca Zahau, 32, was found naked, bound and hanging from the second-story balcony of her boyfriend's mansion in Coronado, California
On the morning of July 13, 2011, Rebecca Zahau, a 32-year-old mum, was found hanging naked from the second-floor balcony of her boyfriend's mansion in Coronado, California.
Rebecca, a certified ophthalmic technician who was dating pharmaceutical tycoon, Jonah Shacknai, was found gagged, with her hands and feet tied. The grim discovery was made by Shacknai's brother Adam, who cut her down and rang 999.
‌
Detectives soon discovered that Rebecca had received a voicemail just hours before her death, informing her about the critical condition of Shacknai's six-year-old son, Max. The young boy had suffered a fall down a staircase at his dad's 27-bedroom historic mansion, with Rebecca being the only adult present during the incident.
‌
Max's prognosis was bleak, and he tragically passed away due to his injuries on July 17. Rebecca's death sent shockwaves through the tranquil, affluent island community of Coronado, located across the San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego, sparking its most high-profile and mysterious police investigation.
The case has since inspired a book and an Oxygen TV special, drawing the attention of numerous internet sleuths. Rebecca and Shacknai started dating shortly after his divorce from his second wife, Max's mum, reports the Mirror US.
As their relationship deepened, Rebecca left her job at Horizon Eye Specialists and Lasik Centre in Scottsdale, Arizona, to devote more time to Shacknai and his children, claims her former employer.
In 2007, Shacknai settled into the grand Spreckels Mansion, a lavish Italian Renaissance and Beaux-Arts-styled estate built in 1908 for a member of the Spreckels sugar dynasty, using it chiefly as a summer residence.
The enigmatic circumstances of Rebecca's death initially left local authorities puzzled. Initially thought to be a homicide, her death became even more mysterious when a baffling message was discovered in black paint on a guest bedroom door, reading, "she saved him can he save her."
‌
Yet, following a thorough investigation, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department concluded that she had committed suicide, inferring that she felt responsible for Max's accident. To back up their findings, officials showed journalists a video demonstration depicting how they believe she managed to bind her hands and feet before hanging herself.
Investigators also highlighted her fingerprints on a knife used to cut the rope and her toe prints on the balcony floor, which they believe was her launch point.
Despite the official account, Rebecca's mother and sister vehemently contested the police report. They filed a wrongful death claim, accusing Shacknai's brother, Adam, who had travelled to California after Max's accident and was staying in the mansion's guesthouse, of being implicated in her death - which he has always strongly denied.
‌
In a shocking twist back in 2018, a San Diego civil jury sided with the bereaved family, awarding them $5 million in damages after deeming Adam responsible for her death, despite his claims of innocence, as ABC News reported.
The Zahau family's solicitor argued that Adam had sexually assaulted and murdered her, making it look like she took her own life, as per the Los Angeles Times. Adam's defence barrister, Dan Webb, was left reeling by the verdict, saying he was "absolutely astonished".
"It is clear the Zahau family desperately wanted to place blame after such an inexplicable tragedy," Webb said in a statement to PEOPLE. "But falsely accusing an innocent man of murder, without a shred of credible evidence, did nothing to advance the pursuit of justice, nor to honor the memory of Max and Rebecca. Instead, the fabricated allegations against Adam, and the emotional jury response they provoked, only add another appalling human tragedy to this already horrible situation."
‌
After the civil jury's decision, the family's legal representative told journalists they would ask the sheriff's department to reopen the case.
The sheriff's department assigned new detectives to reassess the case, but they reached the same conclusion as their predecessors. "We conducted an objective and thorough investigation into Miss Zahau's death," the sheriff's department told PEOPLE.
"The facts of that investigation have led to the conclusion that Miss Zahau took her own life."
‌
In 2022, Zahau's family submitted a petition to the San Diego Department of the Medical Examiner, urging them to change the official classification of her death from suicide to homicide.
In a recent letter to Rebecca's attorney, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Steven C. Campman reiterated his office's unwavering stance on the case, which was revealed in documents obtained by PEOPLE magazine.
Campman stated in his September 2023 correspondence that he had "considered the arguments set forth in your letter and the information in the accompanying documents."
He mentioned that his considerations included discussions with colleagues and the pathologist who made the initial ruling.
In his concluding remarks, Campman firmly stated: "However, after reviewing the totality of the evidence, the conclusion of this office has not changed," indicating that their original findings remain intact.