CA - Rebecca Nalepa - suicide or murder? #8

[sorrell skye]

The article provides a quote with exact location of tape residue but it's in medical terminology.
"On the anterolateral mid left shin there is a 1 x 5/8 inch gray piece of material and two smaller similar pieces just distal to it, measuring 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch (Comment: appears similar to tape residue). On the lateral distal right lower leg there is a 1-1/4 x 5/8 inch area consisting of three horizontally oriented, parallel somewhat evenly spaced, areas of sticky, tan-gray apparent tape residue. They are situated between 3/16 and 5/16 inch apart."
http://www.cbs8.com/story/15388199/autopsy-rebecca-zahau-found-gagged-with-t-shirt-in-mouth

Sounds like the tape residue was found on the outside (not inner) portion of both shins.

 

[elementry]

I can only see one reason for possibly writing a note w/your left hand, and making it seem weird. And for setting up the hanging the way she did. I think she may have wanted it to look like a murder. I think she was really angry at DS and at JS. If so, her plan may still be working. People are still suspicious of them perhaps being the killers.

Yup, the message was difeinitely a pointed one, and so cryptic as to have a strong psychologically driven element to it. A disintegrating mind at its breaking point on the way to the ultimate despair of ending one's own life might be compelled to act out with such a weird farewell message.

 

[jjenny]

Yup, the message was difeinitely a pointed one, and so cryptic as to have a strong psychologically driven element to it. A disintegrating mind at its breaking point on the way to the ultimate despair of ending one's own life might be compelled to act out with such a weird farewell message.

Just a short time prior she was acting normal in her conversation with her sister.
How did the mind disintegrate so quickly? Presumably right after she got the message which is gone. While the journal supposedly indicating she had stress in her life remains on her phone.

 

[katydid23]

Btw, (back to cynical sleuthing), the nature and scope of the relationship of Adam and Dina, and also Adam and Rebecca, also should be looked into more. He may just be the stunned and inncoent bystander thrust into all this intrigue, but he's there - right in the middle of it. Also throw in the brothers Jonah and Adam's relationship over the years. I wonder if the cops ever looked at any of this, if suicide was their working premise.

I totally agree. This is just wild speculation on my part. Totally off the wall. But it makes a bit of sense if you take into account the family dynamics.

You have one wildly successful brother with the mansions and the girlfriends and the fortune. And then you have the tug boat captain, the salt of the earth, more grounded, but less spectacular brother. So in the middle of this tragedy, tug boat brother is very emotional. He loved his little nephew very much. And now this stupid woman let him die a violent death, while she took a shower. He might have been livid. He very well may have made this twisted decision on his own,out of the strange feeling that it was the one thing that he was capable of doing for his amazingly successful brother. Finally, instead of asking for favors, Adam was going to give his brother something he could never do himself. imoo

 

[katydid23]

Just a short time prior she was acting normal in her conversation with her sister.
How did the mind disintegrate so quickly? Presumably right after she got the message which is gone. While the journal supposedly indicating she had stress in her life remains on her phone.

Suicidal people often act totally normal right up until the act. She may have been thinking about it from the time the accident first happened, but did not want anyone to know. It often unfolds that way. That is why families usually do not believe it is suicide.

 

[sorrell skye]

Was Rebecca a runner? Oftentimes, when runners are experiencing shin splints, they'll tape their shins to alleviate the pain.

 

[MyBelle]

In a beach house like that, teens come and go with no notice. GS and friend probably went in and out, walking to the beach across the street, or to get a burger. They could have easily been IN the house right before Max fell, and left while RN was still in the shower.

I am getting the feeling from the Z family attorney that they want to place GS and her friend in the home right before the accident, because they may have been planking and taking pix themselves. imoo

The attorney said both siblings. Where did you get the "friend" even existed? I've seen not a shred of evidence that the brother was there just before the boy fell, either. Nor did LE ever mention planking or that any of the kids engaged in it.

The only reason I can think of that the attorney is doing this is she's hoping JS will pay her to shut up. I think what she's probably going to get is a lawsuit, imo.

 

[sorrell skye]

Another thought: if Rebecca was a runner, and if she was having shin pain, and if she taped her shins, I'd expect to find tape residue all the way around her leg, not just on the lateral portion.

 

[elementry]

No, it doesn't fit in with suicide, esp. if there is no tape, used or unused, in the immediate vicinity. One can only assume the information wasn't included at the PC because it didn't fit in with the "ironclad" conclusion of suicide.

In what possible scenario does she end up with tape residue on both of her legs?

As someone said, it could have been some kind of wrapping residue from a recent workout (that didn't come off in the shower). But that can't be, because LE figured out that as part of their suicide story, Rebecca had stopped working out!:waitasec:

 

[Stella5]

The article provides a quote with exact location of tape residue but it's in medical terminology.
"On the anterolateral mid left shin there is a 1 x 5/8 inch gray piece of material and two smaller similar pieces just distal to it, measuring 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch (Comment: appears similar to tape residue). On the lateral distal right lower leg there is a 1-1/4 x 5/8 inch area consisting of three horizontally oriented, parallel somewhat evenly spaced, areas of sticky, tan-gray apparent tape residue. They are situated between 3/16 and 5/16 inch apart."
http://www.cbs8.com/story/15388199/autopsy-rebecca-zahau-found-gagged-with-t-shirt-in-mouth

IMO it sounds like Athletic Tape residue to me... that stuff is hard to get off. Her reported limp could be contributed to shin splints and she routinely wrapped the shin to minimize the pain while running. Previous reports was she was an avid runner and training for a triathlon. If the tape was around the ankles, I'd be suspicious... around the shins, not so much.

 

[elementry]

Oh man...caught up reading...and back on the fence now. Ugh. This case is just a mess of (mis)information?!?

- I'm curious about the tape! I can't see any reason that she would have tape on her legs? I did notice in the police images that there was an overturned chair in the bedroom. I have always wondered about the bent nature of Rebecca's legs....I wonder if she could have been taped to the chair at one point?
- Curious about the gagging with the shirt.
- I do not think any of LE's illustrations show they believe Max's accident had anything to do with planking.
- Re: the scooter. Not sure if he was riding it? Perhaps he was attempting to carry it downstairs and the dog interfered? If it's true that he said, "Ocean..." before he went unconscious, maybe he was attempting to say the dog had tripped him?
- Now that it's confirmed that it was R's 13yo sister, I'm curious as to where SHE went? Like someone mentioned, she was gone before Rebecca died.
- Were Jonah's other children there?

The other thing I see that simply does not match up....when looking at the images of the balcony and the red rope hanging down. If you look at that rope in relation to the table and imagine Adam standing on the table to cut R down...Adam would have had to have been a GIANT to reach up to the height the rope is cut. His arms would need to be at least as long as his body...I can imagine him stretching that far to reach the rope all while balancing on a 3 legged table??? Image: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/208...acknai-nalepa-spreckes-mansion-suicide-bo.htm

Well, do these ropes have a little elasticity? He might have pulled her down some to get to that (though that wouldn't necessarily help her resuscitation chances). Also, her weight would have made the rope taut thus bringing her down lower than where it appears to lay higher up post-cutting.

 

[katydid23]

The attorney said both siblings. Where did you get the "friend" even existed? I've seen not a shred of evidence that the brother was there just before the boy fell, either. Nor did LE ever mention planking or that any of the kids engaged in it.

The only reason I can think of that the attorney is doing this is she's hoping JS will pay her to shut up. I think what she's probably going to get is a lawsuit, imo.

I said friend because I was not sure if it was both siblings or a sibling and a friend. The only person I previously heard about being there at all was GS. So I went with her and and 'friend' because I do not know about the brother for sure. I never heard him mentioned as being there before.

The attorney for the family is the one saying planking. Again, I am going to assume that either RN or the 13 yr old niece were the ones who reported that possibility. It did not come out of nowhere.

I am a huge supporter of LE. My son is actively trying to join the police force. But that does not mean that they always get every report and every investigation 100% right, nor do they always report every single detail that they know.

 

[jjenny]

Well, do these ropes have a little elasticity? He might have pulled her down some to get to that (though that wouldn't necessarily help her resuscitation chances). Also, her weight would have made the rope taut thus bringing her down lower than where it appears to lay higher up post-cutting.

By the time he found her she was dead for more than 3 hours. There was no resuscitation chances there.

 

[katydid23]

Another thought: if Rebecca was a runner, and if she was having shin pain, and if she taped her shins, I'd expect to find tape residue all the way around her leg, not just on the lateral portion.

Not necessarily. I used to wrap those elastic band thingies around my shins and then tape them to keep them in place.

 

[elementry]

The article provides a quote with exact location of tape residue but it's in medical terminology.
"On the anterolateral mid left shin there is a 1 x 5/8 inch gray piece of material and two smaller similar pieces just distal to it, measuring 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch (Comment: appears similar to tape residue). On the lateral distal right lower leg there is a 1-1/4 x 5/8 inch area consisting of three horizontally oriented, parallel somewhat evenly spaced, areas of sticky, tan-gray apparent tape residue. They are situated between 3/16 and 5/16 inch apart."
http://www.cbs8.com/story/15388199/autopsy-rebecca-zahau-found-gagged-with-t-shirt-in-mouth

Band-aids?

 

[Stella5]

Suicidal people often act totally normal right up until the act. She may have been thinking about it from the time the accident first happened, but did not want anyone to know. It often unfolds that way. That is why families usually do not believe it is suicide.

I agree. My brother was positively upbeat, almost joyous, making plans to move to STL to start flipping houses with me and then he was dead. Nothing huge happened in his life to tip us off he was even thinking of killing himself. We also don't really know Rebecca. We don't know if she had private tortured thoughts prior to Max's accident and her subsequent death. We don't know if things were all rosy with Jonah prior to her death. Yes I've heard of the supposed upcoming proposal, but do we know that's true?! Her friends & family report that she was upbeat, loved life, was a wonderful person, etc... but so are so many people that chose to end their own lives. Not every completed suicide was accomplished by a person outwardly depressed and talking of ending their own lives.

BTW... I did find a similar suicide [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Bill_Sparkman"]Death of Bill Sparkman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Bill_Sparkman.jpg" class="image"><img alt="Profile shot of a bespectacled man in his early fifties, wearing a mortarboard with a yellow tassel" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a2/Bill_Sparkman.jpg/220px-Bill_Sparkman.jpg"@@AMEPARAM@@en/thumb/a/a2/Bill_Sparkman.jpg/220px-Bill_Sparkman.jpg[/ame]

I firmly believe we won't find many because the media's policy is to NOT report on suicides because they are considered a taboo subject. Also hanging is a top method of death for individuals of Asian decent, as Rebecca was.

 

[jjenny]

Band-aids?

But if there is no wound under them, why put them there?

 

[jjenny]

I agree. My brother was positively upbeat, almost joyous, making plans to move to STL to start flipping houses with me and then he was dead. Nothing huge happened in his life to tip us off he was even thinking of killing himself. We also don't really know Rebecca. We don't know if she had private tortured thoughts prior to Max's accident and her subsequent death. We don't know if things were all rosy with Jonah prior to her death. Yes I've heard of the supposed upcoming proposal, but do we know that's true?! Her friends & family report that she was upbeat, loved life, was a wonderful person, etc... but so are so many people that chose to end their own lives. Not every completed suicide was accomplished by a person outwardly depressed and talking of ending their own lives.

BTW... I did find a similar suicide Death of Bill Sparkman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I firmly believe we won't find many because the media's policy is to NOT report on suicides because they are considered a taboo subject. Also hanging is a top method of death for individuals of Asian decent, as Rebecca was.

I am going to point out the obvious. That guy is a male. The family lawyer pointed out that while there are rare instances of males committing suicide in that manner, none are of females. He was also allegedly staging it to look like MURDER for insurance purposes.

 

[elementry]

Just a short time prior she was acting normal in her conversation with her sister.
How did the mind disintegrate so quickly? Presumably right after she got the message which is gone. While the journal supposedly indicating she had stress in her life remains on her phone.

Definitely appears fishy, that erased message. But sometimes in the heat of the moment I have almost instantly pressed delete before even realizing what I'm doing. On my service though, one can undelete the message as long as one is still on the same voice mail retrieving call.

 

[MyBelle]

BBM
Perhaps they were instructed to do so by Jonah as he wanted to protect his other kids. That's not an unreasonable request in an accidental situation.

Obstruction of justice is a crime and is a pretty unreasonable request in accidental situations. It's also a baseless accusation against Jonah at this point, imo.