CA - Rebecca Nalepa - suicide or murder? #9

[JBean]

I don't doubt that his death was a tragic accident. What I doubt is how exactly it took place. The stimulation and the figure do not appear to be in scale of the actual height of the 6 year old vs. the railing. The shape of the railing in the stimulation also does not appear to be a good match for the curve in the railing of the actual staircase. To go over the railing at the low place he would have gone sidewise or across and I am not sure how much room that leaves for running prior to the fall.

Losing one's footing at the top of the step would pretty much do it.
Shoot maybe he was going to slide down the rail and jumped to grab it and just over shot the bannister because he was running. Does he have a history of sliding down the bannister does anyone know?
What's the deal with the razor? was that a theory or ?? Because if he was riding the razor it would be a no brainer how it happened.

 

[jjenny]

UK article reporting Dr. Wecht thinks her autopsy showed evidence of blunt force trauma to her head? If that is accurate that would be most peculiar, to say the least, considering she supposedly killed herself by hanging. Would they say she whacked herself on the head first?

 

[katydid23]

I don't see how a woman (even a guilt-ridden one) would commit suicide following such a tragedy. If she truly cared for Mr. Shacknai, wouldn't she want to be there for him in his greatest time of need? Help him through it and then deal with her feelings. Instead she supposedly compounded his grief and stress by ending her life in such a bizarre way. (Not that suicide is usually logical) Why would she add such misery to someone she loved, who needed her, if she never had a history of mental illness?

The entire thing from beginning to end makes NO sense, every detail is hinky and unexplained and I'm not buying that she did this to herself.

I think she was rejected by JS and he may have verbally blamed her for his son's death. So at that point she was not able to be there for him. In fact, he was possibly attacking her in her time of need. By blaming her and telling her to leave the mansion, their relationship was over, he pushed her over the edge. [ possible scenario--speculation only]

 

[katydid23]

From what I remember when my sister-in-law died (massive head wounds from an auto accident; she was in the ICU for nearly a month), being pronounced brain-dead is a process--legally, there has to be something like "no sign of electrical activity in the brain for a continuous 24 hours" or something like that. I don't remember the specifics, or if it varies legally from state to state, but to pronounce someone legally brain dead is a process over a period of time (more than just a few hours). Additionally, since my SIL's organs were donated, her body was kept alive past the point of brain death so that her organs could be harvested.

So I could see there being a time lag between the point at which someone is accepted as "dead" by the family, and the point at which death of the body is officially pronounced, particularly in an organ donor situation.

Yes, it is a process. But from the beginning there is usually a prognosis that foretells the bleak outlook in the case of massive trauma.

"Max was revealed to have broken his spinal chord in his fall, and was not breathing and had no pulse when he was found."

It sounds as though they knew pretty quickly that Maxie was not going to live. It just takes awhile to break it to the family, make preparations and harvest the organs.

 

[jjenny]

By the way looking at the balcony footprints, they can't really claim with a certainty footprints belong to RN (they are not like fingerprints), only that they are consistent with hers in size. There is also boot print supposedly from a police officer (but only one). Well police officer was not hopping on one foot, was he? Was only one police officer walking on that balcony before they took footprint photos, or where there others?

 

[justice be served]

Quote:
Originally Posted by justice be served
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.

Posted by

MaBelle:
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.

BBM
Just carrying this from the Thread 8 and including my own post for clarity.

MaBelle, I have no legal background as other posters have on this forum. I was simply speaking as a parent who would want to protect my minor child.

On the bolded portion above about being a baseless accusation of Jonah, the discussion of Jonah perhaps trying to protect his children began in Thread 1 and a considerable number of postings and discussion on this forum about who really was there at the time of Max's accident and questioning by others whether there was a coverup protecting a child. I am citing this to ensure that I've complied with the rules of this forum and to me that does not make it baseless. I also wouldn't blame for one minute a parent that is trying to protect a child in an accident taking place.

 

[CalElliot]

UK article reporting Dr. Wecht thinks her autopsy showed evidence of blunt force trauma to her head? If that is accurate that would be most peculiar, to say the least, considering she supposedly killed herself by hanging. Would they say she whacked herself on the head first?

Depends on the location. If on side, could be from slamming against the wall.

 

[CalElliot]

By the way looking at the balcony footprints, they can't really claim with a certainty footprints belong to RN (they are not like fingerprints), only that they are consistent with hers in size. There is also boot print supposedly from a police officer (but only one). Well police officer was not hopping on one foot, was he? Was only one police officer walking on that balcony before they took footprint photos, or where there others?

I wondered about that, too. Where is the other boot? Who was the police officer? When and why was he there, contaminating the crime scene?

 

[jjenny]

I wondered about that, too. Where is the other boot? Who was the police officer? When and why was he there, contaminating the crime scene?

Unless this is a one legged officer, or he was actually hopping on one foot over the crime scene, a single boot impression indicates to me one can stay on that balcony and not leave a visible footprint (even if you are a normal size male as the one who appears to have left single boot print impression). Because- where is his right boot print?

 

[katydid23]

Depends on the location. If on side, could be from slamming against the wall.

And when she was cut down she might have dropped hard on the ground. I do not think he could have reached that high, stretching to cut her down, and still prevent her from falling.

 

[curiousjo]

Depends on the location. If on side, could be from slamming against the wall.

Yah, thats what I was just thinking....

And in regards to tape residue on legs- did RN wax or shave her legs. Would waxing leave such residue? My next thought last night was where is the tape roll?

 

[katydid23]

Unless this is a one legged officer, or he was actually hopping on one foot all over the crime scene, a single boot impression indicates to me one can stay on that balcony and not leave a visible footprint (even if you are a normal size male as the one who appears to have left single boot print impression). Because- where is his right boot print?

Maybe he only put one foot out onto the balcony. He might have stepped out on one foot to peer onto the balcony and then retreated.

 

[time]

The same thing bothers me with both the little boy, Max, and the gf, Rebecca. Didn't both of them have to go up before they could go down.

Max was 45 inches tall. Rebecca as 5'3" tall. None of the info I've seen has the height measurements on the "railings." Most railings are at least 42 inches. I just do not see how Max could "fall" over the railing. He had to climb up to fall over.

With Rebecca, it makes less sense. They claim she rolled over the railing. However, the "photos" show her footprints at least 9 inches away from the railing. If she leaned over, the railing would hit even higher on her body. She could not use her hands to pull her over. She did not run up to the railing. The only "weight" to pull her over would be her head. Because with her hands bound behind her back, her upper body weight would shift backwards. Her hands needed to be over the railing for the weight to shift forward. She could not bend over at the waist to get her head lower than the railing.

How did she get the height and distance needed at her height, from a standing position, to get herself over the railing?

I'm almost the exact same size as Rebecca. The railing would need to be about 36" or less with her standing right next to it I believe, else she couldn't roll over the balcony like that. Good observation on where the print is on the balcony. I also cannot figure out how she could roll off it and only leave an 11" long mark in the dust. Any deviation from right to left at all and it would be more.

They said the railing where Max went off was only 20" high as I remember. It doesn't seem up to code to me, don't know. I'd think they would have heightened that railing though with a small child around.

 

[jjenny]

And when she was cut down she might have dropped hard on the ground. I do not think he could have reached that high, stretching to cut her down, and still prevent her from falling.

She was dead for hours at that time. Would a fall of a dead body leave evidence of blunt force trauma to the head?

 

[justice be served]

I heard on my Sirius radio station HLN #116 an interview with Ann Bremner, the lawyer. There was a male on the program with Ann and between the two of them, there were three statements that were totally different from what was said at the official press conference. One was that Max was planking and fell to his death;

So it is actively being spread on the airwaves that the Z family believe this was a planking accident. I wonder why they are going head on against LE like this?

BBM
A local reported back in Thread 1, post 47, stated that planking was rumored. Just as the gagging was rumored way back in the postings and now miraculously we find out it is true via the autopsy report but not mentioned by LE.

Also by locals, the chandelier was rumored to be involved and seen carried out from the scene but not videotaped so thought not to be a fact. We now know the chandelier was indeed involved by LE.

Based on how filtered LE has been in releasing or not releasing information, why should the planking be discarded as fact simply because LE has not reported it to be fact? Even though rumor is not fact - locals usually have the inside info and that seems to be playing out on this case at least so far.

LE is playing this as they choose - which is certainly their right - but it doesn't engender confidence in the public's perception of ANYTHING! I'm just hoping that LE is smarter than we think and their approach to this case is trying to ferret out the actual truth in the end. I certainly hope so. JMO on all.

 

[time]

How tall is the person depicted in LE stimulation of how Max supposedly fell?
Is that stimulation even to scale of a six year old vs. the railing?

I wondered the same thing. Looks too tall/big in the simulation to me.

 

[justice be served]

Depends on the location. If on side, could be from slamming against the wall.

In the PC, they did mention abrasions I think they said on Rebecca's back? from slamming against the plants/wall. Nothing mentioned about her head that I can recall.

 

[jjenny]

In the PC, they did mention abrasions I think they said on Rebecca's back? from slamming against the plants/wall. Nothing mentioned about her head that I can recall.

Wecht says he thinks there is evidence of blunt force trauma (his quote "clearly indicative of some kind of blunt force trauma). There is a video linked in this article where he talks about it.
http://www.760kfmb.com/story/15388199/autopsy-rebecca-zahau-found-gagged-with-t-shirt-in-mouth

 

[time]

Yah, thats what I was just thinking....

And in regards to tape residue on legs- did RN wax or shave her legs. Would waxing leave such residue? My next thought last night was where is the tape roll?

To me, the biggest point is that if they accounted for these things in their suicide theory fully, they would have told us why there was tape residue on her legs. I would assuming waxing your legs would be very easy to conclude if that is what is was - although I do not know if you use tape. Why didn't they tell us about the possible blunt force trauma on her head when they told us about her back. Why didn't they tell us about the shirt having been in her mouth? What about the other things that are not accounted for like her clothes. They may not really be important, but I'd have an even more difficult time with all this (not that that's possible!) if her clothes are in the master bedroom. But not being there wouldn't mean it's more likely it was a suicide. I believe we are left with the only logical conclusion we can make... they left out anything that raised question about their theory and/or that they couldn't explain (perhaps did not even try, we don't know).

 

[jjenny]

I do agree that the press-conference was going for making the case to appear iron-clad. How did they not mention the gagging by t-shirt? That's in the photos. Or tape residue on legs? Or possible evidence of blunt force trauma to the head? Wecht said he would have left the manner of death "undetermined."