Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors: Ann Rule's Crime Files

[Mrs. Holmes]

I sure would like to know how the household came into possession of that The Housemaid movie. Very strange to have something like that in the home..... it could contribute to self fulfilling prophecy.... having watched that recently...

 

[Mrs. Holmes]

geez... I am surprised LE didn't tell us that is what RZ did... hang the rope over the balcony... cut the rope... take the rest of the rope downstairs and then get up on the table..... finish tying herself up and let it kick out from underneath her...

 

[Mrs. Holmes]

Maybe RZ sees NR outside.... didn't she knock and ring the bell.... maybe that is when RZ turns off the phone when she sees the text from NR....not wanting any kind of discussion.... .... goes to have a shower.... turns the phone back on.... gets a horrendously cruel message from JS...... snaps....

I sure want to see photographs of the top of that table... I suspect it might be as dirty as the balcony.... what kid of marks were on it?

 

[Mrs. Holmes]

I wish I could see video of RZ alive.... see her and hear her..... we would get such a better feel for who she was.

 

[bourne]

geez... I am surprised LE didn't tell us that is what RZ did... hang the rope over the balcony and then get up on the table..... finish tying yourself up and let it kick out from underneath you...

That's an interesting idea. But the logistics of the entire suicide would be off.

Here are the elements that I don't agree with:
1) RZ would have had to, in the nude, climb on top of a broken leg table which according to several posters was already broken months before, and then proceed to bind her own hands and legs AFTER climbing the unstable table. Could a woman of 100 lbs. be able to balance tenuously on a 3-legged table that was ready to topple over, and with a noose around her neck and choke herself with a t-shirt wound around her neck 3x and stuck it into her mouth while completing all these actions?
2) Then RZ would have to kick the table underneath her, with her hands behind her back and bound, ankles bound, and t-shirt stuffed in mouth, and noose over her neck. She would have to somehow get enormous momentum to swing and kick over the table. Where would she get that external force -- unless there was someone else helping to swing her about?
3) I don't know how the noose was made around her neck, but generally aren't nooses loose until a person dangles and then the ropes tighten to strangulation? So RZ would have had to be certain that the noose would not come loose while she was precariously balancing on 3-legged table with hands and feet bound and t-shirt tightly wound and in her mouth, and while kicking about to make sure she got rid of table underneath her legs. Sounds like too much is going on and too much uncertainty for a suicider to perform.
4) The table, according to Adam, was found quite far away from Rebecca. That would mean somehow Rebecca required a lot of force to kick the table a far distance from where she was left dangling. Remember Adam said he had to pull the table from elsewhere to get it underneath Rebecca. Also Adam implied in his statements that the table was still standing erect, on its legs when he pulled it over to where Becky was hanging. So not only would we have to believe Becky kicked the table far away from her to hang herself, but that she somehow managed to kick the 3-legged table a long distance and also managed to keep the 3-legged table standing erect.

Sorry too many assumptions have to be made in order for Becky to have committed suicide this way.

 

[bourne]

I agree with KZ that with the extensive damage to her neck, Becky was thrown over the balcony.

I think it's likely that Becky was strangled first with t-shirt or even bare hands in gloves by an angry, hateful, vengeful person(s). The murderer's strength likely magnified by her adrenaline and violent rage, and intoxicated state. Then the murderers tried to cover up the strangulation by tying Becky up and hanging her in noose.

The reason there was only a small spot of dust lifted from the balcony railing where Becky was found hanging is that the murderers carried her and tossed her over. Becky did not make those tiny wipes of dust on the railing herself. There was not as much damage to Becky as a long hanging drop because likely the t-shirt provided some cushion to her neck area. The reason the bed did not move that much, I'm thinking is that something heavy was on the bed, or the carpet drag or something blocked the bed from moving forward too much, like an overturned chair?

I believe more than ever, now that "The Housemaid" videotape was found at crime scene or elsewhere in Spreckels mansion, that the murderers premeditated Becky's murder for a LONG TIME -- months -- and likely fantasized about hanging Becky for as many months, and that with Max's accident (I still can't believe a mom would harm her child so I am going to give Dina the benefit of the doubt about Max's fall), the murderers now had the perfect pretext to kill Becky.

Ann Rule mentioned that a few months prior, in April 2011 (?) that Dina was seen in a verbal volatile confrontation with Becky. It is likely that since this Housemaid video was only available in limited release in the U.S. in Feb 2011* that someone got a hold of it at that time and started watching it and planning Becky's murder.

Like other posters, I'd like to know when and who purchased this limited release "The Housemaid" video. I highly doubt Becky or her teen sis XZ bought it. The buyers were likely either Jonah's teen kids or Dina -- people who disliked Becky with a passion.

*According to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1314652/releaseinfo

 

[bourne]

Here's the sequence on RZ's phone bill. If Nina had sent the text at 9:41PM as she claims and as shown on her phone bill, RZ would have received it between her texts with Mary, right?

9:40PM Rebecca text Mary
9:42PM Rebecca text Mary
9:44PM Mary text Rebecca
9:48PM Rebecca text Mary
9:48PM Rebecca text Mary
9:52PM Mary text Rebecca
9:53PM Mary text Rebecca
9:53PM Rebecca text Mary
10:41PM Nina text Rebecca

I was asking my hubby that just now. I'm thinking when the cellphone data lines are tight with many texts, the texts have to be queued until there are available moments when the data line is free for other text to go through. Like when we try to call to vote for our favorite tv contestant, but we can't get through...But I can be wrong.

Also, if Nina's text had to wait, hers still would have gotten through after 9:53PM, not a whole hour after. So IDK.

 

[bourne]

You would think a long drop would result in relatively equal damage on each side? Why the damage only on the left side.... the length of the drop would mean the body would not have had time to straighten out completely so the left side of her neck gets the full yank of the rope?

The drop need not be symmetric because Becky was likely thrown sideways -- not full frontal or full back. That is likely why there was light dust on only one side of her hip/thigh, as I recall. Also, the t-shirt was in the way around her neck and the single knot on the noose was likely around the right (?) side so that cushioned the rope from digging/slicing as deeply into Becky's neck.

If you think about a thin dental floss, the thinner it is, the more it slices. The thicker, the less it slices your skin. JMHO

 

[K_Z]

During a hanging, the bowels release. It isn't pretty.
Rebecca was gorgeous. She took wonderful care of herself. She ate right, exercised, groomed herself well, etc. THERE IS NO WAY that she would have hung herself naked where ADAM could find her. She was not only in a humiliating, bound position, but she would have had feces and urine released as well. God, this whole thing is so ugly. May the truth come out and the guilty party(s) pay. I'm so sorry you went through this, Rebecca. I am just so sorry.

BBM.

It is rather uncommon for hanging victims to urinate or defecate. (This includes both suspension victims, as well as long and short drop victims.)

Additionally, the autopsy report for RZ does not document either defecation or urination at the scene, or evidence of such at the time of autopsy.

This is one source I found to support that.There are a number of other sources that discuss suicide victims from suspension and long and short drop hangings-- none of which mention urination or defecation.

However, one source mentioned long drop suicide hanging at only 1% of all suicidal hangings. I thought that was very interesting.

An analysis of 46 recent public hangings in Iran that were legally and meticulously photographed at every stage by official news agency cameramen showed obvious physical struggling in 10 cases, the tongue protruding slightly in four cases, no obvious reddening of the face in any case, drooling from the mouth in two cases and what appears to be an erection and orgasm in one case. None of the men showed evidence of urination or defecation.

http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/hanging2.html

 

[K_Z]

You would think a long drop would result in relatively equal damage on each side? Why the damage only on the left side.... the length of the drop would mean the body would not have had time to straighten out completely so the left side of her neck gets the full yank of the rope?

Symmetric damage would be most unlikely, and unexpected, in any kind of hanging (suspension, long, or short drop). The area of the knot or slip has the least damage, whether posterior, submental (below jaw), or subaural (below ear). From all of my reading about long and short drop hanging, left placement has been preferred by executioners, as the knot tends to travel to below the jaw and produce the desired instantaneous hangman's fracture. Right placement tends to have the knot travel posteriorly. Posterior placement throws the head forward and adds larynx crush damage to the strangulation death.

IIRC, Rebecca's knot was on the right. Her corresponding severe damage was on the left. SCM damage is most common in all hangings-- the infrahyoid damage is less common, and more persuasively argues for long drop, when combined with severe left SCM damage. Anterior- only cartilage damage to the thyroid cartilage is common with posterior knot/ slip.

 

[Gilgamesh]

Symmetric damage would be most unlikely, and unexpected, in any kind of hanging (suspension, long, or short drop). The area of the knot or slip has the least damage, whether posterior, submental (below jaw), or subaural (below ear). From all of my reading about long and short drop hanging, left placement has been preferred by executioners, as the knot tends to travel to below the jaw and produce the desired instantaneous hangman's fracture. Right placement tends to have the knot travel posteriorly. Posterior placement throws the head forward and adds larynx crush damage to the strangulation death.

IIRC, Rebecca's knot was on the right. Her corresponding severe damage was on the left. SCM damage is most common in all hangings-- the infrahyoid damage is less common, and more persuasively argues for long drop, when combined with severe left SCM damage. Anterior- only cartilage damage to the thyroid cartilage is common with posterior knot/ slip.

Hi KZ,
Interesting that you would say that because when I researched it, I found a huge pool of information about hanging victims defecating and urinating on themselves. Not trying to be contentious, I'm just surprised to hear you state this. It's not what I found on the Internet.

 

[arielilane]

This has probably been mentioned before but I haven't come across it in reading old posts here.

The one thing that makes sense to me regarding the railing and lack of smudging/dust/dirt removal. What if RZ never went over that railing? Could the killer(s?) have had her in the kill room taped to the chair, looking on her computer/cell phone VM/etc., writing on the door, preparing to kill her, and somehow RZ escaped? She runs through the house and out to the courtyard. She screams as the killer(s?) catch(es?) up to her, hits her in the head, drags her over by the balcony, and does a "reverse" hanging? Maybe one killer in the courtyard, and one in the kill room?

To me it explains her muddy feet, yet no mud in the house, the wounds on her back, but not on her arms, and the miminal disturbance to the dirt/dust on the railing. If one killer threw the rope up and over the balcony, the other was there to catch it and tie it to the bed, it could have rubbed back and forth across the railing a bit. It might also explain why her feet were only a couple feet off the ground instead of many. There would be no need for such exact measuring of the rope if she were nealing (hog tied) on the table, the rope goes up, gets tied off to the bed, and then the leg gets kicked out from under the table. The rope connecting her legs and arms gets cut after the hanging. Kicking the table out from under her could have caused the bed to move at that time.

Probably 1000 holes in my theory, but it just doesn't make sense that she went over that railing in any fashion, at least to me.

Well said. This is so close to what I suspect/opinion, that the murderer(s) staged the bedroom scene to make it appear as a suicide. Perhaps Rebecca was chased outside. This would explain the mud on Rebecca's feet. The murderers moved the bed, flipping rope over balcony, cutting the rope as she is hanged from the bottom, using the table, etc.

Justice for Rebecca, one day soon....

 

[Quester]

Is the "Housemaid" video a red herring? Was it left off the list of items taken into evidence? Maybe the video was found inside the DVD slot of a seized computer?

Among the items seized on the Shacknai estate was a Japanese video titled The Housemaid. Its scenario was chillingly similar to aspects of the life Becky lived—a beautiful maid who was in love with her wealthy employer, who adored his child. It was an erotic love story.

Excerpt From: Rule, Ann. “Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors.”

BBM - Why did AR incorrectly state “The Housemaid” was Japanese when both the 1960 original and the 2010 remake were South Korean?

ETA: Was it a Japanese edition?

 

[*Lash*]

All the theories of how Rebecca came to be hanging are interesting.

I'll throw in my 2 cents here that the pattern of neck muscle tearing, with abundant hemorrhage within the muscles (described at length on the AR) persuades me that she did, indeed, suffer a "long drop", and that her heart was beating when the muscles were torn. This may have been preceded by a partial strangulation and/ or stunning blows to the head.

I just don't see any way that the particular pattern of neck muscle tearing with hemorrhage could be achieved by a "hoisting from below", or achieved if she was already dead (heart in asystole). Her left SCM was torn nearly in half-- that is very significant damage, and muscles don't tear easily like that (from strangulation, for example). And the infrahyoid muscles were also torn-- those are in a different "plane" than the SCM muscles, and lie deeper in the neck structures. There are many hangings in the literature described where the cervical vertebrae were not dislocated or broken. (Some were judicial hangings.)

I'm not a forensic pathologist, but I do have a lot of health care experience, and in particular, experience with structures of the neck and larynx. I can't find any information about strangulation or garroting, or posthumous hanging, that would produce the pattern of torn muscles and hemorrhage that Rebecca suffered. The only explanation that I have found in my research is that her pattern of damage is consistent with a long drop hanging. And the oral and facial petechiae described on the AR could just as easily been from the hanging (she suffered strangulation death, as opposed to a hangman's fracture death), as from a partial strangulation preceding the hanging.

It's my opinion that someone helped her over the railing-- as in, murdered her. I believe her heart was beating when that happened. Nothing for me adds up to a suicidal hanging, but the autopsy evidence is persuasive to me that she was indeed, hanged with a long drop.

Hi KZ!

First, thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. It is always greatly appreciated.

I have always believed Rebecca was alive when she was dropped. In my opinion, what you have stated in layman terms supports this theory.

Could Rebecca have been hoisted up alive? Maybe hoisted up by her ankles/feet? Once her body reached a certain height, the murderer(s) then dropped her to make it appear like a head first long drop?

 

[*Lash*]

BBM - Why did AR incorrectly state “The Housemaid” was Japanese when both the 1960 original and the 2010 remake were South Korean?

ETA: Was it a Japanese edition?

Also Known As (AKA)
Hanyo - South Korea (original title)
The Housemaid - France (imdb display title) / International (English title) / Italy (imdb display title) / Sweden (imdb display title)
Das Hausmädchen - Germany (imdb display title)
Ha'mesharetet - Israel (alternative title) (Hebrew title)
Ha-nyeo - South Korea (imdb display title)
Hushjelpen - Norway (imdb display title)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1314652/releaseinfo

 

[Gilgamesh]

Hi KZ,
Interesting that you would say that because when I researched it, I found a huge pool of information about hanging victims defecating and urinating on themselves. Not trying to be contentious, I'm just surprised to hear you state this. It's not what I found on the Internet.

This wasn't the quote I was referring to. I guess that when 2 quotes are imbedded, only the second one is the one that shows up in the next poster's quote. Oh well.

 

[Gilgamesh]

It just happened again. Lol

 

[Gilgamesh]

Well said. This is so close to what I suspect/opinion, that the murderer(s) staged the bedroom scene to make it appear as a suicide. Perhaps Rebecca was chased outside. This would explain the mud on Rebecca's feet. The murderers moved the bed, flipping rope over balcony, cutting the rope as she is hanged from the bottom, using the table, etc.

Justice for Rebecca, one day soon....

It never, ever, ever, ever looked like a suicide to me. No effin' way. I would say it looked like an assassination pure and simple. I've never understood how the suicide assumption took off from a logical perspective.

 

[jjenny]

BBM - Why did AR incorrectly state “The Housemaid” was Japanese when both the 1960 original and the 2010 remake were South Korean?

ETA: Was it a Japanese edition?

My guess is a mistake. From what I read on wikipedia, the two versions of a movie (1960) and (2010) have different plots. 1960 version does have a young son dying by falling down the stairs.
2010 version has a housemaid committing suicide by hanging herself and setting herself on fire.
The parallels to what actually happened to RZ are spooky.

 

[Quester]

Also Known As (AKA)
Hanyo - South Korea (original title)
The Housemaid - France (imdb display title) / International (English title) / Italy (imdb display title) / Sweden (imdb display title)
Das Hausmädchen - Germany (imdb display title)
Ha'mesharetet - Israel (alternative title) (Hebrew title)
Ha-nyeo - South Korea (imdb display title)
Hushjelpen - Norway (imdb display title)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1314652/releaseinfo

Also from your link for the 2010 remake ...

USA limited release 1/21/11

Japanese release 8/27/11

​

For the 1960 original ...

Japanese release 10/20/08

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0150980/releaseinfo
​