The 10News I-Team obtained court records that detailed a delinquent payment on a La Jolla rental house involving Dina Shacknai. She rented the property for a month in 2009 for $32,500.
It remains unclear why Dina Shacknai rented it when she and her then-husband owned their Coronado mansion.
Prominent San Diego defense attorney Paul Pfingst visited the home late Wednesday night but was refused entrance. Pfingst would only say that he was hired by someone involved in the case but was forbidden to speak with that person.
n Friday, Nalepa's sister, Mary Zahau-Loehner, told a media outlet about the last conversation she had with her sister.
"She was normal, fine, just getting ready to go to bed," said Zahau-Loehner.
When asked about her sister's relationship with Jonah Shacknai, she said, "They were together for two or three years, and I think they were happy She goes to that Coronado house with his kids. They go there in the summertime."
Zahau family attorney Anne Bremner first revealed that mixed DNA was found at the death scene during the airing of the Dr. Phil Show earlier this week.
"We have mixed DNA in this case all over, in things like the knife, the bed frame, black gloves," said Bremner on the syndicated television talk show. "Mixed DNA unexplained as to who these other donors are."
Attorney Bremner said Jonah Shacknai is seen on hospital surveillance video on the night of Zahau's death, but Dina Shacknai is not.
Sheriff Gore confirmed as much during his news conference.
"We don't have her (Dina Shacknai) on surveillance tape," Gore confirmed. "Her position was determined thorough GPS triangulation on her cell phone, which put her in the vicinity of Rady Children's Hospital."
Mary Zahau-Loehner said she spoke with her sister the night before her body was found and she gave no hint that she planned to take her life.
She said she planned to bring Mr Shacknai breakfast and a change of clothes the next morning to the hospital where his son was being treated.
Miss Zahau also told her sister that she would call her parents in the morning on the way to the hospital.
She emailed another sister in Germany to say she would be updating throughout the next day.
'Too detailed planning for someone who's planning to end their life that night,' Ms Zahau-Loehner said.
Court records and interviews indicate Jonah Shacknai has gone through two rocky divorces.
His first wife, Kimberly, filed for divorce in December 1998, and the feuding lasted until they finally settled in February 2001. The fight revolved around money and the custody of their two children, now ages 14 and 13.
By that time, Shacknais company was already earning him millions of dollars. The couples 1997 tax return, which was disclosed during the divorce, showed $6.7 million in income. Their 1998 return showed $16.99 million. She accused him of moving tens of millions of dollars to bank accounts she didnt know about in the years before the divorce. He denied the accusation.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011...-spreckels-mansion-identified/?page=2#article
neil nalepa, 36, of scottsdale, ariz., was married to zahau for nine years. The couple separated in january 2010 and divorced this year.
i dont believe it was a suicide at all, nalepa said. He said his ex-wife, whom he met at a bible college in austria, was a gentle, loving and religious person who would never take her own life.
she would cry out to god for help if she were feeling sad, nalepa said.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/sep/01/coronado-mansion-death-investigation-results-be-re/
Investigators found no alcohol or drugs in Zahau’s system. They said that six months earlier, Zahau had been battling the blues, telling a friend that she was not sleeping well and was losing weight. Her cellphone’s journal contained a three-page memo, the contents of which police did not reveal.
The lawyer said the journal entry was “standard relationship stuff,” pertaining to Zahau’s sometimes difficult interactions with Shacknai’s teenage daughter — not Max. Bremner also dismissed the talk with the friend as low-key gossip.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/sep/03/officials-sure-bizarre-case-suicide-family-unconvi/
Who did the footprints belong to? The dusty impressions lacked enough detail to make a comparison for identification purposes, Nesbit said. However, the size of the impressions was consistent with the size of Ms. Zahaus feet.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011...e-case-suicide-family-unconvi/?page=2#article
Jonah Shacknai felt like the luckiest man in the world. It was July 8, and the millionaire CEO was enjoying a summer idyll with his kids in the tony seaside village of Coronado, Calif. He was talking on the phone with George Kopp, a Washington lawyer and buddy since the 1980s, when they were both congressional aides. Kopp recalls the conversation clearly. Jonah said he was kicking a soccer ball with his boys, Max and Ethan. His daughter, Gabby, was there preparing for her volunteer trip to Africa in August. Jonah said, Were having an absolutely perfect day. Ive got my kids with me. Rebeccas with me. The weather is perfect. My life is perfect. What could be better??
"The San Diego Sheriff's Department will be obtaining a search warrant to review the footage. Investigators want to confirm details of what Jonah, Adam, and Dina [Jonah's second wife, and Max's mother], have revealed to them. Jonah maintains that he was at the hospital when Rebecca's body was found. This is a very fluid investigation," a law enforcement source tells us.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, you saw -- when you went up to the mansion, right...
GREENBERG: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... to help Rebecca, you saw something, right?
GREENBERG: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And OK. This -- did you find whatever you saw significant?
GREENBERG: What are you speaking of exactly?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You said you saw another woman?
GREENBERG: When I left. When I was leaving the house...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK.
GREENBERG: ... with the dog.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1107/19/ijvm.01.html