Rebecca Nalepa - suicide or murder? #1

[CuriousHousewife]

Whether she was or wasn't sexually assaulted, she still could have been in a sexual situation when she allowed herself to be bound or at least to get her vulnerable.

 

[CuriousHousewife]

See, that is what gets me about this case. UNLESS she was completely intoxicated, I cannot imagine her (or any other woman) hanging herself naked.

I wouldn't even do it s-faced drunk. I'd have to be drugged pretty good...good enough to NOT be able to carry out what she is supposed to have carried out.

 

[Linda7NJ]

I want to know if he stood on the table to cut her down....or did he go upstairs and cut her down from up there.

I would expect a woman hanging herself would not leave the length of the rope long...what if she misjudged and hit the ground?

 

[sargenet]

BUT, I just don't see Dina leaving her dying child's bedside to kill Rebecca. Maybe after he dies, but not when he is in the hospital.

Depends on what news she got on Tuesday. If they told her he was brain dead she might have just snapped. I also think this is her only child. I have a 7 year old son...and he is my only child. If my son died when someone else was watching him I might snap too....and it sounds like there was already a lot of BAD blood between Rebecca and the ex-wife.

Committing suicide while naked didn't make sense...but I can see a crazed mother who lost their child try to humiliate the woman who probably stole her husband and then took her son (in her eyes) do something crazy like this. Heck he stated she tried to choke him before!!

 

[BrownRice]

Regarding the brother finding Rebecca hanging and cutting her down. I guess I find that odd now that I think about it. I probably would have called the police first. I think it would be obvious if she was dead or not. Cutting down a 120 lb woman (just guessing weight) from a balcony can't be that easy. ??? If she was screaming or crying, that would be one thing, but she was dead.

 

[sorrell skye]

Dr. Mark Kalish (forensic psychiatrist) is saying what I was thinking about the mode of "suicide" regarding women versus men.

Dr. Kalish believes that the way Rebecca's body was found bound and hanging leads him to believe that the death was a staged suicide.

Dr. Kalish: "Typically men commit suicide in a violent way using guns, hanging, knives... whereas women prefer things like overdosing on pills, drowning..."

http://www.cbs8.com/story/15075598/...ths-of-coronado-mansion-owners-son-girlfriend

More commentary by Dr. Kalish can be heard on the video in the link above. I agree with his statements.

 

[CuriousHousewife]

Regarding the brother finding Rebecca hanging and cutting her down. I guess I find that odd now that I think about it. I probably would have called the police first. I think it would be obvious if she was dead or not. Cutting down a 120 lb woman (just guessing weight) from a balcony can't be that easy. ??? If she was screaming or crying, that would be one thing, but she was dead.

Also, the table in the photo doesn't look tall enough to reach a second story or anything nearby, so if he stood on it to cut her down (as a previous poster mentioned), it was moved after the fact.

 

[BrownRice]

Depends on what news she got on Tuesday. If they told her he was brain dead she might have just snapped. I also think this is her only child. I have a 7 year old son...and he is my only child. If my son died when someone else was watching him I might snap too....and it sounds like there was already a lot of BAD blood between Rebecca and the ex-wife.

Committing suicide while naked didn't make sense...but I can see a crazed mother who lost their child try to humiliate the woman who probably stole her husband and then took her son (in her eyes) do something crazy like this. Heck he stated she tried to choke him before!!

If I was in a similar situation as this mother, I would totally snap (I can't imagine I would resort to violence though) if he died - esp at the hands of the woman who took my husband!!!!! But, I would not leave the hospital even if my child was brain dead.

 

[sargenet]

, but she was dead.

That is the question. I have read a few reports saying she was in "distress". Based on the photos I think the brother probably pulled that table under the balcony and that is how he got her down. She would have fell if he cut her down and landed where she did in the courtyard....if he would have run up into the bedroom and cut her down she would have fell and she might have been injured more.

Maybe by pulling the table under her he thought he could cut the cord and catch her. He actually might have and carried her to the area where the photo shows her body...

It will be interesting to see if the items they took show a struggle in the bedroom....

 

[Linda7NJ]

The brother lawyered up...right? I'm thinking he's lookin pretty good right now and LE is crossing the T's and dotting their I's before an arrest is ever made.

 

[BrownRice]

That is the question. I have read a few reports saying she was in "distress". Based on the photos I think the brother probably pulled that table under the balcony and that is how he got her down. She would have fell if he cut her down and landed where she did in the courtyard....if he would have run up into the bedroom and cut her down she would have fell and she might have been injured more.

Maybe by pulling the table under her he thought he could cut the cord and catch her. He actually might have and carried her to the area where the photo shows her body...

It will be interesting to see if the items they took show a struggle in the bedroom....

Oh, now that changes everything if she was alive. Like someone posted earlier, who commits suicide at 6:30 a.m.? Even murder. I would assume most murders (involving romance, betrayal, sex, hate, etc.) happen in the wee hours of the night. Usually morning makes people think more rationally.

 

[BrownRice]

The brother lawyered up...right? I'm thinking he's lookin pretty good right now and LE is crossing the T's and dotting their I's before an arrest is ever made.

Was it confirmed he signed on with Pfingst?

 

[Melanie]

...and looking at the photo of where she was found, there's no way she was lying in that part of the yard having been cut directly down from somewhere. Unless the angle is just way off, there's nothing *right* above that patch of grass. IMO, he'd have had to drag her downstairs and into the yard or cut her down and throw her over. Cannot imagine someone doing either after the fact.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw that. If you're cut you fall straight down right? Now perhaps she bounced off the table and that's why she's in that position. But IMHO she's too far from the balcony if he cut her down (assuming he cut her down from the balcony).

It's all so very odd. I think the SD/OC sleuthers need to go pay a visit to the crime scene to figure it out. Too bad we couldn't get in.

Mel

 

[Linda7NJ]

Was it confirmed he signed on with Pfingst?

Honestly? I have no FLIPPING IDEA! Every single article I read contradicts a previous one...ya got me:banghead:

 

[Linda7NJ]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw that. If you're cut you fall straight down right? Now perhaps she bounced off the table and that's why she's in that position. But IMHO she's too far from the balcony if he cut her down (assuming he cut her down from the balcony).

It's all so very odd. I think the SD/OC sleuthers need to go pay a visit to the crime scene to figure it out. Too bad we couldn't get in.

Mel

another article states after he cut her down, he carried her over to the grass and laid her down.

Would LOVE to hear the 911 call

 

[anyoldtime48]

Up thread somewhere I read at a link a helicopter filmed her and her legs were not bound together.

about 6:18 into the very informative 22 minute presser. Curran clarifies "not together" to mean, not "hog tied".

I think the less than MSM stopped on this after hearing feet not bound together, i.e. not together with hands. Was confusing the way it was handled.

http://www.cbs8.com/story/15075598/...oCatNo=default&clipId=6051226&redirected=true

also from CBS 8 in San Diego:

Adam Shacknai, the brother of homeowner Jonah Shacknai, discovered the victim's body and called 911 around 6:48 a.m. Wednesday and reported that a woman, who was staying at the mansion, was in distress, according to deputies. After Adam Shacknai found Zahau's body hanging by a rope from a balcony, he cut her down. Zahau's hands were tied behind her back and her feet were also bound together.

and...

Investigators are calling the death suspicious but have not ruled out the possibility of suicide. A view from Chopper 8 showed a woman's naked body lying with her feet bound, in the mansion's courtyard.

http://www.cbs8.com/story/15075598/...oCatNo=default&clipId=6051306&redirected=true

FWIW, the only helo footage I've seen has Rebecca's body blessedly blurred out and thus no way to determine if her feet were bound to each other. Not sure how else feet would qualify as "bound"?

MOO

 

[Quester]

Regarding the brother finding Rebecca hanging and cutting her down. I guess I find that odd now that I think about it. I probably would have called the police first. I think it would be obvious if she was dead or not. Cutting down a 120 lb woman (just guessing weight) from a balcony can't be that easy. ??? If she was screaming or crying, that would be one thing, but she was dead.

The early reports were that the brother called 911 saying Rebecca was "in distress" - whatever that means when one is hanging by a rope around the neck.

She may still have been moving ???? In any case, if ever I view a loved one or family member in such a situation I would claw to get them down as quickly as possible regardless of how blue they may be. Administer CPR while calling 911.

I hope never to be in such a situation.

 

[CuriousHousewife]

Awww Pfingst is goooood. He was the DA when I lived in San Diego.

 

[CuriousHousewife]

another article states after he cut her down, he carried her over to the grass and laid her down.

Would LOVE to hear the 911 call

Nah. Why would you do that? Why not just lie her down where she is and start CPR or make the call? I don't buy it.

 

[sargenet]

She wasn't that far from the table which was under the balcony. So he could have cut her down and then brought her out to the grass....but I thought the emergency personnel tried to save her? Or did they walk in...take her pulse and then call the cops?

I think it is hard to see the balcony in the ariel photos. It only sticks out about a foot from the wall and has a railing about 3ft high..... the table was placed right under it and was on the sidewalk...