Wrongful death trial begins. Trial coverage and discussion

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Seattle1 said:
7/27/17 - Neighbor Marsha Alison Video Deposition transcription just added to Trial Overview thread. (This is the latest statement by neighbor and probably the deposition heard at trial today).
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Can you transcribe it for us? I'd like to know what she said.
 
I think Nina just left when R didn’t answer and then R went to the guest house to talk to Adam, obviously upset, and that’s when it all started. IMO
 
Zinn said:
Justice Be Served - IIRC, in that interview with NR, I think she said she looked through the gate but did not touch it.

Separately, I remember there being discussion about whether estimated time of death was partially worked around things including last phone/computer/printer use and the assumption RZ had used these because there was no evidence of anyone else being present.
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Nina's audio.

http://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/kfmb/misc/nina_romano.mp3
 
Messages on Rebecca Zahau's phone paint picture of troubled woman, investigators say

To sheriff’s investigators, the messages found on Rebecca Zahau’s cellphone after her bizarre hanging death at a Coronado mansion painted the picture of a troubled woman.

In the notes, Zahau described being disrespected by her boyfriend’s two older children and hated by his two ex-wives. She laments not having children of her own.

“I find myself not being able to sleep for the first time in my entire life… now when I close my eyes my mind begins to race… thinking and brewing over many situations and trying to come up with a solution of some sort,” one of the messages read. “… if I am not thinking, I am crying.”

Another message said, “No amount of money is worth what I’m going through.”

Snip

During her testimony in San Diego Superior Court, Det. Angela Tsuida, who led the sheriff’s homicide team that investigated Zahau’s death, said the messages were one of many pieces of evidence that led authorities to declare the death a suicide.

“It gives us a picture of her mindset at the time… she wasn’t happy,” Tsuida said .

On Thursday, attorney C. Keith Greer, who represents the Zahau family, rejected the notion that the cellphone messages meant Zahau was suicidal.

He also questioned other observations that investigators included in their determination that she died by her own hand, including that Zahau had been molested as a child.

More here:
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/sd-me-zahau-phone-messages-20180315-story.html
 
Yes, I think you are right about your timeline. I would like to add that I think Rebecca went to the guesthouse to talk to Adam after Nina texted her! She probably was upset (understandably) and Adam may have shared wine w her (2 glassss were found there I recall) Then he may have asssulted her there (underwear in trash can) and she managed to get out and go to the main house to shower. (Remember JS made a statement that it was not necessary to test the underwear because his daughter stayed there recently. How weird is that! Why would he care if the underwear was tested? Why would he bother making a statement if he didn’t have anything to hide? IMO Adam told Jonah what happened in the G house and J said go finish the job! Then J came up with the alleged phone call to R regarding Max’s condition worsening. IMO A went and found some tape, rope, and saw the paint and hot the idea to write the cryptic note on the door to tiitilate his own fantasies or confuse investigators. When he got back to R she was getting out of the shower. He attacked her and then taped her legs to the wicker chair. During the struggle he decided to hogtie her to the chair and removed the tape or it came off in the struggle. I think he assaulted her with the knife while she was tied to the chair. Then he left the room temporarily and that’s when she came to and may have tipped the chair over in an attempt to reach the knife to cut herself free. When Adam returned he then cut the rope and put it around her neck and lowered her over the railing to make it look like she hung herself. That’s why her injuries were not indicative of a hanging because he lowered her. He may have left her there but I can imagine him letting her body drop to the ground at that time, to make sure no one saw her hanging there. Then of course he made sure there was none if his dna anywhere. She probably got rigamortis while laying in the ground still hogtied. I think AS may have never cut her down. I just have a hard time imagining him letting her hang there to be seen by someone and risking having the police come before he had a chance to clean up his mess.
 
In response to Mica's post on SDSO analyzing Rebecca's phone (I forgot to respond to it) Oops!

This shows that on Sept 2, 2011, that SDSO cherry picked their findings to promote the suicide finding from Rebecca's phone and that Rebecca was unhappy.

However, on July 21, 2011, it was publicized that JS had planned to propose to Rebecca. Why was that fact ignored in SDSO suicide finding?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ed-propose-Rebecca-Nalepa-hanged-mansion.html


"Pharmaceutical tycoon Jonah Shacknai had planned to propose to his beautiful girlfriend, who was found hanging naked from a second-floor balcony at his historic California mansion.
A friend has revealed the millionaire wanted to 'spend the rest of his life' with Rebecca Nalepa, who died two days after Mr Shacknai's six-year-old son Max was fatally injured when he fell down the stairs."

Or was that just JS trying to put out false information to keep the investigation away from his potential guilt in her murder?

Messy stuff.
 
Betty P said:
Yes, there was an interview in which she repeated a few times that she didn't go down the driveway or to the rear of the house. In retrospect, she probably did. Seems very likely she got Adam riled up at that time. It needs to be investigated further. NR flaked out on a poly exam and SDSO let her leave without taking one. Maybe they need to administer one now.
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Good call Betty P! I remember she was supposed to take one but then high tailed it or of California.

I think this is a very compelling theory.
 
Lilibet said:
I asked earlier if RZ’s phone had been tested for fingerprints other than hers. Greer said “No.” Beyond sloppy!

The attorney also noted that investigators never tested the phone for fingerprints, making it difficult to determine who handled the phone when the message was received.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/sd-me-zahau-phone-messages-20180315-story.html
Click to expand...

I can hardly bear it! It's just too much. They didn't test the phone for finger prints. Of course, whoever checked the message could have been wearing gloves, but you wouldn't know if you don't check. It was NOT RZ, since she'd already screamed & had been prevented from screaming again. I can't help but think, since Nina was literally at the house just before this started, could her report about RZ handing her the phone & saying, "are you good with directions..." have been to account for her fingerprints being on RZs phone? Maybe it was just something that NR thought was weird...but I do kind of wonder.

Yes, there was an interview in which she repeated a few times that she didn't go down the driveway or to the rear of the house. In retrospect, she probably did. Seems very likely she got Adam riled up at that time. It needs to be investigated further. NR flaked out on a poly exam and SDSO let her leave without taking one. Maybe they need to administer one now.
Click to expand...

NR put herself right at the gate near the guesthouse. Within 30-40 minutes RZ is screaming for help. Did they ask Adam who the other cup of wine was for? Did they test the two glasses of wine for DNA? I feel it's more likely he was chatting with NR than RZ, but too much left uninvestigated to know. It's highly suspicious that she backed out of her lie detector appointment & then took off before Max's funeral. Just an observation.

I need to rage for a minute here. There are crime investigators who crack cases after years -- who don't give up year after year, who track down every possible lead with only one tiny little hint of evidence, even in the face of true who-done-it's which have no known suspects. This is an evidence-rich crime scene and a limited pool of suspects, and SDSO just turned a damn blind eye. It absolutely enrages me!
 
I may have missed it... Will it be presented or was it already presented in court that the french doors to the balcony were closed when LE arrived at the scene? Of course more evidence to show this was not a suicide. Tia
 
Verboten said:
I can hardly bear it! It's just too much. They didn't test the phone for finger prints. Of course, whoever checked the message could have been wearing gloves, but you wouldn't know if you don't check. It was NOT RZ, since she'd already screamed & had been prevented from screaming again. I can't help but think, since Nina was literally at the house just before this started, could her report about RZ handing her the phone & saying, "are you good with directions..." have been to account for her fingerprints being on RZs phone? Maybe it was just something that NR thought was weird...but I do kind of wonder.

Did they ask Adam who the other cup of wine was for? Did they test the two glasses of wine for DNA? I feel it's more likely he was chatting with NR than RZ, but too much left uninvestigated to know.

I need to rage for a minute here. There are crime investigators who crack cases after years -- who don't give up year after year, who tracking down every possible lead with only one tiny little hint of evidence, and with true who-done-it's which have no known suspects. This is an evidence-rich crime scene and a limited pool of suspects, and SDSO just turned a damn blind eye. It absolutely enrages me!
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BBM, I so second that statement!!!!
 
Regarding the possibility that RZ was first assaulted in the guesthouse, then later attacked in the main house -- I can't imagine staying on the property with someone who had just assaulted me. I would be so freaked out by the first assault, I would have left the premises like a bat out of....
 
Verboten said:
I need to rage for a minute here. There are crime investigators who crack cases after years -- who don't give up year after year, who tracking down every possible lead with only one tiny little hint of evidence, and with true who-done-it's which have no known suspects. This is an evidence-rich crime scene and a limited pool of suspects, and SDSO just turned a damn blind eye. It absolutely enrages me!
Click to expand...

I hear you, believe me. :mad:
 
arielilane said:
I have got to say this, can the ME’s time of death be correct? Just seems time of death would have been earlier.
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It *could* be. I think it's likely RZ was alive for some time after being incapacitated and/or immobilized -- either for sexual gratification, to torture/punish her, or just while the killer figured out what they were doing next. Then again, if it was a confrontation gone wrong, then she might have been killed earlier.

The ME did not show up for 13 hours, so their time of death was more of an estimate than anything, there is no way they had the facts needed to offer any precision on TOD. They also used things like the voicemail being checked at 12:50 to help set the TOD, when there is zero evidence RZ was the one who accessed that.

The only real indication was the amount of rigor in the jaw that medics found when they arrived that morning. Based on the description I've heard, it's certainly possible that the TOD was later, as ME suggests. But, seems to be yet another thing we'll never fully know due to lost opportunity / sloppiness. :-/
 
Inparadise said:
The reason Rebecca’s body was left out in the sun, uncovered for so many hours was to make it more difficult to determine an exact TOD. And that was no accident.........IMO
Click to expand...
I 100% agree. That was by design.
 
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