CA - Rebecca Nalepa - suicide or murder? #8

[Norwegian]

T-shirt in mouth, hands and feet bound, cryptic message written on door. JS being able to use PD's website for own personal message...

I think there's a lot of things going on in the background here... my opinion that this was murder still stands.

 

[~n/t~]

Why is it so hard to believe that this woman, born in Korea, was distraught over the death of the son of her lover ... perhaps knowing that her relationship would never be the same and thus she committed suicide? The family (sister) disagrees that it was suicide. The only person on the property was the child's uncle, his father's brother, and he claims he found her hanging. The photos show that she was tied with an electrical cord and the uncle admits he cut her down when he found her in the morning. The sister claims that they spoke that night and she was going to call her parents in the morning.

I think it's suicide.

I thought so at first also but after watching the reenactment of the knot tying and the autopsy report claiming she was found with a tshirt in her mouth.....I am absolutely convinced this was no suicide.

Futhermore, I now believe she would not choose this type of method to kill herself if she was so distraught over Maxie's accident. It makes no sense.

 

[Norwegian]

Another thing is that if she meant to commit suicide I don't think she's strip herself naked before she did it.

That she was naked seems to me something more of what a killer would do... to strip her of all dignity.

 

[gemvt]

I think she had the t-shirt on as she was doing her preparations. Before she put the rope around her neck she put the t-shirt there to lessen rope burns or irritation which may have caused her to loosen the rope. It needed to be fairly tight in order to hold her after she jumped.

She may have also stuffed it in her mouth thinking that her natural reaction after jumping would be to scream and bring Adam outside immediately.

I also think it's likely that the t-shirt was either one of Jonah's or Max's and was sending an additional message of some kind.

I think Adam came out in the morning and saw her immediately, got a knife in a panic, jumped on the table and cut her down. She had been dead for nearly 4 hours, though, and rigor had set in.

With regard to the blood on her legs, she may have scraped against the house or the cactus on the jump. Just IMO.

The scooter being involved in Max's accident makes sense. That poor little kid, he probably experienced such terror and it is terrible to think about. I hope both he and Rebecca rest in peace.

EDIT: I just read that the t-shirt was on top of the rope. I still think she used it to muffle any sounds she would have made.

 

[elfie]

After seeing the evidence photos provided and knowing that elaborate knots figured heavily in Rebecca's death, I still do not understand the finding. Was she an avid sailor or boater?
Who in the heck would make a fancy looping tie off to the bed under the circumstances?

I have to agree that an inconclusive finding would have been logical.

 

[~n/t~]

IMO, I'm no expert in suicide and thank God never lost a loved one in a suicide so please forgive me if this offends anyone. It's just an observation on my part from what was released in the media.

For someone who was so distraught, again, the method and the details of how she committed suicide don't add up. Perhaps, it would make sense if it was someone who contemplated suicide for a while and knew exactly how to go about doing it this way. Who is capable of tying a knot like that? The tshirt in the mouth to avoid screaming or making sound, hanging naked.

 

[BrownRice]

Another thing is that if she meant to commit suicide I don't think she's strip herself naked before she did it.

That she was naked seems to me something more of what a killer would do... to strip her of all dignity.

She was already stripped of her dignity when JS called her that night. We can only imagine what he said to her. There are only 2 scenarios:

1. Max has taken a turn for the worse (and RZ is inconsolable as she hears the pain in JS's voice and her own pain/guilt for being in the bathroom when it happened - which she takes as her fault, but it really isn't); OR

2. Max has taken a turn for the worse. What were you thinking? Why weren't you watching him? If you would have been paying attention, he'd be alive. Get out of my house - I never want to see you again! You killed my son. (And maybe he adds something about her 13 yo sister being complicit in the accident.)

Either scenario works for me to understand why she would contemplate suicide. I find NO fault in her with MS's accident. It was a freak accident and she was in the bathroom. She was not outside laying at the pool, sleeping, etc. She was in the bathroom.

 

[BrownRice]

One more thought on suicide......

I was watching a show recently, I think it was Dr. Drew, about suicide. They were discussing Russell Armstrong, the reality show husband from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. He hung himself a couple of weeks ago. Friends said he was down due to his wife recently filing for divorce and the bad economy. However, they said he didn't appear despondent or suicidal. There was a doctor on the show and said suicidal thoughts can come to a person very quickly - meaning they could have been fine and then something sets them off and they act on it.

I found that interesting and somewhat relevant to this case. RZ spoke with her family before committing suicide and was fine (relative to what had happened). But after the call from JS, the thought came to her and she acted on it quickly.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

rbbm

omg.

I think she stuffed the t-shirt in her mouth to keep her from screaming.

IMO

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Another thing is that if she meant to commit suicide I don't think she's strip herself naked before she did it.

That she was naked seems to me something more of what a killer would do... to strip her of all dignity.

I think when a person knows they are going to die they dont worry about if they are naked or not.

Naked suicide can be associated with any method of suicide; however, anecdotal evidence indicates that it occurs more frequently with hanging, overdose, or drowning, but to a lesser extent in jumping deaths. With the exception of jumping, most naked suicides occur indoors.

http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/content/full/36/2/240

 

[oceanblueeyes]

IMO, I'm no expert in suicide and thank God never lost a loved one in a suicide so please forgive me if this offends anyone. It's just an observation on my part from what was released in the media.

For someone who was so distraught, again, the method and the details of how she committed suicide don't add up. Perhaps, it would make sense if it was someone who contemplated suicide for a while and knew exactly how to go about doing it this way. Who is capable of tying a knot like that? The tshirt in the mouth to avoid screaming or making sound, hanging naked.

I really don't think this took a lot of planning and she had from 12:50 am until she killed herself, which the ME guesstimated was around 3:00 am.

It wouldn't take long at all to go get a rope from the garage and tie it off from the bed or cut up the rope to make bindings for her wrist and feet. I watched the reenactment on the sheriff's site and it didn't seem complex to me at all. More or less just looping the rope back and forth to each wrist. She still had part of the rope in her fingers.

The message left definitely sounds like what a female would leave. I think the last thing she did before falling from the railing with the rope around her neck was put the t-shirt around her neck and a part of it in her mouth to suppress any sounds she may have made so that Adam wouldn't hear her.

And she used black paint from a tube which is more like an artist type paint. I wonder if she was an artist and this was one of her hobbies?

With LE knowing that both Dina and Jonah were at the hospital (surveillance tapes) when Rebecca killed herself then they are ruled out. And it seems Adam is the one that told LE when he found her the t-shirt was in her mouth. So that shows me Adam was very truthful with LE about everything. The potential suspect list was extremely small in this case to begin with and imo LE found no evidence that anyone other than Rebecca was involved.

IMO

 

[jjenny]

If she gagged herself to prevent AS from hearing her, then she must have figured out he would be the one to find her, not JS, because he was the one in the home. If she had the presence of mind to be concerned about AS hearing her, why did she kill herself naked and outside? There is a balcony from which Max's fell from. So she could have hanged herself inside.

 

[yogi]

All the facts must be gathered and observed closely in every detail considered. I wish I had the facts in front of me. Rebecca's body was found ,nude, hanging from a rope around her neck with her hand behind her body bound by rope at the wrists and her feet were bound. Only Rebecca's fingerprints were collected from the rope. The mechanism of death was strangulation with trauma to the cervical spine. There was reported writing in block letters that was forthcoming on explaining any suicidal intent. We do know that Rebecca's death was neither from natural causes or accidental. I may go with suicide but theorize how did she place the noose around her neck and then bind her own hands behind her? I am suspecting another person was involved and making some sort of statement with the writing, nude body of the victim, abd the binding of hands and feet.

 

[jjenny]

I think when a person knows they are going to die they dont worry about if they are naked or not.

Naked suicide can be associated with any method of suicide; however, anecdotal evidence indicates that it occurs more frequently with hanging, overdose, or drowning, but to a lesser extent in jumping deaths. With the exception of jumping, most naked suicides occur indoors.

http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/content/full/36/2/240

Most occur indoors. She was not indoors. I truly don't believe there is another suicide with an MO similar to this one.

 

[jjenny]

I do not ever remember in the conduct of a case such as this that a police department or sheriff's office has allowed a statement to be posted from a relative of a victim such as seen here in this report.

This case just keeps getting stranger and stranger. I wonder how long it will be before that message is removed from the Sheriff's website? ... and will we find that Rebecca's family has been afforded this same courtesy?

And he wasn't even a relative of RN's. He wasn't even her husband. He was just her boyfriend. I agree it's bizarre. Another thing I find bizarre is that a woman appears to become suicidal after getting a phone message. Prior to getting this message she was talking to her sister and making plans. She also had no history of depression or suicide attempts. Yet after getting the message she supposedly kills herself is such a bizarre fashion. Yet the message appears to be gone. Who deleted it?

 

[elementry]

That I usually find, from my human experience, the attitude of those creating a defensive posture...not a confident posture...not someone reasonably sure of their findings and willing to explore and explain...just a closed-armed arrogance to deflect doubters, imo.

I think it was the ME who said of course he would look at new evidence if it was discovered. LE though didn't seem to have much enthusiasm for continuing the investigation. Definitely wanted to wrap this one for good before Labor Day Weekend.

I hope Bremner does give them some hell though, if only to get a bit more responsiveness from them and test a few contrary hypotheses. So far it's been as if these LE officials have been running a star chamber at the donut joint. It would be fascinating if the Zahau/Bremner team got a P.I. who actually got off his duff and then turned up relevant facts that LE never even went near; then presented them and forced this same LE crew to give it a re-look. That might wipe the smug looks off their faces.

(I'm just feeling kind of bad for the Zahau's - who feel their girl got short shrift in the investigation thus far and were really patronized and brushed off by LE at the dog and pony show yesterday.....)

 

[Quester]

Let me get this straight:

Now that we’ve all been brainwashed into believing that it’s not so peculiar for a woman to commit suicide with hands and feet bound, naked and outside; then let’s add gagged, jumped/hanged execution style, and message written in paint and in the 3rd person.

Ok - yea, that makes more sense to me that it was suicide. :crosseyed:

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Most occur indoors. She was not indoors. I truly don't believe there is another suicide with an MO similar to this one.

Most occur indoors (not all) but "jumping hangings" can be done outside.

IMO

 

[elementry]

is it common for the family, well, Jonah Shacknai to have a personal statement on the San Diego County Sheriff’s website, set up to inform the public of the investigation? Seems hinky to me...have a read...and notice how its indexed on the first link...just as if IT was police work, imo...and to say, "case closed". I don't think so, buddy...IMO



http://www.sdsheriff.net/coronado/index.html

http://www.sdsheriff.net/coronado/shacknai-statement.pdf

Did you catch my post yesterday with a link to the Sitrick and Company Client List? One of their clients, besides JS, is the County of San Diego. Must be nice to have ins like that.

 

[jjenny]

Let me get this straight:

Now that we’ve all been brainwashed into believing that it’s not so peculiar for a woman to commit suicide with hands and feet bound, naked and outside; then let’s add gagged, jumped execution style, and message written in paint and in the 3rd person.

Ok - yea, that makes more sense to me that it was suicide. :crosseyed:

Well you know she also wasn't exercising in January (even though she was exercising regularly all summer leading up to suicide). The proves it right there!