CA - Rebecca Nalepa - suicide or murder? #8

[jjenny]

I assumed he fell on it (or close to it) and it bounced and landed on him.

How is it going to bounce and end up on top of him? If he fell onto the scooter why isn't he on top of the scooter?

 

[Peaceful]

I have been following this story very closely from the day it broke and I have to say, this forum has been so interesting! You folks are a truly fasicinating group of people. What a great mixture opinions. I am glad to be here and looking forward to sharing some of my own. Things do not make any sense to me in this case and the reality of what has happened is disturbing. Those are either the dumbest cops on the planet or their determination was influenced. IMO I pray her family gets the answers they deserve.

 

[BrownRice]

How is it going to bounce and end up on top of him? If he fell onto the scooter why isn't he on top of the scooter?

In that scenario, I'd have to assume a limb fell on it (maybe an arm or leg) and moved it and it bounced. Or he fell next to it. They are very light weight - we have a Razor scooter with a child the same age, so I assume the scooters are the same or similar. I can easily see it bouncing.

 

[curiousjo]

Jonah Shacknai Talks Publicly About Mansion Tragedy [8-09-2011]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvjhLsCS49Q"]Jonah Shacknai Talks Publicly About Mansion Tragedy [8-09-2011] - YouTube[/ame]

 

[arielilane]

ANNE BREMNER, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING REBECCA ZAHAU`S FAMILY: Well, starting with that there`s never been a suicide like this in history of a woman naked, binding her own hands behind her back and her feet, and throwing herself over a balcony. Never.

I`m sure, as you know, there`s a few with men. They`re few and far between, and those were cases where people tried it before and then bound themselves so they couldn`t save themselves.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1109/02/ddhln.01.html

 

[arielilane]

Welcome, Peaceful to WS!

 

[Stella5]

The rope used is definitely what us boaters refer to as a "Dock Line". These ropes come in all different colors, materials, widths, lengths, weights etc... A dock line always has a pre-formed loop at the end of the rope that is used to "dock the boat", or basically tie it to your boat slip to secure it.

I've attached a picture of a standard/traditional dock line in red. I've also attached the picture of where the rope was tied to the bed. The white arrow outlined in blue shows the pre-formed loop on the dock line. The white arrows outlined in black show two knots made in the dock line... look carefully at these knots. There is nothing spectacular about these knots. They are simple knots, almost like tying your shoe. Take any piece of ribbon, rope, string... and anyone of us could make this knot. This is not a sailors/boaters knot... we're boaters and I have a Sailor and have seen all kinds of knots in my life time and these knots are nothing complicated.

 

[jstwondering]

p.s. I wondered aloud back when this case was just getting under way whether he or Henry Lee would be retained by JS for possible future employment in case the findings went against him or Dina. Guess we'll never know, but as the finding is suicide, there won't be a need to bring someone like baden in to second guess a murder finding by LE. In fact, he seems to have weighed in pretty quickly after the suicide finding with a hurrah and seconding of the motion to table the case. If he had been retained, that's just one more element of pressure on LE, knowing that if they made a murder finding their methodology would have been pounced on pretty hard by Baden or whomever had been retained. Who needs that aggravation? If he was retained, it was perhaps by Sitrick, in a hush-hush manner and where the fact would never need to see the light of day; it would certainly color his statement if it ever did get revealed he was in JS's employ.

Very thoughtful post. IMO, Baden and his wife are all about the money. I used to have a lot of respect for him before the last few high profile cases tried in the media.
Also, IMO, I can't help but wonder if there was a motive for this to be found a suicide because your idea of who needs the aggravation....since there is no way to get people to agree, even on this board, how would they ever get a jury to agree? So DA says why bother? It's a lot of money for a hung jury...

 

[arielilane]

The so called "friend" is not credible - shocker!

HEGER: She`d been working out the whole time. We spoke with her personal trainer. And she and Jonah would go to the gym together.

So I want to know, did the cops talk to this trainer? Because she had not stopped exercising.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1109/02/ddhln.01.html

 

[Quester]

You know, my grandchildren have been running and ran into the dog, when she walked into their way (they are 3 and 5 and couldn't stop fast enough. Maybe Max was on his scooter and ran into Ocean causing his fall, but, how did the scooter get over the railing of the balcony?

Whatever happened, I am very surprised that Max could even talk after falling and injuring himself as he did. I thought he was found unconscious?

BBM - If MS was riding his scooter toward the railing, then veered left (for whatever reason) and made contact from the hallway level with a low point on the scooter vertical portion of the handlebars and the dipped down section of the descending railing, I think it might have launched MS and the scooter over the railing and flying toward the chandelier.

MOO

[sorry for the long sentence!]

 

[sdcali]

Wasn't it DS' and JS' child custody that was finalized in Jan '11?

RN's divorce finalized a few months later? ETA: late Feb '11

Both of those events would be VERY stressful for all parties. I don't know the details of the stress that RN was under in January, but an SO's custody issues can strain the relationship and would make sense that she might suffering from weight loss, not sleeping well and not working out. Any one who has gone through a divorce can attest to the stress relative to that process.

IMO, we do not have enough details to make a correct determination of her state of mind at the time of her death.

 

[jjenny]

The so called "friend" is not credible - shocker!

HEGER: She`d been working out the whole time. We spoke with her personal trainer. And she and Jonah would go to the gym together.

So I want to know, did the cops talk to this trainer? Because she had not stopped exercising.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1109/02/ddhln.01.html

Me too. Did LE even bother to ask trainers in the gym if she stopped exercising? Considering they used the idea that she supposedly stopped exercising as proof of depression leading to suicide, one would think they should have checked if this was actually true.

 

[justice be served]

I might have missed this being discussed here since the PC, but did we ever find out who Paul Pfingst, the attorney, was representing? He showed up at the mansion when Rebecca was found but wasn't admitted in to the crime scene and I believe said he was representing an unnamed family member?

 

[Peaceful]

The rope used is definitely what us boaters refer to as a "Dock Line". These ropes come in all different colors, materials, widths, lengths, weights etc... A dock line always has a pre-formed loop at the end of the rope that is used to "dock the boat", or basically tie it to your boat slip to secure it.

I've attached a picture of a standard/traditional dock line in red. I've also attached the picture of where the rope was tied to the bed. The white arrow outlined in blue shows the pre-formed loop on the dock line. The white arrows outlined in black show two knots made in the dock line... look carefully at these knots. There is nothing spectacular about these knots. They are simple knots, almost like tying your shoe. Take any piece of ribbon, rope, string... and anyone of us could make this knot. This is not a sailors/boaters knot... we're boaters and I have a Sailor and have seen all kinds of knots in my life time and these knots are nothing complicated.

I agree that the knots in the photos are not hard to accomplish, however, the rope around her wrists would have taken a lot more thought, and remember, we are told she did this all in a matter of a couple of hours. Her frame of mind went from wanting to her bf JS breakfast and a change of clothes in the morning to feeling guilty about what happened to MS to I am going to kill myself in a manner that is sure to leave confusion and more hurt to the people I feel so bad for? Which is it? When I saw the video of the hands/rope reenactment, I immediately thought of boating as well. That is how I was taught to tie up our boat to the dock as a kid. It was only more intriguing to me that the knots were done in this manner considering the only person around and found her was reportedly a tugboat worker. IMO

 

[jjenny]

The rope used is definitely what us boaters refer to as a "Dock Line". These ropes come in all different colors, materials, widths, lengths, weights etc... A dock line always has a pre-formed loop at the end of the rope that is used to "dock the boat", or basically tie it to your boat slip to secure it.

I've attached a picture of a standard/traditional dock line in red. I've also attached the picture of where the rope was tied to the bed. The white arrow outlined in blue shows the pre-formed loop on the dock line. The white arrows outlined in black show two knots made in the dock line... look carefully at these knots. There is nothing spectacular about these knots. They are simple knots, almost like tying your shoe. Take any piece of ribbon, rope, string... and anyone of us could make this knot. This is not a sailors/boaters knot... we're boaters and I have a Sailor and have seen all kinds of knots in my life time and these knots are nothing complicated.

Well I am pretty sure I couldn't have tied any of this. Did RN have any experience in boating? And how heavy is the bed? Would she have to lift up the bed to get that loop around the leg? And why around the bed's leg? If one is going to jump off the balcony, I presume most people would just put a rope around the balcony's railing.

 

[jstwondering]

I find it peculiar LE is using the idea that she was not exercising in January as a proof of suicide considering she was exercising regularly all summer prior to supposed suicide. Her supposedly not exercising in January could have nothing to do with any sort of depression. Some witnesses said she had a limp. Maybe her leg was bothering her in January.

Reminds me of the justification for her being naked on display....because she slept in the nude. (who would be qualified to say that? One who sleeps with her.) and the justification for DS's bruises....she had a bruising disorder. Regardless of whether it was suicide or murder, JS doth protest too much. He so creeps me out and I don't envy anyone who finds themself on the opposite side of an argument with JS. IMO.

 

[sdcali]

The rope used is definitely what us boaters refer to as a "Dock Line". These ropes come in all different colors, materials, widths, lengths, weights etc... A dock line always has a pre-formed loop at the end of the rope that is used to "dock the boat", or basically tie it to your boat slip to secure it.

I've attached a picture of a standard/traditional dock line in red. I've also attached the picture of where the rope was tied to the bed. The white arrow outlined in blue shows the pre-formed loop on the dock line. The white arrows outlined in black show two knots made in the dock line... look carefully at these knots. There is nothing spectacular about these knots. They are simple knots, almost like tying your shoe. Take any piece of ribbon, rope, string... and anyone of us could make this knot. This is not a sailors/boaters knot... we're boaters and I have a Sailor and have seen all kinds of knots in my life time and these knots are nothing complicated.

The knots themselves may not be intricate. It is the way the loop and the knots were used in conjunction that appear to be overall more sophisticated to me. Not just tying the rope to the footboard, but the loop used around the corner of the bed etc.

For someone familiar with knots (as a sailor or boater would be) it may seem very elementary. For those of us with no experience in that realm, it appears to be more than that.

I appreciate your POV and I am going to study the use of the knots in greater detail. When I first saw it, it struck me as something above a layman's expertise or exposure. I am certain that is not how I would secure the rope to the bed frame. Mabe use the loop as a slip knot around it, but not with all of the additional knots included.

Just makes me cause for questioning.

 

[InTheGarden]

I read something interesting about suicides on the Golden Gate bridge. Most people jump off the side of the bridge facing the city, not the other forbidding dark side, as if to say "look what you have forced me to do."

Again I go back to RN making a very dramatic and bold statement to JS the way she committed suicide.

As if RN was saying to JS, "you have abandoned me after all I have given up for you." Bound hands and feet reflected she could do nothing more. Gagged mouth shows RN had no voice, nothing she could have said would have made a difference. Stripped naked, she had nothing left, and I believe was done not to humilate herself but to humilate JS.

Let the world see what you have done to me.

 

[jjenny]

The knots themselves may not be intricate. It is the way the loop and the knots were used in conjunction that appear to be overall more sophisticated to me. Not just tying the rope to the footboard, but the loop used around the corner of the bed etc.

For someone familiar with knots (as a sailor or boater would be) it may seem very elementary. For those of us with no experience in that realm, it appears to be more than that.

I appreciate your POV and I am going to study the use of the knots in greater detail. When I first saw it, it struck me as something above a layman's expertise or exposure. I am certain that is not how I would secure the rope to the bed frame. Mabe use the loop as a slip knot around it, but not with all of the additional knots included.

Just makes me cause for questioning.

Well I totally agree someone experienced in boating would know what to do. But would a regular female know how to secure a rope to the bed as if securing a boat? Did RN have any experience in boating? Her family should know.

 

[justice be served]

Reminds me of the justification for her being naked on display....because she slept in the nude. (who would be qualified to say that? One who sleeps with her.) and the justification for DS's bruises....she had a bruising disorder. Regardless of whether it was suicide or murder, JS doth protest too much. He so creeps me out and I don't envy anyone who finds themself on the opposite side of an argument with JS. IMO.

BBM
Yes, so careful what is said on here too perhaps.