CA - Rebecca Nalepa - suicide or murder? #8

[jjenny]

Probably true. The only thing... why did Rebecca say her "daughter" was injured too - per Dog camp man. Or do you think she said "sister" and he mispoke since the sister was cut cleaning things up? Initially, many thought she was referring to GS (since she referred to MS as "son").

I think the dog guy is confused. Per family the 13 year old was injured cleaning up remnants of the chandelier and it was RN's sister. Per GS's friend, GS left before paramedics arrived so doesn't appear she was injured.

 

[katydid23]

You're saying LE lied when they stated who was present in the house at the time of Maxie's fall and I don't buy it. Sorry. They were quite clear about it. RN and her sister were not still in bathrooms when they arrived.

The boys on the roof were also on the roof on Monday? I doubt it. Besides, Maxie fell INSIDE the house so their claim they witnessed somebody being present is pretty lame.

I'll stick with LE's report of who was present in the house at the time Maxie fell. I also have no reason not to believe that GS departure from San Diego was planned well in advance of Maxie's fall.

I am not saying that LE lied, I am saying they described the scene as it was when they arrived on the scene. Maybe they were never told about the older sibs.

I really do not think an attorney would come out publicly and make that statement if there was nothing at all to it. Maybe the 13 yr old niece finally just told the attorney about the older half siblings being there previously. That planking story had to come from somewhere.


Again, I am nOT saying that LE lied. I am just saying that they read the info from their incident reports, which may not have included the older sibs being present. This was not a murder investigation. It seemed like a cut and dry tragic accident.

 

[Stella5]

What LE would know is the story they were told. Now was it accurate?

Or the story they saw with their own eyes... LE stated paramedics were on the scene within 2 minutes, and fire fighters within 3 minutes. I find it highly unlikely if GS was there, she was gone in 2-3 minutes. I would think the more urgent matter would be attending to Max and his injuries, not hiding a teenager. MOO

 

[jjenny]

Or the story they saw with their own eyes... LE stated paramedics were on the scene within 2 minutes, and fire fighters within 3 minutes. I find it highly unlikely if GS was there, she was gone in 2-3 minutes. I would think the more urgent matter would be attending to Max and his injuries, not hiding a teenager. MOO

Paramedics were there within 2 minutes of the phone call. I imagine it took some time for RN to get out of the bathroom and her sister to get out of the shower to make the call.

 

[Stella5]

Stella 5---Probably true. The only thing... why did Rebecca say her "daughter" was injured too - per Dog camp man. Or do you think she said "sister" and he mispoke since the sister was cut cleaning things up? Initially, many thought she was referring to GS (since she referred to MS as "son").

I think Dog Man either misheard/misunderstood or assumed. Did Dog Man meet RZ's sister too? And where did she disappear to? It seems as if she was the one rushed out of Coronado sometime Monday or Tuesday. Only 13 years old, and wasn't in the house the night of Rebecca's death... where is she? Are the parents still alive? She is the mystery here IMO, not GS or ES.

 

[Betty P]

The latest news about the autopsy report mentions she had a significant amount of "tape residue" on her legs.

How did that happen? If she first taped her legs, then removed the tape to replace it with rope bindings, where is the roll of tape? It should be somewhere in the room or nearby. It seems unlikely she would bind her legs with tape, then remove it, go to another part of the house to throw away the used tape, then store away the roll of tape, then return to the bedroom to tie her legs together.

This case get's stranger all the time.

 

[elementry]

I read somewhere (can't find it now) that RN did some painting and didn't sign her signature in 'block letters'......I'm not sure how that ties into the 'message' on the door.

But if you were writing on the door, would you take the time to do block lettering? I know I wouldn't. I may print, but not in block lettering. To me, block lettering in 'manly'.

The blue shirt - the arms were wrapped three times around her neck and then double knotted - and put over the rope. This tells me it was an after-thought. She would have had to wrap and gag herself before she put her hands behind her back and after she had the rope around her neck. Was it her shirt?

For those of you that have knowledge about suicides, is it usual for so many things to be done before the actual act is complete?

So many things happened...

somehow made aware of missed call and voicemail
listened to voicemail (did she try to call the person back???)
go get rope out of garage
go to kitchen and get 2 knives - why 2 - either one looked like they would cut the rope
cut 3 pieces of rope - 1 for hanging - 1 for hands - 1 for ankles
get black tube of paint
get 2 paintbrushes
block print message
tie ankles
tie hands
get blue shirt - wrap 3 times around neck and double knot
gag self

I was so hopeful that LE was going to be so much more informative. They all appeared very nervous and/or arrogant. They were not well prepared. I guess I expected so much more........

Nervous and/or arrogant perhaps because they knew they were not revealing the entirety of what they had or most accurately portraying the scene, but rather presenting what they hoped would be a close enough,truncated approximation of their suicide scenario, no matter how stilted or manufactured by their cherry-picking of info it might come off as. They were almost pleading for the case to end - acting as if it had ended already. Perhaps they knew they weren't putting the best show on, but someone along the line had said in one form or another: "Enough is enough. Put this one to bed. Now.", and so they carried out the presentation, hoping it would stick, while having the gnawing suspicion that it wouldn't quite get the task accomplished. FWIW, I tend to think they believe their own scenario and are fully invested in it. The leaders anyway. Among 15 grizzled investigators though, there must be a sliver of doubt or two still remaining. But Boss says "Case closed", and what Boss says goes.

Great post above, Score, btw.

 

[jjenny]

I think Dog Man either misheard/misunderstood or assumed. Did Dog Man meet RZ's sister too? And where did she disappear to? It seems as if she was the one rushed out of Coronado sometime Monday or Tuesday. Only 13 years old, and wasn't in the house the night of Rebecca's death... where is she? Are the parents still alive? She is the mystery here IMO, not GS or ES.

Since little sister was injured cleaning up remnants of the chandelier, I do not think she was rushed out immediately after the accident.

 

[jjenny]

The latest news about the autopsy report mentions she had a significant amount of "tape residue" on her legs.

How did that happen? If she first taped her legs, then removed the tape to replace it with rope bindings, where is the roll of tape? It should be somewhere in the room or nearby. It seems unlikely she would bind her legs with tape, then remove it, go to another part of the house to throw away the used tape, then store away the roll of tape, then return to the bedroom to tie her legs together.

This case get's stranger all the time.

I think it's telling LE didn't mention either the tape residue or the gag during their presentation. The tape residue doesn't fit that well into the neat suicide scenario, does it?

 

[CalElliot]

RN is known to have a teenaged niece and nephew (from RN's memorial write-up).

In one of the articles posted today it was clarified by the Z family or by their attorney that the 13 year old in question was RN's niece.

There has been nothing to date that proves RN has a 13 year old sister.

"On the day that Max fell, Zahau's 13-year-old sister was also at the home. Rebecca Zahau heard a loud noise and found Max at the bottom of the staircase next to a broken chandelier, police said."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/coronado-mansion-victim-painted-message-door-died/story?id=14435011

 

[katydid23]

Or the story they saw with their own eyes... LE stated paramedics were on the scene within 2 minutes, and fire fighters within 3 minutes. I find it highly unlikely if GS was there, she was gone in 2-3 minutes. I would think the more urgent matter would be attending to Max and his injuries, not hiding a teenager. MOO

How about this scenario. GS and another teen is in the home with RN's sister and Max. RN goes to take a shower, reportedly. During that time, GS and her friend are goofing around on the stairs or the bannister, taking FB pictures of planking. She was getting ready to leave for back home so she might have been taking pictures of Max before she left, just goofing around. Then GS and friend leave the house, while RN is till in the shower. During that time Max tries his own version of planking just to be cool like his big sister, and crashes to the ground. By that time GS and friend were already walking across the street to the beach. Thus, no mention of them by LE.

But now, for some reason, the Z family attorney wants to include them in the scene. :worms:

 

[MyBelle]

What LE would know is the story they were told. Now was it accurate?

LE can easily identify alibi stories about where people were and when by such things as checking airlines, flight manifests, cell phone logs, witnesses and I have no reason to believe that wasn't done in this case for both the time Maxie fell and the time of Rebecca's death.

The only stories they couldn't verify are Rebecca and her sister as to where they were when Max fell. The Z attorney stating that Max's siblings were present needs some proof to back it up, imo.

 

[Betty P]

I think it's telling LE didn't mention either the tape residue or the gag during their presentation. The tape residue doesn't fit that well into the neat suicide scenario, does it?

No, it doesn't fit in with suicide, esp. if there is no tape, used or unused, in the immediate vicinity. One can only assume the information wasn't included at the PC because it didn't fit in with the "ironclad" conclusion of suicide.

In what possible scenario does she end up with tape residue on both of her legs?

 

[Stella5]

Paramedics were there within 2 minutes of the phone call. I imagine it took some time for RN to get out of the bathroom and her sister to get out of the shower to make the call.

How much time would you think? I would imagine the sound of Max hitting a chandelier, hitting a banister and the floor and the chandelier hitting the floor would have been extremely loud causing an immediate reaction. I cannot imagine someone taking their time to check it out. I've come running out of the restroom with my pants around my ankles at crash sounds in my house. (I have 5 kids, 4 still in the house... there is always something happening here, luckily nothing as traumatic as this.)

 

[jjenny]

LE can easily identify alibi stories about where people were and when by such things as checking airlines, flight manifests, cell phone logs, witnesses and I have no reason to believe that wasn't done in this case for both the time Maxie fell and the time of Rebecca's death.

The only stories they couldn't verify are Rebecca and her sister as to where they were when Max fell. The Z attorney stating that Max's siblings were present needs some proof to back it up, imo.

They certainly could but did they? Do you believe the story that RN was in the bathroom and little sister was in the shower and nobody saw what happened to little Max? Now that story might be the truth and nothing but the truth... I don't know. I was not there.

 

[katydid23]

They certainly could but did they? Do you believe the story that RN was in the bathroom and little sister was in the shower and nobody saw what happened to little Max? Now that story might be the truth and nothing but the truth... I don't know.

Personally I think that is a little too convenient. The Z family attorney is now saying that RN was in the shower when Max fell. So does that mean that the 13 yr old was NOT in the shower? Were they both in the shower?

And does the downstairs bath even have a shower?

 

[elementry]

There was some claim, perhaps by LE, that the note was written left handed when Rebecca is right handed. Personally, I can't see a desperately suicidal person leaving that kind of note, let alone the laborious part of painting it in block print. Also, block printing is probably not as easy to identify has handwriting, but I'm not an expert.

Boats sometimes have their name painted on in a block lettering.......

 

[Stella5]

The latest news about the autopsy report mentions she had a significant amount of "tape residue" on her legs.

How did that happen? If she first taped her legs, then removed the tape to replace it with rope bindings, where is the roll of tape? It should be somewhere in the room or nearby. It seems unlikely she would bind her legs with tape, then remove it, go to another part of the house to throw away the used tape, then store away the roll of tape, then return to the bedroom to tie her legs together.

This case get's stranger all the time.

I'd like to know more about this as well. Specifically where was the tape residue? With having reports on her having a limp, did she routinely tape an old injury up before working out? That would make sense to me. Or is the tape more sinister? What exactly is in the trash bag next to the bed? The tape? Wish we had a complete police report to answer all these questions.

 

[CalElliot]

Anybody know WEHT Adam Shacknai? He sure fell off the face of the earth. Probably on a slow yacht to Tierra del Fuego.....

 

[ohiogirl]

That said about nothing