CA - Rebecca Nalepa - suicide or murder? #8

[katydid23]

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.)

I think it only took a minute or so for RN to run to Max and try to help him. And very quickly for the 13 yr old to make the 911 call. But the older half sibs may have left right before Max even fell. IMO, they may have been horsing around and planking themselves,and when they left he might have tried it.

 

[jjenny]

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.

On both legs.
"An autopsy report obtained by News 8 indicates "tape residue" was discovered on both legs of Rebecca Zahau, 32, when she was found hanging at a Coronado mansion on July 13."
http://www.cbs8.com/story/15388199/autopsy-rebecca-zahau-found-gagged-with-t-shirt-in-mouth

 

[mrsu]

Oh man...caught up reading...and back on the fence now. Ugh. This case is just a mess of (mis)information?!?

- I'm curious about the tape! I can't see any reason that she would have tape on her legs? I did notice in the police images that there was an overturned chair in the bedroom. I have always wondered about the bent nature of Rebecca's legs....I wonder if she could have been taped to the chair at one point?
- Curious about the gagging with the shirt.
- I do not think any of LE's illustrations show they believe Max's accident had anything to do with planking.
- Re: the scooter. Not sure if he was riding it? Perhaps he was attempting to carry it downstairs and the dog interfered? If it's true that he said, "Ocean..." before he went unconscious, maybe he was attempting to say the dog had tripped him?
- Now that it's confirmed that it was R's 13yo sister, I'm curious as to where SHE went? Like someone mentioned, she was gone before Rebecca died.
- Were Jonah's other children there?

The other thing I see that simply does not match up....when looking at the images of the balcony and the red rope hanging down. If you look at that rope in relation to the table and imagine Adam standing on the table to cut R down...Adam would have had to have been a GIANT to reach up to the height the rope is cut. His arms would need to be at least as long as his body...I can imagine him stretching that far to reach the rope all while balancing on a 3 legged table??? Image: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/208...acknai-nalepa-spreckes-mansion-suicide-bo.htm

 

[katydid23]

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?

I do not know if it is fair to say ' One can ONLY assume' such and such. One thing I have learned here is that there are always plenty of alternative scenarios.

Maybe there are other reasons the tape was not not mentioned. Maybe she regularly taped her legs after her recent injury when she ran or worked out.

 

[jjenny]

The tape residue on both legs, and the body found with legs bent yet she was not hog tied. Doesn't get more bizarre than this, does it?

 

[Stella5]

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:

Possible... but I still believe if she was there prior to the accident she was long gone on her way home when it happened. Earlier reports were two females were put in a cruiser and taken to the hospital, then returned an hour or so later. Would you leave the 14 year old on the Beach with another teen? I wouldn't... heck I probably wouldn't let her go to the beach alone.

 

[CalElliot]

After the new information; I STILL doubt the suicide theorie.

It is stated in this newsreport that:

"Zahau's ex-husband Neil Nalepa reportedly witnessed the message firsthand and told Coronado Patch it said: "She saved him, can he save her."

Now this makes me wonder; WHEN and WHY was Neil Nalepa inside the house to see the message Rebecca, alleged, wrote FIRSTHAND???

I would imagine Neil Nalepa saw a photo of the door with message not whited out, that the Zahau family has a copy of the image in their possession and shared it with him.

 

[justice be served]

I do not know if it is fair to say ' One can ONLY assume' such and such. One thing I have learned here is that there are always plenty of alternative scenarios.

Maybe there are other reasons the tape was not not mentioned. Maybe she regularly taped her legs after her recent injury when she ran or worked out.[/QUOTE]

BBM
I would love to hear her sisters' responses to the tape found. They could perhaps clear up if the tape was utilized by Rebecca for a normal routine.

 

[Stella5]

I think it only took a minute or so for RN to run to Max and try to help him. And very quickly for the 13 yr old to make the 911 call. But the older half sibs may have left right before Max even fell. IMO, they may have been horsing around and planking themselves,and when they left he might have tried it.

Now that makes sense to me! Makes more sense than him running down the hall and falling off the banister. He was only 3'9". IMO something had to propel him up in order to get over the banister if he was running. If Ocean had tripped him I would think he would have fallen down the first set of steps, not over the banister.

 

[MyBelle]

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.

LE made it clear at the PC they were told BY REBECCA, that only she and her sister were in the house at the time of Max's fall.

So, now it is Rebecca who lied to the cops? And her sister? Why would they lie about siblings being there? That doesn't even make sense. LE most certainly would have checked out the location of the siblings just as they did JS and DS.

I'll believe cops before believing a lawyer spinning for $$$$$$.

 

[katydid23]

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.

In a beach house like that, teens come and go with no notice. GS and friend probably went in and out, walking to the beach across the street, or to get a burger. They could have easily been IN the house right before Max fell, and left while RN was still in the shower.

I am getting the feeling from the Z family attorney that they want to place GS and her friend in the home right before the accident, because they may have been planking and taking pix themselves. imoo

 

[elementry]

I know they looked at JS and DS's cell records. And they looked at the hospital tapes to see if and when they left the ICU unit. IF one of them sent a hit man over to the mansion then I think LE would have seen some communication w/someone like that. there are not many people you can call and ask to go to your house and kill your gf. Maybe he has a bodyguard or someone who could do that for him. But I wonder if he would send someone while his brother was staying in the house? Seems risky that he could have been blamed.

So I keep coming back to DS. But does she know anyone who can immediately go and do her the favor of killing her ex's girlfriend? Maybe.

How about the brother himself? That call could have shown up in JS's phone records as he had to tell his brother about MS too; but the call could have been sending an order, that may even have been spoken of earlier between the two.

I know, it's all kind of outlandish to dream up these alternate theories. As I said earlier, it's almost a rhetorical devil's advocacy on my part, rather than assuming it MUSt have been murder. I've certainly been the perma-skeptic here from the comfort of my armchair. It didn't help, that rather strained show LE put on Friday. So I'm just trying to throw out there alternate notions to the official assumption that it was suicide and that's that. IOW, a mea culpa of sorts for all my own alleging and even seeming aspersions as we hash this out. I guess I'm not so fond of this LE crew out in San Diego, after 7 weeks of nada and then the incomplete story they were passing off yesterday. Jonah's seeming coldness toward his mate of 3 years rubbed me the wrong way too.

 

[jjenny]

Here is what the lawyer said:
"Bremner said Zahau was not alone in the mansion when Max had his accident. She said that two of the child's teenage siblings were present and that Zahau was in the shower at the time of the accident. Max's mother and Jonah Shacknai were divorced, and Zahau had recently divorced as well."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation...death-ruled-suicide-family-objects/50233234/1
By the way there is nothing left in the article about "planking."

 

[katydid23]

LE made it clear at the PC they were told BY REBECCA, that only she and her sister were in the house at the time of Max's fall.

So, now it is Rebecca who lied to the cops? And her sister? Why would they lie about siblings being there? That doesn't even make sense. LE most certainly would have checked out the location of the siblings just as they did JS and DS.

I'll believe cops before believing a lawyer spinning for $$$$$$.

If JS told her to leave his older kids out of it then she might do so.

Why would a prominent attorney make such a bold claim if there were nothing to it?

 

[justice be served]

LE made it clear at the PC they were told BY REBECCA, that only she and her sister were in the house at the time of Max's fall.

So, now it is Rebecca who lied to the cops? And her sister? Why would they lie about siblings being there? That doesn't even make sense. LE most certainly would have checked out the location of the siblings just as they did JS and DS.

I'll believe cops before believing a lawyer spinning for $$$$$$.

BBM
Perhaps they were instructed to do so by Jonah as he wanted to protect his other kids. That's not an unreasonable request in an accidental situation.

 

[Stella5]

On both legs.
"An autopsy report obtained by News 8 indicates "tape residue" was discovered on both legs of Rebecca Zahau, 32, when she was found hanging at a Coronado mansion on July 13."
http://www.cbs8.com/story/15388199/autopsy-rebecca-zahau-found-gagged-with-t-shirt-in-mouth

I understand it was both legs... but where? Knees? Ankles? Feet? Calves? Thighs? I think where it is would be important. I also think where the injury that caused her to limp would be important. Lots & lots of die hard fitness nuts, as Rebecca was, tape up lots of things before working out... mostly ankles & wrists... but I have seen knees & elbows taped too.

 

[jjenny]

I understand it was both legs... but where? Knees? Ankles? Feet? Calves? Thighs? I think where it is would be important. I also think where the injury that caused her to limp would be important. Lots & lots of die hard fitness nuts, as Rebecca was, tape up lots of things before working out... mostly ankles & wrists... but I have seen knees & elbows taped too.

The article provides a quote with exact location of tape residue but it's in medical terminology.
"On the anterolateral mid left shin there is a 1 x 5/8 inch gray piece of material and two smaller similar pieces just distal to it, measuring 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch (Comment: appears similar to tape residue). On the lateral distal right lower leg there is a 1-1/4 x 5/8 inch area consisting of three horizontally oriented, parallel somewhat evenly spaced, areas of sticky, tan-gray apparent tape residue. They are situated between 3/16 and 5/16 inch apart."
http://www.cbs8.com/story/15388199/autopsy-rebecca-zahau-found-gagged-with-t-shirt-in-mouth

 

[katydid23]

How about the brother himself? That call could have shown up in JS's phone records as he had to tell his brother about MS too; but the call could have been sending an order, that may even have been spoken of earlier between the two.

I know, it's all kind of outlandish to dream up these alternate theories. As I said earlier, it's almost a rhetorical devil's advocacy on my part, rather than assuming it MUSt have been murder. I've certainly been the perma-skeptic here from the comfort of my armchair. It didn't help, that rather strained show LE put on Friday. So I'm just trying to throw out there alternate notions to the official assumption that it was suicide and that's that. IOW, a mea culpa of sorts for all my own alleging and even seeming aspersions as we hash this out. I guess I'm not so fond of this LE crew out in San Diego, after 7 weeks of nada and then the incomplete story they were passing off yesterday. Jonah's seeming coldness toward his mate of 3 years rubbed me the wrong way too.

Yes, the brother is definitely on my radar. I guess I assumed that LE would have looked at him closely first thing since he found the body. But after that less than spectacular Presser I have my doubts too.

 

[elementry]

So I keep coming back to DS. But does she know anyone who can immediately go and do her the favor of killing her ex's girlfriend? Maybe.

Btw, (back to cynical sleuthing), the nature and scope of the relationship of Adam and Dina, and also Adam and Rebecca, also should be looked into more. He may just be the stunned and inncoent bystander thrust into all this intrigue, but he's there - right in the middle of it. Also throw in the brothers Jonah and Adam's relationship over the years. I wonder if the cops ever looked at any of this, if suicide was their working premise.

 

[elementry]

Theory Only: If an older sibling was involved in Max's accidental death, and JS knew it was the sibling, he would have probably not blamed Rebecca overly so but instead have been focused on protecting his own child. Rebecca was assisting Jonah at the hospital and DS was blaming Rebecca for Max's passing. Rebecca was increasingly upset about not being able to go to the hospital and be supportive of her future husband. She got tired of being blamed and told Jonah she was going to tell the truth. That's when it got ugly and she was sacrificed and silenced.

I am not accusing anybody - just trying to hammer out a theory - not even an opinion.

Protecting one of his remaining children would be a very apt motive for such a crime, yes, of passion (even with the planning and malice aforethought and the intent to cover it up). A very good lawyer, under the circumstances, might even get the defendant off with aggravated homicide or a temporary insanity defense.