CA - Rebecca Zahau Nalepa - suicide or murder? #10

[sdcali]

If someone was as experienced in those knots as you are determined to continue insinuating, they would have a more suitable material on hand, rather than the stiff, unwieldy cord (possibly found in the garage) that was used on Rebecca.

Yes! I agree. And in that same vein, the video showing how RZ could do that was a farce. The rope was soft, pliable and much easier to work with than the actual boat towing rope used on RZ. Even the tow handle was still connected to the rope where her ankles were bound (according to the AR).

I want to someone to take the same lengths and pieces of the same kind of rope and fashion the same bindings BY THEMSELVES and video it. I bet the video will not make it look so easy and believable.

IMO, that video was an insult to our intelligence. :maddening:

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Yes but she should have been hanging first presumably in an upright position, for hours. The process of blood pooling is done within six hours.

I cant remember and I am too tired to go back and read the AR again tonight. lol

Did the ME state lividity was seen on her backside only?

IMO

 

[sdcali]

Do we know for sure that the rope in the video is not identical to the rope Rebecca may have used? Where is that stated as a fact?

Look at the rope in the photos. Then look at the rope in the video. Clearly different. I have used a tow rope before in wake boarding. It is made to be in the water. There is no way the rope in the video is the same material.

LE has not stated anything about the material, that I recall. The point of the video was to prove that it is possible for a person to bind themselves as RZ did --alone.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Yes! I agree. And in that same vein, the video showing how RZ could do that was a farce. The rope was soft, pliable and much easier to work with than the actual boat towing rope used on RZ. Even the tow handle was still connected to the rope where her ankles were bound (according to the AR).

I want to someone to take the same lengths and pieces of the same kind of rope and fashion the same bindings BY THEMSELVES and video it. I bet the video will not make it look so easy and believable.

IMO, that video was an insult to our intelligence. :maddening:

I really think it was the same type rope sdcali. The rope in the bedroom and out on the balcony seemed to be a very flexible rope and maybe an inch around at most. Of course these type of ropes are extremely strong since they are so tightly weaved.

All the person has to do is loop the rope back and forth from one wrist to the other and bring the rope through so the fingers can hold the rope tight and that tightens it up on the wrists.

I thought the demonstration was good and it showed it didn't take long to do it either.

IMO

 

[elfie]

Not if the someone was not in their own environment...someone may have used what was available.

True, but her comment on knot tying relates to activities that she hypothesized Rebecca may have had prior experience with. For all intents and purposes the home was her own environment. Sorry, I'm trying to clarify without crossing the line.

 

[chasing.halos]

Something just dawned on me, sorry if it has already been discussed.

How did Rebecca know how long the rope needed to be to hang herself? Would you be able to guesstimate this? I know I couldn't. If she hung the rope down over the balcony to try and "size things up" before apparently jumping over, there would be more footprints wouldn't you think?

 

[oceanblueeyes]

There is a reenactment on the same san diego sheriff website. I will admit it is with an adult sized figure, but may help.

The woman doing the demo was Rebecca's height and weight.

IMO

 

[SunnieRN]

Something just dawned on me, sorry if it has already been discussed.

How did Rebecca know how long the rope needed to be to hang herself? Would you be able to guesstimate this? I know I couldn't. If she hung the rope down over the balcony to try and "size things up" before apparently jumping over, there would be more footprints wouldn't you think?

We have discussed this, and never came to a good conclusion. She would have also allowed for the drag of her body weight. I know this is not related, but I think she went over sideways, because she was not conscious.

 

[HowLoveCanBe]

I agree totally. I posted this morning I thought she went of at an angle.

The small hemorrhages are insignificant to me.

IMO

The last toe marks are very close to the railing. She may have used the railing almost as a cantilever support so she could clear her lower body of the railing. This would create a rotational momentum.

 

[SunnieRN]

The woman doing the demo was Rebecca's height and weight.

IMO

If you read the post and what she was asking aboit, it was related to Max's fall down the stairs.

 

[belimom]

Okay, I checked out the pics and video. The rope in the evidence photos is NOT (...IMO...) the same kind of rope in the videos. One is stiff nylon like ski rope, while the other is soft braided rope like a dock line.

Some other questions:
- why go to such great lengths to stage this scene if it's suicide? why not just leave a note saying 'sorry, can't take this' and then kill yourself simply?
- unless someone was extremely depressed - extremely - or very mentally ill (or drugged/drunk), I can't see someone going through all of this staging and not changing their mind, kwim? At some point, you would have to ask yourself, "Do I *really* want to do this?" She would have had ample time to think about it, rethink it, and change her mind during all of that staging. It's not like shooting yourself where it's over and done. Hope this makes sense.

 

[jjenny]

Something just dawned on me, sorry if it has already been discussed.

How did Rebecca know how long the rope needed to be to hang herself? Would you be able to guesstimate this? I know I couldn't. If she hung the rope down over the balcony to try and "size things up" before apparently jumping over, there would be more footprints wouldn't you think?

I couldn't have figured any of this out either. She would have to know how long a rope to use to drop herself but not too low so her feet wouldn't be on the ground. Apparently she didn't practice that since like you said there should have been more of the footprints on the balcony.

 

[SunnieRN]

Okay, I checked out the pics and video. The rope in the evidence photos is NOT (...IMO...) the same kind of rope in the videos. One is stiff nylon like ski rope, while the other is soft braided rope like a dock line.

Some other questions:
- why go to such great lengths to stage this scene if it's suicide? why not just leave a note saying 'sorry, can't take this' and then kill yourself simply?
- unless someone was extremely depressed - extremely - or very mentally ill (or drugged/drunk), I can't see someone going through all of this staging and not changing their mind, kwim? At some point, you would have to ask yourself, "Do I *really* want to do this?" She would have had ample time to think about it, rethink it, and change her mind during all of that staging. It's not like shooting yourself where it's over and done. Hope this makes sense.

Makes perfect sense and are some of the things we have all been trying to understand!!:seeya:

 

[sdcali]

bbm

Do you have a link to those photos? TIA...

They are on the San Diego County Sheriff's website. Click on the Coronado link and the photo links for the rope tied to the bed. It is the same rope that was used to bind her feet and hands.

The video shows a much different rope material.

 

[jjenny]

Okay, I checked out the pics and video. The rope in the evidence photos is NOT (...IMO...) the same kind of rope in the videos. One is stiff nylon like ski rope, while the other is soft braided rope like a dock line.

Some other questions:
- why go to such great lengths to stage this scene if it's suicide? why not just leave a note saying 'sorry, can't take this' and then kill yourself simply?
- unless someone was extremely depressed - extremely - or very mentally ill (or drugged/drunk), I can't see someone going through all of this staging and not changing their mind, kwim? At some point, you would have to ask yourself, "Do I *really* want to do this?" She would have had ample time to think about it, rethink it, and change her mind during all of that staging. It's not like shooting yourself where it's over and done. Hope this makes sense.

She definitely was not drunk (no alcohol found in her system). No drugs were found in her system either.

 

[HowLoveCanBe]

True, but her comment on knot tying relates to activities that she hypothesized Rebecca may have had prior experience with. For all intents and purposes the home was her own environment. Sorry, I'm trying to clarify without crossing the line.

Look maybe the whole rope tying experience issue is not that relevant to start with. If you were determined to tie your wrists together and your ankles together and you had some rope you could come up with something in a reasonable amount of time. You might try it a couple of times before you got it right. This is not like figuring out how to crack a safe.

 

[jjenny]

I cant remember and I am too tired to go back and read the AR again tonight. lol

Did the ME state lividity was seen on her backside only?

IMO

Autopsy report states the following: Livor mortis was posterior, red and fixed.

 

[sdcali]

I really think it was the same type rope sdcali. The rope in the bedroom and out on the balcony seemed to be a very flexible rope and maybe an inch around at most. Of course these type of ropes are extremely strong since they are so tightly weaved.

All the person has to do is loop the rope back and forth from one wrist to the other and bring the rope through so the fingers can hold the rope tight and that tightens it up on the wrists.

I thought the demonstration was good and it showed it didn't take long to do it either.

IMO

We have no idea how long the woman in the video had to rehearse and study the bindings in order to pull it off so effortlessly. Since there is no sound, we also do not know if she is being coached in the video.

I posted more about this subject in an earlier thread page, so I won't go into it again. I agree that with the soft rope shown in the video it would not be a challenge to accomplish that kind of binding on oneself given some knowledge and experience. However, I think it would be much more difficult to do by oneself with the rope pictured in the sheriff's photos.
IMO

 

[elfie]

Look maybe the whole rope tying experience issue is not that relevant to start with. If you were determined to tie your wrists together and your ankles together and you had some rope you could come up with something in a reasonable amount of time. You might try it a couple of times before you got it right. This is not like figuring out how to crack a safe.

Well, we'll have to disagree on the first, but interesting point you bring up there!

 

[belimom]

The ropes - I changed my mind - I think they're the same. I zoomed in very close so I'm sorry if the first one is so tiny, but you can see that under the bed where it doesn't appear to have been pulled at taught, the smaller braids are more visible. That's exactly how the one if the video would look under the same sort of loose pressure. (make sense?) I do think now that it may be the same type of rope: (ETA: But I still don't think she did it herself... MOO...)

Evidence Photo:

Video: