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

[SunnieRN]

does anyone remember when AS, DS or JS left Coronado?

TIA

I think JS left on the day Max had life support turned off. I don't have any idea about DS and AS disappeared.

 

[MyBelle]

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

Yes but the body was moved within 4 hours so apparently the livor was not fixed at that time and shifted to her posterior, where it fixed.

JMO

 

[scorekeeper]

Shacknai hired San Diego based Elite Services to look into the sudden deaths that rocked his world.

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusiv...e-investigator-after-max-rebecca-zahau-deaths

I thought this was kinda' strange....why would JS hire a private agency to look into the deaths of MS and RN.....did he not trust LE or is he really paranoid or what??

 

[elementry]

This part is interesting.

Moreover, your statements and actions are highly insensitive on a human level. Mr. Shacknai and his family have suffered two tragic losses under the harsh and unkind glare of a national media frenzy you have now helped sustain. It is ironic that Mr. Shacknai went through the entire law enforcement investigation, at all times cooperating completely with several police authorities, and never once considered retaining an attorney. It is only now, after authorities have announced the conclusions of their comprehensive investigations, that Mr. Shacknai finds it necessary to consult with me because of the false and irresponsible public statements you are making, harming his personal and business reputations. Importantly, throughout the investigation, Mr. Shacknai was not advancing any particular outcome regarding Rebecca Zahau's cause of death, because he had absolutely no knowledge of what happened the night she died.

http://www.cbs8.com/story/15406681/shacknai-sends-cease-and-desist-letter-to-zahau-family-attorney

Here is some info on Dan K. Webb-Jonah's attorney.

“He is a virtuoso of the courtroom…. Purely and simply, Dan is number one. He was born to be a litigator.”

Perhaps most revealing of Dan Webb’s character and professionalism is his desire to give back to the poor and underrepresented. He assumed the chairmanship of the Chicago Bar Foundation’s 2008 Campaign for Justice. The Chicago Bar Foundation described in 2006 the dilemma that less than 300 legal aid attorneys in the Chicago area struggled to serve more than one million low-income residents and nearly half of those attorneys would be forced to leave their jobs in the near future due to unbearable educational debt and chronic low pay. That study concluded that more than half of the disadvantaged Chicagoans could be turned away to solve complex legal problems on their own.

In just six months, Webb mobilized nearly 40 law firms and corporate legal departments to help address this looming crisis. He persuaded several other law firms to participate in the effort and inspired more than 100 volunteers to conduct a city-wide pledge campaign. This generated over $1 million to significantly increase compensation of Chicago’s legal aid attorneys and keep them on the job. He also significantly expanded Winston & Strawn’s pro bono program. Under his leadership, Winston attorneys now devote nearly 40,000 hours to pro bono cases and transactions each year.

As U.S. Attorney for Chicago between 1981 and 1984, Webb will always be remembered for spearheading the Operation Greylord investigations into judicial corruption in Cook County, Illinois. Ultimately, that investigation put 76 judges, lawyers, court personnel, and police officers in prison. He also won convictions during that time against 10 Chicago police officers charged with extorting money from heroin dealers in exchange for protecting narcotics shipments. Webb is still well known for his conviction of retired Admiral John Poindexter as a special prosecutor in the 1989 obstruction-of-Congress case, also known as the Iran Contra affair.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...tent/Default.aspx?Id=5141+Dan+K.+Webb&ct=clnk

Of course, JS had a team of attorneys at his corporation no doubt from which to get advice without actually retaining them. Not to mention other attorneys who might informally advise. So it seems just like typical lawyerly parsing from the esteemed Mr Webb.

Also, I take it that Mr Webb is not taking this case "pro-bono". However, Bremner might be, considering the Zahau's means.

 

[cali_mommy]

Every picture that I have seen of Rebecca shows her wearing make up, and lots of it. Nothing about the state of her body makes sense to me. Whatever she was/was't in life, she didn't deserve to be left in the blazing sun for 12 hours. It makes me sick to think of the complete lack of respect her naked/battered body was shown. Surely someone could have covered her. What's the owner of the house gonna do,sue someone for covering his girlfriends body? Pathetic. I thought police officers are supposed to use their better judgement under circumstances such as this. How can anyone have ownership over someone's dead body? Would they have treated the home owner with such disregard? I think not. We all deserve respect in death, but I have seen animals treated better then this woman was.

 

[justice be served]

Shacknai hired San Diego based Elite Services to look into the sudden deaths that rocked his world.

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusiv...e-investigator-after-max-rebecca-zahau-deaths

I thought this was kinda' strange....why would JS hire a private agency to look into the deaths of MS and RN.....did he not trust LE or is he really paranoid or what??

Why not make it a perfect triumvirate? Top lawyer, top PR firm and top PI?

 

[Peaceful]

I found the attached article to be interesting & the comments worth reading. some interesting info on the autopsy details signaling strangulation vs. hanging. http://coronado.patch.com/articles/report-reveals-other-injuries-details-in-coronado-mansion-death

 

[scorekeeper]

Yes but the body was moved within 4 hours so apparently the livor was not fixed at that time and shifted to her posterior, where it fixed.

JMO

hmmmm. or it was staged and the livor was exactly where it was all along...just saying......

fftobed:fftobed:

score

 

[SunnieRN]

Shacknai hired San Diego based Elite Services to look into the sudden deaths that rocked his world.

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusiv...e-investigator-after-max-rebecca-zahau-deaths

I thought this was kinda' strange....why would JS hire a private agency to look into the deaths of MS and RN.....did he not trust LE or is he really paranoid or what??

I think it may have been a combination of paranoia and trust.

 

[elementry]

Well, if a hit man killed her and did so by bonking her on the head, then binding her and gagging her so she could not escape or call for help when she came to, that would not be hanging around for an extended period of time. That would be part of the murder.

However, I can't see a hit man spending time writing a vague message on a door. You are absolutely right on that one and that rules out a hit man for me.

As far as Bremner and JS's cease and desist letter, if he is innocent, I don't blame him a bit. I don't see that as callous. He's not demanding that the Zahau's be quiet about their concerns. He's demanding that Bremner not flap her gums with unfounded allegations.

That "planking" allegation has driven me mad. I don't see a shred of evidence pointing to that or to his siblings being involved in Max's accident. I think it was just a horrible accident and I think Bremner likes to make bizarre statements with no basis in logic, to bolster her position. So if she is making certain statements with no evidence to back them up, statements that point blame in certain directions, I don't like that.

I am very dissatisfied with the evidence released or rather, the evidence not released in Rebecca's case. There is too much that seems off or is unanswered and in a case involving a powerful, rich guy and two bizarre deaths at his house, one that looks like outright murder, the public has a right to know what the heck is going on, IMO.

However, I do not like Bremner as an attorney. She brings the circus with her. She was ludicrously unprofessional when it came to the casey anthony case IMO. And while I haven't seen anything yet that has seemed too out of line with her statements in connection to this case, I believe she has the capacity to make stuff up to get a reaction and if she is simply throwing whatever she can against the wall to see what sticks, then JS has a right to protect himself and his family.

We'll see, I guess if Bremner is simply making things up or if she has any evidence to back up her statements, allegations and inferences.

She may just be doing the early muckraking to turn up the sludge that's already settled on the "closed case". Often more attorneys are brought on if cases get to a point of discovery and then another presides at trial. This would be in a possible civil case. The D.A. office would be handling any criminal prosecution.

 

[elementry]

I guess you're not familiar with the type of line that is shown in the evidence photos--the shiny, stiff and unwieldy (but strong) line typically used for boating. It's definitely NOT the same material used in the demo recreation. The recreation video appears to feature a cord that is much smoother and pliable made of cotton or a soft polyester, the type with a woven outer casing. At least that's what I noticed.

The "re-creation" seemed to me to use a rope that looked like rappelling rope for rock climbers. I read in one account that the rope in the hanging was actually water-skiing rope.

 

[elementry]

That part is the easiest for me to imagine. The balcony enclosure was a scroll iron work pattern and if she didn't push out far enough when she jumped over her head could have struck that part of the balcony when going over.

They are very small hemorrhages and didn't result in any brain bleeding or bleeding inside of the skull cavity either.

IMO

Where's the LE info on what markings were recovered from the outer rail as a result of a not inconsequencial contact with RN's head?

 

[Stella5]

So the first time she got onto the balcony she was bound and gagged. Not much room for error there. You don't find it even a little bit strange she didn't get onto the balcony before she bound and gagged herself to make sure her elaborate plan was going to work? For instance, to figure out how she was going to get over the railing? If it didn't work (rope too long, for instance) she was going to up in the nude on the ground.

Other than her feet being bound based on the footprints we really don't know if her hands were bound yet, or if she was gagged yet, or if she looked over the balcony and adjusted the noose. We don't know. She knew that house and that balcony and how high up it is. She knew the trees were there and knew nothing was directly under it. She lived there on & off for two years. I can tell you right now my deck off the kitchen & living room is exactly 16 feet high. I know this because contractors measured it years ago to replace it. Jonah was doing renovations and that deck railing looks in desperate need of replacing/fixing... it is quite possible she knew how high it was.

I would imagine her hands were not bound yet. She used her hands on the rail to hop closer leaving the additional set of footprints next to the railing. She then gagged herself to not make noise, or bite her tongue off... and then she flipped herself over the railing at her hip. The balcony is not that wide (2 feet maybe, I counted the bricks), this is perfectly feasible. The toe impressions in the dirt tell me she pushed off the balcony floor.

 

[elementry]

The police also have diagrams of how they believe the fall happened on their website.

No diagrams on exactly how RN went over her ledge though. "Science" should be able to tell them that.

 

[LCoastMom]

Blood was noted on her Cervix, so my guess would be she was on her period. Zahau's said LE said no... but LE said maybe.

There is one other possibility... it's graphic and I'm sorry in advance.

"Death by hanging, whether an execution or a suicide, has been observed to affect the genitals of both men and women. In women, the labia and clitoris will become engorged and there may be a discharge of blood from the vagina."

Death erection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

IIRC (sorry it's been a long, hot day here) the autopsy showed she was not menstruating. I think you nailed it.

BBM
So on what evidence did they estimate TOD at 3am? I still think about that Dr. Kessler stating she died while on her back? What the he11 does that mean? :banghead:

Things that make you go hmmm, huh?

BBM

My thought exactly!!

The tow rope...lenght

She cut the following:

1 piece for her feet (used the end of rope because it had the water sport tow rope handle)
1 piece for tieing to bed and ending with the noose (a 22 inch piece extends from the knot)
1 piece for her hands (this piece included all the extra that extended away from her in the pictures on the ground - from autopsy 84 extra inches)

sdcali, I agree....how did she get everthing perfect....no extra rope anywhere...no miss cuts

Doesn't sound like a distraugh person........sounds like a mathmatician!!

No other DNA on rope or RN's body.....

Certainly sounds like staging to me.....what if she was thrown/pushed over the balcony and hung there for 20/30 minutes (for death to occur) and then cut down....livor mortis would be on back side.......

just thinking out loud.....

Re BBM is this time frame an estimate on your part or did it say somewhere it took her 20 to 30 minutes to die? I assumed she died instantly, if that is incorrect add torture to the murder I suspect happened.

How would anyone else know exactly how much rope to use w/out measuring either? Was the killer someone who had lots of practice hanging people from balconies?

My husband could do this, don't ask me how - I don't understand what he does but when we got carpeting for our very oddly shaped great room he was dead on when telling the salesman how much we needed. The salesman came out and took all the measurements and was amazed... I've seen him do the same with other mediums, he figures it out in his head then checks his figures on a piece of paper if it is something important. Maybe Rebecca had the same ability...or maybe whoever killed her did.

 

[elementry]

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?

Would a boat operator know something about rope lengths for anchoring at varying water depths?

 

[MyBelle]

Shacknai hired San Diego based Elite Services to look into the sudden deaths that rocked his world.

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusiv...e-investigator-after-max-rebecca-zahau-deaths

I thought this was kinda' strange....why would JS hire a private agency to look into the deaths of MS and RN.....did he not trust LE or is he really paranoid or what??

I don't find it strange at all. The RN family don't trust LE so why should JS be any different?

JMO

 

[elementry]

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:

Actually, after viewing your close-ups, it doesn't look like rock climbing rope after all.

 

[LCoastMom]

Other than her feet being bound based on the footprints we really don't know if her hands were bound yet, or if she was gagged yet, or if she looked over the balcony and adjusted the noose. We don't know. She knew that house and that balcony and how high up it is. She knew the trees were there and knew nothing was directly under it. She lived there on & off for two years. I can tell you right now my deck off the kitchen & living room is exactly 16 feet high. I know this because contractors measured it years ago to replace it. Jonah was doing renovations and that deck railing looks in desperate need of replacing/fixing... it is quite possible she knew how high it was.

I would imagine her hands were not bound yet. She used her hands on the rail to hop closer leaving the additional set of footprints next to the railing. She then gagged herself to not make noise, or bite her tongue off... and then she flipped herself over the railing at her hip. The balcony is not that wide (2 feet maybe, I counted the bricks), this is perfectly feasible. The toe impressions in the dirt tell me she pushed off the balcony floor.

I thought I read that LE said she leaned forward until she went over? Which would mean she went head first, wouldn't it? Or is that what you are saying

 

[scorekeeper]

LCoastMom,

the 20-30 minutes....thought the ME said she would be unconscious within a minute or two and then possible death within the 30 minutes....i may be wrong....so a random amount of time on my guess/theory....

score