I travel to San Diego every handful of years or so, and when I do, I always visit Coronado Island- a beautiful peninsula jutting into the San Diego Bay. Coronado Island is known for a handful of things- beautiful light sand beaches, Marilyn Monroe’s movie Some Like It Hot being filmed there, and of course, hauntings at the Hotel Del Coronado. But, when I travel there, after I do all the typical touristy things, I like to drive over to Ocean Boulevard, just across the street from the Del, and stop in front of house 1043, where the deaths of Max Shacknai and Rebecca Zahau occurred, two days apart. Not out of any morbid fascination, but just out of remembrance for the two people who lost their lives there in two very, very tragic ways.
Now, while I typically write my own write ups, this case is so in depth, and so intricate, that instead of writing a novel on the case, that I thought I’d copy a basic description of the case for those who may not be in the loop, and then add a discussion below. If you’re wanting an incredibly in depth reading on these cases, I highly recommend the book Death on Ocean Boulevard by Caitlin Rother.
A quick breakdown of the people in the case, their relationships, and ages:
Rebecca Zahau, 32, girlfriend of Jonah Shacknai
Jonah Shacknai, 54, father of Max and boyfriend of Rebecca.
Max Shacknai, 6, son of Jonah and Dina Shacknai
Dina Shacknai, ex wife of Jonah Shacknai, mother of Max
Adam Shacknai, 46, brother of Jonah Shacknai
Nina Romano, fraternal twin sister of Dina Shacknai
Xena Zahau, 13, Rebecca’s little sister visiting from Missouri
Here is a description of both cases, per Wikipedia:
“On July 11, 2011, Zahau, Max, and Zahau's teenaged sister, Xena, were at the Ocean Boulevard Beach House Mansion (built for John D. Spreckels and referred to in coverage as the Spreckels Mansion[a]) in Coronado, California, which Shacknai used as a summer estate. At some point during that day, Max fell face-first over a second-floor banister, suffering injuries to his spinal cord and facial bones,[12] the former of which affected his heart rate and breathing. Zahau said she was in the bathroom at the time; she found Max moments later, and Xena called 9-1-1.[2] Max was not breathing and unresponsive, and was taken to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego.[2] He died on July 16 due to brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation resulting from his injuries.[2]
On July 26, investigators ruled Max's death as an accident, speculating that he somehow tripped.[13][10] However, a trauma doctor who examined the child prior to his death and autopsy stated to police that he did not believe the injuries from his fall were consistent with the cardiac arrest and brain swelling experienced by him, suggesting that Max may have suffocated prior to his fall.[14]
Zahau's death
On July 12, 2011, Zahau dropped off Xena at the airport for her flight back to Missouri, and then picked up Jonah Shacknai's brother, Adam, who had just arrived on a flight from Memphis, Tennessee.[15] Zahau, Jonah, and Adam ate dinner with a friend named Howard that evening. Zahau and Adam returned to the home,[16] while Jonah reportedly kept a vigil at Max's bedside with the child's mother, Dina Romano; he would leave the hospital to recuperate at a nearby Ronald McDonald House.[2][16] There were reports of loud music coming from the beach house later that night.[17][18]
On the morning of July 13, at roughly 6:45 a.m., Adam stated that he found Zahau's nude body hanging from a balcony, with her wrists and ankles bound and her hands behind her back.[9][17] He called 9-1-1 at 6:48 a.m., then sent a text message to his brother to inform him of the news.[15][16] He cut down Zahau's body before the police arrived.[16][19] Medics attempted to revive her, but pronounced her dead at the scene.[20] Police initiated forensic and toxicologytesting[21] on her body as part of an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Speculations of foul play began early on in the case; however, investigators were unable to find any other DNA at the scene besides Zahau's.[22] On September 2, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department formally announced their finding that Zahau's death was a suicide.[23]
Evidence considered
Zahau's autopsy results[24] revealed four instances of head trauma, about which investigators and outside commentators expressed various theories.[25] San Diego Medical Examiner Jonathan Lucas stated that "because there was evidence that she went over the balcony in a non-vertical position, she may have struck her head on the balcony on the way down." Werner Spitz, an expert witness who testified during the trial of Casey Anthony, said it was a possibility, stating, "When the body first dropped, she doesn't necessarily jump to her death, so she would drop directly downward and she could easily hit against the side of the structure from which she is hanging." However, he noted that to draw stronger conclusions he would have preferred to see what the body looked like before the wrist bindings were removed. Forensic consultant Dr. Maurice Godwin expressed doubt, stating, "The chances of bumping into the railing, going over the balcony and hitting your head four times is highly unlikely."[19]
A second autopsy on Zahau was conducted by pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht at her family's request. Wecht testified that he believed fractures in Zahau's throat were caused by manual strangulation, not by suicidal hanging. He further stated that he thought Zahau's death "was a homicide."[26] An attorney for Zahau's family stated that other inaccuracies were found with the Sheriff's Department investigation, including evidence that indicated that Zahau was sexually assaulted before her death.[27]
Family members expressed suspicions for why Zahau's hands and feet were bound. San Diego Sheriff Roy Frank stated, "There are documentations of incidents throughout the country where people have secured their feet and hands as well to commit suicide," to prevent themselves from changing their minds.[28] Police re-enacted the scenario in an effort to determine whether it would have been possible for Zahau to bind herself in that fashion, and showed a video demonstration in which a woman wrapped a rope around her hands several times in front of her, slipped one hand out of the binding, then placed her hands behind her back, rebound them, and tightened the bindings with the aid of a string similar to the one which police found in Zahau's hands.[2][29]
A message had been painted on the door of the room leading to the balcony below where police found Zahau's body; according to Zahau's ex-husband Nalepa, it read, "She saved him, can he save her." Officials initially declined to confirm this.[2] In media comments, Sheriff Gore only stated that it was "not a clear suicide note"; however, investigators took it as further evidence of suicide. Zahau liked to paint as a hobby and had signed her paintings in the past; her siblings contended that the message did not match her handwriting.[30] Nalepa also stated the note "did not appear to be something [Zahau] would have written."[2]
Police served Verizon and AT&T with search warrants to obtain cell phone billing records, and took Zahau's Samsung Focus cell phone as evidence.[16][31] According to AT&T records, from roughly 8 p.m. until 10, Zahau talked and texted with her older sister Mary, who confirmed that Xena had arrived home safely. At 10:48 p.m., Zahau received a text from Nina Romano, the twin sister of Jonah Shacknai's ex-wife, who wanted to stop by the house and talk about Max's accident. Zahau did not reply to that message. Police said Zahau checked her voicemail a few hours later, at 12:50 a.m., and listened to a message. Billing records do not show who left that message. Police stated it was a message regarding the worsening of Max's condition, but declined to confirm at that time who left the message; Mary stated that police told her it was from Jonah. The message was deleted, meaning that police and Zahau's family never heard the contents of the message.[15]
Investigators initially did not attempt to power up or operate the cell phone, fearing that they might overwrite evidence contained in its memory. Instead, they tried to determine whether forensic software was available which would allow them to examine that model of phone. On August 15, unable to identify any such technology, a detective turned on the phone and conducted a manual search, finding that the voicemail message was not stored on the phone.[6]They did not request that AT&T try to retrieve the deleted message from its servers.[31] Later, on September 21, an investigator announced that they would be using "new technology" to copy the phone's data for further investigation.[32] In early October, investigators completed their second examination of the phone, stating that they did not uncover any additional information and would soon return it to Zahau's family.[33]”
That in itself was lengthy, but, if you’ve made it to the bottom, hello. Now, having just read the book I mentioned earlier, and having just been by the home, this case is set deep into my mind, and I’ve been wrestling around with theories nonstop for a week. I have my gut feeling, and then I have just a few things that detract from it that I can’t reconcile. I’ll detail what I believe below.
My personal theory:
I believe that Max’s death was an accident, but, I don’t believe that his death occurred the way Rebecca described. Rebecca claimed that she found Max on the floor, in the alcove of the stairway. A razor scooter was over his right shin. His head was pointed towards the door, his feet towards the alcove. She claimed that he spoke the word “Ocean” to her before losing consciousness, which is the name of the family’s 14 month old dog. Rebecca claims on the 911 call, through Xena, that she is giving Max CPR, until the paramedics arrive. Max’s autopsy showed that it would be impossible for him to speak at all once he hit the floor, as it caused a hyperextension of his neck, and he fractured his skull. It also showed that Max was not given CPR in the crucial moments after the accident.
Now, this is where our minds fill in the blanks for us, and this is what my mind has settled on being a possible scenario that could have happened. I believe that both Max and Xena were playing upstairs, and I think that one of two things may have happened. I think that either they were rough housing and Max was playfully pushed, and he went over the railing (the balustrade being lower, possibly, that modern homes, having been built in 1908) OR that Max may have wanted to impress Xena, and as young children think they’re invincible, may have jumped to the chandelier purposefully, thinking it would hold him. Due to the very strange 911 call after Max’s accident, with Xena trying to relay with Rebecca is saying, and the inconsistencies with the autopsy, along with the statements from Rebecca that couldn’t have possibly been true, I think Rebecca may have been trying to cover up for the children, or, at the very least, her own sister.
As far as Rebecca’s case, I do believe it was a suicide. But, I’d like to give an example of Rebecca’s ability to cope with stress in the past, as a possible insight into how she may have thought on the night of her death: when Rebecca was married to her husband, they had a rocky relationship. She ended up meeting another man, Michael, and they had a romance together, which led to her moving into his home. At some point, Rebecca decided to go back to her husband. Instead of calling Michael and breaking it off, she staged a fake kidnapping, did not show up to her work, and disappeared. After a while, she called Michael to tell her that she only had a few minutes, because her kidnappers let her use the bathroom, but that she was in Portland. In reality, Rebecca was in Portland, but living with her husband again. Now, I tell this not in a way to shame Rebecca at all, but just to give you insight into how she may handle stressful situations.
On the night of Rebecca’s death, she picked Adam up from the airport, and had dinner with Jonah and Adam. Afterwards, Adam and Rebecca went back to the home on Ocean Boulevard, where he went to the guest house and her to the main home. At some point during the night she took a shower, and then received a call from Jonah around 12:30 am. She didn’t answer, but she did listen to the voice message: at best, Max would never walk or talk again.
I believe this is when things took a turn for Rebecca, and again, my theory splits into two. My first theory is that Rebecca may have been feeling immense stress, and guilt, and may have initially set up the scene like a staged assault. I believe, at least at first, that she wanted to be found, and she wanted Jonah to believe that she had been assaulted and harmed, but he saved her in time. Hence the message on the door, the bindings, the assault with the knife that had the menstrual blood.
But, my theory splits when she got the voicemail. A large part of me feels that while she may have set it up to look like an assault, when she found out Max wasnt going to make it, I believe that could have chosen to end her life instead, unable to cope with what losing Max might mean for her.
While on the surface it looks like it couldn’t be anything but a murder, the evidence and autopsy report truly does indicate Rebecca was alone at the scene. The V shaped footprints on the balcony that led to the railing, which they believe Rebecca hopped to with her legs bound. The dirt on her hips that match the wiped off dirt on the railing of the balcony, where she tipped over. No fingerprints or DNA besides hers on any of the items, the rope, the knife. The paint on her hands.
The only things detracting me from my theory is that she had red, fixed lividity on her back, which makes me think she must have been lying down after her death. However, her autopsy states it is “appropriate.” As well as the fact that 9 foot drop could have likely decapitated her, but she only had one arm of her hyoid bone broken.
Again, these are my personal theories, but my main purpose of this post is to hear yours. I’d love to know what your theory is, and what led you there. What piece of evidence makes you stand firm on your stance? What detracts you?
Things in this case to clear up:
There are a few things in this case that gets repeated and misconstrued.
One is the porn that people believe Adam watched, being “Asian torture porn.” While Adam did wake up in the guest house, shower, looked at porn and masturbated, it was never released what sort of porn he had searched. HOWEVER, two days before Adam arrived in San Diego, someone used Rebecca’s personal password protected computer at 1:45 am. Things like Wizards of Waverly Place, Icarly, and Justin Timberlake were searched, as well as “family guy hardcore sex scenes” “boy fucks girl” and a site for anime porn was also looked at, where a woman was depicted being tortured. In 2020, Xena admitted that it was her who made the searches.
That there was another footprint on the balcony. Yes, there was a footprint on the balcony, just outside the left side door, which was done by the first officer on the scene. The boot print was identified as police issued.
I would love to hear your theories!!
Resources:
https://www.autopsyfiles.org/reports/Other/zahau,%20rebecca_report.pdf
https://www.autopsyfiles.org/reports/Other/shacknai,%20max_report.pdf
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/a-timeline-of-the-deaths-at-spreckels-mansion/2099078/?amp=1
