In a 27-room historic mansion on the exclusive island of Coronado, a tragedy filled with mystery emerged this summer. You reach Coronado via a bridge from San Diego. The bridge is a road to paradise for some. Many Arizonans travel to southern California for the summer to escape the relentless heat, buying or renting homes in the San Diego area. Such is the case with Jonah Shacknai and his family. Except that their family vacation ended with two people dead, and many questions left unanswered.
In one week this past July, Jonah Shacknai, a prominent businessman from Scottsdale, Arizona, suffered two incomprehensible losses. Max, Shacknai’s six year-old son, died after suffering a serious injury in a fall at Shacknai’s mansion. In the days between Max’s fall and his death, Rebecca Zahau*, Shacknai’s 32 year-old girlfriend, ended up dead as well – found hanging from an exterior mansion balcony, her hands and legs bound.
Coronado is a unique town – on one side of the island is a Naval base. On the other side, is a tiny private community made up of well-off, laid back residents who all know each other and visitors looking to escape to the year-round lovely temperatures. The exclusive resort Hotel del Coronado hosts the wealthier of visitors and employs the young girls on the island to serve drinks poolside. Not used to such a complex case, Coronado law enforcement brought in the San Diego County’s Sheriff Department to assist with the investigation.
The investigation, already closed, determined that Max’s death was an accident. It was further determined that Zahau’s death was a suicide. That was last week. Already, more facts have been disclosed that would call everything into question.
Jonah Shacknai is the Chairman and CEO of the Scottsdale-based Medicis corporation. His story is the American Dream. Educated at Georgetown University’s school of law, he was involved in politics and owned his own law firm before becoming involved in the medical field. In 1988, he founded Medicis and quickly became one of the country’s most recognized business leaders.
Shacknai married Dina, and the two had a their son, Max. Their marriage was rocky at best, with several police-related incidents of domestic violence. During one of those interactions, Dina said in a statement to police that: “Jonah is the CEO of a large pharmaceutical corporation. He is very clever and very powerful.” Their divorce was finalized in 2010 after a contentious battle.
Sometime around July 12, their son Max was found not breathing and without a pulse at the bottom of the grand staircase in the mansion. Authorities investigating his death concluded that he had tripped and tumbled over a balcony, grabbing a chandelier as he fell. He was on life support for a short time before dying on July 16.
Not as much is known about Zahau. She worked as a certified technician at Horizon Eye Specialists & Lasik Center and was close with her family. Police stated that they received information from witnesses that Zahau was distraught over Max’s injury. Zahau and her 13-year-old sister were reportedly the only people at home with Max at the time he fell. However, perhaps importantly, her family has stated that she was not unhappy, had never undergone psychiatric treatment, nor had ever been on anti-depressants or attempted suicide.
According to reports, Zahau’s body was found on July 13th, just hours after she accessed her voice mail on which was a message about Max’s grave condition. As for her manner of death, authorities concluded that Zahau bound her own feet and hands behind her with a red rope, put the rope around her neck, then leaned over the balcony. This was supported, they said, by DNA evidence on the rope as well as an experiment in which an investigator found that it was possible for a person to bind their own hands behind them with slip knots.
However, additional salacious details have emerged as of last night. There was a message painted in black on the back of a door to the room that accessed the balcony where she was found. Authorities initially refused to reveal what was written but have now produced the message: “She saved him can you save her?” Initial reports said that the paint was still found on her hands and the rope. However, the latest information revealed that quite a bit more was found in that same room: knives and additional rope tied to the bed in the room.
Most damning to the initial conclusions is that the autopsy report revealed there were hemorrhages under Zahau’s scalp, tape residue and blood on her legs, and a T-shirt that was wrapped around Zahau’s neck that had been partially stuffed into her mouth.
There have been reports that a loud party was held at the house the night after Max’s fall, and just hours before Zahau died, potentially hosted by Shacknai’s brother, Adam. Shacknai’s brother was allegedly also the person who found and cut down Zahau’s body and removed the t-shirt from her mouth before police arrived.
Zahau’s family is neither satisfied with the investigation, nor convinced that she committed suicide. They have hired an attorney to assist in having the investigation re-opened. Given the circumstances of these deaths, and the trickle of explosive information, there seems to be more than enough reason for such doubt.
*There have been many sources that identify Rebecca with the last name of Nalepa.