Jonah Shacknai and Rebecca Zaha
Courtesy Shacknai Family
While San Diego police said on Friday that the two deaths tied to a millionaire’s mansion were determined to be a suicide and an accident, what was only referenced and not fully revealed was a mysterious message left in the home by Rebecca Zahau.
Medical Examiner Investigator Dana Gary has since told San Diego’s CBS News 8 the message that was painted in black on a bedroom door. The paint was found on Zahau’s hands and the rope around her neck.
“I noted black painted writings on the bedroom door that led into the room with the balcony,” said Gary, according to Examiner.com. “The writing ‘She Saved Him Can You Save Her’ in black paint was on the hallway side of the bedroom door.”
On July 13, Zahau, 32, was found naked, with her hands and feet bound, hanging by a makeshift noose in the courtyard of her boyfriend Jonah Shacknai’s home, the Spreckels Mansion in Coronado, Calif.
Her body was discovered just hours after she accessed her voicemail on which was a message about the grave condition of Shacknai’s 6-year-old son Max, who was in the hospital after falling down a staircase in the home. The child later died from his injuries.
“These deaths were not the result of any criminal acts,” San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said at a press conference Friday.
Zahau’s autopsy showed a “tape residue” on both of her legs and a long-sleeved, blue T-shirt wrapped three times “around her neck outside of the … reddish-orange rope” around her neck, said the report, which was obtained by CBS News 8.
Shacknai, a pharmaceutical tycoon, was not home at the time of her death. His brother, Adam Shacknai, was reportedly staying in the guest house when he found Zahau, cut the rope and attempted to administer CPR. He then called 911.
Spreckels Mansion
Jerod Harris / Polaris
