Rebecca Zahau suicide case will NOT be reopened after police brand Dr Phil autopsy as 'sensationalism'



Pathologist had urged investigators to revisit the case of the bizarre death at millionaire's mansion



The results of a second autopsy on Rebecca Zahau, who was found hanging naked from a balcony at her lover's mansion, have not convinced police to reopen the case.



San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said the autopsy provided no new information.



A pathologist hired by Ms Zahau's family told the Dr Phil show yesterday that he doubted she killed herself at her partner Jonah Shacknai's luxury home in San Diego.

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Happier times: Rebecca Zahau committed suicide at the mansion of her partner Jonah Shacknai two days after his six-year-old son died following a fatal fall under her care

However the sheriff said guests on the two-part show altered, misrepresented and omitted facts.

The nude body of Rebecca Zahau, 32, was found in July at the mansion of her boyfriend, Jonah Shacknai, two days after his six-year-old son suffered a fatal fall under her care. Authorities ruled her death a suicide.

Sheriff Gore's statement called the show 'nothing more than sensationalism at its lowest point' which caused the family more suffering.

On the Dr Phil show, pathologist Dr Cyril Wecht, a private consultant in high-profile investigations ranging from the Kennedy assassination to the death of Anna Nicole Smith, challenged the verdict of the sheriff's department.

Tragic: Max Shacknai's death at his father's San Diego mansion last year was declared an accident but a new medical report has suggested foul play

Miss Zahau's sister, Mary Zahau-Loehner, told the TV audience she firmly believed her sibling was murdered.



A lawyer and a private detective for the family who also spoke on the program cited clues they said police failed to thoroughly examine after Miss Zahau's lifeless body was found dangling from a rope around her neck at the estate of Mr Shacknai, founder and CEO of the Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp.

'Sensationalism': San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore said police would not reopen the case into Rebecca Zahau's death

Miss Zahau's death on July 13 came two days after Mr Shacknai's six-year-old son, Max, took a fatal fall down a staircase at the same oceanside mansion near San Diego.



The boy, who was in Miss Zahau's care at the time, died six days later from his injuries. Police determined the fall was an accident.

Homicide investigators themselves have said that the circumstances surrounding Miss Zahau's death were baffling, but in the end ruled out foul play.

They concluded that Miss Zahau, had committed suicide after learning in a late-night telephone call that Max, then still hospitalised, had taken a turn for the worse.



Seeking to allay public scepticism, police released an unusual video re-enactment of how investigators believe Miss Zahau had tied up her own wrists and ankles, hands bound behind her back, before slipping a noose around her neck and hurling herself off a second-story balcony.

Mr Shacknai, whose company makes the wrinkle-filler Restylane and the acne treatment Solodyn, asked the California attorney general's office in September to review the case, but that was denied. Mr Shacknai was never considered a suspect, police said.

Dr Wecht agreed with the official autopsy finding that the cause of Miss Zahau's death was asphyxiation by hanging, but said he strongly doubted she killed herself.

Second opinion: Dr Cyril Wecht made a nationally televised appearance today on the 'Dr. Phil' show to render his opinion about the bizarre death of Miss Zahau

Family: Max pictured with his aunt, Nina Romano - the twin sister of Mr Shacknai's ex-wife, Dina, who visited the mansion on the night of Miss Zahau's death

Conflicting reports: An eyewitness has told police he saw Max's mother, Dina, and not her twin sister, at the mansion that night

'While I am not prepared to unequivocally, with absolute scientific certainty, say that it was a homicide and that it was not a suicide, I lean very strongly toward it being a homicide, something involving foul play. And I lean very strongly against it being a suicide,' he said.

Dr Wecht said he was particularly troubled by findings in both autopsies that Miss Zahau had suffered blows to the top of her head, indicated by four separate haemorrhages beneath the scalp.



He said such an injury pointed to the possibility that she was knocked unconscious with a blunt object and could explain why police said there was no sign of a struggle at the scene.



Dr Wecht said he was also puzzled as to why Miss Zahau's neck was not broken by the force of her fall from the balcony. He said the way in which Miss Zahau would have had to tie herself up was possible, but implausible

Scene: Miss Zahau, 32, was found nude with her wrists and feet bound with rope at Mr Shacknai's San Diego home (pictured here)

'Yes, I know Harry Houdini did slipknots and things of that nature 70 years ago, but to say that Miss Zahau was able to do it, I've yet to hear from the law enforcement people where did she acquire this skill,' Mr Wecht said.

Appearing separately, private investigator Paul Ciolino said police apparently discounted reports from two Shacknai neighbours that a woman was heard screaming for help several hours before Miss Zahau's death.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department declined to comment on Dr Wecht's findings or the criticism levelled at them.



'To date, neither our detectives nor the medical examiner's office have been presented with any evidence from the second autopsy,' sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said, adding the sheriff's department would be happy to receive any pertinent information on the case.



The host of the show, Phil McGraw, said Miss Zahau's family reached out to him for help in re-examining the case.



Miss Zahau's sister said her family wants an independent agency to probe her death, rather than the sheriff's department.



'We do not trust them anymore,' she said.

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