All language subtitles for death.at.the.mansion.rebecca.zahau.s01e01.720p.hdtv.x264-w4f

- Coronado Island
is a little island paradise.

It's just a mile or two
from San Diego.

It has that quintessential
small town safe feel to it.

- Coronado is the
lowest crime area

in all of
San Diego county.

The most common crime
they have is bicycle theft.

- Nothing bad ever
happens in Coronado.

- Detectives in Southern
California are stumped

by the discovery
of a woman's body

at her boyfriend's
mansion.

- 32-year-old Rebecca Zahau
was found dead,

hanging in the sprawling
27-room home

of her 54-year-old
boyfriend,

pharmaceutical tycoon
Jonah Shacknai.

- Her boyfriend's brother
Adam found her naked,

hanging from a balcony,

her hands and feet
tied together.

- I preceded to turn
the TV on, and here it is.

My sister, completely nude
in the yard.

She was just left there
like a piece of garbage.

- The scene was
pretty suspicious.

- It was such an unusual
and bizarre crime scene.

She was found naked,

hanging outside
a balcony.

Her hands tied
behind her back.

Her ankles
tied together.

With paint
on her breast.

She had a T-shirt
stuffed in her mouth.

There was a bizarre saying
painted on the wall.

The big question is,
did she really commit suicide,

or was she murdered?

- Her death came just days
after her boyfriend's

6-year-old son
fell down the stairs

and suffered
fatal injuries

while she was
caring for them.

- Two mysterious deaths
in the same house,

in the space of a few days.

- A beautiful young
woman is watching

her billionaire boyfriend's
young son.

He ends up in a very
tragic accident.

Where have you ever heard
of a case like this?

- Did she commit suicide
because she felt responsible

for Max's death?

Or was this a murder?

- The answer is no.

It was a suicide.

- Since it was a suicide,

they thought it was
all wrapped up.

But boy did it explode
in their faces.

- It was a complete shock.

- It really caused
a lot of outrage.

- The bizarre nature of
the crimes really seized

the public's imagination.

- There was so much talk.

- People said, "How would
she do that to herself?

"Why would she do
that to herself?"

[overlapping news broadcasts]

- I can't get her back.

Our family can't
get her back.

But hopefully people
will know

that she didn't
commit suicide.

♪♪

- I'm Loni Coombs,

and I was
a criminal prosecutor

in Los Angeles County
for 18 years.

As a criminal prosecutor,
I had a motto.

Ever vigilant,
never forget.

I am their one shot
to get their story told.

I would always have a picture
of the victim on the wall.

And today, the picture
I'm focusing on

is Rebecca Zahau.

I personally have been
agonizing over this case

ever since
I heard about it.

Ever since I heard that
they declared it a suicide.

I wanted to know
what's really going on here.

As a woman of color,

I think there's so many
assumptions that are made

right off the bat
by people in society.

The caption for Rebecca
was always

"the beautiful
Burmese girlfriend

"of a multimillionaire
business man

"Jonah Shacknai."

And then they would go on
to talk about his business

and all the millions
that he had made.

And she was
the victim here.

Rebecca, she was actually
a very worldly person.

She started out
in Burma.

Her father ended up
being a political prisoner.

And after he got out of prison,
the family escaped to Germany.

They lived there
for ten years.

She went to Austria
to be educated.

She went to college.

She came over
to this country.

She was very focused
on her career.

She was a fitness buff.

She was a career woman.

She spoke six languages.

You never heard
any of that.

It was just
"the beautiful."

And if she wasn't beautiful,

they probably would've barely
talked about her at all.

I'm going to be working
with Billy Jensen,

who's an investigative
journalist.

And together, we're going
to combine our strengths

and we're gonna
look at this case

and we're gonna test
what we can test

and we're gonna talk to
who we can talk to.

What are the facts the
police are looking at

to say it's a suicide?

We might be able to find things
that they haven't seen.

We might be able to point
out things that, perhaps,

were overlooked.

And whatever
we come up with,

we're going to take
to the sheriff's.

- My name is Billy Jensen.

I'm an investigative journalist
and victims advocate.

I've been writing
about unsolved murders

and missing persons
for 20 years.

And I also help police
departments solve crimes

using social media.

The proudest moment
in my career so far

was probably my first
homicide solve.

And that was catching
the person responsible

for the death of
Marques Gaines

in Chicago, Illinois
in 2016.

Rebecca died in 2011,
but there's still

so many unanswered
questions.

There's so many strange
things about this case.

Like the fact that
Rebecca's hands were tied

behind her back
and her feet were bound.

You know,
I don't think I would've
looked into this crime

if it wasn't with
a prosecutor, like Loni.

- When I heard that this
woman was hanging naked

from a balcony outside

with her hands tied
behind her back...

her feet bound together,

and a gag in her mouth.

And they were saying
that this was a suicide?

A-are you kidding?

There's just no way.

I thought, at some point,
they would figure it out

and change their minds.

- The natural
inclination is to--

is to think that
there is a crime here.

- Yeah.

- But we very well
might come to the idea

that this was
a suicide.

- I still think it's
extremely unlikely.

- There's three
times as many suicides

as there are homicides
in America every year.

Most of the time,
it's what happened.

The person did take their
own life, and it's tragic.

But there are sometimes
when they didn't.

Staging a homicide
to look like a suicide

is not a fairy tale.
It's happened before.

There are cases of people
that have committed suicide

where their hands
were bound.

- Mmm-hmm.

- Because they don't wanna
self-rescue.

We've seen that before.

Binding the feet
is a little different.

- Mmm-hmm.

- That's one check mark in the
"this might not be a suicide."

- Yeah.

- We also have
another case, as well.

We have Max's case.

When you have
this mansion--

- Yeah.

- And you have
two deaths within--

- Two days!
- Two days.

- In the same house.

Are they connected?

Are they not connected?

To really wrap my head
around Rebecca's death,

I need to understand
the days leading up to it.

Two days before
Rebecca was found dead,

her boyfriend Jonah Shacknai's
6-year-old son Max

had a fall
in their home.

And ended up comatose
in the hospital.

The Sheriff's Department
determined that Rebecca felt

such guilt for what
happened to Max

that she took her own life.

But her family insists
that she was murdered.

And someone is even been
found legally responsible

for her death
in a civil court.

Adam Shacknai,

who is Jonah Shacknai's
brother.

The entire Zahau family
wants law enforcement

to reopen the case

and to redesignate it
as a homicide.

- Where do you
wanna start?

- Well, I always try and start
with the victim's body

in a case like this.

Because there's
a lot of evidence

on the victim's body.

It's literally her way
of speaking and telling us

what happened in those
last moments of her life.

So, I say we start there.

- All right.

This is what her hands
looked like.

- Look at those knots.

- Can you even tie your
hands behind your back

like that?

- This is complex.

She has ropes down
below around her hands.

I mean, it probably--
it goes around five times

on this side.

And then there's knots
all throughout it.

- Yeah.

Now, if you take
a look at her feet,

it looks like whoever
was doing this

knew what they were doing

in terms of
tying something up.

- And if I was going to
kill myself in this manner,

and I had this
balcony to get over,

why would you
bind your feet?

If your hands
are already bound,

you're trying to
get over that balcony.

This crime scene
is so strange.

- There's even more weird
stuff going on inside.

The first thing that
they would have seen

as they walked into
the bedroom is this.

What looks like a towel
and blood stains.

- And this was, uh,
Rebecca's blood, correct?

- Yes, this was
Rebecca's blood.

- Now, we do know that
Rebecca was menstruating.

So, some of this blood,

you know, could have
been that.

- And you've got what
we saw on the door.

Was this a suicide note?

Was this somethin' that
somebody else wrote?

"She saved him
can you save her."

What do you make of that?

- Rebecca painted.

So, she had the paint supplies
but it's third person,

so that would lead it to be
somebody not Rebecca.

Here's something
I find interesting.

This smaller knife,
which had been 27 right there.

Uh, they said that
there was blood--

Rebecca's blood--
on the handle.

Not just on a side.

All the way around.

On the front, the back,
and the sides, and the end.

It wasn't just wiped.

It was penetrating
something.

That knife penetrated
that source of blood.

How did that
blood get there?

She didn't have a lot of cuts
to the point where she was,

you know, bleeding
on her body.

- Right.

- Because we know
she was on her period,

that's indicative of
a potential sexual assault.

You know, the coroner
assumed that there was

no sexual assault here,
'cause there was no semen.

But any penetration--
- Right.

- Constitutes a
sexual assault.

If there's
a sexual assault,

that is a huge flag
against suicide.

- I don't know about you,
but if I saw someone hanging,

bound, naked,
with a gag in her mouth,

I would've thought murder.

- The long drop
execution-style hanging

was meant to be a humane
form of execution.

Looking at her injuries,
I am just not seeing this

as being consistent
with somebody

who was dropped ten feet
and then boom.

- We have to look past
the unusual appearance

of the death and focus on
the facts and the evidence.

Our office concluded that
the cause of death was hanging,

and the manner
of death is suicide.

- Was it a crime?

What do we think
happened?

What are the theories
that could've happened?

- Okay.
- Let's lay 'em all out.

- Okay, okay.

Let's start with the one
that the police say it is-

suicide.
Okay.

- Okay?

- But I have a gut
reaction that it's-

it's not a suicide.

- You and everybody
on the internet

has a gut reaction that
this is not a suicide.

- Yeah.

- Second would be
that she was murdered,

and it was staged
to look like a suicide.

- Okay.
Murder.

Staged.
Okay.

Let's look at the people
who were in Rebecca's life

at the time of her death.

The person closest to her
was her boyfriend,

Jonah Shacknai.

And Rebecca and Jonah
had been dating

for a couple of years
and living together.

And so, they were staying at
the Spreckels Mansion there

on Coronado together
for the summertime.

He had a son named Max,
who was 6-years-old,

who Rebecca
was very close to.

And he was in a coma
in the hospital

at the time of
Rebecca's death.

- Then we have Max's mother,
Dina Shacknai.

Dina Shacknai is
Jonah's second ex-wife.

She and Jonah shared
custody of Max.

And obviously she wasn't
living in the house,

but she was living
just around the corner.

- Dina has somewhat of
a tumultuous relationship

with Rebecca.

There might have been some
jealousy over the fact

that Rebecca
was Jonah's girlfriend

and that she had a close
relationship with Max.

Now, when Max
had her accident,

Dina's twin sister Nina
immediately flew in

to San Diego
for support.

And Jonah has a brother
named Adam Shacknai.

And Adam is
a tugboat operator

in Memphis, Tennessee.

After Max fell,
Adam also flew in

to be there for
his brother Jonah.

- Adam was staying
in the guest house

of Spreckels Mansion.

And he was the last person
to see her alive.

And was the one that found
her body in the morning.

- And from Rebecca's
family,

we have her 13-year-old
sister Xena.

- She was visiting Rebecca
on summer break.

And she was the only
other person home

on the day of
Max's accident.

- Rebecca sent Xena home
to Missouri

so she could focus
on supporting Jonah

while he was going through
everything with Max

in the hospital.

And lastly, we have
Rebecca's older sister Mary.

They were very close.

Had a lot of communication
with each other

just before
Rebecca's death.

Mary's working very hard
to have Rebecca's case

reclassified
as a homicide.

- If we're gonna get any
closer to figure out

what happened, we gotta
figure out who Rebecca was,

as best we can.

- I've actually been able
to contact Mary.

- Great.

- So, she is going to, um,
meet with us this afternoon,

she said.

- Sounds like a plan.

- Hi, Mary.

- Hey.
- Hey, how are you?

Mary adamantly disagrees
with the sheriff's ruling

of suicide.

And I wanna know, what is it
that she knows about Rebecca

that leads her to believe
there's no way

that Rebecca would've
taken her own life.

- What was she like?

How would you
describe her?

- I would say she was
vibrant, compassionate,

and definitely
a go-getter.

Rebecca and I, we grew up
a Christian, you know.

And our parents raised us
to stay glued in our faith.

And we grew up singing
in the youth group,

singing church hymns.

And then later on,
more popular rock type

of music, but--
She was funny.

And she was charming.

And she could make you laugh
even on your worst day.

I don't know
how to say it.

She just had
this funny laugh.

And just made me laugh
because she laughed funny.

Simple things like that,
you don't think about

until you miss it.

- So, when Rebecca
goes to, uh, Arizona,

she meets a man.

To come to America.

To start going out with
this incredibly rich guy.

Like-- Well, Rebecca's story
was a Cinderella story.

That would be see as a--
as a-- as a fairy tale.

- Jonah Shacknai
was and still is

a pharmaceutical magnate.

He made millions
and millions of dollars

by launching
his own company.

- Rebecca was working at
a ophthalmology clinic

in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Uh, Jonah came in--
I believe for an eye exam--

and he was immediately
taken with her

and they had been together

nearly two years
when she died.

I don't believe that
everybody in Jonah's life

was totally kind
and welcoming at first.

I heard several people say
she did not seem like

the kind of woman
that Jonah would be with.

And I don't know
what to read into that.

Perhaps that
she wasn't white?

Perhaps that she was
20 years younger than him?

- It was a little awkward,

you know,
when I first met him.

And he definitely
perceived that.

I wasn't rude or anything,

but I wasn't thrilled
about it, you know.

And it was one of
those things where

you wanna support your
sister, she's an adult.

- Why didn't you
approve of it?

- What is a guy with
so much money doing

with somebody like my sister,
who is half his age?

I know, deep down, that it
was just not a good match.

Why my sister?

- What did you
think he wanted?

- To me, it felt like
he saw a nice person--

and my sister was--
and took advantage of her.

I mean, she was almost
like a glorified nanny.

I think he knows that
she would take care of his kids,

and she was more of a
convenience, in all honesty.

- Jonah had three kids.
- Yes.

- How did she get
along with them?

- Oh, boy,
that's a long story.

Um, I don't know all the
details, but I do know

that the teenagers
were a challenge.

But, she got along with
Maxey really well.

And we all call him
"Maxey" because

that's what
she called him.

She actually took the time
to play with him.

She would actually get down
to his level and play games

with him or read
the books to him.

She was very
attached to him.

- When did she contact you
after Max's accident?

- Um, it--
the same day.

Y-you can tell
she was upset.

But she wasn't hysterical
or anything like that.

But she was teary-eyed.

I mean, I can tell
in her voice.

- So, the next day
after the accident,

you guys talked
as well?

- The next day was--
I'm trying to think-- Yes.

- It was Tuesday.
- Yes.

- That was the day
Xena was coming home.

- Yes.

And we had been talkin'
about my dad's birthday,

and he was gonna turn 80.

And, um, I said,
"You know, I think we should

"throw a big birthday
party for dad."

And I told her that
she could come home.

She said "I will plan
on coming.

"Let mom know I will call her
first thing in the morning,

"'cause I have to
get up at five

"to make
Jonah's breakfast."

Thank you.

And that was the last time
that I talked to her.

First thing in the morning,
my husband came to work

and he's like, "We need to
go to your, um, office.

"It's about your sister."

He said,
"Rebecca is dead."

♪♪

"They said
she committed suicide."

And I said,
"What? No way."

And I looked at my husband
and I said,

"We're going to San Diego

"because somebody
killed my sister."

♪♪

Did I think about the
possibility of suicide?

Yes, because when
they first told me,

they said
she hung herself.

She left us a note.

I'm like, "I don't know,
maybe she could've done it."

Well, little did I know
what the crime scene

looked like.

She tied herself
in impossible manners,

gagged herself.

I mean, how she can finish
what's she doing

and then hop to
the balcony?

And you're tryin' to tell me
that she committed suicide?

It makes no sense.

- Did they tell you about
what was written on the door?

- Honestly, I think that was
just written to throw-

throw people off.

And as soon as I saw the
handwriting, I told them,

"That's not my
sister's handwriting."

But you know, it was
almost like they had

already made up
their minds.

So, whatever I said,
they're like "Uh-huh."

- The fact that
Rebecca was naked.

What does that tell you?

- That piece alone makes me
so angry and so upset.

Because just the fact
that her family

would see her that way,

she would have
never done it.

- What do you think
happened?

- My sister was murdered.

And that gets me
so heartbroken and hurt

and angry.

At the same time, that's
my drive to keep going,

because I still
have to believe

that the truth will
prevail eventually.

As long as I'm alive,
I'm going to fight for it.

- From the very beginning,

law enforcement declared this
to be a suicide.

And it continued
to hold to that ruling,

even though people
have questioned it

all through the years.

And Rebecca's family
wants law enforcement

to reopen the case.

- I'll be the first to admit

that this was a unique
and unusual case.

And I-I've personally
investigated many suicides

and homicides
of various types.

We have to look past the
unusual appearance

of the death and focus on
the facts and the evidence.

Our office concluded that the
cause of death was hanging,

and the manner
of death is suicide.

- The last outgoing call
from Rebecca's phone

was found to be
to her own voicemail.

Rebecca received news regarding
Max's grave condition

at about ten minutes
to one in the morning.

She made the decision
to take her own life.

She removed her clothing
or was already unclothed,

perhaps coming out of
the shower.

Painted the message
on the door,

cut the rope into sections,

and secured the rope
to the bed.

She bound her feet,

placed the rope and
the shirt around her neck,

fashioned her
wrist bindings,

and secured her hands
behind her back.

Rebecca moved out
to the balcony,

leaned forward
over the railing,
and fell.

- Sean Elder is a skeptic
of the Sheriff's Department

ruling that this
is a suicide.

Sean is a journalist
and an author.

He wrote an article about
these suspicious deaths

at Spreckels Mansion for
"Town and Country Magazine."

He spent over two years
investigating this case

and talking to all of
the people involved.

So, he's gonna have a very
interesting overview

of this case.

- You've been livin' with
this case for a long time,

haven't you?

- Almost two
years now, yeah.

- What was the main thing
that-that said, okay,

this is not
what it seems to be?

- Just started with the basic
facts of Rebecca's death.

That she-- her hands and
feet with bound behind her.

The San Diego Sheriffs,

uh, they went to great lengths
to convince people

this could actually
be done.

That somebody could kill
themselves that way.

Somebody could tie this
ra-rather complicated

rather nautical knots.

How would somebody
slip them around,

put them on their back,
do the same thing

with their feet,

then put a gag
in their mouth?

Then you have to have her
jumping off a little balcony.

You just start to think,

"This doesn't make
any sense at all."

What I found even stranger
as I begin to dig deeper

and as I begin to go back
to the actual facts

of the case as they
were happening,

that suicide
determination started

with the very first call.

When Adam Shacknai
called Jonah and said,

"Um, I got some bad for ya,
are you sitting down?

"Um, Rebecca's
killed herself."

And, Jonah went into the
hospital room where Max was

and Dina was sitting
and she said,

"What's wrong?"

She looked at him, she could
tell something had happened.

"So, what's wrong?"

He said, "Rebecca
killed herself."

And she said,
"Oh, my god. Why?"

And he said,
"Asian honor."

And he made this gesture,
sort of like, uh, seppuku,

like a ritualistic
suicide.

This was repeated
by some of the--

of the officers
on the scene.

I don't know about you,
but if I was out here

and I saw someone hanging
from a balcony like that,

bound, naked,
with a gag in her mouth,

the first thing
I wouldn't think was,

"Oh, that person must've
hung themself."

I would've thought murder.

I would've thought
execution.

I would've thought
something ritualistic.

And then if you add to that,
the day of Rebecca's death,

the police seized
two computers

from the Spreckels Mansion.

They did a search of
the internet search histories

on both computers
and found a number of links

about porn, including
anime porn and, uh,

Asian bondage porn.

And in a case like this,
when you hear

that an Asian woman has
been tied up and killed,

and then you then find
that somebody was searching

for, um, something related
to Asians and bondage

on the internet?

It just makes people think
that the two had something

to do with each other.

People say, "Oh, you're
tryin' to cover that up?

"Well, what's
goin' on there?"

I think the public
latched on to it for
a variety of reasons.

The unusual nature
of her death.

Perhaps a fetishization
of Asian woman.

The fact that the police
had not publicly at least,

talked much about those ropes,
which left a big void

and causes people
to speculate.

And the fact that the knots
seemed way too complicated

for the job
they were set out to do.

I think it casts another,
uh, aura of mystery

around this case--
that the police did not seem

to follow up on this.

It seemed to be rather
glaring and obvious

that there was
a connection--

or a possible
connection there.

And yet, we heard nothing
about them investigating it.

The same black paint that
was found that was painted

in the message on the door,
was found on her body,

around her nipples and
the inside of her thigh.

To me, it seems like some kind
of sexual humiliation.

- Every time I'm thinking
"There's no way
she would do that,"

I go back to
the physical evidence.

And I said there wasn't
DNA on the rope

or any-any of those
sorta things

that you
automatically go to

that you would see in a
wrongful conviction case,

for instance.

- Okay, there's no DNA and
there's no fingerprints.

That makes it simple,
right?

Why?
That was a common room.

Why would only her DNA
be there?

And why, for that matter,
on the knife

that Adam supposedly
cut the rope with

to cut her down,

his fingerprints
weren't even on it.

How do you do that?

So, there are things like
that that just--

they stink to me, you know?
They stink on ice.

- I have a problem with
the crime scene

being a murder scene because
there's no foreign DNA.

But Sean brought up
an interesting point--

the lack of any foreign
DNA at the scene

is a big question.

But it's just one question
in a thousand questions

that are surrounding
this case.

♪♪

- All right, where are we?

As a former prosecutor,

I know that having
a seasoned investigator

is crucial.

So, we're teaming up
with Paul Holes,

who's a forensic
investigator.

He's gonna bring
that perspective

of being able to look at
all of the trace evidence--

the DNA,

the prints, the blood--

and really tell us
how it all fits together

in the big picture.

- How ya doin', buddy?
Good seeing you again.

- Going good.

I'm Paul Holes,

I'm a retired
cold case investigator.

And I, with a small team,
was able to identify

Joseph DeAngelo as
the Golden State Killer.

I spent 24 years
looking for him.

I initially
started out working

as a forensic scientist,
applying DNA technology.

And then over the years,
I have moved into

the investigative realm.

I am going to bring
valuable insight

as to whether or not
Rebecca killed herself

or somebody came in
and murdered her.

Why don't you go ahead and
tell me where you're at?

- A-as far as I'm concerned,
from the very get-go,

I said, "There's no way a woman
is going to commit suicide

"naked out in public
like that."

- The thing that bothers me
most is the lack

of physical evidence
on the scene of anyone else.

From footprints to DNA.

- When it comes to
leaving physical evidence,

oftentimes, it's-it's
going to be dependent on

the types of interactions
the offender has

with the crime scene,
with the victim,

as well as what precautions
that offender is taking.

It is very variable,

and that's where
you can't necessarily

draw conclusions by
the absence of the evidence.

- Mmm-hmm.

- To say there was
nobody else present

or nobody else
that was involved.

What I wanna show you
first, initially,

is just a little bit
about the crime scene.

Look at this.

Pathologist notes that this
was a long-drop hanging.

You have a body falling
from that balcony ten feet

and instantaneous
deceleration,

with the forces being applied
to this victim's petite neck

across the dimensions
of the rope into her neck.

These types of hangings
are-are very rare.

You don't see them
in suicides.

So, it's something
that pathologists

don't encounter
frequently at all.

You see those more in the
countries where they use

that type of hanging
for executions.

And that's where your
experts are going to be

to evaluate the types
of injuries.

- Yeah, this is
Old West-type stuff.

- Exactly.

- This is not somebody
hang themself in a closet.

- Right.

The long-drop
execution-style hanging

was meant to be
a humane form of execution

because the idea was
is to snap the neck

so the people would just
immediately be k-killed.

Versus sitting there
struggling

as they asphyxiated
to death.

That's where looking
at her injuries,

I am just not seeing this
as being consistent

with somebody who was dropped
ten feet and then, boom.

So, with this long-drop
execution-style hanging,

this is devastating
to the neck.

Oftentimes, it causes
breakage of the vertebrae

in the neck, or in--
what's called

internal decapitation,
or even decapitation.

The pathologist noted
hyoid fracture.

Noted cartilage fracture.
Noted hemorrhage.

That is much more consistent
with manual strangulation.

So, the hyoid bone--
this is a-a floating bone

in the neck that
oftentimes is diagnostic

for manual strangulation.

Because it floats, when
you have a narrow thing

such as a ligature,
it's able to move out of

the way from the forces of
the ligature being applied.

But when have broad hands
wrapping around the neck,

the hyoid can't slip away,

and that's when
it get fractured.

- At this point
in the investigation,

evidence is pointing
both ways.

But if Paul's right,
it's gonna be way more likely

that somebody
strangled Rebecca

and then used the hanging
to sort of cover it up.

- You get into the
physicality of Rebecca

trying to kill herself

by tying her hands
behind her back,

by binding
her ankles together

using relatively
complex binding

around both the wrists
and the ankles.

And then now,
she's having to,

in essence,
hop to the balcony

and get herself up
over the balcony

in order to die.

It becomes one of those
circumstances

that just doesn't seem to make
a lot of sense to me.

♪♪

- When they were trying
to sell the idea

that she committed suicide,

the police did a video
of a woman

putting the
bindings together

to try to show
how easy it is.

- Yep.
- Oh, this could be done.

And I think you've got
that on the computer.

- I do.

So, let's go head
and-and roll that.

- To do this, I would have to
be watching a video of it

as I did it, and even then,
it would take me a long time.

- Obviously,
not an easy process.

The person demonstrating
the process--

that is impressive.

Highly skilled in terms of
being able to go through

all of those manipulations
of the rope.

However, is that what
we're seeing with Rebecca?

- I-I even see one thing
right off the bat.

She's using her dominant
right hand to pull that--

the tightness
at the very end.

Here, it's in
the left hand.

And she was
right-handed, so.

- Right.
- That's a good point.

- Now, when you have people
who are involved,

let's say in bondage,
that's what they do.

And so, they do become
very practiced.

Did Rebecca possess
this skill set?

- One thing you can't
escape is that there were

bondage elements
to this case.

The way that
Rebecca was bound.

There was bondage found on
the computers and searches

for bondage porn.

If Rebecca
was in to bondage,

she very well might've
had the experience

to tie these knots
herself.

Or, if there was
somebody else there,

they knew that
bondage lifestyle

and were able to
transfer those skills

over to commit a murder.

- Hey.
- I'm Billy Jensen.

- Billy, it's a pleasure.
- Hi, I'm Loni Coombs.

- This is the
Shibari room.

- Shibari is the Japanese
form of bondage

where someone is tied up
in intricate knots

and suspended.

- Hi, Loni.
- Hi, Fae.

- We're meeting with
experts to get a sense

for whether those knots
that were found on Rebecca

line up with the knots
from bondage in Shibari.

Here's the situation
that we've got right now.

We have a case where
a woman was found hanging.

- Uh-huh.

- And her feet and
hands were bound.

- Okay.

- She was naked, and she
was hanged from a balcony.

We wanted to take
a look at the knots

and see what type
of knots are done,

ah, with Shibari,

and whether the knots
that we're seeing on her

match up.

Can I show you
some pictures

of how this woman
was found?

- Do you recognize
any of those knots?

Do any of them look--
- Well, I can see that,

you know, they tried to do
some half hitches.

It just looked like they
were trying to wrap it

any way they could to get
this rope to lock down.

- So, does this have
any basis in Shibari at all?

- That's not even remotely
close to Shibari.

That looks like maybe
some sloppy Western work.

Or like somebody had
some boating skills

once upon a time.

And, you know, it almost
looks like they were

cleating a boat,

but they had
human limbs instead.

- Hmm.

- If this was something
that somebody was gonna

actually tie
on themselves,

you just have to do
the figure eight.

And the trick is going
to be slip the hand out.

And if we go behind here.

Slip my had back in.

- Let me try this here.

Now, I put one around.
- Mmm-hmm.

- This is what
you're saying?

- And then you just start
doing a figure eight wrap.

- Yeah, flip it over.
- There you go.

- All right.

All right,
then I'm gonna--

- Slip that behind.

- Do this.

- Grab your two rope ends
and just keep pulling

'til you make it
tight enough.

- Yeah.

- Is it tight?
Can you pull your hands
out of it?

- I mean, it would
probably take 15 seconds.

Yeah, eventually
I could do that.

But if this was
the last thing she did,

if she had her
feet bound,

the noose
around her neck,

and then she finally
did this,

and then hopped over.

It could've happened.

It wasn't that much
of a challenge,

to be honest with you.

It really wasn't.

So, just looking
at the knots,

do you think
she could've done it?

- Just based on
the ties themselves?

- Yeah.
- And stuff like that?

I could be that
she did it to herself.

What I'm not seeing
is a relation to,

like, Shibari or kink
or something like that.

I don't see that part.

- Rebecca's bindings don't
appear to be related

to bondage.

But to me, this means
that this suicide theory

that we're looking into
is still a reality.

I mean, very much
a reality.

She could bind her feet
and her hands.

There wasn't anything fancy
about those knots

that were found on
her feet, her hands,

or even the noose.

So, this didn't take
any expert information

or knowledge.
She could've done it.

- So, where are you at
with this thing?

- You know, I started out
with my gut reaction

that there was no way
this was a suicide.

It just didn't make sense
at all to me,

and I didn't think it was
possible, honestly.

But, then we look at
the physical aspects of it.

The fact that
is it possible? Yes.

Could it be done
by one person? Yes.

Could it have been
done by her? Yes.

All those things are yes.

It's interesting
because you started out

as thinking this was
more likely a suicide.

- I did.
- Okay.

- The reason why I was
at suicide was that

there was no other DNA
found at the scene.

- Mmm-hmm.

- But then I talked
to Mary and that--

coupled with the strangeness
of the crime scene

and that knife

that looks like it was
involved in a sexual assault--

adding all that together,

I was veering
towards murder.

But I wanted to see if she
was potentially involved

in a bondage lifestyle.

I don't even care about
that anymore because

those weren't bondage knots,
which we learned.

- Right.

- And they were
pretty easy to do.

- Yes.

I still think
it was strange,

I just don't think
it was difficult.

- Yeah. But then
the question is this,

why is she naked?

- Yeah.
Does not make sense.

- All right.

If she's found hanging
with her wrists bound

behind her back.

- Mm-hmm.

- And her feet bound,
but she's clothed?

- Mmm-hmm.

- At this point in time,
would you say suicide?

- Yeah.

Actually, that-that would
make a big difference to me.

That would give me
a lot more pause.

Because then I think you
would really have to say,

"Okay, was this just
that impulsive,

"extreme behavior,

"and that she was
so overcome with grief

"that she decided
to do this."

But the naked?

I-I don't see
anyone saying,

"Oh, this is the best way.
This is gonna be easy.

"Lemme just take all my
clothes off and do this."

- I wanna know, did she
do other things naked?

Did she like to be
nude a lot?

- Well, e-even if she was,
I'll just tell you

from the female perspective,
if you're on your period,

you're not walking
around naked!

- All right.
So, you're in the shower,

you're thinking,
"You know what?

"I'm going to kill myself."

Is she really going to get
dressed to commit suicide?

- Yes, because it's not
somethin' you do quickly.

She's gotta go outside to
the garage to get the rope.

She's gotta go down to the
kitchen to get the knives.

She's got to
paint the sign.

She's got to figure out
how long the rope's gonna be,

so she doesn't land
on the ground.

You're not gonna walk
around naked that time

all over the house
and outside to the garage.

- Yeah.
It's so weird.

- Yeah.
- It's just so weird.

- Yeah.

- Child died.
Distraught female.

She's emotional.
She just hung herself.

- She was incredibly
distraught,

almost incoherent.

But was she distraught
enough to kill herself?

- Suicide
is one way to regain

your family's
sense of honor.

But being naked,
that is very shameful.

So, i-it's a bit
befuddling.

- You think this
was a suicide?

- Yes.
Rebecca hung herself.

- It's not suicide.

Someone did this to her.

- The whole case had an
appearance of a sexual crime

from the beginning.

- A lot of blood
right there?

- Have you ever seen
a suicide note

written in third person?

- This is angry.

This is black.
This is dark.

- There's a pattern print
that looks like a leather glove.

- 'Cause all these years,

I and my family
have been fighting

just to prove that
she was murdered.

- We tried to get a meeting

with the San Diego
Sheriff's Department.

They refused
to meet with us.

- Rebecca Zahau's manner
of death was a suicide.

- The Sheriff's Department
thought that they were

gonna convince us
that it was a suicide

and we were just
gonna go away.

- If Rebecca was murdered,

who had the motivation
to do it?

Who would do such
a degrading thing

to this poor woman?

- It's right in front
of our eyes.

- Sexual assault
with a steak knife.

That said murder.

- Everything that you see here
is very humiliating.

And one of the important things
about a lot of sex crimes

that I have seen is that
you want to punish them.

- We found no evidence
that would lead us to believe

that Rebecca died
at the hands of another.

- I will not stop until
the world knows the truth.

- Did you do anything
to Rebecca

that resulted
in her death?

- No.

- For more information
on Rebecca Zahau,

go to oxygen.com.