SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) – Coronado Police will not reopen the investigation into the death of a little boy at a mansion in Coronado, and his mother is outraged. Dina Shacknai responded to the decision with a scathing letter aimed at law enforcement.
Shacknai hired her own experts to investigate the death of her six-year-old son, which was ruled an "accident" by the medical examiner.
She says she feels his injuries prove the boy didn't accidentally fall over a second story banister at the Spreckels Mansion.
The experts hired by Shacknai released their own report, in which they determined Max's death was possibly a homicide. After sharing those findings with Coronado Police, the department responded to Shacknai's attorney in a half-page letter dated August 20, 2012.
The letter says that Coronado Police, along with the chief medical examiner "have reviewed the opinions expressed in the documents authored by the individuals retained by your client."
The letter states that Coronado officials determined "the manner of death of Maxfield Shacknai was an ‘accident' remains unchanged."
Shacknai fired back with her own five page letter, dated September 10, 2012, where she writes: "Not only have you failed to properly investigate and pursue justice both in the original investigation and in considering my request to reopen the case, but you have made glaring mistakes."
Shacknai claims the diagram police used to show what happened to Max was distorted. The boy died after falling from a staircase inside the historic Spreckels Mansion in July 2011.
He was under the care of his dad's girlfriend Rebecca Zahau, who was found dead hanging from a balcony days after Max's fall. Investigators have classified Zahau's death as a suicide.
Reportedly, there were ground rules between Dina Shacknai and her ex-husband Jonah regarding third-party supervision of their son.
Dina has created a foundation to keep kids of divorced parents safe.