CORONADO, Calif. — A new book details the mysterious death of Rebecca Zahau nearly 10 years after she was reported hanging at Coronado’s Spreckels Mansion.
True-crime author Caitlin Rother takes the deepest dive ever into Zahau’s death in her new, 368-page book: "Death on Ocean Boulevard, Inside the Coronado Mansion Case."
The former San Diego Union-Tribune investigative reporter spent five weeks in San Diego civil court, where a jury found Adam Shacknai liable in 2018 for the death of his brother's girlfriend.
Rother conducted eight interviews with Zahau's billionaire boyfriend, Jonah Shacknai, and poured over thousands of pages of investigative reports.
But, despite her in-depth research, Rother is still undecided on whether the death was a suicide or a murder.
“I'm not sure that we'll ever know, honestly. I went back and forth the whole time that I was investigating this book, and I would never be 100% sure either way,” Rother said.
After a seven-week investigation in 2011, Sheriff Bill Gore ruled Zahau’s death a suicide, a manner of death the author knows all too well.
“My husband not only killed himself, he killed himself by hanging,” said Rother.
In her book, Rother explores why Zahau may have been distraught after learning her boyfriend's 6-year-old son, Max, was essentially brain dead following a fall from a second-floor banister inside the mansion, while Zahau was babysitting the boy.
Additionally, Zahau was molested as a child and once faked her own kidnapping in order to break up with a former boyfriend, according to the author.
“The more I learned about her and her past, the more I started to see some parallels between her and my husband. And, I'm not saying that I think she committed suicide. I'm just saying I think it's possible,” said Rother.
The author also interviewed Adam Shacknai, who she discovered had taken Ambien on the night Zahau died.
At one point, Rother felt uneasy about by a series of email messages that Adam Shacknai was sending her, as detailed in the book.
“They’re just rants, and he would sometimes direct those at me. And, it was not pleasant,” recalled Rother.
Adam Shacknai was the only person at the mansion the night Zahau died.
On the morning of July 13, 2011, he called 911 to report Zahau was hanging from a balcony naked, hands and feet bound with rope, with a t-shirt stuffed in her mouth.
Rother questions the sheriff's investigation of Adam Shacknai.
“Why didn't they take Adam's phone? Why didn't they look at his phone records? Why didn't they see where he was, because they do that in most cases, right? Just to back up somebody's story?” Rother said.
The Zahau family still believes Rebecca was murdered. They want the case reopened.
“I think that this case could be reopened if Sheriff Gore steps down or gets beaten in the next election,” said Rother.
Zahau’s mother and sister filed a new lawsuit last year, seeking the release of investigative records by the sheriff’s department. A hearing is set for July 23.
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Editor's note: this article has been updated from its original version.
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