Rebecca Zahau Death: Autopsy Reveals Unexplained Head Trauma, Attorney
Four bruises found on the top of Rebecca Zahau's head shows trauma that's not explained by the July hanging, according to forensic pathologist hired by the family's attorney.
Dr. Cyril Wecht, who viewed the autopsy report, told CNN that that's just one of several reasons why he wouldn't have ruled Rebecca Zahau's death a suicide.
I would have left the manner of death ... as undetermined, because I think there are several things as far as I can see that have not been explained, Wecht, who viewed the autopsy report, said.
Zahau, 32, was one of two people who police said died during an incident in July at her boyfriend Jonah Shacknai's mansion in Coronado, Calif. Zahau was found hanging naked, with her feet bound and wrists bound behind her back in the courtyard of the mansion on July 13, reportedly from a rope tied to a bed in a second-story room, police said.
Shacknai's 6-year-old son Max fell down the stairs July 11 and died at a hospital less than a week later.
Last week police said there was no indication of foul play in either death, and the evidence they found them led to the case being ruled as suicide.
But family members contested those findings saying they believe Zahau was murdered and they have an inkling who did it.
Zahua's sister Mary Zahau-Loehner, on Thursday said she found the findings of San Diego County sheriff's investigators unconvincing during a visit to her home in St. Joseph, Mo.
They asked for further investigation into the death.
It doesn't add up, she told The Associated Press. Nothing adds up.
Becky did not kill herself, someone killed her, Snowem Horwath, Zahau's sister, told RadarOnline.com. Time will reveal who killed Becky. I think I know who killed my sister. We are not stupid; she never had any enemies.
The new details from the autopsy to include the exact words painted as a message at the scene seems to be adding volume to family's contention, the family's lawyer Anne Bremner said.
Before seeing the autopsy report, CNN reported that Bremner questioned authorities' findings that Zahau bound herself before hanging herself and had asked that the case be reopened.
I think the facts and analysis (from a team of experts she is gathering) should compel them to reopen it, Bremner said.
Bremner also told CNN that the San Diego County medical examiner's autopsy report, obtained late last week by the station's affiliate KFMB, contains details not mentioned during Friday's news conference.
According to CNN, the wording of a message painted on the door of the bedroom where police say Zahau threw herself from a balcony stated: She Saved Him Can You Save Her.
Bremner thinks someone else was writing about Zahau and not the decease herself. Zahau's family also says the handwriting isn't hers, according to CNN.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.