EXCLUSIVE: Look back at the case that haunts Matt Johnson. He was the first reporter on the scene of this disturbing and bizarre case involving two deaths at a prominent San Diego Mansion.
The Case Of Rebecca Zahau and Max Shacknai is a fresh look at the evidence in two mysterious deaths at a multi-million dollar mansion.
The circumstances of Rebecca Zahau's death in 2011 left her family and law enforcement with opposing views on how she died.
32-year-old Rebecca Zahau was found bound, gagged, naked and hanging from a balcony of a historic Coronado mansion for everyone to see. There was a cryptic note painted on the bedroom door but no fingerprints on some of the items at the crime scene.
The shocking discovery came just days after her boyfriend's son Max fell to his death from the grand staircase at the estate while under Rebecca's care. The boys mother Dina is convinced his death was no accident and is calling for police to re-open the case.
In 2018, a civil jury found Rebecca's boyfriend's brother Adam liable for her death. Adam, has maintained his innocence and denied all allegations against him and has never been criminally charged. In December 2018, following the civil trial and a case review, the San Diego Sheriff's Department, Coronado Police Department, and San Diego Medical Examiner's Department maintained Zahau's death was a suicide.
This podcast explores theories from family members who disagree with police investigators, actual 911 calls, witness interviews and reporter Matt Johnson's first hand account of covering the case from day one.