Woman killed herself after learning that boy would die

Reporting from San Diego -- The girlfriend of pharmaceutical executive Jonah Shacknai committed suicide at his Coronado mansion after learning that his son would not survive injuries suffered in an accident while in her care, authorities announced Friday.

Rebecca Zahau, 32, killed herself within hours of learning that 6-year-old Max Shacknai was going to die of an injury incurred when he tumbled down the grand staircase at the Ocean Boulevard mansion, San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said at a morning news conference. The boy’s death was a “tragic accident,” he said.

Shacknai expressed his appreciation Friday for the “professionalism and dedication” of San Diego County law enforcement officials who spent seven weeks “investigating and explaining these terrible events.”

“While the investigation is over,” Shacknai said in a statement, “the emptiness and sadness in our hearts will remain forever. Max was an extraordinarily loving, happy, talented and special little boy.... Rebecca too was a wonderful and unique person who will always have a special place in my heart.”

Zahau’s nude body was found hanging by her neck in the courtyard of the mansion on the morning of July 13.

Two days earlier, Max Shacknai had tumbled down stairs from a second-story landing at the Coronado home, landing on his head. He was not breathing and had no pulse when paramedics arrived moments later, investigators said.

Zahau was found with her hands and feet loosely bound, and a rope around her neck was tied to a second-story balcony outside her bedroom. Although the way she killed herself may seem unusual, it is not unprecedented in suicide cases and there is no evidence that there was foul play, Gore and others said.

“It’s not something you come across every day, but it does occur,” said Dr. Jonathan Lucas, deputy county medical examiner. “People bind themselves so they don’t change their minds midway through.”

Zahau’s fingerprints and DNA were the only ones found on the rope and on the knife she used to cut it into pieces and place sections around her feet and hands and around her neck, said Sgt. David Nemeth of the sheriff’s homicide squad.

Investigators also said they conducted an experiment with a woman of similar size — about 5 feet 3 and 100 pounds — to see if she could tie herself up in the same way with the same knots, concluding that she could.

“We had to see if it was possible,” Nemeth said. A video of the experiment was shown at the news conference.

Zahau also painted a message in black on the door to a guest room where she had been staying, authorities said. Gore declined to reveal what the message said.

Toxicology tests revealed that there was nothing in Zahau’s system that would have impaired her judgment, Lucas said.

Investigators said they spoke to someone who knew Zahau and that the individual said Zahau had been upset for months, was losing weight and not exercising. Authorities also said they found notes in Zahau’s personal journal indicating emotional distress.

The evidence is “all compelling and all points persuasively” to suicide, Gore said.

On July 11, Max Shacknai fell or tripped, possibly over a soccer ball or the family dog, while running on a second-floor landing, authorities said. He tumbled over the stairway and grabbed a chandelier during his fall. He landed on his head, according to investigators.

After a week at Rady Children’s Hospital, during which Shacknai and his ex-wife, Dina, kept a vigil at their son’s bedside, he died. Shacknai was not at the mansion when Zahau committed suicide, investigators said.

Initially, Gore said, Zahau believed that the boy could survive his injuries. But shortly before 1 a.m. on July 13, she received a telephone call informing her that the boy was going to die.

Lucas said it is believed she killed herself before 3 a.m., with a drop of about nine feet from the balcony. Her body was found around 6:40 a.m. by Shacknai’s brother Adam, a guest at the mansion.

Mary Zahau-Loehner, Zahau’s sister, told reporters Thursday night that her family does not believe Zahau took her own life. The family was briefed the day before by investigators.

Shacknai, 54, and Zahau had been together for two years. She quit her job to spend more time with him and his children.

Shacknai’s main residence is near his company, Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp., in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Coronado mansion, built in the early 1900s by sugar baron John D. Spreckels, was his summer home.

tony.perry@latimes.com