july 11th 2011, max was staying with his dad and rebecca. dina ws in conorado too, at a home down the street that is when john a culture. he said dino you have to get here right away. as rebecca explained it to police jonah had been at the gym, six-year-old max was home with her. rebecca said she heard a crash and found max on the floor near the staircase, the mansion s heavy chandelier had fallen to the floor next to him. rebecca said max was in breathing, she started cpr. rebecca s 13-year-old sister xena who was visiting called 9-1-1. my sister is trying to resuscitate a boy. i m sorry she he can t breathe. police and paramedics arrived within minutes, jonah called dina from the hospital. when he tells me, thank god that she was able to give him cpr i think to myself thank you, thank god. he s gonna be okay? he s gonna be okay. max was on conscious.
the awful news. i remember him saying rebecca s gone. and i said, what do you mean? i just talked to her last night. in that phone call, rebecca told her sister about what happened to max. it was the same story she told police. she said she was in the bathroom and she heard a loud noise, a loud crash, and when she came out max was there on the floor and the chandelier was close to him. he was unconscious. how did she describe jonah during those days? that he was upset. and it broke her heart to see him upset. they ve met when rebecca worked for an eye doctor, and jonah was a patient. he came in for an appointment and started talking a next thing you know they re going out? apparently, yes. you are making an expression that makes me think that you thought that was not a particularly good idea? i never approved of the relationship, if that s what you re asking me. because? first of all, he s almost
long gone, that said, and unofficial search for clues was just beginning. online message boards buzzed with theories from the far fetched, to the implausible. through it all, rebecca sister mary didn t buy the official finding of suicide. was she fragile, was she easily upset? was she the kind of person that would fall apart after a crisis? not at all, if she is very upset to where she doesn t want to deal with the situation or feel like she can t handle it, she will go work out until she can come up with a solution and then she will come back to deal with the situation. if she doesn t think she can, then she will move on. so when detectives said that voice mail, the one jonah sent to rebecca with the grim news about max may have caused rebecca to hang herself mary wasn t having it. i was not about to have my sister s name smeared and the world remember her as this
them being wiped down? yes. and a handwriting expert who looked at that message on the door. the writing on the door is more consistent with adams than rebecca s. greer also claims that rebecca had been sexually assaulted with a knife prior to her murder. his expert testified a steak knife found in her bedroom had her blood in the handle. greer said the sheriff s department had overlooked that evidence. they never considered that. they never analyzed that. to defense called a forensic technician who does testified she did find the blood on the knife and with it a simple explanation. a recent cut on rebecca s right hand. and when greer asked her if the blood could ve come from a sexual assault? i didn t see any evidence of that. no evidence. a point the defense hammered home. no fingerprint evidence. no finger evidence that was indentified or directed to adam shacknai. all the items i tested, he was excluded. adam s brother jonah took the stand, he called rebecca s
dina and jonah took up a vigil at the hospital. jonah s brother adam flew in from his home in tennessee. you came out to support jonah? correct. how well did you know max? i knew max well. he was a really wonderful kid. at max s bedside, jonah asked one of the doctors for his prognosis. what was the story we re hearing about next. i don t think so, but that really wasn t the focus when i got there. it was about him getting better? right. at maxes bedside, jonah x one of the doctors for his prognosis. dr. peterson looked and said, i don t know. i m not sure if he s going to walk or talk. that sounds like the worst