it was, he said, a small circle. mostly family. i had an eyewitness who put dina shacknai at the scene of the murder that evening. dina, the grief stricken mom. could she have blamed rebecca and then sought revenge? remember, mary recalled her sister saying, dina is going to kill me. where were you when rebecca zahau died? i don t know when she died, but i was in the hospital all night. in 2013, keefe greer filed a civil wrongful death suit on behalf of the zahau family. based on his eyewitness he named dina as a defendant along with her twin sister nina. there was also third defendant, the man who called 9-1-1, jonah s brother, adam shacknai. did you have anything to do with rebecca s death? absolutely not. greer disagreed.
i don t know what time rebecca zahau died. during that time i was at the hospital all night. in 2013 keith greer filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the zahau family. based on his eyewitness, he named dina as a defendant. along with her twin sister nina. there was also a third defendant, the man who called 911, jonah s brother, adam shacknai. did you have anything to do with rebecca s death? absolutely not. greer disagreed. he pointed to those knots tied around rebecca s wrists and ankles. figuring them out in the first place is really hard. tying them, almost impossible. greer believed whoever tied the knots had to be an expert, possibly a sailor. and adam shacknai worked on the mississippi river as a tugboat captain. when he ties things off, he
her home in missouri. i remember him saying rebecca s gone. and i said, what do you mean? i just talked to her last night. reporter: 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. and he was unconscious. how did she describe jonah during those days? that he was upset and it broke her heart to see him upset. reporter: they met when rebecca worked for an eye doctor, and jonah was a patient. he came in for an appointment and started talking and the next thing you know they re going out? apparently, yes. you are making an expression that makes me think that you thought that was about particularly good idea. i never approved of the relationship, if that s what you re asking me. because? first of all, he is almost
connection between the two incidents. reporter: the sheriff s department investigated for two months. coronado held its breath. then at a news conference, sheriff bill gore laid out the facts as his investigators saw them. was max s death a homicide? the answer is no. it was a tragic accident. was rebecca s death a homicide? again, the answer is no, it was a suicide. reporter: sergeant dave nemeth said the evidence told a sad tale, in which one tragedy led to another. when rebecca checked her voice mail just before 1:00 a.m., sergeant nemeth said she heard a grim message from her boyfriend, max s dad, jonah. that message that was left on her phone was to inform rebecca of maxi s grave condition and imminent death. reporter: did rebecca blame herself for the child s severe
reporter: greer also claimed rebecca had been sexually assaulted with a knife prior to her murder. the expert testified a steak knife found in the bedroom had we are blood on the handle. that s nowhere in any of the sheriff s records. they never considered that. reporter: the defense called a forensic technician who testified she did find the blood on the knife and with it a simple explanation. a recent cut on rebecca s right hand. when greer asked her if it could have come from a sexual assault? i didn t see any evidence of that. reporter: no evidence, a point the defense hammered home. no fingerprint evidence that was identified or directed towards adam shacknai. of all the items i tested, he was excluded on all items. reporter: adam s brother, jonah, took the stand. he called rebecca s death unfathomable, but said adam was not responsible.