twice her age. this would have been one of those bad choices that your parents tried to push you away from? potentially. it s just one of those things as an older sister, i was a little cautious about it. i said okay, the guy is, you know, a lot older than you. and married before. and married before. and has a whole other family. and just got a divorce and he s a ceo. i said he s way out of our league. reporter: her free spirited sister fell for jonah any way. did they seem happy, in love? i think my sister loved him, in her way. to her, she was somewhat in awe of him to a certain extent. reporter: mary says while rebecca and max were close, rebecca gave the impression she didn t get along well with max s mom. and when max had his fall, mary said, rebecca worried how dina would react. she was upset about it. and she said, dina is going to kill me?
he s going to be okay. reporter: max was unconscious. 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 doted upon, just kunld kind of a really wonderful kid. what was the story you were hearing happened to max? they were still trying to piece together what happened. at that point nobody was sure what it was? i don t think so. but that really wasn t the focus when i got there. it was about him getting better? right. reporter: at max s bedside, jonah asked one of the doctors for his prognosis. dr. peterson looked at him and said, i don t know, i don t know.
kid who loved sports and performing. for his mother and her camera. during one of those summers in coronado, the mansion on ocean boulevard was on the market. and i said, well, let s just go by and look. reporter: they bought it in 2007. but soon there was trouble in paradise, and a bitter divorce in 2009 when max was 4. they shared custody and worked to be civil. and it wasn t long before jobba met someone new. maxi told me about it. i said well, maybe i should meet her. he said, that would be great, mommy. reporter: rebecca was 3 2, born in myanmar. you were okay with her spending time with max? max said he had feelings for her. at that time, i had no concerns because i trusted that jonah, based on our history, max would be safe there. reporter: and safe in coronado, where nothing bad is supposed to happen.
people are going to believe what they want to believe, with no evidence. reporter: paradise valley, arizona, was home for this family. but the summers they went in coronado were special, for dina and her son, max. max loved the beach and the water. he used to tell me on the way to coronado, mommy, this is our place. reporter: she and max s dad, jonah, met in 1997. we had an instant connection. it s rare you meet someone like that. reporter: they married in 2001, a second marriage for jonah, who was already the father of two. he had gotten rich owning a pharmaceutical company. she went back to school to get a ph.d. and then along came max? then along came maxi. he s almost to the edge. he did it! how do you feel, max? reporter: he was an active
and then sought revenge? remember, mary recalled her sister saying, dina s going to kill me. where were you when rebecca zahau died? i don t know what time rebecca zahau died, but i was at the hospital all night. reporter: 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. reporter: 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. reporter: greer believed whoever tied the knots had to be an expert, possibly a sailor.