jonah who was already the father of two. he d gotten rich owning a pharmaceutical company called medicis. she went back to school to get a ph.d in developmental psychology. and then along came max. and then along came maxie. he s almost to the edge. oh, my. he did it. how do you feel, max shacknai? reporter: he was an active kid who loved sports and performing for his mother and her camera. mom, this is my song, right? it is, yeah. reporter: 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 jonah
reporter: once again, police raced through the streets of quiet coronado island. and once again, their destination was the mansion on ocean boulevard. jonah s girlfriend rebecca was staying there. jonah s brother adam had spent the night in the guest house. you wake up. you walk out. tell me what you see. a woman hanging. at the time, i didn t necessarily think to myself, oh, my goodness, she s bound, or whatever. but just rebecca s hanging. reporter: naked, bound hand and foot, rebecca zahau was hanging by the neck from a second-floor balcony. i said i guarantee you, my heart started racing. this is actually happening. okay. how old is she? i d say about 30. 30? okay. when was the last time you saw her? last night. reporter: even as he called 911, adam says he thought she was dead.
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. reporter: how did she describe jonah during those days? that he was upset and it broke her heart to see him upset. reporter: they d met when rebecca worked for an eye doctor and jonah was a patient. he came in for an appointment and they started talking, and next thing you know, they re going out. apparently, yes. reporter: you are making an expression that makes me think that you thought that wasn t a particularly good idea. i never approved of the relationship, if that s what you re asking me. reporter: because? first of all, he is almost twice her age. reporter: her free-spirited sister fell for jonah anyway. they seem happy? they seem in love? i think my sister loved him in her way. to her, she was somewhat in awe of him. i think to a certain extent. reporter: mary says that while rebecca and max were
and while tying one s hands in a suicide is uncommon, the medical examiner said it s not unheard of. people do it, the thinking is that they bind themselves so that they won t change their mind midway through. it s unusual at first glance, but it does happen. reporter: the location of the apparent suicide note, was also uncommon. there was a message, painted in black paint on the door leading to the room. i am going to show you a picture of the door. we will not be revealing what the message said. reporter: the investigation left some people unsatisfied, none more so than rebecca s family. i know in my heart she did not commit suicide. reporter: also unsatisfied, dina shacknai. sheriff s investigators illustrated their findings with this graphic. they said max was riding his scooter on the second floor landing, somehow fell over the railing, then hit or grabbed the chandelier and took it down with him. that sounds to me like is max some sort of you know, a stunt man, br
the resulting report says, the evidence is consistent with an accidental, tragic fall, and there is no evidence of foul play, malice or other non-accidental occurrence. how many people said to you, you need to let this go and move on ? many. so many. reporter: even if she d wanted to move on, it really wasn t possible because dina, remember, was being sued by the family of rebecca zahau, who blamed dina in part for rebecca s death. through it all, dina stuck to her story, that she d been at max s bedside at the hospital the night rebecca died. even though the zahau s attorney keith greer had an eyewitness willing to testify that he saw dina outside the mansion that night. and this eyewitness was adamant. he was very clear. no doubt about it. reporter: and turned out to be dead bang wrong. and turned out to be wrong. reporter: in april 2017, after four years of litigation,