reporter: this was it. a decision. and even keith greer would be in for quite a plot twist. number one, did adam shacknai touch rebecca zahau before rebecca zahau s death with the intent to harm her? the answer is yes. number two, did that touching cause the death of rebecca zahau? the answer is yes. reporter: yes, meaning that the jury found adam shacknai responsible for rebecca zahau s death. i just broke down. i was just like, okay. i m not crazy. i m not the only one who believes that adam murdered my sister. reporter: that s not quite what the jury said. finding someone liable in a civil case is not the same as finding them guilty of murder. what s more, the verdict in this case did not have to be unanimous, and it wasn t. nine jurors found adam responsible. three did not. the jury did award the zahau
assaulted with a knife prior to her murder. his expert testified a steak knife found in the bedroom had her blood on the handle. greer said the sheriff department overlooked that evidence. that s nowhere in any of the sheriff s records. they never considered that. they never analyzed 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. and when greer asked her if the blood could have come from a sexual assault? i didn t see any evidence of that. reporter: no evidence. a point the defense hammered home. i saw no fingerprint evidence that was identified or directed towards adam shacknai. of all the items i tested, he was excluded on all of the items. reporter: adam s brother jonah took the stand. he called rebecca s death unfathomable, but said adam was not responsible. is there anything that adam s ever done in his life that would
reporter: zero of adam s, that is. rebecca s dna and fingerprints were everywhere. according to greer, that means adam, who had no criminal history, knew exactly how to wipe down the scene, somehow removing his own fingerprints and dna, but leaving just rebecca s. of course, it could also mean that adam simply wasn t there when rebecca died. which is exactly what law enforcement came to believe. i m guessing that if you walked into court on any case and opposing counsel said, there is no evidence here, there is no fingerprints, and there is no dna, and that is the proof of the case that i am bringing, you would think to yourself, i got a groundball here. the absence of evidence isn t the evidence of absence. and so we know it s murder because it s wiped down. we know it s not suicide. what s wrong with the idea
uses a figure 8 and then closes it with a single hitch or two. guess what knots are tied on both her legs and her hands. figure 8s, tied off with a single hitch or two. sheriff s investigators had questioned adam extensively after rebecca s death. you didn t hold anything back from investigators? nothing. you helped them to the extent you could? yeah. exhaustively. you thought you had nothing to hide? i knew i had nothing to hide. and when investigators determined there was no evidence placing adam at the scene? they cleared you. they did. did you think this was over at that point? yeah, i did. it wasn t over. rebecca s sister was determined to hold someone accountable. i m guessing that somebody said to you that filing a lawsuit, a civil lawsuit to find answers in a criminal matter is generally an extremely unsatisfying way of pursuing justice.
zero. reporter: zero of adam s that is. rebecca s dna and fingerprints were everywhere. according to greer, that means adam, who had no criminal history, knew exactly how to wipe down the scene. somehow removing his own fingerprints and dna but leaving just rebecca s. of course, it could also mean that adam simply wasn t there when rebecca died. which is exactly what law enforcement came to believe. i m guessing that if you walked in a court on any case and opposing counsel said, there is no evidence here. there is no fingerprints, and there is no dna, and that is the proof of the case that i am bringing, you would think to yourself, i ve got a ground ball here. the absence of evidence isn t the evidence of absence. and so we know it s murder because it s wiped down. we know it s not suicide. what is wrong with the idea that rebecca was crushed and depressed over max s injury and