Crime & Safety
Dr. Phil Takes on Zahau Case
Zahau's sister and brother-in-law guest on talk-show, but those seeking results of second autopsy of woman who died in Spreckels mansion will have to wait for Tuesday's edition.
Dr. Phil McGraw hosted Rebecca Zahau's sister on his eponymous chat show Monday, along with the Zahau family attorney and a private investigator who has been working on the case.
The death of Zahau, who died July 13 in the Spreckels mansion, , as authorities contend.
Mary Zahau Loehner, her sister, repeated that she thought Zahau had been murdered, and said “I don't know who to believe and who not to believe.”
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Attorney Anne Bremner discussed other aspects of the case, including her allegation that a computer in the mansion was used around 3 a.m. July 13. Authorities had concluded that's around the time that Zahau died.
She did not say what information was accessed on the computer.
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Dr. Phil warned the family that it's difficult to accept that a loved one could kill herself, but later said “I don't know how all that could happen,” regarding the . He also provided viewers with the web site for the fund collecting donations for the family to pursue an independent probe.
Dr. Phil added, though, that he is confident that Sheriff Bill Gore, who declined to participate in the show, would “passionately and vigorously” re-open the case if persuasive new evidence arises.
No representatives of Zahau's boyfriend Jonah Shacknai participated in the two-part show, which continues at 3 pm. Tuesday on Channel 8.
His brother, Adam Shacknai, . When Coronado police arrived, she was lying on the ground, nude with her hands tied behind her back and her feet bound.
Sheriff's detectives – who took over the case from Coronado's police department, which lacks a full-time homicide unit – found after seven weeks of investigation that Zahau hanged herself in despair over the declining condition of her boyfriend's young son.
Max Shacknai, 6, Jonah Shacknai's, suffered severe head injuries in a fall at the mansion July 11; .
Zahau Loehner and and have publicly derided the Sheriff's department for concluding that she committed suicide.
The family hired Bremner, a Seattle-based attorney, the week of the Sept. 2 news conference in which Gore announced an end to the investigation.
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