Kids & Family

Spreckels One Year Later: A Spotlight of a Different Kind

Coronado found itself in the uncomfortable position last summer of being the focus of stories far less pleasant than the best-of lists where the community is often top ranked.

Nude. Hung. Bound.

Those are the words repeated in story after story and on station after station a year ago this week as journalists flocked to cover .

The public couldn't help but be attracted to the various elements in the case, from the condition of Zahau's body, exposed in the courtyard of the storied residence, to the dual losses that befell mansion owner Jonah Shacknai – his young son died three days after Zahau, his girlfriend.

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The attention has waned with the mystery seemingly solved – weeks after the incidents, investigators found that Zahau had hung herself and that Shacknai's son died as the result of a fall – but Patch asked authors and media observers why, for a time, everyone seemed to be talking about the Spreckels case.

And with a book coming out in the fall, they may be again. Please see: 

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