Crime & Safety

Mansion Warrant Raises New Questions, This Time About Boy's Death

New warrants released, while attorney general declines Shacknai request to review the investigations of his son's and girlfriend's deaths.

Questions have swirled around Rebecca Zahau's death for weeks. Now a search warrant released Thursday shows that at least one doctor who attended to little Max Shacknai did not think the boy was injured in a fall.

The warrant (see media box) was sought by Coronado police. It reveals that a Rady Children's Hospital social worker prepared a report July 14—three days after the boy was hurt—to submit to Child Protective Services after a physician noted that the 6-year-old's injuries were inconsistent with the severity of his symptoms, which included brain swelling and cardiac arrest.

Dr. Brad Peterson argued that he may have been suffocated first.

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, the summer home of his father, Arizona pharmaceuticals mogul Jonah Shacknai.

Dr. Jonathan Lucas, who conducted the autopsy, has said the sudden whipping effect as Max's head snapped back likely caused his loss of pulse, which led him to stop breathing and suffer brain damage.

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The blow to his head alone would not have killed the boy, Lucas said.

Another day, another oddity in a case that detectives labeled as bizarre from its onset.

Despite the best efforts of Sheriff Bill Gore and other investigators to lay out orderly arguments Sept. 2 about how Zahau and Shacknai died, revelations keep rising anew.

As Thursday dawned, the state Attorney General's Office also in the deaths of his girlfriend and son.

In a letter sent to Shacknai on Wednesday (see media box), Chief Assistant Attorney General Dane Gillette said the cases do not meet “the very narrow circumstances” under which the state would intervene.

Those include, Gillette wrote, whether there is a conflict of interest, a request from local law enforcement or if there “are allegations of gross malfeasance by the investigative agency.”

In addition, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Kamala Harris said that as of the afternoon the office has yet to receive said she emailed Wednesday.

Bremner said she wanted to quickly respond to Shacknai's entrieties, “to distinguish that he wanted to request a review of a conclusion to an investigation in which he's expressed confidence. We want an independent investigation.” 

Bremner said there is precedent for such an intervention from the state, citing the Attorney General's entry into pop star Michael Jackson's death investigation.

In a statement, Shacknai said, “I respect and accept the determination of the chief law enforcement authority in the State of California that the circumstances of this investigation do not warrant further review. … 

“Given the unusual facts of this tragedy, I understand that Rebecca’s family and others continue to have questions,” he continued. “If at any time there is new substantive evidence bearing on this case, it should be presented, not in tabloid form to fuel rumor and innuendo, but rather to appropriate law enforcement authorities who may determine whether further investigation is warranted.”

Zahau, Shacknai's girlfriend, hung herself July 13, detectives said. Shacknai's brother said he cut her down after he spotted her hanging from a second-floor balcony.

Lucas, who also handled Zahau's post-mortem, said she died of asphyxia due to hanging. Detectives attributed her decision to end her life to distress over Max's declining condition, which they say she learned about two hours before her estimated time of death.

saying the San Diego County Sheriff's Department pursued evidence that supported the suicide conclusion without fully exploring other possibilities.

In his Monday letter to Harris, Shacknai made it clear he supports detectives' findings in the case, but wanted the review to put an end to skepticism that has dogged investigators for three weeks.

The Sheriff's Department issued a statement on the decision by Harris' office, saying officials “respect” the Attorney General's decision and added that “this investigation remains concluded. The interminable allure of this tragedy by a small faction of the media only prolongs the unspeakable loss shared by two families.”

It, however, is not a small faction of the media. along with a smattering of international publications, in addition to local media.

The new questions over Max's death join the ones Zahau's loved ones have raised about why authorities didn't note abrasions and bruises on her head, and blood and tape residue on her legs during the initial presentation of their findings.

; one of them, a cell phone, will undergo further examination, despite the Sheriff Department's statement that the probe “remains concluded.”

Patch editor Christine Huard contributed to this report.


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