Crime & Safety

Autopsy on Spreckels Victim Complete, But More Forensic Work Needed

Investigators await results of further tests, while planning to withhold search warrant, 911 details.

UPDATE, 1:10 PM: ABC News contacted the victim's sister, Mary Zahau-Loehner, in St. Joseph, Mo., who said she talked to Rebecca Zahau late Tuesday, just as she was going to bed and hours before she was found dead. Zahau-Loehner told the network her sister sounded “normal, fine.”

ABC News also found that the victim had legally returned to her maiden name, Zahau, and had dropped the surname Nalepa, two months ago. Local authorities had initially identified her by her married name. She was divorced.

 

Find out what's happening in Coronadowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

The autopsy on the woman who was found dead Wednesday in Spreckels mansion is complete, but Sheriffs investigators will not release results until further lab and forensic examinations are conducted, officials said Friday.

Rebecca Nalepa, 32, the girlfriend of Spreckels homeowner Jonah Shacknai, was found hanging from a second floor balcony of the oceanfront mansion. She was nude with her hands bound behind her back.

Shacknai's brother, Adam, found her and summoned police, who called in a San Diego Sheriffs homicide unit to investigate the case.

Find out what's happening in Coronadowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In a news release, the Sheriffs department said autopsy records, requests for search warrants and 911 recordings will be withheld during the investigation. The Sheriffs homicide unit is currently trying to interview the victim’s family.

Two days after her death little information has come to light about Nalepa outside of the grisly details of her death.

She is known to have been married, and was apparently in a settled relationship with Jonah Shacknai. She was shaken by recent events in her home, said a San Diego kennel owner who spoke with her on the Spreckels property Tuesday, less than 24 hours before she died.

Jonah Shacknai's 6-year-old son fell down a staircase in the mansion and was found without a pulse Monday. Rescuers revived him, and as of Thursday, the boy remained in San Diego's Rady Children's Hospital.

Photos of Nalepa aired by local broadcasters show a slim young woman smiling into the camera or posing with friends. No one has spoken of her interests, education, where she grew up or of her closest kin. Public records indicate she used to live in Phoenix.

Most of the focus has been on her boyfriend, a wealthy entrepreneur and lawyer who once served as an aide to a Congressional committee. He splits time between Coronado and Scottsdale, Ariz., where his company, Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp., is based.

Reached at her home in Spring, TX., Phyllis Manno would not comment Friday. The Arizona Republic identified Manno as the victim's aunt.

“The family has nothing to say at this time,” Manno said.

 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.