Dina Shacknai Denies Allegations, Calls Zahau Suit ‘Cruel, Irresponsible’

Dina Shacknai, one of the targets of a wrongful death suit filed by the family of Rebecca Zahau, issued a statement Tuesday calling the case “baseless,” “cruel and irresponsible.”

Shacknai is the mother of Max Shacknai, 6, who died two years ago today, days after Zahau's body was found on the property of Coronado's historic Spreckels mansion.

The Arizona resident's statement was emailed, according to Fox5SanDiego.com and 10News.com.

Zahau was the girlfriend of the woman's ex-husband and the boy's father, Jonah Shacknai. He used the oceanfront residence as a summer home.

In the federal civil suit filed Friday, Zahau's family accused Dina Shacknai, her twin sister Nina Romano and Jonah Shacknai's brother Adam Shacknai of planning out her hanging death.

Jonah Shacknai is not named in the suit.

San Diego Sheriffs investigators found that Zahau committed suicide, and no criminal charges were ever filed.

Dina Shacknai, in her statement, according to 10News, said there is “absolutely no truth to these allegations.”

“Unfortunately, I have now been left with no alternative but to initiate significant measures to ensure the ongoing protection of myself, as well as my remaining family,” she continued.

Max Shacknai's death was ruled accidental, but Dina Shacknai has strongly suggested she believes Zahau or her younger sister caused her son's injuries. 

Last year on the anniversary of the boy's death, she announced that she had established a charity in his honor.

Meanwhile, Zahau's loved ones have maintained that she would not have committed suicide and have pointed to the condition of her body – found nude, bound, possibly gagged and bruised – as reason to doubt the detectives' findings.