Update: Family Rejects Suicide as Cause of Zahau's Death at Mansion

Update 8:45 p.m. Thursday: Neil Nalepa, Rebecca Zahau's ex-husband, has been in touch with his former in-laws and said he is as frustrated as they are about the direction the case has taken.

The family became concerned two weeks ago when they heard media reports that indicated detectives were leaning toward a conclusion of suicide in Zahau's July 13 death. They quickly sought explanations from the San Diego Sheriff's homicide unit.

Nalepa said he no longer trusts the investigators.

“We were pretty positive they were looking at the possibility of a homicide,” the nursing student said. “It doesn't look like they ever did.”

Nalepa, who was married to Zahau for eight years, said she had no history of suicide attempts or seeking therapy or medications for bouts of depression. The Scottsdale, AZ, resident questions if detectives were thorough.

There are friends who knew Zahau “for years and years that [investigators] didn't call and ask anything,” according to Nalepa.

“It seems like someone just wants this to be sealed and done with,” he said.

Rebecca Zahau's family does not believe and are calling for a continued probe into how she died at the oceanfront mansion owned by her boyfriend.

Authorities from the Medical Examiner's Office and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department met with Zahau's sister and brother-in-law in person Wednesday in Missouri, said attorney Anne Bremner, who has been hired to represent the family's interests.

Bremner, who listened in on the meeting via a conference call, said detectives discussed the likelihood of a suicide finding with Mary Zahau-Loehner and her husband at the meeting.

The authorities also said an announcement was imminent, though the family urged them to continue examining the evidence.

Bremner said she made a formal request for a longer investigation, only to learn that the Sheriff's Department's press conference had been scheduled for Friday.

“They just want to know the truth,” Bremner said. “They don't want to drive the case any given way.”

The department has set a news conference for 11 a.m. at its Kearny Mesa headquarters to discuss findings in , along with that of her boyfriend's son, Max, 6.

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Zahau was found nude and bound with a rope around her neck at the mansion, , who founded Medicis, a pharmaceutical firm in Scottsdale, AZ.

The family would like other experts called in, Bremner said, including a forensic psychiatrist, and they want to know if surveillance tapes have been reviewed to determine everyone's whereabouts in the hours preceding Zahau's death.

There is also concern about a note found at the mansion, Bremner said, that the family believes is not in Zahau's writing. They want a handwriting expert to be called in.

The attorney said the note's meaning “is ambiguous at best,” but would not describe it further.

What is clear, the attorney added, is that Zahau, along with her relatives are very religious. She said Zahau believed people who commit suicide “go to hell” and would never have considered the act an option.

Bremner said if the department's probe is closed, the family will ask that another agency re-open it, and held out the possibility of seeking a private investigation.