Spreckels mansion death was a suicide, investigators conclude

Investigators have concluded that Rebecca Zahau, the girlfriend of pharmaceutical executive Jonah Shacknai, committed suicide at his Coronado mansion, according to Zahau's sister, who was briefed by San Diego County Sheriff's Department detectives.

Mary Zahau-Loehner, in emails and interviews, told reporters Thursday night that the family does not believe Zahau took her own life.

But San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore, backed by detectives and the medical examiner, plans a news conference Friday morning to explain how forensic evidence and interviews with people who talked to Zahau in the days before her death led to the overwhelming conclusion that she committed suicide and was not the victim of foul play.

Zahau may have been despondent over a sense of responsibility for the injury suffered by Shacknai's 6-year-old son Max during a time when Zahau was supposed to be watching him.

Retired San Diego homicide Det. Rick Carlson, who was not involved in the case but has investigated hundreds of traumatic deaths and written a book about suicides, said one sign that sheriff's detectives have concluded it was suicide was that they have not named a "person of interest" who might have killed Zahau.