Murder or suicide? The 'pink rope,' shown in this crime scene photo, is what police say Rebecca Zahau hanged herself with at her boyfriend's California mansion
Tragic home: The historic 27-room Spreckels mansion in Coronado, an affluent suburb of San Diego, where Jonah Shacknai's girlfriend was found hanging naked
*Rebecca Zahau, 32, found dead at mansion in Coronado, California, in July
*Family wants case reopened after video appears to not show rope used in suicide
*Some details from her autopsy had not been disclosed by detectives
*Famous forensic pathologist questions suicide ruling
*Zahau found dead two days after her boyfriend's son, 6, fell and broke his neck while under her care. He later died from the accident
*Authorities laid out their case for why her death was ruled suicide last week
The anguished family of Rebecca Zahau is hoping the sheriff's office will take another look at the case after the pink rope cops said she used to hang herself is not visible in a newly released video.
The department ruled the death of the woman found hanging at billionaire Jonah Shacknai's mansion a suicide on September 2. The body was found two days after her boyfriend's son died in her care.
But in an overhead video obtained by RadarOnline.com, the stills of which were posted on the site, the rope in police images that authorities said Miss Zahau used to kill herself is strangely not visible.
The 'pink rope' mystery is not the only reason for doubt. Last week, medical examiners revealed that she had blood on her inner thighs when her body was discovered.
The San Diego Sheriff's Department said they would be willing to reopen the case if a new lead came to light. The 32-year-old's family says this is such a lead.
Miss Zahau's family, who strongly denies she killed herself, has hired high-profile lawyer Anne Bremner to push for a reexamination of the case.
Ms Bremner said: 'This is another reason to reopen the case. The fact that the door is closed and the rope isn't there raises more questions in the investigation where they incorrectly found Rebecca's death to be a suicide.
She added: 'There are more questions raised everyday and it is startling - assuming that the police made these changes after they arrived at the scene - then why is her body still on the ground if they were collecting evidence?
But Lt. Larry Nesbit of the San Diego Sheriff's Department told RadarOnline.com: 'I can't tell one way or another if the rope is in the picture from the news helicopter.
What I can tell you is that the picture we released at the press conference of the rope hanging over the balcony was taken by a Coronado Police Officer.
Officers, however, admitted last Monday that there were bruises on Miss Zahau's scalp and a T-shirt had been wrapped around her neck and stuffed in her mouth.
Police released the extra details about the autopsy report that concluded she had committed suicide, after parts were found to have been withheld from the public.
They had come under pressure to release more information after findings leaked to the media showed that there were possible reasons to question the finding that she committed suicide.
Miss Zahau was found dead on July 13, hanging from a second-floor balcony at Mr Shacknai's historic mansion in suburban Coronado, California.
Deputy medical examiner Dr Jonathan Lucas said none of the findings changed the conclusion that Ms Zahau, 32, committed suicide by hanging.
As in any comprehensive investigation, some findings cannot be entirely explained,' he said.
None of the observations listed... are inconsistent with the conclusions reached regarding the cause and manner of death of Rebecca Zahau.
Dr Lucas said the bruises were minor and may have been caused when Ms Zahau slipped over the balcony with the rope around her neck.
The T-shirt in the mouth is not unusual, he added. 'It is not clear why it was there, although people can place material in her mouth prior to hanging,' he said.
He said the blood on her thighs was not the result of rape but probably due to an intrauterine device or menstruation.
Despite those findings, a leading pathologist questioned the suicide conclusion.
Dr Cyril Wecht, who has consulted on high profile cases including the assassination of President John F Kennedy, the drug overdose of Elvis Presley and the OJ Simpson case, said a number of factors in the ruling did not add up.
While Dr Wecht stopped short of saying it was murder, he is not content to rule it a suicide. He said the report needed a lot more scrutiny.
When you put all of this together, it just is bothersome' Dr Wecht told KFMB-AM. 'The manner of death I would have left as undetermined.
On the T-shirt, which was removed from her mouth by Mr Shacknai's brother Adam when he cut her down, Dr Wecht told KFMB-AM: 'What does she care for that? "Gee, I don't want to wake anybody up who may come to rescue me.
I don't know. I'm just trying to think. She didn't want to be rescued and didn't want to scream so she put it in her mouth? It's absurd.
Regarding the tape residue, Dr Wecht speculated Ms Zahau could have planned to bind her feet with duct tape and then switched to rope. But he added to KFMB-AM: 'Well then, where's the duct tape?'
He also questioned why her feet were bound. 'Did she want to make it seem like it was a murder and incriminate him? That's something to think about.'
And Dr Wecht was concerned by haemorrhages found under her scalp surface, saying it was evidence of blunt force trauma. 'For someone to say there isn't any kind of struggle is not correct,' he told KFMB-AM.
It was revealed on September 2 that before she died, Miss Zahau painted a message in black paint on a door.
According to Miss Zahau's ex-husband, Neil Nalepa, it read: 'She saved him, can he save her.'
Her family contends that she did not die by her own hand.
Ms Zahau’s sister Snowem Horwath said: 'Becky did not kill herself, someone killed her.
Time will reveal who killed Becky.
I think I know who killed my sister. We are not stupid, she never had any enemies.
The family is calling for a forensic psychiatrist and a criminal profiler to investigate the case and say the cryptic message in black paint was not in her handwriting.
But authorities said the paint from the message was still on her hands and on the rope when she died.
The death of Max Shacknai, who felll over a staircase railing, was ruled an accident.
He was found not breathing and with no pulse by Miss Zahau at the bottom of the stairs after she heard a noise and came to look. She was the only adult at home at the time.
Authorities said the last call to Miss Zahau's voicemail before her death had delivered the message that the boy was in grave condition and would likely die, as he did six days later.
The findings in the deaths followed a lengthy investigation.
Were these deaths the result of criminal conduct? Was Max's death a homicide? The answer is no,' San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore told a news conference on Friday.
It was a tragic accident. Was Rebecca's death a homicide? Again the answer is no. It was a suicide ... These deaths were not the result of any criminal acts.
There was no evidence of foul play, sexual assault or a struggle, authorities said. She was alive when she went over the balcony and she died by hanging. There were no alcohol or drugs in her system.
She died at about 3am and was found at 6.45am by Jonah Shacknai's brother Adam, who was staying in a mansion guesthouse.
When Miss Zahau's naked body was found hanging from the mansion's balcony with her ankles and wrists bound, investigators were quick to say they weren't ruling out suicide
They showed a video re-enactment of how someone could bind their own hands.
Authorities also said that Miss Zahau had not been happy for some time and had recently lost weight, but her sister Mary Zahau-Loehner disagreed, saying she spoke with her sister every day, and there were no signs that she was about to take her own life.
DNA from the rope around her neck that was tied to a bed footboard, and foot impressions on balcony dust were also tied to Miss Zahau, investigators said.
Someone left a voicemail message with Miss Zahau at 12:50am the morning her body was found saying that Max's condition had taken a serious turn and he wasn't expected to survive, Gore said.
One witness who authorities declined to identify said she appeared depressed in January, Sheriff Gore said.
Investigators discovered a lengthy 'journal' stored in her phone that also indicated she was unhappy.
This type of a suicide - its unusual but I don't think it's unprecedented,' Sheriff Gore said.
All the DNA found on the binding and rope and fingerprints on the paint also belonged to her.
Jonah Shacknai released a statement expressing his sadness.
While the investigation is over, the emptiness and sadness in our hearts will remain forever,' Shacknai said.
Max was an extraordinarily loving, happy, talented, and special little boy. He brought joy to everyone who knew him, and we will miss him desperately.
Rebecca too was a wonderful and unique person who will always have a special place in my heart,' he added.
Miss Zahau was Jonah Shacknai's girlfriend of two years and Max was his son from a marriage that ended in divorce in 2008.
Mary Zahau-Loehner said she spoke with her sister the night before her body was found and she gave no hint that she planned to take her life.
She said she planned to bring Mr Shacknai breakfast and a change of clothes the next morning to the hospital where his son was being treated.
Miss Zahau also told her sister that she would call her parents in the morning on the way to the hospital.
She emailed another sister in Germany to say she would be updating throughout the next day.
Too detailed planning for someone who's planning to end their life that night,' Ms Zahau-Loehner said.
When Max fell down the stairs, Miss Zahau was at home with a 13-year-old girl who was related to her, authorities say.
He was hospitalised after paramedics found the boy wasn't breathing, his neck was broken and he did not have a pulse.
Two days later, Adam Shacknai, called 911 to report that Miss Zahau appeared to be dead, investigators said. Jonah Shacknai was not at home as he was at his son's hospital bedside
The home, known as the Spreckels mansion, is one of the more storied properties in Coronado, a small suburb of multimillion-dollar homes on the tip of a peninsula across a bay from downtown San Diego.
The home has unobstructed beach views and sits near Coronado's main street, which is lined with palm trees and upscale boutiques.
Mr Shacknai bought the mansion in March 2007, when it was assessed at $12.75million.
The home was built in 1908 and named for its original owner, newspaper mogul John D.
Spreckels, who owned the San Diego Union and San Diego Tribune.
Mr Shacknai founded Medicis Pharmaceuticals and has been chairman and chief executive of the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company since 1988.
In a divorce filing, he filed a tax return that showed his income in 1998 at $17million.
Medicis makes acne treatments Solodyn and Ziana and facial wrinkle treatment Restylane and Dysport, a competitor of Botox.
Last year, the company earned $123million on $700million in revenue.
Mr Shacknai has two children with his first wife, Kimberly. Max was his only child with his second wife, Dina, whom he divorced in 2008.
He told Medicis investors in August that he was planning to resume his daily routine of showing up at the office as soon as school resumed for his children in Arizona.
We've obviously had an extraordinarily difficult time,' he said. 'We have undertaken some tragedies, some losses that one couldn't imagine experiencing in a lifetime.
Miss Zahau, a native of Myanmar, was an ophthalmic technician at Horizon Eye Specialists & Lasik Center in the Phoenix area from April 2008 to December 2010.
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