16 thoughts on “Rebecca Zahau Case File: Volume 1 [of 2], Section 28 [of 43] Paradise Valley Police Department Report [2009]”

  1. In an article published 7/2011 “Details shed on Shacknai’s second divorce” in 2008 Jonah told police “Dina has been treated medically for years for a bruising disorder, whereby the slightest contact with an object or other material causes bruises. This information can certainly be verified medically.” That’s lawyerspeak. And no reason the police would attempt to verify if Dina had been treated for a bruising disorder.

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  2. I think though it took more than one person to murder Rebecca. Someone had to run down to the garage and get the rope while the other taunted and confronted. Maybe the someone who was there initially left before the real dirty work was done but was certainly there for the strike on the head. Both women were humiliated, one over a longer period of time, one in a shorter period of time. And I think the note was a taunting message now – directed at JS. You will need to write another book about this – there are plenty of people who feel as if they got cheated when the sheriff’s dept. closed the case. I’ll read it, and I’ll even buy two copies as a gift.

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    • Good points Sylvester. I think you’re on the right track with the taunting message, but not 100% right.

      Meanwhile, great minds think alike:

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  4. I see the “twist” now – the message on the door is a real riddle, isn’t it? I’m still not sure I’m getting it – I get it, then lose it, then get it again. I had to force myself to put the kindle reader down last night, then I got back into it early this morning and thankfully I have more to go because I want to savor it. You are the only one except for a brief little short story by Ann Rule, who has written about “her” – giving her a voice – you care. If it weren’t for your books and taking second looks at the criminology the victims would just stay swirled in mystery (and many people like it that way, they can become addicted to the mystery and not take the time to figure out the truth or the truth about themselves). Your books have a powerful effect on me. I found myself remembering some things long buried. There’s a sadness to your books because you are talking about a real crime, real people – and yet there is a hard driving commitment because the truth needs to come out.

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    • That getting it, losing it, getting it again is where you break your own transference and projection, and start to SEE the crime through the people in them. It takes practice and effort, but consistent concentration gets you there. This is also why it’s important to write and research [and I guess read] consistently. Once you interrupt that line of concentration it’s sometimes not so easy finding your way back to it.

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  5. It’s a training process. Training the mind to focus and not wander into personal experience. Which has to start with a desire and intention to get it. And as a writer I see that you have to stay in that line of concentration to complete the job you have at hand, and to communicate it. Something came to me Friday morning – that we only have Jonah’s word for it that he left a message for Rebecca (which got deleted) expressing concern for Max, sort of updating her on his progress or lack of at a late hour. Starting me thinking did he leave such a message – or was it a staged set up – either a “signal” to someone else, or a set up to later, within one day actually, point to a motive for suicide. We don’t know what he said. Only his word for it. Another hole in the cheese.

    And another thought, is (although I can’t watch it) could Oxygen TV be in over their heads on this one? Not in the way the ID piece was on Watts – that one didn’t even pretend to dig very far so to speak – but there is way more than meets the eye with Shacknai-Zahau and Oxygen TV might hope to get answers but for a television show, might not be able to. They may only be able to scratch the surface slightly.

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  7. I finished this book yesterday and I just sat there in kind of a fog because for so long I’ve felt invested in this case, why I don’t know. Then when Rebecca’s sister and her attorney Greer brought Adam to trial I was so happy, yet there were still unanswered questions for me – Jonah’s involvement, if Dina and Nina were there. And you have put it together so expertly, like a Rubik’s Cube as you said – twist, turn, until the colors line up. It’s such a sad story and I just wanted to say thank you for writing this book, and the one before it.

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  8. Might the white kitchen trash bag been a murder kit? Gather up a few knives, some tape. The kitchen features prominently in Adam’s speech, as well as the back door being kept open so that Dina could slip in and out whenever she pleased. Now that the Spreckles mansion is for sale and newly refurbished I can see the kitchen doors held open wide opening up on the back yard. A ruckus there would have been heard.There is also a red dumbbell just under the brass bed and was it tested for Rebecca’s DNA – probably not or Greer would have used it.

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    • I thought so too. I asked Greer about the trash bag directly. He said they found a little black paint and very little DNA – Rebecca’s – on it.

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  9. I had a thought too that after Rebecca was lowered over the railing and after she had swayed into the cactus (or was pushed into the cactus) Adam cut her down – not during the 911 call. He didn’t use the three-legged table either. He wouldn’t have needed it. The three legged table and the overturned chair have something in common and I’m not sure what just yet. His shortness of breath or “panting” noises were made for the recorded call and give three possible scenarios for the operator: 1) he was vigorously cutting her down; 2) he was administering CPR and compressing her chest; 3) he was running out to the front of the house to look up the house address. In reality he was doing none of those things, and the panting was all for show.

    Also the way in which he informs Jonah of her death – “are you sitting down?” he asks. How casual.

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