Death of Rebecca Zahau
| Rebecca Zahau | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 15, 1979 Falam, Chin State, Burma |
| Died |
July 13, 2011 (aged 32) Coronado, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Rebecca Nalepa |
| Occupation | Ophthalmic technician |
| Spouse(s) | Neil Nalepa (m. 2002; div. 2011) |
| Partner(s) | Jonah Shacknai (2008-2011) |
Rebecca Mawii Zahau, 32, was discovered dead on July 13, 2011, at the Spreckels Beach House in Coronado, California, owned by her live-in boyfriend Medicis Pharmaceutical CEO Jonah Shacknai. Zahau's death occurred two days after Shacknai's 6-year-old son, Max, took a fatal fall from a staircase banister in the same beach house. Zahau was the only adult present at the time of his fall.San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore announced on September 2, 2011, that Zahau's death was a suicide while the younger Shacknai's was an accident, and that neither was the result of foul play. Members of Zahau's family sued Max's parents for $10 million, disputing the contention that her death was suicide.
Zahau (born March 15, 1979), also known as Rebecca Nalepa, was of Burmese immigrant origin. She was born in Falam, Chin State, a town in the Chin Hills in northwestern Burma, to her father Khua Hnin Thang and mother Zung Tin Par (also known as Pari). She came from a family of Chin ethnicity and was raised as a Protestant. She moved to Nepal and then Germany. She moved to the United States about 10 years before her death. Her parents and most family members live in Saint Joseph, Missouri. She had an older sister, Mary Zahau-Loehner, a younger sister, Snowem Horwath, who lives in Germany, and a teenage sister, Xena Zahau, among other siblings. In August 2009, Zahau was arrested for shoplifting under the name Rebecca Nalepa. She pleaded guilty to stealing $1,000 worth of jewels from Macy's in Phoenix, Arizona. In 2002, she had married then-36-year-old nursing student Neil Nalepa of Scottsdale, Arizona; they divorced in February 2011. She began dating Shacknai in 2008, while still married to Nalepa. She worked as an ophthalmic technician until quitting in December 2010.
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