A San Diego woman accused in a wrongful death lawsuit in the 2011 hanging death of her millionaire ex-husband's girlfriend at a California mansion was seen on surveillance video at a separate location at the time of the murder, an attorney representing the plaintiffs said Wednesday.
Dina Shacknai spoke with NBC 7 two years ago and said the lawsuit accusing her of murder "makes no sense.”
Shacknai spoke exclusively to NBC 7 about the deaths of her son Max Shacknai and Rebecca Zahau at the Spreckels Coronado mansion. The child and his father's girlfriend died within days of each other in July 2011.
The medical examiner ruled Zahau's death a suicide and Max's death an accident as a result of a fall from a staircase in the home. Zahau was the only person home at the time of the child's fall.
In a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit, Zahau's family claimed Max's mother, his aunt Nina Romano and his uncle Adam Shacknai, his father's brother, conspired to kill Zahau.
NBC 7 Investigates obtained video from Attorney Keith Greer, who got it from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department after several years of trying he says. It shows Dina Shacknai was inside Rady Children's Hospital when Zahau died.
Attorney Greer says the video changed his mind about the death of Rebecca Zahau.
"Previously we had an eye witness who was adamant putting Dina at the scene of the murder,” Greer said.
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Greer said it took him years to get the security camera footage from the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, which investigated Zahau's death, and called it a suicide.
“When these pictures came out, you can't refute them," he said.
While he is still adamant Zahau was murdered, he now says Dina Shacknai was not the killer.
Greer also dropped Dina's sister, Nina Romano, from the lawsuit, after she provided information he says cleared her.
The amended lawsuit now names just one suspect, in Zahau's death: Max's uncle.
“That leaves one defendant Adam Shacknai,” Greer said.
In his first court filings, attorney Greer claimed Adam Shacknai hanged Zahau's naked body over the mansion's balcony.
“We now allege he's the one that confronted Rebecca, he's the one that made her scream for help and he's the one who hit her on the back of the head knocking her unconscious,” Greer said.
Adam Shacknai and the other defendants in this wrongful death lawsuit have vehemently denied any involvement in Zahau's death.
But Zahau's family won't stop looking for evidence to show Rebecca would never kill herself.
“They want us to find and expose the killer and I think that's we are going to do in this trial," Greer said.
Max, 6, died following a fall inside his father Jonah Shacknai's Coronado mansion on July 11, 2011.
The only person there at the time was Rebecca Zahau, Jonah's girlfriend who, just two days after Max's fall, was found nude, bound and hanging from the mansion's second-story balcony.
Ed. Note: A previous version of this article stated Max Shacknai and Rebecca Zahau died within hours of each other. The timelime shows their deaths were separated by days. We have corrected the article and regret the error.
