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Max Shacknai, the young son of pharmaceutical tycoon and billionaire Jonah Shacknai, was tragically injured in his family's mansion on July 11, 2011. Two days later, his father's girlfriend, Rebecca Zahau, was found dead in a crime scene that seemed like an apparent suicide. Five days later, Max succumbed to brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation resulting from his injuries, while the investigation into Zahau's death continued.
The two completely unrelated deaths were followed by years-long, high-profile legal battles as Rebecca's family believed that her death, which was ruled a suicide, was a murder plot orchestrated by the Shacknais as punishment for the accident that fatally injured young Max, who fell face-first over a second-floor banister.
Oxygen's Dateline: Secrets Uncovered will re-examine the Coronado mansion deaths from over a decade ago in an episode titled The Mansion on Ocean Boulevard, set to re-air on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, at 7 pm ET.
What happened to Max Shacknai during the summer of 2011?
It all started on July 11, 2011, when 6-year-old Max Shacknai met with a fatal accident inside the beachfront mansion. Max was being looked after by Zahau, who was alone in the 27-room house with him and her 13-year-old sister, Xena.
According to Zahau's statements after the accident, she was in a downstairs bathroom while her sister Xena was in another bathroom taking a shower when it happened. She claimed that she heard a loud noise and assumed that it either came from a crash or from a dog barking.
Max was found severely injured and lying on the floor in the entryway near the stairs. A scooter was mounted on top of his thigh, and a few soccer balls were scattered nearby. She stated that it looked like he fell from the second-floor railing of the house. Reports also state that a chandelier was also lying on the ground near him.
The incident was followed by Rebecca Zahau’s death, which was ruled a suicide, but her family maintains she’d never harm herself. Zahau's body was found by her boyfriend's elder brother, Adam Shacknai, who happened to be home alone with the victim two days after the accident. When the authorities arrived, they discovered her naked, bound, and gagged on the ground in the mansion's back patio.
An official report said,
"Rebecca was nude, her hands and feet were bound with red rope. There was also red rope tied around her neck and a blue cloth tied around her neck. Adam told officers he moved a wooden table so he could reach her and cut her down."
Max Shacknai's death was officially ruled an accident
Max Shacknai reportedly suffered brain damage as a result of his injuries, which caused his untimely death on July 16, five days after the accident occurred. According to a medical examiner, he fractured many facial bones, and his spinal cord was severely injured, which affected his respiration and pulse rates.
A clinical social worker at the hospital noted that Max's condition seemed "peculiar" at the time of his treatment because he had suffered from cardiac arrest immediately after the fall. But Max's death was officially determined to be an accident. Investigators even theorized that he could have stumbled over a ball or the dog. On the other hand, Zahau's death was determined to be a suicide.
Sources state that in 2011, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore spoke about the deaths of Max and Rebecca and said,
"Were these deaths the result of criminal conduct? Was Max's death a homicide? The answer is no. 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."
Investigators believed that Max may have stumbled or fallen while speeding down the second-floor corridor on his Razor scooter, causing him to fall over the railing while also ripping down the chandelier.
Dina, Max Shacknai's mother, was however unsatisfied with the answers that indicated her son most likely died from a beating. In 2012, she requested a new investigation into her son's death, but authorities refused to re-open the case.
Max Shacknai's death will be re-examined on Tuesday's episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, airing at 7 pm ET.
