Thank you, Cynic for posting this complaint sent to Sheriff Gore from Rebecca's sister Mary. I was surprised at some things in this letter. At least it lays it all out for the Sheriff. (added by Tricia)
(There is also an interview with Doug Loehner on Trica's podcast. Links below.)
ANCHOR.FM
Websleuths Radio Podcast • A podcast on Anchor
APPLE PODCASTS
Websleuths Radio Podcast on Apple Podcasts
To whom it may concern,
I am making a formal complaint against the San Diego Sheriff Department (SDSD) and the following individuals, Det. Tsuida, Det. Lebitski, Det. Palmer, ME Jonathan Lucas, MD, and Sheriff William Gore.
My sister, Rebecca Zahau, was murdered July 13th of 2011 by Adam Shacknai. Instead of investigating her murder, the SDSD worked alongside Jonah Shacknai and Adam Shacknai to build their case of suicide to explain away her murder. Rebecca Zahau was denied due process because she was Asian and had no monetary wealth. SDSD made it very clear their preference on racial and social status by catering to the Shacknais. My sister, Rebecca and her family were nothing but annoyances who did not meet your standard of racial preference "white and privileged". Rebecca was not only disrespected but treated as "garbage" that needed to be thrown out of the way to serve the wishes of a white and privileged man. I am listing some highlights of the many lies, deception, and blatant malfeasance by SDSD just to make sure that Rebecca's murder looked like a suicide. They made sure the murderer, Adam Shacknai got away and made sure Jonah Shacknai's stock value remained at an acceptable price.
1. Rebecca was left uncovered and naked for over 13 hours allowing neighboring kids and media to take photos which went viral even before family was notified. There is a thing called a "crime scene tent"!!!
2. The family and I were never contacted for background on behalf of the victim but instead SDSD spoke regularly to Jonah Shacknai keeping us out of the investigation. Jonah Shacknai had no right to any information about my sister's death, they were NOT married. He was just a boyfriend who had no legal rights to anything and my sister was Asian without any social status. We requested Jonah Shacknai be excluded from Rebecca's investigation but that fell on deaf ears.
3. There were a total of 10 phone calls between the detectives and my husband (Doug Loehner) after his persistence to try to contact them. Most of his calls were ignored. When they did speak with him, they only spent a total of 24 minutes on conversations during the investigation. Zero minutes were spent with me. I was hoping that they would reach out and I would be filling them in on what I knew about my sister, her relationship with Jonah and his children and ex-wives or any other pertinent information regarding her murder. Little did I know they worked it as suicide from day one.
4. Rebecca's investigation was handled with prejudice and closed mindedness that even on the day of her death, Det. Palmer insisted we not come to California and that they would handle everything there (hindsight to cover up her murder for suicide). How disrespectful of the victim and victim's family to tell us we do not need to come and bring her home for proper burial! He was out of line!
5. During their interrogation of us when we arrived in San Diego to get Rebecca, Det. Lebitski kept repeating how "he knew how Asian women are" because he was married to one. That is a racist comment and very disrespectful!!!
6. During one of the conversations between Det. Tsuida and my husband, he told her Jonah Shacknai had 2 phones, but she argued with him that he had only one. (Apparently a potential suspect's information was considered truth to what victim's family said). My husband provided her with both the numbers for Jonah Shacknai but none of these are mentioned in any of her reports.
7. Jonah Shacknai was bragging to my husband how he had good rapport with the detectives and SDSD and they were providing him with updates. But when my husband asked Det. Tsuida for updates in the investigation her response was "there was nothing she could tell him". My husband asked her why that was not the case with Jonah and she had no response. That conversation lasted 15min (of the 24min total conversation) and was the last one with her.
Jonah Shacknai should have been looked at as a suspect.
8. We flew out to San Diego to get Rebecca. We were interrogated by Det. Lebitski and Det. Palmer like we were suspects. They lied to us and said that "Adam Shacknai passed his polygraph with flying colors" (Later we found out that it was inconclusive, and a polygraph was not even conducted per standard guidelines). And, they told us Adam was not a suspect unless Ambien was found in Rebecca's system. She was NOT tested for Ambien despite my husband informing them that Ambien requires a separate test. So, again another big lie and favoritism.
9. Ambien has to be tested within few hours to test positive in blood, and within 72 hours in urine, and 3-5 weeks in hair but NONE were done! How does that exclude Adam Shacknai?
10. The detectives lied to us that the t-shirt was wrapped around her neck and the rope was on top to protect damage to the neck when in fact the rope was directly on her neck and the t-shirt was tied over it with her hair all tangled up in the knot. Another lie!!!
11. Det. Tsuida and ME Lucas told us in our home that Rebecca tied herself up and sat on the balcony then went feet first to her death, but the story changed at the press conference that she went headfirst. Another of many lies!!!.
12. Adam Shacknai said on his 911 call that "a girl hung herself in the guest house" but the guest house was never properly processed. The suspect told SDSD where it happened, and it was not even considered as the crime scene.
13. Rebecca’s cell phone was accessed while in custody of SDSD. There was a remote download of a total 21,107KB of data transfer and wiped her phone including all her updated contacts. Someone in your department had to physically charge/plug her phone for this to happen. We might be poor, and come from a third-world country, but we are not stupid.
14. There were 2 calls made to her voicemail while it was in SDSD custody. The first call was on 8/15/2011 that lasted 1 min, the second call was on 8/16/2011 that lasted 3 minutes. The question arises, did the detectives delete the voicemail? Was there even a voicemail? Was it retrievable? Why was her phone not forensically downloaded in a timely manner?
15. Jonah Shacknai gave two different statements about the voicemail he left (it's recorded during his interviews but never caught by the detectives. Jonah actually had several story changes in the SDSD recordings, you should listen to them). Or was it ignored because Rebecca's life mattered less?
16. We have been told the voicemail was deleted. How do the detectives know it was deleted? How can anyone even prove that there was a voicemail? Jonah gave two different statements on what he said on the voicemail that no one ever heard. I was told the voicemail was deleted from day one but the search warrant for Jonah's phone was not even written until August 24th. The detectives take Jonah Shacknai's word as the word of God? That proves to be the case as we find repeatedly that the investigation was catered to Jonah Shacknai's input and information when it should have been about Rebecca.
17. When a forensic exam was finally done on Rebecca's phone, the data and information was incorrect. It was old data such as old numbers that didn't exist anymore or used by the people she was still talking to right up to the night of her murder. Example, my number was an old incorrect one, my husband's number was not even there, and our parent's number was an old one from Germany. Where did the data go? Who would gain from data being missing? There was incriminating evidence on her phone and SDSD personnel purposefully allowed remote access. Someone in that department had to charge her phone and leave it on to allow the massive data to be remotely transferred and deleted.
18. Det. Tsuida told us that after 30 days there was no way of getting the voicemail back. She was aware of this; why did she not get it before 30 days? She waited on purpose to benefit Jonah Shacknai. If there was such a voicemail that would incriminate Rebecca, it would not only have been saved but extracted and publicized to humiliate her. SDSD publicized everything else without notification or permission of the family. Again, this shows her life mattered less!!!!!
19. Why were Jonah Shacknai's phones never collected for evidence and examined for call logs? After all, he claimed that he left such a voicemail that supposedly set everything in motion. Clearly shows he is more important than an Asian woman who didn’t have any social status. If Jonah Shacknai was the victim, I can guarantee you it would not have been handled this way.
20. There was never a search warrant for Rebecca's cell phone records? The detectives report has a call log and we are not sure where it came from since it is not the same as her cell records from AT&T. Did the detectives make up the log per direction of Jonah Shacknai or William Gore? As far as we know anything SDSD has told us and the public has been all a lie.
21. After leaving multiple messages for Det. Tsuida to call me in hopes that I can give history, she finally returned my call on 8/17/11. I will never forget that conversation. I was arguing with Tsuida that Rebecca's personal belonging should be coming to me or my parents and not Jonah Shacknai. She went ahead and mailed them to him and Jonah Shacknai mailed them to me after he rummaged through them and took what he wanted. Legally we all know that is not how it works, they were not married and he had no legal rights to anything of hers, or anything about her, or about her death investigation.
22. We and the public were told that they had a paint receipt for the paint used on the door. If you look at the receipt up close it is for "gallons of latex wall paint" and not for the tube of acrylic black paint left at the crime scene. If they lied to us about this what other lies are still buried behind the facade of their "thorough and comprehensive investigation?" they bragged about. This announcement was no mistake but done on purpose to make my sister look bad and set the stage for their suicide story.
23. They claimed that the acrylic tube was used by my sister, but her thumb print was on the lid of the acrylic paint tube which was found with the lid open at the crime scene but the tube had no other prints on it. Look at crime scene photo. And they omitted that my sister painted and had used these paints and touched paint tubes throughout the summer.
24. What made Det. Tsuida go to that "witchcraft book" on the bookshelf among all other books and items? She did not bother commenting about other relevant history on Rebecca but commented on this book in her report. It is not a coincidence that Rebecca's fingerprint was on that book but no other books or the paint brush found at the crime scene. It screams "staged crime scene"!!!. Nothing in her history shows that ever!! Did anyone bother doing background on types of books she read and bought? I was never asked and neither were her friends. If Det. Tsuida bothered to talk to me, I could have told her that Rebecca had mentioned Jonah was into having negatives and positives in the same room/house. He also had issues with temper and outbursts.
25. We had no choice but consent to a second autopsy because we knew SDSO handled the case in so many questionable ways and crossed too many ethical lines. The second autopsy revealed that her throat and brain were missing! My parents or family were never notified. There is no documentation that these body parts were being removed, discarded, or sent for testing. I want to know where Rebecca's throat and brain are, and I want them back!!! After almost 8 years and as we uncover more and more deception, lies, and malfeasance, the real question is who would benefit from these body parts missing? If there were fractures to prove hanging and if the brain injury was insignificant from three different blows to the head, the SDSD and Shacknais would have been broadcasting it and most likely display photos to the public.
26. We made them aware again on 12/7/18 prior to their press conference about her missing throat and brain but no one has done anything about it. The newly assigned investigating team agreed that analyzing the brain and throat would help in determination of her death, but no one has contacted me as of 5/31/2019 as to the whereabouts of her missing body parts.
27. Jonah Shacknai spoke to my husband on multiple occasions that he should not let me view the body and should convince me to cremate my sister. We thought that was very odd request at the time and told SDSO about it. They ignored it as they did everything else.
28. Jonah Shacknai in his deposition confirmed that he had multiple personal calls with William Gore discussing stock market prices. What does this mean? That money is more important than my sister's life? Where is William Gore's report stating the details of these conversations?
29. My sister's murder is in the way of Jonah and his financial world. The investigating sheriff to be a part of a conversation like this and then "rule her murder a suicide" screams prejudice, unethical, unprofessional, and racism. He allowed his department to handle my sister's body and case worse than someone would treat a dead animal!!!
30. After we won the civil trial April 4th 2018, Sheriff William Gore announced, under campaign pressure, he would reopen Rebecca's case and review the findings. Gore did reopen the case and collected a DNA sample from a witness to have it tested and interviewed her.
31. William Gore also called Jonah personally and informed him of updates on the case just as he did back in 2011. Gore claimed it was about getting information. He is lying because his timeline is wrong. He did this without his investigating team knowing. Does anyone else see that this is so wrong and unethical in so many ways?
I have listed adequate reasons to open an internal investigation on William Gore, the medical examiner Lucas, and the detectives mentioned above. SDSD has displayed racism, unprofessional conduct, deception, and unethical decisions and actions towards my sister Rebecca and her family. As a result SDSD has denied my sister due process. I am requesting that another agency be brought in for accountability to investigate these individuals. I do not trust William Gore because he has been manipulated and compromised by Jonah Shacknai and he will find ways to influence the internal investigation in a way to benefit himself. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I will fully cooperate and provide any and all materials that you request from me.
Mary Zahau-Loehner (Rebecca Zahau's sister and voice)
(There is also an interview with Doug Loehner on Trica's podcast. Links below.)
ANCHOR.FM
Websleuths Radio Podcast • A podcast on Anchor
APPLE PODCASTS
Websleuths Radio Podcast on Apple Podcasts
To whom it may concern,
I am making a formal complaint against the San Diego Sheriff Department (SDSD) and the following individuals, Det. Tsuida, Det. Lebitski, Det. Palmer, ME Jonathan Lucas, MD, and Sheriff William Gore.
My sister, Rebecca Zahau, was murdered July 13th of 2011 by Adam Shacknai. Instead of investigating her murder, the SDSD worked alongside Jonah Shacknai and Adam Shacknai to build their case of suicide to explain away her murder. Rebecca Zahau was denied due process because she was Asian and had no monetary wealth. SDSD made it very clear their preference on racial and social status by catering to the Shacknais. My sister, Rebecca and her family were nothing but annoyances who did not meet your standard of racial preference "white and privileged". Rebecca was not only disrespected but treated as "garbage" that needed to be thrown out of the way to serve the wishes of a white and privileged man. I am listing some highlights of the many lies, deception, and blatant malfeasance by SDSD just to make sure that Rebecca's murder looked like a suicide. They made sure the murderer, Adam Shacknai got away and made sure Jonah Shacknai's stock value remained at an acceptable price.
1. Rebecca was left uncovered and naked for over 13 hours allowing neighboring kids and media to take photos which went viral even before family was notified. There is a thing called a "crime scene tent"!!!
2. The family and I were never contacted for background on behalf of the victim but instead SDSD spoke regularly to Jonah Shacknai keeping us out of the investigation. Jonah Shacknai had no right to any information about my sister's death, they were NOT married. He was just a boyfriend who had no legal rights to anything and my sister was Asian without any social status. We requested Jonah Shacknai be excluded from Rebecca's investigation but that fell on deaf ears.
3. There were a total of 10 phone calls between the detectives and my husband (Doug Loehner) after his persistence to try to contact them. Most of his calls were ignored. When they did speak with him, they only spent a total of 24 minutes on conversations during the investigation. Zero minutes were spent with me. I was hoping that they would reach out and I would be filling them in on what I knew about my sister, her relationship with Jonah and his children and ex-wives or any other pertinent information regarding her murder. Little did I know they worked it as suicide from day one.
4. Rebecca's investigation was handled with prejudice and closed mindedness that even on the day of her death, Det. Palmer insisted we not come to California and that they would handle everything there (hindsight to cover up her murder for suicide). How disrespectful of the victim and victim's family to tell us we do not need to come and bring her home for proper burial! He was out of line!
5. During their interrogation of us when we arrived in San Diego to get Rebecca, Det. Lebitski kept repeating how "he knew how Asian women are" because he was married to one. That is a racist comment and very disrespectful!!!
6. During one of the conversations between Det. Tsuida and my husband, he told her Jonah Shacknai had 2 phones, but she argued with him that he had only one. (Apparently a potential suspect's information was considered truth to what victim's family said). My husband provided her with both the numbers for Jonah Shacknai but none of these are mentioned in any of her reports.
7. Jonah Shacknai was bragging to my husband how he had good rapport with the detectives and SDSD and they were providing him with updates. But when my husband asked Det. Tsuida for updates in the investigation her response was "there was nothing she could tell him". My husband asked her why that was not the case with Jonah and she had no response. That conversation lasted 15min (of the 24min total conversation) and was the last one with her.
Jonah Shacknai should have been looked at as a suspect.
8. We flew out to San Diego to get Rebecca. We were interrogated by Det. Lebitski and Det. Palmer like we were suspects. They lied to us and said that "Adam Shacknai passed his polygraph with flying colors" (Later we found out that it was inconclusive, and a polygraph was not even conducted per standard guidelines). And, they told us Adam was not a suspect unless Ambien was found in Rebecca's system. She was NOT tested for Ambien despite my husband informing them that Ambien requires a separate test. So, again another big lie and favoritism.
9. Ambien has to be tested within few hours to test positive in blood, and within 72 hours in urine, and 3-5 weeks in hair but NONE were done! How does that exclude Adam Shacknai?
10. The detectives lied to us that the t-shirt was wrapped around her neck and the rope was on top to protect damage to the neck when in fact the rope was directly on her neck and the t-shirt was tied over it with her hair all tangled up in the knot. Another lie!!!
11. Det. Tsuida and ME Lucas told us in our home that Rebecca tied herself up and sat on the balcony then went feet first to her death, but the story changed at the press conference that she went headfirst. Another of many lies!!!.
12. Adam Shacknai said on his 911 call that "a girl hung herself in the guest house" but the guest house was never properly processed. The suspect told SDSD where it happened, and it was not even considered as the crime scene.
13. Rebecca’s cell phone was accessed while in custody of SDSD. There was a remote download of a total 21,107KB of data transfer and wiped her phone including all her updated contacts. Someone in your department had to physically charge/plug her phone for this to happen. We might be poor, and come from a third-world country, but we are not stupid.
14. There were 2 calls made to her voicemail while it was in SDSD custody. The first call was on 8/15/2011 that lasted 1 min, the second call was on 8/16/2011 that lasted 3 minutes. The question arises, did the detectives delete the voicemail? Was there even a voicemail? Was it retrievable? Why was her phone not forensically downloaded in a timely manner?
15. Jonah Shacknai gave two different statements about the voicemail he left (it's recorded during his interviews but never caught by the detectives. Jonah actually had several story changes in the SDSD recordings, you should listen to them). Or was it ignored because Rebecca's life mattered less?
16. We have been told the voicemail was deleted. How do the detectives know it was deleted? How can anyone even prove that there was a voicemail? Jonah gave two different statements on what he said on the voicemail that no one ever heard. I was told the voicemail was deleted from day one but the search warrant for Jonah's phone was not even written until August 24th. The detectives take Jonah Shacknai's word as the word of God? That proves to be the case as we find repeatedly that the investigation was catered to Jonah Shacknai's input and information when it should have been about Rebecca.
17. When a forensic exam was finally done on Rebecca's phone, the data and information was incorrect. It was old data such as old numbers that didn't exist anymore or used by the people she was still talking to right up to the night of her murder. Example, my number was an old incorrect one, my husband's number was not even there, and our parent's number was an old one from Germany. Where did the data go? Who would gain from data being missing? There was incriminating evidence on her phone and SDSD personnel purposefully allowed remote access. Someone in that department had to charge her phone and leave it on to allow the massive data to be remotely transferred and deleted.
18. Det. Tsuida told us that after 30 days there was no way of getting the voicemail back. She was aware of this; why did she not get it before 30 days? She waited on purpose to benefit Jonah Shacknai. If there was such a voicemail that would incriminate Rebecca, it would not only have been saved but extracted and publicized to humiliate her. SDSD publicized everything else without notification or permission of the family. Again, this shows her life mattered less!!!!!
19. Why were Jonah Shacknai's phones never collected for evidence and examined for call logs? After all, he claimed that he left such a voicemail that supposedly set everything in motion. Clearly shows he is more important than an Asian woman who didn’t have any social status. If Jonah Shacknai was the victim, I can guarantee you it would not have been handled this way.
20. There was never a search warrant for Rebecca's cell phone records? The detectives report has a call log and we are not sure where it came from since it is not the same as her cell records from AT&T. Did the detectives make up the log per direction of Jonah Shacknai or William Gore? As far as we know anything SDSD has told us and the public has been all a lie.
21. After leaving multiple messages for Det. Tsuida to call me in hopes that I can give history, she finally returned my call on 8/17/11. I will never forget that conversation. I was arguing with Tsuida that Rebecca's personal belonging should be coming to me or my parents and not Jonah Shacknai. She went ahead and mailed them to him and Jonah Shacknai mailed them to me after he rummaged through them and took what he wanted. Legally we all know that is not how it works, they were not married and he had no legal rights to anything of hers, or anything about her, or about her death investigation.
22. We and the public were told that they had a paint receipt for the paint used on the door. If you look at the receipt up close it is for "gallons of latex wall paint" and not for the tube of acrylic black paint left at the crime scene. If they lied to us about this what other lies are still buried behind the facade of their "thorough and comprehensive investigation?" they bragged about. This announcement was no mistake but done on purpose to make my sister look bad and set the stage for their suicide story.
23. They claimed that the acrylic tube was used by my sister, but her thumb print was on the lid of the acrylic paint tube which was found with the lid open at the crime scene but the tube had no other prints on it. Look at crime scene photo. And they omitted that my sister painted and had used these paints and touched paint tubes throughout the summer.
24. What made Det. Tsuida go to that "witchcraft book" on the bookshelf among all other books and items? She did not bother commenting about other relevant history on Rebecca but commented on this book in her report. It is not a coincidence that Rebecca's fingerprint was on that book but no other books or the paint brush found at the crime scene. It screams "staged crime scene"!!!. Nothing in her history shows that ever!! Did anyone bother doing background on types of books she read and bought? I was never asked and neither were her friends. If Det. Tsuida bothered to talk to me, I could have told her that Rebecca had mentioned Jonah was into having negatives and positives in the same room/house. He also had issues with temper and outbursts.
25. We had no choice but consent to a second autopsy because we knew SDSO handled the case in so many questionable ways and crossed too many ethical lines. The second autopsy revealed that her throat and brain were missing! My parents or family were never notified. There is no documentation that these body parts were being removed, discarded, or sent for testing. I want to know where Rebecca's throat and brain are, and I want them back!!! After almost 8 years and as we uncover more and more deception, lies, and malfeasance, the real question is who would benefit from these body parts missing? If there were fractures to prove hanging and if the brain injury was insignificant from three different blows to the head, the SDSD and Shacknais would have been broadcasting it and most likely display photos to the public.
26. We made them aware again on 12/7/18 prior to their press conference about her missing throat and brain but no one has done anything about it. The newly assigned investigating team agreed that analyzing the brain and throat would help in determination of her death, but no one has contacted me as of 5/31/2019 as to the whereabouts of her missing body parts.
27. Jonah Shacknai spoke to my husband on multiple occasions that he should not let me view the body and should convince me to cremate my sister. We thought that was very odd request at the time and told SDSO about it. They ignored it as they did everything else.
28. Jonah Shacknai in his deposition confirmed that he had multiple personal calls with William Gore discussing stock market prices. What does this mean? That money is more important than my sister's life? Where is William Gore's report stating the details of these conversations?
29. My sister's murder is in the way of Jonah and his financial world. The investigating sheriff to be a part of a conversation like this and then "rule her murder a suicide" screams prejudice, unethical, unprofessional, and racism. He allowed his department to handle my sister's body and case worse than someone would treat a dead animal!!!
30. After we won the civil trial April 4th 2018, Sheriff William Gore announced, under campaign pressure, he would reopen Rebecca's case and review the findings. Gore did reopen the case and collected a DNA sample from a witness to have it tested and interviewed her.
31. William Gore also called Jonah personally and informed him of updates on the case just as he did back in 2011. Gore claimed it was about getting information. He is lying because his timeline is wrong. He did this without his investigating team knowing. Does anyone else see that this is so wrong and unethical in so many ways?
I have listed adequate reasons to open an internal investigation on William Gore, the medical examiner Lucas, and the detectives mentioned above. SDSD has displayed racism, unprofessional conduct, deception, and unethical decisions and actions towards my sister Rebecca and her family. As a result SDSD has denied my sister due process. I am requesting that another agency be brought in for accountability to investigate these individuals. I do not trust William Gore because he has been manipulated and compromised by Jonah Shacknai and he will find ways to influence the internal investigation in a way to benefit himself. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I will fully cooperate and provide any and all materials that you request from me.
Mary Zahau-Loehner (Rebecca Zahau's sister and voice)
Last edited by a moderator:
