In order to better understand the legal merits of the evidence and conclusions presented by San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore, the Homicide Detail, and the County Medical Examiner (ME), who announced their finding on Friday, September 2, 2011 that the death of Rebecca Zahau was officially classified as a suicide, resulting in their agency closing the investigation into her death, we conducted an interview with Ms. Anne Bremner, a trial lawyer, media consultant, and legal analyst with the Seattle, WA firm of Stafford Frey Cooper, founded over 100 years ago in 1905.
Ms. Bremner provided critical new information, including the content of the message allegedly painted by Ms. Zahau on her bedroom door, prior to her death.
We spoke with Ms. Bremner via an extended telephone interview on Friday, September 2, 2011 from 7:00 to 7:38 p.m. PDT. Her responses are given below in bold face type. A video clip and slide show also accompany this report.
Good evening Ms. Bremner. It's an honor to have this opportunity to talk with you. I've read your impressive qualifications, background, and legal representations, including those on behalf of Amanda Knox, who is being held on a murder conviction in an Italian prison. I'm hopeful you can bring some balance and clarity to my readers in the Rebecca Zahau case.
To begin, how did you become involved in this matter?
"I was contacted by the Zahau family and their retained my services."
Were you given access to the findings and conclusions of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, the lead law enforcement agency, who were charged with investigating Ms. Zahau's death under suspicious circumstances, which occurred at the Spreckels Mansion, owned by Jonah Shacknai, on Wednesday, July 13, 2011?
"Yes. I took part in a telephonic conference two days ago, on Wednesday, August 31, with representatives from that agency and members of the Zahau family. I was in New York on legal matters, and took the call there."
Who else was briefed by the Sheriff's investigators?
"Rebecca's sister Mary Zahau-Loehner and her husband Doug were in their home near Saint Joseph, MO, along with another sister, Snowen, who is living in Germany, and her ex-husband Neil Nalepa, who is currently living in California."
You have previously been quoted in media reports as having characterized the police findings of suicide as "ridiculous", adding that it "doesn't pass the smell test." Please explain those statements.
"There has never previously been a reported case of suicide though hanging by a naked woman. Statistically, this incident is a complete anomaly. It cannot be supported beyond a reasonable doubt. There is no evidence to support that conclusion.
Those conclusions are based on erroneous assumptions. Within two days after Rebecca's death, the police were already fixed on suicide. They failed to eliminate others as potential causes in her death, bringing about a rush to judgment, based upon false assumptions."
Is that the view of Ms. Zahau's family as well?
"Absolutely. They are united in their opposition to that conclusion, which has added more trauma to an already tragic loss."
I can understand such feelings, and lack of closure. What would be the Zahau's family first priority?
"They want the truth. To get at that, they want to see the case reopened, and vigorously pursued by independent, qualified, unbiased investigators. They want answers to many issues that were given only passing attention. To those ends, they are not alone. There is momentum and outrage building from criminal profilers, forensic psychiatrists, other experts, and citizen emails."
Please tell me why they feel so strongly that this was not a suicide.
"Rebecca had no prior history of depression, or suicidal ideation. There is no family history of depression, or other psychological issues. Investigators used the excuse of not releasing the contents of the so-called 'message' painted on her bedroom door as wanting to protect the privacy of the Zahau family, yet they reached their conclusions without objectivity, consulting only once with the family, never asking for an exemplar of Rebecca's printed handwriting, producing and releasing a video showing a woman of similar body structure tying her own hands, and placing them behind her back, and other distressing, 'contrived' evidence, adding more trauma to the Zahau family.
In fact, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department also did not consult with forensic psychiatrists, or call in graphologists, or other handwriting experts. Instead, they came up with a bizarre scenario, tailored their findings to justify a predetermined conclusion, gave little notice to the Zahau family, ignored my own written pleading to not close their investigation, and went forward to present their flawed scenario in a Friday media briefing, just before a long three day weekend."
What does that tell you about their intentions?
"To me it says that they want this case to go away. For whatever reasons, they want to be clear of it. They want the press and the public to stop asking questions, and to forget about it."
Let me go back to the message painted on the bedroom door. Can you tell me what it said?
"Yes. It was just seven words. 'She saved him. Can he save her?' That was all."
How did the family interpret it?
"It's not her printing. Even printed letters have unique forms and structure. Rebecca would sign paintings with printed messages. They looked nothing like the letters and words of this message. She would print notes to family and friends. The Zahau family have completely dismissed any significance of that message, except to be certain that Rebecca didn't write it. Again, they were disturbed that there was no handwriting analysis, or further investigation."
The police tried to present a voice mail message which Ms. Zahau was alleged to have received on her cell phone on Wednesday morning, July 13, at 12:50 a.m. PDT allegedly telling her that Maxie had taken a turn for the worse and was unlikely to survive, which was characterized as a tipping point, sending her into a final downward spiral, and ending in her decision, for whatever reasons, to kill herself. Can you address that theory?
"Of course. First of all there was no evidence of a voice mail message. It had been erased. It may be possible, if it ever existed, to reconstruct it. Rebecca was very close with her sisters. She would have called one of them, or someone else. The time difference was 9 hours later in Germany, where her sister Snowen resides, just before 10:00 a.m. over there. She would have shared the troubling news. That's more probable than searching a garage for marine rope, and carrying out a bizarre suicide."
How do you intend to proceed to get at the truth?
"I am going to cite points and authorities of law and formally try to convince the San Diego County Sheriff's Department to reopen the investigation. We also have our own investigators. If necessary, we will petition the California Attorney General, Kamala Harris, to appoint an independent and unbiased investigator. There is also the option of intervention by the U.S. Department of Justice, which has to be further researched."
Is a wrongful death civil lawsuit also an option, as followed the trial of O. J. Simpson, after his acquittal in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman?
"It is premature to even think about a wrongful death lawsuit at this point."
What is your personal opinion, Ms. Bremner, as to what actually happened?
"It is not our job to determine guilt or innocence, or to point fingers at anyone. That is the responsibility of law enforcement. But personally I think that the suicide of Rebecca Zahau was staged, and that it involved rage and planning. There is precedent for such deceptions. The so-called Green Beret murders, involving Dr. Jeffrey R. MacDonald is but one example. She may have died elsewhere in the mansion, and her body moved and suspended, which is more plausible than the official findings.
Seven weeks does not constitute an exhaustive investigation. It is nothing. What's the rush? Some cases take months, even years or lifetimes to research, and successfully prosecute."
Has what you characterize as a "rush to judgment" destroyed any possible future disposition of this case?
"It hasn't helped. It is almost like giving someone a free 'get out of jail' card. Any person who is accused of being involved in this matter in the future, can use the fact that the San Diego County Medical Examiner has previously called Ms. Zahau's death a suicide and invoke reasonable doubt in juror's minds."
How has the closing of this case, calling it a suicide, personally affected you and your beliefs in the judicial system?
"It has disillusioned me. I never used to think that there was a different standard of justice for those of wealth."
Thank you Ms. Bremner for your thoughts and insights. It has been a great privilege to talk with you. I hope I can call upon your expertise again in the future.
"You're very welcome. Please do. I also enjoyed talking with you."
As in reporting other newsworthy events, we always strive to be fair, accurate, and balanced in presenting facts, and labeling opinion. We have great confidence that our readers can determine the truth, and reach their own conclusions.
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