7.19.2011

Spreckels mansion murder update

Last week we established that Jonah Shacknai's ex-wife Dina had both the motive and the means to have Rebecca Zahau killed.

Now we learn that she had the temper, too. Union-Tribune:

In the 2009 conflict, Dina Shacknai said that he elbowed her in the right breast and cursed at her as he tried to drive a car away from the house they had shared.

Jonah Shacknai told police that he did not hit her and that Dina tried to yank his car keys out of the ignition while repeatedly yelling, “You cannot leave me!”

The Paradise Valley police reports, which apparently led to no arrests or charges, paint a picture of a couple at bitter odds as they went through a protracted divorce.

In a 2008 incident, Jonah Shacknai told police that Dina attempted to choke him. The family German Shepherd was so agitated by the conflict that it bit her.

According to the police report, Dina told an officer that her husband had never physically struck her, but that the dog had a history of biting her in the midst of their arguments.

I wouldn't want to be on her bad side.

UPDATE: Oh, yeah, we're on to something here. "Someone" who is not Jonah Shacknai, hired former DA Paul Pfingst (coincidentally the disgraced hack of the Stephanie Crowe case) as a defense lawyer.

Wednesday evening, former District Attorney and current defense attorney Paul Pfingst showed up at the crime scene. Pfingst confirmed to News 8 that he had been hired to represent someone connected with this case, although he would not specify who his client is.

"I'm not Jonah's lawyer. I've never spoke with him. As far as I know he's not a suspect of any type," Pfingst said in a statement.

2 comments:

Dean said...

Since they both were in AZ at the time, do you think it was a hit?

W.C. Varones said...

Where did you hear they were in AZ?

I thought they were at Rady Hospital at their son's bedside.

Either way, though, yeah, I think it was a hit. Only the little people do their own wet work.

Happy Super Tuesday!