Serialously with Annie Elise
Bound, Tied & Gagged: What Really Happened Inside This Mansion?
09 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Authorities say she committed suicide, but her family says the evidence actually points to a murder. Despite the Sheriff's Department findings, there will always be people who believe you are a cold-blooded killer.
Spreckles Mansion is a 13,000 square foot oceanfront property right in the city of Coronado, California. And if you were looking at photos of this 27-room mansion, a few different words might come to mind. Wealth, success, prosperity, living the good life. And the truth is, you could say the same thing about the people living there.
From the outside looking in, Rebecca Zahal had everything that she could ever want. She was in a very happy relationship with her boyfriend of two years, a 54-year-old pharmaceutical mogul and multi-multi-millionaire named Jonah Shackney. The two of them were in love. They were happy. It was early in the morning on July 13th, 2011. The mansion was quiet, which wasn't too unusual for that time.
It was around 6 30 a.m., but what was unusual was the emptiness of the mansion. Jonah, who owned the home, was gone due to a family emergency. None of the kids were home either, so it was very quiet and very empty. Rebecca was practically all alone in this big, sprawling, 13,000 square foot mansion, which I guess technically she wasn't all alone.
Jonah's brother Adam had come into town and he was staying in the guest house, which is on the property but right behind the main house. So that morning when Adam got up, he threw on some clothes, he walked out of the guest house, and he headed to the main house to make some coffee for himself. But the morning that he originally had planned on having would never come.
As soon as he reached the courtyard, which was this landscaped area in between the guest house and the main house, he saw Rebecca. He saw her body hanging from a second floor balcony, directly facing him. And everything that happened next was a complete blurb.
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Chapter 2: What mysterious events occurred in Spreckles Mansion?
But was her death actually self-inflicted? Because the more that the investigators looked into it, the more that they weren't so sure. First off, she wasn't wearing what Adam had last seen her in before heading to bed the night before. And I'm not talking about being in her pajamas. I'm talking about she wasn't wearing any clothing. She was completely naked.
Second, there was the fact that her feet were bound together at the ankles and her hands were also bound together at the wrists, but they were bound behind her back. Now, another thing that didn't make sense is the investigators also noted the way that her hands and feet had been tied because they were tied by two very specific knots that are commonly used in a nautical setting.
But that's not even all of the weird stuff, and I don't want to get too caught up in all of that, because another weird thing is that Adam told the investigators that when he pulled Rebecca's body down, she had been gassed. Specifically, some kind of blue cloth had been stuffed inside her mouth.
Now, as if all of that isn't wild enough, there was one more thing that had the investigators completely baffled.
Chapter 3: Who was Rebecca Zahau and what was her life like?
On the second floor, there was the room with the balcony where Rebecca was hanging from. And on the outside of that bedroom door, the side that would be facing the hallway, there was a very strange and ominous message. It said, quote, she saved him. Can you save her? So all of that to say something or really multiple things were just off from the jump in this case.
This didn't really look like somebody who took their own life. Had Rebecca done this to herself? Or had someone killed her and then tried to make her death look like an accident, look self-inflicted? Hey, true crime besties, that was a sneak peek of an all-new episode that is out right now over on my second podcast, 10 to Life. It's totally free. It's available wherever you get your podcasts.
Just search in Spotify or Apple 1010 to life and you can listen to that episode in its entirety right now. We also have a ton of new episodes over there for you to listen to. If you haven't yet, we put out new episodes every single Tuesday. So head on over, go listen. And that case is definitely wild. I am very curious to hear what you guys think about it.
Again, that's 10 to Life on all podcast platforms, and I will also link it for you in the show notes.
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Chapter 4: What happened on the morning of July 13, 2011?
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