SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - In a graphic display, a former charter boat captain demonstrated Wednesday how to make the knots found on Rebecca Zahau’s body, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Zahau was discovered bound and hanging from a balcony of the Spreckels Mansion in Coronado in 2011.
While the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office determined the death was a suicide, Zahau’s family believes she was murdered.
The Zahau family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Adam Shacknai, the brother of Rebecca’s boyfriend and the only other person in the home at the time of her death.
Lindsey Philpott used a lifelike mannequin covered with a white sheet to show the overhand and clove hitch knots, which, according to the U-T report, Philpott said were common for nautical uses.
Shacknai works as a tugboat captain.
Philpott said under cross-examination that both knots are simple and widely used, the Union-Tribune reported.
The Zahau wrongful death trial, which was in its fifth day Wednesday, is expected to last four weeks.
