The family members of Rebecca Zahau are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Adam Shacknai in the 2011 death at the Coronado mansion.
Adam Shacknai was found liable in the death of Zahau after a civil trial ended in April 2018.
Zahau, 32, was found bound, nude and hanging from a balcony at the Spreckels Mansion in Coronado in 2011. The home belonged to Zahau's boyfriend, Jonah Shacknai, Adam Shacknai's brother.
Adam Shacknai was the last person to see Zahau alive. The family wants leads from anyone who may know something about the night of Rebecca Zahau's death to come forward.
“It’s now time to step up and get the evidence out there so we can compel this sheriff as quickly as possible to reopen the investigation and prosecute Adam Shacknai,” said Zahau family attorney Keith Greer.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department has ruled Zahau's death a suicide.
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Zahau's death came just days after her boyfriend's son, 6-year-old Max Shacknai, took a deadly fall at the mansion, while Zahau was watching the boy.
In November 2018, Adam Shacknai told NBC's "Dateline" he felt the system had "failed" him. He vowed to appeal the verdict in the civil trial.
Adam Shacknai told NBC 7 the insurance company covering his legal exposure had settled with the Zahau family, for $600,000 without his knowledge or involvement.
He told members of the media outside court that his insurance company believed in his innocence but was "tired of throwing money" at his legal defense.
In December 2018, the sheriff's department decided it would not change its initial findings on the case; Zahau's official cause of death would remain a suicide.
The Zahau family considered the decision not to reopen a criminal case "improper and biased."
Rebecca Zahau's sister asked the public to call the sheriff's department and ask that they reopen the case.
"I know she fought the night she died," said Mary Zahau-Loehner. "She left plenty of clues and plenty of evidence that were ignored."
"I refuse to stand down," she added. "I have to fight for the injustice that was done to her."
The family wants anyone with information about the night of Rebecca Zahau's death to call (800) 366-8529.
The family also wants the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office to change its determination of Zahau's manner of death in the case from suicide to homicide.
NBC 7 reached out to SDSO for comment and this is what the department said:
"The Sheriff's Homicide Unit conducted an objective and thorough investigation into Miss Zahau's death. Our investigation was without assumption as to the cause of her death. The facts of that investigation led to the conclusion that Miss Zahau took her own life."
NBC 7 has also reached out to the attorney of Adam Shacknai and have yet to hear back.
Jurors in the wrongful death lawsuit voted 9-3 that Adam Shacknai battered Zahau and that his actions caused her death. They determined Adam Shacknai owed Zahau's mother, Pari Zahau, nearly $5.2 million in damages.
