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Drug Firm CEO Speaks Out On Deaths Of Son, Girlfriend At SoCal Mansion

SAN DIEGO (CBS) — The owner of a Coronado mansion that was the scene of two death investigations is speaking publicly for the first time.

KNX 1070's Tom Reopelle reports Jonah Shacknai made the statements during a conference call with shareholders in his Scottsdale, Ariz.-based firm Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp.

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"We've obviously had an extraordinarily difficult time, we have undertaken some tragedies, some losses that one couldn't imagine experiencing in a lifetime," said Shacknai.

Shacknai's 6-year-old son Max died after falling down the stairs at his father's historic mansion just two days before his father's girlfriend, Rebecca Nalepa, 32, was found dead hanging nude from a balcony.

Max fell down the stairs at the historic Spreckels mansion in Coronado in what police called a tragic accident. Paramedics said e was not breathing and did not have a pulse when they arrived on the scene.

Sheriff's investigators have not established any connection between the two deaths, and are awaiting toxicology tests to determine if Nalepa's death was suicide.

 

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