determined would be distraught, if you think of a six-year old boy falling down the stairs and jonah shacknai has returned to arizona and he and ex-wife have hired a p.r. firm so we have not heard, yet, from him, other than a state after the young boy died. after this point, officials say everybody is cooperating and they are taking their time to make sure they get it right. >> thank you, adam. republicans and democrats cannot seem to agree on how or even whether to raise the debt ceiling, but business leaders are coming down pretty solidly on one side. coming up next, why they are saying, get it done. plus, george and cindy anthony skipping town. are they going to have a visit with their daughter, casey? every day, all around the world, energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring tec

>>shepard: what do we know over the police contacts with jonah shacknai.>guest: he is preparing, apparently, for one funeral, and, then, a secondary funeral, as well, but ... i think he so far is acting appropriately and i am sure there they will be in close contact with the police department. they have very competent investigators who will take their time and try to piece this whole thing together. >>shepard: it is a story we will follow, the tragic death of a little boy and the hanging death of a girlfriends in a very well protected community where stuff like this frankly just does not happen. thank you, rick, from san diego, rather, from los angeles this afternoon, thank you. a computer expert testified during the casey anthony murder trial now is denying the report that he criticized how the prosecution handled evidence. specifically, the google search on the home computer. remember the searches for chloroform, reports of dozens and dozens of searches? "new york times" quoted the expert saying he told prosecutors of a problem with the software that mad

. >> pharmaceutical company ceo jonah shacknai is max's father, and the woman's millionaire boyfriende injuries. shacknai says he was not there when the woman died and what happened to her is still a mystery. >> in this case suicide and homicide at times can look very, very similar and it is important to take your time and process that evidence and usually the evidence will solve the mystery. >> but zahel's sister is telling people she doesn't believe rebecca would take her own life and told a cnn affiliate my sister was not depressed. my sister was not frantic. my sister was planning to call my parents the next day and planning to keep me posted about max, the next day. it's a sentiment other people who knew the victim also tell cnn. more than 15 detectives are working on the case, and officials say they are taking the accounts of people who knew her very seriously. as for max's death, police are preliminarily calling it an accident but say it's definitely part of the equation when considering zahel. >> anytime there is a death, we look at victimology. what happened days before, week

adam shacknai is the brother -- his brother is rebecca zahau's boyfriend, jonah shacknai. multimillion dollar cosmetic company based out of arizona so investigators say he was not here during the time of that incident. one might think that he was at his son's hospital bedside. as you mentioned, there was an accident here that is unrelated to this where his 6-year-old son fell down a flight of stairs and was killed, apparently over the weekend he was pronounced dead. that information has just come to light. but police say there is no ruling of death, no death for jonah shacknai's 32-year-old girlfriend, rebecca zahau. that is still part of this investigation. >> miguel almaguer in coronado, california, for us. thanks so much. >>> there's a new study on the u.s. sex industry and the customers who keep it such a booming business. new data reveals that for every john that's arrested, as many as 50 prostitutes are put behind bars. most men who buy sex likely don't realize the horrible reality that the women that they're paying are often victims of human trafficking. joining me

>> she was found reportedly around 6:30 in the morning on wednesday by jonah shacknai's brother adam sheriff's department says they've been very cooperative so far. >> jonah shacknai is a guy who would pick up the phone and call his clients, like thousands of clients each and every year to wish them happy birthday. >> yeah. he's kind of an unusual figure in that industry in that he likes to maintain a personal touch with his customers, that help sell the products he pitches. he'll make something like 1,500 calls a year saying are you happy with the republic, happy birthday that kind of thing. >> what about folks in the neighborhood, did they report seeing anything? >> no, and it's not a tight knit neighborhood at all. it's extremely wealthy neighborhood. it's facing the ocean. a series of very gorgeous manors. the folks i talked to said they didn't have any clue there were any kinds of problems there at all. >> thank you. so far, no arrests, no words of suspects in this case. we are. >> going to keep watching this one for you. hugo chavez is resisting calls to hand over presidential

the home belongs to millionaire businessman jonah shacknai who wasn't home. even more bizarre, his 6-year-old son fell down a flight of stairs two days earlier and later died from the injuries he suffered. >> this is a very bizarre death. there's roughly 200 years of experience in the sheriff's homicide unit. they all agree, this is a very unusual circumstance. >> as of right now, detectives don't think there is a connection between the two deaths. >>> now to the ongoing fight over the debt ceiling. while president obama and congressional lawmakers work to achieve a deal here, a new poll shows many americans are fed up, if not just not pleased with how they're handling this dooming debt crisis. a "usa today" gallup poll shows half of those surveyed say the president and current congress are doing a worse job than their predecessors. four in ten people call the situation the worst they've seen in their lifetimes. at least 66% accuse lawmakers on both sides of the aisle of putting their own political interests first. and half the people say the president is loo

jonah shacknai was not home during any of these events. brother is the one who found the woman hanging. we are learning that shacknai has been married twice before. a couple of 911 phone calls were made from the house to the authorities. they won't tell us exactly what those calls were about. we expect to get that information some time later today, as soon as we get it we will give it to you, because clearly a lot more questions than answers right now in what is becoming a very bizarre case just outside of san diego. alisyn: how mysterious, trace gallagher, thanks so much. we'll look forward to that update. with less than five days in the president's deadline on the debt debate several gop law makers are defending against attacks that their threat to hold the line against tax increases is unreasonable. >> what i think the american people keep saying is you were elected to do something, to come together to make compromises and make government work, and why isn't that a message that you hear. >> compromise always means increasing taxes today,

jonah shacknai the father and boyfriend has gone back to arizona to make funeral arrangements for hisoung son. once again investigators are telling us that every single person they've spoken to who they believe was at that mansion at this point is cooperating and they are not yet ready to determine what happened to the girlfriend rebecca. jon. jon: very strange story and very stad. adasad. adam housley, yes. jenna: we are getting word on nasa's next big mission. next time, guess what? we are going to mars. why and what we're looking for just ahead. ♪ don't stop believing hold onto that feeling. ♪ jenna: nasa's 30-year space shuttle program is now over. astronauts completing their commission landing for the final time at the kennedy space center. up next for nasa, there is a next step, a journey to mars. the space agency getting ready to launch the rover curiosity to the red planet. tomorrow nasa will announce the landing site. dr.~michio kaku a physics professor at the university of new york is here with us to talk a little bit about more about this. where is the rover going. >> repor

>>guest: it is a grizzly tragic story and this gentleman -- jonah shacknai is well-known and he had to hire a public relations firm. you it is the client down and you say, what did you do? when did you learn about this? what is your background? there are rumors flying around. you try to determine the truth the because like in your case or in my case all you have is your reputation. so, you have to try to get to the truths. and then you have to be aggressive with the media and the firm he hired is well experienced firm, an aggressive firm, and that is what they will try to do. >>shepard: what have they continue so far? >>guest: well, they are learning the facts. what has happen sod far, you don't know. if you are a public relations person you survey not background. that is the point. what has come out now, is that shacknai was devoted to his son. he doubted on his son. he was devoted to the give. he lived with the girlfriend for they years. in other words what started to come out is this man who is a well-known man, seems to be fine, seems to be all the things you would think are presen

that is her boyfriend, jonah shacknai.is brother is the one would found her and cut her down but police right now are saying that there are no suspects. there are only witnesses. >> but the husband what do we know about his stormy second marriage? >>trace: his marriage, the parents of the six-year-old who thyed and they lived in arizona. though called 911 on three occasions alleging each other, each of them, was abusing the other. but, his ex-wife wrote a letter to police that read in part and i quote, "jonah is the c.e.o. of a very large farm suit -- pharmaceutical corporation and i am scared of what he is scrapable of doing do me physically as well as the lend he would go do try and destroy me in any way he was able to do so." and jonah wrote a letter a year later "i have never been in significant physical danger i have been assaulted physically several times by my wife and it was never my intention to file former charges." they now say they is all water under the bridge and none of this matters for the current case. but

the investigators say that the man who called 911 is the brother of jonah shacknai who owns the home d rebecca's boyfriend, and he was not here in the incident and two days prior to the death of her, jonah's son, 6-year-old max fell down a flight of stairs here and died over the weekend according to his parents who released a statement yesterday. but investigators say that they don't believe that the deaths are connected. they say with the female's death, it is not ruled a homicide or suicide and investigators say when they arrived on scene here, they found suspicious items in the house and they have not released many details and their investigation continues today, tamron. >> and what is the little boy's mother saying if anything at this point, miguel, as we stated it was the father's girlfriend and the son, but what is the biological mother saying? >> well, together they say that they were grieving and they have asked for privacy so they did not release any details the about their son's death or about the death investigation that is happening here at the house. so certainly many of

she was found bound and hanging at the home of jonah shacknai.ays after his six-year-old son fell down the stairs at the mansion. max died of his injuries on sunday and we hear the autopsy roults for the woman could be back soon. rod wheeler a former d.c. homicide detective and a fox news contributor is here to sort out the details with us. >> good morning, heather. heather: good morning. the sister says she does not believe this was suicide. do you agree? heather: yes, i totally agree with the sister. here is the reason that the sister said that she does not believe this was suicide, heather. i think this is very important for the viewers to understand. the sister had a telephone conversation with r rebecca the might before rebecca allegedly hung herself, and according to the sister there was no indication whatsoever that rebecca was experiencing any kind of depression. she wasn't disrespondent. there was no reason whatsoever. so that is something that definitely the police department, the investigators are going to have to consider. there was n

the first, a 6-year-old boy, son of pharmaceutical executive jonah shacknai. died over the weekend after falling down the stairs six days earlier. the second just two days after max's fall, jonah's girlfriend rebecca was found hanging off a balcony at the home naked with her hands and her feet bound. now investigators have said they believe the little boy's fall was an accident. but they are investigating whether the two deaths are possibly linked. joining me now, forensic psychologist dr. chris mahandy. thanks for coming on to help us break this down a bit. i know you're not directly involved in this case, but i want to ask you what you think investigators are doing right now to try and figure out what happened, at least to rebecca, the woman. >> well, in any death situation they're going to be looking at one of four possibilities. is it natural? is it an accident? is it suicide or homicide, what we call nash. the more likely they're going to be focusing in on evidence to support or refute whether it's a suicide or some sort of homicide. so right now they're

two separate tragedies in the sprawling 27-room mansion owned by jonah shacknai.ear-old multimillionaire ceo of medicis pharmaceutical, the company behind botox competitor restylane. they were spending the summer here. last monday zahau was home when max had an accident. on a master staircase. paramedics went to the scene. >> they found the child at the foot of the stairs, the child was not breathing and did not have a pulse. >> reporter: max was revivived d hospitalized. just two days later zahau was discovered hanging by a noose from the second floor balcony at the mansion, found naked, wrists and ankles bound. shacknai wasn't home. his brother found her r dy and called police. investigigors took evidence from the home but are still piecing together what happened. not sure yet if she was killll or if she killed herself. >> sometimes people commit suicide and they do very unusual things and we're wide open to all possibilities. >> reporter: but zahau's sister tells abc news rebecca wouldn't take her own life saying she was a beautiful, vibrant, loving and kind pe

jonah shacknai has had no comment about his girlfriend's death. investigators say forensic evidence will be key to solving this mystery, they say it will take weeks to come back. they have asked the public to be cautious during their investigation. ann, back to you. >> miguel, thank you. >>> coming up, we're going to switch gears and ask this question -- what's sarah palin doing working as a lifeguard in texas?we're going to explain. >>> coming up next, can you really cook an egg on the sidewalk in this heat or bake cookie on a dashboard? crazy ways to have a little fun in the heat. that's coming up right after this. my contacts are so annoying. they're itchy, dry and uncomfortable. i can't wait to take 'em out, throw 'em away and never see them again. [ male announcer ] know the feeling? get the contacts you've got to see to believe. acuvue® oasys brand contact lenses with hydraclear® plus technology, keeping your eyes exceptionally comfortable all day long. it feels like it disappeared on my eye. [ male announcer ] discover why it's the brand ey

. >> reporter: arizona police records show a rocky relationship between jonah shacknai and max's motherna with both filing domestic disturbance reports in 2008 and 2009 and a statement was issued monday downplaying the records saying while our marriage did not work out as either of us had hoped, it did produce a wonderful son, max, who both of us loved very much. his loss is unimaginable. local law enforcement officials say they are waiting for what could be the missing pieces to this puzzle, the forensic reports, and that could take a matter of weeks. sandra endo, cnn, coronado, california. >> thank you, sandra. >>> coming up, remember that cute little kid who played the mini darth saidner this super bowl ad? his name is max. isn't he adorable? well, he is headed to capitol hill, and we will tell you why coming up next. tion first. for broccoli, say one. for toys, say two. toys ! the system can't process your response at this time. what ? please call back between 8 and 5 central standard time. he's in control. goodbye. even kids know it's wrong to give someone the run around. at ally b

we know the family of the young boy, jonah shacknai is the father he went back to arizona to do funeralrrangements. i asked at this point has anyone caused any problems, they say everyone is cooperating fully. they believe they've contacted everybody at the mansion monday, tuesday and wednesday. the boy fell on monday and she was found hanged on wednesday. they've talked to everyone, they say everyone is cooperating at this hour, they are waiting for the results to come back and the investigation to continue. jenna: hopefully we'll get answers soon. thank you very much for the information. more as we get it of course. rick: when we come back we'll have more on the debt debate and word from president obama at that town hall hearing that he has concluded along with his attorneys at the white house that he does not have the power under the 14th amendment to simply raise the debt limit on his own. more on that. and the latest on the explosion in oslo right near the office of the prime minister. one person dead. the preups we're told is safe, but who is responsiblprime mini. but who is respo

the boy, max shacknai died sunday at a hospital almost a week after falling down the stairs at the mansion on san diego bay. his father, jonahshacknais the executive of a pharmaceutical company. he is divorced from the boy's mother. the death came four days after his girlfriend, rebecca tphal already harebeccanalepa had bee. the boy falling down the stairs seems to be a tragic accident. he was to the breathing and did not have a pulse when paramedics found him. on wednesday rebecca nalepa was found nude with her hands and feet bound from a balcony. it was shacknai's brother adam that called and said she appeared to be death. jonah was not home. they call that death very desar. sheriff's investigators said last week that they have not established any connection between the two deaths. they have not ruled out suicide and have not made any arrests. a bizarre case, jon. jon: very strange and sad all the way around. patti ann, thank you. [singing] jenna: it's hot in the city and certainly hot across this country. 17 states are under extreme heat warnings, and in many places it's been over 100 degrees for days on end. here is an e

but the morning her body was discovered, police say jonah shacknai wasn't home. >> numerous items of >> reporter: adding to the mystery, police say a tragic accident took place here two days before her body was found. monday, jonah's son fell down a flight of stairs. this weekend word came max died. police say zahau may have been the woman had who called 911. >> right now, we don't see any connection between the incidents. >> reporter: no connection, and no word on whether she committed suicide or was murdered in her boyfriend's mansion. another twist, a prominent san  diego defense attorney was seen walking into the mansion behind me, but would not comment. nbc has reached out to the brothers. neither would comment on the story. >> miguel, thank you. >>> and now for a look on what's trending today, our quick roundup of what has you talking online. soccer fans sent a record 7,000 tweets a second during the women's world cup final sunday between the u.s. and japan. japan tied the game at 2 and won with a 3-1 penalty kick shootout. >>> facebook fans are liking the boy wizard box office