CEO's Son Dies After Fall in Mansion

Max Shacknai 'was unable to recover from the injuries suffered early last week'
By Sarah Whitmire,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 18, 2011 1:14 PM CDT
Jonah Shacknai Dies: CEO's Son Fell in Historic CA Mansion, Same Week as Rebecca Nalepa's Suicide
This photo family released on Sunday, July 17, 2011 shows his 6-year-old Max Shacknai.   ((AP Photo/Family Photo))

A sad update in an odd pair of tragedies: The 6-year-old son of a pharmaceutical CEO Jonah Shacknai died yesterday, six days after he fell down a flight of stairs at Shacknai's 27-room California mansion, the Arizona Republic reports. Max was not breathing and had no pulse when paramedics arrived at the scene; area TV stations had reported he was brain dead and on life support. In a statement issued today by Shacknai and his ex-wife, the pair "convey the tragic passing of our beloved son, Max (affectionately known as Maxie)."

Just two days after Max's accident, Shacknai’s girlfriend, Rebecca Nalepa, was found dead in the same home, nude and hanging from a rope with her hands and feet bound. The paper reports that homicide detectives have called that scene suspicious and bizarre. Rumors of the boy's death in the community sprang up over the weekend as multiple TV stations caught wind of a Facebook post by Shacknai's 14-year-old daughter mourning the loss of her little brother. Shacknai is the CEO of Arizona-based Medicis Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures the facial wrinkle treatment Restylane. (More California stories.)

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