SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) — The attorney representing the family of Rebecca Zahau removed two sisters from a civil lawsuit filed after Zahau's death.
"I still don't understand why this went on for so long," said Dina Shacknai. "Today as I sit here I still have questions why it took so long to be exonerated."
Video evidence from Rady Children's Hospital shows Dina Shacknai at her son's bedside around the time of Zahau's death.
A witness backed up Dina's sister Nina Romano's claims she was never inside the home.
Zahau was found dead inside a Coronado mansion in 2011.
She was hanging naked from a balcony with her feet bound, hands tied behind her back and a gag in her mouth.
Police ruled it a suicide.
Her death came days after her boyfriend's son was critically injured after falling down a flight of stairs and eventually passed away.
Zahau's family doesn't think she took her own life and filed a civil suit, which forced the release of much of the evidence collected by police.
"I don't think they ever intentionally set out to say, 'we're going to go after them and ruin their lives.' No, who would do that?" said Nina Romano. "They lost a daughter so it they're in mourning, they're in grief as well. So in a weird way it's like, I don't take it personal because I don't think it was personal. They were desperate for answers. They did this to get those answers."
Now attention turns to Adam Shacknai - the brother of Zahau's boyfriend.
He was the only person home at the time and claimed he didn't hear anything.
Still there's no evidence anyone else was ever in the room with Zahau.
"I think it's possible there were other people involved that we don't know about and it's the job of investigators, Department of Justice, crime task unit and other agencies to look at that because I don't think they ever did," said Dina Shacknai.
The case is scheduled to go to trial in February.
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