 The 6-year-old son of a prominent pharmaceutical executive was likely assaulted and then sent plunging to his death over a balcony inside his father's San Diego mansion last year, according to a report by two medical experts. The new report concludes that Max Shacknai, son of Medicis Pharmaceuticals chief Jonah Shacknai, was the victim of a homicide -- not an accident, as authorities had ruled in the July 2011 death inside Shacknai's historic San Diego Bay mansion. - Dr. Judy Melinek 
 
 "It's shocking and horrifying for me," said the boy's mother, Dina Shacknai, who is calling on the Coronado Police Department to reopen their probe into his death. “When I started this process all I knew is that I wanted the truth, wherever that led, like any parent would.” 
 
 Forensic pathologist Dr. Judy Melinek contributed to the independent investigation, calling the classification of Max’s death "inaccurate." Max died at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego four days after Zahau was found hanging at the home and a week after his fall from the balcony. A report by the San Diego County medical examiner's office ruled that the manner of his death was accidental. “It would be more accurate to certify that manner as a homicide, where homicide is defined as death at the hands of another,” Melinek said in the statement. “It’s important that his story be told, because this could happen to anyone’s child.” 
 
 A police department spokeswoman said authorities will study the new challenge to their investigation.
– The bizarre death of a California boy who suffered fatal injuries days before his dad's live-in girlfriend was found hanged last year was a homicide, forensics experts have declared. The death of Max Shacknai, 6, raised suspicions. But San Diego County investigators determined it was accidental, and that Max suffered a major head injury after he fell over a railing and down the stairs while he was home alone with the girlfriend of his multimillionaire dad, Jonah Shacknai. Two days later, Shacknai's girlfriend, Rebecca Zahau, was found hanged, nude, in the same Coronado mansion, her hands and feet bound. Her death was declared a suicide. But Max's suspicious mom hired San Francisco-based forensics pathologist Dr. Judy Melinek and injury biomechanics expert Dr. Robert Bove to review the case, reports NBC. Both concluded that Max was likely beaten, and then was either forced over the railing, or jumped or fell during a desperate attempt to escape his assailant. "I can't imagine anyone in the world wanting to harm Maxie," Dina told Fox News. "He was the most sweet, loving and gentle boy." Now she's calling for the case to be reopened. "Even though nothing will bring my only child, Maxie, back, I owe it to him, as his mother, to make sure the true facts of his death are known." Police are examining Melinek's findings. Zahau's parents, backed by Jonah Shacknai, called last year on police and state officials to reexamine her death.