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Tom and Jackie Hawks Killed in Yacht Murder By "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" Actor and His Wife

Skylar Deleon, who appeared on  Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,  tied Tom and Jackie Hawks to the anchor of their yacht and then threw them overboard with the help of his pregnant wife.

Thomas and Jackie Hawks christened their yacht “Well Deserved.” It was a fitting name for a happy and successful seafaring couple whose hard work enabled them to retire early and realize their dream lives in Newport Beach, California.

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But in 2004, the dream turned into a nightmare. They were murdered in what Caitlin Rother — the  author of Dead Reckoning and former San Diego Union-Tribune reporter —  described as the “most unbelievably horrible” way to Oxygen’ s The Real Murders of Orange County ,  streaming now   on Oxygen.com .

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After spending years traveling and living on their 65-foot-boat, Tom Hawks, a 57-year-old bodybuilder and former probation officer with two sons from a previous marriage, and his wife, Jackie, 47, were ready to leave the California coast and get their land legs back. 

Destination: Arizona, where they’d wed in a joyous Hawaiian-themed ceremony years before and now had their first grandchild. In mid-November 2004, they put Well Deserved up for sale and appeared to have found buyers.

But around that time, the Hawkses vanished. They didn’t return calls. Their bank account went untouched , the San Diego Union Tribune reported at the time.

Family and friends wondered if the Hawkses had possibly taken an impromptu voyage as a celebratory last hurrah, but it soon became clear something was amiss. Jim Hawks, a former police chief in nearby Carlsbad and Tom’s older brother, called authorities, according to the outlet . Officers from Carlsbad and Newport Beach police departments got busy on the missing persons case. 

The search began at the couple’s boat, and the discovery of what could have been a bloody partial fingerprint on the Hawks’ yacht gave authorities probable cause to enter the vessel and search for clues. 

No clear evidence emerged, however. Crime Scene Investigation analysis revealed that the suspected partial bloody fingerprint was actually rust. 

How did former  Mighty Morphin Power Rangers  actor Skylar Deleon become a suspect in the yacht murders?

Detectives then turned to Skylar Deleon, 25, and his wife, Jennifer Deleon, 23, who were listed as the buyers of the boat, Well Deserved. Skylar was a former child actor who appeared in the TV series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers  and dabbled in real estate. Jennifer was pregnant with their second child.

Detectives interviewed the couple in Long Beach, where they lived with Jennifer’s parents. They told authorities that they had paid cash — a whopping three quarters of a million dollars — for the yacht. The money had been saved from Skylar’s acting days, they claimed.

Authorities expressed doubts to Skylar about his story, and they were shocked when Deleon admitted that he was actually flush with cash because he was involved in large-scale drug sales — a felony. 

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“He admitted to money laundering,” investigators told producers. However, they decided to table this revelation to focus on the missing persons case.

Three weeks after the Hawkses disappeared, there was suspicious activity on their bank accounts. The people trying to access the money were the Deleons. 

This break in the case became doubly alarming. Investigators learned that Skylar was on probation for armed robbery. Moreover, documents showed that the Hawkses had given durable power of attorney to Skylar, which defied logic. 

Skylar, meanwhile, claimed the Hawkses signed over an all-access pass to their money because he was helping them secure a vacation home in Mexico.  

Careful scrutiny, though, raised a red flag: Jackie’s surname appeared to have been signed as Hawk, not Hawks. Did someone else add the “s”? Was it a subtle signal that Jackie signed under duress? 

Despite their suspicions, the document seemed to be above reproach. It bore the name of a witness — Alonso Machain, a friend of the Deleons — and a notary, Kathleen Harris. When questioned separately, their stories confirmed the transaction was legitimate. 

By mid-December, authorities “were desperate to find” the Hawkses, retired Newport Beach Police Department Det. Sgt. David Byington told producers. 

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After fliers and bulletins were distributed with information about the missing couple’s car, the vehicle was found across the border. 

Detectives recovered the missing couple’s Honda CR-V in Ensenada, Mexico, the Union-Tribune reported in 2004. The person who had the car said it had been a gift from the Deleons. 

“My heart stopped right there,” Byington told producers.

Inspecting the car for evidence became an urgent priority. Skylar had insisted during police interviews that he’d never been in the Hawks’ car. DNA evidence could prove otherwise. 

While awaiting that proof, detectives learned from Skylar’s probation office that the former child actor requested permission to leave the country for work.

Investigators needed to arrest Deleon, and luckily, they had a reason to in their back pocket: his admission of money laundering. They arrested Skylar at his Long Beach residence. Searching the premises, police found personal papers, IDs, videotapes, and a laptop that all belonged to Tom and Jackie Hawks. 

“Any hope the Hawkses were alive died right there,” Byington told producers.

Meanwhile, Deleon’s DNA turned up on a dashboard knob of the Hawks’ car. 

It was potentially a game-changer, but there was still a high hurdle, according to Newport Beach retired Det. Sgt. Mario Montero. “It’s hard to have a murder case when you don’t have any bodies,” he told producers.

There was more digging to do. Detectives re-interviewed Harris, who initially swore she saw Thomas and Jackie Hawks sign a document giving their power of attorney to Skylar Deleon.  Harris eventually admitted that she never laid eyes on Tom and Jackie Hawks. Motivated by making some extra money, Harris had backdated the documents to Nov. 15, 2004, at the Deleons’ request. 

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Investigators then set their sights on Machain, who, they discovered, was in Mexico to elude arrest. Investigators believed that he was the only avenue to find out what happened to the Hawkses, so they took the death penalty off the table and Machain returned to California. 

The Yacht Murders

In early 2005 he related the details of the murder: Machain said he was present when the Hawkses were lured out to sea, forced to sign legal documents, and then tossed overboard chained to an anchor.  

Skylar had sought help from a Long Beach gang member named John F. Kennedy to help physically subdue the burly Tom Hawks. He passed Kennedy off as part of his business team. The presence of Jennifer Deleon, a mom with a baby on the way, helped convince the victims there was nothing to fear.

“She’s as evil as anybody on that boat,” Byington told producers.

How did Tom and Jackie Hawks die?

Tom and Jackie Hawks “were pulled down 3,500 feet to the bottom of the ocean,” said former San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Caitlin Rother. “They were drowned alive.”

Alonso Machain was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the heinous crime. Jennifer Deleon was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole . John Fitzgerald Kennedy was sentenced to death for his part in the murder of Thomas and Jackie Hawks. 

What happened to Skylar Deleon?

Convicted murderer Deleon was sentenced to die by lethal injection . However, because of California’s moratorium on the death penalty, the ringleader in the deaths of Tom and Jackie Hawks will live out his days on Death Row.

Where to Watch  The Real Murders of Orange County

You can watch The Real Murders of Orange County on the  Oxygen app . The first two seasons are also available on  Peacock .

Originally published Nov 15, 2020.

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Former child actor admits killing couple for yacht

For nearly four years, Ryan and Matt Hawks have felt certain that a former small-time child actor masterminded the vicious murder of their parents, who were tied to the anchor of their yacht and thrown to their deaths in the Pacific Ocean off Catalina Island.

The brothers sat in the TODAY studio in New York Friday with the show’s co-host, Meredith Vieira, and looked at photographs of their father, Tom Hawks, and stepmother, Jennifer Hawks, tanned and smiling aboard the “Well Deserved,” the 55-foot yacht they had saved a lifetime to buy.

Two days earlier, the attorney for Skylar Deleon, who once had a non-speaking bit part in “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” admitted in an Orange County, Calif., courtroom that Deleon was the mastermind of the plot to murder the Hawks and steal their yacht. The admission was made during opening arguments in the trial, which is no longer about whether Deleon did it, but what his sentence should be: death, or life behind bars.

Back to land Tom Hawks had planned for most of his life to retire on a yacht with his second wife, Jackie. A body builder and probation officer, he realized his dream while still in his mid-50s.

After cruising the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez off Mexico for two years, the Hawks had decided to sell their boat to move back to Arizona, where they could be closer to their first grandson. Their sons, Matt and Ryan, looked forward to having them back home and sharing their lives with them.

“They realized there was more to life than this boat and seeing the curve of the earth, and that’s what really made them want to sell the boat and come back and be a part of our lives, and especially part of their grandson’s life,” Ryan Hawks told Vieira.

He last talked to his parents by phone on Nov. 14, 2004, the day they disappeared. “I was flying to Seattle for work,” Ryan Hawks said. “It was on the last voyage of ‘Well Deserved.’ I kind of pushed them off the phone; I was running late for a plane. I just felt bad. I had no idea that was the last time I’d talk to them.”

On that day, Tom, 57, and Jackie, 47, set sail for Catalina Island on a test cruise with Skylar Deleon and two other men, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Alonso Machain. Deleon was a smooth-talking 29-year-old career criminal who bragged about being a former child television star who wanted to buy the boat. In reality, Deleon had had just one non-speaking bit part in 1994 on “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” and had been in trouble almost ever since. He introduced Kennedy and Machain as his accountants.

Thieves fall out Machain admitted his role in 2005 and is awaiting sentencing. Kennedy is to be tried next year. The fourth member of the plot, Deleon’s former wife, Jennifer Henderson, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder last year and will spend the rest of her life in prison.

According to that confession, after overpowering the Hawks with a stun gun, the conspirators forced them to sign over title to the yacht. Then, duct-taped together and tied to an anchor, they were thrown into the ocean to drown. Their bodies were never recovered.

Now Ryan and Matt Hawks just want to see justice served on Deleon, who, according to his own lawyer, Gary Pohlson, also killed another man in 2003. Deleon committed that murder when he was on work furlough from a sentence he was serving for burglary.

Pohlson told the jury Tuesday that his purpose in admitting Deleon is guilty was to save his client from the death penalty.

Justice at last Matt Hawks said when he heard Pohlson’s statement, “I was kind of relieved in a way, just [at] the thought that they’re admitting guilt. It’s been four years; it’s been a long time. I’m looking forward to this trial, and I’m sure the jurors will make the correct decision.”

Ryan Hawks said it isn’t easy being at the trial and hearing again about the murders. But, he told Vieira, “It’s important to us as a family, because this is the last thing we’ll ever get to do for our parents. And as much as it hurts, we just need to be there and represent them. We’re a true testament to our parents’ parenting, and we feel it’s necessary.”

Matt Hawks said the hardest part for him is thinking about what he and his two children are missing. “It’s just been very difficult,” he said. “I’m raising two beautiful children now. And I don’t have the grandparents so that they can share their lives with them. It’s just very hard not having them around to share the best part of our life, and the best part of our family’s life with them.”

Both brothers said their parents had talked about their plans to sell the yacht and move back home. The parents mentioned that the man who wanted to buy it was a former child star, but neither of the two sons had ever watched “Power Rangers,” so they weren’t especially impressed.

“I was just happy they were selling the boat and coming back to spend a lot more time with [their grandchildren],” Matt Hawks recalled. “They’d be much more grounded with my family. We’d be able to travel out to see them, as I was able to back when I didn’t have children.

“I was looking forward to them coming home.”

Where Are Thomas and Jackie Hawks’ Children Now?

Matt Hawks was looking forward to his parents visiting. He had recently informed them about their newly born grandson. Thomas and Jackie Hawks, Matt’s parents, were ecstatic. So much so that they were willing to give up their adventurous post-retirement life onboard their beloved boat, “Well Deserved.” The couple put up the boat for sale and soon enough attracted a buyer.

On November 15, 2004, the two Hawkses, went on the trial run with the buyer and a few others. The next day, the Hawkses’ family found the yacht moored in its typical spot in Newport Beach, California. However, Tom and Jackie were nowhere to be found. The family became concerned and launched missing-person reports for the husband-wife duo. An investigation into the disappearance of the two Hawkses revealed a very intricate and heinous plot that had ended in Thomas and Jackies Hawkses’ death. The Hawkses’ two sons, Matt and Ryan, were in shambles. Their lives changed hereafter forever. Their experiences with the case were also a part of an episode titled ‘Overboard’ from ABC’s ’20/20′. Let us see what happened to them.

Who Are Thomas and Jackie Hawks Children?

Thomas and Jackie Hawks parented two sons in their lifetime, Ryan and Matt. They were Tom’s children from his first marriage. Tom met Jackie, who had lost her husband to an accident, through a chili cook-off in 1986. The two commenced a romance, which they soon turned into a marriage in 1989. Tom’s two boys, who were in elementary school at the time, looked up to Jackie as their own second mother rather than a stepmother. In an interview, Ryan Hawks recalled that his father’s life-long dream was to live to his fullest. He would often remind his sons that life was too short.

In 2004, Matt Hawks informed his parents, who, at the time, were on their post-retirement cruise life, that they were grandparents to his son. Matt’s parents were more than willing to mack back on land and buy a house so that they could be close to their grandchild. They found potential buyers and went on a sea trial (think of it as a test drive for boats) to never return. Their car, too, went missing.

During the investigation, Ryan was employed to be the spokesperson for a TV feature to help find his parents and his parents’ car. “The Hawks’ son Ryan is a really good-looking individual, so we put him in front of the cameras on national news for a plea to find this car and his parents,” said Detective Sergeant Dave Byington. In the ‘20/20’ episode ‘Overboard’ from ABC, Ryan says that after November 15, 2004, neither other family members nor he could get a hold of his parents, and it seemed unusual. “Next thing you know is, no one could get a hold of them,” Ryan said. “For them just to shut off their cell phones and drop off the face of the earth is…extremely out of character.”

Where Are Thomas And Jackie’s Sons Now?

Thomas and Jackie Hawkses’ gruesome murders have received widespread media attention, from podcasts to true-crime shows to a meticulously researched book titled ‘Dead Reckoning’ by author Caitlin Rother. The Hawkses’ sons, Ryan and Matt, eventually inherited the 55-foot boat of their parents’ dream and doom. However, they decided to sell it due to their financial status, which would not have permitted them to take care of the boat since it required high maintenance. The Hawks couple had planned to abandon their beloved boat for their grandson, Jace, born to Matt and his wife in Arizona in 2004. For Ryan Hawks, the boat was like his home after college.

The Hawkses, Ryan, and Matt, along with Ryan’s mother, Dixie Hawks, attended the trial in April 2005 of the convicts in Ryan’s and Matt’s parents’ murders. According to his Facebook profile, Matt works as an engineer at the Phoenix Fire Department and resides in Mesa, Arizona. Ryan, considered to be Tom and Jackie’s most vocal advocate, was a salesman and had contemplated writing a book as per reports dated 2009. Matt and Ryan’s interviews were featured in ABC’s ‘20/20’ in the episode titled ‘Overboard’ in 2020.

Read More: Where Is Myron Sandora Gardner Now?

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HARDCORE GANG MEMBER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER-FOR-PROFIT KILLING OF COUPLE ON THEIR NEWPORT BEACH YACHT

• Author Lei Lani Fera
• Published May 1, 2009

SANTA ANA – A hardcore, documented gang member was sentenced today to the death penalty for providing muscle in the murder-for-profit killings of Thomas and Jackie Hawks on their yacht off Newport Beach in 2004. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 43, Long Beach, was convicted by a jury on Feb. 19, 2009, of felonies for two counts of special circumstances murder for committing multiple murders for financial gain. The jury recommended the death penalty on Feb. 27, 2009.

Co-defendant Skylar Deleon, 29, Long Beach, was sentenced to the death penalty on April 10, 2009. He was found guilty by a jury on Oct. 20, 2008, of three felony counts of special circumstances murder for multiple murders and murder for financial gain. He has a prior strike for a 2003 residential burglary conviction. A jury recommended the death penalty for Skylar Deleon on Nov. 6, 2008.  

Skylar Deleon’s ex-wife, Jennifer Deleon, 27, Long Beach, was found guilty by a jury on Nov. 17, 2006, of two felony counts of murder with sentencing enhancement allegations for committing multiple murders for financial gain. She was sentenced Oct. 5, 2007, to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Co-defendant Alonso Machain, 25, Pico Rivera, is charged with felonies for two counts of special circumstances murder for committing multiple murders for financial gain. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Machain is scheduled for pre-trial May 27, 2009, in Department C-55, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. Co-defendant Myron Gardner, 45, Long Beach, who had spent four years in jail awaiting trial on this case and provided truthful testimony during Kennedy’s trial as to what happened, pleaded guilty March 19, 2009, to one felony count of accessory after the fact and was sentenced to one year in jail. He received credit for time served.

In November 2004, Thomas and Jackie Hawks placed an advertisement for their 55-foot yacht named “Well Deserved” for $440,000.   The couple wanted to spend more time with their new grandchild in Arizona. Skylar Deleon, who changed his name from John Jacobson Jr., was the brain behind the plot to murder the Hawks’ and take their boat and life savings with Machain, Gardner, Kennedy, and his then-wife Jennifer Deleon.  

On Nov. 9, 2004, Skylar Deleon plotted with his then-pregnant wife, Jennifer Deleon, to gain the Hawks’ trust by taking Jennifer Deleon and their 9-month-old baby to meet the Hawks on their boat, which Skylar Deleon and Machain had staked out three days prior. Gardner is accused of recruiting Kennedy, a hard-core, documented Los Angeles gang member, to provide “muscle.”  

On Nov. 15, 2004, Kennedy went with Skylar Deleon and Machain to take the boat out of the harbor with the Hawks’ under the pretense of test driving it for a possible sale. Kennedy posed as Skylar Deleon’s “accountant.” Once out at sea, Kennedy overpowered the victims with the help of Skylar Deleon and Machain, forced the Hawks’ to sign the transfer of title documents, handcuffed and tied them to the anchor, and drowned them in the ocean.

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The Final Voyage: Retired California couple chained to anchor, thrown off their own yacht

04/30/2018 5:44 pm pdt.

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A headline-dominating murder mystery in California. A brutal crime filled with so much greed, deception and pure evil that it will continue to be talked about for years to come.

Thomas and Jackie Hawks were living the life they always dreamed of: sailing the Pacific Ocean for nearly two years on a yacht appropriately named Well Deserved .

"The best example one could ever hope for of how couples should treat each other," said Carter Ford, a friend of the Hawks. "They were just totally devoted."

The loving couple had worked hard their entire lives, Tom as a probation officer and Jackie as a stepmom to Tom's two sons. And when they retired, they bought their dream boat, the Well Deserved , a 55-foot yacht. Life couldn't have been better on board.

"They personally were precious people to talk with," said friend Judy Weightman.

Weightman and Ford moored their boats near the Hawks in the same upscale harbor in ritzy Newport Beach, California.

"They lived on the boat better than most people can live in a house," said Ford.

The Hawks cruised the most exotic ports of call from California to the Mexican Riviera. Little did Tom and Jackie know they would soon be headed into troubled waters and a dangerous transition they never saw coming.

After two years of endless vacations, Tom and Jackie's dream is suddenly interrupted in the most wonderful way.

"They had a new grandbaby in Arizona," said author Caitlin Rother.

Crime writer Caitlin Rother says Tom and Jackie decided to embark on a new journey.

"They wanted to get back to Arizona and spend time with this little boy," said Rother.

Tom and Jackie put their beloved Well Deserved up for sale. Instead of paying a hefty commission to a boat broker, they were going to sell the yacht themselves.

"For Tom and Jackie the savings of that fee was going to be significant with what they were going to have left, so they advertised in boating magazines," said Carter Ford.

The Hawks place a small ad in Yachting World magazine, asking $435,000 for the meticulously maintained Well Deserved.

Now all they needed was a legitimate buyer. And it didn't take long.

"They got interest from a buyer for the Well Deserved ," said Caitlin Rother. "This buyer though was young, 25 years old."

The buyer tells Tom he has cash -- lots of it.

"This guy said he had made money as a child actor and made some money in real estate," said Rother.

Initially Tom, the former probation officer is skeptical. But then the buyer does something that eases both Tom and Jackie's fears.

"He brought his wife, and his wife was pregnant, and she brought their little baby daughter in a stroller and that made Jackie and Tom trust them," said Rother.

The Hawks accept an all-cash offer for their asking price of $435,000, and an additional $15,000 for some personal items. Tom and Jackie celebrate their financial windfall with one last trip on board the Well Deserved .

But before the deal is officially sealed, the buyer calls with one more request: a sea trial to inspect the hull and to test the motors.

"The idea is to take the boat out on a sea trial and then they're going to come back and finish the deal," said Rother.

Tom and Jackie expect the buyer and his wife to show up. But this time he has a different crew.

"The buyer comes with a young guy, skinny guy and a much bigger guy, who he says is his accountant," said Rother.

The Hawks are a little suspicious, but agree, and cautiously navigate their way out of Newport Harbor and into open waters for one final voyage on the Well Deserved .

Carter Ford says he made plans to meet up with the Hawks later that night. But as darkness descended over Newport Harbor, he got a troubling message from Jackie.

"'Hey Carter, we don't know why we're not back at shore yet, we're still out here on the sea trial.' We really don't know what's happening other than the fact that they're telling us that there still sea-trialing the boat," said Ford.

Jackie says they'll let him know when they get back to the harbor. But they never called.

When the sun rises, the Well Deserved is moored back in Newport Harbor, but Tom and Jackie are nowhere to be found.

"When they never turned up, it sends chills up your back, of course," said Ford.

The 55-foot yacht is moored back in Newport Harbor, but the Hawks seemed to have vanished into the ocean air.

"They're not calling their friends, they're not calling their family, they're not answering their cellphones, and you know something's wrong," said author Caitlin Rother.

Rother says Tom and Jackie's SUV was also missing, so initially friends assumed the Hawks took a road trip to celebrate their financial windfall.

But when the Hawks failed to contact anyone for more than a week, the family asks Carter Ford to cruise out to the Well Deserved and dig around a little. And when Ford steps onboard the normally meticulously kept yacht, his heart sinks.

What first alerted you that something was wrong with the boat?

"The way it was left, not only was the boat sloppy, there was a white towel hanging out the port hole on the side," said Ford. "This does not look good."

The family immediately files a missing-persons report.

"When I first got the call, I had one of the detectives, I said 'Head out to the yacht, see what you can see,'" said retired Newport Beach Police Detective David Byington.

Retired Detective Sgt. Byington says the detective smashed the lock on the cabin door and entered with caution.

"There wasn't any signs of violence," said Byington.

They find that white towel and a fresh inkpad wedged between the master bed and a wall. Then something else stops him dead in his tracks: a receipt.

"And on this receipt were bleach, cleaning supplies, heavy-duty trash bags and Tums," said Byington. "Just something in the back of my head said 'Well, if I was going to commit a murder, that would be my 'clean kit.' I'd get bags to destroy evidence, clean up and down with bleach wipes, and maybe my stomach would be upset so I would take some Tums."

Newport Police now want to know who was buying the Well Deserved.

"So the buyers were this young couple, Skylar Deleon, 25 years old, and his wife, Jennifer. Jennifer's pregnant and they have a little baby daughter," said Caitlin Rother.

Skylar Deleon may look familiar: he's a former child actor appearing on the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" TV show. His wife Jennifer, the daughter of Christian evangelical parents, worked as a hairdresser.

"He wanted to get the boat with his wife to live on and charter and so have a business on the boat and take families out fishing," said Rother.

With still no sign of the Hawks, Byington secretly puts a surveillance team on the Deleons.

Undercover officer David Moon tracks them down at a local church, but they aren't there to pray. They're actually cleaning the church.

"We show up at a church and he's volunteering his time there with his wife and baby," said Byington.

"We'd also followed Jennifer, she was a hairdresser, and to her job, and she was just walking in, cutting hair," said Newport Beach Police Officer David Moon. "They looked pretty normal. Just a young couple doing their thing.

"I'm expecting to see, you know, some bad guys that you'd get from Hollywood casting. This wasn't it. This was this husband and wife volunteering their time at a church, cleaning," said Byington.

Skylar Deleon and his wife are regulars at church, but they're not volunteering much to help police find the Hawks.

Detectives uncover that Skylar was on probation after being busted for burglary. And when they dig into their finances, they find the couple is $87,000 in debt, living in Jennifer's parents' garage.

Cops start to wonder where in the world did they get the money to buy the Well Deserved ? It certainly wasn't from Deleon's acting career.

"Skylar Deleon had told people that he had been on 'Mighty Morpin Power Rangers,' but in fact it turned out he had just had two minor non-speaking roles," said Caitlin Rother.

Detective Byington hauls Skylar in for questioning, and in the recorded interrogation, Skylar adamantly maintains they did in fact buy the Well Deserved .

"We spent like 485 on it."

"And that was cash, right? That you paid them that day?"

"I go 'How is it that you have this money that you could buy this yacht?' And he said, he almost dropped his shoulders, and said 'I have to be honest with you, the money I got was from drug sales,'" Byington tells Crime Watch Daily.

Skylar says he gave Tom Hawks a briefcase filled with mostly one hundred dollar bills he'd laundered out of Mexico; he handed over the dirty money, and Tom and Jackie signed over the Well Deserved .

"Did he seem nervous?"

"He was excited but nervous. He was just like 'Let's just close this up.'"

"Was it in the trunk so you're out of view, or was it just on the back of the trunk?"

"We were out of view."

Skylar tells Byington the Hawks then asked him if he would use his connections to help the couple open up a bank account in Mexico so they could buy a house.

"He was saying that him and his wife, they were looking at places in San Carlos."

"Did he say anything specific regarding that? 'Cause that's what we're trying to focus looking for them."

"He just said that they liked the Sea of Cortez."

Skylar takes his story one step further, telling Detective Byington that Tom and Jackie even signed a power of attorney giving him full access to move all of their money to Mexico.

"You're telling me you got these two power of attorneys specifically for that, you didn't embellish it any other way. Nothing like that."

As suspicious as it all sounds, the Deleons produce a power of attorney that looks legitimate.

"They hand them over to the police, they are signed, everything looks OK," said Rother.

"Skylar, you have nothing to do with disappearance, wife doesn't either, nobody in your family, your dad. Nobody, right?"

"Even though the story didn't ring true, my first instincts, when I talked to Skylar, was that I don't see him doing anything," said Byington.

Adding to Skylar Deleon's credibility, cellphone towers show the Hawks' phones were "pinging" near the Mexican border the morning after they sea-trialed the boat with Skylar.

Detectives are back at zero, and they turn to the Hawks family for help.

"The Hawks' son Ryan is a really good-looking individual, so we put him in front of the cameras on national news for a plea to find this car and his parents," said Byington.

Cops get the hit they've been waiting for, and it's across the border.

"We finally got a call from an American citizen down in Mexico who said 'Hey, I'm watching the news right now and you say you're looking for a car and I'm looking at it,'" said Byington. "And sure as hell, here's the Hawks' vehicle sitting there."

Thomas and Jackie Hawks did what thousands of people do: They took out an ad to sell their yacht. Little did they know they were setting themselves up for a trap.

Detectives are staring at Tom and Jackie Hawks' missing SUV. It's spotted outside a house near Ensenada, Mexico.

Is this the break Newport Beach Detective Sgt. David Byington has been waiting for? The Hawks mysteriously disappeared more than a month prior, last seen heading out to sea onboard their yacht.

A Mexican federale takes the lead and knocks on the door. Byington speaks very little Spanish, but even he understands what the man says.

"The gentleman inside the house said the name Skylar Deleon," said Byington.

The same Skylar Deleon who bought the Well Deserved , and he wasn't alone.

"And then I hear the same Mexican gentleman inside say Jennifer's name," said Byington.

The gentleman at the door is an old surfing buddy, and says Skylar gave him the car. After that, Deleon's very pregnant wife Jennifer picked him up and drove him back to the States.

"He swabbed the knobs within the car and end up hitting Skylar's DNA on the heater knob in there, so it turned out to be amazing," said Byington.

Detectives now believe something bad happened to Tom and Jackie on the Well Deserved -- but what?

Orange County Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy smells big trouble.

"This case was uniquely diabolical," Murphy tells Crime Watch Daily.

Murphy suspects Skylar and possibly his wife Jennifer are both involved in the Hawks' disappearance, but he needs proof.

So he circles back to that power of attorney. Skylar told detectives the Hawks willingly signed it, hoping Skylar Deleon could help them buy a home in Mexico.

"They had a durable power of attorney, OK. That makes no sense," said Murphy. "That would give this young 22, 23-year-old couple, strangers to them still, access to their bank accounts."

Here's the problem: the notary, a woman named Kathleen Harris, tells cops it's the real deal, claiming she witnessed the Hawks signing the papers and personally took the required fingerprints to make the documents legal.

"She said, 'I was down there, I saw the transaction. I didn't see how much money was in the suitcase,' but she tells the same story essentially that Skylar told. They also had fingerprints all over the documents," said Murphy.

But when cops ask the notary to physically describe Tom and Jackie Hawks, she stumbles.

"She describes Tom to a tee, but she described Jackie as having brown curly hair, which was odd because Jackie, when they moved onto the Well Deserved , she cut her long curly hair and she spiked it and dyed it blonde. So that was one of those things, it didn't quite make sense."

Could the notary just be confused? The fingerprints on the power of attorney are an exact match, and the signatures also appear to be legitimate.

"We send these things off to the FBI and the finest handwriting experts in the world look at it and go, 'That is Tom's signature,'" said Murphy.

The experts also confirm it's Jackie's signature -- but there is something strange.

"Their last name is Hawks with an 's,' OK, and she wrote 'Jackie Hawk,' and somebody else came in later and wrote in an 's' that's inconsistent with her signature," said Murphy.

Murphy believes Jackie may have been secretly trying to alert someone they were in deep trouble.

"She wanted to send a signal to somebody in the future that something here is not right," said Murphy.

And just as Murphy is about turn the spotlight on the Deleons, the D.A. gets tipped off that Skylar is about to scramble like a cockroach looking for cover.

"Suddenly Skylar contacts his probation officer and says 'Can I get permission to leave the country?'" said Caitlin Rother.

So the quick-thinking D.A. comes up with a plan, and it's all caught on audio tape. An arrest warrant is issued for Skylar Deleon for money-laundering. During Skylar's interrogation, he confessed to laundering money from a Mexican drug deal.

As the officer moves in to cuff Skylar, he is reportedly wearing an adult diaper at the time.

"So they arrest Skylar and Jennifer has the gall to start being angry at the police officers, like 'You have some nerve to take my husband away,' and it was just an unbelievable scene," said Rother.

Detectives also head to that converted garage apartment at Jennifer's parents' place, where the two have been living. Cops hit the jackpot.

"They find all of Tom and Jackie's stuff. They find their camera, they find driver's license and other kinds of very personal belongings," said Rother.

And detectives can't help but notice that in Jackie's driver's license, she looks remarkably similar to how the notary described her.

"So that raised suspicions about the notary, and did the notary actually witness these documents being signed or not," said Rother.

Cops are beginning to suspect there are more people involved with the Hawks' disappearance than just the Deleons.

Detectives also stumble across something else in the garage that raises a few eyebrows.

"One of my detectives found a business card from LAPD and the detective was assigned to as a liaison with Interpol," said Byington.

Newport Police contact the Interpol agent, and when detectives reveal they're investigating Skylar's possible involvement in the disappearance of the Hawks, the agent hits them with a jaw-dropper.

"He says 'That's funny because I was talking to him a year ago because we were looking at him for murder of an American citizen in Mexico," said Byington. "I go, 'They killed the Hawks, because this is no way,' you know, this is too much of a coincidence."

But Mexican federales could never link Skylar Deleon to the murder.

"We have no proof he did anything illegal but its stinks on ice," said Byington.

The noose is quickly tightening around Skylar Deleon in the disappearance of Tom and Jackie Hawks. Cops just need to figure out motive and method.

On a hunch, Murphy calls an old boating buddy he met in Indonesia named "Salty Sam."

"I'm like, 'Hey, man. What should we be looking for on a boat if we're trying to figure out if there was a murder committed?' And without skipping a beat, he said 'Look for missing anchors,'" said Matt Murphy.

Investigators go back to the ad the Hawks had placed in that yachting magazine.

"And in every single photo there were two anchors on the bow," said Murphy.

They rush back out to the harbor to check the Well Deserved . And sure enough:

"On the bow of the boat there's only one anchor, and there should have been two," said Murphy.

"Our working theory was 'Hey, they had him sign the paperwork, they shot them, they threw them overboard,'" said retired Newport Beach detective David Byington.

Cops claim Skylar Deleon is actually a master manipulator. Detectives don't believe Deleon ever intended to buy Tom and Jackie Hawks' yacht. Instead, they say, he hatched a twisted plan to steal it by murdering the Hawks in cold blood, then dumping their bodies into the Pacific Ocean.

"Utterly diabolical," said Orange County Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy. "He used his kids to get two innocent people to trust him enough that he would go out to sea with them and they'd let their guard down. And that's what happened."

Murphy has Deleon arrested for money-laundering so he can build a case. But it becomes crystal clear Skylar Deleon didn't pull of the elaborate scheme by himself. Authorities believe his pregnant wife Jennifer was his partner in crime who helped him set the trap.

"The entire investigation at that point shifted to her," said Murphy.

Still, Murphy needs solid evidence to prove Jennifer was a willing accomplice. And he finally gets it.

"We actually have video surveillance pictures of them walking up to the teller, and Jennifer's got a grin ear to ear," said Byington. "They came up and said 'We want to get money out for the Hawks, and here's the power of attorney,' and the manager comes over and says 'I know the Hawks and I'm not giving you a dime until we verify this.'"

"Physically, she wasn't on that boat, she was absolutely on that boat in every other way. She's cheerleading the whole time," said Matt Murphy.

It was all the proof Murphy needed to charge Jennifer as an accomplice. But instead he makes Deleon's wife an offer he thinks she can't refuse: immunity. All Jennifer has to do is rat out her husband.

"She's probably about seven months' pregnant, at that point, so she told us to pound sand," said Murphy. "Young love prevailed and she said no."

Murphy then goes back to Kathleen Harris, the notary that he suspects lied about witnessing the Hawks sign the power of attorney documents. But Harris doesn't flinch either.

"Everybody stuck to the same story. So we had to see if there was somebody that would tell us the truth," said Murphy.

And there in black and white is the mistake that will sink the Deleon's story, a name staring prosecutors right the face: A signature on that power of attorney of a man who witnessed the deal going down, Alonso Machain.

"So Alonso was 19 years old at the time, living with his parents, and he's working at the Seal Beach city jail," said Murphy.

Machain worked as a jail guard, and he'd befriended Deleon when he was serving time for burglary.

"They develop this weird sort of friendship. And I mean he wraps Alonso around his finger and gets Alonso to go with him for all these meetings with Tom and Jackie Hawks," said Murphy.

But when cops try to haul Machain in for questioning, he flees to Mexico. Again, Murphy offers up a deal. He can't give Machain complete immunity, but if he returns and tells his side of the story, Murphy will take the death penalty off the table.

"He decided at that point to do the right thing," said Murphy.

Detectives turn on a tape recorder and Alsono Machain tells his story.

"Skylar approaches me with this plan he has. He was going to do something that was going to make some money. So he offers me to help him."

Machain tells detectives there was another man in Deleon's crew that day. Deleon introduced him to the Hawks as his accountant. But he was actually a notorious gang-banger and a convicted killer named John F. Kennedy.

"He'd been to prison before, he was an original founding member of a gang called the Long Beach Insane Crips," said Matt Murphy.

Machain says before he, Deleon and Kennedy board the Well Deserved , Deleon gives them strict orders.

"The plan is that we were supposed to kidnap them and take them out to sea and toss them overboard."

"And how was he planning to do that?"

"Tasers. He thought of Tasers."

Machain says once out to sea, they set their plan in motion. Kennedy pretends to be seasick and goes down below into the cabin.

"Mr. Hawks becomes concerned because John F. Kennedy is not returning, so he goes down, Skylar follows Mr. Hawks down to the lower area and that's when he gets ambushed," said David Byington.

Up on deck, Jackie Hawks hears the commotion.

"She says 'What's going on,' and that's when they were actually holding him down. Then that's when I realized that I had to, you know, hold her."

"Alonso at that point produces a Taser and tasers her," said Murphy.

"I was able to cuff Mrs. Hawks. At this time I walked her down to the bedroom area where Skylar told me to go get some tape from the engine room. He got the tape and he told me to tape their eyes, tape their mouth."

"Jackie Hawks is crying and screaming through the piece of cloth over her mouth, and Alonso says the only thing he can see is Mr. Hawks stroking her hand with his fingers, the handcuffed hands, trying to calm her down, and rightly so, because I know Tom Hawks knows what's going to happen," said Byington.

"They had them one by one go up to the kitchen area where she was first. They had her sign a power of attorney."

"Skylar told them 'I'm going to let you go if you cooperate. If you don't we're going to kill you here,'" said Byington.

Alonso Machain says Deleon then heads to the cockpit and punches coordinates into the GPS to steer straight toward the deepest part of the ocean near Catalina Island.

Jackie and Tom, still cuffed and blindfolded, are led to the deck of the boat.

"Got some rope, got up to the back, tied them together."

Then a sound pierces through the ocean waves, a sound Tom and Jackie have heard hundreds of times.

"At that point Skylar disconnects one of the anchors from the bow of the boat and he drags the chain, so they're inside a fiberglass boat and he's dragging the chain to the back," said Murphy.

"He knows that sound," said Byington. "You don't need vision to know that, 'cause they're blindfolded. That chain's coming down the side."

"And she's begging for her life and she's saying 'I have to see my grandchild one more time. I have to see my grandchild again. I'm too young to die,'" said Murphy. "And Tom was stroking her hand, saying 'It's OK, we're going to be together.' So at that point they know what's going to happen. They're going overboard."

"I didn't believe what I was looking at, just pushed them."

The brand new grandparents were still alive when the 50-pound anchor plummeted to the bottom of the sea, dragging the helpless couple 3,600 feet straight down.

Alonso Machain witnessed the inhumanity, and unbearable cruelty of Skylar Deleon, the twisted mastermind behind the murders.

"Skylar picked up this massive anchor and threw it over the side of the boat, and they have the most horrific death I can imagine, and their bodies were never recovered," said retired detective David Byington.

Machain, who helped Deleon kidnap the Hawks, is now a witness against him, telling investigators after Deleon threw the Hawks overboard, he started getting rid of any sign of the Hawks.

"He collected all of Tom and Jackie's personal photographs and tossed them overboard like they were Frisbees," said Matt Murphy. "Skylar had no remorse at all. Skylar Deleon is a complete psychopath."

Once Deleon got rid of the evidence, Machain tells investigators, Deleon and John Kennedy kicked back and started fishing on the way back to harbor in Newport Beach, California.

"How was Skylar acting maybe while this was happening?"

"He was calm, like it was the most normal thing."

Skylar Deleon, John Kennedy and Alonso Machain are all charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Days later, Jennifer Deleon is still standing by her man, telling a Los Angeles television station her husband is absolutely innocent.

Cops say not only is Skylar guilty, but Jennifer is too. Prosecutors charge Jennifer with two counts of murder, claiming she helped carry out the murders from the shore. The motive clear and simple: the Deleons wanted money.

"She's a witch. She knew that they had no money, and yet she's going out to meet the people that are selling Skylar this yacht, and she's bringing her child," said Byington. "She might as well have tied the anchor to those people and thrown them over too."

Separate juries hear each case, but they all come back with the same verdict: guilty.

Jennifer Deleon is sentenced to life in prison.

Alonso Machain is given leniency and sentenced to 20 years.

John F. Kennedy is sentenced to death for the double murder.

Before Skylar Deleon's trial even begins, he's hit with a third murder rap.

"He not only murdered the Hawks, but he murdered, slit the throat of another American in Mexico a year earlier," said Byington.

Cops say Deleon slit the throat of a man named Jon Jarvi after luring him with a promise of turning an investment of $50,000 into more cash. Prosecutors say there was no deal; the motive for the murder was all for fun.

"They purchased a new car because they wanted something to tool their little brood around in," said Matt Murphy. "And then he made a bunch of internet purchases including a $658 piston-driven sex toy."

Nearly five years after the Hawks were murdered, Skylar Deleon faces trial. He was found guilty and sentenced to death.

"There was another motive, and it was a primary motive, and that was that Skylar Deleon wanted to get gender-reassignment surgery," said crime author Caitlin Rother.

Rother, who wrote the book about the Hawks' grisly murders, titled Dead Reckoning , says Deleon desperately needed $17,000 to pay for surgery to transition.

"He had already put down a $500 deposit on this surgery and had one scheduled for two weeks after the Hawks were murdered, but they didn't have the money," said Rother.

Rother knows Skylar Deleon as well as anyone. She started visiting him in prison while researching her book.

"All Skylar wanted to talk was how he wanted to get rid of his penis," said Rother.

But with no money and thinking there was no chance of making the transition while sitting in a cell, Rother says Skylar made a desperate attempt.

"He tried to cut his penis off in jail with a razor," said Rother.

But now the state of California is paying for Skylar Deleon to transition to a woman. Deleon is currently sitting in the psych ward on death row at San Quentin.

"And Skylar is now living as a woman and wants to be called 'she,'" said Rother.

"It's ridiculous," said Byington. "There are legitimate people out there with transgender issues that work their tails off their whole life, if they are lucky enough to get a surgery. Skylar doesn't deserve that right. Skylar doesn't get to kill people and then get rewarded, and that's kind of the way it feels."

Skylar Deleon and his wife have since divorced while behind bars. Deleon continues to maintain he had nothing to do with the Hawks' deaths and has appealed his conviction.

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Continuing Coverage

“Muscle” in Yacht Killings Convicted of Murder

Published february 19, 2009 • updated on february 19, 2009 at 8:24 pm.

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- A former gang intervention worker for the city of Long Beach was convicted Thursday of two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of a couple tied to an anchor and thrown off their yacht, which they had put up for sale.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 43, was the third person to go on trial for the murders of Thomas and Jackie Hawks, who took prospective buyers out for a test run on their 55-foot trawler on Nov. 15, 2004, and were never seen again.

The seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated several hours before convicting Kennedy of the two murder counts, and found true the special circumstance allegations of multiple murder and murder for financial gain.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Kennedy, who prosecutors said was recruited as "muscle" in the killings. he penalty phase of his trial will begin Monday morning.

Jurors will have to decide between recommending capital punishment or life in prison without the possibility of parole for Kennedy, who has a prior strike for a 1988 attempted murder conviction.

Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy said the mastermind of the plan to steal the yacht "Well Deserved," which was offered for sale for $465,000, was Skylar Deleon, who was convicted of the murders and faces the death penalty when he is sentenced on March 20.

Deleon's wife, Jennifer Henderson, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in October 2007 for her role in the plot.

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When Skylar Deleon and Alonso Machain, a former jailer at the Seal Beach Jail, met with the Hawkses early in November, they realized they needed help from a third person because Thomas Hawks, a retired probation officer, was a strapping, fit man who had been a wrestling champion in high school, the prosecutor said. 

Deleon turned first to another Long Beach resident, who turned down the job and suggested another man who "flaked," at which point Kennedy's name came up, the prosecutor said.

"They told him they'd pay him a lot of money if he helped commit those murders," Murphy told the jury last month. 

The plan was to introduce Kennedy as an accountant to get him aboard and to quell any suspicions, he said.

After getting Thomas Hawks below board on a pretext, Kennedy grabbed him by the throat and got him in a headlock, at which point Deleon pulled out a stun gun and kicked the 57-year-old boat owner in the face, Murphy said.

Machain subdued Jackie Hawks in another area of the boat, and for two hours as the boat headed out to sea, the 47-year-old woman begged for her life while her husband tried to calm her, according to the prosecutor, who said both victims had duct tape over their eyes and mouths.

He said the couple quickly agreed to cooperate with their attackers, and had signed over a boat ownership form as well as a power of attorney form that Deleon later told detectives he was going to use to help Tom Hawks set up a bank account in Mexico for buying property there.

While on deck, Tom Hawks fought back, kicking Deleon in the groin and almost knocking him off the boat. Kennedy punched the victim in the side of the head, and he went limp, the prosecutor said. The men then tied the couple to the anchor and threw it overboard, he said.

The three divided up $3,600 that was on the boat, and on the way back, Kennedy popped open a can of beer and fished, Murphy said.

Defense attorney Winston McKesson told jurors that his client, formerly known by the moniker "CJ" for Crazy John, had left street violence behind and was preparing to take over a ministry that helps former gang members get away from their past.

McKesson argued that Machain, the main witness against his client, did not know Kennedy's name and identified him only by picking out a photo from a police "six-pack."

Tearful Testimony in Yacht Murder Trial

Family of victims testify as prosecutors seek death for Skylar Deleon.

Oct. 23, 2008 — -- Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday in the penalty phase of the murder trial of Skylar Deleon, a man convicted of tying a California couple to the anchor of their yacht and throwing them overboard.

Before concluding, prosecutors played home videos of the couple on their last voyage together. Police say the tapes were found in a video camera Deleon stole after the murders.

The jury must decide whether Deleon should get the death penalty or life in prison.

A 20-minute video showed Tom and Jackie Hawks traveling together on their beloved yacht, the Well Deserved. The final clip showed the couple, who planned to sell the boat in order to spend more time with their grandson, celebrating their last trip with family and friends.

The video then cut abruptly to images of Deleon's family at Thanksgiving.

Deleon, 29, was found guilty Monday of murdering the couple, with several accomplices, after he posed as a potential buyer for their yacht. He was also convicted in the 2003 murder of John Jarvi.

The home videos capped an emotional day of testimony from the victims' relatives, several of whom cried on the witness stand as they described the Hawkses as a loving couple and devoted parents.

"He was more like my best friend," said Ryan, Tom Hawks' son.

Jackie Hawks' mother, Gayle O'Neill, choked up on the witness stand as she called her daughter "a wonderful person, loving, caring."

"She would do anything for anybody," she said. "I think of them in the morning when I wake up and at night before I go to bed."

Witnesses, including one of Deleon's alleged accomplices, testified that Thomas and Jackie Hawks were blindfolded, beaten, shackled to the anchor of their beloved yacht, thrown overboard and drowned.

Deleon's lawyer admitted on the first day of trial that Deleon was guilty, but asked asking the jury to spare his life.

Click here to see a slideshow of Tom and Jackie Hawks' pictures.

As a teenager, when Ryan Hawks once complained about his sometimes strict father, he said Tom Hawks looked him in the eye and said, "You will thank me one day for the man you are yet to become."

"And I never got to thank him," Hawks said today.

Jarvi's mother, Betty Jarvi, described her son as "very clever, he sparkled."

Another witness testified that Deleon tried to have three critical witnesses against him killed before his trial.

Daniel Elias testified that Deleon offered him $3 million to kill the witnesses. Elias, a career criminal who met Deleon at the Orange County Jail, said Wednesday that Deleon told him, "if [the witnesses] were gone, he could beat this case."

All three witnesses testified against Deleon.

'Yanked' to Their Deaths

In gut-wrenching detail, alleged accomplice Alonso Machain, a cooperating witness for the prosecution, told jurors last week that he, Deleon and a third man overpowered the couple, handcuffed them to the anchor and sent them hurtling to their deaths.

"They were basically yanked -- yanked into the ocean,'' Machain told Orange County jurors, as tears welled up in the eyes of the Hawkses' friends and family in the courtroom gallery.

Deleon and the other men then turned the boat around and began an hourlong trip back to the shore, according to testimony. One cracked open a beer and grabbed a fishing pole and "started fishing,'' Machain said.

Jennifer Deleon, Skylar Deleon's former wife, was tried and convicted for murdering Tom and Jackie Hawks and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in a separate 2006 trial.

Machain cooperated with the prosecution in a deal to avoid the death penalty; alleged co-conspirator John Fitzgerald Kennedy is awaiting trial. Adam Rohrig, a fourth man reportedly involved, was not on the boat when the murders took place and is not expected to face charges.

Elias testified that Deleon asked him to kill Rohrig; Kathleen Harris, a notary; and Deleon's cousin Mike Lewis. Elias claims Deleon promised him $1 million for himself and an additional $2 million for the men Elias would hire for the killings.

Harris testified that she was duped into doctoring documents for the Deleons and then threatened with violence if she didn't continue to cooperate with the plot.

Harris met the couple through Rohrig, a mutual friend. Harris claimed she met the couple at an extended-stay hotel, where they asked her to backdate and notarize documents that were related to the Hawkses' boat.

"I really didn't know it was going to be fraudulent," Harris said of the documents she notarized. Though her normal fee was between $50 and $250, the prosecution said she received $2,000.

"I did not know how much he paid me until I got in the car," Harris said.

But she added that Jennifer Deleon promised her more money "when this is all over."

Harris said she didn't feel right about the transaction, so she called Rohrig to inquire further about the Deleons. She said Rohrig told her during a phone conversation several days later that she'd need to take care of more documents, or that Skylar Deleon, who he said had ties to the Mexican drug cartels, would come after her family.

"I was going to do whatever I needed for me and my family not to be killed," she said.

Rohrig, she said, then gave her physical descriptions of the Hawkses and, "He told me to tell the detectives that I met Tom and Jackie by the yacht to sign the documents."

Harris said she repeatedly lied to investigators in interviews, saying she wanted to tell the truth, "but I was scared for my life. I was told he [Deleon] had killed over 20 people."

"I was always watching my back, I always felt like someone was after me," she said.

Harris received immunity from the prosecution in exchange for her cooperation.

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Yacht With Chilling Past Up for Sale

By jonathan lloyd • published june 19, 2009 • updated on june 19, 2009 at 6:43 am.

Tom and Jackie Hawks wanted to sell their yacht -- the Well Deserved -- because they planned to move closer to their newborn grandchild in Arizona.

The 55-foot Lien Hwa trawler has two decks, two staterooms and hand-carved teak interior. The couple put about $50,000 into improvements.

All attractive features for any potential buyer.

But the Well Deserved will forever be associated with what happened on Nov. 15, 2004. That's when  the Hawks were bound, tied to a 60-pound anchor and thrown overboard. Long Beach residents Skylar Deleon , 29, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy , 43, were sentenced to death in the case. Investigators said Deleon, posing as a buyer and Kennedy, posing as an accountant, went aboard the Well Deserved under the guise of taking a test run. In a video posted on the OCRegister.com , detective David Byington explains what happened next. Byington tours the boat and describes the confrontation between the Hawks and their attackers. "I don't like being down here," Byington said while showing the camera crew the bedroom in which the Hawks were bound. "I don't even like being on this boat. I feel like I'm still invading their home. The worst part is they were downstairs for several hours, and they knew they were going to die." The Hawks' dream boat will be for sale next week. The couple intended to spend some of the happiest years of their lives aboard the boat after Tom Hawks retired after 17 years as a probation officer.

They wanted to sell the Well Deserved so they could return to Arizona to live near their newborn grandson. Tom Hawks' sons, both of whom are in their early 30s, were left with the responsibility of maintaining -- and now selling -- the boat. It will be placed on the market next week after it is returned to Newport Harbor, according to the newspaper. Ryan Hawks , one of Tom's sons who lives in Carlsbad, said the yacht broker indicated it will be listed for about $229,000. That's about $70,000 less than the Hawks paid in 2002.

Investigators were holding the yacht until the end of the criminal cases.

Conspirator Kennedy receives death sentence in…

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Conspirator kennedy receives death sentence in yacht murders.

SANTA ANA A former Long Beach gang member-turned-youth-minister showed no emotion today when he was sentenced to death for his role in the murders-at-sea of a Newport Beach couple who were tied to an anchor and thrown overboard.

The presidentially-named John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 43, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder by an Orange County jury in January for the Nov. 15, 2004 deaths of Thomas and Jackie Hawks. The jury also found that he committed multiple murders for financial gain, which qualified him for the death penalty.

The Hawkses were killed by a group of conspirators led by former bit child actor Skylar Deleon as part of a farfetched and botched plot to steal their yacht, a 55-foot trawler moored in Newport Harbor named the Well Deserved.

Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy argued that Kennedy was hired at the last minute by Deleon to help overcome Thomas Hawks – a 57-year-old former probation officer who was a serious weight lifter – after a gang member failed to show.

Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel called the murders cold, vicious and heinous, and said Kennedy’s decision to join the plot at the last minute was a strong factor in his decision to give Kennedy the death penalty.

“We all feel so relieved,” said Ryan Hawks, the Hawks’ oldest son, after the sentence.

“This has been such a long and hard struggle for our entire family,” he said. “I think ‘relieved’ is the best way I can put it.”

He said it always bothered him that Kennedy made a snap decision to join in the plot and kill his parents for money when he could have stepped forward and been a hero by preventing the murders.

Three of the jurors who voted to give Kennedy death attended the sentencing hearing. They said later that they were relieved that Fasel agreed with their verdict.

“It was a little expected, but to have the judge reach the same decision that we all knew in our hearts was correct was validation for us,” said juror Shane Valdez, 36, of Anaheim.

He said the jury considered everything it could to give Kennedy life without parole instead of death, but concluded in the end that the aggravating circumstances of the crime were too overwhelming to justify anything but death.

Murphy said the death sentence brought justice to the Hawks’ family and friends, many of whom were in the courtroom today.

“I mostly hope this brings them a sense of closure and some peace of mind,” the prosecutor said.

“This was not a good day for the defense,” said defense attorney Charles Lindner.

Kennedy was the third conspirator to be sentenced in the slayings of the Hawkses, who were thrown overboard somewhere near Santa Catalina Island.

Deleon, 29, of Long Beach, received his death sentence last month for his role in the murder of the Hawkses, as well as the unrelated throat-slashing murder for financial gain of Jon Peter Jarvi, a 45-year-old Anaheim man who was lured to death in a Mexican desert in December 2003 after he turned over about $50,000 in cash to the glib-talking Deleon.

Jennifer Henderson, 28, Deleon’s ex-wife, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2008 for her role in putting the Hawkses at ease so they would agree to go on the final cruise with her then husband and the menacing-looking Kennedy.

Kennedy testified on his own behalf during his headline-making trial and insisted that he was not on the yacht, had never been to Newport Beach, and had never met Skylar Deleon before they were arrested and charged with the slayings.

But Murphy had Alonso Machain, who was one of five conspirators originally charged in the case, as his star witness.

Machain testified that he was the third man on the Well Deserved that day nearly five years ago. He identified Kennedy as the muscular street tough who grabbed Thomas Hawks in a headlock before he was hit with a Taser and handcuffed.

The Hawkses were blindfolded, gagged and bound, Machain said. They were then forced to sign to sign sales documents to their yacht before they were led on deck, tied to an anchor and thrown overboard. Their bodies have never been found.

Machain, 25, of Pico Rivera, is cooperating with authorities in hopes of getting some kind of leniency on his case. He is in jail without bail pending a disposition of his case.

Murphy also produced phone records that showed Kennedy’s cell phone pinging off towers near 15th Street in Newport Beach where the Well Deserved was moored shortly before and shortly after the Hawkses disappeared.

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• Jan 10, 2022
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Episode 44 | THE CHILLING YACHT MURDERS of Southern CA

We’re going to unpack a heavy one today. When I first heard this story back in 2004 it really shook me for its callousness, greed, and evil. A former child actor already with one murder under his power ranger belt planned and carried out a most heinous murder of a retired couple in Southern CA. They had been living a dream aboard a beautiful 55ft trawler that they had spent decades saving for. The ‘Well Deserved’ was their home and their life. However, they decided to sell it, and the buyers had no intentions of paying for it. None at all. The boat was worth nearly 1/2 million dollars and what the buyer’s had in mind for the cash THEY would sell it for after taking it.. well that adds a whole other twist to this horrific story. What took place aboard the Well-Deserved Nov. 15th 2004 was far from deserved and would alter the course of Tom and Jackie Hawks’ lives forever. Let me explain.

It was in Newport Beach, Calif. that Tom and Jackie Hawks came to find their paradise. Their dream was rooted in two simple things: being together and being on a boat. Few people had lived better lives, so arguably it was fate when the couple found fell in love with and bought a 55-foot yacht christening it ‘Well Deserved’, a name their close circle of friends and family agreed was perfectly suited.

Life was an endless cruise filled with good times and besties, sailing from Catalina Island to Mexico's Sea of Cortez. Wining and dining, snorkeling, and becoming even more inseparable as a couple very much in love.

Tom Hawks, a Vietnam veteran, and father of two boys had prudently saved and invested his money for decades, with a goal of buying a big boat. After years of planning, Tom and Jackie eventually bought the 55-foot trawler yacht for about $300,000. They renovated the vessel finishing the interior entirely in teak and macked it out with the latest technology. A rig any abled-bodied seaman would kill for. And that’s the sad irony. For two years they traveled from their Newport Beach mooring along the California coast to Mexico, stopping at various ports of call along the way.

But after 4 years at sea, they were ready for the next chapter, becoming grandparents. While they were living yacht life in So Cal, back in the mountains of Prescott, Ariz., Tom’s son, Matt from a previous marriage was welcoming a baby. Tom and Jackie were excited and were already buying baby clothes.

They put the Well Deserved up for sale, choosing to list it for sale themselves rather than through a broker, they could save tens of thousands of dollars that way and that would go a long way for retiring back in Arizona. This was a life-altering mistake.

On November 12, the couple took their last trip to Santa Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles, California, to commemorate the end of a dream lived and to mark the beginning of the next chapter in their lives. A sale was imminent. They told family and friends that they’d found a buyer and that the sale was going to take place in the next few days.

A young couple, Skylar and Jennifer Deleon had answered their ad about the Well Deserved. The soft-spoken Skylar told them that he had been a child actor and had saved a large sum of money and like the Hawks, it was their dream to live on a yacht with their young child and soon to be number 2. This tugged at the heartstrings of the Hawks as it would being expecting grandparents and all. They arranged to meet, and the Deleons joined them at the marina in Newport along with their toddler to check out the boat.

Before closing the deal, plans were made to take the boat out along with the Hawks for a short cruise to check the vessel’s seaworthiness. The Hawks had one final party aboard the Well Deserved with friends before that fateful cruise.

Over the next few days, the family became concerned as no one could get a hold of the couple. Their phones were switched off which was extremely out of character. When Tom’s brother Jim went to the Newport Beach moor, he knew something was wrong right away.

He found the Well Deserved moored in its usual berth at Newport Beach but the couple and their car — a silver Honda CR-V — were nowhere to be found.

He noticed the dinghy they used to get to their yacht hadn’t been tied properly to the dock and its motor hadn’t been lifted from the water, which was protocol.

Tom Hawks’ friend who moored a boat in nearby slip, also noticed things were out of place on the yacht. The tarps on the deck and on the flying bridge, were all off. All the controls were just kind of peeled back and there was a towel hanging out one of the portholes. They never left the Well-Deserved in such a state. It was as though Tom and Jackie were in an urgent rush to leave the vessel or more likely they weren’t the last ones to disembark. He got a sick feeling something was very very wrong.

Their friends and family knew Tom and Jackie had gone with the prospective purchaser on Nov. 14th to take the boat out for a cruise. They wanted to check the boat’s seaworthiness, which was nothing out of the ordinary. They also knew that the buyer of the boat was likely the last person to have seen them.

Tom’s brother Jim, a retired police officer, left a note on the Well Deserved with his phone number in hopes that the buyer would contact him. It wasn’t long before he received a call from a woman by the name of Jennifer Deleon. She told him she and her husband Skylar were the buyers and had paid for the boat in full with cash. Being a former cop and still unable to reach Tom and Jackie, he was suspicious. He reached out to a close friend of the family, Trisha Schutz, who managed the couple’s finances while they were at sea.

According to her, if they had sold that boat for cash, they would have deposited the money into their bank account right away. But there was no activity on their account. They knew something was very wrong. They contacted the police department and filed a missing persons report.

It would be 2 weeks after the couple’s disappearance before Newport Beach police took on the case. Det. Sgt. Dave Byington headed the case and was struck with some obvious red flags. The purported buyers, Skylar and Jennifer Deleon, were a very young couple that appeared to not have the means with which to buy a luxury boat worth 1/2 million dollars. Add to that, Skylar Deleon happened to be a convicted felon and was on probation.

It didn’t take much more digging for Det. Byington to start to assembling the horror story that had unfolded.

Who is Skylar Deleon? He’s is a former child actor who joins a long list of child actors that have come completely off the rails. As a youth, he appeared in television commercials, as well as an episode of The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in 1994. After his legitimate work on camera dried up he started performing on other cameras- the surveillance type, predominantly while breaking into homes. He began to chock up a rap sheet of theft and burglary, receiving a felony conviction. Adding to the mix, Skylar Deleon wasn’t always Skylar Deleon. He was born John Julius Jacobson Jr. to a real piece of work dad, former U.S. Marine “Big John” Jacobson, himself a convicted felon. As an adult, triple J (quadruple j if you count the jr. bit) changed his name to Skylar Julius Deleon. What’s more, Skylar Julius Deleon is now Skylar Preciosa Deleon, and what’s even more, he now identifies as a woman! More on that later. Are you still with me?

Apparently Skylar has identified as female since childhood but was forced to live a lie for years in large part due to Big John’s harsh rearing. After he discovered young John Jr. was dressing up with the neighborhood girls and wearing mascara, he was livid and the beatings began. Lucky for John jr., Big John got sent to the pokey for drug trafficking. Dad of the year nominee right there! When he got out of prison, he saw an opportunity to make some extra income with John Jr. and registered him with some talent agencies in the LA area. He started landing some gigs including roles in the Saturday morning kids’ show “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” during the 1993-94 season. John jr. hated the work and never saw any of the money he made. Wonder where it went?

Fast forward to 2001. Skylar looking for love online meets a super cute hairdresser named Jennifer Henderson. After dating a short time they got married and had a little girl together. Jennifer, a hairstylist, was the breadwinner for the family while they lived in a converted garage behind her parents’ home in Long Beach.

He was expecting another child with her at the time that the Hawks went missing.

After a short-lived career in the Marine Corps,15 days to be exact, Deleon began bouncing from job to job, eventually staying home with their daughter, unable to earn enough to pay for childcare.

From all indications, Jennifer Henderson led a trouble-free life until she met Deleon, himself racking up an impressive rap sheet for burglaries and other crimes. It wasn’t long before Deleon corrupted that innocence. The couple was severely in debt by the time their child’s first birthday, however, the promises of a future of great riches by Deleon had Henderson setting her sights on a lavish lifestyle. The first installment in that wealth scheme would come in 2003 with the murder of Jon Peter Jarvi.

JARVI MURDER

While serving time at the City of Seal Beach jail, Deleon met Jon Jarvi where the two became acquainted during the day on a work-release program. After Jarvi was freed, he stayed in touch with Deleon, who promised him a big score.

It was December 2003, a year before the Hawks’ disappearance, when Deleon sold Jarvi on an investment opportunity to make a tasty chunk of money. As part of the deal, while Deleon was out of jail on a supervised furlough, Jarvi gave Deleon $50,000 in cash, then accompanied Deleon to Mexico where they were supposed to close the deal and make out like bandits. Deleon promised he’d triple or quadruple his investment. Jarvi never returned. Deleon murdered him in Mexico by slashing his throat and leaving him to die at the side of a road.

Turns out there was never any deal in Mexico. He took Jarvi down there specifically with the intent to kill him and pocket the $50,000.

Mexican police questioned Skylar Deleon at the time, but Jarvi’s case remained unsolved until Newport Beach detectives started working on the Tom and Jackie Hawks case.

INVESTIGATION BEGINS

Based on the information they had and no sign as to the whereabouts of the Hawks, Police began their investigation with a search of the Well Deserved. Onboard they found a receipt from Target. The purchase, which was dated two days after the Hawks were taking the prospective buyer for a test ride, listed trash bags, bleach, and oddly the antacid Tums. OK I get that if you are going to kill someone you need a clean kit. Garbage bags, and bleach yes. Tums? Perhaps those were to settle their stomachs after the murders.

Investigators requested surveillance footage from Target to see if they could identify the purchaser. But investigators, who expected to see Skylar Deleon buying the supplies, were surprised to find his wife’s dad, Steve Henderson, instead.

Police learned Jennifer Deleon sent her father to buy the Garbage bags, bleach, and Tums so the couple could help clean their new boat. When asked by authorities where the Deleons were, Henderson pointed them to a nearby church that he said the couple was helping to clean.

When Det. Byington saw the family volunteering at a church, he was put at ease a bit and thought, ‘OK, this is going to turn out OK. The Hawks are fine. When he spoke with Jennifer and said that they were looking for the Hawks and that the family's very concerned, she replied very genuinely, that she and Skylar were really concerned, too. Indicating that they’ve been trying to reach out to them continually since they had bought the boat, they had questions about operating the boat itself and that there were a lot of items still on the Well Deserved they wanted to return to them.

To Detective Byington she seemed very genuine in her concern for the Hawks and finding them.

Skylar Deleon produced complete, legal paperwork for the boat’s purchase, including signatures, fingerprints and a notary public’s certification. Signatures could be forged, and fingerprints could be taken from a dead body, but what about the notary Public’s certificate?

To the surprise of the detective, Skylar Deleon openly admitted to him that he had used drug money to buy the vessel. Now that's an odd smokescreen considering he was on probation for armed burglary.

He told Det. Byington he was turning straight. He’s a father now and has another child on the way. In earnest, he wanted to do the right thing. So with his ill-gotten cash from drug dealing, he wanted to invest the money in a way that he can support the family.

Deleon told police that on Nov. 15, 2004, he present the Hawks with a briefcase full of cash in the parking lot near the moored yacht. He said that his wife, child, a notary public and a friend from Mexico, Alonso Machain, were also there for the transaction.

According to Deleon, Tom [Hawks] asked him, if the cash was all there. He assured them that it was and the Hawks gave them the keys to the yacht. And with the transaction complete, Tom and Jackie drove off in their silver Honda CR-V and that was the last time that they saw them.

It was mid December, nearly a month after the Hawks’ disappearance, and the case had reached a dead end. Ryan Hawks, Tom’s son was urged by his uncle and investigators to go on national television to recruit the publics’ help in finding his dad and stepmother.

A retired couple in San Miguel, Mexico, were watching when they heard his plea. They contacted authorities right away when they saw the missing couple’s 1998 silver Honda CR-V parked next to a mobile home near their residence.

When Mexican authorities questioned the home's owner he told them he didn’t know Tom or Jackie Hawks, but that the car was given to him by a friend: Can you guess who that friend was? Yep… Skylar Deleon.

And at that moment…the case got it’s wind back but for investigators and family and friends of the Hawks, the possibility that Tom and Jackie were still alive became far more remote.

Det. Byington concluded that Skylar had murdered these people but still didn’t have enough to prove it, just yet.

On Dec. 17, 2004, police moved in and arrested Skylar Deleon on money laundering charges while they continued investigating him for the murder of the Hawks. The money laundering charges of course were related to his admitting the cash he supposedly used to pay the Hawks for the yacht was acquired through drug dealing.

When investigators searched the Deleon’s home, they found a heap of compelling evidence including the Hawks’ laptop and their video camera, which the Deleons had the audacity to use to film their Thanksgiving feast, just 10 days after murdering the Hawks. A Thanksgiving that the Hawks never got to spend with their family. Cold heartless killers.

For months after Skylar's arrest, Jennifer Deleon continued to insist on her husband’s innocence in the Hawks’ disappearance, even declining an offer of immunity in exchange for information as to the whereabouts of the Hawks. Something I imagine now she greatly regrets.

The investigation began to expand. Detectives questioned Kathleen Harris, the notary who certified the paperwork for the sale of the Well Deserved. She had been interviewed by police several times but repeatedly denied that anything was amiss until she finally came clean. It was the first domino to fall.

Harris admitted to detectives that she'd actually never met Tom and Jackie Hawks. She had nothing to do with the murder. She had been given documents and paid handsomely in cash to backdate those documents to Nov. 15, which was the day that the Hawks went missing.

Then investigators began pressuring everybody else because they knew everybody else had lied to them.

One of those was Alonso Machain. You see it was Alonso Machain’s signature as ‘witness’ on the Well Deserved sales documents that the Hawks had signed under duress while out at sea. Why on earth would he use his real name!? Don't get me wrong I am thrilled that he was dumb enough to use his real name and hence lead to cracking the case wide-open as you're about to hear.

He told police that he first met Skylar Deleon when he was a jailer at the City of Seal Beach jail. Remember that’s the pokey that Deleon was getting 3 hots and a cot in after being convicted for armed burglary. It’s also where Deleon met Jon Jarvi, the guy he murdered in Mexico. Machain next revealed his role in and the full scope of the murder conspiracy of the Hawks.

Machain said Skylar Deleon convinced him that Deleon was an international hitman and that he needed to take out Tom and Jackie Hawks because they were bad seeds. Well based on the fact that Einstein used his real name as a witness on the documents we can assume it was pretty easy to pull the wool over his eyes.

Machain told police that on November 15, 2004, he, Skylar Deleon and another accomplice, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, ( yes that’s the guy’s real name) met up to go over the plans. JFK (the thug) was a member of the Long Beach gang called Insane Crips. Lovely. He was posing as Deleon’s accountant and was tasked with being the muscle to subdue the well-built Tom Hawks. (I know it sounds like tomahawk) God these names are getting confusing. By age 40, Insane Crip Kennedy had racked up an impressive 21 arrests to his name, including battery, grand theft, drugs, and attempted murder. Sounds like the perfect guy for the job.

The trio met the Hawks at the port, were welcomed aboard the Well Deserved by Tom and Jackie, and set out toward Santa Catalina Island on a “sea trial,” or test run of the boat.

Tom Hawks was skeptical if not a little nervous having these 3 guys along for the short cruise. After all he and Jackie had only met Skylar and Jennifer Deleon and suddenly these other dodgy-looking guys are in the picture.

Machain explained that Skylar Deleon and Kennedy followed Tom down into the galley where they overpowered him and handcuffed him, while Machain subdued and handcuffed Jackie Hawks. They then forced them to sign over the boat and authorize power of attorney to their bank account. The Hawks’ Signatures and fingerprints were secured.

At one point when Deleon was in striking distance, the muscled Tom Hawks donkey-kicked him sending him flying across the boat. This only enraged Deleon.

Machain said he, on Deleon’s orders, taped over the couple’s eyes and mouths and tied them together as Deleon navigated the boat toward the deepest point of the sea, where depths reach more than 3000 feet.

Machain said they then tied the still handcuffed couple, to one of the yacht’s anchors. And we can guess what happened next to the loving couple. According to Machain, Deleon threw the anchor overboard and it dragged the horrified couple over the side of the Well Deserved and into the deep to their deaths. An absolutely horrific way to die.

Machain added that after the Hawks’ were murdered, JFK cracked open a beer and they even fished on the way back into port. With the Hawks now out of the picture, Deleon’s master plan was almost complete. All that was left was to sell the boat, drain the Hawks’ bank accounts and be set financially for life.

While Newport police were searching the Deleon’s home, they discovered another interesting clue – a business card for LAPD Det. Joe Bahena, who worked as a liaison with Mexican police. When Det. Byington contacted him, they found that Bahena was helping Mexican authorities investigate the case of one Jon Jarvi. Hmmmm…

Fast forward to 2009. It would be 5 years after the brutal murders of Tom and Jackie Hawks that justice would finally be served to all parties involved.

Alonso Machain pleaded guilty to two counts of murder. He was sentenced to 20 years and four months in prison. Machain had reportedly cooperated with authorities in unraveling the mystery of Hawkses’ murders, hence the lenient sentence. Machain had initially tried to escape justice by fleeing to Mexico, but he returned to Orange County threatened by Mexican authorities’ arrest. The earliest date for his parole is reported to be this year, 2021.

John F. Kennedy (the thug) was sentenced to death for his role in the murders and is currently on death row in San Quentin State Prison.

Although Jennifer Henderson Deleon was not aboard the Well Deserved for that final cruise, she had an integral role in planning the murders, and was convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to two terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

As for The Mighty Morphin Power Ranger, Skylar Deleon, well he also received a death sentence by lethal injection for the murders of Tom and Jackie Hawks and was also tried and found guilty of murdering Jon Jarvi in Mexico. He was convicted as a man and if the capital punishment sentence is carried out will die as a woman. What!?

Skylar Preciosa Deleon, is on death row at San Quentin Prison in California where she has undergone hormone therapy and continues to hope for gender confirmation surgery on the State’s dime. The audacity!! Apparently, it was the desire to pay for the surgery in the first place that fueled the ghastly murders of Tom and Jackie Hawks. Deleon’s name was officially changed to Skylar Preciosa Deleon, by Supreme Court of California order in 2019 and her gender was officially changed to female.

In a jailhouse interview with a television network, Skylar Deleon says she is attracted to women exclusively, but has identified as a woman for many years.

At one stage being so desperate and driven to live life as a woman that she tried to remove her penis in prison with a disposable razor blade. Thwarted only after jailers spotted the bloody mess.

According to Det. Byington, At the end of the day, all those involved are getting what they deserve. Only Alonso [Machain] will ever see the light of day again.

What a sad tale indeed. As we see with so many of these stories, money is the impetus. Sheer greed and an unconscionable lack of respect for a fellow human, fuels these monsters.

#truecrime #murder #truestory #homicide #homicideinc #crime #investigative #interview #killer #tylerdeleon #horror

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Americans whose yacht was hijacked in Grenada were likely thrown overboard and died, police say

Two Americans are presumed dead after they vanished from their yacht in Grenada , leaving behind evidence of a bloody struggle, police in nearby St. Vincent and the Grenadines said Monday.

While loved ones of Kathy Brandel and Ralph Hendry are hopeful that the American retirees and sailing enthusiasts could still turn up alive, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Superintendent Junior Simmons offered a more somber assessment.

"Based on the investigation thus far, it is presumed that Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel are deceased," Simmons said in a video statement Monday afternoon .

Hours earlier, police in Grenada said there's still hope to find the couple.

But Royal Grenada Police Commissioner Don McKenzie also said he's offering “condolences” to the family of the two American boaters, who were most likely “disposed of” at sea by escaped prisoners. McKenzie said there's a “low probability” Brandel and Henry might be alive.

Three accused criminals escaped from jail on Feb. 18 before they "commandeered" the couple's boat, called Simplicity, and headed north, McKenzie said. Police have said the escapees boarded the boat while it was docked in the St. George area of Grenada.

"They headed to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Information suggests that while traveling between Grenada and St. Vincent, they disposed of the occupants," McKenzie told reporters.

Asked whether investigators have an idea where the "missing" Americans might be, McKenzie flat-out said, "No."

"We have nothing conclusive to say that the individuals are dead," he added. "We still hold out hope that, in spite of what might be a low probability, they will turn up alive somewhere, that they're alive."

Simmons in St. Vincent and the Grenadines left little doubt of his opinion in the probe “into the disappearance and presumed death of two United States citizens ... Ralph Hendry and his common law wife Kathy Brandel.”

In an interview that aired Monday on NBC Nightly News, Rob Maher, a friend of the couple who acted as their emergency contact, said that the situation was “like a bad Hollywood movie.”

“It’s hard to think of their last moments with the idea that they might have been thrown overboard alive. It’s difficult to conceive for a friend,” he added.

Couple's sons are in the Caribbean

The couple’s sons called the pair’s disappearance “the rarest of the rare occurrences.”

Brandel’s son, Nick Buro, and Hendry’s son, Bryan Hendry, told NBC Washington that they first learned the couple were missing after U.S. consular officials in Barbados contacted them.

A good Samaritan who found the pair’s abandoned boat contacted the Salty Dawg Sailing Association , whose flag was flying on the mast, and word made it to the two sons, too.

They said they were told the couple vanished after three men escaped from police custody Feb. 18 and boarded their boat in Grenada the next day, Buro said.

Buro said they were told an “altercation of violence took place" on the boat, adding that there was evidence of the violence and that the couple’s possessions were "strewn around all over." Items had also been stolen.

McKenzie said, "What I can say to the family is my condolences and we are still hoping for what I consider a positive outcome, which is we still have the hope that our worst-case scenario will not be a reality."

The scene on the couple's boat was "consistent with signs of violence," Simmons in St. Vincent and the Grenadines said.

"Several items were strewn on the deck and in the cabin, and a red substance that resembled blood was seen on board," he said. "There was no discovery of bodies on board the yacht."

The escapees were caught by police in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Wednesday and are in custody there, according to Buro and officials.

Police told Buro that they have questioned the suspects multiple times, and he said the family expects charges soon.

Buro and Hendry are in the Caribbean and have been speaking with authorities, including the St. Vincent and the Grenadines police and coast guard, and they expressed their appreciation.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said it is aware of the reports involving two citizens missing in the vicinity of Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines but did not identify the couple. The official added that U.S. authorities are coordinating with local law enforcement officials as they carry out their search efforts.

“We are monitoring the situation and seeking additional information,” the spokesperson said. “The Department of State has no higher priority than the welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad. We stand ready to provide appropriate assistance to U.S. citizens in need and to their families.”

Life on the water

The couple met in Virginia and have been married for 27 years. They raised the boys together in the state, where they lived until 2013, selling their home in Alexandria to trade it in for Simplicity and life on the water.

"They wanted to see the world. They wanted to experience life. They wanted to see what the world had to offer outside of their small window of living in one place and being mobile and being able to have a different adventure every day — that’s like the definition of living," Buro said.

Buro said that the family has always been close and that they talk often. He considers Ralph Hendry his father and Bryan Hendry his brother, and he said he knows Hendry feels the same way about him and Brandel.

The couple “lived with a sense of wonder and love,” Hendry said.

“They loved immersing themselves in different cultures and meeting people and spreading their love wherever they could,” he said.

Buro echoed his stepbrother’s sentiments.

“You’ll never meet more beautiful people than Kathy and Ralph,” Buro said. “They were there for people when they needed it most, and I just, they’re my inspiration for everything, and I can’t express how much I love them, and I know everybody else who knows them feels the same way.”

The couple had been planning the trip down to Grenada — their first to the Caribbean island — for “years and years and years, training themselves, preparing the boat, preparing themselves ... to make the trip,” Hendry said.

It was going to be a “very long trip, not to be taken lightly,” and the couple felt they had “prepared themselves adequately,” Hendry said.

They made the voyage down with the Salty Dawg Sailing Association, and everyone arrived safely, Buro said.

Bob Osborn, the association's president, said the situation was upsetting and tragic.

“In all my years of cruising the Caribbean, I have never heard of anything like this,” he said in a statement.

Yacht 'was their home'

Buro thinks his mother and stepfather could still be alive.

“We still think there’s a chance that they’re out there," he said. Because the investigation continues and St. Vincent and the Grenadines police were "quick to apprehend the suspects and are searching," there is hope.

"We still hope that they are OK and that we can bring them back," Buro said.

He said that the entire situation "is something that is completely unexpected" and that they are trying to understand the "senseless act of violence against two people that were just living their lives in their home."

Buro said the couple worked hard on their dream and had become seasoned sailors. Simplicity “was their home,” he said.

He said the couple’s top priorities were always safety and security, “to make sure everything they did was safe and was going to keep them safe.”

“To have that turn out in a way where something out of their control took that away from them is what’s so horrific about this and so sad, because they were just, this is just something that they’ve always wanted to do, and they did it, and it’s just, it breaks our hearts,” Buro said.

Rebecca Cohen is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.

Mauricio Casillas is a reporter for NBC Washington.

David K. Li is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

Watch CBS News

2 Americans believed dead after escapees apparently hijack yacht, Grenada police say

By Caitlin O'Kane

February 23, 2024 / 12:15 PM EST / CBS News

Three escaped inmates in Grenada may have stolen a yacht and killed two passengers on the boat who are believed to be American citizens, the Royal Grenada Police Force said on Thursday. The three men escaped custody on Sunday and police believe they made their way to nearby St. Vincent on a stolen boat, according to a news release the force shared on Facebook. 

The three men — identified as Ron Mitchell, 30, Trevon Robertson, 19, and Abita Stanislaus, 25 — were initially arrested in December and charged jointly with one count of robbery with violence. Mitchell also faced separate charges of one count of rape, three counts of attempted rape, two counts of indecent assault and causing harm.

They were being held at the South St. George Police Station on the small Caribbean island when they escaped. As law enforcement from Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines searched for them, evidence suggested they got on a yacht docked in St. George, officials said. 

The Royal Grenada Police Force "is currently working on leads that suggest that the two occupants of the yacht may have been killed in the process," the force wrote on Facebook. "It is believed that the occupants of the yacht were American citizens."

The investigation is in its early stages and a team of senior investigators and a forensic specialist has been sent to St. Vincent, the force said. 

In a separate incident, police said another suspect escaped while attending court on Wednesday and is on the run. The fugitive, identified as Levon Date, is charged in the 2023 killing of Canadian citizen Wayne Smart. 

CBS News has reached out to the Royal Grenada Police Force for more information. 

Caitlin O'Kane is a New York City journalist who works on the CBS News social media team as a senior manager of content and production. She writes about a variety of topics and produces "The Uplift," CBS News' streaming show that focuses on good news.

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Four seasons ceo reveals plans to transform luxury yachting.

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Four Seasons Yachts

The official definition of a superyacht is a hotly debated topic. It’s widely accepted that to warrant such a title, yachts must be privately owned, sized in the region of 24-120m (78-400ft), and employ a full-time crew, however the rise of luxury hotel-branded ‘yachts’ is challenging convention.

Four Seasons is one such hospitality group. Next year, the brand will launch its first ‘yacht’, a residential-style ship with 95 suites including a striking four-level 9,500ft ‘Funnel Suite’. Promising to delivery everything that their guests love about their favourite hotels but at sea will offering different view every day, it’s an enticing proposition – particularly for those new to cruising.

“As we've done with the other businesses, we want to create a best in class, unparalleled experience,” says Alejandro Reynal, President and CEO of Four Seasons. “We do that in our hotel and resorts so now we are replicating the same at sea. When you look into into the design of the vessel itself, we're taking all the considerations to make the guest and product experience incredible. The size of the suites, for example, will be twice the size of the closest competitor.”

Four Seasons, which renowned for its personalized service, plans to bring this service to the ocean by committing to a one-to-one guest-to-employee ratio. “This is something that you will not see on a on a normal cruise. It’s really hard to achieve but it's an investment that we're making to deliver that personal experience,” Reynal says.

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The group also plans to leverage its global network to offer itineraries that resonate with Four Seasons guests – and incorporate stays at Four Seasons properties before and after cruises. “We're thinking a lot about the itineraries and we best leverage the most sought-after destinations in the Caribbean and in Europe, and leveraging Four Seasons as well. I think the more connections we make to our core business, the better in terms of providing that experience to the guests,” Reynal says.

Cabins and communal areas have been designed like high-end hotels, but Four Seasons has taken inspiration from the yachting industry when it comes to amenities. The vessel will, for instance, be kitted out with a range of ‘toys’ and features traditionally seen on superyachts, including a garage packed full of watersports toys as well as tenders for exploring the coast. There’ll even be a swimming pool that transforms into a dance floor at the push of a button – a feature previously seen on leading superyachts including 354-foot Benetti motor yacht Luminosity, designed by Zaniz .

The group also plans to incorporate some of the flexibility enjoyed by superyachts, compared to cruises, when it comes to daily schedules. Like cruise ships, the vessel will have an itinerary to follow, but how a resident spends their time, from meal times to excursions to use of facilities, will be more flexible in comparison to the traditional hotel experience.

“We’re really thinking about this as something really special and different that ultimately is going to be truly appreciated as a yacht experience rather than a cruise experience,” Reynal says.

Reynal reveals that the new offering isn’t looking to compete with the traditional superyacht charter business but bring new people into the industry. “Some of our guests venture out into certain countries because they feel comfortable staying with Four Seasons and they know they have that guarantee of an excellent service. Similarly in this situation, maybe they’re never done yachting before but because they’re trying it with a brand they’re guaranteed to have a great experience, so I think that may happen.”

He reveals that the final piece of the Four Seasons puzzle is to create a seamless experience between the group’s hotels, private jet journeys and cruising offerings. “If people had the time and the desire to do so, they could do the Four Season Private Jet Experience, finish in a particular destination, and continue the Four Seasons experience at sea,” he says. “Once we have finalised the itineraries for the year, we will think about ways of linking the two, potentially.”

The first Four Seasons Yachts vessel is set to launch in 2025 with a second vessel to follow in 2026 – both will go into competition with other world-leading hospitality groups including Ritz-Carlton, Aman and Orient Express which are planning their own seafaring ventures.

The question remains as to whether any of these vessels can accurately claim to be a ‘superyacht’, but if they deliver on their promises of personalised service, innovative design and incredible itineraries, they could be the next best thing.

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