Rescued Fugitive and Pal Face Charges

Sept. 26, 2007 — -- Authorities are trying to untangle a real-life mystery on the high seas, after four crew members and two passengers disappeared from a charter boat called The Joe Cool off the coast of Miami this weekend.

The empty 47-foot charter boat was found Sunday afternoon about 30 miles north of Cuba by the U.S. Coast Guard, who towed it to Miami. Coast Guard rescuers said the boat appeared to have been ransacked

Monday, the two men who chartered the boat were found floating on a life raft 12 miles from where the boat was found. The FBI identified the men as 19-year-old Guillermo Zarabozo, from Miami, and Kirby Logan Archer, 35, who is wanted on felony theft charges in Arkansas.

Archer is accused of stealing $92,620 in cash from a Wal-Mart in Batesville, Ark., where he worked as a manager.

Archer was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and Zarabozo was charged with making a false statement to a federal agent, an FBI spokeswoman told The Associated Press. Both were being held in the federal detention center in Miami awaiting a court appearance today.

The two men chartered the boat for $4,000 to take them from Miami to Bimini, in the Bahamas. But about 35 miles out, the Joe Cool inexplicably turned south.

The crew of the Joe Cool: Capt. Jake Branam, 27; his wife, Kelley Branam; his half-brother Scott Campbell, 30; and Samuel Kairy, 27, all of Miami Beach, are still missing.

Jeff Branam, Jake's uncle and the owner of the boat, said that "it's like a bad dream."

"We're still praying that they're still floating in the Gulf Stream," Branam said.

Capt. Jim Watson, chief of staff of the Seventh Coast Guard District in Miami, spoke on the latest developments.