Maritime Love Affair Cut Brutally Short

Oct. 15, 2008 — -- Brick by brick, a California prosecutor is building a fortress of evidence around Skylar DeLeon, a former child actor, who is accused of masterminding one of the most elementally evil murders in recent memory.

This morning in an Orange County courtroom, the case could reach its chilling emotional crescendo.

Alonzo Machain, an accused accomplice of the 2004 murders of Thomas and Jackie Hawks is expected to recount how DeLeon shackled the couple to the anchor of their beloved yacht, the Well-Deserved, as they begged for their lives, then forced them to sign over ownership of the 55-foot boat and then threw them both overboard into the Pacific Ocean. The couple's bodies have never been recovered.

DeLeon, 29, a child star of the 1990s television series "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," has pleaded not guilty to murder charges, but in opening statements last week his lawyer stunned the courtroom by admitting DeLeon had killed the couple.

The attorney told jurors that he hoped they would spare his client from the death sentence if they found him guilty and that he promised to show how DeLeon's wife, Jennifer DeLeon, 27, was at least equally culpable of the crimes.

Jennifer DeLeon was tried and convicted separately in 2006 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Machain, who takes the stand today is cooperating with the prosecution in a deal to avoid the death penalty. Two other accused co-conspirators are awaiting trial.

DeLeon is also facing murder charges on an unrelated killing in 2003. His defense attorney Gary Pohlson acknowledged in opening statements last week that his client also had killed Jon Peter Jarvi, who police say had his throat slashed in a Mexican desert after Jarvi reportedly handed over $50,000 to DeLeon for a bogus "can't-miss" investment.

On Tuesday, Orange County Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy led a series of witnesses through testimony that aimed to show that DeLeon and his wife were broke and in debt but spending money and making plans as if they had just won a lottery.

Real estate agent Teresa Rogers testified that in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 15, 2004 murders of the Hawkses, Skylar and Jennifer Deleon "were interested in buying a $2 million waterfront home in Naples," an area in Long Beach, Calif.

The DeLeons were specifically interested in a 55-foot-boat slip, Rogers testified. The DeLeons told her that they had a "big deal going on and there was a boat involved," she said.

Anthony Turdo, a car salesman in Riverside, testified that he met the DeLeons a month before the murders and sold them a Toyota Highlander for $31,475 with a monthly payment of $678.

The DeLeons' accountant reported that in 2003 Skylar's reported annual income was $9,768 and that Jennifer earned $9,000.

Sgt. Evan Sailor of the Newport Police Department told the jury that investigators found a total of 10 open credit card accounts in the DeLeons' names equaling more than $25,000 in debt.

In one of the most dramatic moments of Tuesday's testimony, Sailor said investigators found Jackie Hawks' laptop, backpack, cell phone and home video tapes in the DeLeons' garage apartment.

One tape, he said, showed the Hawks' filming themselves on a cruise but it abruptly cut to video footage of the DeLeons' Thanksgiving celebration.