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.

Just Won the Lottery

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.

The Yacht Was 'Well Deserved'

The Hawkses had advertised their boat for sale in 2004 and planned to move to Arizona to spend more time with their new grandchild. They had spent the previous three years sailing up and down the coast between southern California and northern Mexico, living a life family members and friends have said was their own American dream.

Thomas Hawks, 57, grew up in San Diego County with an abiding love for the sea. His father took him on boat trips to nearby Catalina Island, according to a series of reports in the Orange County Register newspaper, which said Hawks built a 14-foot boat at age 17 and sailed it solo on an 18-hour trip to the island, 20 miles off the coast of southern California.

He met Jackie, his second wife, at a chili cook-off in Arizona, the newspaper reported. She had been in a motorcycle accident eight months before, and was in a wheelchair.

The couple fell in love and shared their mutual love for seafaring -- buying, sailing and selling a series of boats through the years.

Then they found their dream vessel, a 55-foot trawler with a "hand-carved teak interior, two rooms and a large cockpit,'' according to the Register.

Dubbing the boat Well-Deserved, the couple set out for three years of life on the high seas.

A remarkable series of photographs compiled on a memorial Web site, TomandJackieHawks.com, illustrate friends and family's memories of a tanned couple thrilled with the good fortune of their late-in-life love affair -- his rugged features and salt-and-pepper beard reminiscent of a young Ernest Hemingway; her big brown eyes and bright smile illuminating every picture.

Thomas Hawks was so excited to set out to sea on Well-Deserved that he couldn't sleep for days, according to the Register.

But after years of living on the open sea, they felt the tug of family drawing them to land.

James Hawks, a retired police chief, had recently helped his brother and Jackie sail their yacht from Mexico to Newport Beach, according to court testimony. Hawks said his brother planned on moving back to Arizona because "they had a grandson and were very anxious to spend more time with family."

Murder in a Mexican Desert

Then Skylar and Jennifer DeLeon entered their lives.

Feigning an interest in purchasing their boat, DeLeon, his wife, Jennifer, and an accomplice named Alonso Machain, 25, persuaded the couple to take them out to sea on Well-Deserved for a test drive.

After overpowering the couple, the trio forced the Hawkses to sign over ownership documents to the yacht and power-of-attorney papers that would give Skylar DeLeon access to the couple's bank accounts, according to opening statements from the prosecutor.

For 90 minutes, Murphy told the jury, Jackie Hawks cried and begged for their lives.

"I am too young to die,'' Murphy quoted the terrified woman as saying. "I have a grandchild! Please don't kill us. I have to see my grandchild!''

A seemingly merciless DeLeon allegedly threatened to assault Jackie with a flashlight if the pair didn't follow his exact instructions.

Blindfolded and tied together, Thomas Hawks sought to soothe his wife's growing anxiety by stroking her hand.

And then DeLeon threw the anchor, with the couple shackled to it, overboard.

"The rope goes taut. The couple goes overboard into the sea," Murphy said.

"That's how Thomas and Jackie Hawks died, begging for their lives."

Missing Persons Report

James Hawks testified Tuesday that he grew suspicious in late November 2004, after repeatedly calling his brother and Jackie and only reaching voice mail.

On Nov. 24, he boarded the boat and "noticed some things out of place, which was unusual."

James Hawks said that his brother and sister-in-law were meticulous about Well- Deserved and that he noticed "Jackie's custom-made nautical quilt was not on the bed."

He left a note on his old business card asking the new owners to call him. James Hawks told jurors that Jennifer called him days later and "appeared to be a bit nervous."

He filed a missing persons report two days later.

'I was Always Watching My Back'

Last week, notary Kathleen Harris told jurors from the witness stand 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 a mutual friend named Adam Rohrig. Harris claims she met the couple at an extended-stay hotel, where they asked her to backdate and notarize documents they had laid out on the bed 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 says she received $2,000.

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

Murphy reportedly said Tuesday that closing arguments in the trial could come as early as this week.