Arizona Couple Missing After Selling Boat in Newport Beach

[dani]

An Arizona couple, Tom and Jackie Hawks, has vanished after selling their 55' cabin cruiser for $400,000 in Newport Beach, California. Tom is a former probation officer in Arizona.

http://www.tomandjackiehawks.com/

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniont...n12vanish.html

[Rag Doll 02]

Originally Posted by dani

An Arizona couple, Tom and Jackie Hawks, has vanished after selling their 55' cabin cruiser for $400,000 in Newport Beach, California. Tom is a former probation officer in Arizona.

http://www.tomandjackiehawks.com/

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniont...n12vanish.html

This has been on my local news recently and has gotten my attention. I will have to hear more facts of the case, but so far I think there is something up with the people who 'purchased' their boat. They claim they paid for it in cash ?? Kind of alot of money to exchange hands in cash.... I think it will play out that they were set up or pushed overboard after being robbed for the boat, but you never can tell.

I will keep praying that they just wanted a little privacy and took off traveling. But the longer they go without calling relatives, especially being this is the holiday season, it doesnt look good.

[lisag]

Yes, it sounds highly suspicious..

[Jeana (DP)]

Is this also in our "MISSING" forum?

[LovelyPigeon]

These don't sound like the killers, but just some teens who also read or heard on tv about the yacht and missing former owners, and took advantage:

Police arrest 3 teens aboard harbor yacht
Police on Monday arrested three teenagers who broke into the boat recently sold by Tom and Jackie Hawks, a Newport Beach couple who have been missing for a month.
Two Costa Mesa residents and one Santa Ana resident, all between 15 and 17, stole a small boat and used it to paddle out to the Well Deserved, a 55-foot cabin cruiser moored in the harbor, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman said. There, they broke a window, entered the boat and helped themselves to food and drink, Shulman said.

They stayed aboard and fished from the boat, he said.--->>

Newport Beach Police arrested the three teenagers on suspicion of vandalism and burglary, he said. --->>

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/pi...ot-news-police

[Rag Doll 02]

I will look for more details, but I just heard on FOX news that they have found the couples car, but still no sign of the couple

[dani]

The network news (Friday evening) reported the couple's car was found in or near Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.

They also reported the 25 year-old *buyer* of the boat has been arrested, but for "money laundering".

I'll see if I can find a link.

Meanwhile, here's a link to an interview Greta VS did regarding the Hawks' on Dec. 16th.

[chicoliving]

Here's the only info I've found....

Newport Beach, CA, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Newport Beach, Calif., police have arrested a man who purchased a boat from a couple who disappeared a short time after the deal was completed.

Officials said Skylar DeLeon of Long Beach was arrested on a money-laundering charge related to his cash purchase of a 55-foot cruiser from Thomas and Jackie Hawks, a retired Arizona couple who had lived aboard the vessel for several years.

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-break...5248-8247r.htm

[Rag Doll 02]

This case has gotten my attention. It is a real mystery so far...

Unfortunately I must admit that I dont see a happy ending coming out of this. I hope I am wrong, but I think the couple are no longer with us. No activity on their bank accounts, credit cards, cell phones... all that supposed cash money. No calls during the holidays, especially with news of a baby in the family, some of their personal effects still being on the boat, car being found in Mexico --- I wish there was some other conclusion than the one I think--

prayers for them and their family

[AuntieKaren]

The article did say that the boat purchaser is being cooperative. Of course, that doesn't mean much. This is real creepy. I was near Newport Beach a couple days ago. I sure hope they are OK.
Karen

[AuntieKaren]

Originally Posted by Rag Doll 02

I will look for more details, but I just heard on FOX news that they have found the couples car, but still no sign of the couple

Uh-oh...this is not good...
Karen

[Sprocket]

If they are still alive, I will truly be amazed. Sad.

[lisafremont]

When I first heard this sad story I had a sinking feeling that they were gone and the killer is the so-called "buyer." So tragic.

[AuntieKaren]

Shouldn't this be in the "Missing" forum?
Karen

[LovelyPigeon]

Mexico Returns Car of Missing Couple
By Christine Hanley, Times Staff Writer

A missing Newport Beach couple's sport utility vehicle was returned Saturday from Mexico, and police said they hoped it would yield clues to their whereabouts.

"We just don't know whether they're alive or not," Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman said.

The Mexican man who was driving the couple's vehicle is cooperating with authorities and providing leads, Shulman said, and the California Highway Patrol's liaison to Mexico was helping local police with the investigation.
- http://www.latimes.com/news/local/or...ditions-orange

[dani]

I don't know the date of this cell phone call, but it now has me wondering if the Hawks' were abducted in Mexico or, hopefully, they are just stuck in a Mexican jail right now. (I know that sounds horrible, but it's a whole lot rosier than the alternative that keeps running around in my head.)

I just wish they would tell us if the call was made before or after the sale of the boat. The buyer said he paid them $400,000 cash. It's illegal to enter Mexico with more than $10,000 cash. (It's also stupid.) No disrespect to the Hawks intended. They just may not have known about the law.

"Jackie’s cell phone records show the last call placed on her phone was at the U.S.-Mexico border."

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=27255

[packerdog]

My husband heard early this morning on our local news that the guy that bought the boat was an actor when he was a child. Has anybody heard anything about it?

[LovelyPigeon]

Skylar DeLeon is a former child actor who worked on the "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" show, Molfetta said. --- >>

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/pi...tcn-pilot-news

[WasBlind]

Dec 18 Press Release

Skylar Julian DeLeon

Prayers for Jackie and Tom, Matt and for Ryan.
With love and HOPE, Lanie

[LovelyPigeon]

Police assisting in search for missing couple

By: YVETTE URREA - Staff Writer

CARLSBAD ---- Police volunteers passed out fliers Tuesday at hotels and motels along the Interstate 5 corridor asking for help in locating a missing couple, the brother and sister-in-law of former police Chief Jim Hawks.

The Carlsbad Police Officers Association is also offering a $1,000 reward to any hotel or motel employee who is able to confirm that the couple were registered guests on the night of Nov. 15. --->>

Carlsbad volunteers were assisting Newport Beach police in their investigation because it was easier for them to pass out fliers in San Diego County, Eppel said. Senior volunteers went to various motels all the way down to the Mexico border, he said.--->> http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004...5812_21_04.txt

[Anngelique]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/...in662180.shtml

Here is the latest news I can find on this couple.

[LovelyPigeon]

A Long Beach man who bought a yacht from a missing retired couple and may have been the last person to see them alive pleaded not guilty Monday to charges linking him to large-scale drug sales.
Skylar James Deleon answered to three counts of laundering money from drug sales and three counts of possessing money related to narcotics sales.

Prosecutor Matt Murphy said Deleon, 25, bought a 55-foot cabin cruiser from the missing couple, Tom and Jackie Hawks, but Murphy declined to say whether he is a suspect in their disappearance.--->>

Deleon, who has a previous conviction for burglary, appeared as a child actor in the "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers' television show, according to Michael Molfetta, an attorney for Jennifer. --->> http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories...613373,00.html

[yadler]

Originally Posted by Rag Doll 02

This case has gotten my attention. It is a real mystery so far...

Unfortunately I must admit that I dont see a happy ending coming out of this. I hope I am wrong, but I think the couple are no longer with us. No activity on their bank accounts, credit cards, cell phones... all that supposed cash money. No calls during the holidays, especially with news of a baby in the family, some of their personal effects still being on the boat, car being found in Mexico --- I wish there was some other conclusion than the one I think--

prayers for them and their family

From what I've read about the local case, the Orange County PD seems to be looking really hard at the buyer: a mid-twentysomething man who paid the $400,000 price in cash. This buyer is now under arrest for "money laundering." I take that to mean that they are holding him for something unrelated just to keep him locked up.

[gatetrekker44]

why LE was asking the media not to publish any photos of Skylar Deleon-is there anyone out there in LE that could give a reason for this????

[yadler]

Maybe the "buyer" is in the witness protection program. Maybe he's a snitch. But it sure is unusual for LE to arrest a suspect for another alleged crime (money laundering) rather than for the crime at hand: murder of two innocents.