photo #9396810

In November 2004, retirees Tom and Jackie Hawks were preparing to sell their 55-foot yacht, Well Deserved, after years of living and traveling aboard it. They planned to move back onto land to be closer to family and their new grandchild when a man named Skylar Deleon contacted them about buying the boat.On November 15, the Hawks took Deleon and his accomplices out from Newport Beach for a sea trial. Prosecutors said Tom and Jackie were overpowered, handcuffed, and forced to sign ownership documents before being bound to the yacht’s heavy anchor and thrown alive into the Pacific Ocean.Their yacht later returned to its slip, but the Hawks were gone. Suspicious paperwork and financial activity quickly exposed the scheme, and Deleon and several accomplices were later convicted for the murders. Despite the investigation and convictions, Tom and Jackie Hawks’ bodies were never recovered.