Real Murders of Orange County (2020): Season 1, Episode 3 - Hawks - full transcript
LARRY MONTGOMERY:
Orange County is basically know
for the rich lifestyle.
However, that doesn't mean
that life is stable.
Jackie and Tom
had disappeared.
CAITLIN ROTHER:
Maybe they had taken
a quick trip down to Mexico
or up to Santa Barbara.
JACKIE HAWKS:
I'm so glad you could join us
on our last voyage
on Well Deserved.
NARRATOR:
The Hawks, a pair
of seafaring lovebirds,
had suddenly disappeared.
GAYLE O'NEILL:
When the phone calls stopped
from Jackie and Tom,
we were devastated.
ROTHER:
The Newport Beach
Police Department
get their first big break
in the case.
DAVID BYINGTON:
Someone had walked into the ban
and were trying to access
the Hawks' account.
This is not looking good.
NARRATOR: The deeper
the detectives looked,
the darker
the investigation became.
MARIO MONTERO:
I see a little,
partial fingerprint in red,
and I think, "That's blood."
MONTGOMERY:
Our job was to look at it
from the possibility
it might be a homicide.
NARRATOR: And a whole league
of accomplices was revealed.
They're lying.
They're all lying.
O'NEILL:
We were hoping to God
they'd find them.
Alive.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR:
Orange County,
a glittering
Southern California gem.
It's both home and playground
to some of the wealthiest peopl
in the world.
Beautiful location to live,
raise your children, shop.
Dream.
When you finally hit
those lottery numbers,
that's where you want to live.
The wealth there is tremendous.
NARRATOR:
At the heart of
Orange County's glitzy Riviera,
sits Newport Beach,
an alluring alcove nestled
amidst 40 miles
of pristine beaches
and swanky yacht harbors.
The privileged yacht culture
allows immense freedom
to cruise to the horizon
at the drop of a hat.
MONTERO:
Newport Beach is probably
the most affluent place
in Orange County.
It's been called
the Golden Orange.
These homes are very expensive.
You're talking
tens of millions of dollars.
Just like every other place
in our country
and in California,
there's crime here.
There's people
who are willing to kill
to-to have this lifestyle.
Thomas and Jackie Hawks,
they just didn't seem
the kind of people
who would have those problems
and wind up disappearing
on their families.
BYINGTON:
Tom and Jackie Hawks were
living the Orange County dream.
They had worked hard,
saved their money,
bought a beautiful yacht,
were living on it
in one of the most beautiful
harbors in the world.
Newport Beach, they have
moorings out in the water.
You can just tie up to a moorin
and you live the life
on your yacht.
Life was good.
NARRATOR:
Long before Jackie and Tom Hawk
found their charmed life
off the sunny shores
of Orange County,
Jackie grew up in another world
through frigid Ohio winters.
O'NEILL:
This is one of my favorites.
This is Jackie
with her baby doll
at Christmas in 1959.
Oh, she was adorable.
When Jackie was born,
she was the happy-go-lucky kid.
Jackie loved everybody.
And it just emanated from her.
She was just wonderful.
KATHY SNOWBRICK:
I met Jackie in high school.
We were fast friends.
She was my maid of honor.
And all we did was laugh.
(chuckles)
She was tons and tons of fun.
NARRATOR:
Jackie longed
for a life out west,
where the sun was warm
and anything seemed possible.
So at 18, she left for Arizona
and soon met her own dreamboat,
Tom Hawks.
JACKIE:
Here they come.
Here's Thomas, in all his glory.
SNOWBRICK:
When she met Tom,
you could tell he truly loved
her and she was crazy about him.
In love with you.
(laughs)
TOM HAWKS:
I love you, too.
O'NEILL:
Tom was a probation officer
and a bodybuilder.
He was a fun-loving guy.
(laughs softly)
He was always playing jokes.
JACKIE:
You are such a big boy.
-I'm a big boy.
-(laughs)
O'NEILL:
I liked him.
He was good to my daughter.
-And now the bride.
-Aw.
(indistinct chatter)
O'NEILL:
They had a
Hawaiian-themed wedding
at their house in Arizona.
There were hundreds
of people there.
Jackie, she was gorgeous.
OFFICIANT:
...faithful husband
-as long as you both
shall live?
-I do.
Jackie, do you take this man
to be your wedded husband?
I do.
Matt and Ryan are Tom's boys,
from when he was married before
She loved his kids.
O'NEILL:
Jackie always wanted
to be a mother,
but, um, she couldn't
ever have children.
She accepted it, and here
is this man with two children.
It turned out great.
Jackie and Tom,
they had a very busy life.
They were entrepreneurs.
O'NEILL:
They went and bought
this 65-foot boat.
It was beautiful.
It was all teak.
And they named it
the Well Deserved,
because they had saved
so long for it.
They both retired early
so they could live
on their boat in Newport Beach.
Tom originally
was from California,
and they liked Orange County.
It's like a rich man's paradise.
NARRATOR:
Orange County called
to Tom and Jackie.
Like a beacon,
it drew them into a world
of endless freedom
on the sparkling seas,
and a lifestyle desired by many
but attained by few.
She was actually
living her dreams.
She would send me shells
from different places
that she was at.
O'NEILL:
They called us every weekend.
And, uh, we'd talk for a while,
just catch up on what they were
doing and where they were at.
NARRATOR:
But Tom and Jackie's
California dream wouldn't last.
In November of 2004,
family members
became unsettled when they
couldn't get in touch with them
O'NEILL:
I tried to call Jackie
because she hadn't called me.
Call went right to voice mail.
I thought, "Well, she's...
...down scuba diving
or they're busy,"
so I waited a while
and I called again.
Went right to voice mail.
And I knew...
something's wrong.
MONTERO:
Back in November 2004,
a missing persons report
was faxed to our records.
A couple by the name of Tom
and Jackie Hawks were missing.
When we got this report,
it didn't seem typical.
From the get-go,
the circumstances
behind the case told us
that there was more than
just a simple missing persons.
BYINGTON: The reporting party
was Jim Hawks,
Tom Hawks's older brother.
This missing persons report
was very detailed.
I learned that this couple,
Tom and Jackie, they loved
traveling to Mexico
on the drop of a hat,
but still having
their family connections.
But on November 15, 2004,
contact stopped.
There were no phone calls,
no radio messages.
No texts.
This was very unlike the Hawks,
to just drop off
the face of the planet
and not reach out
to their family.
ROTHER:
The family had some theories.
Matt, their son,
had a new grandbaby,
and they really wanted
to be with the grandbaby.
They were living the life
that they dreamed of,
but they decided that it was
time to go back to Arizona,
get a residence,
and share with this experience
of having
a new grandchild arrive.
Tom and Jackie
told family and friends
that they had a prospective
buyer for their yacht,
and it looked like it pretty
much was gonna happen soon.
ROTHER:
Maybe they had
taken a quick trip down
to Mexico
or up to Santa Barbara,
just for a last bon voyage
kind of party.
But after eight days,
nobody's heard from them,
and the family and friends
started to wonder,
what happened to them?
BYINGTON:
The longer
that both Tom and Jackie
weren't heard from,
the more concern family
and friends had.
And they were not sure if
the sale of the yacht happened.
Jim Hawks had gone out
on the 23rd of November
to the boat to try to find
his brother and his wife,
and they're not there.
BYINGTON:
Jim Hawks filed
a missing person report.
It was immediately faxed to the
Newport Beach Police Department,
where I worked.
MONTERO:
We need to go out there,
take a look at that boat.
See if we can find what
happened to these people.
BYINGTON:
The Well Deserved was docked
in the middle of the harbor.
MONTERO:
So, we board the yacht,
and right away,
we can tell it's lived-in.
I went up to the second level,
I see a little...
what seems like
a partial fingerprint in red.
And I think, "That's blood."
And my first thought is, "Okay,
"something happened
on this boat.
I need to check in to this."
BYINGTON:
We needed to get inside
and find out
if potentially, Tom
and Jackie Hawks were inside,
injured, being held captive.
It's exigent circumstances.
MONTERO:
We decide we're gonna
cut that lock,
and we're gonna go in.
SNOWBRICK:
The more I was told,
the more distressed I got.
MONTGOMERY:
There may be more to this
than just a missing persons.
Now we have a cash transaction.
How much did she know
or not want to know?
This is not looking good.
NARRATOR:
Jackie and Tom Hawks were livin
the picture-perfect O.C. life
aboard their yacht,
the Well Deserved,
when they mysteriously
disappeared.
Detectives uncovered
a possible bloodstain
on the exterior of the yacht,
which gave them
probable cause to enter.
MONTERO:
We cut the lock
on the door and...
...there's no one there.
I notice the boat is lived-in.
It's not terribly messy,
but it's not neat, either,
which is the opposite of what
James Hawks describes
his brother,
as being very meticulous
and neat.
Had to explore the possibility
that it's changed hands.
I see personal pictures
and plaques and things
that you wouldn't leave
on a boat you sold.
There were family things.
There's little flags
that go off in your head
that just aren't right.
BYINGTON:
Couldn't find anything that
would really raise
the suspicions
that any type of crime
had occurred.
But we needed to really
clear up what's going on
and look into this.
It was noted
in the missing person report
that the potential buyers
of this yacht
were a young couple,
Skylar and Jennifer Deleon.
We needed to talk to them,
because they
potentially were the last people
to see the Hawks.
Skylar and Jennifer
were located
in the city of Long Beach.
They were living
in Jennifer's parents' house.
MONTGOMERY:
In Long Beach, they have
a middle-class lifestyle.
The Deleons had
a background that wasn't rich,
yet sometimes lived
kind of a rich lifestyle.
BYINGTON:
My first impression of Skylar,
he was very soft-spoken.
They had a small child
with them,
and it was obvious
that Jennifer was pregnant.
We advised them
that we were investigating
a missing person case involving
Tom and Jackie Hawks.
Both Skylar and Jennifer said
that they were very concerned
about the Hawks themselves,
and that they had been actively
looking for the Hawks.
Skylar confirmed buying
the vessel,
that he had purchased it
with cash, and...
they were considering living
on the vessel.
Jennifer explained to me
that the Hawks still had
numerous items of personal
property on the vessel
and that they needed
to get 'em off,
so that they could move
their own property in.
NARRATOR:
How was it possible that
this young Long Beach couple
living with their parents
could afford to purchase
a luxe yacht?
Was the sale of
the Well Deserved legitimate?
A bill of sale
would have sealed the deal.
BYINGTON:
Skylar produced
the paperwork that documented
the sale
of the Well Deserved to them.
It appeared to be legitimate.
It had a price.
It was notarized.
It was witnessed.
Fingerprints were applied.
Skylar told me
that he had the cash,
which was in a large briefcase--
three-quarters
of a million dollars--
and that he simply slid
this briefcase
across the hood of the car,
and that Tom Hawks
had opened it up and appeared
very nervous but excited.
Both Tom and Jackie entered
their vehicle
with this three-quarter
million dollars in cash
and drove away in their Honda,
and that that was the last time
that, uh, Skylar and Jennifer
had seen the Hawks.
I confronted Skylar.
I go, "You're a young man,
and that's quite a lot of money.
How is it that you were able
to afford this?"
Skylar told me
he was a child actor
and also dabbled
in real estate in Mexico.
I started pressing Skylar,
'cause this wasn't ringing true
If he legitimately had
this much wealth,
why isn't he living
in his own residence?
Skylar took a pause and said
he wanted to come clean.
Said that the money that he use
to purchase the Hawks' vessel,
the Well Deserved,
was money that he had earned
from the sale of narcotics.
NARRATOR:
Skylar was a self-proclaimed
SoCal cocaine cowboy.
By purchasing a yacht
from the Hawks,
he was effectively washing
his money
in the waves
of the Pacific Ocean.
BYINGTON:
I knew that
what Skylar just did was
admitted to money laundering.
That kind of took me aback,
'cause then I'm thinking,
okay, he just admitted
to a felony he didn't have to.
That would just give it
more legitimacy to me.
At this point, my gut told me
that maybe Skylar and Jennifer
weren't involved
with the Hawks being missing.
Now we have a cash transaction.
That means
the Hawks took custody
of almost three-quarter
of a million dollars in cash
and drove away.
This is not looking good.
ROTHER:
When the detectives look
at the paperwork, they get
two more pieces of information.
One, that there's a witness
who saw the sale,
and that was Alonso Machain.
There's also...
a notary
who witnessed the sale,
and that's Kathleen Harris.
NARRATOR:
Could that briefcase of cash
have given one of the witnesses
motive to turn on the Hawks?
BYINGTON:
Alonso Machain was
a friend of Skylar's.
He maintained the same story,
that he was present,
he witnessed a...
suitcase full of money
being transferred,
and, uh,
he never even went on the boat,
he just went home after that;
he was doing a favor for Skylar.
We also talked
to Kathleen Harris.
She was certified by the state
as a notary.
She seems very up-front
and honest-- she says,
"This one stands out
and is unique,
because we did it on site
in Newport Beach."
And she actually gave
the location
of 15th Street on the bay,
which was where Skylar
had claimed this transaction
had taken place.
Every one of these witnesses
were all maintaining
the same story.
Skylar and Jennifer Deleon
did not hesitate
in giving permission for us
to search and take custody
of the vessel.
The crew that went out to searc
and conduct a CSI investigation
on the Well Deserved
did not recover anything
of significance.
The initial statement,
Detective Montero had observed
that he thought
might have been, uh,
blood of some type
actually turned out to be rust.
So we were kind of grasping
at straws,
'cause we were coming up
with leads fairly quickly
early on in the investigation,
but then it stalled.
O'NEILL:
When the phone calls stopped
from Jackie and Tom,
we were devastated.
SNOWBRICK:
Gayle kept me informed
of what was going on.
The more I was told...
the more distressed I got.
I could not believe it.
I mean, they were missing.
JACKIE:
This is our last trip
to the island
because, uh, we sold the boat.
SNOWBRICK:
Tom was a little ambivalent
about the sale of that boat.
He said, "How does a kid
come up with that much money?"
But Jackie was really happy
that they were selling
the boat to someone
that had a family.
I think it put
Jackie's mind at ease.
JACKIE:
I'm so glad you could join us
on our last voyage
on Well Deserved.
O'NEILL:
Jackie and Tom
would never leave
and not notify people
where they were gonna be.
You just keep hoping
in the back of your mind
that they're safe.
ROTHER:
So in the third week
of the Hawks being missing,
the police department is
still looking for them.
They're not quite getting as
much information as they want
until, finally,
there's been some activity
at the Hawks's bank.
NARRATOR:
It had been three weeks since
Jackie and Tom Hawks vanished
from the affluent community
of Newport Beach.
And it was worrisome
that when last sighted,
they were allegedly driving awa
from the sale of their yacht
with close to a million
in cash.
As detectives scoured
the shimmering O.C. harbors,
some suspicious activity
on the Hawks' bank account
raised an alarm.
BYINGTON:
The bank manager said that
someone had walked
into the bank and were trying
to access the Hawks' account.
They were in possession of
a durable power of attorney,
which was signed by
both Tom and Jackie Hawks.
This document basically
allowed access
to all of the Hawks' accounts.
ROTHER:
The customer service
representative
basically says, "We're gonna
have to check this out."
So she actually flagged
the bank accounts.
And told them that they'd have
to return with a court order
before she'd hand over
any of the Hawks' money.
A freeze-frame of the video
was faxed to us,
and to our surprise,
we identified
the two individuals as being
Skylar and Jennifer Deleon.
Not only could we
identify their faces,
but we saw an ear-to-ear grin
on Jennifer's face at the time.
ROTHER:
This is definitely an
incriminating piece of evidence
against Skylar and Jennifer.
BYINGTON:
Their apparent concern
for the Hawks's well-being
or trying to find them,
that no longer played.
That just didn't make any sense.
'Cause if they were truly
doing that, what are they doing
trying to access and basically
drain their accounts?
Also...
we were able to find out
that Skylar Deleon was
on active probation
for armed burglary.
Our suspicions were raised
why Skylar would possess
this document.
It was a big break,
and we needed it.
NARRATOR:
Sunshine and smiles
can be deceiving
in Orange County,
so why would the Hawks
have trusted Skylar
with their assets?
ROTHER:
The detectives need some way
to get Skylar to come back in
so he doesn't suspect anything.
And they say, "Hey, we're gonna
give you your boat back,
"but you just need to come in
and answer
a few more questions."
BYINGTON:
Skylar proceeded to tell me tha
he had spoken with Thomas Hawks
about their future plans,
and they wanted
this vacation house in Mexico.
Skylar told them he'd be more
than willing to assist him,
but in order to do that,
he'd need to open
several accounts in Mexico
in Thomas
and Jackie Hawks's name.
And...
Well, a durable power of
attorney just makes no sense
in the sale of anything,
but here we had
a notarized durable power
of attorney, which gave over
all of Tom and
Jackie Hawks's assets
to the Deleons.
He gave us an excuse
why he had the durable
power of attorney,
but no one bought it.
The family was concerned,
and rightly so.
O'NEILL:
All their papers giving them
power of attorney,
when I heard that,
I knew better
that Tom and Jackie
would never do that kind...
They had too much
business sense.
BYINGTON:
An FBI lab had
verified thumbprints,
and the signatures appeared
to belong
to both Tom and Jackie Hawks.
There was one exception,
however.
The Hawks' last name
was spelled H-A-W-K-S.
On Jackie's, it looks as if
she had signed
Jackie Hawk
and omitted the "S."
It was cursive writing,
and it almost looked like
someone, after the fact,
had added a printed "S."
When I see any documents
altered like that,
whether it's this case
or any case,
that raises your suspicions
as the authenticity,
that it's maybe not genuine.
MONTERO:
There was a number of things
going through my mind,
but one is that they were
the victim of foul play.
MONTGOMERY:
For them to all of a sudden
cut off all connection
to their boat, their money,
their bank accounts,
it was pretty obvious that
there may be more to this
than just a missing persons.
While interviewing Skylar,
he maintained his statement
every time.
If we were gonna find him
being untruthful
or lying in any
of his statements,
we wanted to try to-to marry him
to those statements.
Uh, one of the ways
we did that was
we told Skylar,
"You're sure you've never been
in the Hawks' car?"
He would maintain,
"No, the Hawks were
given the money
and they drove away, and I've
never seen the vehicle since."
We knew that his DNA
was on the vessel
because he had been on it.
So we wanted to get his DNA to,
to use that as an elimination.
He agreed, uh, consented.
O'NEILL:
Dave Byington always
kept us up to date,
so you don't want
to get your hopes up
until they know something
for sure.
SNOWBRICK:
It was very frustrating.
My instinct
was...
something bad had happened.
It's nothing but frustration
wondering what you could do,
which is nothing.
And, uh, hoping to God
they find them.
Alive.
NARRATOR:
The once sparkling seas
of Newport Beach
turned gray and sullen,
as the fate of the Hawks
seemed more dire
with each passing day.
BYINGTON:
We were desperate to find
Tom and Jackie Hawks.
So a lot of the focus
was trying to find
the Hawks's vehicle,
the-the Honda CR-V.
This was uploaded
into a national database,
so that if it happened to be
stopped by law enforcement,
they would be alerted.
And it was imperative that
we put it out to the media,
so they could blast it,
'cause they had
a lot further reach
than we ever would.
REPORTER:
Police in this affluent
seaside community are puzzled.
The question--
why did Thomas and Jackie Hawks
vanish in mid-November
after selling their 55-foot
yacht the Well Deserved?
The couple's silver Honda CR-V
with Arizona plates
is also missing.
BYINGTON:
At this point
in the investigation,
all the parties that we can
identify have been interviewed,
but we still haven't had
any leads
to where they're actually at.
ROTHER:
The Hawks family was doing
the best it could.
They put up flyers,
put out bulletins.
They helped get the word out.
And boom!
Somebody saw the car.
Jackie's coming today,
so waiting to see her.
Hi, honey,
I'm so glad to be home.
TOM:
She's home.
NARRATOR:
The disappearance
of Jackie and Tom Hawks rocked
the sun-kissed Orange County
enclave of Newport Beach.
REPORTER:
A friend described
Thomas and Jackie Hawks
as a happy, loving couple,
something that makes the news
of their suspicious
disappearance
all the more shocking.
NARRATOR:
Sometimes stoking the media
can bring new answers
to the surface.
ROTHER:
The Newport Beach
Police Department
get their first big break
in the case.
There's a woman
who saw that silver
Honda CR-V on TV.
And she calls up the police
department and she says,
"I'm looking at this car
right now."
BYINGTON:
It's a young lady
in Baja, Mexico.
We asked, "Can you take
a picture with your phone
and send it to us?"
And that's exactly what she did.
Here we are, our whole group
of detectives, huddled around
the computer, looking at Tom
and Jackie Hawks's car.
My heart, my head was
telling me that the potential
was that the Hawks
were with that car
and we'll be able to find
that they're just fine,
you know, and that
we can close the case.
But, at least, we had a lead,
something we could
actively work on.
We had to start
circling the wagons
to figure out how we were gonna
get down there to Mexico
and take custody
of that vehicle.
American law enforcement,
once you cross the border,
you no longer have
any powers of arrest.
For a police officer,
that's huge.
You have no say-so
whatsoever in Mexico.
It's someone else's house.
You have to play by their rules.
MONTGOMERY:
Dave Byington and his crew
drove straight down there
to talk to the police,
in, uh, Mexico.
And they all together
went to this house.
And there's the car.
BYINGTON:
We all first laid eyes
on the Hawks' car
and saw the plates,
everything matched up,
so number one,
we have the right car.
The owner of the house told
law enforcement that the vehicle
in the driveway was actually
a gift that was given
to his son.
And at that point, the older
Mexican gentleman says
his name was Skylar Deleon.
And then I heard the name
Jennifer Deleon.
So my heart stopped
right there.
'Cause I go, "They're lying."
Witnesses that had participated
in this alleged transaction--
Alonso Machain,
Kathleen Harris--
they're all lying.
ROTHER:
This man said, "Yeah,
"they showed up on November 26
in two separate cars.
"One of them was
the silver Honda CR-V.
"And they basically
handed it over
and said,
'Here, this is yours.'"
BYINGTON:
So now I knew at that moment
that Jennifer had been
down there, as well as Skylar.
The Hawks never drove away
in their vehicle.
There was no transaction.
We advised
the Mexican authorities
that we needed to take
possession of the vehicle
and transport it back
to the United States.
The lieutenant explained to us
that it would involve
a lot of paperwork and that we'd
have to complete that paperwork
at their office,
which was an hour away.
We finally found this car
that we'd been searching
for desperately, and now
we're told that we need
to leave it there
and go fill out paperwork.
Investigation 101--
if you've got evidence,
you want to preserve it
as best you can.
My concern was
that someone was gonna remove
potential evidence
from that vehicle
or tamper with it somehow.
Luckily I had a senior
CSI investigator with us
and I explained to him
we're allowed to process it,
but we can't take anything.
He was swabbing
the steering wheel,
the rearview mirror, the knobs
on the heater and radio,
so he did
a very thorough job
in a very quick, short time.
We were able to process
the vehicle partially,
but the vehicle was still
in Mexican custody.
So we ended up going directly
to the police department.
Finally I'm given the keys.
And we made a plan
that I would drive,
uh, Tom and Jackie's car
back across the border.
I tried to reduce my DNA
imprint as much as I could.
I double gloved.
Put, uh, booties
around my shoes.
I was on an emotional
roller coaster.
I was still trying to process
the fact that the Hawks
could be dead,
murdered by Skylar
and potentially his wife.
I knew the dominoes
were gonna start to fall.
This was gonna be the thing
that got us to the next step.
NARRATOR:
Detectives anxiously awaited
DNA proof from the Hawks'
vehicle to make an arrest
and compel an explanation
from the shifty Deleons.
O'NEILL:
I worried about
Jackie and Tom a lot.
You just want it
to be over with,
but you want to know
what's going on and...
it's desperation.
You wish you could do something,
but what can you do?
You just, um, start thinking
all these horrible thoughts
in your mind.
You can't sleep, you can't eat,
you can't do anything--
just worry.
You kind of think
something bad has happened,
but you hope you're wrong.
You just hope you're so wrong.
ROTHER:
The case takes another turn
when Skylar's probation officer
calls the Newport Beach
Police Department and says,
"Skylar's asking for permission
to leave the country."
He says he's got
some job in Bermuda
and he wants to leave."
They don't want to lose Skylar.
They think he could have
murdered the Hawks,
but they don't have
a case built for it yet.
So, based on what the probation
officer has said,
they know they've got
to arrest him
and they've got
to arrest him now.
BYINGTON: All the witnesses
had lied at this point, so
who was gonna be the first one
to be honest with us?
This devil had a heart.
MONTERO: By this time
on the investigation,
almost a month had gone by.
There's still questions
that needed
to be answered with this case.
NARRATOR:
While DNA evidence
from the Hawks' SUV
was being processed,
detectives learned
that lead suspect Skylar Deleon
was attempting to
jump the border to Mexico.
BYINGTON:
Skylar was on felony probation
for an armed burglary
that had happened
several years prior,
which meant he was
subject to search and seizure,
and didn't have
the-the freedoms
that normal people have.
He had admitted to me freely
that he w-- had purchased
this vessel
with ill-gotten gains,
which constituted
money laundering.
MONTERO:
With this concern
he's gonna flee,
we need to get on this now,
'cause if this turns out to be
the homicide case
we think it might be,
uh, last thing we want is
to now go have to find this guy.
BYINGTON:
Rather than having to
prove up a murder case
in a finite period of time--
'cause the clock starts ticking
once you make the arrest--
we decided that we would arrest
him for the money laundering.
That maybe is a ruse,
but that gave us
a few extra valuable days
to collect more evidence.
MONTERO:
I write a search warrant
for the residence,
uh, where Skylar Deleon lives,
for evidence
in the money laundering case
as well as anything we may find
that'll answer questions
on what happened to
Thomas and Jackie Hawks.
ROTHER:
They got the search warrants.
They went to the house
in Long Beach.
They went inside,
and they got Skylar.
BYINGTON:
Immediately, Jennifer
had joined him at his side
and was demanding to know
why he was being arrested.
Skylar wasn't, uh, saying much
but, uh,
was obviously distraught,
you could tell.
BYINGTON:
A calm came over Skylar's face,
almost like he was waiting for
a murder charge to be put on him
and it was
only money laundering.
ROTHER:
In this little, tiny,
cramped garage
where Skylar and Jennifer
were living
behind her parents' house,
they found
a whole cache of stuff.
MONTERO:
I found a green backpack,
belongs to Skylar Deleon.
In that backpack, I find ID
and voter ID information
for Thomas and Jackie Hawks.
Those are things
that he has no business having.
ROTHER:
They found the Hawks's laptop,
and they found a whole bunch
of the Hawks's personal papers
in a briefcase.
BYINGTON:
We found a Hi8 recorder,
which still had tape in it
of various adventures that
Tom and Jackie took in Mexico.
And as we're watching it,
it abruptly ends,
and then it splits
to some type of celebration
that involved
Skylar and Jennifer's family.
Not only did they steal
this camcorder,
but rather than just putting
their own tape in,
they just taped over
the Hawks's memories...
and started creating their own.
Any hope that the Hawks were
still alive died right there.
There was no reason for them
to have that stuff.
Jennifer Deleon,
there wasn't enough evidence
to show her as an accomplice
at that time.
How much did she know
or not want to know?
BYINGTON:
Jennifer was being
the good wife and saying,
"My husband didn't do it; I have
nothing to do with this thing."
MONTERO:
It's hard to have a murder case
when you don't have any bodies.
So there's more investigation
that needs to happen here,
but the fact that
he's not going anywhere,
that's a big help for us.
ROTHER:
When the DNA results came back
from the CR-V,
they hit a bingo.
Skylar's DNA was
on the heater knob.
NARRATOR: The fairy tale story
spun by the Deleons
didn't hold up
now that the Hawks' SUV
was found across the border
with Skylar's DNA inside.
BYINGTON:
We're working on theories
up to this point
on how this murder
could have occurred,
who was involved in it.
All the witnesses had lied
at this point.
Alonso Machain, which was
one of Skylar's friends
that was there to sign
the paperwork as a witness,
and the notary,
Kathleen Harris.
So we had to set them up
for re-interviews
to-to challenge them on that
and to find out
who was gonna be the first one
to be honest with us.
Out of all the witnesses
that had participated
in this alleged transaction
where the Hawks had sold
their vessel,
we thought the weak link
might have been Kathleen Harris.
She had no personal ties
to any of these people.
It appeared that she had just
gained financially
by participating as a notary.
We put a lot of pressure
on Kathleen
because we thought
she was lying.
BYINGTON:
One of my detectives
decided to be the bad cop.
BYINGTON:
She went from "I remember it"
to "I think I remember it"
to hesitating and vacillating
a little bit.
At least more than she had
in previous interviews.
BYINGTON:
I think pure fear was driving
her to maintain that line,
but within 24 hours,
we got a phone call
from an attorney
that was representing
Kathleen Harris
and said that she wanted
to make a statement.
And she was given immunity
by the district attorney.
MONTGOMERY:
With the pressure
that we put on her,
eventually she did
tell us the truth.
She was actually asked by Skylar
if she would do some
unscrupulous stuff
as a notary,
and she agreed,
for extra money, to do that.
BYINGTON:
She then proceeded to backdate
these documents
to the date of the alleged sale.
She notarized them
and she collected several
thousand dollars and left.
She never did meet the Hawks.
BYINGTON:
That was our first major break
to get the murder charge
going forward.
MONTGOMERY:
Alonso, who was also supposedly
there during this time,
his story matched Skylar's,
which now doesn't match
Kathleen's.
That's when it all
broke apart.
We need to get Alonso.
He's arrestable now because of
the lies we've heard,
but he's also probably
the one person
that may tell us the real truth
about what occurred.
We were trying to get
ahold of him,
and all of a sudden
we discovered he's gone.
BYINGTON:
He had left not only the city,
the state, but the country.
He had gone back to Mexico
to live with relatives,
fearing that he would
be arrested.
We learned that
Alonso would cooperate
and explain everything
that had happened,
but that he wanted
some consideration
on his culpability
in this crime.
We really didn't have a choice.
We needed him as a witness.
We needed to find out
if he was willing
to tell us the truth.
We needed someone to.
So the death penalty
was taken off the table
in order to get Alonso
to return back
to the United States.
MONTGOMERY:
I think he decided to come back
and do the right thing.
BYINGTON:
The next morning
he came out with his attorney.
We took him into custody,
drove him back to our station,
and participated in an interview
that I'll never forget
in my entire life.
NARRATOR:
Key suspect Alonso Machain
was finally spilling
the haunting details
of the Hawks' horrific
final moments aboard
the Well Deserved.
MONTGOMERY:
I told him that
what I'd like to do is
start from the beginning when
you first met Skylar Deleon.
ROTHER:
Skylar promised him
at least a million dollars
to help him
get rid of the Hawks.
BYINGTON:
Skylar realized
that Thomas Hawks was not
gonna be a pushover,
that he was a hulk of a man;
it was gonna take
several people to overpower him
Another person that he got
to help was
a man named JFK, which is
John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
He was a gang member
from the Long Beach area.
So Skylar and Alonso
and JFK show up,
and Skylar says,
"This is my accountant,
and we're gonna go out
on a sea trial."
They went out,
sailed past the harbor...
And that's when JFK
and Skylar Deleon
took down Mr. Hawks.
BYINGTON:
JFK and Skylar are basically
punching Mr. Hawks
into submission
and then placing him
in handcuffs.
What Jackie was trying to do
was send a message
that something was wrong,
so she signed her signature
"Jackie Hawk,"
and left off the "S".
BYINGTON:
This huge yacht had
two huge anchors. Massive.
And they unhinged one
and brought it back.
Alonso said he heard
the chain dragging,
so he knows that Thomas Hawks
heard that chain dragging.
They tie them to the chain
of the anchor.
BYINGTON:
And Alonso broke down crying
while he was telling us
this part.
So this... this devil
had a heart.
And they basically
were pulled down 3,500 feet
to the bottom of the ocean
by the weight of this anchor,
and they were drowned alive.
And that's got to be
the most unbelievably
horrible, horrible way to die
that I can imagine.
NARRATOR:
It seemed this was
business as usual for Skylar.
Just a step in his plan to
steal the lives of the Hawks
and take their place
at the helm.
Could Alonso's chilling
admission be trusted?
I believed it was the truth,
and that we have reason
to doubt any of it.
When everything's said
and done, Alonso Machain,
he was duped by Skylar,
there's no doubt in my mind.
But greed was his primary
motivating factor
for being involved.
Just like everybody else
in this.
♪ ♪
Once the arrests were made,
I knew that we had to
tell the family
what we had found out.
O'NEILL:
You're waiting
for the phone to ring,
but when it rings,
you're afraid to pick it up.
You didn't know whether
it was good news
or bad news.
And it was bad news.
Very bad news.
When you lose a child,
you lose a part of yourself.
Your heart just breaks in half
and stays that way.
It was absolutely horrible to me
that someone would do that
to Jackie and Tom.
I think I cried for a week.
I lost the best friend
I ever had.
It was a relief to know
what had happened,
but it was also--
I was very angry
that someone can be
that heartless and cruel.
BYINGTON:
Skylar is a sociopathic liar
and one of the best con men
I've ever met,
but the lynchpin in this
whole case was Jennifer Deleon.
In the initial meetings
regarding the purchase
of the vessel, Jennifer--
she went on that vessel
with her child for one reason,
and that was to convince
the Hawks,
to put them at ease so that
they would go through
with this transaction.
Without her participation,
none of this
would have happened.
She's as evil as anybody
on that boat.
Skylar was found guilty
of first-degree murder,
and was sentenced to death.
MONTGOMERY:
JFK, he also was
sentenced to death.
BYINGTON:
However, now,
the governor of California
has put a moratorium
on the death penalty.
In essence, they are gonna live
out their lives on death row.
MONTGOMERY:
After Alonso Machain
filled us in on everything,
he was convicted of the murder,
but was given 20 years
instead of the death penalty.
Jennifer, she was convicted
and got life
without the possibility
of parole.
♪ ♪
This pin I'm wearing is
in honor of Jackie and Tom.
It's the name of their boat,
and two hawks flying
for their names.
I want people to remember Jackie
and Tom for their kindness,
what good people they were.
For more information on
Real Murders of Orange County,
Orange County is basically know
for the rich lifestyle.
However, that doesn't mean
that life is stable.
Jackie and Tom
had disappeared.
CAITLIN ROTHER:
Maybe they had taken
a quick trip down to Mexico
or up to Santa Barbara.
JACKIE HAWKS:
I'm so glad you could join us
on our last voyage
on Well Deserved.
NARRATOR:
The Hawks, a pair
of seafaring lovebirds,
had suddenly disappeared.
GAYLE O'NEILL:
When the phone calls stopped
from Jackie and Tom,
we were devastated.
ROTHER:
The Newport Beach
Police Department
get their first big break
in the case.
DAVID BYINGTON:
Someone had walked into the ban
and were trying to access
the Hawks' account.
This is not looking good.
NARRATOR: The deeper
the detectives looked,
the darker
the investigation became.
MARIO MONTERO:
I see a little,
partial fingerprint in red,
and I think, "That's blood."
MONTGOMERY:
Our job was to look at it
from the possibility
it might be a homicide.
NARRATOR: And a whole league
of accomplices was revealed.
They're lying.
They're all lying.
O'NEILL:
We were hoping to God
they'd find them.
Alive.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR:
Orange County,
a glittering
Southern California gem.
It's both home and playground
to some of the wealthiest peopl
in the world.
Beautiful location to live,
raise your children, shop.
Dream.
When you finally hit
those lottery numbers,
that's where you want to live.
The wealth there is tremendous.
NARRATOR:
At the heart of
Orange County's glitzy Riviera,
sits Newport Beach,
an alluring alcove nestled
amidst 40 miles
of pristine beaches
and swanky yacht harbors.
The privileged yacht culture
allows immense freedom
to cruise to the horizon
at the drop of a hat.
MONTERO:
Newport Beach is probably
the most affluent place
in Orange County.
It's been called
the Golden Orange.
These homes are very expensive.
You're talking
tens of millions of dollars.
Just like every other place
in our country
and in California,
there's crime here.
There's people
who are willing to kill
to-to have this lifestyle.
Thomas and Jackie Hawks,
they just didn't seem
the kind of people
who would have those problems
and wind up disappearing
on their families.
BYINGTON:
Tom and Jackie Hawks were
living the Orange County dream.
They had worked hard,
saved their money,
bought a beautiful yacht,
were living on it
in one of the most beautiful
harbors in the world.
Newport Beach, they have
moorings out in the water.
You can just tie up to a moorin
and you live the life
on your yacht.
Life was good.
NARRATOR:
Long before Jackie and Tom Hawk
found their charmed life
off the sunny shores
of Orange County,
Jackie grew up in another world
through frigid Ohio winters.
O'NEILL:
This is one of my favorites.
This is Jackie
with her baby doll
at Christmas in 1959.
Oh, she was adorable.
When Jackie was born,
she was the happy-go-lucky kid.
Jackie loved everybody.
And it just emanated from her.
She was just wonderful.
KATHY SNOWBRICK:
I met Jackie in high school.
We were fast friends.
She was my maid of honor.
And all we did was laugh.
(chuckles)
She was tons and tons of fun.
NARRATOR:
Jackie longed
for a life out west,
where the sun was warm
and anything seemed possible.
So at 18, she left for Arizona
and soon met her own dreamboat,
Tom Hawks.
JACKIE:
Here they come.
Here's Thomas, in all his glory.
SNOWBRICK:
When she met Tom,
you could tell he truly loved
her and she was crazy about him.
In love with you.
(laughs)
TOM HAWKS:
I love you, too.
O'NEILL:
Tom was a probation officer
and a bodybuilder.
He was a fun-loving guy.
(laughs softly)
He was always playing jokes.
JACKIE:
You are such a big boy.
-I'm a big boy.
-(laughs)
O'NEILL:
I liked him.
He was good to my daughter.
-And now the bride.
-Aw.
(indistinct chatter)
O'NEILL:
They had a
Hawaiian-themed wedding
at their house in Arizona.
There were hundreds
of people there.
Jackie, she was gorgeous.
OFFICIANT:
...faithful husband
-as long as you both
shall live?
-I do.
Jackie, do you take this man
to be your wedded husband?
I do.
Matt and Ryan are Tom's boys,
from when he was married before
She loved his kids.
O'NEILL:
Jackie always wanted
to be a mother,
but, um, she couldn't
ever have children.
She accepted it, and here
is this man with two children.
It turned out great.
Jackie and Tom,
they had a very busy life.
They were entrepreneurs.
O'NEILL:
They went and bought
this 65-foot boat.
It was beautiful.
It was all teak.
And they named it
the Well Deserved,
because they had saved
so long for it.
They both retired early
so they could live
on their boat in Newport Beach.
Tom originally
was from California,
and they liked Orange County.
It's like a rich man's paradise.
NARRATOR:
Orange County called
to Tom and Jackie.
Like a beacon,
it drew them into a world
of endless freedom
on the sparkling seas,
and a lifestyle desired by many
but attained by few.
She was actually
living her dreams.
She would send me shells
from different places
that she was at.
O'NEILL:
They called us every weekend.
And, uh, we'd talk for a while,
just catch up on what they were
doing and where they were at.
NARRATOR:
But Tom and Jackie's
California dream wouldn't last.
In November of 2004,
family members
became unsettled when they
couldn't get in touch with them
O'NEILL:
I tried to call Jackie
because she hadn't called me.
Call went right to voice mail.
I thought, "Well, she's...
...down scuba diving
or they're busy,"
so I waited a while
and I called again.
Went right to voice mail.
And I knew...
something's wrong.
MONTERO:
Back in November 2004,
a missing persons report
was faxed to our records.
A couple by the name of Tom
and Jackie Hawks were missing.
When we got this report,
it didn't seem typical.
From the get-go,
the circumstances
behind the case told us
that there was more than
just a simple missing persons.
BYINGTON: The reporting party
was Jim Hawks,
Tom Hawks's older brother.
This missing persons report
was very detailed.
I learned that this couple,
Tom and Jackie, they loved
traveling to Mexico
on the drop of a hat,
but still having
their family connections.
But on November 15, 2004,
contact stopped.
There were no phone calls,
no radio messages.
No texts.
This was very unlike the Hawks,
to just drop off
the face of the planet
and not reach out
to their family.
ROTHER:
The family had some theories.
Matt, their son,
had a new grandbaby,
and they really wanted
to be with the grandbaby.
They were living the life
that they dreamed of,
but they decided that it was
time to go back to Arizona,
get a residence,
and share with this experience
of having
a new grandchild arrive.
Tom and Jackie
told family and friends
that they had a prospective
buyer for their yacht,
and it looked like it pretty
much was gonna happen soon.
ROTHER:
Maybe they had
taken a quick trip down
to Mexico
or up to Santa Barbara,
just for a last bon voyage
kind of party.
But after eight days,
nobody's heard from them,
and the family and friends
started to wonder,
what happened to them?
BYINGTON:
The longer
that both Tom and Jackie
weren't heard from,
the more concern family
and friends had.
And they were not sure if
the sale of the yacht happened.
Jim Hawks had gone out
on the 23rd of November
to the boat to try to find
his brother and his wife,
and they're not there.
BYINGTON:
Jim Hawks filed
a missing person report.
It was immediately faxed to the
Newport Beach Police Department,
where I worked.
MONTERO:
We need to go out there,
take a look at that boat.
See if we can find what
happened to these people.
BYINGTON:
The Well Deserved was docked
in the middle of the harbor.
MONTERO:
So, we board the yacht,
and right away,
we can tell it's lived-in.
I went up to the second level,
I see a little...
what seems like
a partial fingerprint in red.
And I think, "That's blood."
And my first thought is, "Okay,
"something happened
on this boat.
I need to check in to this."
BYINGTON:
We needed to get inside
and find out
if potentially, Tom
and Jackie Hawks were inside,
injured, being held captive.
It's exigent circumstances.
MONTERO:
We decide we're gonna
cut that lock,
and we're gonna go in.
SNOWBRICK:
The more I was told,
the more distressed I got.
MONTGOMERY:
There may be more to this
than just a missing persons.
Now we have a cash transaction.
How much did she know
or not want to know?
This is not looking good.
NARRATOR:
Jackie and Tom Hawks were livin
the picture-perfect O.C. life
aboard their yacht,
the Well Deserved,
when they mysteriously
disappeared.
Detectives uncovered
a possible bloodstain
on the exterior of the yacht,
which gave them
probable cause to enter.
MONTERO:
We cut the lock
on the door and...
...there's no one there.
I notice the boat is lived-in.
It's not terribly messy,
but it's not neat, either,
which is the opposite of what
James Hawks describes
his brother,
as being very meticulous
and neat.
Had to explore the possibility
that it's changed hands.
I see personal pictures
and plaques and things
that you wouldn't leave
on a boat you sold.
There were family things.
There's little flags
that go off in your head
that just aren't right.
BYINGTON:
Couldn't find anything that
would really raise
the suspicions
that any type of crime
had occurred.
But we needed to really
clear up what's going on
and look into this.
It was noted
in the missing person report
that the potential buyers
of this yacht
were a young couple,
Skylar and Jennifer Deleon.
We needed to talk to them,
because they
potentially were the last people
to see the Hawks.
Skylar and Jennifer
were located
in the city of Long Beach.
They were living
in Jennifer's parents' house.
MONTGOMERY:
In Long Beach, they have
a middle-class lifestyle.
The Deleons had
a background that wasn't rich,
yet sometimes lived
kind of a rich lifestyle.
BYINGTON:
My first impression of Skylar,
he was very soft-spoken.
They had a small child
with them,
and it was obvious
that Jennifer was pregnant.
We advised them
that we were investigating
a missing person case involving
Tom and Jackie Hawks.
Both Skylar and Jennifer said
that they were very concerned
about the Hawks themselves,
and that they had been actively
looking for the Hawks.
Skylar confirmed buying
the vessel,
that he had purchased it
with cash, and...
they were considering living
on the vessel.
Jennifer explained to me
that the Hawks still had
numerous items of personal
property on the vessel
and that they needed
to get 'em off,
so that they could move
their own property in.
NARRATOR:
How was it possible that
this young Long Beach couple
living with their parents
could afford to purchase
a luxe yacht?
Was the sale of
the Well Deserved legitimate?
A bill of sale
would have sealed the deal.
BYINGTON:
Skylar produced
the paperwork that documented
the sale
of the Well Deserved to them.
It appeared to be legitimate.
It had a price.
It was notarized.
It was witnessed.
Fingerprints were applied.
Skylar told me
that he had the cash,
which was in a large briefcase--
three-quarters
of a million dollars--
and that he simply slid
this briefcase
across the hood of the car,
and that Tom Hawks
had opened it up and appeared
very nervous but excited.
Both Tom and Jackie entered
their vehicle
with this three-quarter
million dollars in cash
and drove away in their Honda,
and that that was the last time
that, uh, Skylar and Jennifer
had seen the Hawks.
I confronted Skylar.
I go, "You're a young man,
and that's quite a lot of money.
How is it that you were able
to afford this?"
Skylar told me
he was a child actor
and also dabbled
in real estate in Mexico.
I started pressing Skylar,
'cause this wasn't ringing true
If he legitimately had
this much wealth,
why isn't he living
in his own residence?
Skylar took a pause and said
he wanted to come clean.
Said that the money that he use
to purchase the Hawks' vessel,
the Well Deserved,
was money that he had earned
from the sale of narcotics.
NARRATOR:
Skylar was a self-proclaimed
SoCal cocaine cowboy.
By purchasing a yacht
from the Hawks,
he was effectively washing
his money
in the waves
of the Pacific Ocean.
BYINGTON:
I knew that
what Skylar just did was
admitted to money laundering.
That kind of took me aback,
'cause then I'm thinking,
okay, he just admitted
to a felony he didn't have to.
That would just give it
more legitimacy to me.
At this point, my gut told me
that maybe Skylar and Jennifer
weren't involved
with the Hawks being missing.
Now we have a cash transaction.
That means
the Hawks took custody
of almost three-quarter
of a million dollars in cash
and drove away.
This is not looking good.
ROTHER:
When the detectives look
at the paperwork, they get
two more pieces of information.
One, that there's a witness
who saw the sale,
and that was Alonso Machain.
There's also...
a notary
who witnessed the sale,
and that's Kathleen Harris.
NARRATOR:
Could that briefcase of cash
have given one of the witnesses
motive to turn on the Hawks?
BYINGTON:
Alonso Machain was
a friend of Skylar's.
He maintained the same story,
that he was present,
he witnessed a...
suitcase full of money
being transferred,
and, uh,
he never even went on the boat,
he just went home after that;
he was doing a favor for Skylar.
We also talked
to Kathleen Harris.
She was certified by the state
as a notary.
She seems very up-front
and honest-- she says,
"This one stands out
and is unique,
because we did it on site
in Newport Beach."
And she actually gave
the location
of 15th Street on the bay,
which was where Skylar
had claimed this transaction
had taken place.
Every one of these witnesses
were all maintaining
the same story.
Skylar and Jennifer Deleon
did not hesitate
in giving permission for us
to search and take custody
of the vessel.
The crew that went out to searc
and conduct a CSI investigation
on the Well Deserved
did not recover anything
of significance.
The initial statement,
Detective Montero had observed
that he thought
might have been, uh,
blood of some type
actually turned out to be rust.
So we were kind of grasping
at straws,
'cause we were coming up
with leads fairly quickly
early on in the investigation,
but then it stalled.
O'NEILL:
When the phone calls stopped
from Jackie and Tom,
we were devastated.
SNOWBRICK:
Gayle kept me informed
of what was going on.
The more I was told...
the more distressed I got.
I could not believe it.
I mean, they were missing.
JACKIE:
This is our last trip
to the island
because, uh, we sold the boat.
SNOWBRICK:
Tom was a little ambivalent
about the sale of that boat.
He said, "How does a kid
come up with that much money?"
But Jackie was really happy
that they were selling
the boat to someone
that had a family.
I think it put
Jackie's mind at ease.
JACKIE:
I'm so glad you could join us
on our last voyage
on Well Deserved.
O'NEILL:
Jackie and Tom
would never leave
and not notify people
where they were gonna be.
You just keep hoping
in the back of your mind
that they're safe.
ROTHER:
So in the third week
of the Hawks being missing,
the police department is
still looking for them.
They're not quite getting as
much information as they want
until, finally,
there's been some activity
at the Hawks's bank.
NARRATOR:
It had been three weeks since
Jackie and Tom Hawks vanished
from the affluent community
of Newport Beach.
And it was worrisome
that when last sighted,
they were allegedly driving awa
from the sale of their yacht
with close to a million
in cash.
As detectives scoured
the shimmering O.C. harbors,
some suspicious activity
on the Hawks' bank account
raised an alarm.
BYINGTON:
The bank manager said that
someone had walked
into the bank and were trying
to access the Hawks' account.
They were in possession of
a durable power of attorney,
which was signed by
both Tom and Jackie Hawks.
This document basically
allowed access
to all of the Hawks' accounts.
ROTHER:
The customer service
representative
basically says, "We're gonna
have to check this out."
So she actually flagged
the bank accounts.
And told them that they'd have
to return with a court order
before she'd hand over
any of the Hawks' money.
A freeze-frame of the video
was faxed to us,
and to our surprise,
we identified
the two individuals as being
Skylar and Jennifer Deleon.
Not only could we
identify their faces,
but we saw an ear-to-ear grin
on Jennifer's face at the time.
ROTHER:
This is definitely an
incriminating piece of evidence
against Skylar and Jennifer.
BYINGTON:
Their apparent concern
for the Hawks's well-being
or trying to find them,
that no longer played.
That just didn't make any sense.
'Cause if they were truly
doing that, what are they doing
trying to access and basically
drain their accounts?
Also...
we were able to find out
that Skylar Deleon was
on active probation
for armed burglary.
Our suspicions were raised
why Skylar would possess
this document.
It was a big break,
and we needed it.
NARRATOR:
Sunshine and smiles
can be deceiving
in Orange County,
so why would the Hawks
have trusted Skylar
with their assets?
ROTHER:
The detectives need some way
to get Skylar to come back in
so he doesn't suspect anything.
And they say, "Hey, we're gonna
give you your boat back,
"but you just need to come in
and answer
a few more questions."
BYINGTON:
Skylar proceeded to tell me tha
he had spoken with Thomas Hawks
about their future plans,
and they wanted
this vacation house in Mexico.
Skylar told them he'd be more
than willing to assist him,
but in order to do that,
he'd need to open
several accounts in Mexico
in Thomas
and Jackie Hawks's name.
And...
Well, a durable power of
attorney just makes no sense
in the sale of anything,
but here we had
a notarized durable power
of attorney, which gave over
all of Tom and
Jackie Hawks's assets
to the Deleons.
He gave us an excuse
why he had the durable
power of attorney,
but no one bought it.
The family was concerned,
and rightly so.
O'NEILL:
All their papers giving them
power of attorney,
when I heard that,
I knew better
that Tom and Jackie
would never do that kind...
They had too much
business sense.
BYINGTON:
An FBI lab had
verified thumbprints,
and the signatures appeared
to belong
to both Tom and Jackie Hawks.
There was one exception,
however.
The Hawks' last name
was spelled H-A-W-K-S.
On Jackie's, it looks as if
she had signed
Jackie Hawk
and omitted the "S."
It was cursive writing,
and it almost looked like
someone, after the fact,
had added a printed "S."
When I see any documents
altered like that,
whether it's this case
or any case,
that raises your suspicions
as the authenticity,
that it's maybe not genuine.
MONTERO:
There was a number of things
going through my mind,
but one is that they were
the victim of foul play.
MONTGOMERY:
For them to all of a sudden
cut off all connection
to their boat, their money,
their bank accounts,
it was pretty obvious that
there may be more to this
than just a missing persons.
While interviewing Skylar,
he maintained his statement
every time.
If we were gonna find him
being untruthful
or lying in any
of his statements,
we wanted to try to-to marry him
to those statements.
Uh, one of the ways
we did that was
we told Skylar,
"You're sure you've never been
in the Hawks' car?"
He would maintain,
"No, the Hawks were
given the money
and they drove away, and I've
never seen the vehicle since."
We knew that his DNA
was on the vessel
because he had been on it.
So we wanted to get his DNA to,
to use that as an elimination.
He agreed, uh, consented.
O'NEILL:
Dave Byington always
kept us up to date,
so you don't want
to get your hopes up
until they know something
for sure.
SNOWBRICK:
It was very frustrating.
My instinct
was...
something bad had happened.
It's nothing but frustration
wondering what you could do,
which is nothing.
And, uh, hoping to God
they find them.
Alive.
NARRATOR:
The once sparkling seas
of Newport Beach
turned gray and sullen,
as the fate of the Hawks
seemed more dire
with each passing day.
BYINGTON:
We were desperate to find
Tom and Jackie Hawks.
So a lot of the focus
was trying to find
the Hawks's vehicle,
the-the Honda CR-V.
This was uploaded
into a national database,
so that if it happened to be
stopped by law enforcement,
they would be alerted.
And it was imperative that
we put it out to the media,
so they could blast it,
'cause they had
a lot further reach
than we ever would.
REPORTER:
Police in this affluent
seaside community are puzzled.
The question--
why did Thomas and Jackie Hawks
vanish in mid-November
after selling their 55-foot
yacht the Well Deserved?
The couple's silver Honda CR-V
with Arizona plates
is also missing.
BYINGTON:
At this point
in the investigation,
all the parties that we can
identify have been interviewed,
but we still haven't had
any leads
to where they're actually at.
ROTHER:
The Hawks family was doing
the best it could.
They put up flyers,
put out bulletins.
They helped get the word out.
And boom!
Somebody saw the car.
Jackie's coming today,
so waiting to see her.
Hi, honey,
I'm so glad to be home.
TOM:
She's home.
NARRATOR:
The disappearance
of Jackie and Tom Hawks rocked
the sun-kissed Orange County
enclave of Newport Beach.
REPORTER:
A friend described
Thomas and Jackie Hawks
as a happy, loving couple,
something that makes the news
of their suspicious
disappearance
all the more shocking.
NARRATOR:
Sometimes stoking the media
can bring new answers
to the surface.
ROTHER:
The Newport Beach
Police Department
get their first big break
in the case.
There's a woman
who saw that silver
Honda CR-V on TV.
And she calls up the police
department and she says,
"I'm looking at this car
right now."
BYINGTON:
It's a young lady
in Baja, Mexico.
We asked, "Can you take
a picture with your phone
and send it to us?"
And that's exactly what she did.
Here we are, our whole group
of detectives, huddled around
the computer, looking at Tom
and Jackie Hawks's car.
My heart, my head was
telling me that the potential
was that the Hawks
were with that car
and we'll be able to find
that they're just fine,
you know, and that
we can close the case.
But, at least, we had a lead,
something we could
actively work on.
We had to start
circling the wagons
to figure out how we were gonna
get down there to Mexico
and take custody
of that vehicle.
American law enforcement,
once you cross the border,
you no longer have
any powers of arrest.
For a police officer,
that's huge.
You have no say-so
whatsoever in Mexico.
It's someone else's house.
You have to play by their rules.
MONTGOMERY:
Dave Byington and his crew
drove straight down there
to talk to the police,
in, uh, Mexico.
And they all together
went to this house.
And there's the car.
BYINGTON:
We all first laid eyes
on the Hawks' car
and saw the plates,
everything matched up,
so number one,
we have the right car.
The owner of the house told
law enforcement that the vehicle
in the driveway was actually
a gift that was given
to his son.
And at that point, the older
Mexican gentleman says
his name was Skylar Deleon.
And then I heard the name
Jennifer Deleon.
So my heart stopped
right there.
'Cause I go, "They're lying."
Witnesses that had participated
in this alleged transaction--
Alonso Machain,
Kathleen Harris--
they're all lying.
ROTHER:
This man said, "Yeah,
"they showed up on November 26
in two separate cars.
"One of them was
the silver Honda CR-V.
"And they basically
handed it over
and said,
'Here, this is yours.'"
BYINGTON:
So now I knew at that moment
that Jennifer had been
down there, as well as Skylar.
The Hawks never drove away
in their vehicle.
There was no transaction.
We advised
the Mexican authorities
that we needed to take
possession of the vehicle
and transport it back
to the United States.
The lieutenant explained to us
that it would involve
a lot of paperwork and that we'd
have to complete that paperwork
at their office,
which was an hour away.
We finally found this car
that we'd been searching
for desperately, and now
we're told that we need
to leave it there
and go fill out paperwork.
Investigation 101--
if you've got evidence,
you want to preserve it
as best you can.
My concern was
that someone was gonna remove
potential evidence
from that vehicle
or tamper with it somehow.
Luckily I had a senior
CSI investigator with us
and I explained to him
we're allowed to process it,
but we can't take anything.
He was swabbing
the steering wheel,
the rearview mirror, the knobs
on the heater and radio,
so he did
a very thorough job
in a very quick, short time.
We were able to process
the vehicle partially,
but the vehicle was still
in Mexican custody.
So we ended up going directly
to the police department.
Finally I'm given the keys.
And we made a plan
that I would drive,
uh, Tom and Jackie's car
back across the border.
I tried to reduce my DNA
imprint as much as I could.
I double gloved.
Put, uh, booties
around my shoes.
I was on an emotional
roller coaster.
I was still trying to process
the fact that the Hawks
could be dead,
murdered by Skylar
and potentially his wife.
I knew the dominoes
were gonna start to fall.
This was gonna be the thing
that got us to the next step.
NARRATOR:
Detectives anxiously awaited
DNA proof from the Hawks'
vehicle to make an arrest
and compel an explanation
from the shifty Deleons.
O'NEILL:
I worried about
Jackie and Tom a lot.
You just want it
to be over with,
but you want to know
what's going on and...
it's desperation.
You wish you could do something,
but what can you do?
You just, um, start thinking
all these horrible thoughts
in your mind.
You can't sleep, you can't eat,
you can't do anything--
just worry.
You kind of think
something bad has happened,
but you hope you're wrong.
You just hope you're so wrong.
ROTHER:
The case takes another turn
when Skylar's probation officer
calls the Newport Beach
Police Department and says,
"Skylar's asking for permission
to leave the country."
He says he's got
some job in Bermuda
and he wants to leave."
They don't want to lose Skylar.
They think he could have
murdered the Hawks,
but they don't have
a case built for it yet.
So, based on what the probation
officer has said,
they know they've got
to arrest him
and they've got
to arrest him now.
BYINGTON: All the witnesses
had lied at this point, so
who was gonna be the first one
to be honest with us?
This devil had a heart.
MONTERO: By this time
on the investigation,
almost a month had gone by.
There's still questions
that needed
to be answered with this case.
NARRATOR:
While DNA evidence
from the Hawks' SUV
was being processed,
detectives learned
that lead suspect Skylar Deleon
was attempting to
jump the border to Mexico.
BYINGTON:
Skylar was on felony probation
for an armed burglary
that had happened
several years prior,
which meant he was
subject to search and seizure,
and didn't have
the-the freedoms
that normal people have.
He had admitted to me freely
that he w-- had purchased
this vessel
with ill-gotten gains,
which constituted
money laundering.
MONTERO:
With this concern
he's gonna flee,
we need to get on this now,
'cause if this turns out to be
the homicide case
we think it might be,
uh, last thing we want is
to now go have to find this guy.
BYINGTON:
Rather than having to
prove up a murder case
in a finite period of time--
'cause the clock starts ticking
once you make the arrest--
we decided that we would arrest
him for the money laundering.
That maybe is a ruse,
but that gave us
a few extra valuable days
to collect more evidence.
MONTERO:
I write a search warrant
for the residence,
uh, where Skylar Deleon lives,
for evidence
in the money laundering case
as well as anything we may find
that'll answer questions
on what happened to
Thomas and Jackie Hawks.
ROTHER:
They got the search warrants.
They went to the house
in Long Beach.
They went inside,
and they got Skylar.
BYINGTON:
Immediately, Jennifer
had joined him at his side
and was demanding to know
why he was being arrested.
Skylar wasn't, uh, saying much
but, uh,
was obviously distraught,
you could tell.
BYINGTON:
A calm came over Skylar's face,
almost like he was waiting for
a murder charge to be put on him
and it was
only money laundering.
ROTHER:
In this little, tiny,
cramped garage
where Skylar and Jennifer
were living
behind her parents' house,
they found
a whole cache of stuff.
MONTERO:
I found a green backpack,
belongs to Skylar Deleon.
In that backpack, I find ID
and voter ID information
for Thomas and Jackie Hawks.
Those are things
that he has no business having.
ROTHER:
They found the Hawks's laptop,
and they found a whole bunch
of the Hawks's personal papers
in a briefcase.
BYINGTON:
We found a Hi8 recorder,
which still had tape in it
of various adventures that
Tom and Jackie took in Mexico.
And as we're watching it,
it abruptly ends,
and then it splits
to some type of celebration
that involved
Skylar and Jennifer's family.
Not only did they steal
this camcorder,
but rather than just putting
their own tape in,
they just taped over
the Hawks's memories...
and started creating their own.
Any hope that the Hawks were
still alive died right there.
There was no reason for them
to have that stuff.
Jennifer Deleon,
there wasn't enough evidence
to show her as an accomplice
at that time.
How much did she know
or not want to know?
BYINGTON:
Jennifer was being
the good wife and saying,
"My husband didn't do it; I have
nothing to do with this thing."
MONTERO:
It's hard to have a murder case
when you don't have any bodies.
So there's more investigation
that needs to happen here,
but the fact that
he's not going anywhere,
that's a big help for us.
ROTHER:
When the DNA results came back
from the CR-V,
they hit a bingo.
Skylar's DNA was
on the heater knob.
NARRATOR: The fairy tale story
spun by the Deleons
didn't hold up
now that the Hawks' SUV
was found across the border
with Skylar's DNA inside.
BYINGTON:
We're working on theories
up to this point
on how this murder
could have occurred,
who was involved in it.
All the witnesses had lied
at this point.
Alonso Machain, which was
one of Skylar's friends
that was there to sign
the paperwork as a witness,
and the notary,
Kathleen Harris.
So we had to set them up
for re-interviews
to-to challenge them on that
and to find out
who was gonna be the first one
to be honest with us.
Out of all the witnesses
that had participated
in this alleged transaction
where the Hawks had sold
their vessel,
we thought the weak link
might have been Kathleen Harris.
She had no personal ties
to any of these people.
It appeared that she had just
gained financially
by participating as a notary.
We put a lot of pressure
on Kathleen
because we thought
she was lying.
BYINGTON:
One of my detectives
decided to be the bad cop.
BYINGTON:
She went from "I remember it"
to "I think I remember it"
to hesitating and vacillating
a little bit.
At least more than she had
in previous interviews.
BYINGTON:
I think pure fear was driving
her to maintain that line,
but within 24 hours,
we got a phone call
from an attorney
that was representing
Kathleen Harris
and said that she wanted
to make a statement.
And she was given immunity
by the district attorney.
MONTGOMERY:
With the pressure
that we put on her,
eventually she did
tell us the truth.
She was actually asked by Skylar
if she would do some
unscrupulous stuff
as a notary,
and she agreed,
for extra money, to do that.
BYINGTON:
She then proceeded to backdate
these documents
to the date of the alleged sale.
She notarized them
and she collected several
thousand dollars and left.
She never did meet the Hawks.
BYINGTON:
That was our first major break
to get the murder charge
going forward.
MONTGOMERY:
Alonso, who was also supposedly
there during this time,
his story matched Skylar's,
which now doesn't match
Kathleen's.
That's when it all
broke apart.
We need to get Alonso.
He's arrestable now because of
the lies we've heard,
but he's also probably
the one person
that may tell us the real truth
about what occurred.
We were trying to get
ahold of him,
and all of a sudden
we discovered he's gone.
BYINGTON:
He had left not only the city,
the state, but the country.
He had gone back to Mexico
to live with relatives,
fearing that he would
be arrested.
We learned that
Alonso would cooperate
and explain everything
that had happened,
but that he wanted
some consideration
on his culpability
in this crime.
We really didn't have a choice.
We needed him as a witness.
We needed to find out
if he was willing
to tell us the truth.
We needed someone to.
So the death penalty
was taken off the table
in order to get Alonso
to return back
to the United States.
MONTGOMERY:
I think he decided to come back
and do the right thing.
BYINGTON:
The next morning
he came out with his attorney.
We took him into custody,
drove him back to our station,
and participated in an interview
that I'll never forget
in my entire life.
NARRATOR:
Key suspect Alonso Machain
was finally spilling
the haunting details
of the Hawks' horrific
final moments aboard
the Well Deserved.
MONTGOMERY:
I told him that
what I'd like to do is
start from the beginning when
you first met Skylar Deleon.
ROTHER:
Skylar promised him
at least a million dollars
to help him
get rid of the Hawks.
BYINGTON:
Skylar realized
that Thomas Hawks was not
gonna be a pushover,
that he was a hulk of a man;
it was gonna take
several people to overpower him
Another person that he got
to help was
a man named JFK, which is
John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
He was a gang member
from the Long Beach area.
So Skylar and Alonso
and JFK show up,
and Skylar says,
"This is my accountant,
and we're gonna go out
on a sea trial."
They went out,
sailed past the harbor...
And that's when JFK
and Skylar Deleon
took down Mr. Hawks.
BYINGTON:
JFK and Skylar are basically
punching Mr. Hawks
into submission
and then placing him
in handcuffs.
What Jackie was trying to do
was send a message
that something was wrong,
so she signed her signature
"Jackie Hawk,"
and left off the "S".
BYINGTON:
This huge yacht had
two huge anchors. Massive.
And they unhinged one
and brought it back.
Alonso said he heard
the chain dragging,
so he knows that Thomas Hawks
heard that chain dragging.
They tie them to the chain
of the anchor.
BYINGTON:
And Alonso broke down crying
while he was telling us
this part.
So this... this devil
had a heart.
And they basically
were pulled down 3,500 feet
to the bottom of the ocean
by the weight of this anchor,
and they were drowned alive.
And that's got to be
the most unbelievably
horrible, horrible way to die
that I can imagine.
NARRATOR:
It seemed this was
business as usual for Skylar.
Just a step in his plan to
steal the lives of the Hawks
and take their place
at the helm.
Could Alonso's chilling
admission be trusted?
I believed it was the truth,
and that we have reason
to doubt any of it.
When everything's said
and done, Alonso Machain,
he was duped by Skylar,
there's no doubt in my mind.
But greed was his primary
motivating factor
for being involved.
Just like everybody else
in this.
♪ ♪
Once the arrests were made,
I knew that we had to
tell the family
what we had found out.
O'NEILL:
You're waiting
for the phone to ring,
but when it rings,
you're afraid to pick it up.
You didn't know whether
it was good news
or bad news.
And it was bad news.
Very bad news.
When you lose a child,
you lose a part of yourself.
Your heart just breaks in half
and stays that way.
It was absolutely horrible to me
that someone would do that
to Jackie and Tom.
I think I cried for a week.
I lost the best friend
I ever had.
It was a relief to know
what had happened,
but it was also--
I was very angry
that someone can be
that heartless and cruel.
BYINGTON:
Skylar is a sociopathic liar
and one of the best con men
I've ever met,
but the lynchpin in this
whole case was Jennifer Deleon.
In the initial meetings
regarding the purchase
of the vessel, Jennifer--
she went on that vessel
with her child for one reason,
and that was to convince
the Hawks,
to put them at ease so that
they would go through
with this transaction.
Without her participation,
none of this
would have happened.
She's as evil as anybody
on that boat.
Skylar was found guilty
of first-degree murder,
and was sentenced to death.
MONTGOMERY:
JFK, he also was
sentenced to death.
BYINGTON:
However, now,
the governor of California
has put a moratorium
on the death penalty.
In essence, they are gonna live
out their lives on death row.
MONTGOMERY:
After Alonso Machain
filled us in on everything,
he was convicted of the murder,
but was given 20 years
instead of the death penalty.
Jennifer, she was convicted
and got life
without the possibility
of parole.
♪ ♪
This pin I'm wearing is
in honor of Jackie and Tom.
It's the name of their boat,
and two hawks flying
for their names.
I want people to remember Jackie
and Tom for their kindness,
what good people they were.
For more information on
Real Murders of Orange County,