Deceased/Not Found CA - Tom, 57, & Jackie Hawks, 47, Newport Beach, 14 Nov 2004 *Four guilty*

The act of the dp should be carried out swiftly. I have other ideas but oh no I would be banned. This was just a horrible crime.
 
I saw this on TV last night and it just broke my heart -- the poor couple and the horror they must have experienced being tied to an anchor and tossed overboard. My prayers and thoughts go out to the Hawks Family, and may Tom and Jackie Hawks rest in peace.
 
Public defender raises questions about Skylar Deleon double-murder case
The public defender who has helped raise awareness about the illegal use of jailhouse informants in Orange County is raising new questions about one of the most high-profile court cases in county history, the 2008 conviction of double-murderer Skylar Deleon.

But while the actions highlighted by Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders indicate the possibility of bad faith by a local prosecutor, transcripts in the 85-page motion filed Wednesday also can be read to support the argument that the prosecutor in Deleon did nothing wrong.

(...)

To make his argument against the county, Sanders wrote that Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy, who prosecuted both Wozniak and Deleon, “defrauded” the Deleon jury that sentenced him to death for throwing a married couple, Thomas and Jackie Hawks, off their 55-foot yacht while they were tied to an anchor.

Sanders said Murphy used a jailhouse witness, three-strike convict Daniel Elias, to testify that while they shared a jail cell Deleon offered to pay him to kill a pair of potential witnesses.
 
I don't think, it was "just to get a boat".
It was to get "a boat" that police would consider a pleasure craft, unlikely to pull over, while they smuggled drugs.
Nevertheless, what this gang of murderous thugs did to this couple should live in infamy.
One of the worst crimes ever. IMO.
They should never get out of prison.




This is an absolutely heinous crime.

To kill two people in such a manner....just to get a BOAT, is
utterly despicable.

Yahoo
 
I strongly disagree.
He horrendously murdered 3 innocent people.
He, and others who have done the same should be removed from our earth.
No excuses.
SANTA ANA, Calif. (Associated Press) -- The attorney for a man accused of throwing a couple off their yacht bound to an anchor told a jury Tuesday his client is guilty of those two murders and a third, but shouldn't be put to death.
"My goal is simply to save Skylar Deleon's life," defense attorney Gary Pohlson said in a 15-minute opening statement on behalf of his client

Cox My Connection - Access Webmail, News, Services & More
 
This couple most certainly suffered. HUGELY.
They loved each other and never hurt any one.
The horror of this callouse crime haunts me.
My beloved husband and myself own a boat. Not a 55 footer.
None of this is relevant.
These disgusting murderers boarded their home with a plan to kill them.
They should Never be allowed out of jail.
Never.




These murders were horrific. I cannot imagine what the Hawks' family and friends have gone through. It seems the only consolation families of murder victims can hope for is finding out that their loved one(s) didn't suffer. The Hawks family did not get that consolation. So, so sad.
 
JAN 16, 2020
A receipt from Target, a stolen car in Mexico and a third unsolved murder: Investigation into yacht murder of California couple
Tom Hawks, a Vietnam veteran and father of two boys, had a beautiful dream: to retire in his 50s and live on a boat with his wife Jackie. He eventually achieved it after prudently saving and investing his money for decades. But over the course of a week, another couple — complete strangers to the Hawks — took it all away.

[...]

tom-jackie-sunset-ht-ay-200110_hpEmbed_11x13_992.jpg


[...]

On November 12, 2004, the couple took their last trip to Santa Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles, California, to commemorate their passion project’s imminent sale. By this time, Tom and Jackie Hawks had told family and friends that they’d found a buyer and that the sale was going to take place in the next few days.

“Next thing you know is, no one could get a hold of them,” their son, Ryan Hawks, told “20/20.” “For them just to shut off their cell phones and drop off the face of the earth is...extremely out of character.”

[...]

“Tom and Jackie, if they would have sold that boat, they would have deposited that money into their bank account,” TS told “20/20.” “There was no activity on their account. So we knew that something was really wrong. [JH] told me that he was gonna contact the police department and file a missing persons report.”

tom-jackie-wd-ht-ay-200110_hpEmbed_19x11_992.jpg


[...]

Police searched the Well Deserved, where they found a receipt from Target. The purchase, which was dated two days after the day friends said the Hawks were taking the prospective buyer for a test ride, listed trash bags, bleach and the antacid Tums.

[...]

Target was able to provide surveillance photos of the purchaser to police. But investigators, who expected to see Skylar Deleon buying the supplies, were surprised to find Steve Henderson, Jennifer Deleon’s father, in the photos instea
d.
steve-henderson-target-OC-prosecutors-ht-ay-200110_hpEmbed_2x3_992.jpg

[...]

Skylar Deleon produced paperwork for the boat’s purchase, complete with signatures, fingerprints and a notary public’s certification.

Much to their surprise, Skylar Deleon openly admitted to police that he used drug money to buy the vessel.

[...]

Nearly a month after his parents vanished, Ryan Hawks was urged by his uncle to go to the media to ask the public for help after investigators hit a dead end.

A retired couple in San Miguel, Mexico, heard his plea, telling police that they saw the missing couple’s 1998 silver Honda CR-V parked next to a mobile home.

The mobile home’s owner told Mexican authorities he didn’t know Tom or Jackie Hawks, but that the car was given to him from a friend: Skylar Deleon.

“And at that moment…any possibility that the Hawks were still alive died right there, unfortunately,” Byington said.

[...]

On Dec. 17, 2004, police arrested Skylar Deleon on money laundering charges while they continued investigating him for the murder of the Hawks.

Investigators searched the Deleon’s home, finding the Hawks’ laptop and their video camera, which the Deleons used to document the Thanksgiving that the Hawks never got to spend with their family.

[...]

Kathleen Harris, the notary who certified the paperwork for the sale of the Well Deserved, was interviewed by police several times. She repeatedly denied that anything was amiss, until the day she came clean.

“She came in and she said she'd never met Tom and Jackie Hawks. ... “She was given documents and paid in cash to backdate the documents. And so she backdated them to Nov. 15, which was the day that they went missing.”

[...]

Alonso Machain was the next to reveal his role in the murder. He told police that he first met Skylar Deleon when he was a jailer at the City of Seal Beach jail. Machain admitted he took part in the murders and revealed the full scope of the murder conspiracy to investigators.

[...]

Machain said Skylar Deleon and Kennedy overpowered Tom Hawks and handcuffed him, while Machain subdued and handcuffed Jackie Hawks. Machain said he, on Deleon’s orders, taped over the couple’s eyes and mouths and tied them together as Deleon navigated the boat toward the deepest point of the sea. Machain said they then tied the couple, handcuffed, to one of the yacht’s anchors – then Deleon threw the anchor overboard and it dragged the couple over the side.

[...]

Machain testified in three separate trials against Jennifer and Skylar Deleon, as well as Kennedy. In a deal with the prosecution, he pleaded guilty to two counts of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years and four months in prison.

In 2006, Jennifer Deleon was convicted of the murders of Tom and Jackie Hawks and later sentenced to two life terms without the possibility of parole. .
...

Nearly two years later, Skylar went to trial for the murder of Tom and Jackie Hawks and Jon Jarvi. He was convicted of all three murders.

Jennifer-Deleon-CA-Dept-Corrections--ht-ay-200110_hpEmbed_3x4_992.jpg

In October 2007, Jennifer Deleon

skylar-deleon-02-ap-jc-200110_hpEmbed_9x7_992.jpg

Skylar Julius Deleon, 27, is shown July 31, 2006

[...]

 
upload_2021-1-1_16-2-53.jpeg

Thomas and Jackie Hawks parented two sons in their lifetime, Ryan and Matt. They were Tom’s children from his first marriage. Tom met Jackie, who had lost her husband to an accident, through a chili cook-off in 1986. The two commenced a romance, which they soon turned into a marriage in 1989. Tom’s two boys, who were in elementary school at the time, looked up to Jackie as their own second mother rather than a stepmother. In an interview, Ryan Hawks recalled that his father’s life-long dream was to live to his fullest. He would often remind his sons that life is too short.

The Hawkses, Ryan, and Matt, along with Ryan’s mother, Dixie Hawks, attended the trial in April 2005 of the convicts in Ryan’s and Matt’s parents’ murders. According to reports in 2009, Matt was living in Arizona as a firefighter. Ryan, considered to be Tom and Jackie’s most vocal advocate, was a salesman in 2009. Matt and Ryan’s interviews were featured in ABC’s ‘20/20’ in the episode titled ‘Overboard’ in 2020. The current whereabouts of Ryan and Matt and Matt’s family are unknown.
Thomas and Jackie Hawks’ Children Now: Where Are Ryan and Matt Today? Update
 
View attachment 277745
Thomas and Jackie Hawks parented two sons in their lifetime, Ryan and Matt. They were Tom’s children from his first marriage. Tom met Jackie, who had lost her husband to an accident, through a chili cook-off in 1986. The two commenced a romance, which they soon turned into a marriage in 1989. Tom’s two boys, who were in elementary school at the time, looked up to Jackie as their own second mother rather than a stepmother. In an interview, Ryan Hawks recalled that his father’s life-long dream was to live to his fullest. He would often remind his sons that life is too short.

The Hawkses, Ryan, and Matt, along with Ryan’s mother, Dixie Hawks, attended the trial in April 2005 of the convicts in Ryan’s and Matt’s parents’ murders. According to reports in 2009, Matt was living in Arizona as a firefighter. Ryan, considered to be Tom and Jackie’s most vocal advocate, was a salesman in 2009. Matt and Ryan’s interviews were featured in ABC’s ‘20/20’ in the episode titled ‘Overboard’ in 2020. The current whereabouts of Ryan and Matt and Matt’s family are unknown.
Thomas and Jackie Hawks’ Children Now: Where Are Ryan and Matt Today? Update

This case has stayed with me all these years-- thanks for the update-- this was one of the
most heinous and diabolical murders i have ever come across--strange that the present
whereabouts of their sons is unknown
 
Well that was ... revealing. I'd known about this case and the heart breaking ending of Tom and Jackie. Reading the above article, and confused by the author using both his and her for Skylar, I learned that Skylar has transed from male to female on the state's dollar while incarcerated. Now ain't that somethin else?

yep--- on the state's dollar- kinda makes me sick and angry
 
Gross- I need a barf bucket

Same. It’s unreal that he got to carry this out in prison. Considering the prisoner doesn’t get to live like a free person beginning the day they are in custody; like use their cell phone, get take out, watch movies all day, etc. But they can do this after murdering 3 people?? And free of charge! That is a system failure in my mind.
 
Same. It’s unreal that he got to carry this out in prison. Considering the prisoner doesn’t get to live like a free person beginning the day they are in custody; like use their cell phone, get take out, watch movies all day, etc. But they can do this after murdering 3 people?? And free of charge! That is a system failure in my mind.
Could not agree more- the killing of that couple was a diabolical plan involving his wife and child no less- it was a bone chilling vile killing in cold blood of two people, and yet he gets to do a gender change at the tax payers expense- system failure doesn't even begin to describe it- he got freaking rewarded for what he did- he probably really likes prison--- never had it so good!
 
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Could not agree more- the killing of that couple was a diabolical plan involving his wife and child no less- it was a bone chilling vile killing in cold blood of two people, and yet he gets to do a gender change at the tax payers expense- system failure doesn't even begin to describe it- he got freaking rewarded for what he did- he probably really likes prison--- never had it so good!

How does this even happen? I wonder if it’s approved in certain locations and who passes legislation for it. I can’t imagine every state being on board with this.
 

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