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This-child-star-is-EVIL-MATURE-AUDIENCES-ONLY · Crime and Horror

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Speaker 1: Of the hundreds of stories I have covered on this channel,
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Speaker 1: today's story is going to easily rank in the top
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Speaker 1: five most distressing I have ever covered. Now, there is
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Speaker 1: not any graphic footage or images included. However, there is
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Speaker 1: a very upsetting sequence that happens at the end of
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Speaker 1: this story, and so for that reason, viewer discretion is advised.
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Speaker 1: But before we get into today's story, if you're a
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Speaker 1: into today's story. In nineteen eighty six, Tom Hawks was
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Speaker 1: a thirty nine year old father of two teenage boys.
1:11
Speaker 1: He had previously been married to his boy's mother, but
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Speaker 1: they had ultimately gotten a divorce that year. Tom and
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Speaker 1: his two sons were at this local chili cookoff in
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Speaker 1: their neighborhood in Newport Beach, California, when Tom was looking
1:24
Speaker 1: out across the sea of people and he sees this
1:27
Speaker 1: stunningly beautiful woman he's never seen before, and he just
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Speaker 1: finds himself staring at her, and he stares at her
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Speaker 1: so long that this woman she ends up noticing, and
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Speaker 1: she looks up and kind of smiles and blushes and
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Speaker 1: looks away, and Tom immediately is totally embarrassed because he
1:41
Speaker 1: just got caught staring at her. And so he decides,
1:43
Speaker 1: you know what, I got to go over there and
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Speaker 1: introduce myself. And so Tom, who's this totally ruggedly handsome,
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Speaker 1: muscular guy with this incredible mustache, he strides across the
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Speaker 1: lawn and he walks up to this woman and he
1:54
Speaker 1: introduces himself, and she is all smiles and she says
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Speaker 1: her name is Jackie, and she's twenty nine years old
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Speaker 1: and she's single. And from that point onward, those two
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Speaker 1: completely hit it off. They fell madly in love, and
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Speaker 1: just a few years later, in nineteen eighty nine, they
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Speaker 1: got married in front of one hundred and fifty of
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Speaker 1: their closest friends and family. And then after the wedding,
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Speaker 1: Jackie moved in with Tom and his two boys, and
2:16
Speaker 1: even though the boy's mother was still alive, they began
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Speaker 1: calling Jackie mom because Jackie not only lived with them,
2:24
Speaker 1: but also because she was so devoted to them and
2:27
Speaker 1: she just was such a loving and kind person that
2:29
Speaker 1: it just made sense to do that. Also, Jackie, when
2:31
Speaker 1: she was twenty two years old, she had gotten into
2:34
Speaker 1: this horrific motorcycle accident, and the internal damage that accident
2:38
Speaker 1: had done to her had left her unable to have
2:41
Speaker 1: kids of her own, something she had always wanted to do.
2:44
Speaker 1: And so when she had the opportunity to be these
2:47
Speaker 1: boy's mother, she really leaned into it. And so she
2:50
Speaker 1: was like this fabulous mother. So over the years, Tom
2:53
Speaker 1: and Jackie raised their two sons, and then in two
2:55
Speaker 1: thousand and two, when the boys were all grown up,
2:58
Speaker 1: they left the house. Now this was a sad moment
3:01
Speaker 1: for Tom and Jackie to suddenly be empty nesters. I mean,
3:04
Speaker 1: so much of their identity was wrapped up in being parents,
3:07
Speaker 1: and they were very close with their sons. But at
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Speaker 1: the same time, they knew this day was coming, and
3:12
Speaker 1: they had actually been preparing for it for several years.
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Speaker 1: They had been putting money aside every single year to
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Speaker 1: prepare for when their sons left, because they wanted to
3:21
Speaker 1: time it so they could retire at the same time.
3:23
Speaker 1: And their idea of retirement was to go buy a
3:26
Speaker 1: yacht and just live on the yacht and sail up
3:29
Speaker 1: and down the California and Mexican coastline. Now, neither Jackie
3:33
Speaker 1: nor Tom were wealthy at all. However, they were very
3:36
Speaker 1: good at saving money, and they were very disciplined, and
3:39
Speaker 1: they could live frugally, and so over the past couple
3:42
Speaker 1: of years they really had saved virtually every penny so
3:45
Speaker 1: they could afford to buy this yacht. And so finally,
3:48
Speaker 1: in two thousand and two, when their sons do actually leave,
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Speaker 1: Tom and Jackie they sell their house in Newport Beach, California,
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Speaker 1: and between the proceeds from the sale of their house
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Speaker 1: and all this money they had set aside, they had
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Speaker 1: enough to purchase this kind of beat up, old small yacht.
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Speaker 1: And so this yacht they named the Well Deserved. Even
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Speaker 1: though this yacht was by no means a glamorous yacht
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Speaker 1: like you think of when you hear that word, Tom
4:12
Speaker 1: and Jackie adored this boat, and so as soon as
4:15
Speaker 1: it was theirs, and they adocked it in Newport. They
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Speaker 1: moved all of their belongings onto this boat, because they're
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Speaker 1: going to live on this boat. And then they began
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Speaker 1: meticulously cleaning it and organizing it and upgrading it everywhere
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Speaker 1: they could within their limited budget. And by the summer
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Speaker 1: of that year, this boat was beautiful, both on the
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Speaker 1: outside and the inside. It was very cozy and very
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Speaker 1: clearly had the touch of Tom and Jackie. It was
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Speaker 1: a home. And so for the next two years, Tom
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Speaker 1: and Jackie they lived the dream. They took that yacht
4:45
Speaker 1: and just sailed up and down the coast of California
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Speaker 1: and Mexico, and they would watch these beautiful sunsets, and
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Speaker 1: they would catch fresh fish, and they would drink cocktails together.
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Speaker 1: I mean, they were really enjoying their retirement. Then in
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Speaker 1: two thousand and four, they some unexpected news. One of
5:01
Speaker 1: their sons told them that he was now expecting to
5:04
Speaker 1: be a father, and so this baby was going to
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Speaker 1: be the first grandchild of Tom and Jackie. And they
5:10
Speaker 1: were so excited, especially Jackie because remember she wasn't able
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Speaker 1: to have kids of her own, and she just loved
5:17
Speaker 1: the idea of getting to be motherly again and the
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Speaker 1: idea of getting to hold this precious little baby. And
5:22
Speaker 1: so even though Tom and Jackie were absolutely loving living
5:26
Speaker 1: out on this yacht, they decided that the time was
5:29
Speaker 1: right to actually sell the yacht and then take the
5:31
Speaker 1: proceeds from the sale of the yacht and buy a
5:34
Speaker 1: house on land to be closer to their son and
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Speaker 1: this grand baby. So in November of that year, the
5:40
Speaker 1: Hawks place an ad in this fishing magazine for the
5:43
Speaker 1: sale of their yacht. They were asking for about half
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Speaker 1: a million dollars, and very quickly after this ad went live,
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Speaker 1: this young couple who had saved up some cash they
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Speaker 1: offered to buy it. Tom and Jackie were totally thrilled,
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Speaker 1: and they called their two sons to tell them the
5:57
Speaker 1: good news that they had this buyer and that in
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Speaker 1: the next couple of days the sale would be finalized
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Speaker 1: and then they would be in touch. And so the
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Speaker 1: sons they're expecting to get a phone call from Tom
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Speaker 1: and Jackie any day, But a couple of days goes
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Speaker 1: by and they haven't heard from them, and so the
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Speaker 1: sons begin calling their parents, and their parents aren't picking
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Speaker 1: up their phone. Now Tom and Jackie were not the
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Speaker 1: type to go any amount of time without being in
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Speaker 1: touch with their family, and so this was very uncharacteristic.
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Speaker 1: And so when Tom's brother, Jim, who was a retired
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Speaker 1: police chief, when he heard about this sudden silence, he
6:31
Speaker 1: just got in his car and drove to Newport Beach, California,
6:35
Speaker 1: to see if maybe they had not finalized the sale
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Speaker 1: of the yacht, and maybe the couple was still on
6:40
Speaker 1: the yacht and he could go check in with them
6:42
Speaker 1: and make sure everything was okay. And so Jim, along
6:44
Speaker 1: with a friend of his, they arrived in Newport Beach.
6:46
Speaker 1: They make their way to the dock where the yacht
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Speaker 1: was being held, and they go down to the floating
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Speaker 1: section of the stock and they walk right up alongside
6:53
Speaker 1: the well deserved and just from where they're standing, it
6:56
Speaker 1: does not seem like anyone is on the yacht. However,
7:00
Speaker 1: as they're standing there just kind of looking at this
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Speaker 1: yacht right in front of them, Jim notices a couple
7:05
Speaker 1: of oddities. He sees there are lines hanging over the
7:09
Speaker 1: side of the boat that should have been stowed. And
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Speaker 1: Tom was known for being incredibly meticulous and orderly. I mean,
7:16
Speaker 1: that yacht was spick and span always, and so he
7:19
Speaker 1: would not have left these lines draped over the edge
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Speaker 1: of the boat unless he was on board, and he wasn't.
7:26
Speaker 1: And so Jim's also looking around, and he sees there
7:28
Speaker 1: are a couple of tarps that go over some of
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Speaker 1: the control panels that had been taken off but then
7:33
Speaker 1: not put back on the control panels, and so again
7:36
Speaker 1: that's not something Tom or Jackie would have done. And
7:39
Speaker 1: then there's also some dirty towels kind of hanging out
7:42
Speaker 1: of one of the portholes. And so overall the impression
7:45
Speaker 1: Jim and this friend got was I guess they must
7:47
Speaker 1: have finalized the sale of this yacht, because clearly the
7:51
Speaker 1: new owners of this boat, they're the ones that are
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Speaker 1: in possession of it, and they're the reason it's sloppy,
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Speaker 1: because Tom and Jackie they never would leave the boat
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Speaker 1: in this condition. So Jim pulls out his own business
8:01
Speaker 1: card and he writes a note on it that he's
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Speaker 1: looking to speak with the new owners of this boat
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Speaker 1: because his brother and his brother's wife had sold this
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Speaker 1: boat to them, but now they're missing, and so please
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Speaker 1: give me a callback. And so Jim and his friend
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Speaker 1: they leave the boat. They leave the dock and they
8:15
Speaker 1: begin to leave the area when Jim's cell phone rings
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Speaker 1: and he picks it up and it's this twenty one
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Speaker 1: year old woman named Jennifer de Leone, and so she
8:22
Speaker 1: tells Jim that she got his business card on her
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Speaker 1: yacht and that yes, she and her husband had recently
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Speaker 1: purchased this yacht from the Hawks. But like Jim, they
8:32
Speaker 1: were having a hard time getting in touch with the
8:34
Speaker 1: Hawks as well, because after acquiring their boat, Jennifer said
8:38
Speaker 1: she and her husband realized there were a couple of
8:40
Speaker 1: controls on the boat that they didn't know how to use,
8:43
Speaker 1: and so they needed to talk to Tom and Jackie
8:46
Speaker 1: to explain how to use them. Also, Jennifer said she
8:49
Speaker 1: had found some personal belongings that belonged to Tom and
8:52
Speaker 1: Jackie that were stuffed in a couple of drawers that
8:54
Speaker 1: just got left behind, and so she wanted to return
8:57
Speaker 1: that property to them as well. But she's telling Jim,
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Speaker 1: I'm trying to get in touch with them, and I
9:01
Speaker 1: can't get in touch with them. And so Jim asked, Jennifer,
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Speaker 1: you know, when was the last time you or your
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Speaker 1: husband saw Tom or Jackie? And she would say, you know,
9:09
Speaker 1: the last time we saw them was when we actually
9:11
Speaker 1: finalized the sale of the boat, when we literally gave
9:14
Speaker 1: them the money and we watched them take the money,
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Speaker 1: hop in their car and drive away. Jim asked her
9:19
Speaker 1: if she had any idea where they might have been going,
9:22
Speaker 1: and Jennifer said, you know, we really didn't have that
9:24
Speaker 1: many personal conversations with Tom or Jackie. It was mostly
9:27
Speaker 1: just business stuff. But in the limited personal interactions we
9:30
Speaker 1: did have, Tom would always talk about how he and
9:33
Speaker 1: Jackie planned on buying a house in Mexico, in this
9:36
Speaker 1: town that bordered Arizona, because apparently they have a son
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Speaker 1: that lives in Arizona and he's about to have a baby,
9:43
Speaker 1: and they were talking about how they wanted to be
9:44
Speaker 1: very close. Jim thanked Jennifer and asked her, you know,
9:47
Speaker 1: if you hear from Tom or Jackie, please let me know.
9:50
Speaker 1: And then Jennifer says to Jim, you know, same thing
9:52
Speaker 1: to you. If you hear from them, please let me
9:54
Speaker 1: know because I need to talk to them too. And
9:56
Speaker 1: so they hang up and Jim is left thinking, you know,
9:59
Speaker 1: what's going on here? And then Jim remembers there's this
10:02
Speaker 1: woman that Tom and Jackie had hired. Her name was Patricia,
10:05
Speaker 1: and for the past couple of years that they had
10:07
Speaker 1: been out on their boat, they knew they would not
10:09
Speaker 1: have great internet, and so they would not be able
10:12
Speaker 1: to consistently be able to pay their bills and pay taxes,
10:15
Speaker 1: and so they had hired this woman, Patricia, who was
10:17
Speaker 1: also a friend of theirs, to basically pay their bills
10:19
Speaker 1: and manage their finances. And so Jim gets her number
10:22
Speaker 1: and he calls Patricia and the first thing he asks
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Speaker 1: her is, you know, hey, have you spoken with Tom
10:26
Speaker 1: or Jackie recently? And she says, you know, no, I haven't,
10:29
Speaker 1: And so Jim explains the situation and then asked, Patricia,
10:33
Speaker 1: has Tom or Jackie recently made a large deposit into
10:37
Speaker 1: any of their accounts, because just a couple of days
10:39
Speaker 1: ago they would have received nearly five hundred thousand dollars,
10:43
Speaker 1: And so Patricia she checks the accounts and she says, no,
10:46
Speaker 1: there's been no deposits made. And so Jim and Patricia
10:49
Speaker 1: are talking on the phone trying to rationalize why Tom
10:52
Speaker 1: and Jackie would not have deposited so much money, and
10:56
Speaker 1: they really couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation for it,
10:59
Speaker 1: and so after Jim hung up with Patricia, he just
11:01
Speaker 1: had a bad feeling about what was going on, and
11:03
Speaker 1: so Jim called the Newport Beach Police Department and he
11:06
Speaker 1: officially reported Tom and Jackie missing. The first thing the
11:10
Speaker 1: Newport Beach Police Department did with this missing person report
11:14
Speaker 1: was to do some digging on the new buyers of
11:16
Speaker 1: this yacht, the de Leones, And when they looked at
11:19
Speaker 1: the twenty five year old husband named Skyler, they discovered
11:22
Speaker 1: he was a felon. He had been arrested and convicted
11:24
Speaker 1: of armed robbery and had spent some time in jail
11:27
Speaker 1: for it. And so naturally the police were immediately suspicious
11:30
Speaker 1: of Skyler da Leone and really the daily Oones in general,
11:33
Speaker 1: because they were the last ones to see the Hawks
11:35
Speaker 1: before they went missing. And so they sent one of
11:38
Speaker 1: their detectives down to the dock to just kind of
11:40
Speaker 1: walk around, go walk around the yacht and just kind
11:43
Speaker 1: of feel it out, see what's going on down there,
11:44
Speaker 1: see if there's anything unusual. And so this detective goes
11:47
Speaker 1: down to the dock, they walk onto the floating section
11:50
Speaker 1: of the dock and they walk right up alongside the
11:52
Speaker 1: well deserved and from the looks of it, it doesn't
11:54
Speaker 1: appear that anybody's on board, and as this detective is
11:58
Speaker 1: kind of looking in the window and just kind of
12:00
Speaker 1: looking around, they think they see what looks like a
12:03
Speaker 1: bloody handprint inside the boat, and so that would end
12:06
Speaker 1: up being enough to get a search warrant, and before
12:08
Speaker 1: long that day there were police swarming this boat looking
12:12
Speaker 1: all over it. But it would turn out that was
12:14
Speaker 1: not a bloody handprint. It was actually just some rust
12:17
Speaker 1: and there was nothing else of significance that was found
12:20
Speaker 1: on board this boat. And so the police are pretty
12:22
Speaker 1: frustrated because they really don't have any leads, and so
12:25
Speaker 1: they contact Skyler de Leone and they say, hey, you
12:27
Speaker 1: need to come into the police station and explain exactly
12:30
Speaker 1: what happened during your final interaction with the Hawks. And
12:33
Speaker 1: so Skyler comes to the police station. He's totally cooperative
12:36
Speaker 1: and he explains to the detectives that he saw this
12:39
Speaker 1: ad and this fishing magazine for a yacht. He contacted
12:42
Speaker 1: Tom Hawk and said I'm interested. The two of them
12:45
Speaker 1: met up and then went out for a sea trial,
12:47
Speaker 1: which is basically a test drive but for a boat.
12:49
Speaker 1: And during the sea trial, Skyler told Tom that he
12:52
Speaker 1: liked the boat and he wanted to go forward with
12:54
Speaker 1: the purchase, and so on November fifteenth, Skyler, along with
12:58
Speaker 1: his pregnant wife and his young daughter, and also a
13:00
Speaker 1: notary and another person a friend of Skylar's that was
13:03
Speaker 1: there just kind of as a witness, They go to
13:05
Speaker 1: the parking lot of the dock right near where the
13:07
Speaker 1: yacht is, and then the Hawks show up, Tom and
13:10
Speaker 1: Jackie and the dely Oones literally hand over a suitcase
13:14
Speaker 1: full of cash to Tom, and then Tom and Jackie
13:18
Speaker 1: with the notary, they signed the sale documentation, basically giving
13:21
Speaker 1: the boat over to the daly Oones, and then Tom
13:24
Speaker 1: and Jackie took their suitcase full of cash hopped in
13:26
Speaker 1: their suv and they drove off, presumably to go to Mexico.
13:29
Speaker 1: When the police asked Skyler, how were you able to
13:32
Speaker 1: afford such an expensive vessel, Skyler would tell them that
13:35
Speaker 1: back in the nineteen nineties he was actually a child star,
13:38
Speaker 1: or kind of. He was an extra on the very
13:41
Speaker 1: popular TV show Power Rangers, and from being on that show,
13:44
Speaker 1: he had made a bunch of money and he had
13:46
Speaker 1: set it aside. And as Skyler is telling the detectives this,
13:50
Speaker 1: he kind of just stops himself at some point and
13:52
Speaker 1: he's like, you know what, that's not really the truth.
13:54
Speaker 1: The reality is the reason we had the money to
13:57
Speaker 1: do this is not because of the cash I got
13:59
Speaker 1: from a child star. It's actually because I stole the money.
14:03
Speaker 1: It would turn out that armed robbery that Skyler was
14:06
Speaker 1: convicted for and spent some time in jail for, that
14:08
Speaker 1: was because he was stealing money from this drug kingpin.
14:12
Speaker 1: And before he was arrested and sent off to jail,
14:15
Speaker 1: he had managed to take the money that he had
14:17
Speaker 1: stolen and hide it. And then after he had gone
14:20
Speaker 1: to jail and got out again, he came back to
14:23
Speaker 1: his hiding space and he just retrieved the money. But
14:26
Speaker 1: this money was stolen drug money, so it was hot,
14:29
Speaker 1: and so he needed to get rid of it. He
14:31
Speaker 1: needed to launder the money, and so that was why
14:34
Speaker 1: he was buying this yacht. He was going to buy
14:36
Speaker 1: it with this dirty money in bulk in cash and
14:40
Speaker 1: basically transformed this hot, dirty money into this yacht, and
14:45
Speaker 1: then he was going to sell the yacht and get
14:47
Speaker 1: clean money for it. And so the police are totally
14:50
Speaker 1: shocked at this confession because Skyler has just completely incriminated
14:54
Speaker 1: himself in a money laundering scheme, But the police would
14:58
Speaker 1: ultimately say to Skyler, you know what, We're not going
15:00
Speaker 1: to charge you with money laundering because you're being so
15:03
Speaker 1: forthright and helpful with this investigation, and so they let
15:06
Speaker 1: Skyler go. The police would go on to interview Skyler's wife, Jennifer,
15:10
Speaker 1: as well as the notary and also that other friend
15:13
Speaker 1: who had come along for that final sale of the
15:15
Speaker 1: boat who was there as a witness. Is. The police
15:17
Speaker 1: interview all three of those people and they asked them,
15:20
Speaker 1: you know, what was your final interaction with Tom and
15:22
Speaker 1: Jackie like, and they all described the same situation of
15:26
Speaker 1: seeing Tom and Jackie taking the suitcase full of cash
15:28
Speaker 1: and then signing the paperwork, hopping in their car and
15:31
Speaker 1: driving off. The only detail that seemed to differ amongst
15:34
Speaker 1: these four people who were there was the way Tom
15:37
Speaker 1: and Jackie were acting. Skyler made it seem like Tom
15:40
Speaker 1: was kind of anxious and paranoid about having all this money,
15:43
Speaker 1: whereas the notary said, you know, Tom and Jackie seemed
15:46
Speaker 1: completely normal to me. After all the interviews with these
15:49
Speaker 1: people who had seen Tom and Jackie last, the police
15:52
Speaker 1: felt like they had kind of reached a dead end
15:54
Speaker 1: and just didn't know what to do next, and so
15:56
Speaker 1: they went to the media and asked them to put
15:59
Speaker 1: out a bullet that had a picture of Tom and
16:02
Speaker 1: Jackie as well as a picture of their vehicle, and
16:04
Speaker 1: it asked people to come forward if they had seen them.
16:07
Speaker 1: And sure enough, within a couple of days of this
16:09
Speaker 1: bulletin going out on TV, this older couple in Mexico
16:13
Speaker 1: called the police to say the Hawks suv is right
16:17
Speaker 1: across the street from me, right now, it's parked right
16:19
Speaker 1: on the road. And so naturally the Mexican authorities as
16:22
Speaker 1: well as American authorities, they rushed to this location and
16:25
Speaker 1: they charge up to the house where this suv is parked,
16:28
Speaker 1: and they're kind of expecting to find Jackie and Tom inside,
16:32
Speaker 1: or someone that at least knows Tom and Jackie. But
16:35
Speaker 1: when they knock on the door, this guy nobody recognized
16:38
Speaker 1: someone who was living in Mexico. He comes up to
16:40
Speaker 1: the door and he's looking very confused, and the police
16:43
Speaker 1: ask him, you know, who's suv is that parked outside,
16:46
Speaker 1: and he said, oh, well, that's my friend's car, and
16:48
Speaker 1: they say, well, is your friend Tom or Jackie Hawks
16:51
Speaker 1: and the guy's like, no, who's that the car belongs to?
16:54
Speaker 1: Skyler de Leon. This was, of course the moment when
16:57
Speaker 1: the police realized Skyler was lying to them. He had
17:00
Speaker 1: told police the last time he had seen Jackie and Tom,
17:04
Speaker 1: they had hopped in their suv and they had driven off,
17:06
Speaker 1: But clearly that was not the last time, because he
17:09
Speaker 1: somehow managed to acquire their car afterwards, and then he
17:13
Speaker 1: gave it to this random person in Mexico. So the
17:16
Speaker 1: police in Newport Beach they used Skyler's money laundering confession
17:20
Speaker 1: on camera to bring him in. They arrested him on
17:23
Speaker 1: money laundering, and then with him in custody, they searched
17:26
Speaker 1: his home and inside of his and Jennifer's house they
17:29
Speaker 1: found all these things that belonged to the Hawks, things
17:32
Speaker 1: like laptops and video cameras, things Tom and Jackie would
17:36
Speaker 1: not have left behind on the boat. But despite all
17:39
Speaker 1: this evidence connecting Skyler de Leone to the Hawk's disappearance,
17:43
Speaker 1: he maintained his innocence and said this was just a
17:46
Speaker 1: big misunderstanding. And then while he was in custody getting
17:49
Speaker 1: grilled by police, his wife Jennifer was also saying the
17:53
Speaker 1: same thing that Skyler didn't do anything. She was even
17:56
Speaker 1: going on talk shows and talking about how this is
17:59
Speaker 1: just one big understanding and Skyler had nothing to do
18:02
Speaker 1: with the Hawk's disappearance, that they are just as concerned
18:06
Speaker 1: about Tom and Jackie as everybody else is. But the
18:09
Speaker 1: police were not buying it. They knew Skyler knew something
18:14
Speaker 1: that he wasn't telling them obviously. However, they weren't really
18:17
Speaker 1: getting anywhere interviewing Skyler. He was just kind of saying, look,
18:20
Speaker 1: I had nothing to do with it. And so the
18:22
Speaker 1: police decide let's go back and reinterview the notary and
18:26
Speaker 1: also that other friend who was there as a witness
18:28
Speaker 1: on that day that the final sale of the boat
18:31
Speaker 1: took place. And so they call the notary back into
18:33
Speaker 1: the police department. And the notary is this woman named
18:36
Speaker 1: Kathleen Harris who's never gotten in trouble in her life,
18:39
Speaker 1: and she's been a very successful notary for a long time.
18:41
Speaker 1: And so she sits down and they ask her again
18:44
Speaker 1: to describe her final interactions with Tom and Jackie, and
18:48
Speaker 1: once again she says, yep, they came over, they signed
18:50
Speaker 1: the paperwork, they took their cash, they got in their
18:52
Speaker 1: suv and they drove off, but under follow on very
18:56
Speaker 1: intensive questioning by the police, Kathleen would find break and
19:01
Speaker 1: she would say, actually, I've never met Tom and Jackie
19:04
Speaker 1: in my entire life. I was paid upfront in cash
19:08
Speaker 1: by Skylar de Leone to backdate those sale documents that
19:11
Speaker 1: had already been signed. I have no idea what happened
19:14
Speaker 1: to Tom and Jackie. Next, the police went out and
19:17
Speaker 1: got that friend who was also there at the time
19:19
Speaker 1: of the final sale, that witness. His name was Alonzo Mation,
19:22
Speaker 1: and so they bring him in and they ask him,
19:24
Speaker 1: you know, what was your final interaction like with Tom
19:27
Speaker 1: and Jackie, And at first he stuck to the story
19:29
Speaker 1: that you know, they got the cash, they hopped in
19:30
Speaker 1: the SV they drove off. Da da da da da.
19:32
Speaker 1: That's all it was. And the police stop him and
19:34
Speaker 1: they're like, uh uh, we just spoke to the notary
19:37
Speaker 1: and she said she was lying. She wasn't even there.
19:39
Speaker 1: She had backdated those documents, so we know you're lying.
19:42
Speaker 1: And so as soon as Alonzo got caught red handed,
19:45
Speaker 1: he began to clam up and it was pretty obvious
19:47
Speaker 1: he did not want to say anything else. And since
19:50
Speaker 1: the police really needed something to happen with this case.
19:54
Speaker 1: They said to Alonzo, we will make sure your sentence
19:57
Speaker 1: is heavily reduced if you tell us every you know
20:00
Speaker 1: about what happened to Tom and Jackie. And so Alonzo says, okay,
20:05
Speaker 1: I'll tell you. Alonso was a young guy, very impressionable.
20:08
Speaker 1: He was in his early to mid twenties, and he
20:10
Speaker 1: was actually a jailer and he had met Skyler when
20:14
Speaker 1: Skyler was in jail. He was in jail for that
20:17
Speaker 1: armed robbery. And so after Skyler gets out of jail,
20:20
Speaker 1: Alonso and Skyler somehow stay friends and they spend a
20:23
Speaker 1: lot of time together. And then in November of two
20:26
Speaker 1: thousand and four, Skyler pulls Alonzo aside and he confesses
20:30
Speaker 1: to him that he is in fact an international assassin,
20:34
Speaker 1: that people paid him to kill people, but only bad people,
20:38
Speaker 1: Skyler said, and he says to Alonso, I have a
20:40
Speaker 1: current contract on two really bad people, Tom and Jackie Hawks,
20:45
Speaker 1: but I need help carrying this out. And so if
20:48
Speaker 1: you will help me carry out this contract, I will
20:52
Speaker 1: give you one million US dollars. And so Alonso's like, man, okay, yeah,
20:57
Speaker 1: I'll help you. And so on November fifteenth, Skyler Alonso,
21:01
Speaker 1: and a third man that Skyler had recruited to be
21:03
Speaker 1: a part of this job. He was this big, muscular,
21:06
Speaker 1: intimidating looking guy who's actually a longtime Southern California gang member.
21:11
Speaker 1: His name was John Kennedy. Those three, they show up
21:14
Speaker 1: at the parking lot of the doc not to finalize
21:18
Speaker 1: the sale of this yacht. They weren't even close to
21:20
Speaker 1: finalizing the sale. They were there to meet up with
21:23
Speaker 1: Tom and Jackie to do a sea trial, a test drive.
21:26
Speaker 1: But when Tom and Jackie arrive, Tom, who was a
21:30
Speaker 1: longtime probation officer and so was very used to being
21:33
Speaker 1: around felons and convicts, he immediately sized these three up
21:38
Speaker 1: and thought bad news. And so when the two parties
21:41
Speaker 1: met each other in the parking lot, Skyler started to
21:44
Speaker 1: notice that Tom was definitely apprehensive about getting on a
21:48
Speaker 1: boat with them. In fact, Tom was talking about potentially
21:51
Speaker 1: rescheduling and that, you know, today is not a good day.
21:53
Speaker 1: And Skyler's seeing, you know, okay, they're clearly uneasy about
21:56
Speaker 1: getting on the boat with us, and so Skyler says, hey, Tom, Jackie,
22:00
Speaker 1: hold on a minute, I'm gonna step aside and make
22:01
Speaker 1: a phone call. And so Skyler steps aside, and he
22:04
Speaker 1: calls his wife, Jennifer, and she was not far away,
22:07
Speaker 1: and so just a couple of minutes later, Jennifer pulls
22:09
Speaker 1: into the parking lot carrying her little one year old
22:12
Speaker 1: baby girl, and as soon as she walks over to
22:14
Speaker 1: this group, the dynamic completely changes. Jackie sees this baby
22:19
Speaker 1: and she immediately falls in love with it, and she
22:21
Speaker 1: wants to hold the baby, and she loves Jennifer. Jennifer
22:24
Speaker 1: is so sweet, and so Jackie seems very much at ease,
22:26
Speaker 1: and Tom notices that, and so Tom begins to loosen up,
22:29
Speaker 1: and before long, Tom is saying to Skyler, you know what, guys,
22:32
Speaker 1: today's fine. Let's do the sea trial. And so the
22:34
Speaker 1: group eventually begins to make their way onto the yacht,
22:37
Speaker 1: The Well Deserved to do the Sea Trial, and right
22:40
Speaker 1: as they're about to get on, Jennifer says, hey, guys,
22:43
Speaker 1: I can't go on the sea trial. The baby's upset.
22:45
Speaker 1: I gotta go home. I'll see you guys when you
22:47
Speaker 1: get back. And at this point Tom and Jackie they've
22:49
Speaker 1: already committed to doing the sea trial, and so even
22:51
Speaker 1: if they were a little bit apprehensive going on this boat,
22:54
Speaker 1: with just these three guys. They put their faith in
22:57
Speaker 1: the daily owns that this was on the up and up.
22:59
Speaker 1: The two Hawks, along with these three men, they get
23:02
Speaker 1: on board the boat and they begin heading out towards
23:04
Speaker 1: open water, and so Tom was piloting the boat. And
23:06
Speaker 1: at some point, when they were very far away from
23:08
Speaker 1: the dock and really any land in any direction, Skuyler
23:11
Speaker 1: and John come up to Tom and they say, hey,
23:14
Speaker 1: we want to show you something down in the lower
23:16
Speaker 1: levels of the ship, and so Tom goes with them.
23:18
Speaker 1: They go downstairs into the bedroom and while they're down there,
23:21
Speaker 1: Alonzo and Jackie were in the kitchen, which is right
23:24
Speaker 1: above the bedroom. And as they're standing there, Alonzo and
23:27
Speaker 1: Jackie suddenly hear this very loud commotion coming from the bedroom.
23:31
Speaker 1: Now Alonzo knew what that was. It was Skyler and
23:33
Speaker 1: John attacking Tom, and so that was his cue. Alonzo
23:36
Speaker 1: leaped forward and he grabbed onto Jackie, and before Jackie
23:39
Speaker 1: could even figure out what was going on, he had
23:41
Speaker 1: thrown her to the ground, pulled her hands behind her back,
23:44
Speaker 1: and then he pulled out handcuffs that he had and
23:46
Speaker 1: he handcuffed her hands together. It sounds like Jackie's here,
23:49
Speaker 1: Alonzo's here, and then that's where Thomas hawks Skyler and
23:54
Speaker 1: Jeff care on the bottom, and Jackie here's the commotion.
23:57
Speaker 1: She looks down this way, and this is where a
23:59
Speaker 1: Lonzo overpowers her. And as soon as Jackie was subdued
24:02
Speaker 1: in the kitchen, Skyler and John they come up the
24:05
Speaker 1: stairs and Tom's not with them, and they grab Jackie
24:08
Speaker 1: and they walk her down into the bedroom, and Jackie
24:11
Speaker 1: would have seen her husband Tom. He's been handcuffed and
24:14
Speaker 1: he's laying on the bed on his back, and so
24:16
Speaker 1: they throw Jackie onto the bed right next to Tom.
24:19
Speaker 1: And immediately Jackie turns around and looks at Skyler and says,
24:22
Speaker 1: why are you doing this to us? We just met
24:25
Speaker 1: your wife, I just held your baby. Why are you
24:27
Speaker 1: doing this? All we want to do is just go
24:29
Speaker 1: back to land and be with our children and be
24:31
Speaker 1: with our grandchildren. Please. But Skyler didn't care. He just
24:35
Speaker 1: turned to Alonzo and said, put tape on both of
24:37
Speaker 1: their mouths and their eyes. And as Alonzo was doing that,
24:40
Speaker 1: Skyler went upstairs and began piloting the boat towards the
24:44
Speaker 1: deepest part of the ocean. And so as Skyler is
24:47
Speaker 1: driving this boat. Alonzo and John are down in the bedroom,
24:51
Speaker 1: and Alonzo remembers looking over at Tom and Tom was
24:54
Speaker 1: comforting Jackie. He had managed to pull his hand up
24:56
Speaker 1: and he was stroking Jackie's hand and he was saying
24:59
Speaker 1: to her, It's going to be okay, no matter what
25:01
Speaker 1: happens to us, will be together. Suddenly the boat stopped
25:04
Speaker 1: because Skyler had reached the deepest part of the ocean,
25:07
Speaker 1: and he called down to John and Alonzo to bring
25:10
Speaker 1: Jackie and Tom up onto the deck. And so Alonzo
25:12
Speaker 1: and John do just that. They march Tom and Jackie
25:15
Speaker 1: up the steps they'd bring them out to the deck
25:17
Speaker 1: of the ship, and then Skyler forces them to sign
25:20
Speaker 1: the sail documentation for the boat, as well as had
25:23
Speaker 1: them sign additional paperwork that gave Skyler access to their
25:26
Speaker 1: bank accounts. And while they were signing these documents, Jackie
25:29
Speaker 1: actually misspelled her last name on one of the signature blocks.
25:33
Speaker 1: She left the S off of her last name. That's
25:36
Speaker 1: not something she would have done by accident. It's pretty
25:38
Speaker 1: clear she did that on purpose to signal to the
25:41
Speaker 1: future that she signed this under duress. After all these
25:44
Speaker 1: documents were signed, the three men led their two captives
25:48
Speaker 1: to the back of the boat, and then once they
25:50
Speaker 1: were standing at the back of the boat, Skyler tells
25:53
Speaker 1: Alonzo in earshot of Jackie and Tom to hey, go
25:57
Speaker 1: to the front of the boat and get the anchor.
25:59
Speaker 1: And so Tom and Jackie they know that whatever's going
26:02
Speaker 1: to happen to the next it's not good, and so
26:04
Speaker 1: Jackie begins pleading with them to let them live, let
26:07
Speaker 1: them go back to land, let them see their grandchild.
26:10
Speaker 1: And Tom manages to shake his restraints from John who
26:13
Speaker 1: was holding him, and he manages to kick Skyler really
26:16
Speaker 1: hard in the groin. But after that, John leapt on
26:19
Speaker 1: top of Tom and Jackie and subdued both of them,
26:22
Speaker 1: and then he positioned Tom and Jackie so they were
26:25
Speaker 1: sitting down back to back with their handcuffs connected to
26:28
Speaker 1: each other. And then Alonzo shows up dragging this heavy anchor,
26:31
Speaker 1: and he finally gets it all the way over until
26:34
Speaker 1: it's right next to Tom and Jackie, at which point
26:37
Speaker 1: Skyler grabs the long metal chain that came off of
26:40
Speaker 1: the anchor, and he felt around until he got to
26:43
Speaker 1: the very end of the chain, so not the side
26:45
Speaker 1: closest to the anchor that's attached to it the far
26:48
Speaker 1: other side, the bitter end of this chain, and he
26:50
Speaker 1: reached down and he connected that portion of the chain
26:54
Speaker 1: to Tom and Jackie's handcuffs. And then once he was
26:57
Speaker 1: sure their handcuffs were securely fastened to the end of
27:01
Speaker 1: this chain, Skyler stood up, walked over and grabbed the anchor,
27:04
Speaker 1: and with quite a bit of effort, he managed to
27:06
Speaker 1: lift it up and threw it over the side of
27:08
Speaker 1: the boat. As soon as that anchor hit the water,
27:11
Speaker 1: all Tom and Jackie would have heard for several seconds
27:14
Speaker 1: would be the sound of all of that loose chain
27:16
Speaker 1: that they were connected to being rapidly pulled off the
27:19
Speaker 1: boat and being sucked down into the water. And so
27:22
Speaker 1: that chain was going up and over this wooden railing,
27:25
Speaker 1: and so all they would have heard is just chain
27:27
Speaker 1: links grinding over the railing until finally the anchor pulled
27:30
Speaker 1: the chain tight, at which point it yanked Tom and
27:33
Speaker 1: Jackie towards the side of the boat. Alonzo would say
27:36
Speaker 1: when this happened, Jackie's head struck the inside of the
27:40
Speaker 1: side of the boat so hard it made this very loud,
27:43
Speaker 1: audible cracking sound. And then Skyler, Alonso and John just
27:47
Speaker 1: stood there as Tom and Jackie desperately tried to fight
27:51
Speaker 1: against the weight of this anchor that was trying to
27:53
Speaker 1: pull them off of the boat. Tom was trying to
27:55
Speaker 1: hold onto anything he could to try to hold his
27:57
Speaker 1: wife in place, but eventually the weight of this anchor,
28:01
Speaker 1: combined with the movement of the boat, was just too much,
28:04
Speaker 1: and so Tom and Jackie were very slowly pulled up
28:08
Speaker 1: and over and off the boat into the water. When
28:12
Speaker 1: they hit the water, they would have been fully alive,
28:14
Speaker 1: fully conscious as they began their rapid descent to the
28:18
Speaker 1: bottom of the ocean thirty five hundred feet below. Alonzo
28:22
Speaker 1: would tell police. As soon as Tom and Jackie disappeared
28:25
Speaker 1: below the surface, Skyler led out a whoo and ran
28:29
Speaker 1: over to the edge of the boat and looked into
28:32
Speaker 1: the water like a giddy child, and he was staring
28:34
Speaker 1: at where they had disappeared, and he was just grinning
28:36
Speaker 1: and laughing. And then finally, when the water went calm
28:39
Speaker 1: and there were no more bubbles, Skyler just kind of laughed,
28:42
Speaker 1: turned around and made his way back to the cockpit
28:44
Speaker 1: and began piloting the boat back towards the dock. Even
28:47
Speaker 1: though Jennifer was not on the boat. At the time
28:50
Speaker 1: of the murder, she was equally involved in it. In fact,
28:54
Speaker 1: the attack was her idea. She wanted more money and
28:57
Speaker 1: she saw this scheme as being away of doing that.
29:00
Speaker 1: So remember when she showed up at the dock parking
29:03
Speaker 1: lot with her baby and put Jackie and Tom at
29:06
Speaker 1: ease to help get them out on that sea trial.
29:09
Speaker 1: She was doing that very intentionally to trap Jackie and Tom.
29:14
Speaker 1: She knew what was going to happen out on that boat.
29:17
Speaker 1: She was trying to get them to go so they
29:19
Speaker 1: could be murdered and they could steal their boat. And
29:22
Speaker 1: when Skyler was out on the boat before, during, and
29:25
Speaker 1: after the murders, he would step aside and call Jennifer
29:29
Speaker 1: to let her know how it was going and kind
29:31
Speaker 1: of get her feedback and ask for advice about what
29:33
Speaker 1: they should do next. With that in mind, one of
29:36
Speaker 1: the darker elements of this case has to do with
29:39
Speaker 1: the video camera that was discovered inside of Jennifer and
29:42
Speaker 1: Skyler's house. It was the Hawk's video camera and they
29:45
Speaker 1: had used it over the past couple of years to
29:48
Speaker 1: document their travels out on the ocean, and so when
29:51
Speaker 1: the police acquired this video camera, they played the tape
29:54
Speaker 1: that was inside of it. And at first the tape
29:57
Speaker 1: shows Jackie filming the inside of the well deserved yacht,
30:01
Speaker 1: and she's talking about how sad it was that this
30:03
Speaker 1: is probably one of the last times they'll be inside
30:05
Speaker 1: of this boat. But she and Tom are so happy
30:08
Speaker 1: because they've found buyers who are going to take great
30:10
Speaker 1: care of this boat, and they're excited about the future.
30:13
Speaker 1: They're excited about their grandchild. And then suddenly this footage
30:17
Speaker 1: of Jackie inside of the boat just totally cuts and
30:20
Speaker 1: it jumps to Skyler and Jennifer at Thanksgiving dinner that year,
30:25
Speaker 1: playing with their daughter and just having this great time.
30:27
Speaker 1: Meaning just days after Jennifer and Skyler murdered Tom and
30:33
Speaker 1: Jackie in the worst way imaginable, they took their camera
30:37
Speaker 1: and just began using it for their own lives, recording
30:40
Speaker 1: their own life over the memories of Tom and Jackie.
30:44
Speaker 1: Jennifer and Skyler truly didn't care at all about what
30:49
Speaker 1: they had just done. Alonso would ultimately be sentenced to
30:52
Speaker 1: twenty years in prison. He would have gotten a much
30:55
Speaker 1: more severe sentence, but because he provided all of the
30:58
Speaker 1: details of what happened, and he was promised a reduction
31:01
Speaker 1: and sentence. He was only given twenty years, Jennifer would
31:04
Speaker 1: be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole,
31:08
Speaker 1: and John Kennedy and Skuyler were sentenced to death. So
31:17
Speaker 1: that's going to do it. Guys. If you've got something
31:19
Speaker 1: out of today's episode and you haven't done this already,
31:21
Speaker 1: please take the like button hostage and force them to
31:24
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31:28
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Speaker 1: See you