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Tourist Allegedly Stabs Boat Captain During Hawaii Snorkel Tour · Murder Files Unsealed

0:00
Speaker 1: You know, usually when you book a vacation, there is
0:02
this expectation of a transaction. It's it's almost like a
0:07
vending machine, right, Yeah.
0:08
Speaker 2: Like a literal exchange of goods.
0:10
Speaker 1: Exactly putting your credit card, yeah, sign the little liability waiver,
0:13
and the tour company just well they dispense paradise. You
0:17
get exactly what you paid for.
0:18
Speaker 2: Sunshine, relaxation, all of that, right.
0:21
Speaker 1: A perfectly curated escape from your daily life. And we
0:24
all just buy into it.
0:25
Speaker 2: We do because it's binary. You know, you're either stressed
0:29
or relaxed, You're safe or unsafe. It's a very clean,
0:32
predictable exchange where we expect our risks to be neatly categorized.
0:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, like you accept that you might get a sunburn, right.
0:40
Speaker 2: Or maybe a mild case of sea sickness. Those are
0:42
the parameters of the contract you're entering into when you
0:44
step on a boat.
0:45
Speaker 1: But then you actually step onto a private boat miles
0:48
from shore, and suddenly that vending machine is completely broken.
0:52
You realize you haven't just purchased a service.
0:54
Speaker 2: Now, not at all.
0:55
Speaker 1: You were looking at a landscape of vulnerability that is
0:58
incredibly murky. And on April sixteenth, a sixty two year
1:03
old sea captain learned just how terrifyingly murky that vulnerability
1:07
can get.
1:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, when a luxury snorkel tour just completely turned into
1:11
a fight for his life.
1:12
Speaker 1: It's wild because it is the absolute definition of isolated vulnerability.
1:17
Speaker 2: It really is the very thing you are paying for.
1:19
That seclusion that escaped from the world is exactly what
1:23
strips away every societal safety net you normally rely on.
1:26
Speaker 1: I mean, there are no police cruisers driving by out there, exactly,
1:29
there are no neighbors to hear you scream.
1:31
Speaker 2: You are entirely dependent on this miniature society flouting on
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that hall.
1:35
Speaker 1: So today we are unpacking an intensely shocking event that
1:38
recently shattered the idyllic piece of Hawaii's ConA coast.
1:42
Speaker 2: It's a heavy one, it really is.
1:43
Speaker 1: It is a story about a dream family vacation turning
1:46
into an absolute nightmare. But I think more importantly, it
1:49
is a masterclass in human resilience.
1:52
Speaker 2: Absolutely resilience and survival mechanics.
1:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, and a profound moral choice made under unthinkable pressure.
2:00
Because the material we are diving into today is incredibly comprehensive.
2:05
Speaker 2: We have a lot of sources to go through for
2:07
this deep dive.
2:07
Speaker 1: We do. We are looking at police records, eyewitness accounts,
2:11
statements from the Hawaiian aautical owner Mark Towell.
2:14
Speaker 2: And we also have the chillingly calm retrospective from the
2:19
injured captain himself.
2:20
Speaker 1: Right, so we have a full three hundred and sixty
2:22
degree view of an event that honestly fundamentally defies basic human.
2:26
Speaker 2: Lounch It completely defies it.
2:27
Speaker 1: Okay, let's unpack this. I want you to picture Thursday,
2:30
April sixteenth, twenty twenty six. You are on the Big
2:34
Island of Hawaii, a beautiful place, stunning. You are stepping
2:38
aboard a luxury fifty one foot lagoon sailing catamaran. It's
2:43
called the no.
2:43
Speaker 2: Wiki, which means a quick one in Hawaiian.
2:45
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, and you are heading out on a private
2:48
three hour snorkel charter.
2:50
Speaker 2: Now, the specific context of this vessel is crucial to
2:52
understanding the psychology of everything that follows. A fifty one
2:55
foot catamaran is essentially a floating luxury apartment.
2:58
Speaker 1: Right.
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Speaker 2: It's huge, it has a massive footprint. But this is
3:01
not a crowded cattle boat tour where you are packed
3:04
in shoulder to shoulder with fifty other tours fighting for
3:07
a spot.
3:07
Speaker 1: At the RAM. No, you're not fighting for space exactly.
3:10
Speaker 2: The capacity on these private charters is strictly limited to
3:14
just six guests.
3:15
Speaker 1: Oh wow, just six, just six.
3:18
Speaker 2: It is specifically designed for intimacy, for personalized service, and
3:21
for total tranquility off the pristine reefs of Honokoho Harbor.
3:26
Speaker 1: So my question is, how does a peaceful afternoon literally
3:31
spent surrounded by vibrant parrotfish and green sea turtles and
3:36
with a sixty two year old veteran sea campedin bleeding
3:39
out on the deck. I mean, a twenty one year
3:40
old tourist plunging overboard into the middle of the Pacific Ocean,
3:44
and a frantic race against time.
3:46
Speaker 2: That is the core paradox we have to unravel, because
3:49
when you book a vacation like this, you place an
3:51
immense amount of trust in the crew.
3:52
Speaker 1: You really do. You just hand your life over.
3:54
Speaker 2: You expect to be completely insulated from the world's everyday dangers,
3:58
the news, the crime, the stress. But what happens when
4:01
that exact isolation, that beautifully curated seclusion, becomes a danger itself.
4:06
Speaker 1: That's terrifying, and to really grasp the extreme shock of
4:09
this event, we have to look at the stark contrast
4:12
between the environment they were floating in and the sudden
4:15
violence that erupted.
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Speaker 2: The Conocoholic coast setting is practically engineered by nature to
4:20
lower human stress levels.
4:21
Speaker 1: Oh for sure.
4:22
Speaker 2: Hanakohoa Harbor is the gateway to some of the most
4:24
pristine reefs on the planet. Because of the volcanic rock
4:28
and the specific oceanographic currents, there.
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Speaker 1: Is very little runoff, so the water is just crystal.
4:33
Speaker 2: Clear, unbelievably clear. That means you are looking at protected
4:36
bays where the water visibility routinely exceeds one hundred feet.
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Speaker 1: Wow.
4:40
Speaker 2: You are swimming in a vibrant ecosystem with moorish idols,
4:44
spinner dolphins, and sea turtles. The physical environment is meant
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to induce awe and relaxation, and the.
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Speaker 1: Boat itself, with its spacious, shaded decks and easy water
4:54
entry platforms, is literally the lap of luxury. It is
4:58
so stepping into that luxury and Pril sixteenth is a
5:01
family of three visiting from Overland Park, Kansas. We have
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a twenty one year old named Avery Nissen.
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Speaker 2: His mother and a sibling, a classic family vacation setup, exactly.
5:10
Speaker 1: A chance to bond, to unplug, to relax. And the
5:12
first part of the trip, the actual snorkeling portion, goes
5:15
exactly as planned.
5:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, they motor out to the reef, they drop anchor.
5:19
But here is a crucial behavioral detail from the timeline. Okay,
5:23
Avery Nissan does not get in the water.
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Speaker 1: Wait, really not at all.
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Speaker 2: While his mother and his sibling are in the ocean
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snorkeling with a crew member marveling at the marine life,
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Avery simply stays on the boat.
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Speaker 1: I mean that's like going to a Michelin Star restaurant
5:38
and refusing to eat, right, Yeah, staying on the boat
5:41
while everyone else swims in one hundred foot visibility waters.
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Is that our first subtle red flag? Or just a
5:47
guy who didn't want to get his hair wet.
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Speaker 2: Well, we have to be careful not to apply hindsight
5:52
bias here, fairpoint. We can't automatically label it a definitive
5:56
red flag for violence. People opt out of activities for
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all sorts of benign reasons.
6:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, like sea sickness.
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Speaker 2: Seasickness, fatigue, or just preferring to read a book.
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Speaker 1: In the sun.
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Speaker 2: However, what this action absolutely does is physically and psychologically
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isolate him from the shared experience of the group.
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Speaker 1: Right He's effectively removing himself from the social contract of
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the excursion exactly.
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Speaker 2: Think about the physiological and emotional dynamic happening right there.
6:22
The mother and sibling are in the water. They are
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experiencing the awe of the reef.
6:27
Speaker 1: They're exerting physical energy.
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Speaker 2: Their heart rates are up, and they are bonding with
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the crew member guiding them. They come back to the
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boat exhausted, happy, their brains completely flooded with endorphins and dopamine.
6:39
Speaker 1: They are writing a collective emotional high.
6:43
Speaker 2: And Avery has been sitting there static observing. He is
6:48
completely detached from the emotional wavelength of everyone else on
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that catamaran.
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Speaker 1: He is basically a spectator to their joy. So the
6:55
group returns to the boat. Everyone is back aboard the
6:58
no Wiki Yeah, Captain Stanley Bieki. He goes by Stana
7:02
cru a guy who has been navigating these exact waters
7:06
for thirty five years. He points the catamaran toward home.
7:10
They're roughly thirty minutes from the harbor, and that.
7:12
Speaker 2: Thirty minute cruise back to port is an industry standard
7:15
cool down period. It's the time when the engines are
7:18
humming steadily. You dry off, grab a drink, sit on
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those spacious, shaded decks. You just let the relaxation really
7:25
settle into your bones.
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Speaker 1: The adrenaline of the swim fades into a deep calm.
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Speaker 2: Exactly. But because they are thirty minutes offshore, they are
7:34
also operating in a complete geographic bubble.
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Speaker 1: They're entirely cut off from immediate help, entirely.
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Speaker 2: Which sets the stage for the moment the unthinkable happens.
7:45
The catamaran is cruising under clear skies. Captain Lerbieki is
7:50
at the helm, just doing his job right. He is
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sixty two years old, a veteran skipper, deeply respected by
7:56
his colleagues for his calm demeanor. He is guiding the
7:59
vessel home, and suddenly Avery Nissen, who has been quiet
8:03
and stationary this entire time, gets up and walks into
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the galley.
8:07
Speaker 1: And he doesn't just get a glass of water. Neston
8:09
emerges from that galley holding a ten inch fileting knife. Yeah.
8:13
Now we need to be very clear about this. This
8:14
isn't a weapon he smuggled aboard in his swim drugs.
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Speaker 2: Oh, not at all.
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Speaker 1: This is a standard, necessary piece of equipment on charter boats.
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It is a tool used by the crew for preparing
8:25
fresh fruit, slicing garnishes, or fulating fresh catch for the guests.
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Speaker 2: What's fascinating here, well, fascinating in a dark way, is
8:33
the instantaneous psychological pivot. You have an instrument of hospitality, right,
8:39
a tool.
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Speaker 1: Strictly meant to provide sustenance and luxury to the guests.
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Speaker 2: And in a fraction of a second, the context of
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that object is entirely corrupted. It is repurposed into a
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deadly weapon.
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Speaker 1: And what makes this exact moment so chilling is the
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complete lack of an inciting incident. Nothing. Both the police
8:56
records and the captain's own account confirmed there was zero warning.
8:59
There is no argument, there was no raised voice. Nissen
9:03
simply approaches the sixty two year old captain from behind
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and stabs him directly in the lower torso.
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Speaker 2: The blade sinks deep into the captain's abdomen. The serene
9:11
quiet of the boat is instantly shattered.
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Speaker 1: Oh my god. Passengers start shrieking in absolute horror.
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Speaker 2: And Captain Lerbieki, who is now bleeding profusely from a
9:19
massive internal wound, has to physically turn around and literally
9:23
wrestle a ten inch knife away from a twenty one
9:25
year old.
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Speaker 1: During this desperate close quarter struggle, the captain sustains multiple
9:31
defensive slashes to his head in his hands.
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Speaker 2: We really need to unpack the biomechanics and the sheer
9:36
physiological shock of a moment like this. When a ten
9:39
inch blade enters the lower abdomen, it is.
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Speaker 1: Catastrophic, yeah, because of all the organs.
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Speaker 2: The peritoneal cavity houses a dense network of vital organs
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and crucially major blood vessels like the inferior vena cava
9:51
and the abdominal aorta.
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Speaker 1: So the pleading is immediate.
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Speaker 2: The body's immediate response to a massive laceration in this
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area is a catastrophic drop in blood pressure. Hemorrhagic shock
10:03
begins almost instantly, and yet.
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Speaker 1: He's fighting back. He doesn't just collapse.
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Speaker 2: That is the adrenaline dump the human body, when faced
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with an acute lethal threat, overrides the pain signals through
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a massive release of epinephrine.
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Speaker 1: The fight or flight response.
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Speaker 2: Yes, the amygdala, the fear center of the brain, hijacks
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the nervous system. Lurbidecki is running on pure survival instinct,
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fighting off a younger man while his body is actively
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beginning to shut down from blood loss.
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Speaker 1: I mean it is basically a locker room mystery, but
10:30
the room is moving, yeah, exactly.
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Speaker 2: And there are no walls. You are on a floating
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platform miles from shore. There is no security guard to call.
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None the family members themselves, the mother, the sibling are
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suddenly forced into the role of first responders to a
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brutal assault committed by their own flesh and blood.
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Speaker 1: The psychology of biastander intervention in a confined space like
10:52
that is incredibly complex. You have a mother suddenly watching
10:57
her son commit a horrific, unpre evoked act of violence,
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pleading with him to stop.
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Speaker 2: I can't even imagine.
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Speaker 1: You have the sibling and the handful of other passengers
11:07
and crew rushing into this incredibly tight footprint to help.
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It is sheer, unadulterated chaos.
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Speaker 2: It's a total nightmare.
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Speaker 1: The sensory overload, the screaming, the sight of the blood,
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the rocking of the boat is completely overwhelming.
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Speaker 2: And in the midst of this absolute frenzy, as the
11:23
passengers and crew are scrambling to comprehend what just happened.
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Avernessen does the only thing left to do. He jumps overboard,
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right into the open water of the Pacific Ocean.
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Speaker 1: That action completely shifts the dynamic of the crisis. So
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now you have the attacker adrift in the ocean. You
11:38
have a captain who is bleeding out from a deep
11:41
abdominal stab wound.
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Speaker 2: The logical next step, the absolute biological imperative, would be
11:46
to push the throttle to the max raced ashore and
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save your own life.
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Speaker 1: Right, you have a bleeding crew, a terrified family, and
11:53
you are losing blood by the second.
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Speaker 2: But logic and biological imperative don't dictate what happens next.
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Character and conditioning do.
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Speaker 1: Here's where it gets really interesting because, despite his life
12:04
threatening injuries, despite the very real possibility that he is
12:08
going to die right there on the deck of his
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own boat, Captain Lubieki does not speed away to the harbor.
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Speaker 2: No, he doesn't.
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Speaker 1: He stays at the helm. He takes control of the
12:16
catamaran and he turns it around. He actively searches the water,
12:20
locates the man who literally just tried to kill him.
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Minutes prior maneuvers this massive vessel alongside him and allows
12:27
averiness and to climb back aboard.
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Speaker 2: This decision is what elevates this from a tragic crime
12:32
report into a profound moral and psychological event. It exemplifies
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what mariners refer to as the code of the sea.
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Speaker 1: Wait, I have to push back hard here.
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Speaker 2: Okay, go ahead.
12:42
Speaker 1: I hear you on the code of the sea, and
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I understand the romanticism of it. But from a purely
12:48
logical tactical standpoint, wasn't that incredibly reckless? Well, let's be real.
12:52
He has a bleeding crew, a terrified family, and he
12:56
actively brings a knife wielding, unpredictable assailant back onto a
13:00
confined boat. He endangered the other four people on board
13:04
to save the guy who just tried to murder him.
13:07
How is that not a massive dereliction of duty to
13:10
his other passengers?
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Speaker 2: That is a completely valid rational argument from a terrestrial perspective,
13:16
this happens in a coffee shop. You push the attacker
13:17
out the door and you lock it.
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Speaker 1: Exactly, You don't invite him back in.
13:20
Speaker 2: But maritime ethics operate on a fundamentally different philosophical and
13:24
historical foundation. The code of the Sea isn't just a
13:28
romantic notion. It's an ancient, ingrained doctrine that dates back
13:32
to the Rhodian Sea law and early admiralty law.
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Speaker 1: But does it apply to someone actively trying to kill you?
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Speaker 2: I mean, come on to a seasoned mariner. The ocean
13:40
itself is considered the ultimate impartial executioner. The conditioning of
13:44
a ship's captain, especially one with thirty five years of
13:47
experience like Lerbieki, is built on the absolute premise that
13:51
you do not abandon a human life to the.
13:53
Speaker 1: Sea, even an attempted murderer, even.
13:55
Speaker 2: An enemy, Because the ocean is certain death. To leave
13:59
someone in the water is considered an act of murder
14:01
by the elements.
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Speaker 1: Wow.
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Speaker 2: Lubiecki's lifetime at sea forged a psychological override. His duty
14:08
to preserve life in the water superseded his own immediate,
14:11
primal survival instincts, and even the terrestrial logic of isolating
14:15
a thread.
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Speaker 1: It is an astonishing display of mental fortitude. I mean,
14:19
how do you even compartmentalize the trauma and the physical
14:23
pain enough to execute a precise nautical rescue maneuver.
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Speaker 2: It's incredible.
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Speaker 1: You are bleeding from your abdomen, your hands are slash
14:30
your blood pressure is plummeting, and you are delicately parallel
14:33
parking a fifty one foot catamaran next to a guy
14:37
who wants you dead.
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Speaker 2: You're touching on the neurological aspect of muscle memory in
14:41
seasoned professionals. When mariners run crisis drills for decades, they
14:46
are literally bypassing the brains amygdala, bypassing the fear right,
14:51
they are training their basal ganglia to execute complex motor
14:54
functions automatically when conscious thought is overwhelmed by panic Lurebeki
15:00
He himself later called the incident the most random, wildest,
15:03
craziest thing he had ever encountered.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I bet his.
15:06
Speaker 2: Conscious brain was likely an utter disbelief, But his muscle memory,
15:10
his deep seated maritime discipline, simply took over the controls.
15:15
He recognized a soul in the water, and his conditioning
15:18
as a captain, executed the rescue protocol automatically.
15:21
Speaker 1: So Nissen climbs back onto the deck, and you haven't wondered,
15:24
does he grab another knife? Does he keep fighting? No?
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He does it once he is safely on deck. He
15:29
just sits quietly with his mother. The storm just stops
15:33
as quickly.
15:34
Speaker 2: As it started, just completely bizarre.
15:36
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, the sibling of the attacker steps up heroically. They
15:39
start applying direct physical pressure to the captains of dominal wounds,
15:43
trying to staunch the.
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Speaker 2: Bleeding, and the other passengers and the crew members physically
15:48
restrain Nissan to make absolutely sure there is no more violence.
15:52
Speaker 1: The immediate threat of drowning has been neutralized for the suspect,
15:56
but the biological clock for the captain is ticking louder
15:59
than ever.
16:00
Speaker 2: Shock progresses in stages. As blood volume drops, the heart
16:03
pumps faster to compensate.
16:05
Speaker 1: Trying to get oxygen everywhere exactly.
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Speaker 2: Organs begin to be deprived of oxygen, and consciousness becomes
16:12
incredibly difficult to maintain. His survival now depends entirely on
16:16
the actions taken during the agonizing thirty minute journey back
16:20
to port.
16:21
Speaker 1: You have this frantic return trip. The dispatch of recordings
16:24
from that day capture the absolute tension in the air.
16:27
Speaker 2: You can hear it in their voices.
16:28
Speaker 1: You can hear the radio protocols of maritime dispatch, the calm,
16:32
clipped voices describing a white catamaran approaching the harbor, reporting
16:36
possibly two patients, one bleeding from the hand and one
16:39
bleeding heavily from the lower abdomen.
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Speaker 2: The physical stamina required for Leerbieki to remain conscious during
16:45
this time is staggering.
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Speaker 1: Because he is still piloting the vessel.
16:48
Speaker 2: Yes, he is guiding the Nowiki through the swells, keeping
16:52
it steady to maximize speed while minimizing the jarring motions
16:56
that would exacerbate his.
16:57
Speaker 1: Round, all while the sibling of the man who's stabbed
17:00
him is pressing down on his stomach with all their
17:03
body weight to keep him from bleeding to death.
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Speaker 2: It's an unimaginable scenario.
17:07
Speaker 1: They finally make it to Hanakohl Harbor. It's around three
17:10
point in the afternoon and the dock side triage begins.
17:14
Speaker 2: The police and paramedics are waiting for them.
17:16
Speaker 1: Officers board the catamaran immediately and they take Avery Nissen
17:19
into custody. He has taken without any resistance. He just surrenders.
17:24
Speaker 2: Simultaneously, the paramedics take over the physical compression from the sibling.
17:28
Captain Lerbieki is rushed to Kona Community Hospital, Thank goodness.
17:32
He undergoes immediate emergency treatment which includes multiple massive blood
17:36
transfusions to replace the volume he lost on the deck
17:39
and surgical intervention to repair the lacerated tissues. Miraculously, the
17:44
trauma team is able to stabilize him. He is expected
17:47
to recover.
17:48
Speaker 1: It truly is a medical miracle, given the location of
17:51
the wound and the delay in advanced medical care. It
17:54
absolutely is, And while the trauma surgeons are working on
17:56
the captain, the company that runs the charter has to
18:00
process the complete destruction of their operational reality. Mark Cowell,
18:04
the owner and president of Hawaii Nautical, releases a statement
18:08
calling Lerbieki a real hero and a fighter.
18:11
Speaker 2: Which he is.
18:12
Speaker 1: He expresses immense gratitude that the rest of the team
18:15
is safe and praises the professionalism of the crew under
18:19
such insane circumstances.
18:21
Speaker 2: Towell's shock highlights a fundamental paradigm shift for the maritime
18:24
tourism industry. CRUs trained extensively.
18:28
Speaker 1: For like engine fires and stuff right.
18:30
Speaker 2: They run rigorous drills for engine room fires, for sudden squalls,
18:35
for man overboard scenarios, for guests having heart attacks. They
18:39
do not have a protocol for a quiet passenger suddenly
18:41
walking into the galley and weaponizing a philighting knife against
18:44
the captain.
18:45
Speaker 1: No, you can't train for that.
18:46
Speaker 2: It is completely unprecedented. It represents a threat vector they
18:49
literally never conceived of.
18:51
Speaker 1: It shatters their whole operational paradigm.
18:53
Speaker 2: Huh.
18:54
Speaker 1: But with the captain stabilized, the focus of the authorities
18:57
and really everyone looking at this shifts in entirely to
19:00
the most baffling question, why the motive? And to explore that,
19:04
we have to look at what awaits the suspect now
19:07
that he is back on land.
19:08
Speaker 2: The profile of the accused offers zero immediate clues. We
19:12
have twenty one year old Avery Nissan.
19:14
Speaker 1: He is a tourist, and a key detail from the
19:17
police reports is the glaring absence of a warning sign.
19:21
There is no released prior criminal history, none at all.
19:24
There is no known record of violence, no escalating pattern
19:28
of aggressive behavior that usually precedes an event of this magnitude,
19:31
and the.
19:32
Speaker 2: Legal consequences come down hard and fast. He is arrested
19:35
right there on the deck. His bail is set at
19:37
an astronomical one point five seven million dollars wow, and
19:41
the charges levied against him under Hawaii law are severe.
19:44
He is facing second degree attempted murder, first degree assault,
19:48
and second degree assault.
19:49
Speaker 1: Let's break down the legal mechanics of those charges, specifically
19:52
the nuances within Hawaii's penal code.
19:55
Speaker 2: In Hawaii, second degree attempted murder means the act was unpremeditated,
19:59
but with intent to kill. Okay, so unpremeditated, the prosecution
20:03
doesn't have to prove he sat in his hotel room
20:05
and plan this out weeks in advance. That would be
20:07
pre meditation, But they absolutely must prove that in the
20:10
moment he thrust the knife his specific mental objective, His
20:15
intent was to end the captain's life.
20:18
Speaker 1: Now, what is wild to think about is that today,
20:20
April twenty, twenty twenty six, the exact day we are
20:23
doing this deep dive, is the date of his very
20:26
first scheduled court appearance in Kona District Court.
20:29
Speaker 2: We are literally watching this legal process unfold right now.
20:31
Speaker 1: But you have to admit, the prosecutors have an incredibly
20:34
bizarre puzzle here. How do you definitively prove intent to
20:38
kill in a courtroom when the motive is completely unknown
20:41
and the attack is so entirely unprovoked.
20:44
Speaker 2: That is the crux of the legal enigma in law
20:47
There is a massive difference between men's reacting, the mental
20:51
state or intent, and the motive, which is the why right.
20:54
You don't legally need to prove a motive to secure
20:56
a conviction, but jury is practically demand one to make
20:59
sense of the chaos exactly.
21:01
Speaker 1: I like to think of it as the difference between
21:03
a spark and a slow burn. Premeditated intent is a
21:07
slow burn. It's building a bomb in your basement for
21:10
a month. You can point to the receipts, the schematics,
21:13
the planning.
21:14
Speaker 2: That makes perfect sense.
21:15
Speaker 1: Unpremeditated intent is picking up a brick during a riot.
21:19
Both intend to cause lethal harm, but one is a
21:23
spark that materializes instantly. The prosecution here has to prove
21:27
a spark that came out of absolutely nowhere.
21:30
Speaker 2: That is an excellent analogy proving that spark. Proving that
21:34
the intent was specifically lethal usually relies on the mechanics
21:37
of the act itself, like where he stabbed him exactly.
21:40
The prosecution will argue that plunging a ten inch blade
21:43
deep into a vital area of the torso is by
21:46
definition a lethal action. You don't stab someone in the
21:49
abdomen to merely injure them.
21:50
Speaker 1: No, definitely not.
21:51
Speaker 2: But because there is no known motive, the investigation is frantic.
21:55
Detective Bradley Lane's and the department are publicly pleading for
21:58
any information.
21:59
Speaker 1: They need some thing, anything.
22:01
Speaker 2: They are begging for photos or videos from anyone who
22:04
is on the boat or nearby. They are trying to
22:06
reconstruct the minutes leading up to the attack to find
22:09
any behavioral clue, any micro expression that suggests what triggered
22:14
the spark.
22:14
Speaker 1: They need something to explain the unexplainable to a jury.
22:18
Speaker 2: And defensively, attorneys will almost certainly explore theories surrounding diminished capacity.
22:24
Speaker 1: Geez, what exactly when an act is.
22:26
Speaker 2: This seemingly motiveless and the suspect exhibits bizarre post incident
22:30
behavior like calmly sitting down after trying to kill someone,
22:34
Defense teams look into acute psychological breaks, psychotic episodes, or
22:39
potentially the influence of unknown substances. Got it, But we
22:43
must stress, as an impartial analysis based strictly on the
22:46
available facts from our sources, that official sources have released
22:49
absolutely nothing regarding a motive.
22:51
Speaker 1: They have explicitly stated the motive is unknown.
22:54
Speaker 2: Naturally, speculation is running rampant online, but these remain completely
22:58
unconfirmed theories. We only know the mechanics of the violence,
23:02
not the architecture of the mind that committed it.
23:04
Speaker 1: The legal system is going to take months, maybe years,
23:07
to parse through Averynisson's mind and figure out what broke
23:10
in that moment. But the tourism industry in Hawaii doesn't
23:14
have months.
23:14
Speaker 2: No, they don't.
23:15
Speaker 1: They did wake up the morning after this attack and
23:17
figure out how to react to a completely shattered illusion
23:21
of safety.
23:22
Speaker 2: To understand the panic this causes, we have to look
23:24
at the macroeconomics of the situation. Hawaii's tourism economy is
23:29
a behimothure. The state welcomed over ten million visitors in
23:33
twenty twenty five. This industry generates billions of dollars annually
23:37
and supports tens of thousands of local jobs and on
23:40
the Big Island, specifically, these exclusive marine tours, the Scorcle charters,
23:45
the Manta Ray dives are a cornerstone of that entire
23:48
economic ecosystem.
23:50
Speaker 1: Is the premium product they are selling exactly. So what
23:52
does this all mean for you the listener, and for
23:54
anyone sitting at their computer right now booking a trip
23:57
You seek out these private charters zicly because they promise intimacy,
24:01
They promise exclusivity.
24:03
Speaker 2: You want to escape the crowds and the noise of
24:05
modern life.
24:06
Speaker 1: But as this event so chillingly points out on April sixteenth,
24:11
that promised intimacy became a trap. You were trapped in
24:15
a beautiful cage with a violent threat.
24:17
Speaker 2: This raises an important question, perhaps the most difficult question
24:20
for the industry moving forward. How do you secure an
24:23
inherently vulnerable environment without destroying the very product you are
24:27
trying to sell?
24:28
Speaker 1: Right, because nobody wants a tsa checkpoint on a catamarant.
24:31
Speaker 2: The statistics tell us that violent crime against tourists in
24:34
Hawaii is exceedingly rare. When crime does happen, it is
24:38
almost exclusively property thefts, smashing grabs at rental car lots,
24:43
or minor alcohol fueled altercations.
24:45
Speaker 1: Random unprovoked stabbings on luxury yachts simply do not happen.
24:49
Speaker 2: But an anonymous charter captain summed up the existential crisis perfectly.
24:53
He said, you trust people who pay to be on
24:55
your boat. That trust got broken here.
24:56
Speaker 1: I look at the proposed industry reactions. People are suggesting
25:00
like adding more robust mental health screening questions to the
25:03
looking forms, or installing discrete emergency communication panic buttons on
25:07
the boats. Honestly, it feels to me like trying to
25:09
put a metal detector on a beach. It's purely performative
25:13
security theater. Is it even logically possible to regulate human
25:18
unpredictability on a tiny fifty one foot boat floating in
25:22
the middle of the ocean. If someone decies to snap
25:25
a panic button, isn't going to unstab the captain.
25:28
Speaker 2: I agree with your assessment, and the industry experts are
25:30
acknowledging this logistical limitation. You can make people sign all
25:34
the liability waivers in the world.
25:36
Speaker 1: It's just paper.
25:37
Speaker 2: You can perform basic ID checks and run credit cards,
25:39
but none of that administrative friction offers any real protection
25:43
against sudden, violent human impulses. A piece of paper cannot
25:47
stop a knife.
25:48
Speaker 1: The news of this attack has spread like wildfire across
25:51
travel forums, social media, and national news outlets, and the
25:55
reaction among potential tourists is heavily polarized.
25:58
Speaker 2: Right for some people, they're the reception of a safe
26:00
paradise has been permanently punctured. They are going to pause
26:04
before booking that isolated tour.
26:06
Speaker 1: But others are going to look at this and be
26:08
deeply reassured by the sheer professionalism of the crew, the
26:12
quick thinking of the family members who stepped up, and
26:14
the astounding, almost mythological heroism of the captain.
26:18
Speaker 2: It is a story that forces us to reconcile competing truths.
26:22
We've looked at an idyllic, luxurious catamaran tour that instantly
26:26
devolved into inexplicable brutal violence. We've examined how a simple
26:31
tool of hospitality shattered the carefully constructed illusion of a
26:35
perfect vacation.
26:36
Speaker 1: But we've also analyzed something deeply inspiring, the physical and
26:40
mental resilience of Standler Biecki, a man who suffered a catastrophic,
26:44
life threatening wound, who fought off a younger attacker, and who,
26:48
when faced with a choice between self preservation or compassion,
26:51
chose compassion.
26:52
Speaker 2: He upheld an ancient code of the sea under the
26:55
most extreme physiological and psychological duress imaginable.
26:58
Speaker 1: He proved that while we cannot predict the eruption of violence,
27:01
rigorous preparation, deep seated discipline, and immense courage can turn
27:06
a horrific tragedy into a profound testament of human survival.
27:09
Speaker 2: Hawai Nautical has stated they hope he returns to the
27:11
helm when he is physically ready, but for now.
27:13
Speaker 1: The no Wiki sits silently at the dock in Hanakohoa Harbor.
27:17
Speaker 2: It is a profound reminder to you, the listener, about
27:19
the duality of travel itself. You book the beautiful charters,
27:22
you marvel at the stunning reefs, and you place an immense,
27:26
often unspoken trust in the strangers navigating the boat and honestly,
27:30
the trainer sitting right next to you on the deck.
27:33
Speaker 1: The ocean is beautiful, yes, but it is fundamentally wild
27:36
and unpredictable, and sometimes so are the people floating on it.
27:41
Speaker 2: And that leaves us with a final thought to mull
27:43
over something that builds on the psychology of risk we've
27:46
been exploring. When you sign a liability waiver for a
27:49
vacation activity, you operate under the assumption that you are
27:52
protecting the company from your own physical mistakes. A slip
27:55
on a wet deck, a twisted ankle, a moment of clumsiness.
27:59
Speaker 1: This incident forces us to consider a much more unsettling
28:02
reality about the modern commodification of risk.
28:05
Speaker 2: In our highly curated pursuit of exclusive and isolated experiences,
28:09
we aren't just buying scenery. We are voluntarily abandoning the
28:13
entire safety net of society.
28:15
Speaker 1: The next time you seek out a private, secluded escape,
28:18
far from the crowds and the noise, ask yourself, who
28:21
are you really locking yourself in paradise with?
28:24
Speaker 2: Because sometimes when you step off the dock and the
28:26
vending machine of paradise breaks, well, you realize the landscape
28:30
isn't just binary anymore.
28:31
Speaker 1: It is incredibly, terrifyingly murky. Thanks for joining us for
28:35
this deep dive.