48 Hours Mystery: Dark Voyage

Skylar Deleon: File under looser.

"Tom and Jackie Hawks put their boat up for sale and I went to buy it," Deleon tells Maureen Maher.

If the Hawks are all about family, the man who showed up to by their boat is all about the lack of it.

"Growing up I've never really felt like loved," Deleon tells Maher. "My childhood, I hated it… the environment, my dad… I hated him. He was into manufacturing drugs. And… distributing them and selling them."

Despite those odds, Deleon did try to make something of himself as an actor. He even made it onto the TV show "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers." He'd tell people he was a major member of the show's cast, but it was a lie. He admits to Maher he was an extra "three times."

Then, eager to get away from an abusive home, Deleon joined the Marines; he ended up going AWOL.

Deleon was fast drifting nowhere. "I don't think I have a life plan," he says. And then, through a random e-mail, he met a small-town girl with big ideas.

Jennifer Henderson grew up in Long Beach, Calif., in a devoutly religious home. She'd finish high school and end up working in a hair salon. After they chatted for a few weeks online, she and Deleon agreed to meet at the mall.

Orange County Prosecutor Matt Murphy now knows everything about these two aimless young adults and their twisted relationship.

"She wasn't really doing a whole lot with her life until she met Skylar," he says. "He was a manipulator and somebody that was a complete conman and she was a spoiled brat. Basically, the two of them together was the perfect combination."

They'd marry, and soon, daughter Haley was born. The pressure mounted for Deleon to support his new family and prove his worth to Jennifer.

"I definitely loved her. I mean, to the point there's nothing I wouldn't do for her," he tells Maher.

But Deleon couldn't hold a job and couldn't find a way to move his young family out of his in-laws' garage apartment. He grew desperate.

Other than going AWOL with the military, he tells Maher that he had never committed a crime before. "Not until I met Jen."

Deleon's new ambition led him to a new line of work: burglary. He was arrested and ended up in California's Seal Beach City Jail, leaving his wife to care for their baby.

"Their relationship is characterized by debt… they were $87,000 in debt," Murphy says. "Skylar has no job. And [Jennifer's] pregnant again."

When asked if Jennifer was happy, Deleon says "no," explaining she was tired of the bills and
tired of living with her parents. "She's like, 'You know, we gotta do something.'"

It was that pressure that led Deleon to Tom and Jackie Hawks, where he used the one deadly skill he really had.

When asked how he rates Deleon as a con artist, Murphy says, "As far as his effect on other people? I've never seen anything like Skylar."

The Well Deserved is now in dry dock in a southern California lot. Even those who chase horror for a living are haunted by the depravity of what happened here.

"It drives me nuts. It makes me so angry," Det. Dave Byington says. "And you start thinking about it … It's one of those things that you can't get out of your mind because it's that terrible."

It all began with the simple ad Tom placed in a boating magazine so he and Jackie could spend more time with their family.

Deleon says he called and talked to Tom. When asked if he was really planning on buying the boat, he replies, "Well, we really didn't have the money… Our thought at that point was to, I guess, rip them off."

But he knew he'd need help. That's when Deleon he enlisted Alonso Machain, a young prison guard he'd met when locked up on the burglary charge.

"Alonzo is unsophisticated. He hasn't been a lot of places. He hasn't done a lot of things," says Murphy. "So he was really ripe for Skylar to enlist as a confederate in this whole thing."

On Nov. 6, 2004, Deleon and Machain went down to the waterfront to meet Tom and Jackie Hawks. Tom, who was smart and savvy, didn't like what he saw.

"Thomas Hawks had been a probation officer for 20 years and Thomas Hawks was kinda leery," Murphy explains.

Tom was asking $435,000 for the Well Deserved. Deleon just didn't look like the kind of guy with that type of cash. When Jackie started proudly boasting about her new grandchild, he saw his opening: family.

"And the first thing that Skylar did when they got off the boat… is he picked up his phone and called Jennifer up in Long Beach, and he said, 'You gotta come down here and bring Haley and put these people at ease,'" Murphy says.

Jennifer came down that same day.

"I can't think of anything more horrific than a mother using her child," says Byington, who tears up at the thought.

But the Hawkses fell for it, convinced they had a real buyer. They couldn't imagine the trap that was being set. No one could.

The disgraced Marine sized up the life-long public servant mentally and physically.

"And what did you think when you saw Tom?" Maher asks. "The fact that he's pretty big," Deleon replies.

The gang of two needed a tough guy. Byington says Deleon recruited a gang member from Long Beach named John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Arrested more than 20 times, JFK joined the plot. Deleon set a date to test drive the boat while Jennifer stayed home - her child having served her purpose.

"Oh, she's up to her eyeballs in the whole thing," Murphy says of Jennifer's involvement.

It was Nov. 15, 2004. Machain came along and JFK even wore a suit. Deleon told Tom and Jackie that Kennedy was his accountant. The Well Deserved headed out to sea.

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[amilis]

How is it possible that the parent's of Jennifer Deleon have custody of her two young children? They managed to raise a horrific monster the first time and now we are giving them a second chance. Maybe they didn't commit the actual crime but they parented a daughter who has no remorse or conscience and who is completely self absorbed. Really, murdering two beautiful people for a boat?????????? How are they going to do things different this time? Bless Ryan and his brother.

[Wildwood1966]

Horrific to think that animals like this exists - I feel badly when I see dead animals on the side of the road and then I think people kill people - God be with the family of these two grandparents hopefully they will meet in heaven - I hope the death penalty is quick for the others

[bajajohn1]

How is it that animals like Skylar and his ilk walk among us? How can the innocent detect these type of depraved evil?

[GeminiJenn]

I'm not going to judge Tom or Jackie for taking these people on the boat- I'm sure they cleaned up real nice to get this thing going and make themselves look believable.
I've been so angry today after watching this episode, it is just horrendous what these creeps did to this beautiful family! I would love nothing more than to take all that pain they caused and give it right back to them, very slowly....especially the wife.

[csi-lover]

Skylar, meet Davey's Locker. That's the hell you will inherit when you are put to death. Next time, get a job and earn your own boat! You are pure evil, and death is the least we can do to get rid of you.

CSI-Lover

[AZvidGuy]

See the original done in 2007 here - http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/hawks/articles/hawksindex.html and the print story here - http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special27/articles/0415hawks0415.html The video was done by James Carreno and the print story was done by Dennis Wagner of the Arizona Republic Newspaper. Great job on the Skylar Deleon interview. May peace come to the Hawkses sons, family and friends.

[stickdog3]

I've been reading some of these blogs, they're very interesting. To those who questioned why? and how come? Those are very good questions, rememeber this guy (Skylar) was a con man. Meaning he was very convincing. To the blogger who said why didn't he tell them when he sensed something wasn't right people knew he was about to show the boat and take them out for a ride, he probably did do that. All those things you all mentioned, this guy had to think of this. He was in law enforcement, as for JFK, we don't know how he was dressed or spoke. My point, we ave the benefit of hind sight. Theres got to be something that Skylar said or did or shown that guy to convince him he had that kind of money. Plus thats Newport Beach, Orange County, less than 30 minutes from L.A. I live here in L.A. theres lots of people out here who look like zero's but are Millionaires, I see them all the time, some walk, some even ride public transit drive ho hum cars, but have wads of money. In L. A. you can tell the wannabe's right off, they drive the flashy cars, expensive clothes, jewelery, but they're trying to project an image of someone with money, when the ones who really got it look like the people I described above.

Anyways, I remember when that case happened here, it got a lot of press, because of the locale, the people involved, and especially Skylar since he was a chid actor once. The way those people were killed was beyond comprehension. One blogger said why don't we have an eye for an eye justice system. In this case I wish we did. In Iran they do, over there all of them would be killed just like that couple were, thats how they Justice system operates. But, trust me, everyday Skylar sits in that jail cell he's dying a thousand deaths. You could not comprehend what he's going thru right now. If you noticed on TV he looked teary eyed and scared. Trust me by the time they lethally inject him, he will he died and suffered so much, he'll be glad to jump into the devils arms.

The other thing one blogger said "seller beware" how true, also beware of manipulative women. Thats what done Skylar in. Even though he was good at conning, his wife was ultimately the puppet master she controlled his every move his only quest was to please her, thats how she pulled his strings thats how she had him, like dangling a carrot in front of a hose, he's gonna chase that carrot until he dies, trying to get what amounts to an illusion. Thats what most women like her turn out to be a huge illusion. And he fell for it hook, line and sinker, pardon the expression.

At least in the end Tom tried to fight back by kicking Skylar like he did, if he could have gotten out of those bindings JFK could have been neutralized, by usin leverage against him. Unfortunately it couldn't happen,and just thinking about them being yanked off that boat by that anchor sends chills down my spine, thats a horrible slow way to go, in 3500 feet of water. I'm speechless, in L. A. that case generated a lot of interest, and outrage, but, than along comes another horrible case, that happened in Newport Beach, this teenage girl and her older boyfriend who the mother objected to her seeing, stabs the mother to death over 52 times, and left the butter knife in her eye, and dumped her in Newport Beach Harbor, I thinked CBS 48 Hours Mystery or Dateline NBC profiled that case, its another sensless act by one human against another. My condolecense to the sons, I can't possibly imagine your grief, God speed.

[rsmik]

Skylar Deleon: File under looser.

CBS editor: pwned!

[Chathopper]

What a horrific crime.....why is it in America, when something like this happens and the defendant receives the death sentence.....why can't the defendents be taken out in the same manner that they put Tom and Jackie through? There is still another anchor on that boat. If this type of Justice was put into place, I truly believe that crime would be on the decline!!

[hercule1122]

This story is horrendous in its outcome. I can not begin to understand why the Hawks would have taken 3 creeps onboard to give them a test ride. It is clear that Deleon had nothing, and the accomplices looked like ghetto bait. Why oh why did they not at least do a minimum amount of checking to see if they had the financial means to buy a boat like this. I suppose they were too eager to get rid of it , but I am sad at their failure to check on the buyer which cost them their lives! Too trusting of murderers......