48 Hours Mystery: Dark Voyage

A Former Child Actor Turned Cold-Blooded Killer Commits A Crime That Horrifies Even The Toughest Of Cops

(CBS)  Newport Beach, Calif., Detective Dave Byington doesn't rattle easily.

"This is probably the thirtieth time I’ve been on this vessel and I don’t like it," he says of a 55-foot yacht, which now sits in dry dock - cold as a tombstone - giving silent testimony to a crime that defies humanity.

"I get the heebie jeebies on this boat. I just don't feel comfortable on it. You start to think about - imagine, only try to imagine what they experienced, and it’s too horrific," he tells 48 Hours Mystery correspondent Maureen Maher. "The boat's under way, It's nighttime. It's cold."

The only thing outweighing the horror of what happened that night is the power of Tom and Jackie Hawkses love. It is a fairy-tale romance that started hundreds of miles from any ocean, in the mountains of Prescott, Ariz., where Tom was raising his two sons alone.

Tom's boys, Ryan and Matt, are sons from a first marriage that ended in am amicable divorce.

Ryan describes his father as a "man's man."

"He was very masculine, very outdoors. And he just wanted us to appreciate what we had in life… He would take us to Catalina Island to do a lot of hiking, fishing and backpacking," he says. "Some of my better times with him were on the water."

"It was an absolute great life," says Matt, a life where toughness was taught early on.

"You know, stay strong. I remember if I wrecked or cried as a little kid, he'd be like, 'Toughen up boy. Toughen up,'" Ryan recalls.

Above all else, Tom Hawks played by the rules. He worked with the probation office of Yavapai County, helping those in trouble, find a second chance.

"Tom was a kind of probation officer that would take a real interest in the problems that his probationers were having," John Ryder tells Maher.

Ryder, Brian Gray and Bill Paiano were Tom's co-workers and knew what kind of a man he was. "Tom was a quality guy," says Paiano.

"I believe Tom's family life, like most of us that worked together, was really important to him," says Gray.

But something major was missing in his life. Then, the tough, single father had his heart melted by Jackie O'Neill.

"She met Tom at a chili cook-off. I believe it was July of ’86," says Jackie's best friend, Patricia Shutz. "He would walk on water for her, and she would do the same for him."

It was clear where things were heading.

"He got down on his hands and knees and he asked her to marry him," Shutz says. "She was very excited and she was very happy."

And soon, Ryan and Matt were happier, too. Because, they say, there was a downside to life alone with dad - like Tom's "famous goulash."

"He would make a pot of it for a week," Ryan explains. "And every time we'd come home for dinner it'd be like, 'Ugh, this again?'"

Things changed once Tom and Jackie wed. "Dinners got a lot better," says Matt.

Matt and Ryan were still in elementary school when Tom and Jackie wed in 1989. The boys came to think of Jackie as their mother.

"She was the best mother any boys could ever have. Really," says Shutz.

Ryan describes Jackie as a real trooper. "Most of the time they do something, it's my father's idea. And Jackie never complains and she just goes with it."

So it came as no surprise when Tom sold the house and Jackie said 'yes' to a dream Tom had been nurturing for years - to retire, own a yacht and live on the sea.

"He said, 'Life's too short, and it's my life, this is our time, and I feel if I hesitate, then it would just go by and I’ll miss it,'" says Ryan.

It was in Newport Beach, Calif. that Tom and Jackie Hawks came to find paradise. Their dream was rooted in two simple things: being together and being on a boat. Few people had lived better lives, so it almost seemed like fate when the couple bought a 55-foot yacht that was already named Well Deserved.

For Tom and Jackie, a dream had come true. Life was an endless cruise filled with good times and best friends, sailing from Catalina Island to Mexico's Sea of Cortez.

"Being on water for them was a solitude," Ryan explains. "It was seeing the curve of the Earth and seeing the sunset fall right behind it every night."

While Tom and Jackie were living the life they'd always dreamed of, something wonderful was happening in the mountains of Prescott, Ariz., that would alter their lives forever: Matt and his wife, Nicole, welcomed baby Jace.

"They were just very excited," Matt says. "Jackie was already buying baby clothes."

After four years at sea, Tom and Jackie decided being grandparents was worth more than all the sunsets across the Pacific.

"They wanted to come back and be a part of our lives," Matt says. "They believed very strongly in family."

The couple put a small ad in a boating magazine and the Well Deserved was on the market; all they needed was an honest buyer.

[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......

[pooksgram]

I had a hard time getting over this story. I'm still not over the horror, thinking of the last few minutes of their lives. So many questions came to mind------Why didn't they take a family member with them? Why didn't they call to tell someone they were leaving and make sure they would contact someone if they didn't come back? Why, once they realized what was happening didn't they say that people knew where they were going and who they were with? Why didn't they bargain and tell the guys that, with people knowing about them, they could let them go and only get charged with kidnapping, but they would be found out if they were murdered? Why in God's name didn't they do a credit check? Why didn't they get suspicious and wonder how a young man with a baby could afford a large yacht? How could they have been so trusting? I find it difficult to believe so much horror could be generated by one person and I hope somehow, someway, Skylar can be made to feel the same horror he inflicted on these innocent people.

[relee42]

JFK must have never spoken, because the visual alone doesn't say accountant. Why would a street smart criminal justice system retiree fall for three very strange males even boarding his boat ...?