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[0] Hey, Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad -free on Amazon Music.
[1] Download the Amazon Music app today.
[2] Of the hundreds of strange, dark, and mysterious stories I've covered over the past couple of years, today's story easily ranks in the top five for most distressing.
[3] The reason it is so distressing is because of the ending scene.
[4] You will know when you get to the ending scene.
[5] It takes up the last several minutes, and it's just unbiased.
[6] unbelievably difficult to listen to.
[7] And so for that reason, listener discretion is advised.
[8] For those of you who have followed my YouTube channel, Mr. Ballin, thank you, first of all.
[9] But also, you should know that today's podcast episode is actually the audio from a popular YouTube video that was called This Child Star is Evil.
[10] However, we have remastered the audio and changed a few small things in the story to make it more clear as an audio -only piece of content.
[11] But before we get into today's story, if you're a fan of the Strange, dark, and Mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do, and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday.
[12] So if that's of interest to you, please take the five -star review button hostage and then force them to wash your dishes while wearing a long -sleeved shirt.
[13] However, do not allow them to roll their sleeves up.
[14] Also, please subscribe to the Mr. Ballin podcast, wherever you get your podcasts, so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads.
[15] I'm Dan Tibersky.
[16] In 2011, something strange began to happen at a high school in upstate New York.
[17] A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast.
[18] What's the answer?
[19] And what do you do if they tell you it's all in your head?
[20] Hysterical.
[21] A new podcast from Wondry and Pineapple Street Studios.
[22] Binge all episodes of Hesterical early and ad -free on Wondery Plus.
[23] Okay, let's get into today's story.
[24] In 1986, Tom Hawks was a 39 -year -old father of two teenage boys.
[25] He had previously been married, to his boy's mother, but they had ultimately gotten a divorce.
[26] That year, Tom and his two sons were at this local chili cookoff in their neighborhood in Newport Beach, California, when Tom was looking out across the sea of people and he sees this stunningly beautiful woman.
[27] He's never seen before, and he just finds himself staring at her.
[28] And he stares at her so long that this woman, she ends up noticing, and she looks up and kind of smiles and blushes and looks away, and Tom immediately is totally embarrassed because he just got caught staring at her.
[29] So he decides, you know what, I got to go over there and introduce myself.
[30] And so Tom, who's this totally ruggedly handsome, muscular guy with this incredible mustache, he strides across the lawn and he walks up to this woman and he introduces himself.
[31] And she is all smiles and she says her name is Jackie and she's 29 years old and she's single.
[32] And from that point onward, those two completely hit it off.
[33] They fell madly in love.
[34] And just a few years later, in 1989, they got married in front of 150 of their closest friends and family.
[35] And then after the wedding, Jackie moved in with Tom and his two boys.
[36] And even though the boy's mother was still alive, they began calling Jackie mom.
[37] Because Jackie not only lived with them, but also because she was so devoted to them.
[38] And she just was such a loving and kind person that it just made sense to do that.
[39] Also, Jackie, when she was 22 years old, she had gotten into this horrific motorcycle accident and the internal damage that accident had done to her had left her unable to have kids of her own.
[40] something she had always wanted to do.
[41] And so when she had the opportunity to be these boys' mother, she really leaned into it.
[42] And so she was like this fabulous mother.
[43] So over the years, Tom and Jackie raised their two sons.
[44] And then in 2002, when the boys were all grown up, they left the house.
[45] Now, this was a sad moment for Tom and Jackie to suddenly be empty nesters.
[46] I mean, so much of their identity was wrapped up in being parents and they were very close with their sons.
[47] But at the same time, they knew this day was coming.
[48] and they had actually been preparing for it for several years.
[49] They had been putting money aside every single year to prepare for when their sons left because they wanted to time it so they could retire at the same time.
[50] And their idea of retirement was to go buy a yacht and just live on the yacht and sail up and down the California and Mexican coastline.
[51] Now, neither Jackie nor Tom were wealthy at all.
[52] However, they were very good at saving money and they were very disciplined and they could live frugally.
[53] And so over the past couple of years, they really had saved virtually every penny so they could afford to buy this yacht.
[54] And so finally, in 2002, when their sons do actually leave, Tom and Jackie, they sell their house in Newport Beach, California.
[55] And between the proceeds from the sale of their house and all this money they had set aside, they had enough to purchase this kind of beat -up old small yacht.
[56] And so this yacht they named the well -deserved.
[57] Even though this yacht was by no means a glamorous yacht like you think of when you hear that word, Tom and Jackie adored this boat.
[58] And so as soon as it was theirs and they had docked it in Newport, they moved all of their belongings onto this boat because they're going to live on this boat.
[59] And then they began meticulously cleaning it and organizing it and upgrading it everywhere they could within their limited budget.
[60] And by the summer of that year, this boat was beautiful, both on the outside and the inside, was very cozy and very clearly had the touch of Tom and Jackie.
[61] It was a home.
[62] And so for the next two years, Tom and Jackie, they lived the dream.
[63] They took that yacht and just sailed up and down the coast of California and Mexico, and they would watch these beautiful sunsets and they would catch fresh fish and they would drink cocktails together.
[64] I mean, they were really enjoying their retirement.
[65] Then, in 2004, they got some unexpected news.
[66] One of their sons told them that he was now expecting to be a fight.
[67] father.
[68] And so this baby was going to be the first grandchild of Tom and Jackie, and they were so excited.
[69] Especially Jackie, because remember, she wasn't able to have kids of her own, and she just loved the idea of getting to be motherly again and the idea of getting to hold this precious little baby.
[70] And so even though Tom and Jackie were absolutely loving living out on this yacht, they decided that the time was right to actually sell the yacht and then take the proceeds from the sale of the yacht and buy a house on land to be closer to their son and this grandbaby.
[71] So in November of that year, the Hawks place an ad in this fishing magazine for the sale of their yacht.
[72] They were asking for about half a million dollars, and very quickly, after this ad went live, this young couple who had saved up some cash, they offered to buy it.
[73] Tom and Jackie were totally thrilled and they called their two sons to tell them the good news that they had this buyer, and that in the next couple of days the sale would be finalized and then they would be in.
[74] in touch.
[75] And so the sons, they're expecting to get a phone call from Tom and Jackie any day, but a couple of days goes by and they haven't heard from them.
[76] And so the sons begin calling their parents and their parents aren't picking up their phone.
[77] Now, Tom and Jackie were not the type to go any amount of time without being in touch with their family.
[78] And so this was very uncharacteristic.
[79] And so when Tom's brother, Jim, who was a retired police chief, when he heard about this sudden silence.
[80] He just got in his car and drove to Newport Beach, California to see if maybe they had not finalized the sale of the yacht and maybe the couple was still on the yacht and he could go check in with them and make sure everything was okay.
[81] And so Jim, along with a friend of his, they arrive in Newport Beach, they make their way to the dock where the yacht was being held, and they go down to the floating section of this dock and they walk right up alongside the well -deserved, and just from where they're standing, it does not seem like anyone is on the yacht.
[82] However, as they're standing there just kind of looking at this yacht right in front of them, Jim notices a couple of oddities.
[83] He sees there are lines hanging over the side of the boat that should have been stowed.
[84] And Tom was known for being incredibly meticulous and orderly.
[85] I mean, that yacht was spick and span always.
[86] And so he would not have left these lines draped over the edge of the boat unless he was on board and he wasn't.
[87] And so Jim's also looking around and he sees there are a couple of tarps.
[88] that go over some of the control panels that had been taken off, but then not put back on the control panels.
[89] And so again, that's not something Tom or Jackie would have done.
[90] And then there's also some dirty towels kind of hanging out of one of the portholes.
[91] And so overall, the impression Jim and this friend got was, I guess they must have finalized the sale of this yacht because clearly the new owners of this boat, they're the ones that are in possession of it and they're the reason it's sloppy because Tom and Jackie, they never would leave the boat in this condition.
[92] And so Jim pulls out his own business card, and he writes a note on it that he's looking to speak with the new owners of this boat because his brother and his brother's wife had sold this boat to them, but now they're missing.
[93] And so please give me a call back.
[94] And so Jim and his friend, they leave the boat, they leave the dock, and they begin to leave the area when Jim's cell phone rings.
[95] And he picks it up, and it's this 21 -year -old woman named Jennifer de Leon.
[96] And so she tells Jim that she got his business card on her yacht and that, yes, she and her husband had recently purchased this yacht for.
[97] from the Hawks, but like Jim, they were having a hard time getting in touch with the Hawks as well.
[98] Because after acquiring their boat, Jennifer said she and her husband realized there were a couple of controls on the boat that they didn't know how to use.
[99] And so they needed to talk to Tom and Jackie to explain how to use them.
[100] Also, Jennifer said she had found some personal belongings that belonged to Tom and Jackie that were stuffed in a couple of drawers that just got left behind.
[101] And so she wanted to return that property to them as well.
[102] But she's telling Jim, I'm trying to get in touch with them and I can't get in touch with them.
[103] And so Jim asked Jennifer, you know, when was the last time you or your husband saw Tom or Jackie?
[104] And she would say, you know, the last time we saw them was when we actually finalized the sale of the boat, when we literally gave them the money and we watched them take the money, hop in their car, and drive away.
[105] Jim asked her if she had any idea where they might have been going.
[106] And Jennifer said, you know, we really didn't have that many personal conversations with Tom or Jackie.
[107] It was mostly just business stuff.
[108] But in the limited personal interactions, did have, Tom would always talk about how he and Jackie planned on buying a house in Mexico in this town that bordered Arizona because apparently they have a son that lives in Arizona and he's about to have a baby and they were talking about how they wanted to be very close.
[109] Jim thanked Jennifer and asked her, you know, if you hear from Tom or Jackie, please let me know.
[110] And then Jennifer says to Jim, you know, same thing to you.
[111] If you hear from them, please let me know because I need to talk to them too.
[112] And so they hang up and Jim is left thinking, you know, what's going on here?
[113] And then Jim remembers there's this woman that Tom and Jackie had hired.
[114] Her name was Patricia.
[115] And for the past couple of years that they had been out on their boat, they knew they would not have great internet.
[116] And so they would not be able to consistently be able to pay their bills and pay taxes.
[117] And so they had hired this woman Patricia, who was also a friend of theirs, to basically pay their bills and manage their finances.
[118] And so Jim gets her number and he calls Patricia.
[119] And the first thing he asks her is, you know, hey, have you spoken with Tom or Jackie recently?
[120] And she says, you know, no, I haven't.
[121] And so Jim explains the situation and then asks Patricia, has Tom or Jackie recently made a large deposit into any of their accounts?
[122] Because just a couple of days ago, they would have received nearly $500 ,000.
[123] And so Patricia, she checks the accounts and she says, no, there's been no deposits made.
[124] And so Jim and Patricia are talking on the phone trying to rationalize why Tom and Jackie would not have deposited so much money and they really couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation for it.
[125] And so after Jim hung up with Patricia, he just had a bad feeling about what was going on.
[126] And so Jim called the Newport Beach Police Department and he officially reported Tom and Jackie missing.
[127] The first thing the Newport Beach Police Department did with this missing person report was to do some digging on the new buyers of this yacht, the De Leon's.
[128] And when they looked at the 25 -year -old husband named Skyler, they discovered he was a felon.
[129] He had been arrested and convicted of armed robbery and had spent some time in jail for it.
[130] And so now, Naturally, the police were immediately suspicious of Schuyler de Leon, and really the DeLeon's in general, because they were the last ones to see the Hawks before they went missing.
[131] And so they sent one of their detectives down to the dock to just kind of walk around, go walk around the yacht, and just kind of feel it out.
[132] See what's going on down there, see if there's anything unusual.
[133] And so this detective goes down to the dock.
[134] They walk onto the floating section of the dock, and they walk right up alongside the well -deserved.
[135] And from the looks of it, it doesn't appear that anybody's on board.
[136] and as this detective is kind of looking in the window and just kind of looking around, they think they see what looks like a bloody handprint inside the boat.
[137] And so that would end up being enough to get a search warrant.
[138] And before long that day, there were police swarming this boat looking all over it.
[139] But it would turn out that was not a bloody handprint.
[140] It was actually just some rust.
[141] And there was nothing else of significance that was found on board this boat.
[142] And so the police are pretty frustrated because they really don't have any leads.
[143] And so they contact Schuyler de Leon and they say, hey, you need to come into the police station and explain exactly what happened during your final interaction with the Hawks.
[144] And so Skyler comes to the police station.
[145] He's totally cooperative.
[146] And he explains to the detectives that, you know, he saw this ad and this fishing magazine for a yacht.
[147] He contacted Tom Hawk and said, I'm interested.
[148] The two of them met up and then went out for a sea trial, which is basically a test drive but for a boat.
[149] And during the sea trial, Skyler told Tom that he liked the boat and he wanted to go forward.
[150] forward with the purchase.
[151] And so on November 15th, Skyler, along with his pregnant wife and his young daughter and also a notary and another person, a friend of Schuyler's that was there just kind of as a witness, they go to the parking lot of the dock right near where the yacht is.
[152] And then the hawk show up, Tom and Jackie, and the De Leone's literally hand over a suitcase full of cash to Tom.
[153] And then Tom and Jackie with the notary, they signed the sale documentation, basically giving the boat over to the Deleones.
[154] then Tom and Jackie took their suitcase full of cash, hopped in their SUV, and they drove off, presumably to go to Mexico.
[155] When the police asked Skyler, how were you able to afford such an expensive vessel?
[156] Skyler would tell them that back in the 1990s, he was actually a child star, or kind of.
[157] He was an extra on the very popular TV show, Power Rangers, and from being on that show, he had made a bunch of money, and he had set it aside.
[158] And as Skyler is telling the detectives this, he kind of just stops himself at some point, And he's like, you know what?
[159] That's not really the truth.
[160] The reality is the reason we had the money to do this is not because of the cash I got from being a child star.
[161] It's actually because I stole the money.
[162] I'm Dan Tiberski.
[163] In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York.
[164] I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad.
[165] I'm like, stop fucking around.
[166] She's like, I can't.
[167] A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms and spreading fast.
[168] It's like doubling and tripling and it's all these girls.
[169] With a diagnosis, the state tried to keep on the download.
[170] Everybody thought I was holding something back.
[171] Well, you were holding something back intentionally.
[172] Yeah, well, yeah.
[173] No, it's hysteria.
[174] It's all in your head.
[175] It's not physical.
[176] Oh, my gosh, you're exaggerating.
[177] Is this the largest mass hysteria since the Witches of Salem?
[178] Or is it something else entirely?
[179] Something's wrong here.
[180] Something's not right.
[181] Leroy was the new date line and everyone was trying to solve the murder.
[182] A new limited series from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, hysterical.
[183] Follow hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
[184] You can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad -free right now by joining Wondry Plus.
[185] She struck him with her motor vehicle.
[186] She had been under the influence and she left him there.
[187] In January 2022, local woman Karen Reed was implicated in the mysterious death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O 'Keefe.
[188] It was alleged that after an innocent night out for drinks with friends, Karen and John got into a lover's quarrel en route to the next location.
[189] What happens next?
[190] Depends on who you ask.
[191] Was it a crime of passion?
[192] If you believe the prosecution, it's because the evidence was so compelling.
[193] This was clearly an intentional act.
[194] And his cause of death was blunt force trauma with hypothermia.
[195] Or a corrupt police cover -up.
[196] If you believe the defense theory, however, this was all a cover -up to prevent one of their own from going down.
[197] Everyone had an opinion.
[198] And after the 10 -week trial, the jury could not come to a unanimous decision.
[199] To end in a mistrial, it's just a confirmation of just how complicated this case is.
[200] Law and crime presents the most in -depth analysis to date of the sensational case in Karen.
[201] You can listen to Karen exclusively with Wondery Plus.
[202] Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
[203] It would turn out that armed robbery, that Schuyler was convicted for and spent some time in jail for.
[204] That was because he was stealing money from this drug kingpin.
[205] And before he was arrested and sent off to jail, he had managed to take the money that he had stolen and hide it.
[206] And then after he had gone to jail and got out again, he came back to his hiding space and he just retrieved the money.
[207] But this money was stolen drug money, so it was hot.
[208] And so he needed to get rid of it.
[209] He needed to launder the money.
[210] And so that was why he was buying this yacht.
[211] He was going to buy it with this dirty money in bulk in cash and basically transform this hot dirty money into this yacht.
[212] And then he was going to sell the yacht and get clean money for it.
[213] And so the police are totally shocked at this confession because Skyler has just completely incriminated himself in a money laundering scheme.
[214] But the police would ultimately say to Skyler, you know what, we're not going to charge you with money laundering because you're being so forthright and helpful with this investigation.
[215] And so they let Skyler go.
[216] The police would go on to interview Skyler's wife, Jennifer, as well as the notary, and also that other friend who would come along for that final sale of the boat who was there as a witness.
[217] So the police interview all three of those people, and they asked them, you know, what was your final interaction with Tom and Jackie like?
[218] And they all described the same situation of seeing Tom and Jackie taking the suitcase full of cash and then signing the paperwork, hopping in their car, and driving off.
[219] The only detail that seemed to differ amongst these four people who were there was the way Tom and Jackie were acting.
[220] Schuyler made it seem like Tom was kind of anxious and paranoid about having all this money, whereas the notary said, you know, Tom and Jackie seemed completely normal to me. After all the interviews with these people who had seen Tom and Jackie last, the police felt like they had kind of reached a dead end and just didn't know what to do next.
[221] And so they went to the media and asked them to put out a bulletin that had a picture of Tom and Jackie, as well as a picture of their vehicle, and it asked people to come forward if they had seen them.
[222] And sure enough, within a couple of days of this bulletin going out on TV, this older couple in Mexico called the police to say, the Hawks SUV is right across the street from me right now.
[223] It's parked right on the road.
[224] And so naturally, the Mexican authorities, as well as American authorities, they rush to this location and they charge up to the house where this SUV is parked, and they're kind of expecting to find Jackie and Tom inside, or someone that at least knows Tom and Jackie.
[225] But when they knock on the door, this guy, nobody recognized someone who was living in Mexico.
[226] He comes up to the door and he's looking very confused.
[227] And the police ask him, you know, whose SUV is that parked outside?
[228] And he said, oh, well, that's my friend's car.
[229] And they say, well, is your friend Tom or Jackie Hawks?
[230] And the guy's like, no, who's that?
[231] The car belongs to Skyler de Leon.
[232] This was, of course, the moment when the police realized Skyler.
[233] was lying to them.
[234] He had told police the last time he had seen Jackie and Tom, they had hopped in their SUV and they had driven off.
[235] But clearly that was not the last time because he somehow managed to acquire their car afterwards and then he gave it to this random person in Mexico.
[236] So the police in Newport Beach, they used Skyler's money laundering confession on camera to bring him in.
[237] They arrested him on money laundering and then with him in custody they searched his home.
[238] And inside of his and Jennifer's house, they found all these things that belonged to the Hawks.
[239] Things like laptops and video cameras, things Tom and Jackie would not have left behind on the boat.
[240] But despite all this evidence connecting Skyler de Leon to the Hawks' disappearance, he maintained his innocence and said this was just a big misunderstanding.
[241] And then while he was in custody getting grilled by police, his wife, Jennifer, was also saying the same thing that Skyler didn't do anything.
[242] She was even going on talk shows and talk about how this is just one big misunderstanding and Skylar had nothing to do with the Hawks disappearance, that they are just as concerned about Tom and Jackie as everybody else is.
[243] But the police were not buying it.
[244] They knew, Skylar knew something that he wasn't telling them, obviously.
[245] However, they weren't really getting anywhere interviewing Skylar.
[246] He was just kind of saying, look, I had nothing to do with it.
[247] And so the police decide, let's go back and re -interview the notary and also that other friend who was there as a witness on that day that the final sale of the boat took place.
[248] And so they call the notary back into the police department and the notary is this woman named Kathleen Harris who's never gotten in trouble in her life and she's been a very successful notary for a long time.
[249] And so she sits down and they ask her again to describe her final interactions with Tom and Jackie.
[250] And once again, she says, yep, they came over, they signed the paperwork, they took their cash, they got in their SUV and they drove off.
[251] But under follow -on, very intensive questioning, by the police, Kathleen would finally break, and she would say, actually, I've never met Tom and Jackie in my entire life.
[252] I was paid up front in cash by Skyler de Leon to backdate those sale documents that had already been signed.
[253] I have no idea what happened to Tom and Jackie.
[254] Next, the police went out and got that friend who was also there at the time of the final sale, that witness.
[255] His name was Alonso Mation.
[256] And so they bring him in and they ask him, you know, what was your final interaction like with Tom and Jackie, and at first he stuck to the story that, you know, they got the cash, they hopped in the SUV, they drove off, that da -da -da -da, that's all it was.
[257] And the police stop him and they're like, uh -uh, we just spoke to the notary and she said she was lying.
[258] She wasn't even there.
[259] She had backdated those documents.
[260] So we know you're lying.
[261] And so as soon as Alonzo got caught red -handed, he began to clam up.
[262] It was pretty obvious he did not want to say anything else.
[263] And since the police really needed something to happen with this case.
[264] They said to Alonzo, we will make sure your sentence is heavily reduced if you tell us everything you know about what happened to Tom and Jackie.
[265] And so Alonzo says, okay, I'll tell you.
[266] Alonzo was a young guy, very impressionable.
[267] He was in his early to mid -20s, and he was actually a jailer, and he had met Skyler when Skyler was in jail.
[268] He was in jail for that armed robbery.
[269] And so after Schuyler gets out of jail, Alonzo and Skylar somehow stay friends, and they spend a lot of time together.
[270] And then in November of 2004, Skyler pulls Alonzo aside and he confesses to him that he is in fact an international assassin, that people paid him to kill people.
[271] But only bad people, Skyler said.
[272] And he says to Alonzo, I have a current contract on two really bad people, Tom and Jackie Hawks, but I need help carrying this.
[273] out.
[274] And so if you will help me carry out this contract, I will give you one million U .S. dollars.
[275] And so Alonzo's like, man, okay, yeah, I'll help you.
[276] And so on November 15th, Skylar, Alonzo, and a third man that Skylar had recruited to be a part of this job.
[277] He was this big, muscular, intimidating -looking guy who was actually a longtime Southern California gang member.
[278] His name was John Kennedy.
[279] Those three, they show up at the parking lot of the dock, not to finalize the sale of this yacht.
[280] They weren't even close to finalizing the sale.
[281] They were there to meet up with Tom and Jackie to do a sea trial, a test drive.
[282] But when Tom and Jackie arrived, Tom, who was a long -time probation officer and so was very used to being around felons and convicts, he immediately sized these three up and thought, bad news.
[283] And so when the two parties met each other in the parking lot, Skyler started to notice that Tom was definitely apprehensive about getting on a boat with them.
[284] In fact, Tom was talking about potentially rescheduling and that, you know, today is not a good day.
[285] And Skyler's seeing, you know, okay, they're clearly uneasy about getting on the boat with us.
[286] And so Skyler says, hey, Tom, Jackie, hold on a minute.
[287] I'm going to step aside and make a phone call.
[288] And so Skyler steps aside and he calls his wife, Jennifer, and she was not far away.
[289] And so just a couple of minutes later, Jennifer pulls into the parking lot carrying her little one -year -old baby girl.
[290] And as soon as she walks over to this group, the dynamic completely changes.
[291] Jackie sees this baby and she immediately falls in love with it and she wants to hold the baby and she loves Jennifer.
[292] Jennifer's so sweet.
[293] And so Jackie seems very much at ease and Tom notices that.
[294] And so Tom begins to loosen up and before long Tom is saying to Skyler, you know what guys, today's fine.
[295] Let's do the sea trial.
[296] And so the group eventually begins to make their way onto the yacht, the well -deserved, to do the sea trial.
[297] And right as they're about to get on, Jennifer says, hey guys, I can't go on the sea trial.
[298] The baby's upset.
[299] I got to go home.
[300] I'll see you guys when you get back.
[301] And at this point, Tom and Jackie, they've already committed to doing the sea trial.
[302] And so even if they were a little bit apprehensive going on this boat with just these three guys, they put their faith in the daily owns that this was on the up and up.
[303] So the two hawks, along with these three men, they get on board the boat and they begin heading out towards open water.
[304] And so Tom was piloting the boat.
[305] And at some point, when they were very far away from the dock and really any land in any direction, section, Skyler and John come up to Tom and they say, hey, we want to show you something down in the lower levels of the ship.
[306] And so Tom goes with them.
[307] They go downstairs into the bedroom.
[308] And while they're down there, Alonzo and Jackie were in the kitchen, which is right above the bedroom.
[309] And as they're standing there, Alonzo and Jackie suddenly hear this very loud promotion coming from the bedroom.
[310] Now, Alonzo knew what that was.
[311] It was Skyler and John attacking Tom.
[312] And so that was his cue.
[313] Alonzo leapt forward and he grabbed onto Jackie.
[314] And before Jackie could even figure out, out what was going on, he had thrown her to the ground, pulled her hands behind her back, and then he pulled out handcuffs that he had, and he handcuffed her hands together.
[315] And as soon as Jackie was subdued in the kitchen, Skyler and John, they come up the stairs and Tom's not with them.
[316] And they grab Jackie and they walk her down into the bedroom.
[317] And Jackie would have seen her husband, Tom.
[318] He's been handcuffed and he's laying on the bed on his back.
[319] And so they throw Jackie onto the bed right next to Tom, and immediately Jackie turns around and looks at Skylar and says, why are you doing this to us?
[320] We just met your wife.
[321] I just held your baby.
[322] Why are you doing this?
[323] All we want to do is just go back to land and be with our children and be with our grandchildren, please.
[324] But Skylar didn't care.
[325] He just turned to Alonzo and said, put tape on both of their mouths and their eyes.
[326] And as Alonzo was doing that, Skyler went upstairs and began piloting the boat towards the deepest part of the ocean.
[327] And so as Skyler is driving this boat, Alonzo and John are down in the bedroom, and Alonzo remembers looking over at Tom, and Tom was comforting Jackie.
[328] He had managed to pull his hand up, and he was stroking Jackie's hand, and he was saying to her, it's going to be okay, no matter what happens to us, we'll be together.
[329] Suddenly, the boat stopped because Skyler had reached the deepest part of the ocean, and he called down to John and Alonzo to bring Jackie and Tom up onto the deck.
[330] And so Alonzo and John do just that.
[331] They march Tom and Jackie up the steps.
[332] They'd bring them out to the deck of the ship, and then Skylar forces them to sign the sale documentation for the boat, as well as had them sign additional paperwork that gave Skyler access to their bank accounts.
[333] And while they were signing these documents, Jackie actually misspelled her last name on one of the signature blocks.
[334] She left the S off of her last name.
[335] That's not something she would have done by accident.
[336] It's pretty clear she did that on purpose to signal to the future that she signed this under duress.
[337] After all these documents were signed, the three men led their two captives to the back of the boat.
[338] And then once they were standing at the back of the boat, Skyler tells Alonzo in earshot of Jackie and Tom to, hey, go to the front of the boat and get the anchor.
[339] And so Tom and Jackie, they know that whatever's going to happen to them next, it's not good.
[340] And so Jackie begins pleading with them to let them live, let them go back to land, let them see their grandchild.
[341] And Tom manages to shake his restraints from John who was holding him.
[342] and he manages to kick Skyler really hard in the groin, but after that, John leapt on top of Tom and Jackie and subdued both of them, and then he positioned Tom and Jackie so they were sitting down back to back with their handcuffs connected to each other, and then Alonzo shows up dragging this heavy anchor and finally gets it all the way over until it's right next to Tom and Jackie, at which point, Skyler grabs the long metal chain that came off of the anchor, and he felt around until he got to the very end of the tree, chain.
[343] So not the side closest to the anchor that's attached to it, the far other side, the bitter end of this chain.
[344] And he reached down and he connected that portion of the chain to Tom and Jackie's handcuffs.
[345] And then once he was sure, their handcuffs were securely fastened to the end of this chain.
[346] Skyler stood up, walked over and grabbed the anchor.
[347] And with quite a bit of effort, he managed to lift it up and threw it over the side of the boat.
[348] As soon as that anchor hit the water, all Tom and Jackie would have heard for several seconds would be the sound of all of that loose chain that they were connected to, being rapidly pulled off the boat and being sucked down into the water.
[349] And so that chain was going up and over this wooden railing, and so all they would have heard is just chain links grinding over the railing until finally the anchor pulled the chain tight, at which point it yanked Tom and Jackie towards the side of the boat.
[350] Alonza would say when this happened, Jackie's head struck the inside of the side of the boat so hard, it made this very loud, audible cracking sound.
[351] And then Skyler, Alonzo, and John just stood there as Tom and Jackie desperately tried to fight against the weight of this anchor that was trying to pull them off of the boat.
[352] Tom was trying to hold on to anything he could to try to hold his wife in place, but eventually the weight of this anchor combined with the movement of the boat was just too much.
[353] And so Tom and Jackie were very slowly pulled up and over and off the boat.
[354] into the water.
[355] When they hit the water, they would have been fully alive, fully conscious as they began their rapid descent to the bottom of the ocean 3 ,500 feet below.
[356] Alonzo would tell police as soon as Tom and Jackie disappeared below the surface, Skyler let out a woo -hoo!
[357] And ran over to the edge of the boat and looked into the water like a giddy child.
[358] And he was staring at where they disappeared and he was just grinning and laughing.
[359] And then finally, when the water went calm and there were no more bubbles, Skyler just kind of laughed turned around and made his way back to the cockpit and began piloting the boat back towards the dock.
[360] Even though Jennifer was not on the boat at the time of the murder, she was equally involved in it.
[361] In fact, the attack was her idea.
[362] She wanted more money and she saw this scheme as being a way of doing that.
[363] So remember, when she showed up at the dock parking lot with her baby and put Jackie and Tom at ease to help get them out on that sea trial, she was doing that very intentionally to trap Jackie and Tom.
[364] She knew what was going to happen out on that boat.
[365] She was trying to get them to go so they could be murdered and they could steal their boat.
[366] And when Skyler was out on the boat, before, during, and after the murders, he would step aside and call Jennifer to let her know how it was going and kind of get her feedback and ask for advice about what they should do next.
[367] With that in mind, one of the darker elements of this case has to do with the video camera that was discovered inside of Jennifer and Schuyler's house.
[368] It was the Hawks video camera and they had used it over the past couple of years to document their travels out on the ocean.
[369] And so when the police acquired this video camera, they played the tape that was inside of it.
[370] And at first, the tape shows Jackie filming the inside of the well -deserved yacht and she's talking about how sad it was that this is probably one of the last times they'll be inside of this boat.
[371] But she and Tom are so happy because they've found buyers who are going to take great care of this boat.
[372] And they're excited about the future.
[373] They're excited about their grandchild.
[374] And then suddenly this footage of Jackie inside of the boat just totally cuts and it jumps to Skyler and Jennifer at Thanksgiving dinner that year, playing with their daughter and just having this great time.
[375] Meaning just days after Jennifer and Skyler murdered Tom and Jackie in the worst way imaginable, they took their camera and just began using it for their own lives, recording their own life over the memories of Tom and Jackie.
[376] Jennifer and Skyler truly didn't care at all about what they had just done.
[377] Alonzo would ultimately be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
[378] He would have gotten a much more severe sentence, but because he provided all of the details of what happened, and he was promised a reduction in sentence, he was only given 20 years.
[379] Jennifer would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and John Kennedy and Skyler were sentenced to death.
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