MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories - Child Star

Episode Date: February 24, 2022

In 2004, a retired couple who had been living on a yacht, sailing the California coastline for the previous 2 years, learned they were going to be grandparents. They were so excited about it, they decided to sell their yacht and move back onto the land to live closer to their grandchild. The retirees quickly found a buyer for their boat, and they made plans to meet some of their family members back on land after the sale, but the couple never showed up. It wasn't until someone noticed some very strange things on board the couple's yacht that the mystery of what happened to them was uncovered.DISCLAIMER: This podcast is the remastered audio from a popular video on my "MrBallen" YouTube channel (Original YT video -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SeAJTpOCbo)For 100s more stories like this one, check out my YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. Download the Amazon Music app today. 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. The reason it is so distressing is because of the ending scene. You will know when you get to the ending scene. It takes up the last several minutes, and it's just unbelievably difficult to listen to. And so for that reason, listener discretion is advised. For those of you who have followed my YouTube channel, Mr. Ballin, thank you, first of all.

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. 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. But before we get into today's story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Deliberate 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. 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. However, do not allow them to roll their sleeves up.

Also, please subscribe to the Mr. Ballin Podcast wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads. Hello, I am Alice Levine and I am one of the hosts of Wondery's podcast, British Scandal. On our latest series, The Race to Ruin, we tell the story of a British man who took part in the first ever round the world sailing race. Good on him, I hear you say. But there is a problem, as there always is in this show. The man in question hadn't actually sailed before. Oh, and his boat wasn't seaworthy. Oh,

and also tiny little detail, almost didn't mention it. He bet his family home on making it to the finish line. What ensued was one of the most complex cheating plots in British sporting history. To find out the full story, follow British Scandal wherever you listen to podcasts, or listen early and ad-free on Wondery Plus on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app.

Hello, I'm Emily and I'm one of the hosts of Terribly Famous, the show that takes you inside the lives of our biggest celebrities. And they don't get much bigger than the man who made badminton sexy. Okay, maybe that's a stretch, but if I say pop star and shuttlecocks, you know who I'm talking about. No? Short shorts? Free cocktails? Careless whispers? Okay, last one. It's not Andrew Ridgely. Yep, that's right. It's stone-cold icon George Michael. From teen pop sensation to one of the biggest solo artists on the planet, join us for our new series,

George Michael's Fight for Freedom. From the outside, it looks like he has it all, but behind the trademark dark sunglasses is a man in turmoil. George is trapped in a lie of his own making, with a secret he feels would ruin him if the truth ever came out. Follow Terribly Famous wherever you listen to your podcasts or listen early and ad-free on Wondery Plus on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app.

Okay, let's get into today's story. In 1986, Tom Hawks was a 39-year-old father of two teenage boys. He had previously been married to his boy's mother, but they had ultimately gotten a divorce. That year, Tom and his two sons were at this local chili cook-off in their neighborhood in Newport Beach, California, when Tom was looking out across the sea of people, and he sees this stunningly beautiful woman he's never seen before, and he just finds himself staring at her. 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. And so he decides, you know what, I got to go over there and introduce myself. 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. And she is all smiles and she says her name is Jackie and she's 29 years old and she's single. And from that point onward, those two completely hit it off. They fell madly in love and just a few years later in 1989, they got married in front of 150 of their closest friends and family and then after the wedding, Jackie moved in with Tom and his two boys. And even though the

boy's mother was still alive, they began calling Jackie mom because Jackie not only lived with them, but also because she was so devoted to them. And she just was such a loving and kind person that it just made sense to do that. 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, something she had always wanted to do. And so when she had the opportunity to be these boys' mother, she really leaned into it. And so she was like this fabulous mother. So over the years, Tom and Jackie raised their two sons,

and then in 2002, when the boys were all grown up, they left the house. Now, this was a sad moment for Tom and Jackie to suddenly be empty nesters. I mean, so much of their identity was wrapped up in being parents, and they were very close with their sons. But at the same time, they knew this day was coming, and they had actually been preparing for it for several years. 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. 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. Now, neither Jackie nor Tom were wealthy at all. However, they were very good at saving money, and they were very disciplined, and they could live frugally.

And so over the past couple of years, they really had saved virtually every penny so they could afford to buy this yacht. And so finally, in 2002, when their sons do actually leave, Tom and Jackie, they sell their house in Newport Beach, California. 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. And so this yacht they named the Well-Deserved. 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. 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. And then they began meticulously cleaning it and organizing it and upgrading it everywhere they could within their limited budget. And by the summer of that year, this boat was beautiful, both on the outside and the inside. It was very cozy and very clearly had the touch of Tom and Jackie. It was a home. And so for the next two years, Tom and Jackie, they lived the dream. 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. I mean, they were really enjoying their retirement. Then in 2004, they got some unexpected news. One of their sons told them

that he was now expecting to be a father. And so this baby was going to be the first grandchild of Tom and Jackie. And they were so excited, 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. 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. So in November of that year,

the Hawks place an ad in this fishing magazine for the sale of their yacht. 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. 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 touch. 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. And so the sons begin calling their parents and their parents aren't picking

up their phone. Now, Tom and Jackie were not the type to go any amount of time without being in touch with their family. And so this was very uncharacteristic. And so when Tom's brother, Jim, who was a retired police chief, when he heard about this sudden silence, 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. 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 the stock 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. However, as they're standing there just kind of looking at this yacht right in front of them, Jim notices a couple of oddities. He sees there are

lines hanging over the side of the boat that should have been stowed and Tom was known for being incredibly meticulous and orderly. I mean, that yacht was spic and span always. 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. And so Jim's also looking around and he sees there are a couple of tarps that go over some of the control panels that had been taken off, but then not put back on the control panels. And so again, that's not something Tom or Jackie would have done. And then there's also some dirty towels kind of hanging out of one of the portholes. 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. 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. And so please give me a call back. 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. And he picks it up, and it's this 21-year-old woman named Jennifer DeLeon. 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 from the Hawks. But like Jim, they were

having a hard time getting in touch with the Hawks as well. 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. And so they needed to talk to Tom and Jackie to explain how to use them. 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. And so she wanted to return that property to them as well. But she's telling Jim, I'm trying to get in touch with them and I can't get in touch with them. And so Jim asked Jennifer, you know, when was the last time you or your husband saw Tom or Jackie? 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. Jim asked her if she had any idea where they might have been going and Jennifer said, you know, we really didn't have that many personal conversations with Tom or Jackie. It was mostly just business stuff. But in the limited personal interactions we 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. Jim thanked Jennifer and asked her you know if you hear from Tom or Jackie please let me know and then Jennifer says to Jim you know same

thing to you if you hear from them please let me know because I need to talk to them too. And so they hang up and Jim is left thinking you you know, what's going on here? And then Jim remembers there's this woman that Tom and Jackie had hired. Her name was Patricia. And for the past couple of years that they had been out on their boat, they knew they would not have great internet. And so they would not be able to consistently be able to pay their bills and pay taxes. And so they had hired this woman, Patricia, who was also a friend of theirs, to basically pay their bills and manage their finances. And so Jim gets her number and he calls Patricia. And the first thing he asks her is, you know, hey, have you spoken with Tom or Jackie recently? And she says, you know, no, I haven't. And so Jim explains the

situation and then asks Patricia, has Tom or Jackie recently made a large deposit into any of their accounts? Because just a couple of days ago, they would have received nearly $500,000. And so Patricia, she checks the accounts and she says, no, there's been no deposits made. 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. And so after Jim hung up with Patricia, he just had a bad feeling about what was going on. And so Jim called the Newport Beach Police Department and he officially reported Tom

and Jackie missing. 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 leones and when they looked at the 25 year old husband named schuyler they discovered he was a felon he had been arrested and convicted of armed robbery and had spent some time in jail for it and so naturally the police were immediately suspicious of schuyler de leon and really the de leones in general because they were the last ones to see the Hawks before they went missing. 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. See what's going on down there. See if there's anything unusual.

And so this detective goes down to the dock. They walk onto the floating section of the dock, and they walk right up alongside the well-deserved. And from the looks of it, it doesn't appear that anybody's on board. 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. And so that would end up being enough to get a search warrant. And before long that day, there were police swarming this boat, looking all over it. But it would turn out that was not a bloody handprint. It was actually just some rust. And there was nothing else of significance that was not a bloody handprint. It was actually just some rust,

and there was nothing else of significance that was found on board this boat. And so the police are pretty frustrated because they really don't have any leads. And so they contact Skyler DeLeon and they say, hey, you need to come into the police station and explain exactly what happened during your final interaction with the Hawks. And so Skyler comes to the police station. He's totally cooperative. And he explains to the detectives that, you know, he saw this ad in this fishing magazine for a yacht. He contacted Tom Hawk and said, I'm interested. The two of them met up and then went out for a sea trial, which is basically a test drive, but for a boat. And during the sea trial, Skyler told Tom that he

liked the boat and he wanted to go forward with the purchase. 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 Skyler'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. And then the Hawks show up, Tom and Jackie, and the DeLeones literally hand over a suitcase full of cash to Tom and then Tom and Jackie with the notary they signed the sale documentation basically giving the boat over to the de Leon's and then Tom and Jackie took their suitcase full of cash hopped in their SUV and they drove off presumably to go to Mexico when the police asked Skyler how were you able to afford such an expensive vessel? Skyler would tell them that back in the 1990s, he was actually a child star, or kind of. 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. And as Skyler is telling the detectives this, he kind of just stops himself at some point and he's like, you know what? That's not really the truth. 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. It's actually because I stole the money. I'm Peter Frankopan. And I'm Afua Hirsch. And we're here to tell you about our new season of Legacy, covering the iconic, troubled musical genius that was Nina Simone? Full disclosure this is a big one for me. Nina Simone one of my favourite artists of all time. Somebody who's had a huge impact on me who I think objectively stands apart for the level of her talent, the audacity of her message. If I was a first year at university the first time I sat down and

really listened to her and engaged with her message, it totally floored me. And the truth and pain and messiness of her struggle, that's all captured in unforgettable music that has stood the test of time. Think that's fair, Peter? I mean, the way in which her music comes across is so powerful, no matter what song it is. So join us on Legacy for Nina Simone. In May of 1980, near Anaheim, California, Dorothy Jane Scott noticed her friend had an inflamed red wound on his arm and he seemed really unwell. So she wound up taking him to the hospital right away so he could get treatment. While Dorothy's friend waited for his prescription, Dorothy went to grab her car to

pick him up at the exit. But she would never be seen alive again, leaving us to wonder decades later what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott. From Wondery, Generation Y is a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one and so many more. Every week, hosts Aaron and Justin sit down to discuss a new case covering every angle and theory, walking through the forensic evidence, and interviewing those close to the case to try and discover what really happened. And with over 450 episodes, there's a case for every true crime listener. Follow the Generation Y podcast on Amazon Music or wherever It would turn out that armed robbery that Skylar was convicted for and spent some time in jail for, that was because he was stealing money from this drug kingpin.

And before he was arrested and sent off to jail, he had managed to take the money that he had stolen and hide it. 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. But this money was stolen drug money, so it was hot. And so he needed to get rid of it. He needed to launder the money. And so that was why he was buying this yacht. He was going to buy it with this dirty money in bulk, in cash, and basically transform this hot, dirty money into this yacht. And then he was going to sell the yacht and get clean money for it. And so the police are totally shocked at this confession because Skyler has just completely incriminated himself in a money laundering scheme. 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. And so they let Skyler go. The police would go on to interview Skyler's wife, Jennifer, as well as the notary and also that other friend who had come along for that final sail of the boat who was there as a witness. 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? 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. The only detail that seemed to differ amongst these four people who were there was the way Tom and Jackie were acting. Skyler 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. 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. 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. It's parked right on the road.

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. But when they knock on the door, this guy, nobody recognized, someone who was living in Mexico. He comes up to the door and he's looking very confused. And the police ask him, you know, whose SUV is that parked outside? And he said, oh, well, that's my friend's car. And they say, well, is your friend Tom or Jackie Hawks? And the guy's like, no, who's that? The car

belongs to Skyler DeLeon. This was, of course, the moment when the police realized Skyler was lying to them. He had told police the last time he had seen Jackie and Tom, they had hopped in their SUV and they had driven off. 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. So the police in Newport Beach, they used Skyler's money laundering confession on camera to bring him in. They arrested him on money laundering, and then with him in custody, they searched his home. And inside of his and Jennifer's house, they found all these things that belonged to the Hawks. Things like laptops

and video cameras, things Tom and Jackie would not have left behind on the boat. But despite all this evidence connecting Skyler DeLeon to the Hawks' disappearance, he maintained his innocence and said this was just a big misunderstanding. 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. She was even going on talk shows and talking 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. But the police were not buying it.

They knew Skylar knew something that he wasn't telling them, obviously. However, they weren't really getting anywhere interviewing Skyler. He was just kind of saying, look, I had nothing to do with it. 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. 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. And so she sits down and they ask her again to describe her final interactions with Tom and Jackie. And once again, she says, yep, they came over, they signed the

paperwork, they took their cash, they got in their SUV and and they drove off. 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. I was paid up front in cash by Skylar DeLeon to backdate those sale documents that had already been signed. I have no idea what happened to Tom and Jackie. Next, the police went out and got that friend who was also there at the time of the final sale, that witness. His name was Alonzo Mason.

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, da-da-da-da-da, that's all it was. And the police stop him and they're like, uh-uh. We just spoke to the notary.

And she said she was lying. She wasn't even there. She had backdated those documents. So we know you're lying. And so as soon as Alonzo got caught red-handed, he began to clam up. It was pretty obvious he did not want to say anything else. And since the police really needed something to happen with this case, 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. And so Alonzo says, okay, I'll tell you. Alonzo was a young guy, very impressionable. He was in his early to mid twenties and he was actually a jailer and he had met Skyler when Skyler was in jail. He was in jail for that armed robbery. And so after Skyler gets out of jail, Alonzo and Skyler somehow stay friends and they spend a lot of time together. 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, but only bad people, Skylar said. 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 out. And so if you will help me carry out this contract,

I will give you 1 million US dollars. And so Alonzo's like, man, okay, yeah, I'll help you. And so on November 15th, Skylar, Alonzo, and a third man that Skylar had recruited to be a part of this job, he was this big, muscular, intimidating looking guy who was actually a longtime Southern California gang member. His name was John Kennedy. Those three, they show up at the parking lot of the dock not to finalize the sale of this yacht. They weren't even close to finalizing the sale. They were there to meet up with Tom and Jackie to do a sea trial, a test drive. But when Tom and Jackie arrive, Tom, who was

a longtime probation officer and so was very used to being around felons and convicts, he immediately sized these three up and thought, bad news. 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. In fact, Tom was talking about potentially rescheduling and that, you know, today's not a good day. And Skyler's seeing, you know, okay, they're clearly uneasy about getting on the boat with us. And so Skylar says, hey, Tom, Jackie, hold on a minute. I'm going to step aside and make a phone call. And so Skylar steps aside and he calls his wife, Jennifer, and she was not far away. And so just a couple of minutes later, Jennifer pulls into the parking lot carrying her little one-year-old baby girl. And as soon as she walks over to this

group, the dynamic completely changes. Jackie sees this baby, and she immediately falls in love with it, and she wants to hold the baby, and she loves Jennifer. Jennifer is so sweet. And so Jackie seems very much at ease, and Tom notices that. And so Tom begins to loosen up, and before long, Tom is saying to Skyler, you know what, guys? Today's fine. Let's do the sea trial. And so the group eventually begins to make their way onto the yacht, the well-deserved, to do the sea trial. And right as they're about to get on, Jennifer says, hey, guys, I can't go on the sea trial. The baby's upset. I got to go home. I'll see you guys when you get back. And at this point, Tom and Jackie, they've already committed to doing the sea trial. 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 De Leon's that this was on the up and up. So the two hawks, along with these three men, they get on board the boat and they begin heading out towards open water. And so Tom was piloting the boat. And at some point when they were very far away from the dock and really any land in any direction, Skylar and John come up to Tom and they say, hey, we want to show you something down in the lower levels of the ship and so Tom goes with them they go downstairs into the bedroom and while they're down there Alonzo and Jackie were in the kitchen which is right above the bedroom and as they're standing there Alonzo and Jackie suddenly hear this very loud commotion coming from the bedroom

now Alonzo knew what that was it was Skylar and John attacking Tom and so that was his, Alonzo knew what that was. It was Skylar and John attacking Tom. And so that was his cue. Alonzo leapt forward and he grabbed onto Jackie. And before Jackie could even figure 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. And as soon as Jackie was subdued in the kitchen, Skylar and John, they come up the stairs and Tom's not with them. And they grab Jackie and they walk her down into the bedroom and Jackie would have seen her husband Tom he's been handcuffed and he's laying on the bed on his back 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 we just met your wife I just held your baby why are you doing this all we want We just met your wife. I just held your baby. Why are you doing this? All we want to do is just go back to land and be with our children and be with our grandchildren, please. But Skylar didn't care. He just turned to Alonzo and said, put tape on both of their mouths and their eyes. And as Alonzo was doing that, Skylar went upstairs and began piloting the boat towards the deepest part of the ocean. And so as Skylar is driving this boat, Alonzo and John are down in the bedroom and Alonzo remembers looking over at Tom and Tom was comforting Jackie. 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. Suddenly the boat stopped because Skylar 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. And so Alonzo and John do just that. They march Tom and Jackie up the steps, they bring them out to the deck of the ship, and then Skylar forces them to sign the sail documentation for the boat, as well as had them sign additional paperwork that gave Skylar access to their bank accounts. And while they were signing these documents, Jackie actually misspelled her last name on one of the signature blocks. She left the S off of her last name. That's not something she would

have done by accident. It's pretty clear she did that on purpose to signal to the future that she signed this under duress. After all these documents were signed, the three men led their two captives to the back of the boat. And then once they were standing at the back of the boat, Skylar tells Alonzo, in earshot of Jackie and Tom, to, hey, go to the front of the boat and get the anchor. And so Tom and Jackie, they know that whatever's going to happen to them next, it's not good. And so Jackie begins pleading with them to let them live, let them go back to land, let them see their grandchild. And Tom manages to shake his restraints from John, who was holding him, and he manages to kick Skylar 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 chain so not the side closest to the anchor that's attached to it, the far other side, the bitter end of this chain. And he reached down and he connected that portion of the chain to Tom and Jackie's handcuffs. And then once he was sure their handcuffs were securely fastened to the end of this chain, Skyler stood up, walked over, and grabbed the anchor. And with quite a bit of of effort he managed to lift it up and threw it over the side of the boat. 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 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. Alonzo 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 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. 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 and so Tom and Jackie were very slowly pulled up

and over and off the boat into the water. 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. Alonzo would tell police as soon as Tom and Jackie disappeared below the surface, Skyler let out a woohoo and ran over to the edge of the boat and looked into the water like a giddy child. And he was staring at where they had disappeared and he was just grinning and laughing. 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. Even though Jennifer was not on the boat at the time of the murder, she was equally involved in it. In fact, the attack was her idea. She wanted more

money, and she saw this scheme as being a way of doing that. 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. She knew what was going to happen out on that boat. She was trying to get them to go so they could be murdered and they could steal their boat. 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. 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 Skyler's house. 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. And so when the police acquired this video camera, they played the tape that was inside of it. 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. But she and Tom are so happy because they found buyers who are going to take great care of this boat. And they're excited about the future. They're excited about their grandchild. And then suddenly this footage of Jackie inside of the boat just totally cuts and it jumps to Skylar and Jennifer at Thanksgiving dinner that year, playing with their daughter and just having this great time. 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. Jennifer and Skylar truly didn't care at all about what they had just done. Alonzo would ultimately be sentenced to 20

years in prison. 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. Jennifer would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and John Kennedy and Skyler were sentenced to death. Thank you for listening to the Mr. Boland podcast. If you got something out of this episode and you haven't done this already, please take the five-star review button hostage and then force them to wash your dishes while wearing a long-sleeved shirt. However, don't allow them to roll their sleeves up. Also, please subscribe to the Mr. Ballin Podcast on Spotify, Apple, Google, Amazon, and everywhere else you get your podcasts. This podcast airs every Monday and Thursday, but in the meantime,

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