heard from tom or jackie hawks. so tom s brother jim, an ex-cop, decided to do some legwork himself. and he started in the most obvious place. the hawks were missing, but their boat wasn t. it was back at its mooring in newport harbor. jim hawks rode out to see the well deserved. hoping to find something. anything. a clue. we circled the well deserved, and immediately became a little concerned. there were things out of place. a towel hanging out of a porthole. that was the kind of sloppiness tom would never have tolerated. tom always insisted that the portholes be secured. that canvas covering the instruments on the fly bridge be properly secured. and it wasn t. things were flapping in the breeze. it just appeared as though something was wrong. but they sold the boat. couldn t this be the new owners? it seemed as though they may have sold the boat.
this, skylar had paid her $2,000 to back date and notarize these documents. she was never here on 15th street in newport beach. she never saw the car, the briefcase, or the boat. and, she never met tom or jackie hawks. all of that was a lie skylar gave her to tell police. it was a huge break. the pieces were falling into place. the cops found records of skylar purchasing stun guns, and that his friend alonso buying handcuffs in the weeks before tom and jackie disappeared. and they found phone records. showing skylar s cell phone signal bouncing off a tower on catalina island, 30 miles out at sea on the night the purchase was supposedly taking place on dry land. all of it pointed to something terrible. but the picture was still fuzzy, until alonso machain, skylar s friend who had claimed to have witnessed the sale of the boat,
but, my sail board, tom s custom made surf board, their wet suits were still on the boat. and those weren t things that he would have let go with a sale. all of it was strange. very strange. i did leave a note on the cabin door. which said what? that i was trying to locate my brother, tom hawks, and please call me. and the next day the phone rang. but it wasn t tom or jackie. it was the wife of that former child actor they had talked about. it struck me as a little odd at first. she said i m pregnant, and at work, and one of my friends found your note on our boat. odd, perhaps, but jim was grateful for the call. maybe this young woman would have some information. i thought the way she opened the conversation was very unusual. and i had asked her for her name, when she d indicated they purchased the boat, and she was
cash in mexico, that he had earned in a drug deal. he basically said that he was involved in a narcotics transaction and these were proceeds from that transaction. that he bought the boat with? exactly. so he basically admitted to a felony by choice. which makes you think, what? that they re telling the truth because he just made a declaration against his own interest? yeah, he appeared to be pretty truthful at the time. skylar told the cops that he, his wife, their infant daughter, a notary public and a friend acting as a witness, had rendezvoused with tom and jackie right here in newport beach. the well deserved would have been moored over there but they never got on the boat that day, skylar said. according to him they met here, signed this paperwork, had it notarized and skylar deleon passed tom hawks a briefcase containing $485,000 in cash and then according to skylar, tom and jackie drove off and that was the last they saw of the
possession of the well deserved. we still have it today. i told your wife that i know you want to take it out this weekend. we re going to try to get it done by tomorrow. should be able to cut it loose. police seem to find skylar credible, and that was extremely upsetting to ryan hawks, who was convinced that his parents had met with foul play. and that skylar was somehow involved. you know, i felt skylar s word was more believed than ours. he was giving himself up because he he was laundering money. so he s putting himself in jeopardy. six witnesses are copping the same story. there s just no witnesses on my parents side. you were frustrated? extremely. there s no way my father would take $400,000 of laundered drug money in a car in a dark parking lot. coming up, so what really happened? a clue hidden in these documents. and a tip, not about the hawks beloved boat, but about their car.