[TWIAR] Former child star charged in missing ham radio couple case

[Greg Williams]

Former Child Star to Stand Trial for Murder
Prosecutors Say Man and Wife Threw California Couple Off Yacht

By Tori Richards, Reuters

SANTA ANA, Calif. (Aug. 16) - A former child actor and his wife were
ordered to stand trial on Tuesday for the murder of a wealthy
California couple who, prosecutors say, were tied to the anchor of
their yacht and thrown overboard alive, never to be seen again.

Orange County Superior Court Judge John Conley ordered 26-year-old
Skylar Deleon, who once starred in the "Power Rangers" TV series, and
his wife, 24-year-old Jennifer Henderson Deleon, to stand trial for
the murders after a two-day preliminary hearing in Santa Ana, south
of Los Angeles.

Also bound over for trial in the case, which baffled police for
months as they searched for the missing couple, were a member of the
Crips street gang and a prison guard who are accused of helping carry
out a conspiracy to steal the 55-foot luxury yacht "Well Deserved."

"It's haunting to think these nice, loving people were trying to hold
their breaths as they sank to the bottom of the ocean," Deputy
District Attorney Matt Murphy said during the hearing. "This is as
cold-blooded as it gets."

Prosecutors say Deleon came up with the plot after spotting the yacht
for sale in a boating magazine last November and meeting owners
Thomas Hawks, KD7VWJ, 57, and his 47-year-old wife Jackie, KD7VWK.

He is accused of enlisting the help of 40-year-old gang member John
Fitzgerald Kennedy and ex-jailer Alonso Machain, 21, to carry out the
murder on Nov. 15, 2004. Machain has since confessed to police and
will be tried separately.

Attorneys for the Deleons rejected the charges and during the hearing
attacked the credibility of Machain, who is expected to be a star
witness for the prosecution.

A police detective testified during the hearing that Deleon and his
then-pregnant wife posed as interested buyers and convinced the Hawks
to take the yacht on a test run.

Miles off the coast of Newport Beach, prosecutors say, Thomas and
Jackie Hawks were attacked with a stun gun, handcuffed and gagged
with duct tape. After signing over power of attorney to one
assailant, they were tied to the boat's 66-pound anchor and thrown
overboard.

The couple was reported missing by relatives and police were led to
the Deleons, who produced a bill of sale for the yacht and the power
of attorney. Authorities believe the bill of sale was falsified.

Police also found that Deleon had unsuccessfully tried to access the
Hawks' bank account in Arizona using the power of attorney.


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