Newport Police search for missing couple

Marisa O’Neil

Police are looking for information on a couple who have been missing

since the middle of November, when they sold their Newport Harbor

yacht.

Family members reported Thomas Hawks, 57, and his wife,

47-year-old Jackie Hawks, missing on Nov. 27 after the couple failed

to contact them for more than two weeks, including the Thanksgiving

holiday, police said. The couple went missing at about the same time

they sold their 50-foot yacht, called “Well Deserved,” to a local

buyer, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman said.

Police asked for the public’s help Wednesday, after three days of

investigating and follow-ups with family members and friends, Shulman

said.

“They recently sold the boat in the middle of November,” Shulman

said. “They had talked to family about that time, either right before

or after the sale. No one talked to them since, and family members

thought that was out of the ordinary.”

The couple have family members in San Diego and Cleveland, Shulman

said. Family members did not want to discuss the case with reporters,

he said.

Police have been in touch with the boat’s buyer, who has

cooperated with the investigation, he said. At this point, police

aren’t sure if foul play is involved or if the couple are traveling

and incommunicado.

“We’ve got detectives trying to track them down to verify they are

safe,” Shulman said.

Though the boat had been sold around Nov. 15, the couple have not

yet transferred ownership of the mooring, said Sgt. Jim Thomas of the

Orange County Sheriff’s Department Harbor Patrol in Newport Beach. To

officially transfer the mooring, which requires an annual fee to

keep, old and new owners have to come into the Harbor Patrol office

together, Thomas said.

Thomas Hawks had worked as a probation officer in Prescott, Ariz.,

prior to his retirement, Shulman said. The couple claimed residency

in Arizona but split their time between Newport Beach, San Diego and

San Carlos, Mexico, he said.

Their boat had been moored near 15th Street and Balboa Boulevard,

police said. Geovany Avila, who works in a nearby store, said he

remembered seeing Thomas Hawks about two weeks ago.

Another local, 43-year-old Rob Meinhardt, who lives across the

street from the boat launch, said he’d never seen the couple. The

area has a small community of people who live on their boats, he

said.

“They could be anywhere,” he said.

Police are asking people to call with information about the

couple.

Thomas Hawks is a 5-foot-8, 185-pound white man with short brown

hair and hazel eyes, police said. Jackie Hawks is a 5-foot-6,

110-pound white woman with brown hair and brown eyes.

They have a 1998 silver Honda CRV with Arizona license plate

774CPE.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@ latimes.com.

Pilot intern Dane Grace contributed to this story.