Family tries to draw public attention toward missing couple

Marisa O’Neil

Tom and Jackie Hawks were at the point in life they’d looked forward

to for years. They were retired, traveling and living on a 55-foot

cabin cruiser, and they’d just become grandparents.

So why, family members and police are wondering, would they

suddenly vanish?

The couple have been missing since they sold the yacht they’d been

living on in Newport Harbor for nearly $400,000 in cash, on about

Nov. 15, to buy a smaller boat and maybe a home in Mexico, family

members said. But after the yacht sold, the couple, normally in close

contact with friends and family, went missing, said Ryan Hawks, Tom

Hawks’ 28-year-old son.

“The first time I went on the boat, the one thing that struck me

was how well Tom and Jackie worked together,” said Arizona resident

Tricia Schutz, a friend of Jackie Hawks for 21 years. “It was very

special and so admirable. They worked together on everything. They

put me in awe.”

Jackie Hawks, 47, grew up outside of Cleveland, said her father,

Jack O’Neill. There, she met her first husband and moved with him to

Arizona, O’Neill said.

Their dream was to live on a boat and travel when they retired, he

said. But in 1985, when the couple were out on a motorcycle ride near

Dewey, Ariz., a drunk driver pulled out in front of them, causing

them to crash, O’Neill said.

Her husband, in his 30s, was killed instantly. Jackie Hawks was

seriously injured, and it took years to heal, leaving her with a

slight limp to her walk, O’Neill said.

She later met Tom Hawks, a former Carlsbad firefighter and

probation officer, and seemed to find her perfect match. He, too,

wanted to retire on a boat, O’Neill said.

They always kept in touch with family, O’Neill said, especially

after the birth of their first grandson four months ago.

“She became a grandmother eight days after I became a

grandmother,” Schutz said. “That’s one of the reasons she wanted to

come back. She wanted them to be Grandma and Grandpa.”

Schutz last heard from Jackie Hawks on Nov. 14. The couple were

meeting with a prospective buyer for their yacht, the Well Deserved,

and planned to come back to tend to family and property in Prescott

after the sale, she said, before their next adventure.

Nobody has heard from them since.

“We’re all worried sick about this,” O’Neill, 71, said. “My wife

can’t sleep at night. She’s on the computer half the night trying to

find information. It’s all we think about. We don’t dare go anywhere;

we just wait for the phone to ring.”

Police are still investigating what happened to the couple. The

buyer, who said he paid cash for the boat, has been cooperative,

Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman said. Police don’t yet know

if a crime has been committed, but since nobody’s heard from them,

and there’s been no activity in their accounts, police are growing

more concerned.

“As a result of it being a cash transaction, and the fact that the

family haven’t heard from them, it’s very suspicious,” Shulman said.

Thomas Hawks is 5 feet 8, 185 pounds, with short brown hair, hazel

eyes. Jackie Hawks is 5 feet 6,110 pounds, with brown eyes and brown

hair that may be gray or sun-bleached. They may be driving a 1998

silver Honda CRV with Arizona license plate 774CPE. Anyone with

information is asked to call Newport Beach Police at (800) 550-6273.

Ryan Hawks appeared on many national television shows Monday

morning, asking the public’s help to find his parents. He’s hoping

the attention will help them find the couple soon.

“I’m just keeping my confidence and faith,” Ryan Hawks said. “This

[waiting] is killing me. Every day I want an answer.”

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

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