Police: Disappearance likely foul play

Marisa O’Neil

The investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a local couple

is making progress, but detectives are no closer to finding the pair,

police said Monday.

Family and friends have not heard from Tom and Jackie Hawks, 57

and 47, respectively, for nearly two months, since they sold the Well

Deserved, a 55-foot yacht they had lived on in Newport Harbor. Their

disappearance now “absolutely” looks like foul play was involved,

Newport Beach Sgt. Steve Shulman said Monday.

“The investigation is continuing, and we’ve made significant

progress,” Shulman said.

Shulman declined to go into the details of what police have

uncovered, saying that doing so could jeopardize the investigation.

A pretrial hearing scheduled Tuesday for the boat’s buyer,

25-year-old Skylar DeLeon, on a grand theft charge was postponed

until Jan. 18. DeLeon has not been charged in connection with the

Hawkses’ disappearance and could go to trial on the theft charges

within 60 days of his next hearing, Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt

Murphy said.

“That’s 60 days down the road,” he said. “A lot can happen.”

Prosecutors last week dropped charges of money laundering and

possession of money earned through large-scale drug sales originally

filed against DeLeon and substituted in the theft charge.

DeLeon, a former child actor who appeared on the “Mighty Morphin’

Power Rangers” television show, is being held on the grand theft

charge in connection with unpaid repairs on another boat he owned. He

is ineligible for bail because of probation violations in connection

with a previous burglary conviction.

DeLeon’s wife, 23-year-old Jennifer DeLeon, came to Tuesday’s

scheduled hearing. The couple have one young child, and Jennifer

DeLeon is scheduled to deliver a second soon, Skylar DeLeon’s

attorney Ed Welbourn said.

His client would like to be with his wife when she delivers, but

that may not be possible, Welbourn said.

Jennifer DeLeon has also hired an attorney.

Welbourn will first deal with Skylar DeLeon’s theft charge, then

address the probation issues, he said. It’s not clear, he said, if

his client will face other charges in connection with the couple’s

disappearance.

“I guess that’s what’s in everybody’s mind,” Welbourn said.

“What’s going on with the investigation?”

The Hawkses disappeared shortly after they told friends they were

meeting with prospective buyers for their boat in mid-November.

The couple had dreamed of living on a boat after Tom Hawks retired

from his job as a probation officer in Prescott, Ariz., family

members reported. They decided the 55-foot cabin cruiser was too

large for the two of them and wanted to sell it to buy a smaller one

and a home in San Carlos, Mexico, Tom Hawks’ son, 28-year-old Ryan

Hawks, said.

Before their disappearance, they had been in almost daily contact

with Tom Hawks’ other son, whose wife had just given the retired

couple their first grandchild. The $400,000 cash Skylar DeLeon

reportedly paid for the Well Deserved never showed up in their bank

account, and none of their accounts has shown any activity since

their disappearance.

Police found their Honda CRV in Ensenada, Mexico, in December.

Newport Beach detectives are processing it for evidence, but details

have not been released.