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Thread: "Dead Reckoning" (Skylar Deleon, John Kennedy California Death Row)

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    "Dead Reckoning" (Skylar Deleon, John Kennedy California Death Row)

    An attractive married couple with retirement plans in San Carlos, Mexico; a tortured 25-year-old con man with illusions of grandeur and hopes of a sex change; his shallow, malcontent wife; ex-convicts hoping to make a score; and a 55-foot trawler named the Well Deserved. These are the elements of "Dead Reckoning," an intense and taut true-crime story with strong roots in Southern California and San Diego.

    The author of "Dead Reckoning," Caitlin Rother, is a San Diego-based true-crime writer with more than 20 years of writing experience. She has written for local newspapers, national magazines, appeared on television as a crime expert, and teaches writing classes at UC San Diego Extension. This is a woman who knows her way around jail cells, morgues and detectives.

    Her story concerns Tom Hawks, who graduated from San Dieguito High School in 1965 and was voted best-looking in his class. His wife of 15 years, Jackie, was a vivacious fellow sailor and adventurer. Skylar Deleon, born John Jacobson, had a troubled youth but as a child actor acting under the name Jon Libert, he had bit parts in the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" series.

    When the two men met in 2004, Hawks and his wife had just finished two years of sailing the coasts of Mexico and Baja California and were looking to sell their boat. Deleon was looking for a big score so he could finally achieve some level of wealth and status for himself and his pregnant wife, Jennifer.

    The outcome of their meeting would be the terrifying death of Tom and Jackie Hawks.

    The story of the murder of the Hawks and the theft of their boat is truly a web of self-delusion, deceit, murder and mayhem. Rother fleshes out the two victims with a deft hand and makes the reader want them to somehow escape the fate that we know from the start they must meet. By contrast, her descriptions and analyses of the Deleons and the co-conspirators leaves little room for compassion or caring.

    Skylar Deleon convinced the Hawks that he wanted to purchase the Well Deserved, boarded the boat with his accomplices, and then brutalized the couple. With clear premeditation, the Hawks were forced to sign a bill of sale for the boat and then killed. Through investigative reports and court testimony, the details of the horror on the boat comes to life. Skylar Deleon reportedly showed no signs of emotion as the bound couple were fastened to an anchor and thrown overboard alive.

    The detectives on the case built a tight case against the murderers using cell phone records, forensic evidence, and informants. Arrested and put on trial, Skylar Deleon believed he was a female trapped in a male's body and hoped to have a sex-change operation. Failing to win approval for such an operation while he was incarcerated, Deleon attempted to remove his penis with a not-too-sharp razor blade. Ultimately he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death along with co-conspirator John Kennedy. Jennifer Deleon was also convicted, but spared the death penalty.

    Rother is at her best in this gruesome story of a voyage gone terribly wrong. The book is fast-paced and will grip any lover of the true crime genre. Unlike some crime writers, Rother does not try to answer or even address the issue of what makes killers kill. Her well-executed goal is to tell the story and let others contemplate the nature vs. nurture explanations for criminal action.

    As with most well-written crime stories, it make the reader wonder more than a little about the human condition. Who are the killers among us? What seemingly innocent trip to the store or vacation voyage will turn tragic? The beauty of good nonfiction is that it often surpasses the imaginary world ---- the ugliness is that it often reflects all too well our real world.

    Richard L. Carrico of Ramona teaches in the Department of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University and is author of "Strangers in a Stolen Land: Indians of San Diego County From Prehistory to the New Deal."

    “Dead Reckoning”

    True crime

    Author: Caitlin Rother

    Publisher: Pinnacle True Crime

    Binding: Paperback and e-books

    Pages: 474; with 16 pages of photographs

    Price: $6.99 paperback; e-books vary

    http://www.nctimes.com/entertainment...1efcacfee.html

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Dead Reckoning
    By Caitlin Rother
    Review by Madeline Fortino
    416 pages
    KensingtonBooks.com

    Skylar Deleon was born into a corrupt family – “screwed up” in fact. His father was an abusive drug dealer. Lynette, his mother, abused and terrified for her life, left Skylar with his father and paternal grandmother – a volatile, mentally unbalanced woman. His father had a Napoleonic complex, who constantly shared tales of success and power that were 90 percent fabrication. Yet, people listened.

    Deleon became a child actor, with a minor role in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. By 20 however he was unemployable, and joined the Marine Corps. Later sharing tales of exaggerated heroism, although he was let go on an “other than honorable discharge.”

    Within a year of marriage to Jennifer Henderson, Deleon was arrested. He pleaded guilty to armed burglary home invasion and was placed in a work furlough program. In jail though he made friends with a young guard, Alonso Machain attentive to his tall tales and a cellmate convicted of money laundering and counterfeiting. They thought up illegal schemes to pass the time. One of these plots ended with the killing of a man in Mexico.

    Tom Hawks, was a retired probation officer and bodybuilder, married to his and second-wife Jackie for the past 15 years, with two adult sons to whom they were close. The Hawks placed their yacht the “Well Deserved” on sale, where it was moored, at Newport Harbor, CA. The couple was last seen at the harbor, on Nov. 15 2004, and also when phone calls to their sons stopped.

    The bank revealed the yacht changed lands, but no activity had taken place on it in 19 days. Evidence revealed Deleon tried to access funds from their accounts, but failed. Jim Hawks, Tom’s brother, was a former police chief and with current police Sgt. Eppel went aboard to investigate. They did not see anyone. Jim left a note saying, “I’m trying to locate my brother Tom Hawks”.

    Later, Deleon appeared calm and confident as documents were examined by police. Detective Byington of Newport Beach PD said he wasn’t interested in any probation violation or tax transgressions Skylar may have committed. He was trying to find Tom and Jackie.

    Deleon stated he and the Hawkses planned deals involving money laundering and tax fraud. The Hawkses gave him power of attorney to open bank accounts in Mexico to hide assets. However, nothing in Deleon’s story fit the couple’s behavior.

    Ultimately, the Hawkses never left the boat. They never had the chance, as they invited Deleon onboard for a sea test. Deleon sadistically tied them to the boat’s anchor, then threw them into the Pacific, their bodies never recovered. Deleon, his wife, and John Kennedy – a friend involved in the crime – all received the death penalty.

    In court Deleon’s story revealed telling people he was born a hermaphrodite. Although he had children, he produced pictures for Machain showing female genitalia. Deleon claimed fathering children before sexual reassignments surgery. However, police learned he had not undergone any such surgery but had been taking female hormones since 1998. Motivation for crimes against the Hawkses may be linked to the fact Deleon needed money for pre-scheduled sexual reassignment surgery, set to take place a few weeks after the crime.

    Caitlin Rother’s research for Dead Reckoning proves she is a journalist worthy of having been nominated for a Pulitzer Award. Also, it’s just a terrific, page-turning read. Sklyar Deleon is a dastardly character whose ability to manipulate makes for an unbelievable tale.

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