Defense gets more time

Marisa O’Neil

Defense attorneys for four of five suspects in the alleged murder of

a Newport Beach couple asked Friday for more time to review the case

before an upcoming preliminary hearing.

All five suspects appeared in court for a pretrial hearing on

charges they killed retired couple Tom and Jackie Hawks, missing

since November and presumed dead. A preliminary hearing, during which

details of the alleged crime and conspiracy will be revealed, is

scheduled for July 22.

The investigation is still ongoing and prosecutor Matt Murphy said

more arrests in the case are “possible.”

Tom Hawks, 57, and Jackie Hawks, 47, have been missing since they

told friends they were going on a test cruise with prospective buyers

of their 55-foot cabin cruiser, Well Deserved. Police believe that

the couple were overpowered, handcuffed, weighted down and thrown

overboard alive by one or more of the people during that test cruise.

In December, police arrested Long Beach resident Skylar DeLeon,

25, who had told detectives he paid $400,000 for the Well Deserved.

Police later said such a transaction never took place, and power of

attorney documents he had from the Hawkses were signed under duress.

Other suspects in the case are Long Beach residents Myron Gardner,

42, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 39, and 21-year-old Alonso Machain

of Pico Rivera. Police also arrested DeLeon’s wife, Jennifer

Henderson-DeLeon, 23, in April.

All face double murder charges with special circumstances that

make them eligible for the death penalty.

An attorney for Henderson-DeLeon, who has two young children with

DeLeon, was the only one to lodge an objection Friday to delaying the

preliminary hearing. But because the other defendants agreed on the

date, the preliminary hearing was scheduled for July.

Tom Hawks, a retired Arizona probation officer, and Jackie Hawks,

an Ohio native, had been living on the Well Deserved in Newport

Harbor at the time of their disappearance. The couple were selling

the yacht to buy a smaller boat and spend more time with family,

including a newborn grandson in Arizona.