Dead Reckoning : Skylar Deleon | True Crime | Book Review
Those that know me on a personal level know that I LOVE true crime docu-series (one of my favorite channels is the ID Network). Usually there are a few episodes where the crime is so horrific or demented that I am compelled to follow up on a Google search for more info, a few really pique my interest to find out as much as possible.
This was the case for a missing Arizona couple who disappeared in Newport Beach, California after showing their yacht to a potential buyer.
A sociopath, Skylar Deleon, and a cohort of acquaintances (including his own wife!) lured this loving couple to a horrendous death out at sea.
Skylar Deleon had a bad break in life; yet because of that, he grew into a pathological liar with an ability to scope out dimwits who were naive enough to buy whatever bullshit he was selling.
He had an abusive father and an equally unfit cracker mother; he had more stories than Mother Goose; and his biological family might as well have been related to the likes of Charles Manson.
Dysfunctional is putting it mildly.
Some things are understandable, like making himself out to be someone he's not professionally. (I mean, c'mon, how many people lie or embellish themselves to be better than they really are, it's definitely not unusual);
I can ignore that — and believe me, there are certain crimes where I am compassionate to the murderer because of the circumstances or other mitigating factors, but this is not the case with the Deleons.
To break it down, Tom and Jackie Hawks come from stable, loving families; with lots of friends who care for them, and a vibrant life together.
The complete opposite of their perpetrators.
The retired couple decided to sell their boat personally instead of through a broker to save from fees, so that they can settle back in Arizona to be a part of their new grandson's life.
An unemployed, broke criminal with a toddler and another baby on the way, living in the garage of his in-laws — answered the for-sale ad, and thus was the beginning of the end for the Hawkses.
Skylar told Tom he could afford the boat because he was a child actor who starred in The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (an embellishment, no big deal) and had made some good investments.
The truth was that he had a non-speaking role as an extra on set in one episode, where the camera showed his face for a few seconds.
The tragic end to the lovely Hawkses was that they were beat, tied up, forced to sign documents and give their personal information to Skylar — and then thrown overboard alive, sunk to the bottom by the boat's anchor — their bodies never recovered, and assumed to have been taken as part of the marine ecosystem.
What really bother me was all the people involved in this crime, including a notary! I felt she should have gotten some sort of punishment, especially since she aided in the crime.
Unlike other crimes which could take years or even become a dreaded cold-case, this was solved relatively fast.
First, because Tom Hawks was a retired probation officer and his older brother was a retired police chief, they knew enough to know enough (if you know what I mean); and mostly because the culprits are fumbling idiots.
A Missing Person's report was filed with the Newport Beach Police Department, and the Hawkses told their family and friends who they were selling the boat to.
Although the family was highly suspicious, the police were at first reserved in their suspicions of Skylar and Jennifer (his wife). That is, until they were caught trying to empty out the Hawks' bank account in Arizona, and showed the police a Power of Attorney that basically gave two complete strangers control of all their assets.
They crack the case when the weakest link broke (a dumbass that Skylar conned while Skylar was serving time on a burglary conviction); that's basically when all the dominoes started falling around the gang of heartless morons.
In the book, I found out Skylar Deleon is not his birth name, but a name that he had legally changed; and that he wanted a sex-change.
Oh, and that he wears diapers because of a motorcycle accident that left him incontinent; as well as purchasing an anal sex toy that cost like $900. He has since grew his hair out and takes hormones and actually looks like a woman now.
Although, I am skeptical of him being genuinely transgender. I think that he felt effeminate because he had to wear a diaper; that he was always a psycho and mentally disturbed some way, and that perhaps because of his emasculation and deep humiliation in wearing a diaper, he thought sexual reassignment would fix his incontinence.
Definitely, he was not driven to do this because of gender dysphoria.
I mean, Caitlyn Jenner never killed anyone because she felt trapped in a man's body. If he is claiming that he was driven because of gender-identity issues, then he definitely wouldn't be a candidate for sex re-assignment surgery anyway, because you have to be mentally stable to even qualified for it.
In short, he's a psycho trying to con anyone he could. That's his MO, plain and simple.
Around the same time, he was also convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a man in Mexico, that crime was committed almost a year before the Hawks' murders (for $50,000) and involved Jennifer too, as well as a cousin.
In the end, the monsters on the boat who physically committed the crimes were all convicted and sentenced.
Alonso was given 20 years, a big black guy named JFK (no kidding!) was sentenced to death along with Skylar; Jennifer Deleon was sentenced to life, she divorced Skylar in prison and now goes by her maiden name, Jennifer Henderson. The others were given immunity or not even charged.
Tom Hawks' two boys suffered the death of their biological mother from cancer not long after their other parents' murder.
CBS has a very in depth episode about this crime on their true crime show, 48 Hours; as well as Oxygen, ID Network, and other channels that have true crime shows.
Dead Reckoning by Caitlin Rother
(Amazon creators independently recommend products and may earn commission from purchases.)
This is one of the most gripping true-crime books of the 21st century, chronicling the murders of retired Arizona couple Thomas and Jackie Hawks at the hands of Skylar Deleon and a group of accomplices.
Rother approaches the case not just as a murder story, but as a study of manipulation, greed, deception, and the terrifying lengths one person was willing to go for money.
The book opens with Tom and Jackie Hawks living what many people would consider an ideal retirement.
Tom, a former probation officer and bodybuilder, and Jackie had sold their home and spent years living aboard their yacht, Well Deserved, traveling the Pacific coast. When the birth of their first grandchild drew them back to Arizona, they decided to sell the yacht and settle closer to family.
That decision would ultimately place them in the path of Skylar Deleon.
Deleon presented himself as a successful young family man interested in purchasing the boat. He often brought along his pregnant wife, Jennifer, and their young child, creating an image of trustworthiness.
The Hawks saw what appeared to be an eager buyer and agreed to a sea trial.
Behind the scenes, however, Deleon was drowning in debt and already plotting a way to steal the yacht and the couple's assets.
Prosecutors later argued that he carefully orchestrated the crime, recruiting accomplices and creating forged paperwork to make the transfer of ownership appear legitimate.
What follows is one of the most horrifying murder sequences in modern true crime.
During the yacht outing, Tom and Jackie were overpowered, bound, and forced to sign documents transferring ownership of the vessel. They were then tied to the yacht's anchor and thrown alive into the Pacific Ocean. The victims were dragged thousands of feet into the depths, where they drowned.
Their bodies were never recovered.
The brutality of the murders shocked even seasoned investigators and became one of the most memorable aspects of the case.
One of the strengths of Rother's book is how thoroughly she reconstructs the investigation.
Detectives initially faced a daunting challenge because they had no bodies and only a missing-persons case. Financial records, forged documents, witness statements, and eventually cooperating accomplices began to expose the conspiracy.
As investigators peeled back the layers of Deleon's life, they uncovered another homicide victim, Jon Jarvi, who had been killed before the Hawks' murders.
The growing body of evidence painted a portrait of a man who repeatedly used deception and violence whenever it suited his goals.
The book also explores Deleon's troubled background and the many contradictions in his life.
Popular media often labeled him a former Power Rangers "actor", but Rother clarifies that his connection to the show was minimal — an uncredited extra appearance as a kid rather than a starring role. The sensationalized headlines often obscured the reality that this case was ultimately about calculated greed and murder, not celebrity.
A controversial aspect of the case involved evidence that Deleon wanted money for gender-affirming surgery. Rother discusses this because it became part of the prosecution's theory regarding motive.
However, the book does not reduce the murders to that single factor. Instead, it portrays a far more complex picture involving debt, fraud, manipulation, and a lifelong pattern of criminal behavior.
What makes Dead Reckoning especially effective is that Rother never loses sight of the victims.
Tom and Jackie Hawks emerge as real people rather than simply names in a police file. Readers get to know their marriage, their dreams for retirement, and their excitement about becoming grandparents. That personal focus makes the outcome even more heartbreaking because the couple were targeted at a moment when they should have been enjoying the rewards of a lifetime of hard work.
As a true-crime book, Dead Reckoning succeeds on multiple levels. It offers a detailed police investigation, a suspenseful courtroom drama, and a chilling psychological portrait of a manipulative killer.
Rother's reporting is meticulous, and she manages to turn a complex case involving numerous accomplices and years of legal proceedings into a fast-paced narrative. The result is a disturbing but compelling read that ranks among the strongest modern true-crime accounts, particularly for readers interested in fraud-driven murders and cases where ordinary trust becomes a weapon in the hands of a predator.
*Updates on the Criminals
*Occasionally, I go back to some of my original posts to provide updates. Although this was originally posted by me in 2018, I'm providing an update in 2026.*
The case of Skylar Deleon and the brutal 2004 murders of Tom and Jackie Hawks has seen major updates regarding everyone involved, from the mastermind to the accomplices who avoided the heaviest sentences.
Skylar Deleon & Main Co-Defendants
- Skylar Deleon: Convicted on three counts of first-degree murder (for the Hawks and a 2003 murder of a man named Jon Jarvi) and sentenced to death in 2009. While on California's death row, Deleon came out as transgender, transitioned, and officially changed her name to Skylar Preciosa Deleon. Executions in California have been officially halted and death row is being dismantled, so she remains incarcerated under a continuous stay of execution.
- Jennifer Henderson (Deleon's ex-wife): Sentenced to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole for her role in plotting the murders and helping clean the yacht afterwards.
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy: The gang member hired by Deleon to help overpower the couple on the boat. Like Deleon, he was sentenced to death and remains incarcerated.
The Accomplices (The Plea Bargains)
Two key individuals involved in the crime avoided long or permanent prison sentences by striking deals to testify for the prosecution.
- Alonso Machain: A former city jail guard who was on the boat and witnessed the drownings. He accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter, kidnapping, and robbery. In 2009, he was sentenced to 20 years and 4 months in prison. He served his time at Valley State Prison, a medium security prison, and was paroled and released in 2021.
- Myron Sandora Gardner Sr.: He acted as an accessory after the fact by helping recruit Kennedy for the crime, though he did not go out on the boat. He spent four years in custody awaiting trial, pleaded guilty to accessory charges, and was sentenced to 1 year in jail, resulting in his immediate release upon sentencing due to time served.
During the 2008 trial, Harris testified that she never actually met Tom and Jackie Hawks. A week after the couple had already been murdered, Deleon met Harris in a hotel room and handed her a wad of $100 bills to illegally backdate the yacht's sale documents to November 15, 2004 (the day the couple vanished).
Harris claimed she initially took the money for what she thought was a minor, improper favor. However, once she realized the couple was missing, she panicked. A friend told her Deleon was a hitman connected to the Mexican Mafia, and she testified that she subsequently lied to detectives across separate interviews because she feared for her life and the safety of her family.
Her notary commission was permanently revoked by the Secretary of State, she was forced to surrender her seal, and her notary journal was destroyed. Since she eventually broke down and cooperated fully with the state to provide crucial evidence proving Deleon forged the bill of sale, she was not hit with felony murder-accomplice charges.
