Ex-Actor Admits Killing Pair in Calif. Over Yacht

Confesses he lashed them to anchor at sea in order to steal boat
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 8, 2008 6:51 AM CDT
Ex-Actor Admits Killing Pair in Calif. Over Yacht
Jennifer Henderson, 25, is accused of helping her then husband, Skylar Deleon and accomplices kill Tom and Jackie Hawks for their yacht.    (AP Photo/Orange County Sheriff's Office via Orange County Register)

The lawyer for a former child actor admitted in court yesterday that his client was part of a gang that lashed a couple to an anchor and pushed them into the sea in order to steal their yacht, reports the Los Angeles Times. Skylar Deleon, who played bit parts as a kid, admitted his role in a defense bid to avoid the death penalty.

Deleon and two accomplices posed as buyers and took the yacht out for a trial run from Newport Beach in 2004 with owners Tom and Jackie Hawks, according to the prosecutor. Once at sea, they overpowered the couple, and tied them to an anchor. They shoved the two into the ocean as Jackie begged for mercy. "I was blown away," said the couple's 32-year-old son of Deleon's surprise admission. "Thank God I was sitting down." (More Skylar Deleon stories.)

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