Friends stay positive about missing couple

Andrew Edwards

Family and friends of Tom and Jackie Hawks, missing since November,

continued efforts they hoped would lead to finding the couple.

About 20 people met Sunday to pass out fliers and buttons bearing

pictures of the Hawkses. They canvassed retail businesses in areas

including the Balboa Peninsula, Balboa Island, Lido Isle and Mariners

Mile.

“Everybody was cooperative; they were locals,” family friend Joey

Spillone said after he posted fliers at businesses near the Balboa

Pier. “That’s what friends are for.”

The latest breaks in the case came Thursday and Friday.

On Friday, police arrested 25-year-old Long Beach resident Skylar

DeLeon on suspicion of money laundering. Police said the charge was

related to his $400,000 purchase of the Hawkses’ 55-foot yacht, the

Well Deserved, in mid-November.

DeLeon is scheduled to be arraigned today at Harbor Justice

Center.

On Thursday, the couple’s car, a 1998 Honda CRV, turned up in

Ensenada, Mexico. After the new developments, police said foul play

was a possibility. As of Sunday, police had announced no new

discoveries in the disappearance.

Family members said they were worried by the latest news of the

search but kept hope that Tom and Jackie Hawks would be found.

“It’s like good news and bad news,” Tom Hawks’ son, Ryan, said.

“It’s good because we’re making progress. We’re closing gaps. We’re

getting closer to their whereabouts. But it’s bad because it doesn’t

look good for their safety.”

Tom Hawks’ brother, Jim Hawks, served as Carlsbad’s police chief

before retiring.

Based on his experience in law enforcement, he was bothered by the

discovery of his brother’s car in Mexico.

“It raises our concern, for my brother and his wife,” Jim Hawks

said. “I anticipated if our worst fears were achieved, and foul play

was involved in this, the car would be found in Mexico.

“I seems when crimes occur, when vehicles are missing, it’s quite

common for them to appear beyond the border.”

But the family has not given up hope. [We’re] really just kind of

hoping for the best,” Ryan Hawks said.

* ANDREW EDWARDS is the news assistant. He can be reached at (714)

966-4624 or by e-mail at [email protected].