Vanished at Sea: The True Story of a Child TV Actor and Double Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library) [Mass Market Paperback]

Tina Dirmann (Author)

Book Description

Series: St. Martin's True Crime Library | Publication Date: January 2, 2008

It was supposed to be blue skies and smooth sailing for Thomas and Jackie Hawks. A retired probation officer and a stay-at-home mom, they were looking forward to entering the next phase of their golden years. Their plan: To sell their home—a 55-foot, $435,000 yacht—and start a new life on land…and spend as much time with their grandchildren as possible.

 

The Hawks were thrilled when a young man named Skylar Deleon wanted to buy the boat for himself, his wife, and their two kids. Little did Thomas and Jackie know that this unemployed,  former childhood actor and dishonorably discharged Marine had another devious plan in mind:  To lure the couple out to sea, force them to sign away their life savings, throw them overboard, and leave them

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

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It was supposed to be blue skies and smooth sailing for Thomas and Jackie Hawks. A retired probation officer and a stay-at-home mom, they were looking forward to entering the next phase of their golden years. Their plan: To sell their home—a 55-foot, $435,000 yacht—and start a new life on land…and spend as much time with their grandchildren as possible.

 

ASKING PRICE

The cost of two lives…

The Hawks were thrilled when a young man named Skylar Deleon wanted to buy the boat for himself, his wife, and their two kids. Little did Thomas and Jackie know that this unemployed,  former childhood actor and dishonorably discharged Marine had another devious plan in mind:  To lure the couple out to sea, force them to sign away their life savings, throw them overboard, and leave them VANISHED AT SEA.

About the Author

With more than a decade of reporting experience behind her, Tina Dirmann has covered some of the nation’s biggest news stories, interviewing notorious criminals and profiling A-list celebrities. She is a graduate of UCLA and worked for The San Bernardino County Sun and Riverside County’s The Press Enterprise newspaper before joining The Los Angeles Times, where she covered crime, courts, and county politics, and worked as a general assignment reporter on the state desk. Before leaving the Times, Dirmann earned a spot among a small team of reporters named as finalists for The Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 2000 Alaska Airllines crash, which killed 88 people. In recent years, Dirmann switched from crime news to entertainment reporting, working as a staff reporter for Us Weekly magazine before becoming Deputy Bureau Chief for Star magazine. Vanished at Sea is her second true crime book. Her first, Such Good Boys, is a chilling account of how two sons conspired to viciously murder their mother. Dirmann is currently a contributing entertainment reporter/on-air personality for E! Entertainment and a freelance writer living near the sand and seas in Santa Monica, California.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (January 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312941978
• ISBN-13: 978-0312941970
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #264,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Horrifying Narrative - But Told Too Soon, January 12, 2008

By 

Alexander S. White (Richmond, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vanished at Sea: The True Story of a Child TV Actor and Double Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

I picked this book up at a bookstore a couple of days ago when browsing the true crime section because the title and cover caught my attention. Today I had some free time and read the whole book. It is a well-written and straightforward account of a truly horrifying crime, orchestrated by a person who evidently is terribly twisted. It's not a spoiler to mention the crime, which is described early in the book -- the luring of an innocent retired couple to take several people on a test ride on the couple's $400,000 yacht, with the goal of murdering the couple in cold blood at sea after forcing them to sign over the title to the boat and their other possessions.

The horror of the crime compelled me to read on, as the author unfolded the tale of the crime's discovery and the competent steps taken by the police and prosecutor to bring the perpetrators to justice. The writing is about average, but it does not get in the way of the story, and the author's style gave me nothing to complain about.

But I do have one fairly major bone to pick with the author or her publisher, or whoever decided to publish this paperback original at this point. I have to give the publisher credit for getting the book in print in a timely manner -- one person was sentenced for a particular crime in October 2007 -- just 3 months ago! The problem is, the major villain in the book was scheduled to go to trial in "early 2008"! So, from reading this book about the crime, we don't know the ending of the story! I have read many true crime books, and I have never read one before where the principal culprit (alleged) has not yet gone to trial, at least where a trial is in the offing. (Jack the Ripper never went to trial, but that's a rather different situation.)

So, I found that the book did a good job of presenting the facts as they stand now, which left me wondering at the depths of human depravity (and stone-cold stupidity) that could have led to this unutterably awful crime. But, I really think a book like this should not be published until the main perpetrator's fate is known, at least in a case like this, where he has been caught and charged and is awaiting trial.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Study in Sociopaths, February 27, 2008

By 

KDMask (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Vanished at Sea: The True Story of a Child TV Actor and Double Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

I am a true crime junkie. I've read over 100 TC books in my lifetime. This has to be one of the most difficult accounts I've read because of the horrific details of the crime. Many times, the crime itself is left to the imagination. In this case, a witness tells exactly what happened. I actually kept going back to the photos to look at the victims because I just couldn't come to grips with what happened. Skylar is a perfect example of someone that never should be let near society again, period. The way this crime was carried out is just beyond human comprehension. This book honors the memory of the victims and gives us a good picture of their life. I also agree that it was rushed--I will have to look online to find out the ending of the trial. Thank God these people were caught, I can't imagine what they could have done if left to their own devices any longer.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average account of a horrific crime., February 18, 2008

By 

Upstate New Yorker (upstate New York) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Vanished at Sea: The True Story of a Child TV Actor and Double Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

Tina Dirmann's account of the horrific deaths of Tom and Jackie Hawks at sea while they are showing their yacht off to psychopath Skylay Deleon and his cohorts reads like one of those "rush to print" true crimes books that seeks to beat the oppositon to the punch. Problem with such efforts is that as here, the principal villain, Skylar Deleon, has not yet even had his trial. The author must be assuming a guilty verdict yet OJ's trial should teach us it's never over till it's over. Also, failure to carefully edit the facts results in errors such as the author's assertion that the victim Tom Hanks had served in combat in the Phillipines. Clearly she was referring to the Vietnam conflict and got her history confused. All in all, barely a three out of five.