Wife on trial in pair’s disappearance at sea is termed dominant

The father of a woman accused of helping her husband in the high-seas murders of a retired couple testified Tuesday that his daughter had the upper hand in the marriage and that his son-in-law seemed “timid” when the couple were together.

Steven Henderson was one of two prosecution witnesses who said Jennifer L. Deleon of Long Beach “wore the pants” in her relationship with Skylar Deleon, who allegedly hatched a November 2004 plot to kill Thomas and Jackie Hawks, steal their yacht and plunder their life savings.

Henderson also testified that his daughter was in a good mood the day her husband returned to Newport Harbor with the boat, when she met up with him to help clean it.

Henderson’s statements came during the second day of testimony against Jennifer Deleon, a mother of two being tried on two counts of murder and the special-circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain.

If convicted, she could get life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors allege that the Hawkses were killed Nov. 15, 2004, after being tricked into going on a test-sail of their 55-foot yacht, Well Deserved, which they had decided to sell after nearly two years of adventures at sea so they could spend more time with their first grandchild.

Jennifer Deleon was not on board when her husband and two accomplices took the Hawkses on the voyage, during which, investigators say, the couple were forced to sign transfer-of-title documents, handcuffed to the anchor and tossed into the sea alive between Newport Beach and Catalina Island. The couple have never been found.

A central question is the extent to which Jennifer Deleon knew about and participated in the alleged crimes. Prosecutors say the mother used her 9-month-old child to gain the Hawkses’ trust and later helped destroy evidence by cleaning the boat. Her lawyers say she didn’t know what her husband was up to until after the alleged murders, then followed his lead only because she was afraid of what he might do to her if she didn’t.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy called a series of witnesses in an attempt to show that Jennifer Deleon was intricately involved in her husband’s doings, kept close tabs on him and even helped cover up his misdeeds.

Michael Lewis, Skylar Deleon’s cousin, testified that on a trip to Mexico with him in 2003, he saw Deleon lead another man into the bushes, then return without him. The man was later found dead with his throat slit.

When the pair returned and police began suspecting his cousin, Lewis said, Jennifer Deleon followed an alibi, scripted by her husband, that Lewis had taken her to Mexico for some ice cream she was craving because she was pregnant. Prosecutors allege that she helped with the alibi because the couple might have needed to explain why her husband’s car and cellphone had been in Mexico. Skylar Deleon was not supposed to be out of the country because he was on work furlough for a burglary.

Lewis also said Skylar Deleon had told him he had to get his wife’s approval for everything.

Under cross-examination by the defense, Henderson recalled a day he and his daughter returned home after his son-in-law’s arrest. He described finding a picture of the Hawkses with a sinister message: “Jennifer, do the right thing, or else.”

christine.hanley@latimes.com