Murdered couple’s yacht to be put up for sale

After wending its way slowly through the courts, the Thomas and Jackie Hawks double-murder case officially concluded this week with the sentencing of the fifth and final defendant implicated in the 2004 slayings of the Arizona couple. Now comes the question of who wants to buy the crime scene.

The Well Deserved, a 55-foot, teak-galley trawler on which the Hawkses cruised the California and Mexico coasts for two years -- and on which they were overpowered and thrown into the sea -- has been in dry-dock for four years, held as evidence by Orange County authorities as the legal saga unfolded.

But the yacht soon will be up for sale for $229,000. That is some $200,000 less than the Hawkses were seeking to get for it in 2004, when Skylar Deleon masterminded a plot to steal it, forcing the couple to sign sale papers before having them tied to an anchor and thrown alive into the water off the coast of Newport Beach.

The boat has been released to the couple’s children, Ryan and Matt Hawks, who said they lack the money for its upkeep and the time required to maintain it.

“My brother and I are just middle class, working class, trying to make our way through in this life. It’s hard enough to keep above water in this economy,” Ryan Hawks, 33, of San Diego, told The Times. “This is a boat that requires someone’s full, undivided attention.”

The boat, now docked at a Newport Harbor shipyard for refurbishing, might have fetched $100,000 more than the current price a couple of years ago. “It was released to us at probably the worst time ever,” Ryan Hawks said. “I wish we could have sold it earlier.”

Jerry Wakefield, a broker at Dixon Yachts, said the boat probably will go on the market officially next week.

“We’re getting a million calls. People are sneaking around and taking pictures and it’s pretty much a nightmare,” he said. “I’m talking about the accredited press.”

Will the yacht’s status as one of Orange County’s most notorious murder scenes affect the sale?

“Any advertising is good advertising, but it remains to be seen,” Wakefield said.

One challenge will be finding a way to separate genuine buyers from the morbidly curious. “We have to make sure we don’t have looky-loos come on just to look at it,” he said.

Deleon, of Long Beach, was convicted in the Hawkses’ slayings and sentenced to death, along with accomplice John Fitzgerald Kennedy, a Long Beach gang member.

Deleon’s wife, Jennifer, got life in prison for her role as an accomplice. Myron Gardner, also of Long Beach, pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder after the fact in exchange for testimony; he received credit for time served -- the four years he spent in jail awaiting trial -- and was released in March.

On Monday, Alonso Machain of Pico Rivera got a 20-year sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter, robbery and kidnapping.

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christopher.goffard @latimes.com