6 Missing S FL boaters
05-03-2008 | 09:05 AM
#74
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From: IL
07-24-2008 | 08:22 AM
#75
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10 Months later and the mystery appears to be solved, as if anyone thought otherwise
Guilty plea expected today in Joe Cool murders
By Vanessa Blum | Sun-Sentinel.com
8:47 AM EDT, July 24, 2008
MIAMI - An Arkansas man is scheduled to plead guilty this afternoon to killing four people on board the Joe Cool charter vessel last year.
By pleading guilty, Kirby Archer, 36, avoids a possible death sentence.
Instead, the former Wal-Mart employee from Strawberry, Ark. will receive a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Archer's change of plea hearing is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Paul Huck in Miami federal court.
Complete coverage of the Joe Cool boating mystery Archer and Guillermo Zarabozo, 20, of Miami, are charged with the September 2007 murders of Capt. Jake Branam, 27; his wife, Kelley, 30; his half-brother Scott Gamble, 36; and crewman Samuel Kairy, 27.
Searchers never found the Miami crew's bodies or a murder weapon.
Zarabozo plans to stick with his not guilty plea and go to trial, his lawyer said.
Prosecutors have not announced whether they will seek the death penalty.
The two defendants paid $4,000 to charter the Joe Cool to Bimini, and the vessel left the Miami Beach Marina on Sept. 22.
About halfway to Bimini, the vessel veered sharply off course toward Cuba, according to court records.
A family member reported the 47-foot sports fisher missing the following day.
Coast Guard officers found the vessel abandoned and in disarray southwest of Anguilla Cay, Bahamas.
Zarabozo and Archer were found in a lifeboat about 12 miles from the Joe Cool.
According to prosecutors, Archer was under investigation for child molestation in Arkansas and had stolen $70,000 from a Wal-Mart where he worked before he fled to Miami.
He and Zarabozo planned to take the boat to Cuba, prosecutors allege.
After the Coast Guard rescued them at sea, the men said pirates had boarded the Joe Cool and killed the crew.
Investigators who boarded the Joe Cool said they found blood and a handcuff key. They also discovered three spent shell casings matching ammunition Zarabozo purchased earlier, prosecutors said.
Zarabozo's attorneys contend Archer, a former military police investigator, used the younger man's gun to kill the crew.
Vanessa Blum can be reached at [email protected] or 954-356-4605.
Guilty plea expected today in Joe Cool murders
By Vanessa Blum | Sun-Sentinel.com
8:47 AM EDT, July 24, 2008
MIAMI - An Arkansas man is scheduled to plead guilty this afternoon to killing four people on board the Joe Cool charter vessel last year.
By pleading guilty, Kirby Archer, 36, avoids a possible death sentence.
Instead, the former Wal-Mart employee from Strawberry, Ark. will receive a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Archer's change of plea hearing is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Paul Huck in Miami federal court.
Complete coverage of the Joe Cool boating mystery Archer and Guillermo Zarabozo, 20, of Miami, are charged with the September 2007 murders of Capt. Jake Branam, 27; his wife, Kelley, 30; his half-brother Scott Gamble, 36; and crewman Samuel Kairy, 27.
Searchers never found the Miami crew's bodies or a murder weapon.
Zarabozo plans to stick with his not guilty plea and go to trial, his lawyer said.
Prosecutors have not announced whether they will seek the death penalty.
The two defendants paid $4,000 to charter the Joe Cool to Bimini, and the vessel left the Miami Beach Marina on Sept. 22.
About halfway to Bimini, the vessel veered sharply off course toward Cuba, according to court records.
A family member reported the 47-foot sports fisher missing the following day.
Coast Guard officers found the vessel abandoned and in disarray southwest of Anguilla Cay, Bahamas.
Zarabozo and Archer were found in a lifeboat about 12 miles from the Joe Cool.
According to prosecutors, Archer was under investigation for child molestation in Arkansas and had stolen $70,000 from a Wal-Mart where he worked before he fled to Miami.
He and Zarabozo planned to take the boat to Cuba, prosecutors allege.
After the Coast Guard rescued them at sea, the men said pirates had boarded the Joe Cool and killed the crew.
Investigators who boarded the Joe Cool said they found blood and a handcuff key. They also discovered three spent shell casings matching ammunition Zarabozo purchased earlier, prosecutors said.
Zarabozo's attorneys contend Archer, a former military police investigator, used the younger man's gun to kill the crew.
Vanessa Blum can be reached at [email protected] or 954-356-4605.
07-24-2008 | 02:03 PM
#79
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From: Lake Texoma
That`s what`s wrong with the system --- instead of using $10 worth of lethal drugs, we`d rather feed, clothe and house this scum bag for the next 40 years or so . . .
07-24-2008 | 02:06 PM
#80
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From: Lake Texoma
