Nov 7, 2007 8:33 am US/Eastern
Trial Date To Be Set In 'Ghost Ship' Murder Case
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
A federal judge in Miami is expected to set a trial date on Wednesday for two men charged in a boating murder mystery.
Kirby Logan Archer and Guillermo Zarabozo are facing first-degree murder charges. They are also charged with robbery for the alleged theft of the "Joe Cool" charter boat.
The men are being held without bond.
Their lawyers say prosecutors have no evidence to tie their clients to the crime. Prosecutors argue there's enough circumstantial evidence against the pair, even though no bodies or a murder weapon have been recovered.
In October, U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta announced that Zarabozo and Archer were charged with the first-degree murder in the deaths of the 'Joe Cool' captain, Jake Branam, his wife Kelley, and two other crew members. They are Branam's half-brother, Scott Gamble, and first mate Samuel Kairy.
The murder charges were filed without bodies, guns, witnesses or confessions but prosecutors believe there is enough circumstantial evidence to prove that the crew of the 'Joe Cool' was killed at sea and their bodies dumped overboard by the two men.
U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta said, "it's unlikely we'll find the bodies of these four individuals who were murdered at sea."
The four disappeared at sea after Zarabozo and Archer paid $4-thousand to charter the "Joe Cool' to Bimini on September 22nd. The next day, the Coast Guard found the boat, abandoned and adrift 30 miles from Cuba.
The defendants were found in a life raft a few miles away. They claimed that pirate hijackers came aboard the 'Joe Cool' and killed the crew and threw their bodies overboard. They also claim a third boat picked up the hijackers who left the defendants in the life raft.
Acosta said their story is full of inconsistencies and each suspect gave different accounts about events that unfolded on the boat including what the hijackers were wearing, where the murders took place and even how they survived.
FBI investigators found four bullet casings on the boat from a 9mm Glock handgun. They also found receipts in Zarabozo's apartment for a Glock 9mm magazine and four boxes of 9mm bullets purchased from Lou's Gun Shop and Police Supply in Hialeah. The spent shell casings were the same size and brand purchased by Zarabozo.
Archer was originally being held for fleeing to avoid prosecution in Arkansas, where he allegedly stole $92,000 from the Wal-Mart where he worked until January.
Zarabozo, who lived in his mother's apartment in Hialeah, was being held on charges he lied to federal investigators when, under questioning, he failed to recognize the Joe Cool.
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