Oct 8, 2007 6:55 pm US/Eastern
Joe Cool Family Says 'SOS' Has Not Been Revealed
vm
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
The mystery surrounding the disappearance of a charter boat crew is deepening.
Defense attorneys for the two suspects are going on the offense. They want access to the ill fated boat and they're suggesting there was an "SOS" that has not yet been revealed.
Before the charter boat Joe Cool became a ghost ship, its four-member crew missing and now presumed murdered was their "mayday" broadcast from the boat? That's what attorney's for Kirby Archer and his companion Guillermo Zarabozo want to know.
The two are suspected of murdering the boats crew in an effort to flee the country.
In this motion filed by their attorney now, they want the judge to order, "that the government preserve all recordings of distress calls to the U.S. Coast Guard as this is likely to constitute evidence in this case."
Archer and Zarabozo claim hijackers came aboard the boat shot and killed the crew and set them adrift in a life raft.
Their attorneys apparently believe an SOS might support that clam
Kendall Coffey is a former U.S prosecutor.
"That might help a theory that perhaps there were some people storming on board after all, and maybe somebody else committed the crime," said Coffey. "On the other hand, it's just as easy for the prosecution to suggest that that maybe the defendants themselves sent a mayday call as part of a scheme to cover up their crime."
At the same time the defense looks for a distress call from the boat, it also wants the boat, and wants its own experts to examine the vessel that was returned to the victim's family last week.
It's a family that fears, with no murder weapons and no bodies recovered, justice may be denied.
"You know it's a possibility and I think about it everyday," said Jon Branam a victims' cousin. "But regardless of what happens to them, it's not going to bring back my loved one, my best friends, my family, so that's the way I look at it."
The family has agreed to keep the Joe Cool in secure storage until a judge decides whether the defense will be allowed back on board.
We should hear more in the battle for custody of the Joe Cool, and perhaps learn whether there was indeed a mayday call from the boat. The defendants will return to federal court on Thursday.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Kerrigan Family Rejects Homicide Report 1 hr 5 mins ago
Stumble It!
Comments