Conviction in fake pirate "Joe Cool" murder trial

It's been a couple of years since charges were brought in the Joe Cool case. You might remember it as the case in which a couple of guys were found floating in a life raft with the crew of their chartered fishing boat missing (see here). The guys in the raft alleged pirates had done them and the crew harm.

Now there's been a murder conviction in the case:

After asking the judge to clarify the law on first-degree murder, federal jurors on Thursday convicted a former Hialeah security guard of killing four crew members aboard the Miami Beach charter boat, the Joe Cool.
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Before the first trial, Zarabozo's partner, Kirby Archer, a fugitive from Arkansas, pleaded guilty to the four murders and one conspiracy count. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Archer, 36, and Zarabozo chartered the Joe Cool on Sept. 22, 2007, paying $4,000 in cash for a one-way trip to Bimini. Prosecutors say both men used the Bimini trip as a ''pretext'' to hijack the vessel to Cuba, sparking the fatal shootings at sea.

Charges filed in fishing boat "Joe Cool" murders

Reported as Two charged with murder of ghost boat crew:

U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said the execution-style killings, which had ''torn apart'' families and left two young children orphaned, warranted first-degree murder charges.

''They were on the seas, on a boat, and they were murdered in cold blood,'' he said.

Authorities described the suspects' tale of murderous pirates invading the boat as an implausible coverup riddled with holes. Acosta said the men -- Guillermo Zarabozo, who just turned 20, of Hialeah, and Kirby Archer, 35, of Arkansas -- gave different accounts about what the hijackers were wearing, how the killings were carried out and how they survived in the hours after the horrific Sept. 22 event.

And although they acknowledge there is no smoking gun, FBI agents 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.

Agents found four spent shell casings of the same size and brand -- Federal Cartridge, Hydra-Shok 9mm bullets -- on the vessel, Joe Cool. Prosecutors displayed an example of the bullet, standard law enforcement ammunition, at a news conference.

In a criminal complaint, prosecutors said there was enough circumstantial evidence to pin the killings on the two men, though they would not speculate on the motive.

Prosecutors filed the preliminary murder charges to buy time as the FBI continues to go over physical evidence -- including human blood discovered inside the vessel's cabin. If a federal grand jury returns a first-degree murder indictment, prosecutors could seek death penalties.

More here:

Kirby Archer and Guillermo Zarabozo were found alone in the life raft of the Joe Cool after it was reported missing in the Bahamas last month.

The bodies have not been found, but prosecutors say they have sufficient circumstantial and forensic evidence.

The two men say Cuban pirates boarded the Joe Cool and murdered its crew.

Mr Archer and Mr Zarabozo are set to appear before a federal court in Miami, Florida, on Thursday. They could get face a death sentence or life in prison if convicted.
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Federal investigators said the two accused had paid $4,000 (£1,960) to charter the 47ft (14m) fishing boat on 22 September for a trip to Bimini in the Bahamas.

However, the Joe Cool unexpectedly turned towards Cuba part of the way through the journey and contact was lost with the crew.

The US Coast Guard found the boat adrift with no-one on board on 23 September near Anguilla Bay in the Bahamas, about 35 miles (55km) from Cuba.

The next day, Mr Archer and Zarabozo were found, with their luggage, in the Joe Cool's life raft about 12 miles north of the abandoned boat.

You know, pirates often leave victims, in this case alleged eyewitnesses, adrift with their luggage...

Earlier report here.

Murder or piracy: Florida fishing boat worries

A couple of guys found floating in a lift raft under mysterious circumstances, the crew of the fishing boat they chartered missing, the boat found adrift and the guys in the raft saying "pirates" did it - as recapped here with a look at the effects on the charter business (which is another one of those areas that might need a little more security checking by the Homeland Security Department):

The captains also are trying to divine the motives of the two men who were found in a life raft Monday several miles from the abandoned Joe Cool: Kirby Archer, 36, accused of stealing $92,000 from a Wal-Mart in his home state of Arkansas, and Guillermo Zarabozo, 19, Hialeah. They are jailed on federal charges of fleeing to avoid prosecution and lying to a federal agent, respectively. The two claimed the boat was hijacked by pirates, who then killed the crew.

In light of the event, skippers across South Florida say prospective charter clients likely will undergo more scrutiny in the future.

"I think that captains will research their parties a little bit more now," said Tom Williams, captain of the Out There, a 38-foot Rampage based in North Palm Beach.

Boat hijackings are rare off South Florida waters. "It's very uncommon. We don't worry that much about it," said Brady. "You could get hijacked at a red light."

But there have been instances. One eerily similar to the current case involved a captain and mate who in 1995 accepted $4,000 cash to take two men to the Bahamas. Once near land, the hijackers commandeered the vessel at gunpoint. The captain jumped overboard and swam to shore. The attackers spared the mate when the ship grounded and escaped in a life raft. They were caught, but skipped bail.

In 1992, two Cuban men chartered a fishing boat in the Keys, forced the captain into the water at knifepoint and tried to sail to Cuba. They were arrested when their boat ran out of fuel, and later convicted for the murder of the captain, who drowned.

Still, charter boat skippers enjoy a romantic, near idyllic existence, doing what they love, fishing in the sun, cruising the sea.

More here.

Of special concern, the old passport dodge employed by one of the suspects, as set out in court filings:

On or about September 22nd, at about 3:15 p.m., ARCHER and ZARABOZO anived at
the Miami Beach Marina. The two men spoke with Sissy Baby's owner. ARCHER
stated that he and ZARABOZO worked for a survey company and that they had finished
early. According to ARCHER, the pair were planning to meet with their girlfriends on a
yacht at the Big Game Resort and Yacht Club in Bimini. ARCHER stated that he was
unable to fly to Bimini because his girlfriend had packed away his passport. ARCHER
said that he planned to meet his girlfriend at the dock in order to retrieve the passport.

Should have heard alarm bells ringing...

Doubts regarding the story of pirates here:

Whatever the legal complexities, people who fish or patrol the waters of the Florida Straits express doubts about the hijack story.

''In my 20 years, I've never heard of any private vessel being involved in an act of armed high-seas piracy off the coast of Florida,'' said Zachary Mann, senior special agent for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Miami, which monitors the Straits.

And myriad boaters and fishing captains have pointed out that the story defies an inescapable fact of the Gulf Stream: It flows north, about 4 mph on average.

If hijackers killed the crew as they crossed to Bimini, current would have carried the boat northward. Instead, the abandoned boat, and the survivors in a life raft, wound up nearly 100 miles in the opposite direction -- closer to Cuba.

Then, said Dean Panos, a veteran charter captain who runs the Double D out of the Keystone Point Marina in North Miami, there's the question of what hijackers were after. Agents seized a wad of cash from Archer.

''They walked away with $2,200 in their pockets,'' Panos said. ``Don't you think the hijackers would have maybe wanted that?''

Of course there is also another mystery of a missing boat captain here:

An unexperienced boater tried his best to let rescuers know his vessel's captain had gone overboard in a distress call released by the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday.

Lindsay Forde, 48, of Hollywood, was reported missing about 6:40 p.m. Saturday in an area 75 miles west of Bayport, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Bayport is a beach town about 60 miles northwest of Tampa.
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The men, who had not filed a plan, made a few port stops in Florida, Tully said. She did not know their destination port. On Saturday afternoon, Swindle went below decks for a while, leaving Forde to his steering, Tully said. At the time, waves were 6 to 8 feet and winds were a blustery 27 knots. Tully said such conditions would fiercely rock any small boat.

When Swindle returned topside, Forde had disappeared, he told the Coast Guard when he called for help.

No foul play suspected in the latter case.

Photo is of a Bertram yacht, but not the one involved in either matter.

Mystery of Missing Yacht Crew continues

Updater on the crew of Kaz II, mysteriously missing since the middle of April, lingers, set out in Fate of ghost boat crew swallowed by the sea:

Since then, despite searches and forensic investigation, no evidence has been found to establish what befell the three crew. "There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that violence or foul play were involved," said Chief Superintendent Roy Wall, who commanded the sea and air search from Townsville. "Something — we don't know what — went badly amiss."

Initial post, with links to updates, here.

Where is M/V Infinity Marine 1?

Gone missing and staying missing, as set out in Lost Ship Mystery:

A cargo ship with 21 UAE-based sailors on board has been missing for more than three weeks leading to fears for the crew's safety. Worried relatives of the men on board the MV Infinity Marine 1 are now bombarding the boat's owners in a desperate quest for information fearing the boat has sunk or been hijacked by pirates.

“The ship set sail on June 26, but it was diverted due to Cyclone Gonu that came through the Arabian Gulf,” Captain Khaldoon Kalla, of KK Marine Consultants, and the technical manager of the ship, told 7DAYS. “It safely sailed out of UAE waters, but there has been no news of it since it entered Somalian waters some time ago,” he added.
Despite intensive searches by the US and French navies there have been no sightings of the boat or its crew - made up of 15 Indians, five Pakistanis and one Iraqi. The pirate-infested waters off the Somali coast have seen numerous boats and sailors taken hostage in the past
few months.
“The ship may have found a shelter in Somalia but the waters there are controlled by pirates and so a hijack cannot be ruled out,” Kalla said. However, the fact that no ransom has yet been demanded for the boat or its crew means that nothing has yet been ruled out, he added.
Andrew Mwangura, from the Seafarers' Assistance Programme, said the ship disappeared some 37 nautical miles off the northeastern village of Ras Hafun in Somalia, adding that some debris had been found in the area where the cargo ship was last located.

Red arrow on map points to "Ras Hafun" area and yellow line is of general pirate haven area. Click on map to make it bigger.