All language subtitles for Deadly.Waters.with.Captain.Lee.S01E01.1080p.WEBRip.x264-BAE_[English] (SUBRIP)

[dramatic music]

- I've spent over half
of my life at sea,

traveling around the world.

But it's not always
smooth sailing.

- The U.S. Coast Guard
received information

that the fishing vessel,
"Joe Cool," was missing.

- It seemed to have vanished
into thin air.

- There were six people
on board.

They had the capability
to call for help.

- I was all over the news,
the mysterious ghost ship.

- We had no idea
what had happened to that boat.

- Then, out in the middle
of nowhere,

they found the boat floating.

- And then the Coast Guards go
on board with guns drawn.

- It looked ransacked.
And there's blood on the decks.

* *

- This is not
a normal search and rescue.

We knew that
something was wrong.

- We were devastated.

- What happened
to the six Americans

who had been on that boat?

* *

[seagulls squalling]

[upbeat music]

- Miami is one of the world's

most popular
vacation destinations.

It's got the turquoise waters
of Biscayne Bay

and 35 miles
of white, sandy beaches.

- If you love the water,

Miami is a wonderful place
to be--

a lot of boats, diving,
sportfishing charters,

a lot of water activity.

- And particularly,
Miami Beach Marina is

right there next to the inlet.

It's the gateway
to the Bahamas.

Hundreds, if not thousands,
of boats and yachts

go from Miami to the Bahamas.

- It's no wonder tourists
flock here for fun in the sun.

[tense atmospheric music]

However, in 2007,
a once-in-a-lifetime adventure

turned into
an unbelievable nightmare.

* *

[ship whistle
blares distantly]

- It was Sunday afternoon.

And Coast Guard Sector Miami
was alerted by a phone call

from the owner, Jeff Branam,
of the "Joe Cool,"

that their charter boat was
overdue from Bimini,

which is the closest island
in the Bahamas,

about 50 miles
to the east of Miami.

- When a vessel is reported
as overdue,

that means the boat did not
meet its scheduled return.

But overdues happen
all the time.

The fish are biting,

and passengers want
to stay out longer,

or people drink too much
in Bimini

and need to sleep it off,
which causes a delay.

- The owner said there were
six people on board,

the four crew members,

and then they had
two passengers.

- There was the captain, Jake,
his wife Kelley,

and the two crew members,
Sammy and Scott,

who was Jake's
older half brother.

- They were
a professional crew.

And they had an itinerary

that we expected
they would stick to.

- The passengers were not like

most of the passengers
they had.

They were not interested
in fishing.

They just wanted
transportation to Bimini.

Now, the captain, Jake,
was a little puzzled.

And he asked them,
are you sure?

You could probably get
a much cheaper flight

to go to Bimini from Miami.

But they couldn't fly

because their girlfriends
had accidentally packed

their passports
in their luggage.

And they're in Bimini Bay
on a boat.

So the passengers said,
how much is this gonna cost?

And finally, they settled
on a price of $4,000

for a one-way trip.

- They could make that trip
in 2 1/2 hours or so.

We see that a lot,
on a weekend especially.

- The owner,
Jake's uncle, Jeff,

encouraged Jake to go ahead,
take the trip.

It's an international trip.

You'll be able
to say that you've

taken charters to the Bahamas.

And, you know, you might
have fun while you're there.

That Saturday morning,

they set off
from Miami Beach Marina

on a straight shot to Bimini.

What Jake and the crew
planned to do

was take these two passengers,

drop them off on the boat that
their girlfriends were on,

and then come back to Miami,
fishing most of the way back

to see if they could catch
some fish for the family.

It was important to Jake
to be back the next day

in time for another charter
that he had planned.

It was for Loews Hotel
on Miami Beach.

But the next morning,
when Jake's cousin

was expecting to see
the "Joe Cool" back at the dock

so that the boat
could be prepped

for this important charter,
the boat wasn't there.

[phone rings]

- Charter boat owner
Jeff Branam said

he'd never been alerted
to any kind of issue on board.

When Coast Guard gets
an overdue called in,

you start making
some phone calls.

You call marinas.
In this case,

they called the marinas
in the Bahamas.

And there was no sign
of "Joe Cool."

We alerted any vessels
that might see any evidence

of where "Joe Cool" might be.

- The "Joe Cool,"
built in 1988,

is a 47-foot sportfish
made to handle rough seas.

Equipped with a tuna tower,
it's a high-end boat,

ready for fishing trips
that rake in the big fish

as quickly as it does
the charters.

Because the "Joe Cool" had
a charter scheduled

for the next morning,
it's very unlikely

Captain Jake would have
intentionally

extended their trip.

That's why the Coast Guard
believes something is amiss.

- The U.S. Coast Guard
was hyper-focused

on finding the vessel.

So they did some homework
on the crew members.

And they found out
that they were residents

of South Florida.

And they learned that
Jake Branam and Kelley Branam

were a married couple
in their 20s.

Jake had a half brother,
Scott Gamble,

and one of their very,
very close family friends,

Samuel Kairy, were on board.

So all four knew each other.

And they were all
friends and family.

- My brother, Jake,
worked his way up

to be captain
of the "Joe Cool."

Sammy was the first mate.

He was a sweetheart.

He was great friends
with Jake's kids and Kelley.

Jake and Kelley have
two beautiful children.

She loved her children.

She loved my brother.

She adored him.

Kelley was wonderful.

Scott had a background
in mechanics,

so he helped a lot
with the boat, the engines.

And if anything went wrong,

Scott was able
to help out with that.

In 2007, "Joe Cool"
was doing amazing.

Jake knew where to go
to find the fish.

So, so many people were
contacting him,

and his charter boat business

began to really,
really take off.

And so when they were
reported missing at sea,

it was a scream in my head.

The not knowing if they're okay
is the worst part.

- In addition
to making phone calls

to nearby marinas and Bimini,

the Coast Guard sends out
a PAN-PAN message,

which is like
a maritime version of a BOLO.

It goes out on Channel 16,

which is a standby emergency
channel that every boat

all over the world
is tuned to 24 hours a day.

They'll describe the vessel,
its last known sighting,

the itinerary,
how many people are on board,

and the purpose of the voyage,
all vital information.

But there were no sightings
of the "Joe Cool."

Once the Coast Guard
has exhausted

all options
in their emergency protocol,

they launch an official
search and rescue mission.

[tense music]

- At that point,
we launched aircraft

out of Coast Guard
Air Station Miami

and put them in a search
pattern looking for the boat.

* *

We know the "Joe Cool's"
a vessel

that's highly seaworthy.

It's very capable
of making that trip.

They had the capability
to call for help.

They had
emergency radio beacon

on board they could have
turned on.

There was a lot of things
they could have done

to signal
that they needed help.

So we knew that
something was wrong.

[seagulls squalling,
helicopter whirring]

- The Coast Guard
followed a track

from Miami Beach Marina
to Bimini.

That's where
they started searching

because that's where
the boat had gone.

But there was nothing.

Nothing turned up.

They had no idea what had
happened to that boat.

It seemed to have vanished
into thin air.

* *

- The whole boating community
basically came together

doing their own searching.

- As it came
across the horizon,

we could see that it was
the "Joe Cool."

Nobody was responding
on the radio.

- They notice that
the life raft is missing.

That adds to the mystery
and adds to the urgency.

- Pirating is a real thing.

I think the Coast Guard
realizes that they've stumbled

upon a crime on the high seas.

[tense music]

[ship whistle
blares distantly]

- On Sunday,
September 23, 2007,

the U.S. Coast Guard
received a report

of an overdue charter vessel.

The "Joe Cool" did not return
to Miami when scheduled.

So the Coast Guard launches
a search and rescue mission

from Miami to Bimini in hopes
of finding the missing crew

and two passengers on board.

[ship whistle blaring]

- It was all over the news,
the mysterious ghost ship.

The unknown is terrible.

Of course we were--
we were scared to death.

But, you know,
Jake was an amazing captain.

And Sammy's there.

Scott's there.

And they were so experienced
on the water.

We had hope
that they were okay.

We were waiting for any type
of tips or leads.

The Coast Guard really
couldn't give us

much of an update
at that point.

During the search,

we had family members
charter helicopters.

And they were out doing
their own searching.

There was friends of Jake's

that had
their own charter boats.

They were out doing
their searching.

The whole boating community
basically came together

and really put forth
a lot of effort

to look for my brothers.

It was a hard time.

- In our search
for the "Joe Cool,"

we launched multiple aircraft

and also diverted a Coast Guard
C-130 that was in flight.

We're searching for a boat

on a track line directly
from Miami Beach to Bimini.

Smuggling of migrants,
particularly coming out

of Cuba,
was a nightly occurrence.

There was very,
very high traffic

in smuggling drugs coming out
from the south to the north.

And so we had normal patrols
going on in Sector Key West.

The Coast Guard Cutter
"Pea Island's" captain

was Lieutenant Jonathan Carter
at the time.

- We were working
for Sector Key West.

I was called to the bridge
by the officer of the deck

who reported
a target of interest.

And as it came
across the horizon,

we could see
the conning tower.

And we knew it was
a sports fisher.

As we approached the vessel,

we continued making
radio calls

to try to get them to answer.

Nobody was responding
on the radio.

[radio crackling]

There were things that made it
very unusual for us.

The first was its location.

Sports fishers don't need
to run that far south

and burn that much fuel
to find fish.

The second thing was that

there was 75 feet
of anchor line out,

but they were
well over 200 feet of water.

So that did not make sense
to us at all.

As we approached the vessel,
the stern door was open

and swinging in the sea.

We could clearly see,
written on the stern door,

"Joe Cool,
Star island, Florida."

[suspenseful music]

- The "Joe Cool" was
140 miles off course.

The vessel was approximately
30 miles north of Cuba,

which is only about 18 miles
from their territorial waters.

- We were
within 12 nautical miles

of the Bahamian island
of Anguilla Cay.

- The boat couldn't
have drifted that fast.

We knew that was very unusual.

And it was hard to reconcile

with what
their intended trip was.

- The route from Miami
to Bimini goes directly

across the Gulf Stream,
which is always moving north

at a speed of 5 to 7 knots.

If the "Joe Cool" had
a mechanical problem,

the current would have pushed
it north at a very rapid rate,

meaning the only way
the boat could have ended up

in the location
where it was found

is if someone intentionally
piloted the vessel

in that direction,
going against the current.

* *

- Coast Guard protocol for
seeing a boat that, at least,

has no sign of anybody on board
is to be cautious

and to do everything you can
to signal who might be there.

We needed to know,
was there anybody on board?

And was there
a problem on board?

[ship whistle blaring]

- We sounded our ship's whistle
over and over again,

trying to get somebody
to come out.

Nobody was responding.

- We're basically looking
at every possibility

of drug smuggling, hijackers,
pirates on "Joe Cool."

- There have been pirates

for as long as there have been
ships in Cuba.

And it was still an area
well-known for trafficking.

Everybody knew it.

- We had people with long guns
posted on the cutter

in case there were people
potentially hiding on board.

We launched our small boat
with a boarding team.

And the initial plan was
to do everything that we could

to try to get people
to come out.

* *

So the boat did a circle
around the vessel.

They took out their batons
and tapped on the hull

in case somebody was inside.

And after about ten minutes
of nothing happening,

the XO requests permission
to board the vessel

and tactically clear it.

- XO is short
for executive officer,

or the second-in-command.

Part of their job is
to keep the CO,

the commanding officer,
informed of all major events

before allowing their Guardsmen
to board another vessel.

- We were in a dangerous spot
until we could ensure

that all threats were
taken care of

because we noticed
some unusual things

about the vessel.

There were car keys.
There were wallets.

There was a fishing pole
still in the fishing chair.

These were clear indications

that people did not intend
to leave the vessel.

- It was a further mystery.

What happened
to the six Americans

who had been on that boat?

[siren wailing]

[tense music]

* *

- When U.S. Guardsmen locate
the "Joe Cool"

140 miles off course,

they discover
no one's on board.

As they search the vessel,
they look for clues

about why the crew and
passengers abandoned the boat.

- When the boarding team
first boarded the vessel,

the boat was
in a state of disarray.

* *

We found blood on the stern

where you typically
land a fish.

But we also knew that
it could be human blood.

- They also noticed that
the life raft is missing.

That adds to the mystery
and adds to the urgency

of finding the six Americans.

Had they taken the life raft
and gone someplace?

- As the boarding team
collects evidence,

a separate team works
to find the missing life raft.

Emergency life rafts
are built to last.

However, the Coast Guard has
no way of knowing

the condition
of the crew and passengers.

Some or all of them
may be injured,

meaning time is of the essence.

- Good friend of mine,
he calls me on my phone.

And he said,

they found the "Joe Cool"
down south off Cuba.

- "Joe Cool" was
operated intentionally

against the current
to the south by somebody.

And we didn't know how.

And we didn't know who.

- You just don't go south
to go to Cuba.

You go south, you're gonna
go past Cay Sal Banks,

and you're gonna run out
of fuel somewhere in the middle

of the Atlantic or something.

I knew something has happened
that's not good.

- Now we needed a treat the
"Joe Cool" as a crime scene,

because it's shifted
from just search and rescue

to a maritime
law enforcement case.

- So at this point,
the U.S. Coast Guard

called the FBI in this matter

because the FBI has primacy
in crime on the high seas

as it relates
to U.S. persons and citizens.

It's a very unique situation
where your crime scene

is floating
in the middle of the ocean.

You have to think
very carefully

about the strategy
that you're gonna use

and how you're gonna
investigate this.

We received a weather briefing
that a monsoon was coming,

so we had to protect
the "Joe Cool,"

preserve that evidence
as best we could.

- We were concerned
in the weather

for the state
of the "Joe Cool."

And after we put it
in the stern tow on the cutter,

nobody went back on board
until morning.

* *

- Now with the "Joe Cool"
crime scene safely secured,

every available resource goes
to an overnight search

of the nearby islands
and the ocean in between.

- Through the night,
we continued to search.

We had aircraft flying.

And we had several cutters
out there.

"Pea Island," "Confidence,"
and "Cormorant"

were all
in different search areas.

- We knew that we were
only 11.5 nautical miles

from Anguilla Cay,
so we go to Anguilla Cay

to search for potential
survivors on the island.

- The helicopter search
was challenging

because the weather
had started to turn.

[thunder rumbles]

- We had our spotlights
in the water,

but we were starting
to see whitecaps.

And it just becomes
harder and harder

as the weather deteriorates
to see things

that could be in the water.

But our primary mission
is search and rescue.

So you're still looking
for survivors out of the water.

[seagulls squalling]

[helicopter whirring]

- Throughout the next day,

Coast Guard District
Command Center remained

in a search and rescue mode.

We had H-60 helicopters
flying out of the Bahamas.

We had C-130s.
We had P-3s from the Navy.

The search extended
all the way

from the north coast of Cuba
through the Bahamas,

all the way north
as far as Cape Canaveral.

And we're looking
for any sign of life

or any evidence that
we could find from "Joe Cool,"

because we don't even know

if we're looking
for people in the water

or if we're looking
for people on land.

- We had no idea
what was going on.

And it was a terrible feeling.

We still had hope.

We thought they were somewhere,

clinging, you know,
to a rock, something.

- The helicopter had been
searching for about an hour

when they saw
something orange in the water.

What they found was
an orange life raft

with a cover on it.

There was a stenciled name
on the side of the raft.

The name was "Joe Cool."

- They hovered over it, and
they had to get lower and lower

to the point where
they blew the tarp off.

They notice that there's two
individuals in the lifeboat.

- The pilot had been told
he was looking for six people.

Where were
the other four people?

- Three days after
the "Joe Cool" vanished,

the Coast Guard locates
the boat's life raft.

But only two of the six
missing Americans are on board.

[dramatic music]

- We don't know
who the two people are.

But we lower the basket
from the helicopter.

- And one by one,
the individuals got

in the basket and were raised
up to the helicopter.

And inside that helicopter,
it's very loud.

So it's very common for
the Coast Guard to communicate

with the "rescuees"
with pen and paper.

The helicopter pilot then
slides them a piece of paper

asking them, "What happened?
Are you guys okay?"

One of them takes
the piece of paper.

And he writes the following.

"West Bimini--
we were abandoned in the boat.

Hijacking--four killed."

So at this point,
the Coast Guard realizes

that they've stumbled upon
a crime on the high seas.

- During that time, the people
who were going back and forth

on fishing boats from Miami

through the Straits
or over to the Bahamas

were well aware
that they might be exposed

to this kind of hijacking.

They started carrying guns
on their boats.

- Upon my interviews
on the Coast Guard Cutter

with the two survivors,

we confirmed their identities

as Guillermo Zarabozo

and Kirby Archer.

- The were the passengers
of the charter.

And these two survivors say,

there's no one else
to be rescued.

Captain Jake
and his wife, Kelley,

and the crew members,
Sammy and Scott,

were apparently killed.

- Guillermo Zarabozo
and Kirby Archer said

that three Cuban pirates
boarded the vessel

and killed
the other four crew members.

Guillermo Zarabozo
and Kirby Archer were being

treated as victims
by the U.S. Coast Guard.

- With this information
from the surviving passengers,

the Coast Guard radios back
to the Command Center on land

and calls off the search
for the other four victims.

- We had found out that the--
the search was called off.

And, of course, we fell apart.

[soft dramatic music]

Having four family members
out there,

and they're no longer
being looked for was hard.

* *

- Any time you lose somebody
you're that close to,

you get a sadness well up
in you

because it just
didn't have to happen.

It just was a--
a sad sequence of events.

- I never got to say goodbye.
None of us did.

We never got to say,
"I love you."

And I still suffer
from that today...

Not having any closure,
there's no grave to go to.

The only place we can go
is the ocean.

* *

[tense music]

* *

- Before sailing back to Miami

on the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter
"Confidence,"

we wanted to see
what was on the "Joe Cool."

So we took our time
and searched it inside out.

[dramatic music]

And there was four

9-millimeter spent
shell casings

that were found
in or around the cabin.

That made sense
because we had four victims.

* *

But the "Joe Cool,"
it was a very odd crime scene.

It looked ransacked,
but it didn't appear

that anything was stolen.

- If you were attacked
by pirates,

they would presumably
be doing that for money

or for some reason,
take the boat and do something.

But they leave the boat.
They leave the valuables.

All the fishing gear is there.

- What was very odd,
we found a blowgun,

darts, handcuff key,
throwing stars.

These items
are considered weapons

and are not something
that you would normally bring

on a pleasure trip,
like a fishing charter.

The big question here was,

why would pirates leave that
on the "Joe Cool"?

- None of that
made sense to us.

- By definition, pirates are
robbers who travel by sea.

What pirates don't do
is board a boat,

kill or remove
the crew and passengers,

and then leave without taking
all of the valuables.

After the FBI conducts
a full search of the vessel,

what they find leads them
to question

the men's credibility.

- We noticed the throttles
in both the bridge

and the flying bridge were
all the way forward,

which was an indication to us

that the boat may have
ran out of gas.

- Running against the current
with both throttles wide-open

would have quickly depleted the
fuel supply on the sportfish,

something pirates would
certainly have known.

- When you put all the pieces
of the puzzle together,

it just didn't make sense.

So the next step
of the investigation

was interviewing Kirby Archer
and Guillermo Zarabozo.

If anybody had the answers,
it would be these two.

I remember standing on top
of that Coast Guard Cutter

with the "Joe Cool" in tow,

and Guillermo Zarabozo
was staring at the "Joe Cool."

A partner walked over to him,

and he said,
"Remember that boat."

And Guillermo Zarabozo
looked at him,

and he said,
"I wasn't on that boat."

We knew they paid $4,000
in cash

for that trip to Bimini.

And they were both
on the life raft

from the "Joe Cool."

So we knew that he was lying
to a federal agent.

So at this point,
we had reason to detain.

Had it not been for that,

they would have walked off
that Coast Guard Cutter.

* *

- There were
many inconsistencies

between the story
that these two survivors told

and what had been found
on the boat.

In the end,
the search and the story

actually raised more questions
than it answered.

[tense music]

- Guillermo Zarabozo
and Kirby Archer

told authorities that
the "Joe Cool" was hijacked

by pirates who killed
the four crew members.

However,
after the FBI conducts

a full search of the vessel,

the evidence just isn't
adding up.

So investigators separate
and question

the two survivors
for a second time.

* *

- Because he had lied
to a federal agent

about being on the "Joe Cool,"

we started
with Guillermo Zarabozo

and established that rapport.

And eventually,
Guillermo admitted

that he was on that vessel.

He said three Cuban pirates
boarded the vessel

and then shot and killed
the crew members,

and then forced Kirby Archer
to drive the boat to Cuba.

After close to eight hours of
driving, they run out of gas.

* *

And at that point,
Guillermo said that

an unknown vessel showed up,
like a go-fast boat,

and the three hijackers
jumped on and sped away.

I asked him
about specific details,

what the hijackers
were wearing,

their size, height,
physical description.

Guillermo said there were
two younger Cuban males,

and then an older gentleman
who was kind of the boss.

And he described them
very specifically

as wearing polo shirts
and jeans.

And then we asked the same
questions to Kirby Archer.

And the basics
are very similar,

that there were
three Cuban hijackers.

But Kirby Archer's description
of the hijackers

were shorts and T-shirts.

There was also the order
of the victims that were shot

were very different.

And we got
very inconsistent answers.

When people lie, it's hard
to keep your lie straight.

- Kirby Archer
and Guillermo Zarabozo

reported that they were left
alone on this boat.

There was no fuel.
The battery had run out.

And that they decided that
they would take the life raft

and try to get to shore.

- Nothing can explain
why you get in a life raft

from a boat that's
perfectly seaworthy, 47-foot,

expensive charter boat yacht.

The "Joe Cool" had

emergency position-indicating
radiobeacon on board.

It clearly showed that
you push this button,

you turn it on, and that would
have gone immediately

to our Coast Guard
Command Center,

and we would have known
they needed help.

Instead, they get
in a life raft.

The hijackers story was
definitely suspicious

because they leave the boat,
they leave the valuables,

they spared Archer
and Zarabozo.

None of that made sense at all.

- My honest opinion was
that these two individuals

were responsible
for the murders.

But we needed evidence
to secure arrest warrants

for both individuals,
which was very challenging.

So at that point,
we communicated

the facts and circumstances
that we had to the prosecutor.

* *

- In 2007, I was the chief
of the Major Crimes Section

at the U.S. Attorney's office,
investigating cases

that happened
in international waters.

That's why I was called
by the FBI.

Our concern was,

we need to figure out
how to keep them in custody.

This case was a tragic scenario

where a husband
and wife get killed.

And then a brother and a very
close friend get killed.

So obviously, you always want
to get it right,

but you have to investigate
and turn over every rock

to get justice
for the victims' families.

- So we wanted to collect
all the information

and learn as much as we could.

So we start doing our homework

on both Guillermo Zarabozo
and Kirby Archer.

- We run a background check
of Guillermo Zarabozo

and learn that
he's 18 years old

with no criminal history.

He lived with his family.

And he was a security guard.

He even had
a State of Florida license

to carry a weapon
as a security guard.

And for Kirby Archer,
what we learn right away

is that there's an arrest
warrant pending for him

from Arkansas for a theft
of money from a Walmart.

- He was a customer service
manager there.

He had stolen $92,000
and disappeared.

- So that right there
gave Kirby Archer a motive

of why he would want
to flee by steering

the "Joe Cool"
in international waters.

- So the FBI had a reason
to arrest him

and keep him in custody.

- We knew we were gonna
be able to hold Kirby Archer.

But Guillermo Zarabozo,
on the other hand,

was a much more difficult
challenge for us to figure out,

is there anything that
we can charge Guillermo with?

We just had to find
the evidence

to keep Zarabozo in custody.

It's very difficult
to prosecute

a murder case at sea.

And if we can't charge him
right away,

we were very concerned
that he would flee

to avoid prosecution.

[tense music]

- Authorities are able
to arrest suspect Kirby Archer

on unrelated theft charges
out of Arkansas.

But they don't yet have
the evidence

to keep Guillermo Zarabozo
in custody

while building
their murder case.

So detectives take
a second look

at what they recovered
from the "Joe Cool."

* *

- These spent shell casings
recovered on the "Joe Cool"

were sent to our FBI lab
in Quantico.

And they were
forensically analyzed.

There was a stamp
that said FC.

FC stands for
Federal Cartridge Company.

Next, we served
a search warrant

on Guillermo Zarabozo's home.

We found that he had a receipt

for a purchase
of a 9-millimeter magazine,

which is consistent with
the cartridges that were found.

It could be evidence
to move forward

and ultimately convict both.

However, we needed to prove
that Kirby Archer wanted

to utilize a vessel
to make his way to Cuba

to escape arrest
and conviction.

- Investigators confront
both suspects

with the prosecutor's plan
to push for the death penalty.

They also revealed
the discovery of the bullets

found in Zarabozo's house
to show how likely it is

they will secure
a murder conviction.

Given this new information,
Kirby Archer is ready to talk.

- Kirby Archer wanted
to take a plea

to avoid the death penalty.

- Kirby Archer told
investigators

he first crossed paths
with Guillermo Zarabozo

at an auto shop
where Zarabozo was working

as a security guard.

Kirby convinced
Guillermo Zarabozo

that he was working
for the CIA,

that he was going
to go to Cuba.

- Zarabozo wanted to get
into law enforcement.

Kirby Archer was telling him
that if he successfully did

this mission, he would
get him a job with the CIA.

- Kirby Archer needed
an accomplice.

He needed someone to help him
commit these crimes.

- Kirby Archer said
he's the one

who shot first
the captain, Jake,

and then his wife, Kelley,

and that
Guillermo Zarabozo shot

Scott Gamble and Sammy Kairy.

Guillermo Zarabozo threw
their bodies overboard

and tried
to clean up the boat.

- And it was just enough
to charge him

for all those murders.

- It seems
Archer never planned

for the "Joe Cool"
to make it to Bimini.

But without
proper boating knowledge,

he had a better chance
of getting hit by lightning

than making it
to the Cuban coast.

- Kirby Archer pleads guilty
to the murders.

Zarabozo never disputed that
the four people were killed.

He just claimed somebody else
did it, not him.

It was very important for us
to prove that Guillermo

was actively involved
in shooting the individuals

and throwing them
into the water.

Guillermo Zarabozo
went to trial

on a 16-count indictment.

There was a count
for overtaking the vessel.

There were four counts
of murder,

robbery for taking the boat.

There were also counts
for use of a firearm.

We told the jury,
the most compelling evidence

from the vessel
were the casings

and the location
of the blood evidence.

[camera shutter clicking]

- That blood was analyzed.

And we found evidence of blood
from all four victims,

which matched
Kirby Archer's story.

- Ultimately, the jury did
reach a unanimous verdict

and found Zarabozo guilty.

- Throughout the trial,
Guillermo Zarabozo

maintained his innocence
and belief

that his actions were part
of a covert CIA operation.

- Both Kirby Archer
and Guillermo Zarabozo

were sentenced to five
consecutive life sentences

without the possibility
of parole.

- I can remember, after
Zarabozo was found guilty,

everyone that was there
was literally hugging,

in tears of joy.

It was such a relief.

[somber music]

* *

- Oh, it's still tough on me
to think about it

because it was just
such a waste,

just such a useless,
horrible act.

* *

- As the years have gone by,
you're reminded every holiday

that you don't have
the hugs and the joy

and the love
from the ones we've lost.

We'll never have that again.

There's still a hole
that will never go away.

* *

- The perpetrators had a plan
to get to Cuba.

But they didn't factor in
the fuel needed

to make the trip
or the difficulty

of piloting a vessel
against the Gulf Stream.

Luckily, their inexperience
on the ocean landed them both

in prison for the rest
of their lives.

[camera shutter clicks]

* *

To this day, the gun,

the bodies of Jake Branam,
Kelley Branam,

Scott Gamble, and Sam Kairy

have never been recovered
from the sea.