Suspect: Hijackers Killed Charter Crew

SEPTEMBER 27--One of the men suspected in the high seas disappearance of the crew of a Florida charter boat claimed that the vessel was overtaken by hijackers who shot and killed the crew, whose bodies were dumped overboard. The account of passenger Guillermo Zarabozo, 19, is contained in an affidavit filed in support of a criminal complaint lodged against Kirby Archer, Zarabozo's friend and the only other passenger on the Joe Cool vessel, which was found empty and adrift Sunday just southwest of the Bahamas. Archer, 35, is wanted in Arkansas on a felony theft charge. After Zarabozo and Archer were rescued from a raft (which also carried their luggage and other personal items), Zarabozo told a Coast Guard investigator that the hijackers first killed the ship's captain and his 'hysterical' wife. Then they purportedly killed two crew member when the men refused to throw the bodies overboard. Zarabozo claimed that he complied when ordered to throw the four bodies overboard. The affidavit, a copy of which you'll find below, does not detail how Zarabozo and Archer were able to escape the Joe Cool unharmed. Last Saturday, Zarabozo and Archer paid $4000 to charter the boat from Miami Beach to Bimini, where they said they were meeting their girlfriends on a yacht. Zarabozo is being held on a criminal complaint charging him with making a false statement to a federal agent. (5 pages)