Two charged in high-seas murder mystery

By Jim Loney

MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. authorities filed murder charges on Wednesday against two men found floating in a life raft near Cuba in the killings of four fishing boat crewmembers in a case of murder and piracy on the high seas.

U.S. agents never found the bodies of the victims and will rely on bullet casings, a handcuff key, a blood smear and conflicting stories from the suspects in hopes of winning a conviction in the high-profile mystery of the Miami charter boat Joe Cool.

Kirby Logan Archer and Guillermo Alfonso Zarabozo were charged with first-degree murder in international waters for the deaths of Joe Cool's captain, Jake Branam, his wife Kelley Branam and crew members Scott Gamble and Samuel Kairy.

The tale of missing bodies, Cuban pirates and a suspected child predator has been the talk of the Florida boating community.

Investigators say Archer and Zarabozo paid $4,000 on September 22 to charter the million-dollar fishing boat in Miami Beach for a trip to Bimini, where they said they were meeting girlfriends. But the Joe Cool unexpectedly turned toward Cuba when it was part way to the Bahamas.

The Coast Guard found the boat adrift on September 23 near Anguilla Cay in the Bahamas, about 35 miles from Cuba. The next day searchers found Archer and Zarabozo, with their luggage, in the life raft 12 miles north of the abandoned yacht.

The two men told authorities three Cuban pirates commandeered the fishing boat and shot the four crew but left Archer and Zarabozo on the vessel unharmed. Zarabozo said he was forced to throw the bodies overboard.

Investigators said the boat was in disarray. On board they found a handcuff key on the bow, human blood on the stern and in the cabin and shell casings for a 9 mm handgun, according to an agent's affidavit.

Early in the investigation, authorities were suspicious. Archer and Zarabozo told conflicting stories and gave different descriptions of the alleged pirates, they said.

The two men were initially held on other charges -- Archer on a warrant for fleeing to avoid prosecution in Arkansas, where he allegedly took $92,000 from a Wal-Mart where he worked, and Zarabozo on suspicion of lying to investigators.

Archer also was the target of an Arkansas investigation into allegations of sexual assault on a child.

The authorities did not offer a possible motive for the killings.

"The forensic, historical and circumstantial evidence of premeditated murder compels us to bring this prosecution," U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta said in a statement.