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U.S. Department of Justice United States Attorney Southern District of Florida 99 N.E. 4 Street, Miami, FL 33132 (305)961-9001 July 24, 2008 NEWS RELEASE: DEFENDANT PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY AND R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Division; Rear Admiral Robert S. Branham, Commander 7th Coast Guard District; Jonathan Sall, Special Agent in Charge, Coast Guard Investigative Service; Julie Torres, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and Robert Parker, Director, Miami-Dade Police Department, announced that today defendant Kirby Logan Archer pleaded guilty to the first-degree murders of Jake H. Branam, Kelley S. Branam, Scott M. Gamble, and Samuel A. Kairy, as well as conspiracy to commit violence against maritime navigation. Archer faces a statutory term of life imprisonment as to the four first-degree murder charges and a sentence of up to life imprisonment for the conspiracy charge. Sentencing has been scheduled for October 2, 2008, before United States District Judge Paul C. Huck. According to the facts proffered to the Court in support of the plea, which included admissions that Kirby Logan Archer made to Federal agents, Archer and Guillermo Alfonso Zarabozo chartered the F/V Joe Cool at the Miami Beach Marina for a trip to Bimini on September 22, 2007. Archer and Zarabozo paid $4,000 in cash for this voyage and claimed to be going to Bimini to meet their girlfriends on a yacht at Bimini’s Big Game Resort and Yacht Club in Bimini. The boat left for Bimini on September 22nd with Archer, Zarabozo and the boat’s crew: the captain, his wife, and two crewmen. According to evidence obtained from the boat’s Global Positioning System device, the Joe Cool began a straight-line course towards Bimini, which lies about 47 nautical miles east of Miami. Approximately nine nautical miles short of Bimini, the GPS indicates that the boat headed north for a distance of approximately 270 feet. The Joe Cool then took a 190-degree track-line and began to head south. As the vessel headed south, it was located within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States. The Joe Cool traveled south about 140 miles on various courses. Along its course, the Joe Cool approached Cay Sal Bank in the Bahamas. The GPS shows that the boat traveled around the bank’s shallow waters and eventually stopped about 30 miles north of Cuba. At that point, based on the vessel’s drifting patterns, it appears that the Joe Cool ran out of fuel and subsequently lost power at the GPS’s last data entry point. On September 23, 2007, the United States Coast Guard found the Joe Cool adrift approximately 30 nautical miles away from Cuba. On September 24, 2007, the Coast Guard found the defendants in a life raft, but could not find the bodies of the captain, his wife, or the two crewmen. Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Coast Guard, Coast Guard Investigative Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Miami-Dade Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Karen Gilbert, Michael Gilfarb and Jeffrey Tsai. A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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