♪♪ >> reporter: down below the surface of the pacific ocean, on the far side of california's catalina islandilent current. strange, how it flows up to the swelling coastline of santa barbara. then, just before the open sea, turns back to glide again past this storied island. with, one sunny day in may 2006, someone in it. >> i have a saying that i'd rather be lucky than good. >> reporter: ken clark is a detective with the l.a. sheriff's department. been at it a long time. as has robert martindale. more than 50 years between them. but nothing like the case that literally floated to them on a lonely reach of ocean out by catalina. would never have had the case at all, except -- >> we were lucky that we had some boaters leaving newport beach going to catalina island and they came upon a body floating in the water. >> just happened to see it? >> just happened to see it. >> that's a big ocean out there. >> absolutely. >> so the chances of it being seen are, what, needle in the haystack? >> very slim. >> reporter: the sailors had spotted a flock of shrieking seagulls perched on top of a body. it l

tom's brother, brought his boat, and they all had this little party. >> okay, here we are on catalina island. this is our last trip to the island because we sold the boat, and we are all having a really good time. >> so, after this last catalina cruise, tom and jackie had told jim hawks and other people that the sale was going to take place in the next few days. >> so, we'll see what happens. hopefully we'll be all right, but you don't know what's going to happen. >> next thing you know is no one could get a hold of them. for them just to shut off their cell phones and drop off the face of the earth is extremely out of character. >> and when ryan and his brother matt tried calling them and they weren't answering, they knew something was really up. >> ryan's in arizona, so ryan puts in a call to his uncle, jim hawks, who lives in san diego. he used to be the chief of police for carlsbad police department. jim hawks jumps in his car and gets down there. >> don treffin and jim hawks are looking for jackie and tom, so they go to newport beach. there, they find the "well deserved," but no couple.