( AP ) - A boat trip that began as a routine charter to the Bahamas turned horribly wrong somewhere on the high seas when four crew members vanished and the two men who hired the vessel were plucked out of a life raft.
Kirby Logan Archer and Guillermo Zarabozo are in custody on federal charges while rescuers conduct a massive search in heavy rain for the crew of the 47-foot fishing charter Joe Cool. Neither Archer, who was a fugitive, nor Zarabozo is charged in the disappearances.
"All I can say at this point is that the investigation is continuing," FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said.
The pair were found in a life raft Monday about 12 miles from where the fishing boat was drifting. Authorities found no one on board and no mechanical problems with the vessel.
A key to some handcuffs was found on the boat, and a substance appearing to be blood was found on the vessel's stern, according to an FBI affidavit.
Archer and Zarabozo paid $4,000 cash to charter the Joe Cool on Sunday to Bimini, Bahamas, where they told the boat's operators they had female companions waiting for them. The Coast Guard says that GPS navigation devices on the boat show that it veered sharply south toward Cuba about halfway into the 50-mile trip.
Zarabozo, 19, of Hialeah, is a Cuban immigrant. Archer is a former soldier once stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; his ex-wife has told several media outlets that he met Zarabozo as a boy in that country and may have helped him and his family reach the U.S.
Archer, 35, of Strawberry, Ark., is wanted in his home state on suspicion of stealing more than $92,000 in January from a Wal-Mart where he was an assistant manager. He also went AWOL from the Army four years ago.
Both men made initial court appearances Wednesday. Archer is charged with fleeing prosecution in Arkansas. Zarabozo is charged with lying to federal agents.
According to the FBI affidavit, Zarabozo initially told his Coast Guard rescuers that "unknown subjects" had hijacked the boat, shot and killed the four crew members and then ordered Zarabozo to throw the bodies into the sea. Zarabozo later told the FBI he had never been on the Joe Cool, even though his state identification card was found on the boat.
The vessel was found "in disarray," according to the affidavit. It said that aside from the apparent blood and the key, investigators found six marijuana cigarettes on the boat, as well as a laptop computer, luggage, clothes and a cell phone.
Archer and Zarabozo were being held without bail at a federal detention center in Miami. Neither the FBI nor the Coast Guard would comment on what they have told investigators.
Meanwhile, Coast Guard ships and aircraft searched hundreds of miles of open ocean in heavy rain for the boat's captain, Jake Branam, 27; his wife, Kelley Branam, 30; his half brother, Scott Campbell, 30; and Samuel Kairy, 27, all of Miami Beach.
"The weather is very, very nasty," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Dana Warr. "It makes searching very difficult, both in the air and the sea."
The search includes a C-130 aircraft and helicopters. It was expanded as far north as Cape Canaveral on Wednesday to account for possible drift caused by the Gulf Stream current. Coast Guard searchers also checked out on foot some of the dozens of small uninhabited islands that dot the Bahamas to the east of Miami.
Archer, a former military police investigator, had been stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during the 1990s, according to court records. He went AWOL in 2003 and received a less-than-honorable discharge as a result, according to Arkansas records from his 2005 divorce.
In court, Archer and Zarabozo were both told they would get court-appointed lawyers. When asked whether he had any assets to pay for a lawyer, Archer said all he had was $2,200 that investigators confiscated after his arrest.
A bail hearing for both men was set for Friday. Prosecutors said they would seek to keep both in detention.
Several of Zarabozo's relatives attended the hearing. They declined to talk to reporters.
Archer and his ex-wife, Michelle Rowe, have had no recent contact, according to her attorney, Chaney Taylor of Batesville, Ark. Rowe has custody of the couple's two young sons.
"We don't know where he's been since January," Taylor said.
Court records show that Archer has since remarried, to another woman named Michelle. In court Wednesday, Archer said he is now separated.