Gary Shawkey, 47, was found guilty Tuesday by a California jury for killing 71-year-old Robert Lee Vendrick, whose still-missing body was dumped in the Pacific Ocean. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
A con man was convicted of murdering his business partner during a 2008 sailing trip to cover up a $1 million ripoff – even though the victim’s body was never recovered.
Gary Shawkey, 47, was found guilty Tuesday by a California jury for killing 71-year-old Robert Lee Vendrick, whose still-missing body was dumped in the Pacific Ocean, authorities said.
Shawkey faces life in prison at his July 22 sentencing because the jury convicted him of murder for financial gain.
The conviction without the recovery of a body was a legal rarity, but one juror told The Orange County Register that the evidence against Shawkey was overwhelming.
The dead man’s family – his wife, daughter and brother – wept inside the Santa Ana, Calif., courtroom when the verdict was returned after a three-week trial.
Phoenix businessman Vendrick was lured to California in February 2008 after becoming suspicious of Shawkey’s previous investment schemes, prosecutors said.
Vendrick had already lost $1 million in a series of failed projects.
The pair went out on a 23-foot sailboat to attend a “meeting” with federal officials on San Clemente Island about the development of software for the government.
Vendrick was never seen again, leading prosecutor Ebrahim Baytieh to tell the jury that Shawkey was a “vicious, cold-blooded murderer, a con man and a liar.”
The jury rejected the defense assertion that Vendrick was dropped off at a public dock and could actually be alive somewhere.
Shawkey was charged with the murder in February 2009, when he was arrested while behind bars on an unrelated theft charge in Virginia.
