Document: Joe Cool suspect talked in jail

MADRID, Fla., Dec. 20 (UPI) -- A federal inmate in Miami says a suspect in the Joe Cool murder-at-sea case said he didn't pull the trigger but helped clean up later, court papers revealed.

The unidentified jailhouse informant said Guillermo Zarabozo, 20, of Hialeah, reportedly said his companion fired upon the crew after the charter boat captain refused to take the vessel to Cuba, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Thursday. Zarabozo said he and Arkansas fugitive Kirby Archer, 36, wanted to go to Cuba because the nation doesn't grant extradition to the United States.

Zarabozo and Archer were charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Capt. Jake Branam, 27; his wife Kelley, 30; his half-brother Scott Gamble, 36; and crewman Samuel Kairy. The four disappeared after Zarabozo and Archer paid $4,000 for a charter to Bimini.

If the informant's story can be verified, it would contradict Zarabozo's statement to investigators that pirates hijacked the ship and killed the crew, the Fort Lauderdale newspaper said.

Defense attorneys wondered whether the government deliberately assigned a known informant to the cell next to Zarabozo at the Miami Federal Detention Center, which could be viewed as a violation of Sarabozo's right to counsel.