A Picture Of Javier Martin's Sailboat the "Twyla" On The Bottom Near Chichime

February 20 2011

This afternoon a member of the boating community who was in the area of the island of Chichimé, in the San Blas, Kuna Yala area of the Caribbean coast of Panama, sent me this photo of Javier Martin's sailboat the "Twyla" which is now resting on the bottom. Javier Martin sailed his boat into a reef on the afternoon of 8 December 2010. He had tried to depart for Colombia with eleven backpackers aboard in the middle of the worst storm to hit the area in 300 years. The weather forced him to return, and as he approached Chichimé he "totally missed the turn"rift gold and drove his sailboat into the reef, ripping a hole in the hull, causing it to sink. When detectives from Panama's Directorate of Judicial Investigation (DIJ) and prosecutors from the Public Ministry inspected two tents that had been rented by Javier Martin from Humberto on Chichimé island, they found a whole stack of documents and records that supposedly pertain to the "Twyla" - but guess what? The boat was not registered in Javier Martin's name, there was another owner listed, and there were no records of a sail or transfer to Javier Martin. My gut tells me that somewhere on an island in the Caribbean some thirteen years ago, someone hired a younger Javier Martin as a deck hand to help them get from point A to point B, and along the way Javier Martin killed the true owners and took over the boat. He changed the name of the vessel, proclaimed himself as the true owner,rift gold and started making money hauling backpackers, and he's been at it ever since. Now it's going to be a task to go back in time, research the history of that boat, find out if anyone went missing at sea or whatever, and solve a thirteen year old cold case. Sound familiar? Remember Jeff Kline in Costa Rica? No body knew that William Dathan Holbert had committed a string of murders in Costa Rica before he arrived in Panama to do the same thing, until I went back and solved that one. This looks more and more like a replay, unfortunately. Javier Martin sunk his boat so he needed a replacement. And, he just went about doing the same thing he did the first time - kill the owners, take their boats and possessions, and leave. However this time he got caught before he could get away.