Motivational speaker charged in murder at sea
A motivational speaker from Virginia was charged today with murder with special circumstances for allegedly swindling a 71-year-old Arizona man and then luring him out of Dana Point Harbor to his death.
Prosecutors allege that Gary A. Shawkey, 46, of Mechanicsville, Va., duped Robert Vendrick, a retired software programmer from Phoenix, into investing $100,000 in a "top secret computer software" project for the federal government.
Shawkey then bought a battered 23-foot sailboat and traveled out of Dana Point Harbor with Vendrick in February 2008, authorities said, on the pretext that they would meet federal agents on San Clemente Island to seal the deal.
Prosecutors say Shawkey killed Vendrick and disposed of the body.
Shawkey portrayed himself as an Internet marketing guru and published a self-help book in 2003 called "If I Can . . . Anybody Can." He once tried, unsuccessfully, to break a world record by walking across 200 feet of hot coals.
Prosecutors will seek to have Shawkey extradited to Orange County from Virginia, where he is in custody on unrelated theft charges. If convicted, he could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
--Christopher Goffard
