He could be a model. Tall, clean cut, well built. In fact, he served as an extra on a telenovela shot in South Florida -- dressed as a cop.

At 19, Guillermo Zarabozo had big dreams to defend his adopted country. A former Boy Scout, he served in Hialeah High's Junior ROTC and told a neighbor he hoped to join the Air Force.

He was working as a security guard for a Hollywood company, licensed to carry a gun. His mentor described him as a hard worker. His neighbors at the West Hialeah apartment where he lived with his mother, stepdad and his sister described him as polite, a good kid.

What happened to Zarabozo that he ended up facing a jury, charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, hijacking, robbery and violating maritime law involving the deaths of the crew of the Joe Cool charter boat?

A FAMILY RIPPED APART

Two small children were left orphans when their parents, Jack Branam, 27, and wife Kelley, 30, disappeared at sea, presumed dead. Branam's half-brother, Scott Gamble, 35, and crew member Samuel Kairy, 27, also are gone.

The ghost ship was found with bullet casings and a bag that included Zarabozo's driver's license. The Coast Guard found Zarabozo and Kirby Archer on an orange life raft 12 miles north of the boat. The men initially said Cuban pirates had forced them to the raft after boarding the fishing vessel and killing the crew.

But their stories soon changed. Archer pleaded guilty in July to four counts of first-degree murder. In his court statement he pointed to Zarabozo as Gamble and Kairy's killer. He didn't testify at Zarabozo's trial.

Zarabozo blames Archer for all four deaths and says Archer forced him to toss bodies off the boat.

Archer served as U.S. Army security at the Guantánamo Naval Base in Cuba during the 1990s and was on the lam for stealing $92,000 from a Wal-Mart in Arkansas -- and accused of child abuse to boot. At 35, Archer had a way of spinning tales of clandestine adventures, Zarabozo testified in his trial last week.

They were going to make a million bucks working undercover on dangerous missions in countries hostile to the United States, like Cuba or Venezuela, Zarabozo said Archer promised him.

So when the duo chartered the Joe Cool to head to Bimini, Zarabozo said he believed he was going to do a $500-a-day security job that could lead to CIA work. Was he that naive? Maybe. A young guy who left Cuba as a child, who grew up as many exile kids do, hearing about conspiracies and counter-revolutionary plots, may have bought into a million-dollar tall tale about fighting the good fight against U.S. enemies.

Apparently some of the jurors believe Zarabozo was hoodwinked. This week the 12 jurors in the case deadlocked on most of the charges. They could agree only on a conviction on four counts of using a firearm in a violent crime.

BULLIED INTO A DECISION

The three holdouts, who were not persuaded the U.S. had made its murder case, told Miami Herald reporter Luisa Yanez that they were bullied by another juror over five days of deliberations.

Without law enforcement having ever recovered the bodies or the guns, this case wasn't easy to prove. Now two of the three holdouts want to take back their verdict, saying they didn't realize the firearm charge carried a life sentence. Prosecutors want a retrial.

Only Archer and Zarabozo know what really happened. But one thing's clear: Zarabozo let greed overtake common sense, and four innocent people are gone.

Justice demands more than a hung jury.

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