Comatose brother may hold key to triple killing

FBI agents waited last night to question a comatose man in a San Diego hospital about the suspected murder on the high seas of a multi-millionaire former basketball player, his beautiful girlfriend and the skipper of a luxury yacht that they had sailed to Tahiti.

Police on the South Pacific island have declared the disappearance of Bison Dele, 33 - otherwise known as Brian Williams, the partly American-Indian former star of the Chicago Bulls - his partner of seven months, Serena Karlan, 30, and French yachtsman Bertrand Saldo as a triple murder aboard the 50ft catamaran, Hakuna Matata, which belonged to Dele.

Dele's older brother, Kevin, 35, who is known as Miles Dabord, was found unconscious in the border town of Tijuana, Mexico, on 15 September and was sent to the San Diego hospital, where he remains in critical condition. He bore no identification and police traced him through his fingerprints.

It was the end of a saga that began in May, when the yacht set sail from Auckland, New Zealand, for a South Pacific adventure that was planned to take the 6ft 11in Dele, his girlfriend and brother to Hawaii. What happened remains a mystery, but blood and damage was found aboard the yacht, which had been repainted and renamed. Dabord flew out of Tahiti in mid-July, but nothing has been heard from his three companions since early that month.

Gael Ohlgren, Karlan's mother, said: 'All through August it was a horrible suspicion that needed looking into. Now we are hoping against hope that Miles Dabord will recover and tell us what happened to our daughter.'

The hospital has yet to diagnose his condition, but a drug overdose is suspected. He allegedly phoned his mother when he returned to the US and said there had been a struggle aboard the yacht, started by Dele, and that the three had died. He added that he was depressed and contemplating suicide, according to one investigator.

Suspicions arose when Dabord tried to buy gold coins worth $152,000 in Phoenix on 5 September. He was carrying his brother's credit cards and passport, and allegedly forged his signature as 'Brian Williams' on a cheque. Police detained him in Phoenix but allowed him out on bail for lack of evidence. But more incriminating details began to emerge from Tahiti and investigators now believe the missing trio were murdered and their bodies dumped in deep waters. By 8 July, Dabord was back in Tahiti, where he joined his girlfriend, Erica Weise, and travelled to another island. She flew out on 15 July and has told US police that Dabord said there had been a fight on the yacht.