SANTA ANA, Calif. -- A man accused of killing a retired Arizona couple in a plot to steal their yacht twice asked a co-worker to help get rid of a body, a detective testified Friday.

Skylar Deleon, 26, approached a fellow employee last November to "assist in disposing a body at sea," but the man refused, Newport Beach police Detective David Byington said.

Byington took the stand during a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence for Deleon and two others to stand trial.

The detective also testified that on Nov. 22, Deleon paid a notary $2,000 to backdate documents to falsely show that Thomas and Jackie Hawks sold their cabin cruiser a week earlier -- on the day authorities believe they were killed.

Deleon's attorney, Ed Welbourne, declined to comment outside the courtroom.

Jackie Hawks grew up in Mentor in northeast Ohio. Her parents, Jack and Gayle O'Neill, live in nearby Concord Township.

Deleon, his wife, Jennifer, 24, and John F. Kennedy, 39, all of Long Beach, are charged with murder with special circumstances and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Prosecutors allege they killed Thomas Hawks, 57, a retired probation officer, and his 47-year-old wife during a test cruise out of Newport Beach aboard the couple's 55-foot cabin cruiser, Well Deserved, and later unsuccessfully tried to loot the couple's bank accounts.

The bodies have not been found.

Also charged in the slayings are Myron Gardner, 42, of Long Beach, and Alonzo Machain, 21, of Pico Rivera. They will face a separate trial.

All five defendants have pleaded innocent.