[Unsolved] Bison Dele: The NBA Champion Who Vanished at Sea

From NBA Champion to Free Spirit

Bison Dele was born Brian Williams in 1969. He played professional basketball in the NBA and won a championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1997. He was talented, successful, and wealthy.

But Bison didn't want fame or fortune. In 1999, at age 30, he walked away from a $36 million contract to live life on his own terms. He changed his name from Brian Williams to Bison Dele, traveled the world, and pursued his passions—music, philosophy, and sailing.

In 2002, Bison bought a catamaran and planned to sail across the South Pacific with his girlfriend, Serena Karlan. He invited his older brother, Miles Dabord (born Kevin Williams), and hired an experienced skipper, Bertrand Saldo.

It should have been the adventure of a lifetime. Instead, it became a mystery that has never been solved.

The Disappearance

In July 2002, Bison, Serena, Miles, and Bertrand set sail from Tahiti. For weeks, they traveled across the Pacific, stopping at various islands.

Then, in September 2002, Miles Dabord returned to the United States—alone.

Bison, Serena, and Bertrand were gone.

The Investigation

When Bison's family couldn't reach him, they became concerned. They contacted authorities, who began investigating.

They discovered that Miles had been trying to access Bison's bank accounts. He had forged documents. He had sold Bison's boat. He was acting erratic and paranoid.

When police tried to question Miles, he refused to cooperate. He claimed Bison, Serena, and Bertrand had "gone overboard" but wouldn't provide details.

Before authorities could arrest him, Miles overdosed on insulin and died in a California hospital on September 27, 2002.

He took the truth with him.

What Happened?

Investigators believe Miles Dabord killed Bison Dele, Serena Karlan, and Bertrand Saldo while they were at sea. The most likely theory is that Miles shot them and dumped their bodies overboard into the Pacific Ocean.

Possible motives include:

•Jealousy - Miles resented Bison's success and wealth

•Money - Miles wanted access to Bison's fortune

•Mental illness - Miles had a history of erratic behavior and may have snapped

But without bodies, without witnesses, and without a confession, the truth will never be known.

The Legacy

Bison Dele was a unique individual—an NBA champion who chose freedom over fame, adventure over wealth. He walked away from millions to live authentically.

His life was cut short by someone he trusted: his own brother.

Serena Karlan and Bertrand Saldo were also victims of Miles Dabord's violence. Their families never got justice. Their bodies were never recovered.

The case of Bison Dele remains officially unsolved.

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] In July of 2002, former NBA Star Bison Daley, his girlfriend Serena Carlin, and a boat captain named Bertran, Aldo vanished while sailing the South Pacific Ocean. The only person to return from the trip was Bison's older brother Miles. When Miles arrived alone in Tahiti, the boat had been repainted and Rena.

Authorities suspected Miles had murdered the other three while at sea, so that he could assume his brother's identity, but with no bodies ever found. And with Miles's death in 2002, the fate of bison and his companions remains a mystery to this day.

Hey guys, and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries podcast, a True Crime podcast featuring myself, Mandy, and my dear friend Melissa. Hi, Melissa. Hi Mandy. How are you? I am doing wonderful. It is a Friday. It's a Friday. We don't always record on Fridays, so sometimes I'm like, yay, it's Friday. And I feel like we're doing like the last thing of the week.[00:01:00] 

Yeah. In some ways we are. In some ways it's just beginning. Right. Um, Mandy, I got to see you this week. You did, and that's because you're feeling much better. And I am feeling much better. Yes. Yeah. Let's circle back. Let's get there. Let's circle back to last week's intro where I mentioned that I was having a strange back problem.

I had some muscular pain in the back, but then I also had this weird like sensitive skin thing. And first of all, I just wanna say I appreciate all of our listeners. I love how thoughtful the listeners that we have are that people actually took their time to email us because people heard what I was describing.

Like thought that they knew what I had and like thought that I had shingles. If you were in the shingles camp, raise your hand. There were many of you. Yeah. How many emails did we get in total? Oh, I don't even know. The last thing I looked at were Spotify comments and they said, I think you might have shingles.

Somebody else said, I. I came here to say that too. And then I came there to say that three, and I was like, yeah, we have got to address this baby. Yeah. We had nurses emailing like, Mandy needs to [00:02:00] like think about maybe she has shingles. And, and it really did sound like it was a possibility. Like it did in some ways.

I mean, in some ways, yeah. So in some ways I, I googled it and I was like. My gosh, this is stage one. I'm a oh my gosh. Like what's happening? Um, and but then in other ways it didn't make any sense, right? Because I don't really fit the age group that is typically affected by single. Okay. Neither do you. So, um, yeah.

You know, but I, well, but we have a friend that recently did have that is true. And it can't happen. And so, and of course, yes, and I have had chicken pox, so I was like, you know, it's not like it's not possible, right? But I felt like. It couldn't be possible. Um, I'm happy to report that I'm doing fine. I don't have, I'm, I have shingles and, um, everything feels better on me this week.

And you feel loved. Right? And I feel loved. Yeah. So not only do I feel better, but I also feel more loved than I did this time last week. Wow. Okay. Um, I feel more loved this week also because we had our movie premiere night of the Yes. We did the prescreening of the movie Holland. That was so much fun. So much fun.

I didn't know what to expect [00:03:00] and it was actually like. One of the coolest things I feel like I've ever been involved. It was just fun. Really fun and neat to do. And we got to see a lot of our friends and some of our family and that's always really nice. Um, yeah. You know, just to be able to see some faces out in real life.

It's so hard. I feel like when you work from home and so much is done online, right. I always appreciate being able to just see people in person. I know and we met new friends and one, I don't have everyone's names even though I was in charge of the list. Um, but I know we met Joy and I know that because she told us her last name and she was joyful.

And because she was a joy. Yes, exactly. So if you're gonna meet us, if, and you've got something like that going. We're gonna remember the name. It's gonna be helpful for sure. Unless your name's like grumpy and then, and you're grumpy at the same time. We'll mention you. We'll still remember you. Yeah. We just won't, we won't say anything.

Right. Um, but everyone was so lovely. It was so fun, such a cool experience. So thank you to Amazon for that. And uh, if you haven't checked it out, that's a great movie. It was weird, funny, [00:04:00] weird. Exciting. Yes. Weird. Like, I'm gonna need, you must watch it. Yes, absolutely. But I'm gonna need somebody else to like write a review of it.

So I understand some of it kind of like inception where I'm like, I think I know what happened, but maybe I don't at all, and I'm okay with that. That's true. Yeah. Well, sometimes then when I read people's interpretations of movies, right, then it confuses me more because I'm like, why didn't. That like, and then I'm like, what's wrong with me?

Am I not intelligent? I know. Well, I'm just very believable. Or I believe everything in that. I'm like, oh, oh, okay, that makes sense. And then the next review I read, I'm like, oh, actually that makes sense, right? So I'm worried I don't have my own opinion on some things, but I'm okay with that too. Um, but it was a lot of fun and just a really cool experience.

So if we get to do that again and you weren't able to come, I really hope you could in the future. And Mandy, I'm. Really excited to get into this week's episode. This is one I was familiar with and I actually was a little concerned. We had done it before when I was reading through it. Oh, really? Yes. But I think it's just one that I've, that is so out there and [00:05:00] different from most stories that we hear that Yes.

It just sticks with you. Yes, definitely. So this week we are getting into the story of, as we said, NBA star bison daily. He was born bison Carson Williams, and he came into the world on Easter Sunday in 1969. He grew up in California with his older brother, miles Debo, with a rather turbulent childhood.

Their father, Eugene took off soon after Bison turned a year old and went on to a singing career with the musical group called The Platters later, their mom, Patricia, married again, but their stepfather Ron was verbally abusive towards the boys and their mom eventually split with him. Bison was known for his deep voice and his unique style and eccentric personality.

He would always wear these funky clothes and outfits and he would accessorize, and he was just described as being this very avant-garde, anti-authority and counterculture type of person, [00:06:00] which is a very specific description, and it gives me a very. Clear image. Well, and when we're talking basketball, the first theme that comes to mind really is Dennis Robbins.

Yes. A hundred percent Breaking trends. Yes. Yeah. And then there's this guy, I was about to look him up, um, who plays now, and he like did an emo thing one night, like I think his babysitter, his kids babysitter told him to do it. And so now he does like these silly things like for the press meets and stuff.

That's so funny. But it is cool to see personalities in sports that you don't normally see. And that sounds like what he had. As Bison's mom, Patricia became more and more spread thin, just trying to balance her career with motherhood. Sports became an outlet for bison and he excelled in everything from water polo to basketball, which is ultimately where he really stood out.

At six foot 11 and 260 pounds in high school. Boy, he was really an instant star. He first began playing organized basketball in the 10th grade, and by the time he was a senior, he had already really [00:07:00] proven his talent. He was averaging 17.3 points, 12.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.5 steals, and 9.1 blocks per game.

Now, Melissa. I'm not much of a basketball follower, so that really does not mean anything to me. But is it as impressive as it sounds? I think it's pretty cool. I remember when I played basketball, and by that I mean they would put me in and since I was tall, people thought I could play very quickly. They realized I could not, and stopped, you know, trying to, uh, block me.

But I remember like, uh, high school boys games would be like 80, 90 points. So if you're getting almost 20 points, you're, you know. 2020 per 20% or so on, uh, your team's amount of points. Like that's pretty good. Yeah. Right. So, so what, what did you fail at in basketball? Was it speed? What did I fail at? Or was it skied or was it coordination that got you?

Because why? Why would you assume that it was anything? Why would you not just think like I, you just said you weren't good at it. I'm just wondering what made you [00:08:00] not good at it, but why did we get into specifics? Number one, not aggressive. You tell me to block somebody, I'm not gonna hit them. Even if you can kind of, I can't do it.

That's true. That's true. I could only shoot in the post and I was terrible at free throws and. I was not coordinated and I wasn't very fast, so, so you are right. Yes. It just hurt a little. Well, bison Daley was a player that could do a lot more than you. Apparently. He was someone who could run the basketball floor as well as Defend, and his talents earned him several scholarship offers to play basketball in college.

Real quick. Back to bison, the fact that he didn't start playing organized basketball until 10th grade and made it Yes. That is wild. It is wild. It's so often you hear about club ball and kids starting in elementary school, but to start in 10th grade, you have to be a natural talent. Well, it makes me feel terrible because my kids.

I always wanna start a new sport, and I'm like, you guys are too old for that. Like nothing's ever gonna come of it. And now I'm [00:09:00] like, I need to let them try some new things. But what if they're uncoordinated or they're not that fast? What will you do then? Shame them.

Bison ended up deciding to play at the University of Maryland, which is where he stayed for one year before transferring to the University of Arizona, and that's where he became an honorable mention All American player. Spice went on to be drafted to the NBA in 1991 by none other than our hometown team, Orlando Magic.

He was picked 10th in the first round and he played for the Magic for two seasons before moving on to the Denver Nuggets from 1993 to 1995. From there, he played for the Los Angeles Clippers from 95 to 96, and then the Chicago Bulls in 1997. And finally, the Detroit Pistons from 1997 to 1999, bison played for a total of five teams throughout eight different seasons.[00:10:00] 

When he was first drafted by the Orlando magic, things had been really hard and he struggled to fit in as a rookie player, and he often came across as being aloof to his teammates. During this time, he struggled with these recurring blackouts, and in the beginning of his second season as an NBA player, he attempted suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills.

He said that he was just trying to see how far he could go before pulling himself back. Following the suicide attempt, bison was diagnosed with clinical depression. Before the 96 97 basketball season, bison suffered a knee injury while he was a free agent, and after recovering, he signed with the Chicago Bulls.

He played nine regular season games, and his performances contributed to the Bulls winning their fifth championship. This was really the first time that bison felt like he belonged and he was accepted in basketball. He blended in with Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, and Philip Jackson Bison's agent Dwight Manley [00:11:00] said that this was a period of time when bison was really at the top of his game.

Not just literally, but. Physically, spiritually and emotionally. Unfortunately, due to salary cap restraints, he was forced to leave the bulls and he signed a seven year $45 million contract with the Denver Pistons in 1997, in October of 1998 during an NBA lockout. Bison actually changed his last name from Williams to daily to honor his Cherokee ancestry and the first person in his family to be enslaved.

And this was really a turning point for bison whose mother said that he began embracing a different lifestyle and a new identity with this name change. His mother and his agent believed that bison started using marijuana heavily at this time. Although bison had been talented enough to succeed at basketball, his mom said that he really lacked the passion and desire needed to be a professional athlete.

Bison enjoyed many things outside of basketball, and he enjoyed a very [00:12:00] adventurous lifestyle. He had done things like running with the bulls in Spain and cycling from Tucson to Salt Lake City with a friend. But in the NBA, he had a hard time really connecting with his teammates, and so he preferred keeping to himself reading books and listening to classical music.

The typical locker room culture wasn't something that really resonated with him. A reporter from the Chicago Tribune named Sam Smith said that bison was one of the most. Generous athletes he'd ever known, and that he would regularly give his playoff share, which was more than a hundred thousand dollars to ball boys or clubhouse attendance, which is really saying something.

And so after he finished the 98, 99 season, bison, who was just 30 years old at the time, made this shocking announcement that he was ending his contract with the pistons early and retiring from basketball. At the time, bison was the team's highest paid player and walking away meant literally forfeiting $36 million in [00:13:00] guaranteed money.

The Pistons, of course, made efforts to get bison back on the team, but he declined. Bison said he was tired and that his heart just wasn't in it. He said he didn't have any motivation to keep on playing. He told reporters quote, I am not in love with it for the reason the next person is in love with it, which I thought was kind of a cool thing to acknowledge that like your heart's not in it and you know somebody else's would be so.

Why would you stay when somebody else would really want and appreciate that moment? After retiring, bison traveled to Beirut and he invested in a water purification plant with a friend from college. When he left, he embraced a more minimalistic lifestyle, but his sense of adventure remained strong. He spent time in Australia surfing in Sydney while living out of a truck in August of 2000.

Bison's aunt visited him, and at the time, bison had just purchased a 55 foot white and turquoise luxury catamaran, which he named a Kuna matata. The interior had multiple [00:14:00] bedrooms, a kitchen and a living space that he furnished with a wraparound, padded couch, some beanbags and a tv. Bison became deeply passionate about sailing, and he started taking short trips outside of Australia and he was talking about taking longer trips on his sailboat.

Meanwhile, Bison's older brother Miles had become quite resentful of his success. The two of them actually shared a birthday with bison being born exactly two years after his brother, and the two of them had been close when they were much younger. Miles was a really protective, older brother and always looked out for bison.

Though Miles wasn't able to play sports due to having severe asthma, he was still just as gifted and really bright as bison was. When he was in fourth grade, bison would read whole encyclopedia from cover to cover. He was fluent in Russian and German as teens. The brothers moved to Las Vegas to live with their dad for a while, but then bison eventually returned to live with their mom in California and began playing basketball.

And of course [00:15:00] the rest was history from there. Miles. Went to several colleges and took classes in math and science, but he never was able to earn a degree. In the nineties, he tried starting a credit repair business, but it failed. So his mom helped him get a job as a car salesman in Palo Alto. He was also a successful computer programmer, but he always felt that he was less successful than his dad and his brother Bison.

His mom said that Miles never felt like he was as loved as his brother, and he felt like he was always in Bison's shadow his whole life. He just really lacked a sense of his own self-worth. As Bison's fame grew, miles withdrew even more. Bison's financial success caused an even deeper rift between the brothers, and eventually they became estranged.

Their mom. Patricia said that throughout the years she herself had periods where she was close with her sons, but also had periods where she was estranged from them. As bison rose to fame [00:16:00] in the NBA, his brother started to reject the Williams name and he changed his last name to Debo, which is a family name on his father's side.

His mom said that he just wanted to create a new identity, but she told him, quote, everywhere you go, there you are. You can change your name, but not your nature. We have so much more to get into after a quick break to hear a word from this week's sponsors. So before the break we were discussing. Bison Daley and his career and how at this point he's just walked away from a multimillion dollar contract.

He's living the good life down in Australia. He's got this beautiful catamaran and we're also learning a little about his brother Miles, who although they grew up, you know, in the same household, they're lives have taken two very different tracks and that's caused some kind of issues between the brothers.

And so his mom has talked a little about the estrangement she's even had with the brothers, you know, on and on throughout their lives. Throughout the nineties, [00:17:00] bison was in an on, again, off, again, relationship with a woman named Serena Midnight Carlin, who he met through his high school girlfriend.

Serena's parents had chosen her name for her SRE Nature, and they chose mid. For the time she was born, she was raised in Berkeley, California where she attended Berkeley, Montessori Elementary School and later Berkeley High School. Her friend said that Serena was someone who just didn't realize how special she actually was.

In 1992, Serena moved to LA to study movie makeup artistry, and she briefly worked in the film industry. She had a single job on the set of Heartwood before leaving the industry, but her indifferent attitude towards fame seemed to draw celebrities to her. And like real celebrities, actual ones. Yeah. Like when we say this one, you'll be like, oh wow, that's what you mean.

So one evening at a club, a man actually approached Serena and told her that. Prince wanted to meet her like you ever heard of him? Purple Rain Prince. Yeah. So they end up developing a friendship [00:18:00] that lasts for years and Prince once even flew her to Minneapolis where she actually assisted him with concession sales and marketing for his tours.

So it's a pretty good friend. Yeah. During one of bison and Serena's off again stretches. Serena really missed bison, and she told her mom about his philosophical nature and his adventurous spirit. Not long after the nine 11 attacks that devastated New York in 2001, Serena really reevaluated her life as a city was overcome with grief and uncertainty.

She accepted Bison's offer to leave it all behind and come stay with him. In Australia, Serena shut down her account and she forwarded her mail to her mother's home near Boulder, and she packed the few things that she did own her stepfather later said quote, she literally took a dive off a cliff. Serena was actually only supposed to stay in Australia for two weeks, but that stretched into five weeks.

She returned to the us, but shortly thereafter, bison asked her to come back to Australia [00:19:00] permanently. Serena, of course, was hesitant due to financial responsibilities, but bison was one step ahead of her, so we sent her a check for $50,000. And a note that said, this is what I think of your financial difficulties.

Serena thought back to some advice her mother had once given her when she said, you don't wanna wake up at 40 being a workaholic, and wondering what you missed. So Serena made her choice. In February of 2002, she flew to New Zealand and joined bison on open-ended voyage across the South Pacific Wow. On bison sailboat.

During this time, Serena told friends that she had never been happier and she really felt at peace. One friend Chris Smith noticed that Serena seemed to be deeply in awe of her relationship, and another friend Stacy admired that Serena had the courage to live so freely while so many others were tethered to their corporate jobs and all their domestic routines for bison.

Serena was more than just a sailing companion, though she [00:20:00] really was his true love. She was someone who understood his worldview and shared his love of adventure. The couple had an unshakeable bond. One Tahitian local said that Serena never looked at another man, and bison never looked at another woman, but their paradise was soon disrupted when Bison's brother Miles unexpectedly arrived in New Zealand that summer and wanted to join them on their journey.

Serena was very put off by Miles's presence. She actually was so distraught over it that she called her mom and her best friend Steele to kind of vent about it and complain a little bit. She said the two brothers were arguing constantly, and it was to the point that one of the crew members had actually gotten off the ship, like just departed the ship, abandoned ship, literally.

Wow. During an island layover because the tension between the two brothers was so unbearable. Well, imagine you're out to sea. There's these two people. I can't imagine anything worse. No, truly 'cause like in any other situation, you can kind of get yourself out of it, but [00:21:00] like, it's like a road trip where people are fighting.

Yes. And you're in the car and like, you can't wait to get to the gas station, but the gas station never comes. Right. Because you're on a freaking boat. So I can't imagine if people get off of the boat like it's gotta be pretty bad. Gotta be bad. Yeah. And like crew members, you know, are like, I can't even take this anymore.

I don't need money. Mm-hmm. Let's get outta here. Money. Yeah, definitely. Sounds like it was very uh, intense. Serena's friend Steele said that this was actually the first time in 17 years of knowing Serena, that she had ever even heard her speak negatively about someone. Serena's mom said that she confided that she just no longer wanted to be on the boat anymore.

Now that Miles was around and she said she just didn't like his energy. Bison told his friends that he and Serena had plans to sail from New Zealand to Hawaii, and he wanted miles to come along so that they could hopefully resolve their issues and repair their relationship. So Miles arrived in New Zealand in early May, but Serena and Bison didn't wanna be on the boat with Miles at that time.

So they actually flew ahead to [00:22:00] Tahiti while Miles and Bertrand, Aldo, who was the boat's captain, set sail on the boat. Bison and Serena got to the island of Moria and they spent several weeks there where they were waiting for Miles and Bertrand to meet up with them. But tensions were already high because apparently Miles wanted to bring along his girlfriend, Erica and Bison said that he didn't want to wait two more days for her to arrive before the boat was to set sail.

I'm a little unclear on that because it sounds like Mile or it sounds like bison and Serena already were going off to spend a couple of weeks in Yeah, the resort, so who knows what the mix up was there, but that was one of the reasons that was, that was some misunderstanding, and the brothers were not happy with each other.

Right at the start of this trip, by early July, Serena had sent an email stating that she may be out of touch as they were getting ready to sail towards Honolulu. The crew set off for another island, 120 miles northeast of Tahiti. On July 4th, bison and Serena filed documents with the police stating that [00:23:00] they planned to sail to Hawaii on July 6th.

Serena left her family a message assuring them that all was well, but no one would ever hear from Serena again. Records from a satellite phone on board. The sailboat show that the boat was located near the remote island of Meow on July 7th after July 8th. There was just silence. There was no further communication received from bison, Serena, or the sailboat Captain Bertrand Sdo.

Up until this point, Serena's been in touch with her family on a weekly basis, but concerns grew when it was learned that neither bison nor Serena had used their phones. At all since the first week of July and that bison hadn't contacted his bank or his assistant either. On July 8th, 2002, Miles's girlfriend, Erica, flew to Tahiti where Miles met her and took her back to the sailboat.

Erica ended up staying with him on the boat for a week. She asked where the others were and Miles said that his brother and Serena were [00:24:00] on the island of ti and the boat captain was actually visiting friends on a different island. So Erica finished her trip with Miles and she flew home to Palo Alto on July 15th.

By August of 2002, Serena's mom was getting worried that she hadn't heard from her in a while. Since Serena's parents knew all about the conflict between bison and miles, they knew that Miles had joined them on their trip. They pretty much immediately suspected foul play, and they pushed for the FBI to open an investigation.

The crew was reported missing and the US Coast Guard as well as Tahiti search attempted to locate the boat on August 27th. But no formal search was conducted due to the lack of a filed sail plan, meaning they had no idea which way they went or what path they planned to take to Hawaii where they had planned to make stops.

Or anything like that, which it's so different if you know, okay, this person's going to California from Florida, right? There are some ideas of, you know, how they're gonna get [00:25:00] there, but I didn't even think about that for someone sailing. It could be, you know, totally different. Meanwhile though, the boat had actually already been found back on July 16th, 2002.

It's just that the authorities didn't know where it was. So on July 16th, a lone sailor in French Polynesia accidentally bumped his boat into a reef, and so he called for assistance and the Tahiti NTI Center dispatched a skipper to come help. The next day, the skipper returned to the marina driving a damaged 55 foot catamaran, which stood out amongst all the other boats that were in the harbor.

There. This boat actually closely resembled the Una matata, and authorities later learned that it was the Una matata, but the name had actually been removed and the boat was re-registered under a new name, which was Ella. At that time, the only person that was aboard the sailboat was. Miles de bore locals in the areas told authorities that the man that they believed to be miles [00:26:00] kept to himself, and he steered clear of the marina cafe.

He asked an employee about getting access to three wetsuits and also asked for empty garbage bags. On July 20th, he asked a local to drive him to the airport where he then got on a plane to Los Angeles. At this point, it's been 13 days since anyone's heard from bison, Serena or Bertrand. Bertrand actually had plans to visit family on a nearby island in Hawaii, but he never arrived.

Then in a bizarre twist, on September 5th, 2002 months after bison was last seen or heard from someone attempted to purchase 461 ounce gold eagle coins from a gold dealer in Phoenix. The total transaction was worth $152,096, and it was neatly written on a first union check with bison Dailey's name on it.

The man who tried to use this check bore a strong resemblance to bison and had his passport and checkbook. So the bank flagged this [00:27:00] transaction, and Bison's assistant was alerted at that point, they hadn't heard from bison in over five weeks, so this transaction didn't make any sense whatsoever, and his assistant called the phone number that was on the check and found that it went to a voicemail that said, Hey, this is B.

Leave a message. But Bison's assistant knew that that was not Bison's voice, it was someone else's. When his assistant realized something was definitely going on, he contacted the gold dealer and the police department, and ultimately this did lead to Miles's arrest. Miles was questioned for five hours about the transaction he made with his brother's identity, and he claimed that he was actually purchasing the gold on behalf of bison who had asked him to get the gold coins because Polynesian pirates had taken over the boat and his brother was being held for ransom.

Miles claimed that bison was alive and well the last time he saw him. And since there was really no way to immediately verify Miles's story, the Phoenix Police released him. And this is a decision that the FBI would [00:28:00] later call a critical mistake after this run-in with the authorities. Miles made a frantic call to his mom where he said.

Mom, I just need you to believe me. I wouldn't hurt my brother. I need to know that you love me before I die. Nobody will believe my story. Wow. Yeah. So Patricia was really alarmed to hear her son saying what you know, saying this, and she called Bison's good friend Patrick, who caught the next flight to Phoenix to try and help Patrick was hoping to find miles and get to the bottom of Bison's disappearance.

So he offered to meet miles in Mexico and promised to bring him $150,000. Patrick told Miles he just wanted to get bison back. Patrick went to Mexico and searched for miles in a small town, but while he was there, authorities contacted Patrick with some devastating news. Bison's boat had been found, but there was no sign of any passengers.

Authorities now believed that bison, Serena, and Bertrand [00:29:00] were all dead. When Patrick got the news, he braced himself for the next phone call he had to make, and that was to bison and Miles's mom, Patricia. There was a long silence after he told her what the police had said, and then Patricia told him something a little shocking.

She said, you know, Patrick. He never bought me anything in quote, and Patrick was taken aback by this remark and he reminded her that bison had paid $80,000 for her college education and had bought her a $350,000 house. But according to him, he said that Patricia said that this was nothing compared to what the other NBA moms had.

And in reference to the house that bison bought his mom. Patricia allegedly said that other NBA moms wore more than that on their wrist. Later, Patricia denied making the statement that Bison had never bought her anything and said that her comment about NBA mothers was really taken out of context during a discussion about Bison's finances, but she admitted it was something she always regretted.

On September [00:30:00] 9th Miles' girlfriend Erica contacted the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office and reported that Miles had confessed to her about bison's disappearance. She said that Miles had showed up at her job in San Francisco on September 6th, and he said he came to tell her that he was leaving. He said that his brother Bison was in trouble and that there had been an accident, and he claimed he needed to get bison gold because it's the portable currency.

Miles went on to say that there had been a violent altercation on the boat and that the fight had turned deadly. When Captain Sdo and Serena tried to intervene, miles accidentally struck both of them. He claimed that Serena's head hit the boat and she died instantly. Bertrand apparently was stunned and insisted on calling the authorities, but according to Erica's account, bison became enraged and then fatally struck the captain with a wrench.

At this point, miles said bison turned to him with the wrench still in hand and asked him if he could [00:31:00] keep quiet about what had happened. That's when Miles said he picked up a handgun that was kept on the boat and shot bison in self-defense. Miles told Erica that he then tied weights to the bodies and threw them overboard.

Erica went on to say that Miles was afraid the police were following him, so he had plans to stay in the Bay Area at a hotel for the night and then to drive to Mexico the next day to get medicine. You can't get here. End quote. Erica said she actually went home and slept with a knife that night. She feared that since she knew what happened, that she might be in danger on September 10th, the FBI called Erica and she repeated the same story to them and we still have more to get into.

After one last break to hear a word from this week's sponsors. Before the break, we were talking about the story of NBA star Bison Daley, his girlfriend Serena, and his sailboat captain named Bertrand, who have all gone missing during a sale across the South Pacific that they were taking with Bison's brother [00:32:00] Miles.

Miles turned up alone with a boat and after he tried to purchase gold using his brother Bison's identity, authorities were really starting to become suspicious that he might know a lot more about the disappearance of the other three. On September 14th, miles was found unconscious on a street in Tijuana, Mexico, and he was rushed to a hospital in Southern California where he was listed as being in critical condition after an apparent insulin overdose.

Miles was in a coma when he was found, and the doctors told his mom that he had suffered severe brain damage in a suicide attempt that had left him without oxygen to the brain for at least eight hours. Patricia made the tough decision to remove him from life support when she learned that there was virtually no hope for recovery.

Miles died on September 27th, 2002, along with the only firsthand account of what truly happened aboard the Hakuna matata. French Polynesian authorities had launched a murder investigation in early September, and they were looking into the volatile relationship between bison and his [00:33:00] brother, and whether their time at sea may have led to a deadly confrontation.

The FBI and the French police searched the 55 foot catamaran on the 16th while it was docked Tahiti. No one was on board when the boat was searched and they noticed that it had been repainted and renamed investigators scrambled to reconstruct the events and involved 13 FBI agents to assist French forensic specialists In gathering evidence, French authorities expanded the search across the islands in hopes of finding any witnesses who may have seen the boat's occupants after leaving the island of Maria.

They were specifically focused on the timeline just after July 7th when the boat was believed to have departed from Raya Tea, which was 136 miles away. They were able to map out where Bison's boat was sailing using satellite phone tracking. A police official said that they gathered information from 20 witnesses and had enough to suspect that Miles was involved in the disappearance of bison, Serena and Bertrand witnesses last saw the boat on July 6th or seventh on an island west of [00:34:00] Tahiti, and several Tian Locals reported seeing Miles step off the boat by himself before registering it under an alias.

That was neither his name nor Bisons. Two residents said that they drove him 60 miles to Pepe so he could board a flight on July 20th. It was learned that Miles had arranged to meet Erica two days after the boat set sale, and she actually arrived on July 8th, which is the day after it appears that bison, Serena and Bertrand were killed.

Miles then took the boat to Moria, where he picked up Erica and spent a week at a hotel resort on the island there before she flew back to the us. FBI Agents did think it was interesting that Miles had planned to meet Erica on that specific date when the boat was supposed to have been three days at sea at that point, not two.

The FBI determined that the three victims were likely killed on July 7th because they did have some witnesses who had reported seeing the whole group together on the boat on the sixth, but after that, miles was only spotted by himself. According to witnesses, [00:35:00] miles was doing normal touristy things like renting a scooter, exploring the coconut forest, and taking boat tours to see sharks and stingrays.

He was really acting as though nothing was wrong at all. Miles returned a rental car on July 6th, which he paid for with Bison's credit card, and then he flew back to the US on the 19th or the 20th. The sailboat itself was thoroughly combed for blood samples and any evidence that a struggle had occurred.

But after dismantling the boat, they found no evidence to support what Miles said happened. There were no bullet holes or blood found in the boat. It was discovered that Miles made a phone call from the satellite phone before he abandoned the boat and flew home. It was also learned that Miles bought about $200 in weights from Rebel Sport in Auckland, New Zealand, which police suspected that he used to weigh down the victim's bodies.

But authorities were suspicious of the story that Serena had died by accident. Bison had killed the captain, and then. Miles killed bison in self-defense. If that were true, then of [00:36:00] course, why would miles change the boat's registration and remove its name? And why would he forge bison's identity to then withdraw money and buy gold to help?

Bison, like that whole thing, none of it makes sense. Yeah. And why did Miles disappear instead of just explaining what happened and telling the police? So one official told the media that if the bodies had been dumped in the ocean, finding them would likely be impossible. The waters are very deep, they even have plane crashes, and those remains are still missing to this day.

A year later in 2003, the FBI admitted that the full details about what happened may never be known, but they had reached some conclusions about how the two brothers ended up dead in different parts of the world, everything in Miles's possession, including his cell phone and the Lincoln Navigator that he drove belonged to bison.

They believed that Miles was actually in the process of fully assuming his brother's identity before he completed [00:37:00] suicide. An autopsy was performed on miles and it was found that the cause and manner of death were undetermined. The toxicology report said that he had cocaine metabolites, opiates, depressants, and anti-anxiety medications in his system.

These results were consistent with the use of morphine. And or a heroin. But the medical examiner did not classify his death as an overdose. It was also noted that Miles's right lung was mildly congested, and there were minor contusions to his head, torso and extremities, but it could not be determined where those injuries came from.

Police reports suggest that bison was getting sick of supporting miles financially and that he wanted his brother to become more self-reliant. Bison's business manager denied that bison ever had plans to cut his brother off financially, but confirmed that bison had in fact been very generous in his financial support.

According to Patricia Miles had been estranged from the family for about three years, and he only came back when his get rich. Quick [00:38:00] schemes failed. Some investigators believed that it was the financial tensions. That led miles to snap. A double funeral was held for bison and miles on October 12th, 2002 at the Trinity Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

They were 33 and 35 years old at the time of their deaths. Over 250 people attended the funeral. Photos of the brothers were displayed at the altar, and the service made no mention of the tragic events in the South Pacific. Friends of the two men talked about the deep bond they shared despite their differences, which I wrote a little note that just said, huh?

'cause it didn't really sound like they had much of a deep bond at any point in their life. But yeah, I mean, I understand. I get it. Yeah. And maybe depending on when they knew them right as well. That's true of what period of time they, they knew of them. Yeah. The Reverend Eugene Marette, who was actually a cousin of the brothers, led the service and said, only God knows the truth.

We cannot judge a person's entirety by the sum total of one event. Another [00:39:00] cousin criticized the media for portraying the brothers as a modern day Cain and Abel, and disagreed with the notion that Miles killed his brother over jealousy. Patricia asked for everyone to hold on to the happy memories of her sons, and she said, we live in such a dark time.

My sons are dead because we live in such a dark time. That same month. Serena's stepfather said that he refused to accept that his daughter's body would never be found, said he will not rest until he gets her body back. He believes that finding the bodies is possible and he feels frustrated that the FBI and the Navy haven't made any serious effort to locate them.

He considers the boat a crime scene and says the investigators know the exact path the boat took between the islands they visited. So he went so far as to contact a high tech salvage company in Hawaii to help recover the bodies and reached out to Senator Wayne Allard's office about this issue as well.

They were able to escalate the issue to the FBI who said that they are determined to recover the bodies and that they are not giving up. [00:40:00] In the wake of her son's deaths, Patricia was in anguish over the fact that she felt like so much of what had been reported in the media was untrue. She argued that neither bison was a saint nor Miles a monster, and theorized that the incident may have been a kidnapping for ransom with Miles somehow involved, but not as a mastermind.

Patricia insists that Miles would never hurt a woman. And said he lacked the courage to plan out a murder. She believes that there was someone else involved and that the true story is far more complicated than what the police have concluded. The FBI though does not see it that way. They highly doubt that anyone other than Miles was involved in a plot to assume Bison's identity.

Miles had opened mailboxes in Miami and Santa Monica under Bison's name. He also had his financial statements forwarded there and planned to start a business in Belize using Bison's identity. They believed the motive for Bison's murder. His wealth and that miles resented bison's success. They [00:41:00] also found a latent fingerprint on a gun that Miles had brought to San Francisco after Bison's disappearance.

Though it seems all signs point to miles being guilty of murder, he was already gone so he couldn't be charged. French authorities asked that the case be closed as there was nothing more that could be done. The FBI believes that bison, Serena, and the captain were forced overboard at gunpoint and left to die in the open water rather than being shot.

They believe the victims likely drowned or succumb to sharks. Wow. This case is, uh, not one that I had ever heard of before, but this one really is interesting to me. I always think the ones that involve a celebrity or some kind of a pop culture person are really interesting because there's always a lot more information about their life and kind of what led to the events of their death.

So I felt like we did have a lot of information on this story about, you know, how bison and his brother grew up together and what their relationship was like. I. Don't know what happened. I believe that Miles knew exactly what happened, uh, before he took [00:42:00] his own life. So I think it's the most unfortunate that the families have lost the opportunity to ever hear from Miles, you know exactly what happened to their loved ones.

Uh, but I do feel like this is one of those cases where you don't have everything necessarily to say for sure, but I feel like there is enough here to draw the conclusions that you need to draw. For sure. I can't imagine how difficult it is for the family, especially the mom, if you, yeah, so just separately from Serena's family and Bertrand's family, 'cause that's a whole other thing.

But the mom having to even be faced with the possibility that one of the sons could have taken the life of the other one. Yeah. You're grieving two sons. But also if you look at Serena and Bertrand's family. The ones you hear about are bison and miles. Right? Right. And they're kind of subtext to what actually happened and their lives were just as important.

Right? So it's just really sad that it all got mixed up in this way. But I feel very much like, is it Occam's razor where the simplest thing, [00:43:00] simplest explan explanation, thank you, is what actually happened. Right. So I think that it was probably close to something what the FBI thinks happened, but I don't think what Miles came up with was the truth.

Yeah, I definitely don't either. If you wanted to get even more content, we have been putting up bonus episodes on Thursdays on the regular feed, but you can also get even more stuff, including our three part docuseries breakdown of the Ruby Frankie documentary on Hulu, which is a wild ride from start to finish.

You are not kidding. Yeah, we are finishing up that this week, so if you were looking to wait for that whole thing to drop, I know I do that sometimes with subscriptions and stuff. That will all be out tomorrow. Awesome. All right guys. That was the episode for this week. We will see you back next week. Same time, same place.

New story. Have a great week. [00:44:00] Bye.