The three DEA agents were very cordial when asking permission to come aboard Doug and Molly Smothers' yacht. A search uncovered drugs in the engine well, and the Smothers were soon accused of drug running. Since the Smothers didn't fit the profile of users or traffickers, a deal was made. They agreed to bring drugs into Sarasota for a DEA drug bust. They soon learned that the agents were dirty, and there could only be one way to keep the Smothers quiet - murder. When Brad Smothers was informed by Sheriff Goodson that his parent had been knifed to death on their yacht out on the Gulf, and thrown overboard for shark bait, he was not only in shock, but in denial. "There is no way my father would allow anyone on board. He always kept a weapon on board." "You can think any way you want, but believe me, they are dead," the Sheriff insisted. Brad sold his business and moved to Florida, where he hired a detective agency to find his parents .. alive or dead. FBI Agents Yates and Ludman recommended to Sheriff Goodson that he arrest Brad Smothers for his parents' murders. "If you think he's guilty, why in the hell don't you arrest him ourself " ... (smart asses, he thought).