Latest Info on Bison Dele

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Comatose sailor key to mystery

By Sarah Huntley, Rocky Mountain News

September 21, 2002

He could hold the key to unlocking the mystery behind the South Seas disappearance of enigmatic former NBA player Bison Dele, his free-spirited Colorado girlfriend and their French boat captain.

But Miles Dabord, the primary suspect in the trio's vanishing, lies in a coma, unable to answer questions from investigators across the world.

Dabord, Dele's older brother, was brought to the Scripps Memorial Hospital in Chula Vista, Calif., on Sunday after Mexican officials found him unconscious in the Tijuana area, said Special Agent Jeff Thurman of the San Diego FBI office. The officials carried Dabord to the U.S. border and turned him over to authorities, who summoned an ambulance.

The mystery patient had no identification and was admitted to the hospital as John Doe. Police used fingerprints to confirm his identity late Thursday.

Hospital officials Friday indicated they are growing concerned about his prognosis. Dabord, 35, has shown no signs of improvement throughout his five-day stay.

"His condition hasn't changed at all," hospital spokeswoman Monica Montano said. "They are running tests to find out why he is the way he is, but he's the same."

Thurman said doctors have given investigators no official prognosis.

"We don't know when or if his condition will change," he said. "But we certainly do want to talk to him."

Thurman said the FBI is also waiting for word about what caused Dabord's coma. Doctors found no indications of injury. Authorities have not ruled out a possible suicide attempt.

Tranquilizers

Patricia Phillips, mother of Dabord and Dele, said agents told her they have evidence that suggests Dabord ingested a large amount of tranquilizers. If so, the attempt is eerily similar to a failed suicide effort by his brother, who survived in 1992 after swallowing 15 sleeping pills that had been prescribed for depression. Dabord threatened suicide in a phone message to his mother last week.

The new information "doesn't give me any answers. It makes it more complex," Phillips said Thursday night. "They found the bottle of tranquilizers and told me Miles is in a coma."

Phillips, who went to the hospital Friday to visit her comatose son, holds out hope he'll recover, but she acknowledged that the odds are against him.

"I was so relieved that they found him," she said, "but he's been in a coma since Sunday."

That's a long time for most overdoses, said James Fisher, director of the ICU at Denver Health Medical Center.

"Most drugs will be shorter acting than that. With good support, you are going to metabolize the drugs and wake up," he said.

Fisher, who is not involved in the Dabord case, said he would expect doctors in California to run blood and urine tests to determine what kind of drug was ingested.

Brain tests also are likely because sedatives and tranquilizers can depress the respiratory system.

"If you don't breathe, you don't get any oxygen. If your brain doesn't get any oxygen, it sustains injury.

The longer your brain doesn't get oxygen, the worse it can be," Fisher said.

"The first question is: Is he going to wake up? And if he has had an irreversible injury to his brain from no oxygen, he might not."

That would be a devastating blow, both for investigators and the families of those still missing.

Foul play suspected

Authorities believe the brothers quarreled while sailing in the South Pacific off the coast of Tahiti in July.

The two set sail on Dele's 55-foot catamaran along with Dele's girlfriend, Serena Karlan, and French captain Bertrand Saldo on May 2. The catamaran, the Hakuna Matata, was found docked in Taravao, near Papeete, Tahiti, on Sept. 12, but it had been repainted and renamed.

Dele, Karlan and Saldo have not been heard from since July 8, and Tahitian authorities have said they believe they met with foul play.

Traces of gunpowder, likely from a large-gauge revolver, were found on board, according to a report in the Tahitipresse newspaper Friday. Investigators also found damage to the hull, which may have been caused by a bullet, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Kevin Porter, Dele's longtime friend and executive assistant, said Friday he is puzzled about what could have happened because Dele gave no indication he and his brother were having trouble.

"He had been traveling with his brother for roughly six months," Porter said. "For those six months, I have to just assume that everything was fine - until, maybe, the end."

Porter and Dele's family notified authorities earlier this month after Porter discovered that a check for $152,000 had been drawn on Dele's account for the purchase of gold coins in Phoenix.

Police say Dabord ordered the coins Sept. 5 using the name and ID of Brian Williams.

Brian Williams was Dele's birth name. He changed it in 1998 to honor his American Indian ancestry.

Dele, 33, played for the NBA for eight seasons under the name Williams. His career included time with the Los Angeles Clippers, the Chicago Bulls, the Detroit Pistons and the Denver Nuggets.

Officers in Phoenix questioned Dabord but released him.

A short while later, Dabord reportedly called his girlfriend, Erica Weise, and admitted there was an altercation aboard his brother's boat, saying that three people died. Dabord told Weise that Dele started the scuffle, according to the Times.

Dabord then fled to Mexico.

Porter learned of Dabord's arrest late Thursday while watching ESPN.

"I'm glad they found him. Hopefully he can give the authorities a little more information," he said.

Mother aches for daughter

Not everyone is convinced that Dele's brother will be helpful.

"I don't feel any different, any sense of knowing [serena's fate]," said Gael Ohlgren, the mother of Dele's missing girlfriend.

"We don't know if he's going to live or not. I don't know that I would believe anything he had to say anyway," she said, her eyes full of the pain and weariness of fearing that her daughter is forever lost.

Ohlgren spent Friday in her rustic stone and wood ranch north of Boulder sharing favorite memories with relatives.

The camaraderie brought some comfort but she aches to be with her 30-year-old daughter.

"I wish I had a place to go and a hand to hold," she said. "I feel like when I'm in hope, I'm not much in reality."