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Nearly seven weeks passed before the distraught families of the missing were able to spur authorities into action. "We were on the phone trying to find anybody--FBI, local people, anybody--to take us seriously, and the clock is ticking," says Scott Ohlgren, Karlan's stepfather. A break came when Dabord tried to buy $152,000 worth of gold from a Phoenix bullion dealer, using his brother's checkbook. On Sept. 5 he was arrested, but he was released a few hours later when police could not disprove his claim that Dele had authorized the transaction. Dabord left for Mexico--out of the hands of police until he surfaced in San Diego.
Dele's agent, Dwight Manley, wonders if the ballplayer's wealth had triggered fatal sibling jealousy: "Brian provided things for him. Maybe this was a simple case of financial motives." For now the answer lies with Dabord and in the waters of Tahiti.