One week after the fishing vessel Joe Cool set off on its ill-fated voyage through the Florida Straits, the boat captain’s two young children are at the center of a brewing custody battle in Miami-Dade County family court.
Several relatives of Captain Jake Branam and his wife, Kelley Branam, who disappeared from the Joe Cool with two crew members last weekend, have filed emergency petitions saying they would be the best guardians for the couple’s daughter, Taylor, 2, and son, Morgan, 4 months.
On Friday, the morning after Coast Guard officials called off search efforts for the four missing, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Sandy Karlan appointed a guardian ad litem to look after the children’s’ interests.
Among those vying for custody are their paternal great-grandparents, their maternal grandmother and a great uncle. Taylor and Morgan have been staying since Sept. 22 with their great-grandfather, Joe “Harry” Branam, 75, who agreed to baby-sit while Jake and Kelley Branam ran a charter to Bimini.
The two surviving Joe Cool passengers appeared in Miami federal court Friday for a scheduled bond hearing. That hearing was reset for Oct. 2.
Kirby Archer, 35, of Strawberry, Ark. is charged with fleeing prosecution in his home state where authorities say he stole $92,000 from the Wal-Mart where he worked. Guillermo Zarabozo, 19, of Hialeah is charged with lying to investigators.
Zarabozo claimed hijackers boarded the Joe Cool and executed the crew. Federal prosecutors, who have yet to present their theory of what happened at sea, have said they consider Archer and Zarabozo flight risks and will seek pre-trial detention.
The two men paid $4,000 for passage to Bimini. The boat left the Miami Beach Marina on Sept. 22, but about halfway to Bimini it veered sharply off course toward Cuba. Jake Branam, 27; Kelley Branam, 30; Scott Gamble, 30; and Samuel Kairy, 27, remain missing.
Attorney Robert Rosenblatt, who represents Harry Branam, of Miami Beach, said the children don’t yet realize their parents may not be coming home. Taylor, who turns 3 in November, has not been allowed to watch television because she would recognize footage of the Joe Cool, Rosenblatt said.
He said the court should appoint a temporary guardian as soon as possible to make medical and other decisions for the children if necessary. Those seeking custody plan to meet this morning at his Pinecrest office with the guardian ad litem.
“Everybody thinks they’re the best people to raise the children,” he said. “Harry has been with the kids since they were born. He baby-sits them very often when Jake and Kelley would go on long trips, and he has the financial resources to take of them.”
The children’s great-grandmother and great uncle – who reside at the $5 million Star Island estate where Jake and Kelley Branam lived with their children – tell a different story.
In a petition for joint custody, Jeannette and Jeffrey Branam describe Harry Branam as “an inconsistent presence” in the children’s lives.
“It is in the best interests of the minor children to be returned to the home they have known their entire lives and to the warm nurturing environment they have been raised in to date,” the filing states.
Kelley Branam’s mother, Leanne Van Laar-Uttmark, of St. Louis, filed a custody petition Thursday, saying Harry Branam wouldn’t allow her to see her grandchildren.
Attorneys for Jeannette and Jeffrey Branam and Van Laar-Uttmark could not be reached.
All the court filings stop short of stating Jake and Kelley Branam should be presumed dead, describing them instead as “missing.”
Van Laar-Uttmark listed the parents as interested parties on her custody petition. In the space for an address, she wrote “whereabouts unknown.”
Vanessa Blum can be reached at or 954-356-4605.
