Michael Jordan’s former teammate Bison Dele vanished upon quitting the NBA.
Born Brian Williams, Dele was selected by the Orlando Magic as the No.10 pick in the 1991 NBA Draft
The 6’11 centre initially struggled to make an impact with the Magic and the Denver Nuggets, before moving to the Los Angeles Clippers in 1995/96, where he averaged 15.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
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He then went on to join Jordan’s iconic Chicago Bulls team and played an important role as a backup during their run to the 1997 NBA title.
The stint with the Bulls led the Detroit Pistons to sign Dele on a contract worth $45million (£35million) over seven years. But upon changing his name to Bison Dele to honour his Native American heritage, he retired from the game in 1999 with $36.45million (£29million) still remaining on his Pistons contract.
Upon announcing his retirement, Dele travelled the Mediterranean, Australia and the South Pacific in a catamaran. Soon tragedy struck, however.
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In early 2002, Dele and his partner Serena Karlan were joined in the South Pacific by his brother, with whom he had long had a strained relationship.
During that summer, five months after winning the NBA Championship with the Bulls, he and Karlan went missing along with the captain of the sailing boat, Bertrand Saldo.
There were initially no clues as to what happened, until months later, a man claiming to be Dele attempted to buy $152,000 (£121,000) in gold in Phoenix. That person was Dele’s brother Kevin, who had changed his name to Miles Dabord.
Dabord was apprehended, but subsequently let go by the Phoenix authorities.
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He had already caught the attention of the FBI before his arrest after a man fitting Dabord’s description moored Dele’s catamaran in a harbour in Tahiti before flying to Los Angeles.
Dabord was suspected of killing his brother, along with Karlan and the catamaran’s skipper.
But the case remains unsolved after Dabord was found dead that September from an insulin overdose in a suspected suicide.
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A memorial service for both brothers was held the following month.
''Miles has always been in his shadow,'' Dele and Dabord's mother Patricia Phillips told The New York Times. ''He was always feeling he wasn't as valued or as loved. I'm sure that was in play over the last six months on that boat.
''But I can't lay innocence or blame anywhere, not until I know what happened. I can't make this Cain and Abel until I know for sure.
''My boys are gone and neither of them can ever tell me what happened. For six months, I've had this romantic notion about my boys, just imagining all they were doing and learning and seeing. Now I don't want to think or feel.''
Topics: NBA, Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan, Basketball
Chris Byfield