For nearly two weeks, police have been desperately searching for Sarm Heslop, a British flight attendant who disappeared from a boat off the coast of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This search, however, has become increasingly harsh after her American boyfriend, Ryan Bane, 44, stopped cooperating with police and banned them from searching the ship. To make matters worse, Bane appears to have a history of domestic violence, his ex-wife said in a new interview.
Now, Heslop’s friends and family are fed up.
“We are surprised and dismayed that Sarm is missing. We would like to make sure that the Virgin Islands authorities are doing everything possible to find her and that the investigation into the disappearance of our beautiful and beloved daughter includes a thorough search at the tip of the ship’s finger, ”he said. his family in a statement Saturday.
“Our daughter is a citizen of the United Kingdom and we ask for all the support that the British authorities can offer. We will never give up looking for Sarm and we still hope to find her safe ”.
Virgin Islands police say Heslop, 41, was last seen on the Siren Song boat, which is owned by Bane, on March 7 after the couple went out to dinner. Hours later, around two-thirty in the morning, Bane called authorities to report his disappearance.
When officers arrived on the boat, moored in Frank Bay, St. John, Bane said the couple had sailed from St. John’s. Thomas and had gone to bed around 10pm. , and he realized that his girlfriend had left.
But soon after, officers conducted a first ground search and asked Bane to contact the U.S. Coast Guard, a 44-year-old Michigan native who was a lawyer and banned police from his ship. . The U.S. Coast Guard said it was first alerted to the incident around 11:46 a.m. March 8, when Bane called to say his girlfriend may have fallen off the 47-foot catamaran. .
“Shortly after reporting Ms. Heslop’s disappearance, Mr. Bane acquired the services of a lawyer,” a police spokesman said in a statement. “On the advice of his lawyer, Mr Bane exercised his constitutional right to remain silent and rejected officers’ requests to search the ship.
Heslop’s friends and family are outraged by Bane’s decision not to cooperate with the authorities.
Andrew Baldwin, who has known Heslop for more than 25 years, said in a statement that the “timeline” of his best friend’s disappearance “makes no sense”.
“We know they had dinner at a local restaurant and left at 10pm. What we don’t know is what happened in those hours,” the 41-year-old said in a statement, noting that Bane took almost 10 hours to call the Coast Guard that night.
“She’s smart and sensible, she’s nothing like her, she just doesn’t add up.”
Baldwin added that Heslop’s “phone, passport and all that [her] belongings were left on the ship ”and he insisted that“ it would not only disappear, without leaving a trace ”.
“She’s smart and sensible, she’s not like her at all, she just doesn’t get along,” she said, adding that she found it extremely suspicious that Bane’s lawyer had denied requests from local agents to search the ship.
“Given that Sarm lived on the boat with Mr Bane and claims he has disappeared from this boat, it would be natural for this to be the first place the police searched. We strive to understand why, as we hear, it would not allow that happens and we continue to call for a thorough search of Siren Song, as Sarm disappeared almost two weeks ago, ”Baldwin added.
“We call for an urgent and immediate investigation into this incident, as her housewives are devastated and only need her disappearance to be a critical priority, as there are also many discrepancies in the timing of what we have heard.”
But Bane’s lawyer, David Cattie, insisted that Bane’s timeline is not suspicious and that, after contacting 911 on March 8, he “traveled to find members of the [Virgin Islands Police Department] give a statement on Sarm “.
“Later that morning, the U.S. Coast Guard arrived on Mr. Bane’s (Siren Song) ship at Mr. Bane’s request,” Cattie said in a statement to Fox News. “Several USCG agents boarded the ship and interviewed Mr. Bane on the ship. Bane, at the request of Sarm’s family, handed over his personal belongings. [the Virgin Islands Police Department], including mobile phone, iPad, passport, etc. “
The lawyer, however, did not seem to comment on why his client no longer speaks to police. Cattie did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.
For Cori Stevenson, her ex-husband’s decision not to cooperate is suspicious, but not so surprising given his alleged violent past. In an interview with CrimeOnline, Stevenson said Bane was allegedly abusive during their six-year relationship that ended in 2014.
The alleged abuse sparked at least one police report in 2011, and Bane was charged with a simple attack on Stevenson. Stevenson told CrimeOnline that she has contacted Virgin Islands police about her ex-husband’s past.