FL FL - Isabella Hellmann, 41, catamaran off Cay Sal, FL Keys,14 May 2017 #2 *GUILTY*

[Greater Than]

Bond set at $250k in coin case for husband of Delray woman missing at sea

September 1, 2017

Lewis Bennett, who last saw his missing wife when their boat capsized in the Caribbean, was granted a $250,000 bond Friday during a Key West hearing.

[...]

He remained in federal custody Friday afternoon and it was not clear whether he could afford to post bond to be released.

According to U.S. Attorney’s spokeswoman Sarah Schall, Bennett is scheduled for an arraignment in a Key West courtroom on Sept. 11. Bennett’s attorney, Marc Shiner, could not be reached for comment Friday.

[...]

According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, the agency has not been involved in placing the child with a custodian while her parents are unable to care for her. Hellmann’s relatives could not be reached for comment.

The May 2016 theft of the coins that led to Bennett’s arrest happened after a night of partying, said Capt. Glen Werleman, chief of the St. Maarten Coast Guard.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/p...stolen-coins-missing-wife-20170901-story.html

Details of the theft can be found at the above link.

 

[ATasteOfHoney]

I wonder if he went back to the US to see whether the FBI had discovered the gold coins hidden in his boat shoes. Bet he's been stressing over the coins ever since LE asked for the return of the first batch.

Yeah.....he's just your run-of-the-mill murdering pirate

 

[meanmaryjean]

NB: I am not a boat expert!!!

From reading Wikipedia, and https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/catamaran-skeg-strut.53666/ , IIUC, the description of missing propeller & skeg seems to be consistent with a major collision of some kind.

I'm thinking it must have been one HECK of a collision to do that much damage. This was an ocean-going vessel, not a flimsy shoreline pleasure craft!

But wasn't it discussed LONG ago on this thread that they were in deep water? That there was no known object to run into?

 

[kaen]

But wasn't it discussed LONG ago on this thread that they were in deep water? That there was no known object to run into?

There are cargo containers and other junk in the ocean.

http://www.yachtingworld.com/news/c...the-danger-to-sailors-real-or-imagined-107508

 

[Bently]

But wasn't it discussed LONG ago on this thread that they were in deep water? That there was no known object to run into?

Exactly! I was in discussion then also, but did not know propeller and skeg was damaged/missing.

But there is MUCH flotsam in the ocean. Personally, I've taken about 13 cruise through the Carribean and it's amazing to see all the floating logs etc. Reading that the skeg and the propeller were missing (damaged? )

I really want to see a photo and hope that they took a photo of that as it has made me :thinking:

If one has a collision that rips off the propeller and the skeg... that imho would look definitive as to an actual collision, would it not? It would easily look different than if it was removed purposefully (lots of nuts/bolts etc., and ?impossible? to have been removed if at sea to look the same if ripped off in a collision?.. )

It's not like we are getting this information from a defense team iykwim

I think a photo of that area is worth a thousand words :cow:

 

[SuperTmo]

How was Bennett able to leave the US with the baby? I'm sure she has an American passport but if a minor is traveling with just one parent aren't they required to have a letter of permission from the other parent? She hasn't been declared dead (or at least not when he left the US).

 

[Gardener1850]

How was Bennett able to leave the US with the baby? I'm sure she has an American passport but if a minor is traveling with just one parent aren't they required to have a letter of permission from the other parent? She hasn't been declared dead (or at least not when he left the US).

I've never heard of a letter being required for one parent to take a child on a plane. They were not divorced or even separated. His wife is missing/presumed deceased so getting "permission" from her would be impossible. He has legal custody over his daughter (so long as he is not in jail) and she likely has his last name. As mentioned up above, she might even have a UK passport if they applied for one. The media has reported Isabella visited his parents in the UK before so it's not out of line to think they may have taken the baby and gotten her a UK passport on that visit. I really doubt they faced any resistance at all from the airlines. And why should they have? I don't like this guy-- at best he is a thief/fraudster and at worst he may have murdered his wife-- BUT, while he was free, he wasn't breaking any laws by taking his daughter with him. :moo:

 

[TTF14]

How was Bennett able to leave the US with the baby? I'm sure she has an American passport but if a minor is traveling with just one parent aren't they required to have a letter of permission from the other parent? She hasn't been declared dead (or at least not when he left the US).

Only if divorced/going out of the country. They weren't divorced.

 

[Gardener1850]

She could still be inside that boat.

Is there any chance the boat can still be recovered? (Not directed at you specifically Gigtu, just wondering in general...) If she is still in the boat, he took a huge risk to abandon it. :thinking:

 

[SuperTmo]

Only if divorced/going out of the country. They weren't divorced.

Got it! Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Elley Mae]

When i read this earlier i figured he was probably guilty, but reading this i have to reconsider.

How was it missing it's propeller? :thinking:

"A notation from about 5 a.m. says the catamaran is missing its propeller and its skeg — an extension of the hull that helps stabilize the vessel and protects the rudder and propeller — and that “a large chunk of the starboard hull (is) missing from an apparent collision with an object.”"
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/crime--law/exclusive-new-details-emerge-night-delray-woman-vanished-sea/LekzcUsZxjWx69YqIiwNNM/

 

[Elley Mae]

Strange. I wonder if the damage is something he could have done? Also could he have killed her the day before (make sure the body wasn't in the area). Or could this be her leaving, with help from another person/boat and got rid of the motor and damaging the cat.?

 

[Satchie]

I think the fact he had this loot with him makes it less likely, on the face of things, that this was a deliberate sinking.

Seems to me the purpose of the trip was to smuggle the coins off St. Maarten and into the US where they could be sold. It would go much more easily for him to arrive in port with his American wife, having just been on their 'honeymoon' trip on their boat. "Nothing to see here", would be the presumable response of customs officials.

Whereas the sinking meant taking all those coins onto the lifeboat, having other people salvage them, a pretty risky plan it seems to me. If he'd wanted to sink the boat, he could've waited until after he'd safely disposed of the coins.

I think his preoccupation with the coins might explain why he went so ballistic about Isabella's family going into his apartment, and his general lack of attention towards his lost wife. Says a lot about his character, or perhaps the degree of his feelings of guilt and fear of getting caught.

I also note that the FBI have recovered about 1/3 the original value of the coins, and there were 3 crew members who reported the burglary on the boat. So I imagine his arrest might have implications for these other guys. He might be very loyal and fearful of getting them into trouble.

It might just be a sort of Breaking Bad scenario, once someone gets involved in something illegal, it can warp everything they do.

 

[Gardener1850]

Isabella Hellmann mystery spans three continents, raises questions
Snip
[...]

ISABELLA VANISHES: A TIMELINE

*snip*

January 2017: The couple buys a condo at the Pine Ridge at Delray Beach development for $123,000.

February: The couple marry in Atlanta.

April 30: Isabella flies to St. Maarten to meet Bennett and his catamaran, the Surf into Summer, which had been there since April 8. The couple sail that day. Facebook postings show her May 1 in Puerto Rico and May 2 in the British Virgin Islands. Those are her last public postings.

May 14: The couple reportedly leaves Varadero, a resort town about 75 miles east of Havana, at 5:30 p.m.

May 15: Bennett contacts the Coast Guard around 1 a.m. to say the boat has struck something and is sinking and Hellmann is missing. Hours later, he is rescued and flown to the Florida Keys.

May 18: Coast Guard officially calls off search.

*Snip*

RSBM for space. According to her sister, Isabella called on the 14th while they were out in the ocean:

Dayana Rodriguez told the station that on May 14 she received a call from her sister while she was on a catamaran with her husband of three months, Lewis Bennett, in the Atlantic Ocean. “She called me at 8:25 p.m. and said, ‘Oh hi, we just connected the [satellite phone], it’s been really hard for us to connect it cause his [Bennett’s] friend told me it’s hard,’ ” Rodriguez said, according to WPTV.

“She said, ‘I’m in the middle of the ocean right now, we left Cuba.’ ”

Rodriguez continued, “She didn’t tell me what time, but she said, ‘We left Cuba and that’s it.’ She said, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ ”

Rodriguez said that call was the last time she heard from Hellmann. At 3 a.m. on May 15, she said, she woke up to multiple missed calls and voicemails — one being from the satellite phone.

http://people.com/human-interest/sister-of-florida-mom-missing-at-sea-interview/

This narrows the timeline of when Isabella "disappeared" to between the end of the phone call and and 1 AM. If he called Isabella's sister at 3 AM, perhaps the boat was still slowly sinking for 2 hours? Or would he have risked calling the coast guard before the boat started to sink? We don't know how long the phone call from Isabella to her sister lasted but was probably a short call, IMO. Let's say the time frame for Isabella's "disappearance" is between 8:30 PM and 1 AM. Any sailing experts want to weigh in on how far someone could sail in the dark in 4.5 hours?

 

[Elley Mae]

Who is Bennett's friend? And was he on board?

RSBM for space. According to her sister, Isabella called on the 14th while they were out in the ocean:


http://people.com/human-interest/sister-of-florida-mom-missing-at-sea-interview/

This narrows the timeline of when Isabella "disappeared" to between the end of the phone call and and 1 AM. If he called Isabella's sister at 3 AM, perhaps the boat was still slowly sinking for 2 hours? Or would he have risked calling the coast guard before the boat started to sink? We don't know how long the phone call from Isabella to her sister lasted but was probably a short call, IMO. Let's say the time frame for Isabella's "disappearance" is between 8:30 PM and 1 AM. Any sailing experts want to weigh in on how far someone could sail in the dark in 4.5 hours?

 

[Elley Mae]

Next ? Her cellphone. Was it found/recovered?

 

[bears10]

I would love to know who is "business partner" is. The one he called while his boat was sinking and his wife was missing.

Sorry but I'm sticking to the opinion that no respectful man would let his inexperienced wife hold down the fort in the middle of the ocean in the dark. If they needed rest that badly, why did they even bother leaving at 530 PM? Why not sleep on the docked boat and wait until the morning? Or get a hotel? With all those silver coins, he surely could have afforded a hotel for a night. Then they could have left in the morning, she could have kept watch during the day, and him at night. What kind of loving husband doesn't do everything in his power to protect his wife, the mother of his daughter?

 

[Gardener1850]

Who is Bennett's friend? And was he on board?

No one else was on the boat as far as we know. Not sure who she was referring to but I seem to recall something about a business partner who lives in Australia. He might have been the one to help set up the SAT phone. I seem to recall that Bennett called the partner in Australia when he was trying to reach someone about the boat sinking and the partner actually contacted the Coast Guard. A lot of people were up in arms about him calling his partner in Australia and saying it's suspicious but I didn't see it that way at the time it came out. The time differences being what they are, if it was 1 AM in the EST of the US, it was 7 AM in Australia. I assumed he called Australia because he was trying to get a hold of someone and it's easier to reach a person at 7 AM than in the middle of the night when most people are sleeping. However, now in light of all this new info I do have to wonder if his partner knew about the stolen coins. :thinking:

 

[Sjm_qc]

How was Bennett able to leave the US with the baby? I'm sure she has an American passport but if a minor is traveling with just one parent aren't they required to have a letter of permission from the other parent? She hasn't been declared dead (or at least not when he left the US).

The letter of permission is not a requirement, only a recommendation, and it isn't systematically asked for. IME, over many years of crossing borders alone with my children, I was only asked for it a couple or three times, mainly because we had different last names & multiple citizenships.

Bennett was perfectly within his rights to travel out of the US with his daughter.

The child could very well have both US & British passports, even an Australian one too (you can apply from overseas for the last 2).

 

[Sjm_qc]

Actually, another - very likely irrelevant - thought has occurred to me, mainly because of the discussions about citizenships/taking the child to the UK, etc:

Do we know Bennett's US status? Was he going in and out on visitor visas (might explain the frequent trips and not spending much time in the US) or the VWP? Or had they applied for a spouse visa? Or some other status?