FL FL - Isabella Hellmann, 41, catamaran off Cay Sal, SE of the FL Keys, 14 May 2017 #1 *GUILTY*

[LaneGirl]

Is Isabella wealthy? Does he stand to benefit financially from her death?

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I'm not sure and is there insurance on her?

Also perhaps just the fact that he wanted to move with the baby and she didn't want to, would that be reason enough without money being involved? idk

 

[tiffay01]

Finally caught up here, I am like many who can't decide what I truly think happen. I feel like the reporting on this case is wrong, and we aren't getting anything substantial. We are only getting 2nd and 3rd person reports for the most part, and most of them are directly from a grieving family who don't know what to think. I feel like that alone causes clouded responses, and then the other reports seem to be filled with holes and we can only attempt to fill them in. I think that he could have had help, and then I think well freak accidents happen daily. I just wish there were clear and precise info released directly from LE and leaving out the emotional responses for now. I can say 100% my husband is not the emotional type, even during the most tragic moment in his life he didn't cry or show much emotional and that was towards me his wife of 20+ years. So I don't find Bennetts lack of emotion to be perfectly reasonable, especially to the SIL who he might have already had ill feelings towards. I hope LE, which I am sure they have, have dug into how her phone broke, when the last person besides her husband physically saw her. The conversation with the sister on the phone, well that seems to bother me the most 1)why did she wait and call until after her husband went to bed? Why not call her anytime from 5:30-8:00? Was it a control issue where he didn't want her to call, or was that her way of informing her sister something was amiss? 2) is money involved? 3) was the husband who admittedly says he was in the "people moving business" perhaps he was involved in something nefarious (drugs, human trafficking etc.) and it caught up to him in Cuba, they took or harmed her and he's to scared to admit it? 3) who's idea was the trip, I know she didn't want to leave the baby, but was it her idea to go alone with him, since according to the sister she had never done before. 4) what motive would he have to harm her? Was it relocating, was it parenting issues or was it something completely different?

Also, the issues that were bad in the marriage makes you wonder why she'd go through with getting married to him if they were fighting a lot. I mean the baby was born prior to them marrying, and so the fighting over how to raise her had to of already been a major issue. So did he force that on her or was she equally as excited to seal the deal?

 

[Hazelnutty]

I'm not sure and is there insurance on her?

Also perhaps just the fact that he wanted to move with the baby and she didn't want to, would that be reason enough without money being involved? idk

I hadn't thought of that. IIRC his business addresses were changed often. Possibly just changed to where he happened to be at the time? Seems to be lots of vacations and lots of countries and a sweet baby in-between. Obviously one of them has a good cash flow. Just not sure which one.

And her family taking Isabella's expensive things from their apt before husband returns. What's up with that? Did Isabella raise a warning about Husband? Why did they get married just recently?

Why, why, why do I have so many questions?

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[Hazelnutty]

I wonder the same. Maybe she got a lot in her previous divorce. To be able to pay $37k for a divorce is not chump change.

Also, didn't she either pay for the condo herself, pay for all of those renovations herself, or both?

Good questions! I feel this relationship was lopsided, but can't figure out which side to lean with.

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[Bently]

even more updates/timeline:

According to her sister, Isabella did not want to leave her 9 month old baby, but wanted to help her husband move a boat from St. Martin to Key West. The boat would later be taken to Australia by Bennett and his business partner,. “He has a lot of experience. He knows a lot about boats,” she said.

The couple had taken trips like this one before, prior to having their baby, but never just the two of them alone.

April 8 - Government officials in St. Maarten confirmed Bennett’s 1986 37-foot Fountaine Pajot Orana 44 catamaran came in, named "Surf Into Summer", listing Sydney, Australia as the home port.
April 26 - Bennett flew from London to Fort Lauderdale and the couple was going to take a flight to the Caribbean to begin their trip.
“They were supposed to go from St. Martin to Puerto Rico, from Puerto Rico to Cuba, and from Cuba to Key West,” her sister said. The couple would spend no more than two days at each island to rest and then sail to the next destination.
April 29 - Hellman posted on Facebook: “Caribbean, here I come,” along with a map bearing a dotted line from South Florida to St. Maarten. Hellman flew to St. Maarten.
April 30 - Government officials in St. Maarten confirmed Bennett’s boat left for the trip.
May 1 - Hellman posts from Puerto Rico, referencing "another day in paradise".
May 2 - Hellman posts from the British Virgin Islands.
May 3 - Hellman's cellphone breaks and all contact from this point on was through Bennett's iPad.
??? Isabella told her sister she would be back by May 12 to attend her sister's graduation on Saturday.
??? Isabella told her sister that for five days straight they would not be able to talk.
May 11 or 12 - Isabella's sister received a call from her but found it strange that every other time, Isabella asked about the baby and asked detailed questions, but not this time, she just asked if they were getting ready for the graduation. Her sister still thought Isabella was going to surprise her at the ceremony. But Saturday the 12th came and went and no sign of Isabella.
May 14 - 5:30 p.m. - Catamaran leaves Havana, Cuba, with a final destination of Key West, FL. Officials said the catamaran's last port of call was Cuba.
May 14 - 8:00 p.m. - Bennett goes below deck to sleep, leaving Hellman at the helm of the boat wearing a life vest.
May 14 - 8:25 p.m. - Hellman called her sister: ‘Oh hi, we just connected the phone, it’s been really hard for us to connect it cause his [Bennett’s] friend told me it’s hard. I’m in the middle of the ocean right now, we left Cuba. I’ll see you tomorrow.'
May 14 - 1:00 a.m.-1:35 a.m. - Bennett said he awoke to something hitting the boat and felt that it was starting to sink. Bennett used a satellite phone to call the International Response Coordination Center, a private company, which passed the SOS to the Coast Guard. When he saw the catamaran was taking on water, he dropped the lifeboat into the water and got into it, fired his emergency position beacon (EPIRB). The catamaran was now 30 miles west of Cay Sal, which is about 100 miles southeast of Key West and about 130 miles east-northeast of Havana.
May 15 - 3:00 a.m. - Hellman's sister said she woke up to several missed calls and voice mails. One was from the satellite phone from Bennett who said, 'this is an emergency, you need to call the Coast Guard. This is my coordinates.'
May 15 - ??? - Bennett’s business partner left a voicemail for Hellman's sister.
May 15 - 4:30 a.m.-4:50 a.m. - The Coast Guard chopper pinpointed Bennett floating in a life raft with a personal locator beacon about 1,000 yards from the now upside-down Surf into Summer and in about 4,800 feet of water. Bennett said the USCG allowed him to retrieve a backpack from the catamaran; in it was his iPad, the satellite phone, chargers, his wallet, and documents related to the boat. A basket pulled Bennett from his raft in 2-to-4-foot seas and taken to Marathon Key, FL. He told the USCG he was unable to find his wife and had no choice but to abandon the vessel.
May 15 - ??? - The Coast Guard called Hellman's sister and asked to pick Bennett up in Marathon. Hellmann’s family picked him up that afternoon and brought him to their home in Boca Raton. Her sister said, “He was calm, he wasn’t crying or anything. When I saw him I ran to him and I hugged him and I said where is Isabella? And he said I don’t know.”
May 15 - within hours of when Bennett would have been rescued, a neighbor said she saw a car parked downstairs belonging to Hellmann’s sister.
May 17 - Neighbor said she saw five relatives go into Bennett/Hellman's Delray Beach apartment.
May 17 evening - His first first time back in his Delray Beach apartment. Hellmann’s engagement ring, electronics and an expensive handbag were gone. A neighbor told him that she’d seen the family in the apartment. Bennett said he was considering “civil action” against Hellman's family members who he believes went into his condo while he was in Cuba.
May 17 - Neighbor said he approached Bennett to express his concern and sympathy. “He said, ‘Yeah. I’m going to be leaving for England. I’ve got to move on with my life,’ ” The neighbor said, ‘What about the baby?’ He stopped and said, “Oh. I guess I’ve got to take her with me too".
May 17 or 18 (day before USCG search called off) - Hellman's best friend pleaded with Bennett not to leave the country with the couple’s baby. “I begged him to please understand that the family lost Isabella and the only piece of Isabella left was (the baby), and he just can’t leave and take (her).” "He said he understands, but he’s got his life in Australia.” The best friend reminded Bennett, at the Hellmann family home in Boca Raton, about the huge effort by family and friends to find the two Tequesta teens lost at sea in 2015, and “suggested he do his own search. I mean, he’s a captain. He knows the sea. He knows the area. Do something. Not stay here. I would be looking for my wife."
May 18 - U.S. Coast Guard called off the search after searching 6,680 square miles of sea.
May 19 - the key lock on Bennett’s front door had been replaced with an electronic keypad. Bennett contacted deputies to file a complaint. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office confirms.
May 20-23 - Bennett and baby stay at the apartment. Also that weekend, Bennett told a neighbor he wanted to search for his wife but had lost his passport when the vessel sank. He said he had obtained a temporary one but that it barred him from leaving the country right away.
May 23 - 8:30 p.m. - neighbor said she saw “official-looking” men with latex gloves and Bennett out by his car
May 24 - another neighbor was walking his dog and saw Bennett “bringing stuff out. He had someone helping him. They were throwing stuff in the dumpster.”
May 25 - Bennett's car is gone.
May 26 or 27 - CBS 12 visited the apartment. No one was home, but two boxes marked evidence were left on the front stoop-- one was open at the top, and they could see inside. The item looked like a piece of inflatable marine equipment, possibly a life-vest.
??? - Bennett texted Isabella's sister from Cuba telling her he had checked with U.S. Embassy to get local authorities involved and had checked all hospitals looking for Isabella.
May 27 - Bennett returns from Cuba. He said he “met the authorities there and checked every hospital, but there is no sign of her.”
May 28 - Bennett went to Boca Raton to pick up the baby, he returns to Hellman's family's home with a Boca Raton police officer demanding the baby’s things.
??? - Hellman's sister was told that Bennett has left the country with the baby.

In addition:

The Coast Guard said responders inspected the boat “the best they could from the surface,” and never saw what it might have struck. The catamaran is steered by a tiller alongside a canvas seat, near the stern, close enough that a person in it could be flung overboard by the impact of a collision. It was too dangerous for anyone from the Coast Guard to go inside the boat and that divers banged on the hull but no one answered. The agency does not believe Hellmann’s body is inside.

The catamaran’s pontoons had neither visible holes nor obvious places where water could have filled them, but there were deep scrapes at the back ends of each. A Coast Guard photo shows the catamaran upside down with one pontoon below the surface and the other above the water line.

There are a few updates and this is just one.

Update since this post on 31st.

On the 28th he went to the home of her family,with LE, to retrieve items which he said were stolen ( he claims they were on camera) by the family versus getting the baby's things.

 

[1&2&3]

The old saying "S/HE who loves the least has the control".

It sounds to me like he has the control in this family.

 

[JerseyGirl]

The satellite phone is always been a mystery to me, if the timeline is correct (according to MSM reports).

5:30 p.m. - The cat leaves Cuba at 5;30 p.m.

8:00 p.m. - Bennett retires for the night below deck (I still find this time odd, but maybe he was really tired).

8:25 p.m. - Isabella calls her sister from the satellite phone, saying Bennett's friend said it would be difficult to connect, but that she got it working and is on her way home.

3:00 a.m. - After the collision and Bennett scrambling for the lifeboat, how was he able to grab the satellite phone (and not his beloved backpack that he later went back to the boat for) if Isabella had it last? Perhaps at some point during the night, she came down to the deck below and put it away?

__

I'm also thinking that there probably was a lot of tension on the boat. The trip, according to her sister, was supposed to be 2 days sailing, 1 day island. They were only supposed to go from St. Maarten to Puerto Rico to Cuba to Key West. But just before her phone broke, Isabella was posting from the British Virgin Islands and was planning to return on May 12th so she could attend her sister's graduation.

Why was the trip extended and why didn't they make it home by the 12th as planned?

 

[JerseyGirl]

For some reason, I didn't read anything about evidence tape in this article. Did I miss it? Guess I did.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/c...-missing-delray-woman/pmZR6lKdt32kA2npTl5dMO/

A visit Thursday morning showed the front door doorknob, the touch pad lock and part of the doorjamb covered with yellow evidence tape reading “Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

 

[JerseyGirl]

Ok the one pertaining to this case is 37 feet "surf into summer". I'm trying to find more info

The cat's name prior to "Surf Into summer" was "Asteria", if that helps any.

Government officials in St. Maarten said they do not keep a log of boat sales. But in the October 2016 edition of the magazine “All At Sea Caribbean,” an ad for The Yacht Shop, a retailer with locations in St. Maarten and Toronto, listed a testimonial from Bennett saying staff “provided me with all the information to make a confident and informed purchase — sight unseen.” A call to that store was not returned.

An email inquiry to the maker, France-based Fountaine Pajot, was not returned. But a 2012 brochure by Multihull Solutions, an Australia-based broker, says the boat “is ideal for high-performance ocean sailing.”

The web page for a boating enthusiasts’ rally called the Pacific Puddle Jump says that in 2014, Bennett and the Asteria were scheduled to make an ambitious sail from St. Maarten to the Galapagos. Organizers say records don’t indicate if a person makes the sailing.


http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news...mystery-missing-woman/5reNR5lTYpl2kcOKNxdxaP/

 

[JerseyGirl]

"The Australian Maritime Safety Authority says the 1986 Fountaine Pajot Orana 44 lists Sydney as its home port." Antoine Lebreton, a French national, included in an online resume he had gone to St. Maarten ... from November to December 2013 to help Bennett refit the vessel, then called the Astoria.

"Lebreton said he met Hellman when Bennett came to St. Maarten to buy the boat." (Not this trip, but when Bennett bought the boat.)

:needdrink:

http://Rare.us>us>rare-news>a-womans-mystery

Whenever I try to search for specs on this cat, I can't find it. Why was it called Fountaine Pajot Orana 44 if the cat is only 37 feet? The problem I'm having when search Fountaine Pajot Orana 44 is I'm pulling up cat's that are 44 feet long.

There's a big difference between a 37 foot cat and 44 foot cat. BTW, I don't know if I would even sail alone at night in open uncharted waters in a 37 foot cat - which is not that big!

Here is a video of a newer Fountaine Pajot 37's:
[video=youtube;wC3LFMcnlsk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC3LFMcnlsk[/video]
[video=youtube;T0xO8XoFac8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0xO8XoFac8[/video]

 

[Beth11311]

I wonder the same. Maybe she got a lot in her previous divorce. To be able to pay $37k for a divorce is not chump change.

Also, didn't she either pay for the condo herself, pay for all of those renovations herself, or both?

I quoted some info upthread in regards to these questions, but no I don't think that she had a lot of money - or any leftover at least. It was mentioned that she sunk her entire savings into the condo purchase so it sounds like that was the extent of her money, and that it was Bennett who spent the $60-$70k on the renovations (need to confirm that one). I also don't believe her family is independently wealthy - and I felt that the theft of the engagement ring, expensive handbags, electronics etc supported that theory; taking things with higher monetary value vs things of sentimental value..vs not committing a theft to begin with but that's another discussion.


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[Beth11311]

Forgive me in advance as this post is going to be quite long. But I have so many questions surrounding his behavior, her families behavior, and what was going on behind the scenes. All quotes in this post can be referred back to here : http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news...mystery-missing-woman/5reNR5lTYpl2kcOKNxdxaP/

Here are some of my thoughts:

1. So it sounds like she/her family were not independently wealthy, as she told a neighbor she sunk her entire savings into their condo:

"Mayer, who lives in a nearby building and who also is in the real estate business, told The Post that Hellmann told him she’d sunk all her savings into the condo:
"All of a sudden he (Bennett) was on the scene. And all of a sudden they spent $60,000 to $70,000 remodeling the apartment,” he said.
too".

2. My thoughts: insurance policy. Sounds like she wasn't independently wealthy, so I would be curious about the life insurance and were any changes made, recently. Also - is he possibly the independently wealthy one, and was there a prenup? Perhaps he didn't want to lose money to her in a divorce. His work history/employment is difficult to follow: he was a captain of private yachts (per Isabella to a neighbor), a plumber (per him), and owner of Next Generation Solar originally from Australia (per docs via the Post).

Also - and this is out of pure curiosity and total speculation and just a stab in the dark - it was mentioned that they met online. I wonder if (let's run with the idea that he is the wealthy one or purporting to be wealthy) they met on some sort of sugar daddy/wealthy men site. There are plenty of "dating sites" for wealthy men to meet interested and attractive women. Many require proof of monetary value, but not all. Perhaps they met on one such site, and either a) he decides he wants out or b) she finds out he isn't nearly as wealthy as he had purported and not the person she thought he was, and was wanting to leave him and take the baby. Motive. I wonder what his past looks like.... MOOOOO.

3. Family clearly IMO doesn't trust the guy - just hours after he would have been rescued they were at the condo and sounds like they took several items. Why would a family go and take pricey electronics/designer handbag/engagement ring unless they felt something i towards had happened? Seems very odd:

"Fennimore said Bennett told her later that after the Coast Guard rescued him on the morning of May 15 and flew him to Florida, Hellmann’s family picked him up that afternoon and brought him to their home in Boca Raton. She said Bennett told her his first time back in his apartment was the evening of May 17. She said he told her Hellmann’s engagement ring and electronics and an expensive handbag were gone. She said she told him she’d seen the family in the apartment."

4. Contention about where to live/raise the baby? Sounds like Bennet wanted to go back to Australia and Hellman had no interest:

"Fennimore said Bennet had told her in the past that they had always planned to go to Australia with the baby.” She said Hellmann had told her last summer Bennett had asked her but that she had no intention of leaving South Florida because her family is here."

5. His response to his neighbor is a huge red flag, for me..."need to move on with my life". It's all so recent. And, you KNOW that her family will most likely raise hell at the idea of him taking the baby, their last living connection to Isabel, away from them.

"On May 17, the night before the U.S. Coast Guard called off the search, neighbor David Mayer said last week he approached Bennett to express his concern and sympathy.
“He said, ‘Yeah. I’m going to be leaving for England. I’ve got to move on with my life,’ ” Mayer recalled. “I said, ‘What about the baby?’ He stopped and said, “Oh. I guess I’ve got to take her with me too".

This could all mean nothing - maybe she went overboard, maybe she wasn't tethered or wearing a life vest, maybe it's all above water, pun intended. But maybe, maybe it isn't...because my hinky meter has been going off since the moment I read the first article about this several days ago. Too many red flags for me in the background - not even just in how it all happened.



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Here is what I posted in regards to money with the link as well for MSM verification


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[Estelle]

I believe if a container ship or even another boat had hit them, there would have been more damage to the cat.

The Coast Guard said that the pontoons had neither visible holes nor obvious places where water could have filled them, but there were deep scrapes at the back ends of each.

After her last call to her sister, could LB have murdered her first and then weighted her down, thrown her overboard, then purposefully scraped the boat on a reef a few times as "there were deep scrapes at the back ends of each?. He then got in the lifeboat and pushed it over. (Not sure about this idea!)

 

[Estelle]

Can someone explain how Bennett was able to get his personal belongings out of the boat but it is too dangerous for anyone else to go in and look around? I'm confused.

I think that would have been a lie. IMO he took the backpack with him when getting into the lifeboat.

 

[JerseyGirl]

I think that would have been a lie. IMO he took the backpack with him when getting into the lifeboat.

So he took the backpack, satellite phone, and 2 beacons (?) when he jumped from the sinking cat into a life raft, after first looking for his wife of course.

 

[Estelle]

I'm curious who Bennet's friend / business partner is.... this person has entered the narrative at pivotal moments.

1. The last phone call with Isabella's sister, she said that the satellite phone was malfunctioning and was told by Bennet's friend it was difficult to activate.

Why is this coming from this other person and not Bennet himself? Clearly he would know that if he's a sea captain and "transports people for a living"

There is significance in the timing of the phone being activated and relevant enough for Isabella to tell her sister that this person said that...

2. When Isabella's sister woke up at 3AM with missed calls it was stated one of the calls was Bennet's business parter telling her she needed to pick up Bennet from Coast Guard.

3. Neighbor of Isabella's said someone was helping Bennet carry things out of the condo and dump them in the trash. After Isabella's disappearance.

Now these are VERY important moments in the narrative... these COULD be all different people but something tells me it's the same person.

I'm curious who this person is...


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ADD The boat would later be taken to Australia by Bennett and his business partner, according to the sister.

http://www.wptv.com/news/region-s-pa...-to-her-sister

 

[Hiandmighty]

The fountain pajot is 44 feet. This one is 37 feet. I think he has more than one boat, or he sold the fountaine 44 and bought the 37 foot.

 

[Hiandmighty]

After her last call to her sister, could LB have murdered her first and then weighted her down, thrown her overboard, then purposefully scraped the boat on a reef a few times as "there were deep scrapes at the back ends of each?. He then got in the lifeboat and pushed it over. (Not sure about this idea!)

It isn't a life boat, it's a life raft. He could only scrape on a reef if there was a reef available. A life raft cannot push a cat over.

 

[Hiandmighty]

So he took the backpack, satellite phone, and 2 beacons (?) when he jumped from the sinking cat into a life raft, after first looking for his wife of course.

He had a ditch bag. We have one. It has a locator beacon, flares, Beeenie weenies, water, etc. it is customary to have one if you are on the water.

http://www.boatingmag.com/gear/seven-must-have-ditch-bag-items

http://www.sailingworld.com/packing-ditch-bag

Reporters called it a back pack but it was likely a ditch bag

 

[JerseyGirl]

He had a ditch bag. We have one. It has a locator beacon, flares, Beeenie weenies, water, etc. it is customary to have one if you are on the water.

http://www.boatingmag.com/gear/seven-must-have-ditch-bag-items

http://www.sailingworld.com/packing-ditch-bag

Reporters called it a back pack but it was likely a ditch bag

The backpack, or ditch bag as you call it, contained his iPad, the satellite phone, chargers, his wallet, and papers regarding the boat.

He used a EPIRB — an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon — as well as personal locator beacon.

I wonder why Isabella didn't have any one of these important items on/with/near her. Why did he have the Radio Beacon, satellite hone, and a personal locator beacon handy and not her?