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

[Estelle]

British couple's yacht sunk by whale in Caribbean

A British couple's two-year dream holiday ended in disaster when their £150,000 yacht sank after hitting a whale in the Caribbean.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...couples-yacht-sunk-by-whale-in-Caribbean.html

 

[bears10]

From your link

Bennett wouldn’t come to Florida. Instead, he’d fly Hellmann to meet him and his catamaran at various ports, including Tahiti and Singapore.

Then ...
When Cortes spoke to Bennett, she said, “he told me he was a plumber.” She said Hellmann had told her Bennett had come into some family money and had poured most of it into the boat, and that he made a living transporting people.[/]

Odd, IMO

ETA- what is the rush to get out of the country? It hasn't been a month yet! What about the condo? I assume it is jointly owned if she paid for it and he handled the cost of renovation. I guess he will list it with an agent but what about the furniture?

I also want to more about this business partner. He seems to be a jack of all trades but really, where does the money come from to be able to fly her across the world for time on the cat?

I'm suspicious.

Him never coming to the US and flying her places is super shady to me. Also, I feel like he lied about being a plumber. Kind of like how guys in the mob say they're in "construction". Easy profession to fake.. people aren't going to really get into details about your job. Now if he said he was a stockbroker, that would be harder to fake.

 

[MsArk]

Not sure how I came upon this info but I could swear I read that the catamaran was made for floating even if damaged.

Can't provide a link but I've read the same. They are considered one of the safest.

 

[bears10]

They were sailing, this is what you do. You take 6 hour shifts where one person steers and sails and watches and the other sleeps. It was her turn. He would take 3-9 am

Would you let your inexperienced loved one take the night shift knowing damn well you are more qualified to keep watch at night?

 

[MsArk]

Him never coming to the US and flying her places is super shady to me. Also, I feel like he lied about being a plumber. Kind of like how guys in the mob say they're in "construction". Easy profession to fake.. people aren't going to really get into details about your job. Now if he said he was a stockbroker, that would be harder to fake.

True. And now he wants to high tail back out of the US.

 

[Hiandmighty]

Would you let your inexperienced loved one take the night shift knowing damn well you are more qualified to keep watch at night?

I have no opinion on this.

ETA: one person cant take a ten hour watch shift. (8 pm-6am)

 

[msphilosopher]

Highly emotional relatives + presumable Colombian accents = I assume a lot has gotten lost in translation or misinterpreted/incorrectly assumed.

Politely and strongly disagree here.

Highly emotional means you deeply care and if you deeply care you're more alert to details. Everything that's been stated to the media by the "sister" is Dayana. The sister who had the emotional out burst that was reported was Elizabeth, Isabella's other sister. Dayana did admit that this situation turned "emotional" as they were told they would never see Emilia again, that he was leaving the country, police were there (intimidation factor IMO), picking up the rest of the babies things / apparent "stolen" things etc, while Isabella is still missing.

Becoming "highly emotional" at one point in the narrative doesn't make you incapable of relying information and remember things at other times in the narrative...

Having an accent doesn't mean you're incapable of understanding English or misunderstanding. This is a very well off family since they live in Delray (very wealthy community) and very educated family. Everything they post is in English only with little comments in Spanish like "lindos" which means cute / beautiful in Spanish. I walk my dogs here in south FL and all the time people approach my dogs "aww que lindo" and then we have a full blown conversation in English. I live here and it's very easily to tell who from south america has a hard time speaking / understanding English vs. those who don't... no body except potentially Isabella's parents IMO could have things "lost in translation / misinterpreted". Parents have not spoken out.

Now if we don't want to believe what the family says because "they're biased" then fine by me. I think it's very unfair for them to be labeled this way.

IMO / JMO

 

[Estelle]

I am wondering how controlling LB was with IH.

I am suspicious about her inability to contact her family by phone on this trip because:

1. Her phone broke (did he break it?)

2. The satellite phone on the cat was supposedly not working until 8.30pm on that tragic night.

 

[Hatfield]

That's what I don't understand. Clearly it wasn't a rock because he was picked up in 4,800 feet of water.

If it was a large piece of flotsam, why didn't that piece float along with Bennett's life raft and the boat, since he was found close to his boat.

Strange how Isabella and the item the boat "struck" were not also in the vicinity of where he was found.

Exactly.

If it was so large of an object to jar the boat and knock her overboard then surely it would have to be massive.

Any smaller object like even a log floating would normally just get shifted out of the way with a loud thump maybe.

But it surely would not stop the boats progress to knock someone overboard unless it was a pretty massive object.

 

[bears10]

I have no opinion on this.

ETA: one person cant take a ten hour watch shift. (8 pm-6am)

9PM - 3AM sounds like a reasonable shift for him IMO. Would leave her alone in the dark from say 8-9PM and 3-430 AM as opposed to all night.

 

[Hiandmighty]

I have seen some massive logs. A log could do damage

 

[JerseyGirl]

I don't think he ever got those "stolen" items back.

From what I read, he brought a policeman there to retrieve the stolen items and the baby items.

When the family said they didn't have they stolen items, they invited both Bennett and the policeman in to look around for themselves. That's when the other sister (Elizabeth) went into an emotional outburst and the policeman suggested that he leave.

 

[Hiandmighty]

9PM - 3AM sounds like a reasonable shift for him IMO. Would leave her alone in the dark from say 8-9PM and 3-430 AM as opposed to all night.

People on watch are required to rest for an acceptible strech. It has to be like 6 hours at a time,

 

[bears10]

People on watch are required to rest for an acceptible strech. It has to be like 6 hours at a time,

And if he kept watch from 9PM to 3AM she would get 6 hours of sleep. She could come up at 3AM and would be alone in the dark for only a couple of hours instead of the whole night. I think it was pretty crappy that she was on night shift.

 

[bears10]

I wonder what website they met on and who reached out to who... how/why start an online relationship with someone from another country?

 

[Estelle]

Would you let your inexperienced loved one take the night shift knowing damn well you are more qualified to keep watch at night?

What also intrigues me is why she agreed to take the helm.

I have been at the helm of a Jeanneau yacht in the Caribbean where we sailed from San Maarten to Antigua over two weeks. But we did not sail at night. We moored at night and had dinner on shore. I would have refused to steer the yacht at night. Most inexperienced sailors would.

 

[bears10]

What also intrigues me is why she agreed to take the helm.

I have been at the helm of a Jeanneau yacht in the Caribbean where we sailed from San Maarten to Antigua over two weeks. But we did not sail at night. We moored at night and had dinner on shore. I would have refused to steer the yacht at night. Most inexperienced sailors would.

BBM. IF she did agree.

I would be terrified on the open sea in the dark by myself (even if my experienced sailor hubby was sleeping below).

 

[Hatfield]

I have seen some massive logs. A log could do damage

I could see where maybe a log the size of a small tree punching a hole in the boat but do you think it would stop the boat enough to knock her overboard?

Their boat looked pretty heavy and I just dont see how anything floating could have stopped their boat unless it was huge like a whole tree or something. And even then their boat would likely go over the top and not stop suddenly.

I am really surprised to hear they were in deep water. That changes things for me because I cannot reconcile the hole and her getting knocked overboard unless they hit something with weight about the weight of their own boat.

 

[SeaEclipse]

Him never coming to the US and flying her places is super shady to me. Also, I feel like he lied about being a plumber. Kind of like how guys in the mob say they're in "construction". Easy profession to fake.. people aren't going to really get into details about your job. Now if he said he was a stockbroker, that would be harder to fake.

FWIW, I assume he couldn't come to the US very often if he was only coming on a tourist visa. Remember that he's not American, he didn't have a job here and they didn't get married until a few months ago. For the bulk of their relationship, he likely wouldn't have had any ability to come to the US for long stretches of time and/or whenever he felt like it.

 

[Hatfield]

The whole "business partner" thing and calling the business partner in the middle of an emergency doesnt sit well with me.

Visions of insurance schemes and sounds of "its done" come to mind.

Hope LE has looked into what boat insurance was placed on the boat and what life insurance policies were updated or taken out recently.