TIMELINE for Sarm Heslop
Late 2019 - “Wilson told CrimeOnline that Heslop, who has traveled extensively and lived in multiple countries, first arrived in St. John in late 2019. Prior to that, she had been working on the south coast of Spain and had taken up sailing with a friend. Eventually, she, the friend, and the friend’s partner sailed across the Atlantic to St. John”
SOURCE CrimeOnline.
Jul 2020 - Sarm met Cpt. Ryan Bane [RB] while sailing with friends. His 47ft catamaran, Siren Song, is a Leopard 4700.
SOURCE Telegraph
Oct 2020 - Sarm left RB and flew from Grenada to Malta, where she took up a job in a call centre in Malta. SOURCE
Telegraph and
Daily Mail
11 Feb 2021 - Sarm left Malta to return to the Virgin Islands. A friend of Sarm (“Flora the Sailing Chef”) said “I was sad to see her go and even more sad for Ryan. In my heart I prayed she would come back to him. Lo and behold a few months later she’s messaging me about ideas for cooking on boats! She was coming back to Ryan!!”
SOURCE Telegraph. “Friends said the 41-year-old had been staying onboard the catamaran Siren Song with her American boyfriend, Ryan Bane, for "a couple of weeks".
SOURCE BBC. “The decision to return to St. John was driven in part by her relationship with Bane, the friend said. Heslop now lives and works with Bane on Siren Song, a charter that he rents out, remaining on the vessel as its captain during tours.”
SOURCE CrimeOnline.
1 Mar 2021, Monday - Sarm was chronicling her adventures on Instagram. A photo of RB’s dog on a beach posted on March 1st is said to have been her last post.
SOURCE Telegraph
7 Mar 2021, Sunday - “There were text conversations happening right up until Sunday,” Wilson said, adding that he was not aware of anything out of the ordinary in her communications.”
SOURCE CrimeOnline
7 Mar 2021, Sunday - Sarm spent the day working on Siren Song, entertaining and cooking for clients.
SOURCE WestAtlanticMedia
7 Mar 2021, Sunday - Witnesses in another catamaran moored in Frank Bay [a group including husband and wife, DW and VH] say they saw Siren Song arrive in the bay that day and members in their group watched RB anchoring the vessel. Their boat was moored about 100ft away. Some members of the group saw RB and Sarm relaxing on the boat that afternoon and early evening. The group went to bed at about 10pm and didn't hear anything unusual during the night. Siren Song was in the same place the next morning and the dinghy was still on the boat. Siren Song is in a
photo they took at about
8am on 8th March. (credit CrimeOnline/David Woody).
SOURCE CrimeOnline.
7 Mar 2021, Sunday evening - DISCREPANCIES - Some reports say that, according to the coast guard, RB and Sarm
sailed to French Bay on the island of St Thomas, over 6 miles away from Frank Bay, to eat at a restaurant. SOURCE
VIFreePress and again
here and
The Sun. Other reports say they ate at a restaurant in
Frank Bay, St John, SOURCE
friend LT/Telegraph,
friend AB/Daily Mail and
BBC. Friend AB is also quoted in DM as saying “
there seem to be many discrepancies in the timeline of what we have heard”. Friend LT also says "the couple would have taken a smaller boat to get to it [the shore]."
7 Mar 2021, Sunday 10:00pm - DISCREPANCIES - One report in
The Sun says locals say they
left the restaurant at 10pm in accordance with covid measures [island curfew]. A report in the
Telegraph says RB told the coast guard that
Sarm had gone to sleep at around 10pm. Another
report says they had dinner at around 10pm and returned to the catamaran and
watched a movie.
Virgin Islands Daily News reports the coast guard as saying
they had gone to sleep at around 10pm. The
Daily Mail says
RB went to sleep at around 10pm.
8 Mar 2021, Monday 1:00am - "Friends of Ms Heslop told The Telegraph there was a dog walker on Frank's Bay, where the vessel was moored, who told them 'he heard a scream' at 1am. The witness came forward after friends set up the FindSarmHeslop Facebook page."
SOURCE DailyMail.
8 Mar 2021, Monday 2:00am -
DISCREPANCIES - RB claims to have been
woken by the sound of the anchor alarm , which sounds if the boat has drifted, and discovered Sarm was missing. All of her personal belongings, including
phone and passport, were on the boat. These are in the possession of police.
SOURCE DailyMail. A friend of Mr Bane's said … 'Ryan said his anchor alarm went off. He woke and found Sarm wasn't in bed.
He got up and went around the boat but there was no sign of her.'
SOURCE Daily Mail. A friend of RB's, Flora P, says "
He called friends at about 2am to say he could not find her but did not immediately contact the authorities”
SOURCE West Atlantic Media.
RB's lawyer, David Cattie told CrimeOnline in an email that
RB contacted Virgin Islands Police Department by phone at 2:30am and then took his dinghy to meet police on the shore and gave a statement and a photograph of Sarm. He also said that the coast guard searched the vessel that day at RB's request. The coast guard told
Virgin Islands Daily News that her
shoes and purse were also left on the boat, as well as stating "we do have
indication that the person also reached out to 911,” in addition to calling the Coast Guard to report Heslop missing."
8 Mar 2021, Monday 11:46am -
RB alerted the US coast guard stationed at San Juan, to Sarm’s disappearance. "He reported that his girlfriend may have fallen” from the boat,” the spokesman said.
SOURCE The Sun. Sarm's best friend AB told Fox News "I find it incredibly difficult to say that she fell from a catamaran that was moored about 100 feet away from shore in shallow water while the boat was anchored." Sarm's friend LT told the
Telegraph "it would have been completely out of character for her to try and leave the yacht at night to get to shore or go swimming. “She's very level headed, you know, she's very smart. I just can't see why she would get out of bed to go for a swim between the hours of 10.30 and one o'clock in the morning. I know she wouldn't” "She was a very strong swimmer, but she wouldn’t have chosen to go for a dip at night, and certainly not if her boyfriend was asleep." Friend Flora P told West Atlantic Media "The last message I had from him was ‘I’m in pieces’,” “He is totally distraught. He doesn’t like being in the public spotlight, it’s not his style. He just pursues his dream of
living quietly on a yacht with his dog. He really is so confused.” “You might go for a night out and be sitting in the pub with her and then she’d disappear, not even say ‘See you tomorrow.’ Then the next day she’d be back. It wasn’t unusual” “I wouldn’t put it past her if she’d gone up [on deck] for a cigarette and someone went past on a dinghy and said ‘Come and party with us,’” said FP, speaking from the island of St Barts yesterday where she was working as a chef on a charter yacht.”
8 Mar 2021, Monday - The coast guard told
Virgin Islands Daily News - "Investigators conducted
drift analysis from the vessel that was reportedly anchored 50 yards from shore in Frank Bay and launched boat forces “that commenced a surface search of the shoreline, adjacent islands, and all the waters around and out to sea from where the vessel was located,” In addition, “we had a Coast Guard helicopter searching that afternoon and the search continued throughout the night,” “Conditions were excellent as far as visibility, sea state, and there were no signs of anyone in the water.” Investigators reached out to marine traffic in the area, but there were “no reports of anyone being found in the water,” he said. On Tuesday, “upon sunset the search was called off from that standpoint.”
9 Mar 2021, Tuesday, evening - Witness DW (in the catamaran moored 100ft from Siren Song Sunday/Monday) learned that Sarm had gone missing. He expressed surprise that RB did not attempt to contact him. By this time the group had moved to another bay and they discovered that locals were trying to locate them with regards to Sarm's disappearance. "DW said he then spoke on the phone to a woman who said she was a friend of Heslop’s and RB’s. Shortly after they hung up, RB unexpectedly called DW. During that brief conversation, DW says, RB advised him to give a statement to police, and gave him a VIPD detective’s contact information.
DW says he called that detective, who said they were busy with another case at that time, but would follow up within a day. The detective never called him back, DW said.
CrimeOnline has not been able to reach that detective as of Thursday afternoon.
10 Mar 2021, Wednesday - V.I. Police said the
Coast Guard has taken the lead in the case, but search efforts have been unsuccessful.
SOURCE VIDailyNews
11 Mar 2021, Thursday - "
V.I. Police are now the lead agency overseeing the investigation into Heslop’s disappearance, Castrodad said. Police said a dive crew continued the search for Heslop on Wednesday without result. Castrodad said the Coast Guard stands ready to assist in the search, but “at this point we haven’t received any additional information or evidence” that would trigger further action."
SOURCE VIDailyNews
15 Mar 2021, Monday - Derima declined to comment on whether investigators suspect foul play, or whether Bane is cooperating with the investigation
SOURCE VIFreePress
16 Mar 2021, Tuesday - "A spokesperson for the U.S. Virgin Islands police told
CrimeOnline Tuesday afternoon that
he did not know if detectives had searched the catamaran. He also said he was unaware if investigators were seeking to obtain CCTV footage from businesses and residences in the area of Heslop’s last known location."
16 Mar 2021, Tuesday - "Trevor Velinor, Virgin Islands Police Commissioner, said: “The Department employs competent and committed individuals who are relentlessly investigating all possible leads into Ms Heslop’s disappearance.
While we do have some concerns regarding the details thus far, detectives are thoroughly investigating the circumstances surrounding her disappearance.” He added: “We are working within the parameters of the law to gather all items of value to the case. We thank those who have provided information and urge others to come forward with any information they can provide, no matter if it seems insignificant."
SOURCE West Atlantic Media
17 Mar 2021, Wednesday - A spokesman for the USVI police department told The Daily Telegraph: ‘We have not been able to search the boat yet and will do this in due course. It is something that will be done eventually.’ RB's lawyer is
quoted as saying "‘
Mr Bane will not be sitting for any interviews. Mr Bane’s only hope is that Sarm is found alive and well. His thoughts and prayers are with Sarm and her family during this difficult time,’ a statement from his lawyers said. ‘Mr Bane has spent countless hours searching for Sarm and will continue to do so. Ryan is devastated that Sarm is missing.’
18 Mar 2021, Thursday - "Virgin Islands Police Department said officers were still "actively" searching for Ms Heslop, "passing out flyers and making regular checks of Cruz Bay and Red Hook to see if we see her".
SOURCE BBC.
"So far the police have checked almost everywhere on the tiny 20 square mile island of St John which is the smallest of the three American Virgin Islands and have been unable to locate her. Police divers have been scouring the water along the coastline ever since she was reported missing.
Police are investigating the possibility that she may have abandoned St John's for the neighboring island of St Thomas. Toby Derima, of the USVI police department, said there had been possible sightings of her since she was reported missing but nothing they have been able to confirm."
SOURCE DailyMail. "Although
U.S. citizens do not need a passport to travel between St. Thomas and St. John, you do need an official government-issued ID like a driver’s license. British citizens, such as Heslop, would need to produce a passport to take the ferry."
SOURCE VIFreePress.
18 Mar 2021, Thursday -Siren Song is not currently available for charter.
SOURCE VIFreePress.
