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

[JerseyGirl]

Bennett is accused of killing Isabella Hellman with “malice aforethought” and then intentionally sinking the couple’s catamaran in May of 2017 to make it look like there had been a boating accident, according to the FBI. Authorities did not say how they think Hellmann was killed.

In the unnamed pen pal letter (published in London’s Daily Mirror) Bennett describes a mundane life at Miami’s Federal Detention Center but talks about his extremely supportive family and his wishes to see his 18-month-old daughter, Emelia, who is being cared for by his relatives near Southampton, England.

He has yet to formally enter a plea for the murder charge involving his wife that was filed in February.

In his letter, Bennett writes about his days spent eating bad food, reading, exercising, sleeping and living with 120 other inmates in an area the size of a tennis court.

He complains of boredom and depression but adds he is able to communicate with family and friends via phone, email and hand-written letters.

Bennett also credits his missing wife for helping his state of mind.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/p...is-bennett-prison-pen-pal-20180508-story.html

 

[cybervampira]

EXCLUSIVE: Family of missing Delray woman talks with baby for first time since mom vanished

Just days before today’s anniversary of the disappearance of Isabella Hellmann, her family communicated with her baby for the first time since Hellmann was reported lost at sea on May 15, 2017.

[...]

https://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/new...me-since-mom-vanished/pPcRFZQhtA6esXNoFuN9TN/

 

[JerseyGirl]

EXCLUSIVE: Family of missing Delray woman talks with baby for first time since mom vanished

Just days before today’s anniversary of the disappearance of Isabella Hellmann, her family communicated with her baby for the first time since Hellmann was reported lost at sea on May 15, 2017.

[...]

https://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/new...me-since-mom-vanished/pPcRFZQhtA6esXNoFuN9TN/

Up to now, the Florida relatives had seen only photos. But on Friday, “they were able to see Emelia and talk to her,” an attorney working with the family said. “Everybody was able to put the needs of the little girl over the controversy of a murder case. And kudos to both families for doing it.” The Florida family is hoping for a face-to-face reunion with the child. “There was discussion about it, and we’re hoping that’s something that gets done sooner rather than later,” he said.

He also said the family did not want to comment specifically about either the anniversary or the pending murder charges. Several times in the last year, the family has declined interview requests by The Post. Bennett’s father, in England, and his sister, in Scotland, both also have declined to talk to The Post. Bennett has declined to comment through his federal public defender, and federal prosecutors also will not comment.

https://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/new...me-since-mom-vanished/pPcRFZQhtA6esXNoFuN9TN/

 

[msphilosopher]

No kudos to both families, it shouldn't have taken a year for them to let her family see and talk to the baby who they cared for the entire first year of her life.

No kudos to both families. Probably a desperate attempt to change the public's perception of him.

 

[JerseyGirl]

A judge agreed to table Bennett's trial to February 2019

NEW: Man charged with murdering woman at sea: ‘I think about her every waking moment’

 

[Gardenista]

A judge agreed to table Bennett's trial to February 2019

NEW: Man charged with murdering woman at sea: ‘I think about her every waking moment’

And I bet she haunts you in your dreams.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Lewis Bennett is set to stand trial Dec. 10. Bennett is charged with murdering Hellmann and staging an apparent accident at sea. The trial is expected to take seven or eight days, so U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno blocked out the two weeks ending Dec. 21.

On Tuesday, Moreno lectured attorneys -- Bennett was not present -- for wanting to delay the trial into 2019.

much more here NEW: Judge sets date for murder trial in Delray woman’s disappearance at sea

 

[bears10]

Lewis Bennett is set to stand trial Dec. 10. Bennett is charged with murdering Hellmann and staging an apparent accident at sea. The trial is expected to take seven or eight days, so U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno blocked out the two weeks ending Dec. 21.

On Tuesday, Moreno lectured attorneys -- Bennett was not present -- for wanting to delay the trial into 2019.

much more here NEW: Judge sets date for murder trial in Delray woman’s disappearance at sea

The judge seems like he is not havin the murder trial.

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

The judge seems like he is not havin the murder trial.

Agreed. At least it isn’t going to be a bench trial.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

it's been a long time since I followed, can someone will refresh my memory. Is this a federal or state trial? If it's a State Trial, there should be a lot of information that's available to publish.

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

it's been a long time since I followed, can someone will refresh my memory. Is this a federal or state trial? If it's a State Trial, there should be a lot of information that's available to publish.

It’s a federal case:
“In February, he was minutes away from being sentenced to seven months in prison in the coins case when federal prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder.

[SBM]

In March, a judge agreed to table Bennett’s trial, which had been set for April. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno lectured attorneys -- Bennett was not present -- for wanting to delay the trial into 2019.

Federal public defenders Raymond D'Arsey Houlihan III and Vanessa Chen said they are waiting for prosecutors to turn over documents. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kurt Lunkenheimer said he’s waiting on Australian bank records. Moreno wondered about the holdup; ‘Is it written by monks in Australia?’ he quipped.

[SBM]” (BBM)
NEW: Judge sets date for murder trial in Delray woman’s disappearance at sea

 

[msphilosopher]

Agreed. At least it isn’t going to be a bench trial.

The judge wanted to delay the trial or he lectured the attorneys for them wanting delay?

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

The judge wanted to delay the trial or he lectured the attorneys for them wanting delay?

He lectured the attorneys, primarily prosecution.

 

[msphilosopher]

"Houlihan said he'll concede she died aboard the boat but will argue it was an accident."

The defense is going to argue she died aboard not from succumbing to the elements??

NEW: Judge sets date for murder trial in Delray woman’s disappearance at sea

 

[Gardener1850]

"Houlihan said he'll concede she died aboard the boat but will argue it was an accident."

The defense is going to argue she died aboard not from succumbing to the elements??

NEW: Judge sets date for murder trial in Delray woman’s disappearance at sea

 

[Laughing]

Bump

 

[Legally Bland]

Am I reading this right? Isabella's family had suspicions/installed listening devices before the murder?

Court papers released after Bennett was charged say the family of Ms Hellmann - the mother of Bennett's daughter - put listening devices in her condo in Delray Beach, Florida, to record conversations.

The family said they did this because they had become suspicious of Bennett.

Prosecutor Benjamin Greenberg asked a Florida judge to admit into evidence conversations with loved ones in which Ms Hellmann is said to have discussed arguments about their finances and parenting.

Man 'murdered wife to end marital strife'

I have no idea about the legalities of this. Hopefully it'll get admitted.

 

[Laughing]

Generally, Mama does know best....

 

[JerseyGirl]

Prosecutors also said Ms Hellmann may have discovered her husband was in possession of gold and silver coins stolen from his former employer on the Caribbean island of St Maarten, which could have made her an accomplice in the smuggling crime.

Bennett is currently serving a seven-month jail term after admitting smuggling the stolen coins, worth $38,480 dollars (£29,450).

He is due to go on trial accused of second degree murder in December

British sailor 'murdered wife on honeymoon to inherit her estate', US prosecutors allege

Sailor ‘killed his wife and sank catamaran off the coast of Cuba in a bid to inherit her estate | Daily Mail Online

“You make me crazy shouting, yelling, swearing," Isabella Hellmann texted her husband, Lewis Bennett, about six months before her disappearance.

“I’m tired of you telling me I’m the MOST WORSE PERSON YOU EVER MET BEFORE, everything I do it’s WRONG… this is very pathetic Lewis,” she wrote in another text to her husband.

The documents also detail the financial stress the couple was facing at the time of their sailing trip to the Caribbean.

The couple owed property taxes and also faced having their condo’s electricity cut off, the documents show Hellmann telling Bennett. They also owed thousands of dollars for home renovations financed by Hellmann using credit cards, but they were only making minimum payments. They also disagreed on whether she should return to work. She wanted to stay home with their young child, now 2.

During a visit with her obstetrician after the child’s birth, she told the doctor, “she had made her decision to stay in Florida with her daughter and that she was ‘100 percent not going,’” federal documents show.

“With Hellmann murdered, the defendant would be in complete control of his life, inherit Hellmann’s estate and not have to deal with constant arguments over their child, finances and moving to Australia,” the documents say.

Texts, tapes show motive in alleged murder of wife missing at sea, prosecutors say

 

[JerseyGirl]

Documents show Hellmann telling Bennett the couple owed $2,412 in property taxes and faced the cutoff of electricity to their condominium. The couple also were paying the minimum on thousands of dollars in renovations Hellmann had to finance with her credit cards. Hellmann also complained Bennett wanted her to end her maternity leave and returned to work.

Another document contends Hellmann told a friend she had no idea how much money Bennett had or how he earned it. Yet Bennett – a dual citizen of Australia and the United Kingdom — somehow had $214,186 to transfer between international accounts from 2014 to 2017. And he had about $36,000 in stolen coins on him when he was rescued in the Atlantic on May 15, 2017, hours after Hellmann disappeared off the Bahamas.

Another document says Hellman told a relative a friend of Bennett had stolen something worth about $10,000. Prosecutors contend that refers to the stolen coins and they allege Bennett might have feared Hellmann would be furious if she learned he was hiding the coins at a time the couple was in severe financial stress.

Hellmann’s relatives shared her suspicions of Bennett, documents show, and even admitted to authorities that, soon after Hellmann’s disappearance, they secretly placed two listening devices in the couple’s condo. Authorities recovered the bugs when they raided on June 16, 2017, and want to play at trial two audio recordings of Bennett talking to the relatives. Prosecutors say the devices’ contents are fair game because the family, not law enforcement, installed them. A judge has yet to rule on whether they can be played.

Just two weeks after his wife vanished, and without telling her family, Bennett bought one-way tickets to the United Kingdom for himself and the couple’s infant daughter, Emelia.

Within days, he began asking about obtaining citizenship for her. He also began renovating a home in the UK and booked a doctor’s visit in Prague concerning his eyes

Hellmann said Bennett often was an absent dad. When he was away, often in St. Maarten and other Caribbean islands, he rarely would call. And at home, he slept in a separate room from his wife and child. Three months after the child was born, and despite the couple’s financial straits, Bennett flew to Thailand to attend a boxing academy.

Hellmann admitted that during one argument she struck Bennett. And in April 2017, just a month before she vanished, she texted him: “Went to St Marteen (sic) and never told me. Not good. I though we are not going to have secrets.”

Earlier, in November 2016, Hellmann had texted Bennett: “My heart is broken. If we don’t change, we have to take separate ways.”

BREAKING: New documents detail man’s alleged motives for murdering wife at sea