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

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Is there any proof that she was ever on the boat to begin with?


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Gardenista said:
Yes, from the post above yours--she was at the helm and this happened the day they left:

coast guard spokesman confirmed Isabella and her Husband Lewis Bennett left Havana, Cuba at 5:30 Sunday evening in their 37-foot catamaran.

The Coast Guard says at around 8 p.m., Bennett claims he went down to the lower deck to go sleep.

He says at the time, Isabella was at the helm of the boat wearing her life vest.

http://www.wptv.com/news/region-s-p...ray-beach-woman-missing-at-sea-in-the-bahamas
Click to expand...

So, he awakened at 1:30 a.m., just in time for his watch(?), although she had on her life vest, and was at the helm, when he went below at 8 p.m. to get some shuteye. She is wearing a life vest. She can't be found anywhere -- floating in her life vest. He can be found, in a life raft! How convenient.

This script needs some work I'm afraid.
 
We hit a submerged object - and it stopped the boat dead in it's track. We were going nearly hull speed at approx. 6mph. I was down below and had just put our son down for nap, so I was on all fours on the aft bunk, facing forward about to climb down, when we hit. I flew 3 or 4 feet through the air and hit my head on the cabin wall. I ended up with a golf-ball sized contusion. But I wasn't knocked out, wasn't dizzy, nothing. I got up and rushed on deck to see what was going on.

When making night passages, number one rule of thumb: always wear a lifejacket tethered to the boat. If they hit a submerged object and stopped dead in their tracks like we did, then if she had fallen overboard she wouldn't be far away. If he had the wherewithall to launch the liferaft and climb inside and call the Coast Guard or radio for help, there's no reason he wasn't able to find her. In the dark, it would be virtually impossible to see her - true. But it's not like someone falling overboard and you keep going and realize later they're gone. If the boat was hit hard enough to breach the hull, it would not be moving any longer - that would've been one hard hit.

There are just so many factors here:
- Baby conveniently left behind and not with them (why?)
- Sailing at night (why? why the big rush that they had to be on the water in the middle of the night?)
- Just married a few months prior (insurance policy? savings? she was a successful realtor, he held various jobs)
 
POOR ISABELLA, POOR EMELIA!

Has the hubby been reunited with Emelia? Is he taking care of her?? If not, that is very telling as well.

I would want to be with the closest thing reminding me of my lost one-- our shared daughter together....
 
So he's going to start his own search10 days later? What about searching during all those hours he waited for the coast guard?

I'm not convinced she was even on the boat.
 
JerseyGirl said:
I'm not convinced he's coming back.

.

__

He said he will take a boat from Cuba to the Straits of Florida to look for his wife.

The Coast Guard called off its search after searching more than 6,600 square miles for several days.

http://www.wptv.com/news/region-s-p...-woman-missing-at-sea-to-start-his-own-search
Click to expand...

Even with a life vest and a wetsuit (which Isabella wasn't wearing), dehydration is going to pretty much take you out after 3-5 days. It's been 10. If he'd been searching this whole time on his own, I'd understand continuing. But to START a search long after the window of survival is closed? I imagine we will neither see nor hear from him again
 
msphilosopher said:
So he's going to start his own search10 days later? What about searching during all those hours he waited for the coast guard?

I'm not convinced she was even on the boat.
Click to expand...

Why go to Cuba?
U can get a boat any kind of boat big smallt anywhere from key largo to key west.

IMO he's getting g out of dodge!
 
I have to agree with so many others on this thread.....there is just way too much wrong with this story.
 
If he went below deck at 8:00 pm, and the boat struck something at 1:30 am, she could have gone overboard any time between 8:00-1:30. With no one on deck guiding the craft, it could have veered and hit something.

If they left land at 5:30, where were they likely to be by 8:00 if on their recorded route?

Why sail all night?

Why not anchor and sleep and both work together during daylight hours to enjoy the trip?

Were they in a hurry to get somewhere?

What are the current patterns from the location they were supposedly at from 8:00 and following to 1:30 am?

Would her life vest appear somewhere along that route?

What did her life vest look like?

How old was the craft? How long ago did they obtain it, or was it rented?

This is sketchy and I do think she was on the boat, but I don't think she left the boat by accident. Just sayin'. jmo
 
We don't have any of those answers. I'd like to know if he ever rescued the boat, from what I understand it never sank and was floating, waiting for the owner to claim it.

I also don't understand why they left Cuba at 5:30pm and not wait until dawn (or a few hours just before dawn) and why was she in charge of the overnight watch and not him, the experienced sailor and owner of the cat.

And who goes to bed at 8:00pm when it's just the two of you on the boat?
 
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