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

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  • #621
We haven't been able to find the make and model of this cat.
 
  • #622
"CBS 12 news has obtained a recording of the call --to a non-emergency number--that Lewis Bennett made last weekend."
(You can listen at the link):
http://cbs12.com/news/local/husband...-someone-has-entered-my-property-and-taken-it

Also, something I noticed in the "Incident/Investigation Report":
"Lewis advised Dayana that he knows those items were taken from his residence and he had the security cameras to prove it. Dayana denied taking the items and invited Lewis into the residence to check for the disputed property."
https://media.local10.com/document_...ident report_1496322195145_9885983_ver1.0.pdf

So did Bennett give LE at least a chance to view the security footage? Are Isabella's mother and sister seen actually in possession of the said items?

Right now, this sounds like a his word against hers situation, IMO until more is known.

And as far as the FBI tape over the front door goes, one article -someone already posted above, I believe- reads: "Wherever Lewis Bennett is, he’s not his suburban Delray Beach condo. He can’t get in."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/c...husband-missing-woman/pmZR6lKdt32kA2npTl5dMO/

Personally, I don't believe the tape has anything to do with the alleged break-in by Isabella's family. I think it was intended to function like the yellow crime scene tape.
 
  • #623
Is Bennett's business partner a man or a woman? Is Isabella well-acquainted with this person? What is her opinion of him/er?
 
  • #624
  • #625
Im sorry if I've missed this, but was Isabella ever proven to be alive and well on the cat to begin with? Is there video footage or any pictures, even of the couple?
 
  • #626
She spoke to her family on Saturday, May 13 around 8:30 pm.
 
  • #627
Asked if some might find it odd that a husband would go to sleep at 8pm and leave his wife alone on honeymoon, he said: 'The reason why I went to bed at 8pm was because we had been on the water for four or five days. You do get tired.

I am curious about LB's statement that he had been on the water for 4 or 5 days so he was tired.

But I thought their plan was to fly to Saint Martin, pick up the yacht, spend two days in each place, sail to then they went to the Virgin islands (which was not planned so I am suspicious that he purposely went there so that Isabella could not attend her sister's graduation), then Puerto Rico spend two days, then sail to Cuba then the plan was to sail to Key West. Surely they must have spent two days there. They must have used the marina in Varadero as they departed from there at 5.30pm. Did they spend two days there?

Do we have the dates for their itinerary?

But LB's stated that he had been on the water for 4 or 5 days so he was tired.

If you arrive by plane, all you need to do is pay for the tourist card at the airport in the local currency and have health insurance.

But I am not sure what happens if you arrive by a catamaran so I found this link for others to help on this:

http://www.noonsite.com/Countries/Cuba?rc=Formalities

Where was the yacht registered? St Martin or Australia?

So did they not stop in Cuba or were not allowed to stay for long?

VARADERO
At Varadero, cruisers can tie up at the biggest marina in the Caribbean, Marina Gaviota. A state-run enterprise, Marina Gaviota has been expanding its facilities in anticipation of the end of the U.S. travel ban. The complex can now accommodate 1,160 vessels at state-of-the-art floating concrete pontoons, including berths for six 200ft megayachts. This makes Marina Gaviota Varadero bigger than the former title-holder for largest marina in the Caribbean—Puerto del Rey in Fajardo, Puerto Rico—and bigger than any marina on the East Coast of the United States.

http://www.sailmagazine.com/cruising/destinations/the-cuba-bahamas-sailing-loop/

Did they sail from Puerto Rico with a short stop in Varadero?

caribbean_map.gif
 
  • #628
This case, I do not why, reminds me another one where one woman was dead in odd circonstances, was like one accident, and the husband took their little baby girl very far away from the wife's family, they were devastated for that decision. After several years passed, wife's family knew that this man was with problems with the justice for molesting children, including his daughter, sad, very sad.
 
  • #629
For me, the way of acting, at least, after the accident, is very suspicious and very cruel with Isabella' s family...
 
  • #630
 
  • #631
  • #632
Estelle said:
Asked if some might find it odd that a husband would go to sleep at 8pm and leave his wife alone on honeymoon, he said: 'The reason why I went to bed at 8pm was because we had been on the water for four or five days. You do get tired.

I am curious about LB's statement that he had been on the water for 4 or 5 days so he was tired.

But I thought their plan was to fly to Saint Martin, pick up the yacht, spend two days in each place, sail to then they went to the Virgin islands (which was not planned so I am suspicious that he purposely went there so that Isabella could not attend her sister's graduation), then Puerto Rico spend two days, then sail to Cuba then the plan was to sail to Key West. Surely they must have spent two days there. They must have used the marina in Varadero as they departed from there at 5.30pm. Did they spend two days there?

Do we have the dates for their itinerary?

But LB's stated that he had been on the water for 4 or 5 days so he was tired.

If you arrive by plane, all you need to do is pay for the tourist card at the airport in the local currency and have health insurance.

But I am not sure what happens if you arrive by a catamaran so I found this link for others to help on this:

http://www.noonsite.com/Countries/Cuba?rc=Formalities

Where was the yacht registered? St Martin or Australia?

So did they not stop in Cuba or were not allowed to stay for long?

VARADERO
At Varadero, cruisers can tie up at the biggest marina in the Caribbean, Marina Gaviota. A state-run enterprise, Marina Gaviota has been expanding its facilities in anticipation of the end of the U.S. travel ban. The complex can now accommodate 1,160 vessels at state-of-the-art floating concrete pontoons, including berths for six 200ft megayachts. This makes Marina Gaviota Varadero bigger than the former title-holder for largest marina in the Caribbean—Puerto del Rey in Fajardo, Puerto Rico—and bigger than any marina on the East Coast of the United States.

http://www.sailmagazine.com/cruising/destinations/the-cuba-bahamas-sailing-loop/

Did they sail from Puerto Rico with a short stop in Varadero?

View attachment 117845
Click to expand...

I do not understand LB's statement when he said he was tired from being on the water 4 or 5 days either because there are 10 days that are unaccounted for. They were supposed to be home by the 12th (home to Boca Raton, so they would have to drive, I suppose, from Key West to Boca to be home by the 12th for her sister's graduation.

Isabella told her sister at one point that for five days straight they would not be able to talk. They were not supposed to stop in the BVIs, but they did, as Isabella posted from there. According to her her sister the route was St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Key West.

What happened from May 3 to May 14 that they would so behind in their trip and miss her sister's graduation?

Once her phone broke it was most likely difficult for her to call, relying on LB's iPad.

Here is some of what was found online:

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.
At some point, Isabella told her sister she would be back by May 12 to attend her sister's graduation on Saturday.
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 Cuba, with a final destination of Key West, FL. Officials said the catamaran's last port of call was Cuba.
 
  • #633
JerseyGirl said:
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 Cuba, with a final destination of Key West, FL. Officials said the catamaran's last port of call was Cuba.
Click to expand...
I thought that last phone call was made after they left Cuba on the night IH disappeared.
 
  • #634
JerseyGirl said:
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.
Click to expand...

:bump:

(Note 1 am on 14th is typo)
 
  • #635
How was the relationship between Isabella and her husband? Did he want to live in Australia but not her? What about the baby if there is one divorce between them? Did he have one life insurance for her or him in case of accident?. I suppose all those importants questions are answered but I would like to know the answers...
 
  • #636
I believe the timeline is wrong, with the call at 8:30 pm on Saturday, May 13 and the accident at 1:30 am on Sunday, May 14 (Mother's Day)
 
  • #637
Rosa913 said:
How was the relationship between Isabella and her husband? Did he want to live in Australia but not her? What about the baby if there is one divorce between them? Did he have one life insurance for her or him in case of accident?. I suppose all those importants questions are answered but I would like to know the answers...
Click to expand...

I read many articles without posting them... one quoted her co worker as saying she was happy and he was happy and they seemed to have a good relationship. Maybe someone will find that one.
 
  • #638
Ok. Looks like they left Cuba on Sunday, May 14. She spoke to her sister at 8:30 on May 14. The accident was 1:30 am on May 15, Monday.

"Bennett told the Coast Guard he pulled Surf into Summer out of Havana at 5:30 p.m. May 14. He said that at 8 p.m — around the time, almanacs say, that the sun began to set — he went below. At the time, he said, his wife was on deck and wore a life jacket.

At about 1 a.m., the Coast Guard says, Bennett used a satellite phone to call the International Response Coordination Center, a private company, which passed the SOS to the Coast Guard. Managers at the coordination center did not respond either to calls or to an email seeking details of Bennett’s SOS."

https://www.facebook.com/FindIsabella/posts/1978431262378380
 
  • #639
Hiandmighty said:
I read many articles without posting them... one quoted her co worker as saying she was happy and he was happy and they seemed to have a good relationship. Maybe someone will find that one.
Click to expand...

I've been trying to find that article, but am having a hard time. From other articles I've read, and ones that have been posted here, it seems problems started between them after their daughter was born. I know it's been said and quoted that he has really been wanting to move back to Australia. Maybe he thought he could change Isabella's mind, but when he realized that wasn't going to happen, they got married on a whim so he would have control of their daughter if anything were to happen to Isabella? I wonder if she did "accidentally" fall off, if he could hear screaming from where he was?
 
  • #640
JerseyGirl said:
At some point, Isabella told her sister she would be back by May 12 to attend her sister's graduation on Saturday.
<snip>
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.
Click to expand...

Snipped for focus & BBM

These two statements seem contradictory to me. If Isabella had told her she would be back for her graduation, why would she say she expected Isabella to surprise her? If she said she would be there, it's not a surprise. And if she thought Isabella would surprise her by showing up at the graduation, that implies that was at least some uncertainty that she would be there.

Perhaps their schedule and itinerary wasn't really set in stone, or maybe plans changed during the trip.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
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