US Virgin Is - Sarm Joan Lillian Heslop, 41, British, aboard vessel Siren Song, St. John, 7 Mar 2021

[MsMarple]

"Police investigating the disappearance of a British woman in the US Virgin Islands are questioning whether she may never have made it back to her boyfriend’s boat as he claimed.
[...]
Toby Derima, spokesman for US Virgin Islands Police Department (USVIPD, said: “Nothing so far actually confirms the couple went back to the yacht together that night. That’s why we are looking through the surveillance video, to establish if there is evidence of them going back to the vessel.
[...]
He added: “They have to go by Ryan Bane’s story, but they are still trying to verify it. Obviously we know the dinghy did go back to the yacht, but it has not so far been verified that Sarm was on it.”

[...]

Ricardo Castrodad, the US Coast Guard’s San Juan Sector public affairs officer, told The Telegraph: “On March 8, following a search of the bay and shoreline from both a helicopter and small boat, the Coast Guard went initially aboard the Siren Song to conduct a reporting source interview to gather information to assist with the surface-water search, and then again, on a second occasion that afternoon, to conduct a standard vessel safety inspection. “

He added: “The operator denied access to the interior of the vessel and was cited for obstruction of a boarding. The vessel operator was cited for multiple violations, including failure to provide a certificate of documentation for the vessel, obstruction of a boarding, and safety equipment violations.”

Sarm Heslop: Police fear she may not have made it back to boyfriend's boat

Congratulations USVIPD, you're finally asking the questions we asked nearly 2 weeks ago. Well, at least they're asking now.

If RB did head to Puerto Rico he can be brought back if LE finds something in the CCTV video they're examining. I'm pretty sure there are also extradition treaties with the Eastern Caribbean States. So hopefully if LE does name RB a POI or suspect nothing would block them from bringing him back. MOO.

Also interesting are the additional citations for failure to provide a certificate of documentation and the safety equipment violations.

I hope this doesn't develop into a "too little too late" situation.

 

[Bogyo13]

How do you rename a yacht? Can you just put a new sticker on and forge papers?
Is there a boating community similar to trucks that you radio each other to look out for this yacht? Sorry just speculating and hoping someone sees it soon..
JMO

 

[Limecat]

Oh my.

Boyfriend of missing Sarm Heslop hires Ghislaine Maxwell's attorney

American boyfriend of missing Sarm Heslop hires Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyer | Daily Mail Online

Edit to add bullet points from the story.

• Ryan Bane, the boyfriend of Sarm Heslop, has hired lawyer David Cattie, a US Virgin Islands-based attorney whose clients include Ghislaine Maxwell
• Cattie has represented Maxwell in her bid for Jeffrey Epstein's estate to pay her legal fees and handled prosecutors' efforts to block her attempts
• Cattie's past clients also include a boat captain who was cleared of Seaman's Manslaughter in January 2019
• Move suggests Bane could be preparing for a legal battle over the disappearance of his British girlfriend who was last seen on his boat March 8
• Bane has not been cooperating with authorities and has refused to allow them to search his 47-foot catamaran. He is not a suspect nor person of interest

Wonderful

 

[MsMarple]

Long article. There's some background on Sarm - she sounds like an amazing, gentle woman. The article made me cry a little.

Before she vanished without a trace earlier this month from a serene bay off St. John in the US Virgin Islands, Sarm Heslop was happily working to improve her culinary skills.
...
And now, Bane has disappeared. A source told The Post that he sailed away from St. John on Thursday. FBI agents scrambled to find him and chartered a boat for the search.
...
After a brief trip to Malta to visit friends last year, Heslop returned to the Virgin Islands in January, moving onto Bane’s 47-foot catamaran where she cooked for the tourists who spend up to $2,000 a day for tours around the Caribbean.

“Becoming the chef on the boat was a way for her and Ryan to be together,” said Zan Lawther, a friend of Heslop’s, in an email to The Post. “All reports from Sarm and the few that met him were that they were very happy.”
...
Bane told authorities that he noticed Heslop was missing at 2 am when he was woken by the boat’s anchor alarm, which sounds if the boat drifts too far from where it’s anchored. The weather was calm although the current near the bay was rough, according to locals.
...
“If she left the boat at night, she didn’t take the dinghy, but had to swim to shore,” said Rick Smith, who runs Cimarron Yacht Charter in St. John. “It’s only 100 feet but the current is really strong and very dangerous in that area. The whole thing is pretty perplexing.”
...
But on Thursday, the Siren Song disappeared from Frank Bay where it had been anchored for weeks after Heslop’s disappearance. “He could have gone anywhere — to a Dutch, French, or even British island where there is no extradition,” said Smith. The British Virgin Islands is only five miles away from St. John, he said.

The FBI would not comment on the case, other than to say its division headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was assisting the U.S. Virgin Island Police Department.
FBI searching for man who sailed off after Sarm Heslop vanished

I'm not sure I agree that RB can go somewhere with no extradition treaty. At least not easily.
Treaty Document 105-19 - EXTRADITION TREATY WITH ORGANIZATION OF EASTERN CARIBBEAN STATES
Non Extradition Countries: Best Places To Run w/ No Extradition Treaty

I wonder what his attorney has to say about RB taking off?

 

[LietKynes]

This might be way out there ; but since Bane declined to allow a search of the yacht--- is it possible Sarm was still on the boat ?
Alive or not ?
Imo.

 

[MsMarple]

Sarm's FB has been scrubbed except for her cover photo.
Sarm Heslop

Her IG is still there.
Login • Instagram

 

[Mandalas]

I wonder if she used her phone at all while out at dinner. The fact that the phone came back means RB has to be committed to his story of her being back on the boat for bedtime. If the phone was on the dinghy on the way back to the boat, did it leave a signal trail? If it was turned off, is that unusual for her to turn her phone off? Was it back on at any time in the location of the boat in the night? I know these are hypothetical questions that hopefully the investigators have some answers to. I think phones nowadays tell a lot of story and may be an easy way in general to verify a story or at least raise a flag. People may think turning it off will eliminate the issue of tracking were it has been but in some cases it would raise a red flag in general. Not just here but in other cases I have followed on WS.

I wondered about this too. Would she really have left her purse and phone behind before going for dinner/drinks? Who paid? Did she carry a card or did RB pay? How long were they there? Was anyone else with them at any point?

If something happened on the return to the boat after dinner, did RB take S's possessions and bring them back to the boat, to try to evidence his cover story? Or, did they both come back and she headed out again? Presumably if she'd headed out afterwards on her own anywhere significant, she would have brought her phone and wallet, if she is the sensible person her friends suggest she is? Obviously if she fell from the boat, then that would be a rational explanation for the belongings being there.

So many questions, I'm hopeful USVIPD are asking such things, but surely they/we are already past that point of enquiry? At what point does a missing person case become a criminal investigation?

 

[Mandalas]

God, I feel old.

Ha...I feel very green behind the ears! I know nothing of this code lingo...

Also had been thinking along the lines of @andalso's previous comment that he may have had substances on the boat he didn't want LE to discover.

 

[Mandalas]

I had to research the difference between a missing persons case and criminal investigation, where 'foul play' has been suspected. Thank you LAPD for the resource.

This is what sleuthers were discussing early on in the thread. I'll just catch up, shall I....

 

[DeDee]

RB remained in the area for 18 days before departing under the cover of darkness, which may seem suspicious, but as a capitalist, his income depends upon scheduled tours. How long should he be expected to cancel prearranged excursions?

The report of the dog walker hearing a 1:00am scream at Frank’s Bay is bothersome, even though authorities won't confirm this, by trying to explain noises happen frequently and could have come from any number of vessels. Yet, we are assured they're placing all resources toward locating Sarm. This is a Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (meaning: a mess).

The more widespread the knowledge of Sarm's mysterious missing from the Siren Song becomes, then the more people are exposed, especially among yachters, while she was aboard the Siren Song, according to Captain Bane. This news may harmfully impact his business significantly. So be it.

 

[Mandalas]

I'm rather interested in the nature of the relationship between F and RB. I hope that's an angle being explored.

Yes, I'm curious too. An ex-girlfriend? Previous chef on his boat?

Edited to correct quote formatting and avoid breaking TOS...

 

[shotgun09]

JMHO, but if media was there in the VI poking around and following Bane around as we've seen...then the word is out. You can bet that all locals as well as yacht owners know what the scoop is. And, from what I have read the yacht- rental world is highly competitive, and knows who is who. His name is mud now, and the yachting world knows it. He can't hide for long.

 

[KALI]

I cannot imagine a decaying body of two weeks remaining on that boat. The smell would be horrific. Plus his father is on the boat. I don't know where Sarm is, but she's not on the boat imo.

If he didn't allow the inside search there's a very high probability her remains could have been still on board MOO unfortunately now he left, whatever he might have been hiding, could be disposed in deep waters..
So frustrating, I just don't understand why there was not enough reason to get a warrant.
I really feel for her family, I still hope they find her but I don't think she's alive imo and I don't think it was just an accident. All JMO.

 

[whitelilac]

I cannot imagine a decaying body of two weeks remaining on that boat. The smell would be horrific. Plus his father is on the boat. I don't know where Sarm is, but she's not on the boat imo.

I highly doubt she is on the boat.
But I would like to ask you, since you are a boat person, whether a 47 ft cat, which takes and feeds groups of tourists, would have a sizable freezer.

 

[ApparentlyInDenial]

I can't find the Siren Song on any global shipping trackers. These platforms provide access to the "AIS" location data that boats and aircraft continually broadcast. This helps to avoid collisions etc., and it's a way of finding almost any boat.

Not only is his turned off, I don't think it exists on the boat. It is optional but I'd say most yachts of that value, carrying that many people doing mostly coastal sailing would have it.

 

[MsMarple]

There are at least a dozen cameras overlooking the shoreline where the couple landed their dinghy and the 50-yard walk to 420 to Center.

However many of the devices are used to livestream footage of the beach to social media, capturing party scenes and pretty sunsets for marketing purposes, but not to record.

A handful of business owners do operate conventional security cameras that store data, typically anything from 48 hours to a month, depending on how they are configured.

These include Sherry Compton, who told DailyMail.com she was surprised that law enforcement didn't immediately come to her restaurant, Beach Bar, to ask for the hard drives.

'I heard about what had happened the next day from social media but the police did not come and talk to us,' she said.


Ryan Bane is seen in his mugshot after he was arrested in 2011 for attacking his ex-wife

'The FBI agent came in four or five days after. He had a timeline and he needed the footage before it automatically deleted.'

Dominguez also contacted systems engineer Steve Butcher, who installed the CCTV at Beach Bar as well as 12 livestreaming cameras for businesses dotted around downtown Cruz Bay.

Butcher told him there was nothing to look through because the livestreaming cameras weren't set up to record and the owners were responsible for their own data.

That conversation took place between the evening of March 16 and the morning of March 17 - nine to 10 days after Heslop vanished.

'Sadly that's the Virgin Islands. It's not First World. If it was me, if that was my wife, I would be disgusted,' Butcher told DailyMail.com.
FBI launches hunt for Sarm Heslop's boyfriend after he sailed away from the US Virgin Islands | Daily Mail Online

I'm disgusted too. Even the livestream webcams on YouTube can roll back 24 hours. If LE had looked at any they may have caught a glimpse of Sarm and RB or RB alone. USVIPD was 9-10 days too late. Hopefully one cam somewhere has preserved footage.

Also, I disagree with the statement in the article that there's no extradition treaty with the BVI:
https://internationalextraditionblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/bvi.pdf
https://star.worldbank.org/sites/de...tional_cooperation_handbook_2013_revision.pdf

 

[MsMarple]

I can't find the Siren Song on any global shipping trackers. These platforms provide access to the "AIS" location data that boats and aircraft continually broadcast. This helps to avoid collisions etc., and it's a way of finding almost any boat.

Not only is his turned off, I don't think it exists on the boat. It is optional but I'd say most yachts of that value, carrying that many people doing mostly coastal sailing would have it.

Yes, I checked too. It didn't occur to me to look before RB ran off, just to see if Siren Song was visible in Frank Bay. That would have indicated whether he had an active AIS during that time. Argh!

Seems like having an AIS would reduce insurance premiums.

 

[Tortoise]

What's his next step as regards the boating citations? Court appearance, a fine? If he ignores them?

 

[BuckeyeGal]

Fox News is reporting that USVI police know where the yacht is
US Virgin Islands search for Sarm Heslop continues, police aware of Siren Song whereabouts

 

[whitelilac]

Is RB required to register, or sign in, his boat when mooring in the waters or bays of another island, whatever that island's nationality ?
Also, are boats that size required to have a log of sailings?

eta...just saw the above article
"He said the boat remained located within his department’s jurisdiction"