A British woman missing in the US Virgin Islands. Her American boyfriend stopped cooperating.

For nearly two weeks, the police desperately searched for Sarm Heslop, a British flight attendant who disappeared from a boat off the coast of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

That search, however, became increasingly difficult after her American boyfriend Ryan Bane, 44, stopped cooperating with the police and banned them from searching the ship. To make matters worse, it appears that Bane has a history of domestic violence, his ex-wife said in a new interview.

Now Heslop’s friends and family are fed up.

“We are shocked and disturbed by the lack of Sarm. We would like to make sure that the authorities in the Virgin Islands are doing everything possible to find her and that the investigation into the disappearance of our beautiful and beloved daughter includes a comprehensive search with the fingertip on the boat, ”said his family in a communicated on Saturday.

“Our daughter is a citizen of the United Kingdom and we ask for all the support that the British authorities have to offer. We will never give up looking for Sarm and we still hope to find her safe. “

Virgin Islands police said Heslop, 41, was last seen on the ship Siren Song – which belongs to Bane – on March 7, after the two left for dinner. Hours later, at around 2:30 am, Bane called the authorities to report his disappearance.

When officers arrived at the boat, moored in Frank Bay, St. John, Bane said the pair left St. Thomas and went to bed at around 10 pm. Bane explained that he was awakened about four hours later with the ship’s anchor alarm, and noticed that his girlfriend was missing.

But shortly after the officers conducted an initial land search and asked Bane to contact the U.S. Coast Guard, the 44-year-old Michigan native barred the police from his boat. The U.S. Coast Guard said it was alerted to the incident around 11:46 am on March 8 – when Bane called to say his girlfriend may have fallen off the 47-foot catamaran.

“Right after reporting the disappearance of Mrs. Heslop, Bane hired the services of a lawyer, ”said a police spokesman in a statement. “Following the advice of his lawyer, Mr. Bane exercised his constitutional right to remain silent and denied the officers’ requests to search the ship.”

The story continues

Heslop’s friends and family are outraged by Bane’s decision not to cooperate with the authorities.

Andrew Baldwin, who has known Heslop for more than 25 years, said in a statement that the “timeline” of his best friend’s disappearance “makes no sense”.

“We know that they had dinner at a local restaurant and left at 10 pm. What we don’t know is what happened in those intervening hours, ”said the 41-year-old in a statement, noting that it took Bane almost 10 hours to call the Coast Guard that night.

Baldwin added that “the phone, passport and everything [her] belongings were left on the boat ”and insisted that“ she would not simply disappear without leaving a trace ”.

“She is smart and sensible, she is not at all typical of her, it just doesn’t make sense,” he said, adding that he found it extremely suspicious that Bane’s lawyer had denied requests by local police to search the boat.

“Given that Sarm lived on the boat with Mr. Bane and he claims that she disappeared from that boat, it would be natural for this to be the first place for the police to look. We struggled to understand why, as we heard, he would not allow this to happen and we continue to ask for a complete search of the siren song, since it has been almost two weeks since Sarm disappeared, ”added Baldwin.

“We are asking for an urgent and immediate investigation into this incident, as his friends here at home are devastated and just need his disappearance to be a critical priority, as there also appear to be many discrepancies in the timeline of what we have heard.”

But Bane’s lawyer, David Cattie, insisted that Bane’s schedule is not suspect – and that after contacting 911 on March 8, he “traveled to meet members of the [Virgin Islands Police Department] to make a statement about Sarm. “

“Later that morning, the US Coast Guard went to Bane’s ship (Siren Song) at Bane’s request,” Cattie said in a statement to Fox News. “Several USCG officers boarded the ship and interviewed Mr. Bane on the ship. Mr. Bane, at the request of Sarm’s family, handed over his personal belongings to [the Virgin Islands Police Department], including your cell phone, iPad, passport, etc. “

The lawyer, however, did not appear to comment on why his client is no longer speaking to the police. Cattie did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.

For Cori Stevenson, her ex-husband’s decision not to cooperate is suspect – but not so surprising, given her allegedly violent past. In an interview with CrimeOnline, Stevenson said Bane was reportedly abusive during his six-year relationship that ended in 2014.

The alleged abuse generated at least one police report in 2011, and Bane was accused of simple assault on Stevenson. Stevenson told CrimeOnline that she has been communicating with the Virgin Islands police about her ex-husband’s past.

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