The family and friends of Sarm Heslop, a 41-year-old British woman who disappeared from a boat anchored in the United States Virgin Islands nearly two weeks ago, are pressuring the police to search the 47-foot catamaran after it was revealed that her American boyfriend, Ryan Bane, has hired a lawyer and is not answering questions or making the boat available to investigators.
“Considering that they lived on the boat and she disappeared on the boat, this is a natural place for the police to look for, and I just don’t understand why Ryan doesn’t allow this to happen to find Sarm. I don’t understand,” said Andrew Baldwin, a friend near Heslop, to Fox News on Saturday. “This is frustration more than anything else.”
Heslop’s family said they “would like to have assurances” that the authorities “are doing everything possible to find her”, including “a comprehensive search of the boat with the tip of the finger”.
Sarm Heslop was last seen on Ryan Bane’s boat on the evening of March 7 in the US Virgin Islands.
Bane and Heslop returned to the boat after dinner at around 10 pm on March 7. Bane discovered that she was missing at about 2:30 am on March 8, so she called 911 and “traveled to meet with VIPD members to make a statement about Sarm,” according to her lawyer, David Cattie.
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Bane was instructed by VIPD officers to call the U.S. Coast Guard, which he did just before noon on March 8.
According to Bane’s lawyer, “several USCG officers boarded the ship and interviewed Mr. Bane on the ship”. According to VIPD, the “Coast Guard conducted a search of the ship for Mrs. Heslop later that morning.”
Baldwin noted that it is not clear whether the Coast Guard just “looked around the boat” or did a “police investigation at their fingertips”.
The Coast Guard searched the coast, nearby islands and all waters around the boat, but was unable to confirm whether any guards had already boarded Bane’s boat.
“I am not aware of any Coast Guard assets on board,” Ricardo Castrodad, a spokesman for the United States Coast Guard, told Fox News on Saturday. “I’m sure they may have spoken to Mr. Bane on the ship, but I have no [an] indication whether we actually boarded or not. “
The VIPD now says that Bane is not answering questions and will not allow the police to search the boat.
“Shortly after reporting the disappearance of Ms. Heslop, Mr. Bane acquired the services of a lawyer,” said a VIPD spokesman on Friday. “Following the advice of his lawyer, Mr. Bane exercised his constitutional right to remain silent and denied the officers’ requests to search the ship.”
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Bane handed Heslop’s belongings, including his phone and passport, to the Coast Guard.
“We heard that Sarm’s phone, passport and all belongings were left on the boat, where she lived with Mr. Bane,” Baldwin said on Saturday. “She wouldn’t just disappear without a trace. She’s smart and sensible, she’s not at all typical of her, it just doesn’t make sense.”
The boat was anchored in Frank Bay about 50 meters from the shore at the time of Heslop’s disappearance.
Drone images of the boat show him in relatively shallow water, which Baldwin said was about 11 feet.
Baldwin also noted that Heslop was used to boats, having ventured into the Atlantic Ocean in January 2020 and sailing the Caribbean for six months.
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VIPD is continuing its search for Heslop as the time is approaching two weeks since its disappearance.
“VIPD continues its efforts to locate Ms. Heslop, conducting several searches daily, speaking with possible witnesses and combing hours of surveillance video,” the department said on Friday.