Sarm Heslop's friend calls on detectives to investigate disappearance
Sarm Heslop’s family calls on BRITISH detectives to investigate air hostess’s disappearance after 41-year-old vanished from her American boyfriend’s luxury catamaran in the US Virgin Islands
- Sam Heslop’s friend has revealed her family want UK police to look into the case
- Former airhostess went missing in March 2021 from boyfriend’s luxury yacht
- Family want her belongings forensically examined – including phone and iPad
Sarm Heslop’s best friend has said the family of the missing air hostess want British police to investigate her disappearance.
Former flight attendant Sarm Heslop, 45, went missing on March 8, 2021 from her boyfriend’s luxury yacht which was moored near the US Virgin Islands.
In November her family desperately pleaded with police in the Virgin Islands to release footage of the night she disappeared. They had been shown the footage but were not given a copy.
Facing their second Christmas without her, the devastated family have become annoyed by a lack of progress in the investigation.
Fun-loving girl: A smiling Sarm enjoying a boat trip at sea. The former airhostess went missing in March 2021
Ryan Bane had been dating Ms Heslop for eight months — sitting aboard Siren Song, his yacht – and was on holiday with her when she went missing in March 2021
Kate Owen told the Sunday People that the family wanted ‘more than anything else in the world’ was for the UK police to get involved.
She said: ‘There’s been no investigation this side, and the one over there hasn’t given us any answers.
‘We’re no clearer as to what happened that night than at the start. We need them to get involved.’
The family also wanted Sarm’s belongings to be forensically examined, according to Kate who worked with Sarm as an airhostess.
A photo of Sarm Heslop, 41, is seen in downtown Cruz Bay in St. John, just a couple blocks from 420 to Center, a bar and restaurant, where Heslop was last seen
Pictured: A map showing where the Siren Song was moored in the US Virgin islands when Sarm Heslop, 41, was reported missing on March 8, 2021. with American Ryan Bane, 44, telling officers that she may have fallen from the couple’s catamaran
She said: ‘We’d like the UK police ideally to travel to the US Virgin Islands to question Ryan.
‘Sarm deserves someone out there asking questions. They want to help and are willing to, they just need to be invited by the US Virgin Islands Police.’
Ms Heslop’s mother, Brenda Street, got a text from Bane at 11am on March 8, 2021 to tell her that Sarm was missing.
He said he’d fallen asleep and woken up because the anchor alarm — which sounds when movement is detected — had gone off.
‘Once he’d checked it, he said he went down to bed — and she wasn’t there,’ Brenda said.
‘He said he’d phoned the police. I felt totally numb.’
The text message sent to Brenda Street arrived one morning around 11am was succinct and stripped of emotion. ‘This is Ryan Bane, Sarm’s boyfriend,’ it read. ‘Please ring me’
Heslop (right) is pictured with her friend Kate Owen. The pair moved to the Caribbean together. Kate has now called for British detectives to investigate the disappearance of her friend
Bane, 45, told Brenda that he and Sarm had been for a meal on a tiny U.S. Virgin island the previous evening, before coming back to the yacht, docked 120 ft from the shore, and watching a film.
Despite an investigation that has attracted attention around the world, there are no suspects wanted in connection with her disappearance and no explanation as to why a seemingly happy, healthy 41-year-old, who was a strong swimmer and described by friends and family as independent and conscientious, would simply vanish without trace.
American yacht captain Ryan Bane, Ms Heslop’s boyfriend, is the family’s main suspect.
He was told by the emergency services to call the US Coastguard but chose not to until Sarm had been missing for more than nine hours.
The US Coast Guard and the Virgin Islands Police Department said he refused them permission to search his 47ft catamaran.
When the officials boarded, Bane is reported to have stood in a doorway and told them they could not enter. He was handed a citation, which does not result in a criminal record.
The investigation has been further complicated by a power outage knocking out CCTV in the bar where the couple was last seen.
Divers from various law enforcement agencies have searched hundreds of square feet of water for Heslop.
Volunteers from the Virgin Islands have also scoured the area around Cruz Bay during daylight hours, police said.
Police have been unable to find any evidence that Heslop returned to the boat after the couple were seen leaving dinner at the 420 to Center bar and restaurant on the island of St John at about 10pm on March 7.
The family launched a GoFundMe page in May to raise money to support enquiries and provide a reward for new information.
Heslop, 41, vanished on March 8, 2021, from Bane’s boat (pictured), which was moored off the US Virgin Islands
Bane (above) is the only person of interest in the case but has not surfaced since detectives admitted losing track of him in early July 2021. Pictured: Bane on his boat in March 2021
Lawyers representing Ryan Bane said that he is ‘devastated’ that his girlfriend Sarm Heslop was missing, but said he would not be speaking to the media
He hired celebrity lawyer David Cattie – who represented Ghislaine Maxwell – within days of Ms Heslop’s disappearance.
Cattie said coastguards had conducted an ‘on-site inspection of the vessel’ and an ‘interview without limitation’, and that Bane, ‘devastated’ and ‘heartbroken’ at Sarm’s disappearance, had handed over her personal belongings including her phone, iPad and passport to the police.
He has denied that Bane had a hand in any wrongdoing and said he was ‘heartbroken’ over Ms Heslop’s disappearance.
Ryan Bane has a conviction for assaulting his ex-wife. The booking photo from Bane’s 2011 domestic violence arrest is shown
Bane’s American ex-wife, Corie Stevenson, quickly went public with revelations that Bane had a history of violence and had been jailed for 21 days in 2011 for drunkenly assaulting her.
Shortly after the disappearance, Bane sailed away into the turquoise water and has been traversing the Caribbean ever since.
The case is still described as a missing persons case. Mother Brenda said she regularly thinks about her daughter – but needs to know what happened to her.
‘My heart is breaking but I need to see she’s gone before I can say she’s dead. Not knowing is torture.’
The family also believe that Bane could hold the key to them finding Sarm so they can bring her home.
‘If your loved one has gone missing, wouldn’t you do everything you could to help? Why would you not?’ Brenda told the Daily Mail in November.
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