ON a balmy evening on the picturesque island of St John in the US Virgin Islands, lovers Sarm Heslop and Ryan Bane stroll hand in hand by the water’s edge after spending an evening in a bar.
They board a dinghy and make their way into the darkness of the Caribbean Sea, heading to their luxury yacht anchored in the next bay.
Sarm Hislop went missing from her boyfriend’s luxury boat on March 7, 2021Facebook/Missing Person: Sarm Heslop
Sarm had originally been sailing the Atlantic Ocean with her best friend Kate and Kate’s boyfriend Martinbbc
Seven months into the trip, Sarm met Ryan Bane (pictured) on Tinder
Bane’s ex-wife Cori Stevenson recalls being brutally attacked by him during their marriage in a new documentaryBBC
It was the last ever sighting of Sarm. Some six hours later she would be reported missing.
With her body never found, her disappearance remains an ongoing mystery.
Did Brit Sarm vanish of her own accord? Was there a terrible accident – or did something more sinister occur?
And why did Bane, originally from Michigan, refuse police a search of his boat and go underground?
Now, four years on from that night in March 2021, a new BBC documentary – Missing in Paradise: Searching for Sarm – aims to find answers to what really happened that night on the boat.
As well as intriguing new CCTV footage from that night, the documentary also features a chilling account from Bane’s ex-wife Cori Stevenson, who opens up about their “violent” marriage.
She recounts one particularly frenzied attack, during which he smashed her face into the ground, breaking her teeth, and choked her until she fell unconscious.
Speaking from her home in Florida, Cori tells journalist Tir Dhondy: “I thought him a fun, warm man, and we got married in 2008, but after that he let the crazy come out [sic].
“It was very weird because when he acted like that, five minutes later it’s like nothing ever happened. But the longer we were together the worse it was.
“In 2011 we were driving back from a wedding and, pulling up outside our house, he grabbed me by my hair and dragged me out of the passenger side.
Cori was married to the American charter boat skipper for five yearsMEGA
MEGAAfter realising Sarm’s connection to Bane following her disappearance, Cori told cops about his abusive past[/caption]
“He hit me when I was on the ground and then walked into the house and locked the door.
“I waited 20 minutes to go inside and when I did he almost football-tackled me.
“I fell and when I was on the ground he grabbed my hair, smashed my face on the floor and broke my front teeth. He choked me and I passed out.
“When he was in that weird rage his eyes would go completely black, like he was possessed and I thought I was going to die.
When he was in that weird rage his eyes would go completely black, like he was possessed, and I thought I was going to die
Cori Stevenson
“When I woke up I called the police and they found him in bed. I mean, he had attacked me and gone to sleep like nothing had happened.”
Bane was given a 60-day sentence for domestic violence. The couple divorced in 2014.
His lawyer, David Cattie, acknowledges he was convicted in that single case, but adds: “There’s absolutely no indication that he ever had a violent altercation with Sarm.”
Meanwhile Sarm’s heartbroken mum Brenda fears the worst.
“She was the love of my life, my baby girl,” she says. “I know she is dead and that breaks my heart.”
Odd behaviour
Sarm and Bane’s relationship developed very quicklyBBC
Sarm told her mum that she was falling in love with BaneBBC
CCTV shows Sarm and Bane walk towards and board their dinghyBBC
Described by her friends as a “free spirit”, former Flybe flight attendant Sarm originally left her home in Southampton in 2019 to sail across the Atlantic with her close friend Kate Owen.
They arrived in the Caribbean three weeks later and visited St Lucia, Guadeloupe, Dominica and Martinique.
Seven months into the trip Sarm met Bane, 49, an American boat captain who chartered his £500,000 catamaran, Siren Song, to tourists.
She spent three months helping out on his boat, after Kate had gone home, and their relationship began to get serious.
“She told me she thought she loved him a little,” Brenda recalls.
The night Sarm went missing, their mutual friends Matt and Bonnie saw them on the boat.
“We anchored in front of them and Sarm said, ‘Come and have a beer with us,’ but we told them we would catch up later,” Matt says.
I said, ‘Let’s go look for her. I have a car. I’ll pick you up and we can ride around looking for her.’ But he never showed up and he didn’t call me back
Bonnie
“The next morning I had a missed call from Ryan around 2am,” says Bonnie. “Then he called me at 8.15am and told me Sarm was missing.
“I said, ‘Let’s go look for her. I have a car. I’ll pick you up and we can ride around looking for her.’ But he never showed up and he didn’t call me back.”
Matt and Bonnie went to his boat in the afternoon and suspect he was drunk. They don’t believe he had been looking for her.
“I said to him, ‘Let’s look for her. You have got to start doing the right thing,’” says Bonnie. “But he never did. That’s when we started thinking something’s not right.”
CCTV mystery
According to the account Bane told police and the US Coast Guard, he and Sarm had a day of chartering and ended up at a local bar called the 420.
Later the two of them got into their dingy at the dock and were back on Siren Song at around 10pm, where they went to sleep shortly after.
But there is an inconsistency with the timestamp on the CCTV footage – which police confirm is correct – as it shows them motoring away in their dinghy at 8.45pm.
“Having also travelled this route, I know it should take five to 10 minutes in a dinghy to get to Frank Bay, so they would have got back by around 9pm,” says Tir.
“This means there is a missing hour that Mr Bane has never accounted for. What happened during this time?”
Alarm bells
According to friends, Sarm was a keen and confident swimmerBBC
Bane told officers Sarm might have fallen overboard in the nightFacebook
At 2am Bane says he was awoken by the anchor alarm that rings if the boat is straying from its mooring.
It was then that he realised that Sarm was not aboard and he called police at around 2.30am to report her missing.
He told officers that she left her purse, phone and passport on the boat and fears she may have accidentally fallen overboard during the night.
“I had a missed call and then within a few minutes I had a message on WhatsApp saying, ‘This is Ryan Bane. I am Sarm’s boyfriend. Please ring me,’” says Brenda.
“He told me Sarm was missing and he couldn’t find her anywhere. I just sat there, numbly looking out the window. I didn’t know what to do.”
A police timeline and US Coast Guard report that covered the hours after Sarm was reported missing throws up some worrying discrepencies.
Sarm’s boyfriend told me Sarm was missing and he couldn’t find her anywhere. I just sat there, numbly looking out the window. I didn’t know what to do
Brenda Heslop
“Ryan’s lawyer, David Cattie, told me police had left Ryan with the impression that they would contact the Coast Guard,” Tir says.
“But the US Virgin Island police say that they told Ryan to call the Coast Guard.”
In the event, they were not called until around 11:46am – nine hours after Bane reported her missing.
It would be another couple of hours before they began a search, with boats and a helicopter combing the water and coastline around where Siren Song was anchored.
“It is very rare for somebody to fall overboard and for their body to never be found,” says Commander Jan League, who helped oversee the US Coast Guard search for Sarm.
“In the three years I have been here, we’ve had people go overboard, but we’ve never had the body go missing.
“If she went overboard in Frank Bay, where the boat was, then her body would have been washed ashore.”
However, a test organised by Tir with a dummy body dropped in the water where the Siren Song was moored, in similar conditions, shows the ‘body’ being swept away from shore towards the ocean.
Police failure
Commander Jan League told journalist Tir Dhondy that it’s rare for someone to fall overboard and not be foundBBC
Bane’s lawyer David Cattie said there was no indication that Bane had any violent altercations with SarmBBC
Boat captain, James Stephens, slept 300ft away from Siren Song and didn’t hear anythingBBC
Documents released by the US coastguard reveal that when she vanished, Bane told police he had tried going to all of the boats in the area, and nobody had seen anything.
Yet there is evidence this was not the case.
Two other boats were moored either side of Siren Song that night, all three just 300ft away from each other, and the captains of both boats tell Tir that Bane did not approach them or raise any alarm that night or the following morning.
The captain of one, James Stephens, says he went to sleep about 10pm that night and is sure he would have heard an anchor alarm or any shouts of help.
“We are trained to call the coastguard immediately if someone goes missing. I mean, you’d think you would at least go to the other boats,” he says.
We are trained to call the coastguard immediately if someone goes missing. I mean, you’d think you would at least go to the other boats
James Stephens
Strangely, the police never interviewed either of these two key witnesses closest to the Siren Song on that fateful night.
Tir goes aboard an identical catamaran and anchors it near where Bane’s boat was moored, roughly 46 metres from shore.
The captain says the water is calm there and if Sarm fell overboard, there was an easy ladder that you could grab hold of and climb back in.
“Sarm’s friends said that she was a good swimmer and being there made me realise that if she did fall overboard, she could have climbed back onto the boat or she could have swum to shore. It was so close,” says Tir.
Search for answers
Sarm’s mum Brenda has accepted her daughter isn’t coming backBBC
An old photo of Brenda and her daughter SarmBBC
Kate and Sarm talked for hours as they sailed the AtlanticBBC
Frustrated by the lack of information, family and friends grouped together to try to find out what happened and drummed up publicity that got coverage on both UK and US TV news channels.
But Bane went quiet, refusing to talk to anyone, while Cattie encouraged him to use his rights under the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution which prohibits unreasonable government searches and seizures.
This blocked a forensics team from searching his yacht.
He also used the Fifth Amendment – the right to not give evidence that may self-incriminate – to decline questioning by police.
“I went to message him but he had blocked my number,” says Brenda.
I went to message Ryan Bane but he had blocked my number
Brenda
US Virgin Islands‘ police commissioner, Mario Brooks, says Bane remains the only person of interest in the case.
“The timeline is suspicious, and that’s one of the reasons why we need to talk to him,” he says.
“The US Virgin Islands Police told us it remained committed to bringing closure to the case and would pursue all leads,” says Tir.
Meanwhile, the search for answers continues for Sarm’s distraught family and friends.
“I know she’s not coming back,” says Brenda. “But I am stronger now and I’m going to do everything I can and I’ll never give up.”
Missing in Paradise: Searching for Sarm is on BBC2 at 10pm from Wednesday 17 September.
US Virgin Islands’ police commissioner Mario Brooks says Ryan Bane remains the only person of interest in the caseBBC Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
