Woman Vanished from Boyfriend's Yacht, Then He Replaced the Freezer: PI Tells All

It has been 3 years since a British. woman went missing from her American. boyfriend's yacht and her family and. friends say since then they've ended up. with more questions than answers. We're. breaking down this strange case with. maritime attorney Michael Winkelman and. Commander David Johnston who is. currently investigating the case. Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law &. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. We have a very very eerie chilling story. for you that we want to get into.

41-year-old Sarm Heslop, a former flight. attendant from the UK, was sailing with. her boyfriend Ryan Bane aboard this. luxury catamaran called Siren Song back. in 2021. He's reportedly an entrepreneur. who had a successful business in. Michigan, wound up becoming a charter. boat captain. So she and Bane, they had. matched on Tinder and been dating for. several months. They chartered the boat. to tourists in the Caribbean with Bane. acting as the captain, Heslop cooking. for the guests, and the couple was last.

seen together out to dinner at a bar on. St. John's Island in the US Virgin. Islands. And after that they got back. aboard the yacht and Sarm was never seen. again. Bane reportedly told like local. authorities that he awoke in the early. hours of the morning and she was gone. He contacted Virgin Islands police that. night telling them that her passport, her wallet, her phone were all still on. board. They told him also to alert the. US Coast Guard but he didn't apparently. call them until the following day around.

lunchtime. And although Bane has always. denied any wrongdoing, he didn't. apparently allow his yacht to be fully. searched by police and has never done an. interview with them. That's what the. reporting indicates. Now the island was. searched both on land and in the. surrounding water but officials say they. couldn't go on the boat to search. without a warrant and the case was. classified as a missing person's. investigation so they didn't have clear. probable cause. We're going to get into. that. Now Bane was reportedly charged by. the Coast Guard with obstructing law. enforcement agents who boarded the.

catamaran. He allegedly stood in a. doorway, told them they couldn't go. inside, reportedly didn't have the. proper equipment either, so they gave. him a citation. That's being reported as. well. The FBI alerted its agents that were. posted in nearby San Juan, Puerto Rico. about the case and started their own. investigation. Very little has been released about what. they found, if anything. And since Bain was neither a suspect nor. a person of interest, there was nothing. stopping him from sailing away, which he. apparently did. Bain had previously been. arrested and convicted in 2011 on.

domestic violence charges when he was. married to his then wife, Cory. Stephenson. She told media outlets that. after she heard about what happened to. Sarm Heslop and that she had. disappeared, she called US Virgin. Islands police and told them about his. history, which included dragging her. from a truck, hitting her head on the. ground, and threatening to kill her. This is what Stephenson said. Stephenson has accused her ex-husband of. having a kind of Jekyll and Hyde. personality. Now, it's unclear where. Bain had gone after he sold the.

catamaran or allegedly sold the. catamaran, but I will tell you he was. spotted at a Planet Fitness gym by his. ex-wife's cousins out in Michigan. Meanwhile, Heslop's family back in the. UK has started working with a private. investigator named David Johnston. He's. a former London homicide squad commander. and hostage negotiator who agreed to. work for them free of charge. We'll get. into more about what Dave found, but I. will tell you a spokesman for the. department told Fox News in an email. that there were no new no new. developments in the case and that all.

previously collected evidence has been. shared with prosecutors. Family members. told media outlets that as time went on, they were more convinced that Heslop was. not not just missing, but she's been. murdered. Her parents, Peter Heslop, Brenda Street, they've said in a. previous statement, quote, "We would. like assurance that the authorities in. the Virgin Islands are doing everything. possible to find her and that the. investigation into our beautiful and. cherished daughter's disappearance. includes a comprehensive fingertip. search of the boat. And Mr. Bain hired a. high-profile attorney named David Caddy.

who previously represented Jeffrey. Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Caddy told Fox News that his client. would return to the Virgin Islands if he. was legally required to do so. And I. quote, "Mr. Bain had nothing to do with. Sarm's disappearance and remains. heartbroken that she is missing." Well, right now I am joined by Commander David. Johnston, the man helping with this. yacht investigation pro bono, and. maritime attorney Michael Winkleman. Gentlemen, thank you so much for coming. on. Really appreciate it.

Pleasure to be here. Uh Dave, let me start with Dave, let me. start with you. What is the latest in. your investigation right now? What can. you tell us? Well, you I think you've covered Jesse. quite comprehensively the background. Uh so, for the last 15 months I've. worked with the family. uh and been in communication with Rey. Martinez, who's the chief of police on. the US Virgin Islands, and with Albert. Bryan, who's the governor on the island.

Uh and we've been trying to negotiate. with them. um where I've agreed to come to the. island and work with their investigators. to see if there's anything that we can. um add value or understand more clearly. for the family regarding what they keep. referring to as an active investigation. Now, over that 15 months the. communication has been sporadic. There. have been some promises to work with us. Those have later been recanted on or not. followed up on. In November they.

promised that the major crime team would. communicate with me immediately, and I'm. still waiting in March. Um and the last seven or eight emails. which I've sent on behalf of the family, I'm their advocate, to the commissioner and to the island. governor have been ignored. We've. received no response, no communication. And indeed last week. No, before we even get into last week, why do you think that is? Well, we I've raised with them a number of.

questions which I'm happy to share. Sure. And those questions, about 20, are not. not comprehensive or completely. inclusive, but are indicative of the. things we would like to understand. Why. was the boat not properly searched? And. I'm sure Michael can help us with that. Why was there no forensic inquiries. undertaken? Why was Bain not formally. interviewed? Why was he allowed to leave. the scene? You know, there are a number. of areas that are just not rocket. science, they're just general good. investigative practice. Um and candidly,

we're at a stage now where we have to we. have to believe that this is. incompetence on the part of the police. And it may be that because of that early. incompetence and their failure to. capture evidence at the beginning, they're reluctant to discuss this case. Look, these things happen. I've covered. cases all over the world. These things. happen. They happen in the UK and in the. mainland US. All we've been asked is. that the police engage with us and help. us to try to find out what happened to.

Sarm. And I can talk about Mr. Bain at a. later stage. But we were told recently this week, I I Jesse, that the matter had and we. found this out from a news outlet. We've. had no official. indication from the island police or the. governor, but we're told that the case. has been referred to the attorney. general. For what or why we don't know. Okay. We're going to get back to that in a. minute cuz I know you've also made a. very interesting discovery that I want. to get into in a minute. But let. Michael, let me turn it over to you. So,

I guess the main question is is why. could authorities not come aboard the. yacht and just search it and go, you. know, as the family has said they want a. a full analysis of that boat? What are. the complications here? Well, unfortunately it does sound like. this was a comedy of errors and I. completely agree with the commander in. his comments. And at this point I think it. unfortunately may be something of a lost. cause. At the outset, I understand there. was a refusal by Mr. Bain to allow his.

vessel to be searched. He was cited for. that. So, I think there was a number of. errors at the very outset. And because. of that he then sells the vessel and now. the vessel's in the wind. Theoretically, if the authorities wanted. to. find the vessel and seize the vessel, they could. But that's like finding a. needle in a haystack. I tried to use. software that I've used in the past to. try to locate the vessel. That was. unsuccessful. So, step one in even. getting access to the vessel would be. finding it, arresting it, and that's not. an easy process. So, why so so so first let's just first.

let's talk about that. Why would it be. Why is it Why is it not readily. available to find? I mean, you know, is. it Is it not registered? We don't know. who it's registered with. Obviously, I. guess it's different than owning a car, right? But I Why Why is it difficult to. find? Very difficult very different than. owning a car and very hard to find. There are GPS software on certain. vessels. I mean, giant cargo ships, giant cruise ships, they have GPS and. they're very easy to find. In fact, they. have to be found because of Coast Guard. regulations. When you get to smaller.

private vessels, the regulations change. and the requirements are not the same. Not to mention, if you sold this vessel, which. would likely be the criminal's playbook. in my opinion, that would likely be what. would be done. If someone did commit a. crime and they wanted to cover it up, could have been sold to someone in. Russia. Could have been sold to someone, you know, in Antarctica for all you. know. And there's no regulations there. that I'm aware of being a a maritime. attorney that require them to have their. GPS tracking technology on. But even if. they did have that, Jesse, there's an.

issue of do they have jurisdiction or. the ability or the power to If they did. find the vessel, to force the vessel to. come back to the jurisdiction. Right. That that's a good point. That's. a good point. Um and by the way, the. side note of would evidence even be. there anymore if it was washed away or. something like that. Um let me ask you. real quick, Michael, about this, as. well. I don't understand. Did they not have. probable cause? I mean, they said that. they didn't have the warrant, but you. have a missing person. How do you not I. I I'm lost. How do you not have probable. cause to say, "Listen, I even if he.

doesn't want us on that boat, we should. have get have the ability to go on." We. you know, how is it that they couldn't. get a warrant or they didn't have. probable cause to go on there? Jesse, I'm I'm similarly puzzled. Mhm. And my first guess would be there was a. comment from the ex-wife about how he. seemed like the dream guy at the outset. So, my guess is when he first does an. interview with the Virgin Islands. police, he tells a whole song and dance. He's very compelling, says, "Boy, she. probably went missing. I'm so worried.". And they don't have any reason to.

suspect him. They believe what he's. saying. And because of that, they let. him go. He does call the Coast Guard the. next day, but again, by the time I think. people are really in action, it's too. late for anything to have been done. And. then he hires this lawyer who is somehow. related to Epstein and and Ghislaine. Maxwell, and you know, lawyers of that ilk, they know exactly. what they do need to do to protect their. clients. To me, the first uh the first. thing that I thought of when I heard. this case is where there's smoke, there's fire. And in my opinion and my. experience, all of Bain's conduct only.

leads to one conclusion that there was. foul play that was going on on that. vessel that evening. So, let's talk about that, because Dave, my understanding is you found something. very interesting regarding. a potential uh actions or potential path. that Bain uh engaged in after this. after this happened, after Sarm. disappeared. Something about a freezer? Can you walk us through that? Yeah. So, last year, um I was able and. Michael's absolutely right, trying to.

trace this um boat is very difficult. because of the commercial size of it and. the limited. links to GPS or other equipment. That's. not to say they're not on the boat and. we can come to why that might still be. interesting from a forensic point of. view. And why I still think this needs. to be done. But yes, we managed to. locate the boat last year with the. assistance of a number of agencies that. I work with. And that boat we understand from our. sources had traveled to Grenada.

and part of the cockpit of the boat was. refitted and we're told that that may. have included a fridge freezer. commercial fridge freezer on the boat. There's no indication as to why that. work was undertaken. But I think as Michael's already alluded. to, there is no smoke without fire. Those are highly suspicious issues in my. view and possibly an attempt to cover up. the scene of a crime. And. it appalls me that this man was allowed.

metaphorically and physically to sail. off into the sunset. when in fact. I believe that had that boat been. properly checked, compelling evidence. may have been found to demonstrate that. Sarm had befallen foul play at that. early stage. Talk to me about that forensic evidence. you had mentioned. Why you still think. it's of evidentiary value even at this. point? Well, it's very difficult because of course we. don't know what we don't know. I think. Mr. Rumsfeld used to say that, didn't. he? Um.

the unknown unknowns. But forensic is. limited to a degree because Sarm Heslop. was living on the boat and you would. expect to find her fingerprints or hair, her DNA. You know, one would not dispute. that. But my experience and I've had over 30. years of dealing with homicide. um. in the UK and internationally. And until. you've actually conducted that proper. forensic investigation and look for wet. forensics and that includes traces of. blood where you might not expect see.

traces of blood, microscopic traces, blood spray patterns. We don't know what. happened on the boat, but the problem is. by not doing a thorough investigation, you can't discount some of these. hypotheses, and that's the purpose. behind this. And let's be clear, it may. also help Mr. Bean to prove his. innocence if he tells us that nothing. happened on the boat that was um. foul play. So, there's that side of the. forensic. The other side of the. forensic, as far as we know it's never. been done, is the analysis of his cell. sites on his telephone to see where the.

boat may have moved to in the small. hours. His itemized billing to see who. he contacted immediately after the 2:30. notification of Sal's disappearance. Who. was he in contact with immediately. afterwards? And indeed, you have heard. that a number of items that were left on. the boat are still with the island. police. They've refused to give us. access to those items, including Sal's. telephone and iPad. Uh and they haven't, as far as we know, been forensically. examined to establish whether there is. anything.

and there are a lot of things which can. be done with the assistance. uh of a number of agencies to look at um. what may have happened with those. devices um immediately before Sal's. alleged disappearance. So, forensic. takes many different layers, and that. that should be done. The analysis of the. digital instruments on his boat needs to. be done and undertaken to see if there's. anything which demonstrates movement. An. inventory of the boat. Um has he. replaced things on the boat that may.

have been used uh it's dreadful to. discuss these things, but you know, to. weigh down a body. Did he Did he buy a. new anchor? What Why did he have the. boat refitted? What was behind all of. that activity? So, forensics linked to. effective investigation, none of which. has been undertaken. Michael, talk to me about the FBI here, because there's an interesting interplay. between the FBI and the local US Virgin. Islands police. And as I mentioned, the. FBI started their own investigation. Typically, in your experience, how does.

it work in terms of US federal. authorities getting involved in issues. at sea? So, generally speaking, and where I deal. with this all the time is with cruise. ship passengers. So, if there's a crime. such as a rape or a sexual assault or a. homicide at sea, if it involves a US. passenger, then the FBI has. jurisdiction, regardless of where it. takes place all over the universe or all. over the planet that is. In this situation, it's interesting. because Sarm was not a US citizen, of.

course. Bane is, but given the location. of it being the US Virgin Islands, I. would undoubtedly assume that the FBI. had jurisdiction. Why what they did, when they did it, that's an unknown to I think all of us. at this point. But, the interplay. between the two of them should have been. significant, should have been real. But again, I think the big failure in. this case started at the outset. Bane was able to tell a song and dance. that for whatever reason led the. authorities in the Virgin Islands to. back off. That allowed him to flee the. scene with his vessel, sell the vessel.

So, so much of the evidence is in the. wind. I do think it's good news and good news. and I was glad to hear from the. commander that the attorney general was. getting involved. Hopefully, continued. media spotlight on a story like this. will increase the investigation, actually lead to a prosecution, and hope. that his family can actually get some. answers to this to the terrible. questions that linger with them three. years on. And Michael, just ask your opinion about. the Coast Guard here. Um, first of all, I mean, you know, I.

mentioned the fact that apparently Bane. didn't contact the Coast Guard right. away, but the Coast Guard. cited him. They cited Bane again as. being reported with obstruction. He. stood in the doorway, told them they. couldn't go inside. I spoke to Dave. right before this about how it might. have been also an issue if you didn't. have the proper equipment on board. What. can you make of that? That citation from. the Coast Guard? Well, the citation to me is troubling in. that the fact that he wouldn't allow. them to search the vessel didn't. escalate it or that wasn't reported.

immediately to the Virgin Islands or the. FBI cuz perhaps they could have then. undertaken more. But to me, you know, I am very familiar with this. industry in the Caribbean in particular. of charters and charter vessels. I. represent people that are raped and. sexually assaulted while they are. working on these type of charters. And. it's really an interest industry that is. laden with drugs, laden with alcohol, laden with cocaine. So there's a lot of. sordid things that go on in this type of. industry and I would be surprised if. there wasn't some element of that. So.

the first thing that I thought when he. refused to allow them to search the. cabin was A, either something obvious. related to Sarm's disappearance, but. also something having to do with there. being some type of illicit substances on. the vessel. Mhm. Uh Dave, let me close it out with. you on this. How's the family doing? Well, as you can imagine and you you've. reported I think at the beginning Jesse. they'd like to know what happened to. their beautiful daughter. They are completely and utterly. distraught. Distraught for two reasons.

or for many reasons because Sarm. disappeared so suddenly and so. unexpectedly. Distraught because nobody. seems to care. The island police don't. seem to care. The governor of the island. who's responsible doesn't seem to care. And they're not communicating with the. family or telling them what they're. actually doing. So the family are left. puzzled, angry, and upset. with no answers. Of course they've never. recovered the body the body of their. daughter. So in terms of being able to. deal with that and grieve properly, all.

of these issues come into play and you. know, I work with a charity here in the. UK called Murdered Abroad. And we help. UK families who have lost a loved one in. a homicide abroad because of course they. get limited assistance from the UK. police who have no nexus in the inquiry. We don't have an FBI type arrangement in. the UK. So, we help families. and and I feel dreadfully for Brenda and. Peter at the lack of communication and. the lack of information that they've. received. You mentioned Jesse earlier that a.

lawyer had indicated that Mr. Bean would. return if legally required to do so. Yeah. Well, my message is very clear, Mr. Bean. If you care about Sarm Heslop, as. you say, it's not about your legal. obligation, it's your duty and moral. obligation as a human being to help the. family. Return to the authorities and. give a full account and tell people what. happened on the boat that night. Give us. some idea of closure. And as I mentioned, he's already getting.

pressure um from his ex-wife's family. about this as as well. And I'm sure as. this is continuing on in the news, um you know, he may be forced to answer. some questions here. I I do want to ask. you um Dave to close it out. If people have information about this. and they want to come forward and they. want to help in some way, what would you recommend they do? So, the site where the great friends of. Sarm who've been engaged in this. uh to support Brenda and Peter for the.

last 3 years. uh have a website called now called. justice for Sarm. It's moved from find. Sarm to justice for Sarm, which is a. recognition Jesse of the change in the. understanding that the family have come. to that she has been subject to foul. play and harm has befallen her and that. she's likely dead, murdered. And so, that website, justice for Sarm, will. allow people to contact very quickly on. the internet and provide any leads or. any information. And if anybody has any. information, then they should please.

reach out, contact us, and I can. guarantee you that that information will. be followed up. Well, hopefully a lot of people see. this. Hopefully a lot of a lot of people. look into this and hopefully anybody. with information comes forward because. this family needs answers and they. deserve it. Dave Johnston, really thank. you so much for the work that you're. doing especially doing it pro bono. Thank you for coming on to talk about. this and Michael Winkelman, thanks so. much for explaining the law on this as. well so we can make sense of it. Really. appreciate you both.

Can I just say Jesse if Michael. could be given my email address it would. be great to hook up with you on this. Michael just in case we got any more. questions. So these guys have got my email address. Please please please do Michael I. actually have some ideas that I think we. should chat about. There you go. That would be great. Look forward to.