MYSTERY IN THE CARIBBEAN

HOPING TO START A NEW LIFE WITH A NEW LOVE, SARM HESLOP MOVED TO THE ISLAND OF ST. JOHN. THEN SHE DISAPPEARED 

- SAMIRA ASMA-SADEQUE

A Woman Aboard a Luxury Yacht Vanishes in the Night

After years of traveling the world, former flight attendant Sarm Heslop was settling into her latest adventure as a host of luxury yacht cruises in the Caribbean. On March 7, 2021, the 41-yearold British citizen texted friends to say she had successfully completed the first cruise she and her American boyfriend Ryan Bane, then 44, had operated for paying customers on Bane’s 47-ft. catamaran Siren Song in St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. “She said they just finished their charter, and it was really hard work, but it was a great day,” says Kate Vernella, Heslop’s best friend and former housemate in the U.K. After a celebratory meal at a bar in the port of Cruz Bay, the exhausted couple returned to their yacht for the night, leaving just in time for the island’s COVID pandemic curfew at 10 p.m.

Within hours, however, Heslop’s new life in the Caribbean ended abruptly. In the middle of the night, an alarm sounded aboard the boat, waking Bane from a deep sleep, he later told police. It was 2 a.m., and Heslop was nowhere to be seen. Bane immediately informed island police and, after being told to contact other authorities, called the U.S. Coast Guard before noon that day to report his girlfriend’s sudden disappearance. But when officials arrived at the boat that afternoon, Bane “appeared heavily intoxicated and agitated,” according to a Coast Guard report. He told them that Heslop’s passport, wallet and phone were still aboard the boat but physically stood in the way of officers attempting to conduct a search, officials said.