Stories are swirling after the girlfriend of a Michigan native disappeared while the two were vacationing on his luxury catamaran in the the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Sarm Heslop, 41, of Southampton, disappeared while on a 47-foot boat owned by Ryan Bane' of Lake Orion, Mich. She was last seen on the night of March 7 aboard the Siren Song, which was moored in St. John, officials told the New York Post.
Bane, 44, has reportedly hired a legal team and refused to talk to authorities or let them search the boat. Daily Mail reports that authorities need a warrant to search the craft, but have not yet obtained one because the disappearance has not been classified as a "criminal inquiry." "Bane is currently neither a suspect, nor a person of interest," they added, and he's been spotted leaving the vessel to pick up a six-pack of beer.
The New York Post reported that Bane alerted the US Coast Guard about 10 hours after he noticed that she was missing. The pair had reportedly met on Tinder.
As rumors swirl about what may have happened on the boat, the Post uncovered information that Bane was previously accused of abusing his ex-wife, chipping her tooth in a violent confrontation.
Police in the Virgin Islands say they're continuing their search for the missing Heslop, a native of the UK and a former flight attendant. She was working as a chef when she met Bane.
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"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," her family said in a statement.