November 28, 2025 • 39 mins
Sarm Heslop has a restless sense of adventure and works various jobs to fund her passion for travel and sailing.
Working as a flight attendant for Flybe in the UK, a waitress in Gibraltar and Malta, and even working in a call center to fund her exotic adventures.
Sarm meets Ryan Bane on Tinder and becomes close enough that she moves to the Virgin Islands and joins Bane onboard his 47-foot luxury catamaran, Siren Song, as a chef.
The "Siren Song" is a working charter yacht available for private charge and is moored in a bay off the western coast of Saint John, US Virgin Islands. Living on board the Siren Song, called the Virgin Islands Premier Luxury Sailing Charter, Sarm is living her best life.
On the evening of March 7, Sarm and Bane go to the Island of Saint John for dinner. Leaving the restaurant, they board a small dinghy for the 200-foot hop to where Siren Song is moored offshore. Bane says Sarm is asleep by 10pm. Around 2:30am, Bane awakens but can't find Sarm.
He takes a dinghy to the shore to report her missing to island police, suggesting she may have fallen overboard. Police tell him to call the Coast Guard. Bane does not notify the coast guard immediately. For reasons unknown, he waits until 11:45 a.m. to notify the Coast Guard that Sarm is missing.
When coast guard officials arrive, an intoxicated Bane refuses to allow them to board the catamaran to conduct a search. Police not being allowed to search the boat leads them to issue citations to Bane on account of not being allowed to search the boat, not having registration documentation, and safety equipment violations.
The nine-hour time gap between when Bane contacts Island Police and the time he calls the coast guard has been questioned by Sarm's family and even a fellow skipper on a boat moored nearby the Siren Song.
The skipper says he heard no shouts from the catamaran, nobody hollering for someone who might have fallen overboard. Sarm's phone, wallet, and passport are left behind on the boat and are turned over to the police.
An intensive search of the coastline begins with dogs on shore, divers in the water, and drones overhead. As word spreads of the missing woman, a local dog walker on Saint John says they heard a scream out at sea, in the direction of where the catamaran is anchored, around the time of Sarm's disappearance.
Jeff Jones, ASAR/Disaster Area Response Team A volunteer, tells Nancy Grace he spoke to the captain there the night she went missing. He actually comes on base Sunday morning and drops anchor about one hundred twenty feet away from the Siren Song, and he is there overnight on the vessel.
He's also a term charter captain with another catamaran for hire, and he saw nothing, heard nothing, and was unaware of any unusual foul play until the next day when the coast guard showed up.
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
- Andrew Baldwin - Sarm Heslop's Friend of 25 years; 'Best Man' at his Wedding
- Kate Vernalls - Former Roommate of Sarm Heslop
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stores with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Help us find SSARM.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Chilling close circuit TV spots the missing flight attendant just
before she vanishes off her boyfriend's yacht. Good evening, I'm
Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. I want to thank
you for being with us.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
A young woman with a love for adventure spent her
days sailing the beautiful waters of the Virgin Islands, working
in the glamorous world of luxury yaytes. She had once
been a flight attendant, driven by her desire to explore
the globe, until her journey came to an unexpected halt.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Where is Sarm? Let's start at the beginning.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
We began to search, initially that the day we became
aware that she went missing that Monday afternoon. We initially
the first six days spent a lot of time in
small craft searching, shoreline scuba diving, snorkeling, and transitioned to
a ground search using volunteers on foot searching the terrain
(01:12):
in heavy, heavy bush as well as a long rough
reef rocks call using drones. Taking those maps that we've
created from the drone imagery and entered into the software,
stitches all this together and makes a very high resolution map.
We found nothing. We found no evidence of anything, not
a clothing, not not shoes, not a not an unusual
(01:36):
broken twig.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
So where is sarm Heslop in the last days? Previously
buried Closed Circuit TV reveals her last moments where she
was known alive. Newly released footage just before her disappearance,
(01:58):
joining Me and All Star Panel. But first there's the footage. Guys,
look at that, and there's a very very disturbing clue
about that, because apparently she's wearing this is just before
she goes missing.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
There she is walking along with the boyfriend.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
She's wearing something altogether different in this closed circuit video
than what she was described.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
As wearing when she goes missing.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Shortly after this very chilling closed circuit TV video, that's
sarm Haslot right there. They're getting into dinghy and they're
heading out to the boyfriend's yacht. That's got to be
excruciating for her family to feel so close to her
(02:50):
in this video, and then it all ends just before
she seemingly vanishes into thin air again an All Star
Panel joint us tonight.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
But I want to go to two very special guests. First.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
It's Kate Vernal's former roommate with Sarm Heslop and Andrew
Baldwin a very dear friend for years and years. Andrew,
thank you for being with us tonight. When did you
learn that sarm was missing?
Speaker 6 (03:22):
I got a call from Kate Owen. It was the
day after that she went missing, so kind of kind
of nearly thirty six hours after. I got a frantic
call from Kate and all she said was you know,
and I remember the words. They still chill me. Now
Salm's missing and we don't know where she is. They
just come out of the blue.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Andrew Baldwin, I don't understand the night that you learn
your dear friend many many years.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Has just vanished.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
What were you told, if anything, as to what happened
to her?
Speaker 6 (03:57):
Initially I was just told that she was she was.
I think Kate Owen at the time had just had
a call from Ryan Bain to say that she'd gone
missing the previous the previous night. So it was twenty
four hours after she'd got missing, and literally said she'd
gone missing in the middle of the night. They didn't
know where she was. Talked about an anchor Alarm talked
(04:18):
about people searching but there were very very few details.
And subsequent to that, I had a conversation with Ryan Bain.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
You spoke to the boyfriend, the so called boyfriend, Ryan Baine.
Is that correct?
Speaker 7 (04:30):
And that's correct, just after the call from Kate.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So I found it really difficult to believe that this
is this is how it goes down. We've seen the
newly released closer at TV video and he Ryan Bain,
the so called boyfriend, is walking with sarm. They had
been in the town. They were leaving. I believe they've
been to a restaurant, slash bar, and they were going
(04:55):
back to his yacht and then some I mean the
yachts it's not that big, they're not that many rooms
to look in. So they're on a yacht. If she
vanishes off the yacht in the middle of the night,
Andrew what how the dinghy was still there? So where
did she go?
Speaker 6 (05:14):
That's exactly what we're asking ourselves. You know, the information
we got that she just disappeared. There was an original
Maybe she went off somewhere, maybe she met some friends,
but it was late, it was during COVID we you know,
I think that's highly unlikely.
Speaker 7 (05:29):
All of her belongings are on the boat and.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I need to ask him a question. Andrew, I'm sorry,
that doesn't make sense to me. What do you mean
she went off with friends? She gets on the dinghy
with the boyfriend, They go to his yacht. They disembark
the dinghy, they get on the yacht, the dinghy's tied
to the yacht. When the boyfriend wakes up, the dinghy's
(05:55):
still there.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
So what does somebody.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Beam her up?
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Scotty, I mean, what do you mean she went somewhere
with friends?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
That's impossible.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
She did not leave the yacht.
Speaker 6 (06:06):
I think we never you know, that was something that
kind of maybe she maybe she went off, maybe someone
picked her up, maybe she went to when and met someone,
But there was she didn't know that many people on
the island, and all the people that she knew wouldn't
wouldn't have done that.
Speaker 7 (06:18):
So I find that really hard to believe.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
And then kind of the the thing that come that
was suggested was that she'd fallen off the boat and
drifted away.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Fallen off the boat and drifted away, I'd like, can
I go now to Kate Vernal's former roommate of Psalms.
Kate fell off the boat and drifted away.
Speaker 8 (06:47):
I think from the outset it was just a ridiculous theory.
Speaker 9 (06:51):
Salmon had stewed across the Atlantic and not fallen overboard.
So to suggest that she had fallen overboard in the
middle of the night on a yacht there was maud
so close to shore just seems absolutely impossible and ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
First of all, I want to figure out how in
the hay did this beautiful, young, brilliant woman end up
on a yacht out in the middle of her ocean,
of the ocean with her family a world away.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Listen.
Speaker 10 (07:23):
Sarmheslab has a restless sense of adventure and works various
jobs to fund her passion for travel and sailing, working
as a flight attendant for Flybee in the UK, a
waitress in Gibraltar and Malta, even working in a call
center to fund her exotic adventures.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
She's adventuresome. She works all over the world. Tell me
about that, Andrew Baldwin.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
She just loved new experiences, you know, Nancy. She loved
to meet people, she loved new cultures, new destinations. She
liked to do things that perhaps some of us just
wouldn't do. I remember her call maintain that she was
sailing across the Atlantic on a yacht and just you know.
Speaker 7 (08:04):
No one would do that. Oh, no one would think
about doing that.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
But she would do things that enriched her life and
enriched you know what she was doing, and got great experience.
She wasn't someone who wanted to settle down nine to five.
She just wanted to see everything that the world had
to offer her.
Speaker 7 (08:22):
And she did.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
You know, I really don't like Andrew when people suggest
that she quote asked for bad fortune because she traveled
the world and did adventurous things. If a man did that,
nobody would think twice. I remember asking my now husband
(08:43):
learn to dive with me. Let's go all over the
world and dive.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
He didn't want to. He wanted to stay in his office,
and he did.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I didn't, and I ended up going all over the
world diving. Now, I don't want my children to do
it because it's incredibly dangerous, and.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I had them Andrew, I swore it off.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I've never done it again because it's too important to
me that I am with them to bring them up
or hiking. I said, David, please go hiking with me.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Now.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Didn't want to take off work, and I don't fault him.
I even married him. But my point is just because
she is adventurous, I don't like the insinuations made about her.
This girl was scrubbed in sunshine. She loved life, and
I don't like those insinuations about her.
Speaker 7 (09:34):
Andrew the thing about some She was so loyal.
Speaker 6 (09:38):
She was a friend that if you wanted something, or
you needed to speak to someone, or she'd be there
for you. She'd be there at the end of the phone,
she'd be there. She was such a loyal, trustworthy person.
She traveled safe. She was very street savvy. She was
very conscious of the world around her, conscious of how
(09:59):
to travel safe, how to meet people safely, how to
kind of traveling around the world. You know, she was very,
very smart. So she would not do anything that she
felt that would be dangerous to her, and she would
take advice. So you know, I completely refuse any insinuation
that she shouldn't have been traveling. And I agree if
(10:21):
I wanted to go traveling or do anything, no one
would say anything.
Speaker 7 (10:24):
This wonderful woman that we call our friend just did
things that she wanted to do and live her life
the way she wanted to do it, and no one
should blame her for that your.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Preaching to the choir. Andrew Bald went to Kate Vinol's
her a roommate. Kate, I assume you agree with me.
I do not like the insinuation that somehow, because she
traveled the world and wanted to see it all and
do it all and experience it all, that somehow makes
her a big hope. I don't get that that Nothing
(10:57):
could be further from the truth.
Speaker 8 (11:00):
So I agree with you completely.
Speaker 9 (11:01):
I think watching her go on all these adventurous and
being a headstrong but spontaneous, she was really meticulous.
Speaker 8 (11:09):
She would organize down.
Speaker 9 (11:11):
To the last to the last point, and I always
was excited for her, and I think she should be
praised for not conforming to a nine to five, to
actually doing what we all dreamed to do by going
on holiday once a year.
Speaker 8 (11:26):
That was what she just wanted to do with her life.
Speaker 9 (11:28):
I don't think anyone should be put down for wanting
to have a fun life.
Speaker 8 (11:35):
Is it jealousy?
Speaker 9 (11:36):
Maybe you know, this is a young woman who's living
the life that she wants to live and not conforming
to a nine to five. I was always in support
of her traveling. We would always stay in communication, and
she would always come back, you know, and then.
Speaker 8 (11:51):
Save up to go away again. Whereas, why is that wrong?
Speaker 9 (11:54):
You know, I think it's something we all want to do,
but we just do it for two weeks of a
year to go on holiday, other than making it how we.
Speaker 8 (12:02):
Want to look back on our lives.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
And she was working. She worked the entire time. Enter
the boyfriend, Ryan Baine.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Listen.
Speaker 11 (12:13):
Sarm meets Ryan Bain online and becomes close enough. She
moves to the Virgin Islands and joins Bain on board
his forty seven foot luxury catamaran Siren Song as a chef.
The Siren Song is a working charter yacht available for
private charge and is more than a bay off the
western coast of Saint John Us, Virgin Islands.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Andrew, what was her plan? She meets Bain online? Does
she fall in love with him? Is that what happened?
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (12:41):
I think Lin Simon Ryan met when Salmon was in
the Caribbean and they formed a relationship, and you know,
she was really open about that and she was excited
about it. Then her travel was over and she moves
back to Malta to some friends and she worked in
Malta to fund more of her trips. We've already said
to fund more and to do more adventures, and I
(13:02):
think the calling that, you know, she she kind of
realized being a part that actually I want to give,
give this relationship a go.
Speaker 7 (13:10):
I want to.
Speaker 6 (13:10):
I want to go back, and I want to, but
I want to go back on my terms. I want
to go back and and fund myself. I want to
be working. I don't want to. I don't want to
go back and just be your girlfriend. I want to
go back and work and I want to pursue a
career and work working in this In this business.
Speaker 12 (13:27):
People would describe some as a free spirit, adventurous, sarcastic, bonkers.
Speaker 8 (13:35):
So that is a boat.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Look, I had a miscall on my phone. Psalm's missing.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
A massive search and rescue operation is underway for a
British former flight attendant.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
While sailing around the Caribbean. Some has a lot vanished.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
That from missing in Paradise searching for song now able
to US audiences on BBC.
Speaker 11 (14:02):
Select Living on board the Siren Song called the Virgin
Islands premiere luxury sailing charter sarm is living her best life.
On the evening of March seventh, Simon Bain go to
the island of Saint John for dinner. Leaving the restaurant,
they bought a small dinghy for the two hundred foot
hop to where Siren Song is moored off shore. Bain says,
Sarm is asleep by ten pm.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Two hundred feet that's not far at all, but from
what we've been told, the depth goes from about four
to five feet, and then after you're out just a
very short distance, it drops to forty or fifty feet.
So here we go. Two thirty am. He wakes up
(14:47):
and discovers he can't find Psarm.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
What else happened?
Speaker 11 (14:53):
At two thirty am. Bain awakens but can't find Sarm.
He takes a dinghy to the shore to report her
missing to island and police, suggesting she may have fallen overboard.
Police tell him to call the coast Guard. Bain does
not notify the coast Guard immediately for reasons unknown. He
waits until eleven forty five to notify the coast Guard
this Sarm is missing. When Coastguard officials arrive, an intoxicated
(15:16):
Bain refuses to allow them to board the catamaran to
conduct a serge.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Okay, right there, Andrew, I've got a problem with him
not allowing them on board. If he wants to find sarm,
why wouldn't allow them on board the yacht.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
I think we've got a problem. This is where our
problems begin with the timeline. The timeline is where the
problems begin. You know, the call to the police, the
meeting of the police, and then nine hours pass before
the call to the coastguards.
Speaker 7 (15:47):
And nine hours of time where.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
She was still missing wherever she was, and you know
the reports and the coast guard that were retained on
a quite clean state that the coast Guard and the USB,
John and police wanted to come on board the boat
and potentially search the boat, and he refused them the
entry to the main area of the boat because he
was intoxicated, and they didn't want to put themselves in
(16:12):
any risk, any danger at that point she was missing.
At that point, we didn't know what was happening, so
they didn't want to put themselves in any danger, so
they left.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Kate Ronald, the roommate of saram heaslap the long delay.
Have you ever spoken to Baying the boyfriend and asked,
why did you wait nearly ten hours to get the Coastguard.
Speaker 9 (16:38):
No, Andrew is Salm's only friend who's spoken to Ryan,
with the exception of Kate Owen.
Speaker 8 (16:45):
It would be my first and maybe only.
Speaker 9 (16:49):
Question to ask Ryan if I had the opportunity, because
he woke up so some wasn't there. He went to shore,
he spoke to the police, he was told to come
back to the boat called the host guard, but he
didn't call the coast Guard.
Speaker 8 (17:02):
He didn't even get on the radio.
Speaker 9 (17:04):
There's a continuously monitored channel on the radio frequency that.
Speaker 8 (17:09):
Is monitored by the coast Guard. That didn't happen.
Speaker 9 (17:12):
He didn't set off any flares. He didn't even call
her name. If you speak to the other two captains
of the neighboring vessels, they didn't hit anything that night.
So he doesn't even get in his dinghy to go
looking for her. He gets in his dinghy to go
to shore to speak to the police, but then he
just comes straight back. There's no evidence of him reaching
(17:33):
out to anybody else to ask.
Speaker 8 (17:35):
For help to search this.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
M Andrew Bodwin, did you ask Bain anything about the delay.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
At that point?
Speaker 6 (17:43):
I spoke to him, probably in the immediacy that I
was called on kind of the second day, and then
I spoke to him twice, and at that point we
didn't know any of this. We only knew that the
wording I got from Ryan Bain was I'm out searching.
I'm looking for her. I'm out on the boat. We're
doing everything we can. We're getting loads of people searching
(18:05):
for We had no idea at this point of this
timeline and what happened, so you know, that only come
out kind of in the weeks after she went missing,
that we found out about this gap, and by which
point he was not talking, he was not communicating, he
wasn't answering messages. He had his lawyer, and therefore there
has been no opportunity I think after that point to
(18:26):
ask him any questions.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Joining us now from ASAR Disaster Area Response Team Jeff Jones, Jeff,
when did you first get to the scene.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
I was initially I've seen the next morning beginning to
do scuba diving as well as shoreline base search with
small craft throughout Frank Bay. That next morning. There were
two vessels in that bay, but I spoke to one
captain myself who was there the night that she went away.
We were missing it around two am when mister Bain
knowsed her done, and that vessel was about one hundred
(19:02):
to one hundred and twenty feet to the northwest in
that same morning area in Frank Bay.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
The same mooring area there in Frank Bay. And you know, Jeff,
you're stating that you spoke to the captain who was.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
There that night.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
I spoke to a captain who was there the night
she went missing. He actually came into that base Sunday
morning and it dropped anchor about one hundred to one
hundred twenty feet away from the siren song. And he
was there overnight on that vessel. He's also a term
charter captain with another catamaran for hire, and he saw nothing,
heard nothing, and was unaware of any unusual foul play
(19:41):
till the next day when the coach starts showed up.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
That's a lot of time, Andrew Baldwin. For the captains
on vessels around bang, they had no idea anything was wrong.
None of them were alerted by him. There wasn't a
siren nothing. I mean, we've all seen those boat horns
that are incredibly loud. Why didn't he call out on
(20:19):
those to the boats, the vessels around him, asking for help,
asking them to look for sarm. They knew nothing until
the coastguard pulls up the next day.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Essentially, Yeah, I mean that's what's come out.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
You know, we knew there were two boats close, so
we kind of all assumed that, you know, like any search,
So you would be speaking to the boats asking for
their assistance, putting lights in the water. If she had
fallen off, there was an assumption then you would be
shouting her name, you'd be he had a dinghy, he
could have banged on the side of the boat, he
could have called her name, he shouted. We've seen interviews
(20:56):
with both captains, both captains independently. Both captains stated they
woke up that morning and there was nothing different than
any other morning they woke up. Siren song was quiet,
there was nothing going on. There was no one shouting,
there was no one looking, There wasn't someone screaming. There
was nothing happening on that boat in the first thing
in the morning.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
She were missing, So.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
What was going on?
Speaker 7 (21:18):
What was he doing like waiting to pick up the phone?
Speaker 6 (21:22):
You know what whilch If it was my loved one,
my family, any of my friends, I would be made.
I would be screaming, I would be shouting. I would
be calling for help. The boats were one hundred feet away,
maybe two hundred feet away. They would have if you did,
they'd have shouted. If Ryan Baine had shouted, they would
have heard him. And they said that, and they're both
both experienced captains. They would have heard him say something.
(21:44):
And he said nothing to those boats.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
What about it? To you, k Ronalds, what do you
make of it?
Speaker 8 (21:49):
I just think there's a lot of contradiction happening.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
Though.
Speaker 9 (21:53):
The story from the captain of the Sirens Song differs
completely from the story given by the captains of the
two or In boats. As Andrew said, they both woke
up the next morning. It was a calm morning, nothing
appeared to be out of the ordinary, and both captains
of the other vessels confirmed that they if he had
(22:15):
to set off a flare, if he had have shouted
her name, even it would have woken them up. It
would have alerted them and they would have helped search.
So there is a reason that only he knows why
he didn't call the Coastguard on the phone. He didn't
call them on the radio, he didn't shout for help,
and it's not acceptable that the answer would be, well,
(22:36):
she might have gone to shore to have drinks with friends.
If she did that, then she would have had to
have swum to shore. It was COVID, there was a curfew.
From what she told us that all the bars and
restaurants closed at ten pm. So there is no logical
explanation to delay calling the Coastguard by nine hours unless
(23:00):
you are waiting for something to something else to happen,
for a suitable time to pass. Maybe he went back
to the boat and he fell asleep. None of it
is excusable, but none of it is acceptable as a
reason not to call the post Guard.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
And of course there is the little town there. Back
to Jeff Jones joining us from ASAR Disaster Area Response Team,
what can you tell me about how far the yacht
was moored from the town and what about the town itself?
Speaker 5 (23:36):
I would say between one hundred and forty one hundred
and sixty feet and it's just around the corner from
Cruise Bay, in which Cruise Bay is our local town.
From Cruise Bay, which is the city center, so to speak,
for our island here on Saint John. It's where all
the bars, restaurants, shopping, the watersports, the dive shops. Everything's
located at It's maybe a three minute walk from there,
(23:57):
just around the corner in another bay called Frank.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Bay, So very very close.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
But the issue is, what are we supposed to believe
that she jumped into the water and swam ashore. I mean,
tell me about the underwater terrain, Jeff.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
Where it's at exactly. It is probably between fifteen to
twenty feet feet, but within fifty feet it gets into
five foot of water. It's a very very clear bay
that's primarily sandy bottom with some rocks and reef and
ball but for the most part, it's a pretty shallow bay.
Most of all of our waters down in the Caribbean
(24:36):
are shallow. When we initially started began doing our grid
search patterns, we were doing in small craft, trying to
cover the most amount of area quickly, and we were
most of that was done, you know, visually above the
water because the water is so clear. At the next day,
when we were doing dies in forty to fifty foot
of water, we could see, you know, visibility forty fifty
(25:00):
foot deep easily.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
You know, I'm also curious and I'm going to throw
this to Andrew and Kate, I want you to hear
what she left behind on her boyfriend's yacht.
Speaker 11 (25:13):
Sarm's phone, wallet, and passport were left behind on the
boat and it turned over to the police. An intensive
search of the coastline begins, with dogs on shore, divers
in the water, and drones overhead. As word spreads of
the missing woman. A local dog walker on Saint John
says they heard a scream out at see in the
direction of where the catamaran was anchored around the time
(25:34):
of Sarm's disappearance.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
So one person hears a scream, they think they don't
know where it came from. I'm also intrigued Andrew Baldwin,
Okay suspicious.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Her wallet, her phone, her.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Passport all still on the yacht. So that completely destroys
the theory that she.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Went back in town.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Somehow what swam and went back into town even though
everything was closed during COVID dripping wet and uh oh,
she figured out her wallet, her credit cards, her ID,
her passport, so she couldn't get anything to eat, she
couldn't get anything to drink.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
She's dripping wet. Help me out.
Speaker 6 (26:19):
She wouldn't have left those items in the first place.
And you know, she definitely wouldn't have gone swimming. She's savvy.
She wouldn't be swimming at night. You know, hey, Owen
who traveled with her, they were really really clean. Don't
swim at night in the Caribbean on your own. You
don't swim on your own. You need to tell us
where you are. There's no reason why she would leave
those things. She wouldn't leave those things. She'll never never
get off the boat leaving her her phone, her ID,
(26:42):
her wallet, not willingly.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
What about it, Kate Vernold's.
Speaker 9 (26:46):
Yeah, I think it's ridiculous to suggest that she went
to shore and left everything. Yeah, you can have the
watertight bags, but she wouldn't swim to shore and leave
everything there. It's her passport, her iPad, her her wallet.
That the suggestion that she went to shore after seeing
that those thingers were left on the boat is just
(27:07):
another statement that doesn't ring true to anyone. I don't
think that that would be a viable thing that anyone
would do.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
In the last weeks, newly released CCTV closed circuit TV
footage has revealed what I consider to be a very
critical clue.
Speaker 10 (27:28):
Listen the family complains about the CCTV footage they are
shown by police, not just because they don't get to
see all of it, but the clothing she is wearing
in the footage is not what she is described as wearing.
According to the last witness to see her. It stated
that Sarm was wearing a black dress with flowers on it,
but in the CCTV footage she is wearing a top
(27:49):
with either shorts or skirt. The black dress was also
not among items returned to the family after she vanished.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Okay, that is a very big issue. Why were we
told by being the boyfriend that she's wearing a black
dress when clearly that's not what she's wearing. She's not
wearing that, and that very same black dress was not
amongst the items for clothing and all of her possessions
(28:17):
that were returned to the family after she disappeared. So
where's the black dress and why the wardrobe change?
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Or is it all a big lie?
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Andrew Baldwin, do you see the significance of this.
Speaker 6 (28:31):
We've never really been able to get to the route
the crux of that issue, because you know, I think
he said that very early on about the clothing and Obviously,
no one's been able to question him or asking questions
about that point because he's now not talking and he's
so and that's just something that he could clear up.
Speaker 7 (28:51):
You know, maybe there's an explanation.
Speaker 6 (28:53):
I don't know, but the fact that you're not talking
means you can't tear up anything.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Kate Vernold's joining us from a roommate of arms. What
do you make of the missing black dress in the
alleged wardrobe change in the middle of the night.
Speaker 9 (29:06):
I think it's possible that after the CCTV footage she
goes back to the boat, she gets changed. That could
very well be the reason that Brian says that that's
what she's wearing.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I'm sorry, no, wait, wait, wait, Kate, you're gonna have
to help me with your timeline, because we see them
on the footage going back to the dinghy, getting on
the dinghy which is going to take them back to
his yacht. He says they went to sleep at ten pm,
So change clothes into a black cocktail dress for what?
(29:41):
And when I mean, we see them they've gone out
to dinner, it's dark, they're heading back to the yacht,
and when was she supposed to change clothes and for what,
And where's the black dress?
Speaker 9 (29:55):
Yeah, no one knows where this black dress is or
where the suggestion of a black dress even came from.
That's literally Brian's word against anyone's. And as you can
see from the CCTV footage, she's not wearing a black dress.
So is it a mistake that he made when he
described what she was wearing when she went missing, or
(30:16):
perhaps it is just a Freudian slip.
Speaker 8 (30:22):
I have no idea where the black dress is.
Speaker 9 (30:24):
We wasn't in her belongings when they were returned by
the police. So it's just another one of those little
trip ups that doesn't you know.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Okay, I appreciate your phraseology, but some would say, boyfriend, Bain,
why are you lying? She's clearly not wearing a black dress.
According to you, Bain, you leave dinner, you get on
the dinghy, you go to the yacht, and then you're
asleep very shortly after that at ten pm. That's his words,
(30:57):
not mine. So why the wardrobe change? You don't remember
remember what she was wearing that night a couple of
hours before. Yeah, see, I've got a problem with that.
But that said, I've got another problem when your beloved
goes missing, and instead of talking to police, you claim
the Fifth Amendment. Okay, the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Now,
(31:22):
judges instructuries you are not to consider or note that
a suspect chooses to remain silent and take the Fifth Amendment.
That's neither here nor there. But look around, everybody.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
We're not in court.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
We can comment, and hell.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Would freeze over before I would stay silent while my
husband is missing.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
But that is what happened. Listen.
Speaker 11 (31:51):
Bain's actions during the investigation have come under scrutiny from
Sarm's family. Bain claims his lawyer advises him to use
his Fourth Amendment right to prevent a full forensic search
of his yacht, and when police tried to question him,
he invokes his Fifth Amenment right to remain.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Silent and he takes off.
Speaker 11 (32:08):
Bain leaves the Virgin Islands five weeks after Psarm's disappearance
while the search is ongoing, and sets sail for Grenada,
where he replaces the refrigerator in the Siren Song. Bain
then removes the name from the luxury catamaran and sells
it for around a quarter of a million dollars and more.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Dark clouds on the horizon when Bain's ex wife Cory
Stephenson rais him.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Crime stores with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
With the disappearance of PSARM, Bain's ex wife, Cory Stephenson
publicly states he was violent during their marriage and he
was even arrested on domestic assault charges against her that
landed him in jail.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
None of this Boat's will, Andrew Baldwin has the boyfriend
Bane just completely dropped off the map. Is like SARM
never existed.
Speaker 7 (33:12):
He did, you know?
Speaker 6 (33:13):
He the only person that was talking on in behalf
of it with his law was his lawyer. So we
weren't able to the police, weren't able to answer any questions.
And you know, and I don't know the US legal system,
but why can't he answer questions with the lawyer there?
Why can he? You know, I don't think the police
were saying that you're under arrest. We just want to
know what you know. And he didn't even answer those questions.
(33:36):
It's only been more recently that he has come out
on social media with some information that he wanted to
share some information that there's more about poking holes in
the investigation from.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
His side and what would that be Andrew Baldwin that
he has shared recently.
Speaker 6 (33:55):
So he said an open letter that kind of talks
about things that he thinks that that could have happened,
that talks about some and which talks about Kate Owen,
which which suggests, you know, kind of puts up a
defense and says, you know, everyone that's talking about him
(34:17):
is only looking at one side. They're not looking at
his side, and they're not they're asking him him. No
one could ask you because she didn't answer any questions
and you wouldn't talk. So therefore, you know, if you'd
come forward and have a conversation with the police, with
your lawyer president, maybe.
Speaker 7 (34:31):
Maybe you know, maybe there's information that you have.
Speaker 6 (34:33):
That could have could have could have found out earlier
what happened that night to sar you.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Know Kate Ronald's are This statement issued by the then
boyfriend basically says I didn't murder her. Why not speak
at the time the search was going on. Why just
issue a comment when you can't be questioned.
Speaker 8 (34:58):
Yeah, that's absolutely no reason not to speak to the police.
Speaker 9 (35:01):
If you haven't done anything wrong, then just speak to
the police and tell them what you know.
Speaker 8 (35:06):
His attorney said that.
Speaker 9 (35:09):
There's nothing wrong with him getting an attorney before he
calls the coast guard. That's perfectly normal. I don't think
that's personally perfectly normal at all. I don't think anyone
would even think to do that unless they've done something wrong.
If your loved one, your friend, a crew member has
gone missing, and you've done nothing wrong and there's no
(35:30):
foul play, why do you need to call your attorney.
Speaker 8 (35:35):
I don't think that's normal behavior.
Speaker 9 (35:38):
I think it's completely not normal to seek for help
and to tell your story, to tell.
Speaker 8 (35:46):
The police what's happened. Is not normal to go into social.
Speaker 9 (35:49):
Media and post your story before you've even spoken to
the police. And just to add to that, his attorney
said that if the police did want to speak to him,
all they had to do is reach out to Ryan
and ask him to come back and make a statement.
Speaker 8 (36:05):
Why do the police need to ask you to come
back and do that.
Speaker 9 (36:07):
You were her boyfriend, you supposedly loved her, and your heartbroken.
Speaker 8 (36:13):
Why aren't you just voluntarily going back to.
Speaker 9 (36:15):
The US Virgin Islands and speaking to the police to
make your statement.
Speaker 8 (36:19):
Why do you have to be asked.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
In this bizarre five page quote open letter the so
called boyfriend Ryan Bain, speaks mostly about himself, how he
has been vilified and placed under a quote false sense
of suspicion, and he says the truth is I just
wanted to protect myself.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Okay, I have a concern with that.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Of course, if this ever did go to a jury
trial and he is presumed innocent, of course.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
No one could comment on his right to remain silent.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
But we're not in court. We can analyze the facts
as we see them. The letter is addressed to investigative journalists,
and for the most part, rails against what he calls
unfair coverage, accusing the media of omitting crucial facts.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Really, what facts?
Speaker 1 (37:17):
What facts?
Speaker 2 (37:20):
If he has facts.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
That are unknown to everyone else, let's hear them.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
He claims, no one observes signs of a fight.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Was anybody else on the yacht that could have seen
the fight if it existed? No evidence of an argument? Really,
no one else was on the yacht. Nobody knows what
has happened on the yacht. No scratches are marks to
suggest a struggle. Isn't it true that he would not
allow searches of his yacht so we don't know what
(37:51):
shape the yacht was in. I welcome mister Bain to
join us here on crime stories and give us his
side of the story and recount all the facts to
which he is referring that point to his innocence. In
the meantime, if you know or think you know anything
(38:12):
about the case, please dial eight hundred two two two
eight four seven seven repeat eight hundred two two two
eight four seven seven. We wait as justice unfals. Now
we remember an American hero, Sheriff Robert Rogers, Wilcotx County
(38:33):
Sheriff's Georgia, killed in the line of duty after twenty
two years in law enforcement, leaving behind a grieving widow.
Healey and son Robert. American hero Sheriff Robert Rogers. Nancy
Gray signing off goodbye friend
Speaker 8 (39:00):
Eve.
Crime Stores with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Help us find SSARM.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Chilling close circuit TV spots the missing flight attendant just
before she vanishes off her boyfriend's yacht. Good evening, I'm
Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. I want to thank
you for being with us.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
A young woman with a love for adventure spent her
days sailing the beautiful waters of the Virgin Islands, working
in the glamorous world of luxury yaytes. She had once
been a flight attendant, driven by her desire to explore
the globe, until her journey came to an unexpected halt.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Where is Sarm? Let's start at the beginning.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
We began to search, initially that the day we became
aware that she went missing that Monday afternoon. We initially
the first six days spent a lot of time in
small craft searching, shoreline scuba diving, snorkeling, and transitioned to
a ground search using volunteers on foot searching the terrain
(01:12):
in heavy, heavy bush as well as a long rough
reef rocks call using drones. Taking those maps that we've
created from the drone imagery and entered into the software,
stitches all this together and makes a very high resolution map.
We found nothing. We found no evidence of anything, not
a clothing, not not shoes, not a not an unusual
(01:36):
broken twig.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
So where is sarm Heslop in the last days? Previously
buried Closed Circuit TV reveals her last moments where she
was known alive. Newly released footage just before her disappearance,
(01:58):
joining Me and All Star Panel. But first there's the footage. Guys,
look at that, and there's a very very disturbing clue
about that, because apparently she's wearing this is just before
she goes missing.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
There she is walking along with the boyfriend.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
She's wearing something altogether different in this closed circuit video
than what she was described.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
As wearing when she goes missing.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Shortly after this very chilling closed circuit TV video, that's
sarm Haslot right there. They're getting into dinghy and they're
heading out to the boyfriend's yacht. That's got to be
excruciating for her family to feel so close to her
(02:50):
in this video, and then it all ends just before
she seemingly vanishes into thin air again an All Star
Panel joint us tonight.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
But I want to go to two very special guests. First.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
It's Kate Vernal's former roommate with Sarm Heslop and Andrew
Baldwin a very dear friend for years and years. Andrew,
thank you for being with us tonight. When did you
learn that sarm was missing?
Speaker 6 (03:22):
I got a call from Kate Owen. It was the
day after that she went missing, so kind of kind
of nearly thirty six hours after. I got a frantic
call from Kate and all she said was you know,
and I remember the words. They still chill me. Now
Salm's missing and we don't know where she is. They
just come out of the blue.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Andrew Baldwin, I don't understand the night that you learn
your dear friend many many years.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Has just vanished.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
What were you told, if anything, as to what happened
to her?
Speaker 6 (03:57):
Initially I was just told that she was she was.
I think Kate Owen at the time had just had
a call from Ryan Bain to say that she'd gone
missing the previous the previous night. So it was twenty
four hours after she'd got missing, and literally said she'd
gone missing in the middle of the night. They didn't
know where she was. Talked about an anchor Alarm talked
(04:18):
about people searching but there were very very few details.
And subsequent to that, I had a conversation with Ryan Bain.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
You spoke to the boyfriend, the so called boyfriend, Ryan Baine.
Is that correct?
Speaker 7 (04:30):
And that's correct, just after the call from Kate.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So I found it really difficult to believe that this
is this is how it goes down. We've seen the
newly released closer at TV video and he Ryan Bain,
the so called boyfriend, is walking with sarm. They had
been in the town. They were leaving. I believe they've
been to a restaurant, slash bar, and they were going
(04:55):
back to his yacht and then some I mean the
yachts it's not that big, they're not that many rooms
to look in. So they're on a yacht. If she
vanishes off the yacht in the middle of the night,
Andrew what how the dinghy was still there? So where
did she go?
Speaker 6 (05:14):
That's exactly what we're asking ourselves. You know, the information
we got that she just disappeared. There was an original
Maybe she went off somewhere, maybe she met some friends,
but it was late, it was during COVID we you know,
I think that's highly unlikely.
Speaker 7 (05:29):
All of her belongings are on the boat and.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I need to ask him a question. Andrew, I'm sorry,
that doesn't make sense to me. What do you mean
she went off with friends? She gets on the dinghy
with the boyfriend, They go to his yacht. They disembark
the dinghy, they get on the yacht, the dinghy's tied
to the yacht. When the boyfriend wakes up, the dinghy's
(05:55):
still there.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
So what does somebody.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Beam her up?
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Scotty, I mean, what do you mean she went somewhere
with friends?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
That's impossible.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
She did not leave the yacht.
Speaker 6 (06:06):
I think we never you know, that was something that
kind of maybe she maybe she went off, maybe someone
picked her up, maybe she went to when and met someone,
But there was she didn't know that many people on
the island, and all the people that she knew wouldn't
wouldn't have done that.
Speaker 7 (06:18):
So I find that really hard to believe.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
And then kind of the the thing that come that
was suggested was that she'd fallen off the boat and
drifted away.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Fallen off the boat and drifted away, I'd like, can
I go now to Kate Vernal's former roommate of Psalms.
Kate fell off the boat and drifted away.
Speaker 8 (06:47):
I think from the outset it was just a ridiculous theory.
Speaker 9 (06:51):
Salmon had stewed across the Atlantic and not fallen overboard.
So to suggest that she had fallen overboard in the
middle of the night on a yacht there was maud
so close to shore just seems absolutely impossible and ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
First of all, I want to figure out how in
the hay did this beautiful, young, brilliant woman end up
on a yacht out in the middle of her ocean,
of the ocean with her family a world away.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Listen.
Speaker 10 (07:23):
Sarmheslab has a restless sense of adventure and works various
jobs to fund her passion for travel and sailing, working
as a flight attendant for Flybee in the UK, a
waitress in Gibraltar and Malta, even working in a call
center to fund her exotic adventures.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
She's adventuresome. She works all over the world. Tell me
about that, Andrew Baldwin.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
She just loved new experiences, you know, Nancy. She loved
to meet people, she loved new cultures, new destinations. She
liked to do things that perhaps some of us just
wouldn't do. I remember her call maintain that she was
sailing across the Atlantic on a yacht and just you know.
Speaker 7 (08:04):
No one would do that. Oh, no one would think
about doing that.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
But she would do things that enriched her life and
enriched you know what she was doing, and got great experience.
She wasn't someone who wanted to settle down nine to five.
She just wanted to see everything that the world had
to offer her.
Speaker 7 (08:22):
And she did.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
You know, I really don't like Andrew when people suggest
that she quote asked for bad fortune because she traveled
the world and did adventurous things. If a man did that,
nobody would think twice. I remember asking my now husband
(08:43):
learn to dive with me. Let's go all over the
world and dive.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
He didn't want to. He wanted to stay in his office,
and he did.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I didn't, and I ended up going all over the
world diving. Now, I don't want my children to do
it because it's incredibly dangerous, and.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I had them Andrew, I swore it off.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I've never done it again because it's too important to
me that I am with them to bring them up
or hiking. I said, David, please go hiking with me.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Now.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Didn't want to take off work, and I don't fault him.
I even married him. But my point is just because
she is adventurous, I don't like the insinuations made about her.
This girl was scrubbed in sunshine. She loved life, and
I don't like those insinuations about her.
Speaker 7 (09:34):
Andrew the thing about some She was so loyal.
Speaker 6 (09:38):
She was a friend that if you wanted something, or
you needed to speak to someone, or she'd be there
for you. She'd be there at the end of the phone,
she'd be there. She was such a loyal, trustworthy person.
She traveled safe. She was very street savvy. She was
very conscious of the world around her, conscious of how
(09:59):
to travel safe, how to meet people safely, how to
kind of traveling around the world. You know, she was very,
very smart. So she would not do anything that she
felt that would be dangerous to her, and she would
take advice. So you know, I completely refuse any insinuation
that she shouldn't have been traveling. And I agree if
(10:21):
I wanted to go traveling or do anything, no one
would say anything.
Speaker 7 (10:24):
This wonderful woman that we call our friend just did
things that she wanted to do and live her life
the way she wanted to do it, and no one
should blame her for that your.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Preaching to the choir. Andrew Bald went to Kate Vinol's
her a roommate. Kate, I assume you agree with me.
I do not like the insinuation that somehow, because she
traveled the world and wanted to see it all and
do it all and experience it all, that somehow makes
her a big hope. I don't get that that Nothing
(10:57):
could be further from the truth.
Speaker 8 (11:00):
So I agree with you completely.
Speaker 9 (11:01):
I think watching her go on all these adventurous and
being a headstrong but spontaneous, she was really meticulous.
Speaker 8 (11:09):
She would organize down.
Speaker 9 (11:11):
To the last to the last point, and I always
was excited for her, and I think she should be
praised for not conforming to a nine to five, to
actually doing what we all dreamed to do by going
on holiday once a year.
Speaker 8 (11:26):
That was what she just wanted to do with her life.
Speaker 9 (11:28):
I don't think anyone should be put down for wanting
to have a fun life.
Speaker 8 (11:35):
Is it jealousy?
Speaker 9 (11:36):
Maybe you know, this is a young woman who's living
the life that she wants to live and not conforming
to a nine to five. I was always in support
of her traveling. We would always stay in communication, and
she would always come back, you know, and then.
Speaker 8 (11:51):
Save up to go away again. Whereas, why is that wrong?
Speaker 9 (11:54):
You know, I think it's something we all want to do,
but we just do it for two weeks of a
year to go on holiday, other than making it how we.
Speaker 8 (12:02):
Want to look back on our lives.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
And she was working. She worked the entire time. Enter
the boyfriend, Ryan Baine.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Listen.
Speaker 11 (12:13):
Sarm meets Ryan Bain online and becomes close enough. She
moves to the Virgin Islands and joins Bain on board
his forty seven foot luxury catamaran Siren Song as a chef.
The Siren Song is a working charter yacht available for
private charge and is more than a bay off the
western coast of Saint John Us, Virgin Islands.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Andrew, what was her plan? She meets Bain online? Does
she fall in love with him? Is that what happened?
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (12:41):
I think Lin Simon Ryan met when Salmon was in
the Caribbean and they formed a relationship, and you know,
she was really open about that and she was excited
about it. Then her travel was over and she moves
back to Malta to some friends and she worked in
Malta to fund more of her trips. We've already said
to fund more and to do more adventures, and I
(13:02):
think the calling that, you know, she she kind of
realized being a part that actually I want to give,
give this relationship a go.
Speaker 7 (13:10):
I want to.
Speaker 6 (13:10):
I want to go back, and I want to, but
I want to go back on my terms. I want
to go back and and fund myself. I want to
be working. I don't want to. I don't want to
go back and just be your girlfriend. I want to
go back and work and I want to pursue a
career and work working in this In this business.
Speaker 12 (13:27):
People would describe some as a free spirit, adventurous, sarcastic, bonkers.
Speaker 8 (13:35):
So that is a boat.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Look, I had a miscall on my phone. Psalm's missing.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
A massive search and rescue operation is underway for a
British former flight attendant.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
While sailing around the Caribbean. Some has a lot vanished.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
That from missing in Paradise searching for song now able
to US audiences on BBC.
Speaker 11 (14:02):
Select Living on board the Siren Song called the Virgin
Islands premiere luxury sailing charter sarm is living her best life.
On the evening of March seventh, Simon Bain go to
the island of Saint John for dinner. Leaving the restaurant,
they bought a small dinghy for the two hundred foot
hop to where Siren Song is moored off shore. Bain says,
Sarm is asleep by ten pm.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Two hundred feet that's not far at all, but from
what we've been told, the depth goes from about four
to five feet, and then after you're out just a
very short distance, it drops to forty or fifty feet.
So here we go. Two thirty am. He wakes up
(14:47):
and discovers he can't find Psarm.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
What else happened?
Speaker 11 (14:53):
At two thirty am. Bain awakens but can't find Sarm.
He takes a dinghy to the shore to report her
missing to island and police, suggesting she may have fallen overboard.
Police tell him to call the coast Guard. Bain does
not notify the coast Guard immediately for reasons unknown. He
waits until eleven forty five to notify the coast Guard
this Sarm is missing. When Coastguard officials arrive, an intoxicated
(15:16):
Bain refuses to allow them to board the catamaran to
conduct a serge.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Okay, right there, Andrew, I've got a problem with him
not allowing them on board. If he wants to find sarm,
why wouldn't allow them on board the yacht.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
I think we've got a problem. This is where our
problems begin with the timeline. The timeline is where the
problems begin. You know, the call to the police, the
meeting of the police, and then nine hours pass before
the call to the coastguards.
Speaker 7 (15:47):
And nine hours of time where.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
She was still missing wherever she was, and you know
the reports and the coast guard that were retained on
a quite clean state that the coast Guard and the USB,
John and police wanted to come on board the boat
and potentially search the boat, and he refused them the
entry to the main area of the boat because he
was intoxicated, and they didn't want to put themselves in
(16:12):
any risk, any danger at that point she was missing.
At that point, we didn't know what was happening, so
they didn't want to put themselves in any danger, so
they left.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Kate Ronald, the roommate of saram heaslap the long delay.
Have you ever spoken to Baying the boyfriend and asked,
why did you wait nearly ten hours to get the Coastguard.
Speaker 9 (16:38):
No, Andrew is Salm's only friend who's spoken to Ryan,
with the exception of Kate Owen.
Speaker 8 (16:45):
It would be my first and maybe only.
Speaker 9 (16:49):
Question to ask Ryan if I had the opportunity, because
he woke up so some wasn't there. He went to shore,
he spoke to the police, he was told to come
back to the boat called the host guard, but he
didn't call the coast Guard.
Speaker 8 (17:02):
He didn't even get on the radio.
Speaker 9 (17:04):
There's a continuously monitored channel on the radio frequency that.
Speaker 8 (17:09):
Is monitored by the coast Guard. That didn't happen.
Speaker 9 (17:12):
He didn't set off any flares. He didn't even call
her name. If you speak to the other two captains
of the neighboring vessels, they didn't hit anything that night.
So he doesn't even get in his dinghy to go
looking for her. He gets in his dinghy to go
to shore to speak to the police, but then he
just comes straight back. There's no evidence of him reaching
(17:33):
out to anybody else to ask.
Speaker 8 (17:35):
For help to search this.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
M Andrew Bodwin, did you ask Bain anything about the delay.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
At that point?
Speaker 6 (17:43):
I spoke to him, probably in the immediacy that I
was called on kind of the second day, and then
I spoke to him twice, and at that point we
didn't know any of this. We only knew that the
wording I got from Ryan Bain was I'm out searching.
I'm looking for her. I'm out on the boat. We're
doing everything we can. We're getting loads of people searching
(18:05):
for We had no idea at this point of this
timeline and what happened, so you know, that only come
out kind of in the weeks after she went missing,
that we found out about this gap, and by which
point he was not talking, he was not communicating, he
wasn't answering messages. He had his lawyer, and therefore there
has been no opportunity I think after that point to
(18:26):
ask him any questions.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Joining us now from ASAR Disaster Area Response Team Jeff Jones, Jeff,
when did you first get to the scene.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
I was initially I've seen the next morning beginning to
do scuba diving as well as shoreline base search with
small craft throughout Frank Bay. That next morning. There were
two vessels in that bay, but I spoke to one
captain myself who was there the night that she went away.
We were missing it around two am when mister Bain
knowsed her done, and that vessel was about one hundred
(19:02):
to one hundred and twenty feet to the northwest in
that same morning area in Frank Bay.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
The same mooring area there in Frank Bay. And you know, Jeff,
you're stating that you spoke to the captain who was.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
There that night.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
I spoke to a captain who was there the night
she went missing. He actually came into that base Sunday
morning and it dropped anchor about one hundred to one
hundred twenty feet away from the siren song. And he
was there overnight on that vessel. He's also a term
charter captain with another catamaran for hire, and he saw nothing,
heard nothing, and was unaware of any unusual foul play
(19:41):
till the next day when the coach starts showed up.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
That's a lot of time, Andrew Baldwin. For the captains
on vessels around bang, they had no idea anything was wrong.
None of them were alerted by him. There wasn't a
siren nothing. I mean, we've all seen those boat horns
that are incredibly loud. Why didn't he call out on
(20:19):
those to the boats, the vessels around him, asking for help,
asking them to look for sarm. They knew nothing until
the coastguard pulls up the next day.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Essentially, Yeah, I mean that's what's come out.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
You know, we knew there were two boats close, so
we kind of all assumed that, you know, like any search,
So you would be speaking to the boats asking for
their assistance, putting lights in the water. If she had
fallen off, there was an assumption then you would be
shouting her name, you'd be he had a dinghy, he
could have banged on the side of the boat, he
could have called her name, he shouted. We've seen interviews
(20:56):
with both captains, both captains independently. Both captains stated they
woke up that morning and there was nothing different than
any other morning they woke up. Siren song was quiet,
there was nothing going on. There was no one shouting,
there was no one looking, There wasn't someone screaming. There
was nothing happening on that boat in the first thing
in the morning.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
She were missing, So.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
What was going on?
Speaker 7 (21:18):
What was he doing like waiting to pick up the phone?
Speaker 6 (21:22):
You know what whilch If it was my loved one,
my family, any of my friends, I would be made.
I would be screaming, I would be shouting. I would
be calling for help. The boats were one hundred feet away,
maybe two hundred feet away. They would have if you did,
they'd have shouted. If Ryan Baine had shouted, they would
have heard him. And they said that, and they're both
both experienced captains. They would have heard him say something.
(21:44):
And he said nothing to those boats.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
What about it? To you, k Ronalds, what do you
make of it?
Speaker 8 (21:49):
I just think there's a lot of contradiction happening.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
Though.
Speaker 9 (21:53):
The story from the captain of the Sirens Song differs
completely from the story given by the captains of the
two or In boats. As Andrew said, they both woke
up the next morning. It was a calm morning, nothing
appeared to be out of the ordinary, and both captains
of the other vessels confirmed that they if he had
(22:15):
to set off a flare, if he had have shouted
her name, even it would have woken them up. It
would have alerted them and they would have helped search.
So there is a reason that only he knows why
he didn't call the Coastguard on the phone. He didn't
call them on the radio, he didn't shout for help,
and it's not acceptable that the answer would be, well,
(22:36):
she might have gone to shore to have drinks with friends.
If she did that, then she would have had to
have swum to shore. It was COVID, there was a curfew.
From what she told us that all the bars and
restaurants closed at ten pm. So there is no logical
explanation to delay calling the Coastguard by nine hours unless
(23:00):
you are waiting for something to something else to happen,
for a suitable time to pass. Maybe he went back
to the boat and he fell asleep. None of it
is excusable, but none of it is acceptable as a
reason not to call the post Guard.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
And of course there is the little town there. Back
to Jeff Jones joining us from ASAR Disaster Area Response Team,
what can you tell me about how far the yacht
was moored from the town and what about the town itself?
Speaker 5 (23:36):
I would say between one hundred and forty one hundred
and sixty feet and it's just around the corner from
Cruise Bay, in which Cruise Bay is our local town.
From Cruise Bay, which is the city center, so to speak,
for our island here on Saint John. It's where all
the bars, restaurants, shopping, the watersports, the dive shops. Everything's
located at It's maybe a three minute walk from there,
(23:57):
just around the corner in another bay called Frank.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Bay, So very very close.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
But the issue is, what are we supposed to believe
that she jumped into the water and swam ashore. I mean,
tell me about the underwater terrain, Jeff.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
Where it's at exactly. It is probably between fifteen to
twenty feet feet, but within fifty feet it gets into
five foot of water. It's a very very clear bay
that's primarily sandy bottom with some rocks and reef and
ball but for the most part, it's a pretty shallow bay.
Most of all of our waters down in the Caribbean
(24:36):
are shallow. When we initially started began doing our grid
search patterns, we were doing in small craft, trying to
cover the most amount of area quickly, and we were
most of that was done, you know, visually above the
water because the water is so clear. At the next day,
when we were doing dies in forty to fifty foot
of water, we could see, you know, visibility forty fifty
(25:00):
foot deep easily.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
You know, I'm also curious and I'm going to throw
this to Andrew and Kate, I want you to hear
what she left behind on her boyfriend's yacht.
Speaker 11 (25:13):
Sarm's phone, wallet, and passport were left behind on the
boat and it turned over to the police. An intensive
search of the coastline begins, with dogs on shore, divers
in the water, and drones overhead. As word spreads of
the missing woman. A local dog walker on Saint John
says they heard a scream out at see in the
direction of where the catamaran was anchored around the time
(25:34):
of Sarm's disappearance.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
So one person hears a scream, they think they don't
know where it came from. I'm also intrigued Andrew Baldwin,
Okay suspicious.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Her wallet, her phone, her.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Passport all still on the yacht. So that completely destroys
the theory that she.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Went back in town.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Somehow what swam and went back into town even though
everything was closed during COVID dripping wet and uh oh,
she figured out her wallet, her credit cards, her ID,
her passport, so she couldn't get anything to eat, she
couldn't get anything to drink.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
She's dripping wet. Help me out.
Speaker 6 (26:19):
She wouldn't have left those items in the first place.
And you know, she definitely wouldn't have gone swimming. She's savvy.
She wouldn't be swimming at night. You know, hey, Owen
who traveled with her, they were really really clean. Don't
swim at night in the Caribbean on your own. You
don't swim on your own. You need to tell us
where you are. There's no reason why she would leave
those things. She wouldn't leave those things. She'll never never
get off the boat leaving her her phone, her ID,
(26:42):
her wallet, not willingly.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
What about it, Kate Vernold's.
Speaker 9 (26:46):
Yeah, I think it's ridiculous to suggest that she went
to shore and left everything. Yeah, you can have the
watertight bags, but she wouldn't swim to shore and leave
everything there. It's her passport, her iPad, her her wallet.
That the suggestion that she went to shore after seeing
that those thingers were left on the boat is just
(27:07):
another statement that doesn't ring true to anyone. I don't
think that that would be a viable thing that anyone
would do.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
In the last weeks, newly released CCTV closed circuit TV
footage has revealed what I consider to be a very
critical clue.
Speaker 10 (27:28):
Listen the family complains about the CCTV footage they are
shown by police, not just because they don't get to
see all of it, but the clothing she is wearing
in the footage is not what she is described as wearing.
According to the last witness to see her. It stated
that Sarm was wearing a black dress with flowers on it,
but in the CCTV footage she is wearing a top
(27:49):
with either shorts or skirt. The black dress was also
not among items returned to the family after she vanished.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Okay, that is a very big issue. Why were we
told by being the boyfriend that she's wearing a black
dress when clearly that's not what she's wearing. She's not
wearing that, and that very same black dress was not
amongst the items for clothing and all of her possessions
(28:17):
that were returned to the family after she disappeared. So
where's the black dress and why the wardrobe change?
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Or is it all a big lie?
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Andrew Baldwin, do you see the significance of this.
Speaker 6 (28:31):
We've never really been able to get to the route
the crux of that issue, because you know, I think
he said that very early on about the clothing and Obviously,
no one's been able to question him or asking questions
about that point because he's now not talking and he's
so and that's just something that he could clear up.
Speaker 7 (28:51):
You know, maybe there's an explanation.
Speaker 6 (28:53):
I don't know, but the fact that you're not talking
means you can't tear up anything.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Kate Vernold's joining us from a roommate of arms. What
do you make of the missing black dress in the
alleged wardrobe change in the middle of the night.
Speaker 9 (29:06):
I think it's possible that after the CCTV footage she
goes back to the boat, she gets changed. That could
very well be the reason that Brian says that that's
what she's wearing.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I'm sorry, no, wait, wait, wait, Kate, you're gonna have
to help me with your timeline, because we see them
on the footage going back to the dinghy, getting on
the dinghy which is going to take them back to
his yacht. He says they went to sleep at ten pm,
So change clothes into a black cocktail dress for what?
(29:41):
And when I mean, we see them they've gone out
to dinner, it's dark, they're heading back to the yacht,
and when was she supposed to change clothes and for what,
And where's the black dress?
Speaker 9 (29:55):
Yeah, no one knows where this black dress is or
where the suggestion of a black dress even came from.
That's literally Brian's word against anyone's. And as you can
see from the CCTV footage, she's not wearing a black dress.
So is it a mistake that he made when he
described what she was wearing when she went missing, or
(30:16):
perhaps it is just a Freudian slip.
Speaker 8 (30:22):
I have no idea where the black dress is.
Speaker 9 (30:24):
We wasn't in her belongings when they were returned by
the police. So it's just another one of those little
trip ups that doesn't you know.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Okay, I appreciate your phraseology, but some would say, boyfriend, Bain,
why are you lying? She's clearly not wearing a black dress.
According to you, Bain, you leave dinner, you get on
the dinghy, you go to the yacht, and then you're
asleep very shortly after that at ten pm. That's his words,
(30:57):
not mine. So why the wardrobe change? You don't remember
remember what she was wearing that night a couple of
hours before. Yeah, see, I've got a problem with that.
But that said, I've got another problem when your beloved
goes missing, and instead of talking to police, you claim
the Fifth Amendment. Okay, the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Now,
(31:22):
judges instructuries you are not to consider or note that
a suspect chooses to remain silent and take the Fifth Amendment.
That's neither here nor there. But look around, everybody.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
We're not in court.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
We can comment, and hell.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Would freeze over before I would stay silent while my
husband is missing.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
But that is what happened. Listen.
Speaker 11 (31:51):
Bain's actions during the investigation have come under scrutiny from
Sarm's family. Bain claims his lawyer advises him to use
his Fourth Amendment right to prevent a full forensic search
of his yacht, and when police tried to question him,
he invokes his Fifth Amenment right to remain.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Silent and he takes off.
Speaker 11 (32:08):
Bain leaves the Virgin Islands five weeks after Psarm's disappearance
while the search is ongoing, and sets sail for Grenada,
where he replaces the refrigerator in the Siren Song. Bain
then removes the name from the luxury catamaran and sells
it for around a quarter of a million dollars and more.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Dark clouds on the horizon when Bain's ex wife Cory
Stephenson rais him.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Crime stores with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
With the disappearance of PSARM, Bain's ex wife, Cory Stephenson
publicly states he was violent during their marriage and he
was even arrested on domestic assault charges against her that
landed him in jail.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
None of this Boat's will, Andrew Baldwin has the boyfriend
Bane just completely dropped off the map. Is like SARM
never existed.
Speaker 7 (33:12):
He did, you know?
Speaker 6 (33:13):
He the only person that was talking on in behalf
of it with his law was his lawyer. So we
weren't able to the police, weren't able to answer any questions.
And you know, and I don't know the US legal system,
but why can't he answer questions with the lawyer there?
Why can he? You know, I don't think the police
were saying that you're under arrest. We just want to
know what you know. And he didn't even answer those questions.
(33:36):
It's only been more recently that he has come out
on social media with some information that he wanted to
share some information that there's more about poking holes in
the investigation from.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
His side and what would that be Andrew Baldwin that
he has shared recently.
Speaker 6 (33:55):
So he said an open letter that kind of talks
about things that he thinks that that could have happened,
that talks about some and which talks about Kate Owen,
which which suggests, you know, kind of puts up a
defense and says, you know, everyone that's talking about him
(34:17):
is only looking at one side. They're not looking at
his side, and they're not they're asking him him. No
one could ask you because she didn't answer any questions
and you wouldn't talk. So therefore, you know, if you'd
come forward and have a conversation with the police, with
your lawyer president, maybe.
Speaker 7 (34:31):
Maybe you know, maybe there's information that you have.
Speaker 6 (34:33):
That could have could have could have found out earlier
what happened that night to sar you.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Know Kate Ronald's are This statement issued by the then
boyfriend basically says I didn't murder her. Why not speak
at the time the search was going on. Why just
issue a comment when you can't be questioned.
Speaker 8 (34:58):
Yeah, that's absolutely no reason not to speak to the police.
Speaker 9 (35:01):
If you haven't done anything wrong, then just speak to
the police and tell them what you know.
Speaker 8 (35:06):
His attorney said that.
Speaker 9 (35:09):
There's nothing wrong with him getting an attorney before he
calls the coast guard. That's perfectly normal. I don't think
that's personally perfectly normal at all. I don't think anyone
would even think to do that unless they've done something wrong.
If your loved one, your friend, a crew member has
gone missing, and you've done nothing wrong and there's no
(35:30):
foul play, why do you need to call your attorney.
Speaker 8 (35:35):
I don't think that's normal behavior.
Speaker 9 (35:38):
I think it's completely not normal to seek for help
and to tell your story, to tell.
Speaker 8 (35:46):
The police what's happened. Is not normal to go into social.
Speaker 9 (35:49):
Media and post your story before you've even spoken to
the police. And just to add to that, his attorney
said that if the police did want to speak to him,
all they had to do is reach out to Ryan
and ask him to come back and make a statement.
Speaker 8 (36:05):
Why do the police need to ask you to come
back and do that.
Speaker 9 (36:07):
You were her boyfriend, you supposedly loved her, and your heartbroken.
Speaker 8 (36:13):
Why aren't you just voluntarily going back to.
Speaker 9 (36:15):
The US Virgin Islands and speaking to the police to
make your statement.
Speaker 8 (36:19):
Why do you have to be asked.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
In this bizarre five page quote open letter the so
called boyfriend Ryan Bain, speaks mostly about himself, how he
has been vilified and placed under a quote false sense
of suspicion, and he says the truth is I just
wanted to protect myself.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Okay, I have a concern with that.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Of course, if this ever did go to a jury
trial and he is presumed innocent, of course.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
No one could comment on his right to remain silent.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
But we're not in court. We can analyze the facts
as we see them. The letter is addressed to investigative journalists,
and for the most part, rails against what he calls
unfair coverage, accusing the media of omitting crucial facts.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Really, what facts?
Speaker 1 (37:17):
What facts?
Speaker 2 (37:20):
If he has facts.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
That are unknown to everyone else, let's hear them.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
He claims, no one observes signs of a fight.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Was anybody else on the yacht that could have seen
the fight if it existed? No evidence of an argument? Really,
no one else was on the yacht. Nobody knows what
has happened on the yacht. No scratches are marks to
suggest a struggle. Isn't it true that he would not
allow searches of his yacht so we don't know what
(37:51):
shape the yacht was in. I welcome mister Bain to
join us here on crime stories and give us his
side of the story and recount all the facts to
which he is referring that point to his innocence. In
the meantime, if you know or think you know anything
(38:12):
about the case, please dial eight hundred two two two
eight four seven seven repeat eight hundred two two two
eight four seven seven. We wait as justice unfals. Now
we remember an American hero, Sheriff Robert Rogers, Wilcotx County
(38:33):
Sheriff's Georgia, killed in the line of duty after twenty
two years in law enforcement, leaving behind a grieving widow.
Healey and son Robert. American hero Sheriff Robert Rogers. Nancy
Gray signing off goodbye friend
Speaker 8 (39:00):
Eve.
Host
Nancy Grace
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