Release date 08 March 2024
On the 3rd anniversary of Sarm Heslop’s disappearance, friends & family can no longer ignore the failing Police Force in the US Virgin Islands as news hits of renovation works that took place on Siren Song shortly after Sarm vanished.
Reaching the end of any patience with the US Virgin Island’s Police Department, Brenda Street & Peter Heslop, the parents of missing woman Sarm Heslop, who vanished from her boyfriend’s catamaran in St John, USVI on Monday 8 March 2021, call for UK and US authorities to audit the investigation into their daughter’s disappearance.
Having appointed David Johnston QPM, former Commander of Homicide and Serious Crime at Metropolitan Police, as the family’s official liaison, Sarm’s loved ones have been appalled by the continued lack of response from the USVIPD. “They claim the investigation is open and ongoing but we see no evidence that they are doing their jobs now, just as they failed to do them from the very moment that Sarm was reported missing” they said. “We can all see the many failures in how Sarm’s case was handled from the very start. It’s startingly obvious that huge errors, whether due to ineptitude, or worse corruption, have hampered the search for Sarm from day one.”
As news breaks of alleged renovation works taking place on Siren Song, just weeks after Sarm went missing, including the reported replacement of parts of the forecabin and a freezer, David Johnston comments “We know that Ryan Bane sailed off to Grenada and had these works done on the boat. Why? We have so many unanswered questions and no one from the USVIPD is willing to step up and help Sarm’s family find out what happened to their loved one. Meanwhile Bane was allowed to sail off, quite literally into the sunset, without ever being challenged to tell the full story of what happened that night.”
“It’s beyond upsetting that we may never know what really happened to our friend” the team behind #FindSarm said. “The failures of the USVIPD are facts. They are what they are:
- The USVIPD officers that attended the dock in Frank’s Bay at 2.30am the night Sarm went missing did not attend or search the boat.
- The USVIPD officers that attended Frank’s Bay did not inform the coastguard of the suspected person overboard. Instead, they instructed Ryan Bane to alert the coastguard which he did not do for another 9 hours.
- The USVIPD failed to obtain a warrant to search the boat Siren Song, from which Sarm went missing.
- The USVIPD never released the CCTV footage showing Sarm and boyfriend Ryan Bane returning to the dinghy dock from bar 420 to Centre where they had dined that evening.
- Ryan Bane has never been formally questioned or interviewed by the USVIPD.
- The USVIPD excluded the FBI and ignored Hampshire Police’s offers to send support for the investigation.
On an island that is reportedly crime-ridden it shows an unbelievable lack of commitment from the US Virgin Islands Police Department that any of these failings occurred in the first place, but it shows a particular lack of respect from Police Commissioner Ray Martinez for a grieving family to then cut all communications completely. “We know they want us to just go away but we are determined to find answers for Sarm and to hold someone accountable for the unbearable trauma we are all enduring. We know our girl isn’t coming back and there’s nothing we can do to change that, but we can do this. We can fight for justice for her.”
The group of friends behind #FindSarm are particularly scathing about the Police Commissioner himself, who took over from Trevor Velinor a few months after Sarm disappeared. “The more we learn about Ray Martinez the more it seems that even his own peers on the island have little faith in him.” Senator Franklin Johnson recently said of Martinez’ failure to attend multiple hearings of the Committee on Homeland Security, Justice and Public Safety on the island “He cannot show up to listen to the residents of this territory when crime is rampant all over this place.” The Committee went on to vote to subpoena the Police Commissioner to force him to take the safety of the island residents seriously.
“This is the person we are supposed to trust with Sarm’s investigation?”
Responding to the comments shared in a Fox News article yesterday from Glen Dratte, a spokesman for the Virgin Islands Police Department who said “Question, can a private investigator from the U.S. Virgin Islands go to Scotland Yard (U.K.) and conduct an Investigation?” the group said “Sarm’s parents sent official letters to all authorities involved formally nominating David Johnston QPM as their liaison and no one will speak to him. We are convinced that if a US citizen went missing in UK waters the US authorities would be all over the UK police and government pushing on an investigation. Sarm’s case is being treated like it’s a nuisance to them. She deserves better.”
Sarm is described as 5 feet 8 Caucasian female of slim build. She has a bright coloured tattoo on her left shoulder featuring a seahorse, bird, butterfly and a pink flower.
A reward for anyone with information that leads to a significant breakthrough in the case is offered and anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Sarm is urged to call Crime Stoppers USVI at (800) 222-TIPS
Interview requests should be directed to [email protected]
A GoFundMe page has been set up to support Sarm’s family: https://gofund.me/f25712dd
Further materials approved for use by the press: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GPu_weOA2TtOdDCLt_KCaJLU7Mniblbh?usp=sharing