The true story behind Sarm Heslop's mysterious disappearance

Sarm Heslop is at the center of a case revisited by Dateline: Unforgettable in Siren Song, a report that retraces a night in March 2021 and the questions that followed. A British citizen living and working on the catamaran Siren Song near St John, she was reported missing in the early hours, and the search that started at sea soon reached international headlines.

The re-air on Oxygen at 8:00 AM on Saturday, September 6, brought the story back to screens, with correspondent Andrea Canning guiding viewers through records, interviews, and the marine setting that shaped the first hours of the response.

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Sarm Heslop and the key facts at a glance

Sarm Joan Lillian Heslop, 41 at the time, had been living aboard a 47-foot catamaran with her partner, Ryan Bane. After dinner ashore on March 7, 2021, she was later reported missing. Her phone, wallet, and passport were found on the boat. Local searches covered the coastline and water, with help from divers and dogs.

A yacht anchored off the coast of St John, where Heslop was last seen. (Image via Unsplash)

According to BBC News (March 2024), Bane contacted the Virgin Islands Police Department around 2.30 am, then the U.S. Coast Guard several hours later. The timing became a focal point, since the mooring sat a short distance from shore and movement to land required a dinghy.

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The night Sarm Heslop vanished

The timeline is tight. Dinner out, a return to the mooring, an anchor alarm in the early hours, and then the missing-person call. LBC reported a roughly nine-hour gap between the first contact with police and the Coast Guard notification, a span the family has questioned while pressing for a clearer sequence of events (March 20, 2024). The show lays out this chain without guessing, using interviews and official references to keep the record straight.

Curfew rules at the time set a late-evening cutoff on the island, which adds structure to the evening. Neighbors at nearby moorings later described a quiet night. Those details, while simple, narrow the window in which anything could have happened.

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Where the Sarm Heslop investigation stands

Access to the vessel and formal questioning sit at the heart of ongoing disputes. The Telegraph reported that the yacht did not receive a full forensic search and that Ryan Bane received a citation after officers were not allowed to conduct an interior inspection, while his lawyer said he cooperated and denied any involvement.

The U.S. Virgin Islands Police later referred the matter to the Attorney General’s Office, which said it had not been presented with enough evidence to bring charges at that time, according to The Telegraph.

The AG’s Office stated that it had not received sufficient evidence to bring charges. (Image via Pexels)

Friends and family have voiced strong concerns over early steps and communication. People Magazine described parents who shifted from a search posture to calls for justice, while noting that Bane’s counsel stated he is heartbroken and maintains he had nothing to do with the disappearance.

The Independent reported a prior domestic violence conviction involving Bane and an account from his ex-wife, while also noting his denial of wrongdoing and the absence of charges in this case.

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What Dateline: Unforgettable adds to Sarm Heslop’s story

The broadcast keeps to verifiable facts. It charts the setting, the late-night calls, and the search that followed. It also records claims raised by a family-appointed former homicide commander, including questions about boat refits in Grenada after the disappearance, framed as statements to the press rather than proven findings.

Fox News Digital reported those assertions, along with replies from officials who said evidence had been shared with prosecutors and that there were no new developments at that time.

Sarm Heslop's disappearance covered by Dateline: Unforgettable (Image via Oxygen)

By focusing on what is documented, the hour serves viewers who watched the re-air or plan to stream it next. It delivers the essentials first, then moves through the timeline, the points of dispute, and the current status. No criminal charges have been filed. Appeals for information continue through official channels.

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