Mystery Deepens as CCTV Reveals Chilling Last Moments of Air Hostess Before Disappearance from Boyfriend’s Yacht

Over four years ago, air hostess Sarm Heslop vanished into thin air after stepping aboard a boat in the US Virgin Islands—a leap that turned a sunny Caribbean evening into a perplexing mystery. Picture this: a free spirit, a charming yacht captain, a night out on St John Island, and then… silence. Her last known moments, caught on chilling CCTV, show her walking hand-in-hand with her partner before boarding a dinghy, only to disappear hours later. Why does this case feel like the plot of a high-stakes thriller rather than real life? And as time ticks on, with the boyfriend invoking the Fifth Amendment and police at a dead end, one can’t help but wonder—what really happened out there on that ocean night? Dive into the new BBC documentary “Missing in Paradise: Searching for Sarm” to sift through fresh clues and untangle the eerie timeline still dripping with questions. LEARN MORE

Chilling CCTV footage revealed the last time an air hostess was seen prior to her disappearance over four years ago.

Back on 8 March 2021, Sarm Heslop stepped aboard a boat which made its way from the US Virgin Islands, never to be seen again.

Her vanishing has remained a mystery in the years since, after the Brit had spent an evening at a bar on St John Island with her partner, Ryan Bane.

Heslop’s body has never been found, though Bane has never been questioned by police, instead claiming that she probably fell overboard or drowned while he was asleep.

A new documentary about her disappearance, called Missing in Paradise: Searching for Sarm, will air on BBC this Wednesday, which is said to include some new information and evidence linked to the case.

Now, previously unseen CCTV footage has been released, showing Bane and Heslop walking down the seafront while holding hands before heading off on a small dinghy.

Just six hours later, the flight attendant would be reported missing.

The documentary is set to explore how the then-41-year-old was described as a ‘free spirit’ after leaving the UK to sail the Atlantic.

Heslop met Bane, an American boat captain, just seven months into her trip and would soon be staying on his yacht.

Her mother, Brenda, admitted to the BBC that she believes her daughter is dead, but she is determined to uncover the truth, adding: “We all deserve to know what happened to her and to bring her home. It’s just so, so unfair.”

Speaking about releasing the CCTV footage now, Chief of Police, USVI, Steven Phillip, stated: “We’re at a dead end.

“If anybody could look at this video and see something and say something, it can help. That’s why now.”

Police found that while Bane went back to their yacht at 10pm, the CCTV footage shows the pair boarding the dinghy at 8.45pm, with investigators finding that the short route to their bay means that there’s over an hour of time which is still up for debate.

The flight attendant’s partner was seen twice in the space of over an hour (BBC)

“The timeline is suspicious, and that’s one of the reasons why we need to talk to Ryan,” US Virgin Islands’ Police Commissioner Mario Brooks explained.

Bane has remained silent, invoking the Fifth Amendment, a right which allows one not to give evidence which could self-incriminate by avoiding questioning from authorities.

Since leaving the US Virgin Islands five weeks after death, he has not returned.

Bane’s lawyer, David Cattie, has spoken out on his behalf for the first time, saying that there is ‘no evidence’ of his involvement in her death, adding that the timeline suggestion is ‘irresponsible’, before claiming that the error may have been made in the stress of the search for Heslop’s body.