Mother of missing British sailor urges Trump to push for investigation into her daughter's boyfriend

The mother of Sarm Heslop, the British sailor who disappeared from a yacht in the U.S. Virgin Islands four years ago, has urged U.S. President Donald Trump to intervene by pressing for questions to be put to her daughter's American boyfriend and for a renewed, properly conducted investigation.

Heslop, 41, disappeared on March 8, 2021, from the Siren Song, a £500,000 catamaran off St. John. The last person to see her was her partner, Ryan Bane, who has said he woke to an anchor alarm at about 2 a.m. after they had spent the evening together. He reported her missing about 30 minutes later. Heslop left behind her passport, phone and money on the yacht. The case remains open and is currently categorized as a cold case, with no suspects publicly identified.

Street has publicly called on Trump to appeal for Bane to come forward and to order a forensic search of the yacht. She has said that if her daughter's partner had nothing to hide, he would cooperate with authorities, and she has urged broader actions, including background checks on dating platforms.

Authorities in the U.S. Virgin Islands have not named any suspects in Heslop's disappearance. Bane, who has never been charged, has repeatedly declined to cooperate with investigators, invoking his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. His lawyers have argued there is no evidence suggesting he harmed Heslop, and they indicated he would return voluntarily if required to answer questions in the case.

In March 2021, questions about how the incident was handled by Bane emerged publicly. Reports indicated he did not contact the U.S. Coast Guard for about nine hours after Heslop first went missing, despite being advised to do so promptly. Later accounts claimed he obstructed Coast Guard attempts to board the yacht and blocked Heslop’s mother from contacting her son-in-law. These details have fed ongoing scrutiny from Heslop’s family and supporters, who say the case deserves a full, transparent review.

The case gained renewed public attention with the release of previously unseen CCTV footage in a BBC2 documentary, Missing in Paradise: Searching for Sarm. The footage shows Heslop and Bane walking near Cruz Bay’s dinghy dock on the night of her disappearance, with Heslop wearing a monochrome outfit and Bane in a patterned shirt. The footage is intended to help investigators by showing Heslop’s movements on land after their time at a local bar.

Officials referenced in the documentary stressed that the investigation needs any information that could break the logjam. Stephen Philip, the Virgin Islands chief of police, described the footage as potentially significant, and Commissioner Mario Brooks urged Bane to cooperate with detectives, saying he was the last person known to have contact with Heslop.

Bane’s lawyer has said his client is heartbroken over Heslop’s disappearance and that, while he has not been charged, he would return if asked to cooperate in person in the Virgin Islands. The public push for accountability has extended to Heslop’s friends and family, who have continued to advocate for justice and a more comprehensive search of the yacht and surrounding areas. Family members have participated in media appearances to raise awareness about the case and to press authorities for action.

Heslop’s mother has also spoken with outlets such as The People, expressing a belief that her daughter was murdered and calling for authorities to pursue every lead, including a review of Bane’s criminal history and a broader look at whether additional checks were warranted in dating contexts. The People interview also highlighted the family’s frustration with the pace of the investigation and their desire for transparency regarding the facts.

The Siren Song case remains open and unresolved. The combination of unanswered questions about Bane’s conduct at the time of Heslop’s disappearance, the documentary’s new footage, and ongoing public concern has kept the case in media and police briefings. Street’s appeals underscore the wider demand for accountability in missing-person cases in popular travel destinations where cases can unfold away from the attention of larger audiences. The investigation continues, and authorities say that any new information could be pivotal in determining what happened to Sarm Heslop on that night in March 2021.