tv Dateline MSNBC September 21, 2024 2:00am-3:00am PDT
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that's filled their young lives. remington payne: i imagined when i was little, like, this perfect family. and so now just the idea that one day i'll be able to make that family for myself and for jackson and to have this, like, happy family, i'm so excited for that. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. trevor velinor: our 911 dispatch got a call, someone's missing. there's a woman who allegedly fell overboard. and that's all we know. we sent divers out. we did aerial searches. and nothing?
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and nothing. it is almost like a vanishing act. time is ticking here. and there's no sight of her. it's just an overwhelming feeling. woman: what did that surveillance video show you? two individuals getting on this dinghy going into the waters. the fact that no body was found is very suspicious. it's heart wrenching every day. she is an honest and truthful friend. she's got a real lust for life. how can you give up on your friend? where on earth is she? andrea canning: it's andrea canning from "dateline." can we talk to you? did you have anything to do with the disappearance of sarm? hello. and welcome to "dateline." sarm heslop was as spontaneous as she was fearless. so friends were not surprised when
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the free spirit left home to sail the caribbean with her new boyfriend. then sarm vanished. as the coast guard searched far and wide, investigators zeroed in on someone they believed held the key to her disappearance. but would he lead them to sarm? here's andrea canning with "siren song." andrea canning: the us virgin islands of saint thomas, saint croix, and saint john earned the nickname america's paradise for their miles of white sandy beaches and impossibly blue water. the sailing is the best in the world, great for snorkeling, great for all water activities. man: it's the easternmost point of the united states. it's a beautiful tropical island. andrea canning: it's truly a wish you were here destination, so breathtaking it's hard to imagine something tragic happening in this idyllic place. but of course, it does.
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on march 8, 2021, a beautiful former flight attendant moved here for love and her dream job. weeks later, the woman with a lust for adventure disappeared without a trace. it is almost like a vanishing act. you know, all her personal belongings are still on the boat. no one saw anything. andrea canning: it's a mystery that made international headlines. for her friends back in england, the news was devastating. i just go, sarm. sarm. and then i just was on the floor just hyperventilating, i guess. i was just panicking. andrea canning: "dateline" travels to paradise to try to find out what happened to the woman named sarm heslop. can the helicopter see into the water? could it see a body from up there? and to track down the last person known to have seen her alive. do you have any idea where sarm is? our story begins off the island of saint john, spring break 2021.
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tourists were traveling again. every hotel was sold out. every sailboat booked. anchored just a short distance from shore was a 47-foot luxury catamaran called "siren song." all was quiet on a warm, starry march night, when, suddenly, an unusual distress call came from the boat. our 911 dispatch got a call at approximately 2:35 am. andrea canning: the call was made by the boat's captain ryan bane. he said his british girlfriend and first mate sarm heslop was missing from the boat they'd been living and working on. then us virgin islands' police commissioner trevor velinor says officers rushed to the dock near where the boat was anchored. as they approached, ryan was in a dinghy coming toward them. so he actually leaves the boat to meet your people? yes. so officers meet him on the dock. and he explains that, i went to sleep. and when i awoken, she was nowhere to be found.
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andrea canning: ryan said his boat alarm had woken him up. there was a anchor alarm that alerted that the boat had shifted or moved. does ryan have any idea where she could be? or does he have a hunch or a theory or anything? he simply said, maybe she could have fallen off the boat. andrea canning: with time of the essence, the officers began searching for sarm in the dark waters of frank bay. they lit the area up, looked around in the area, did not see anything. did he express if they had fought or if she was upset about anything that may have led her to leave on her own? no. he did not provide any information of an argument or any type of disharmony. andrea canning: instead, ryan told the officers it was an uneventful night, that he and sarm had gone ashore around 6:30 for dinner. he identified that they had been to a restaurant. i think it was 420 to center. andrea canning: a dive bar popular with the locals.
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he said they stayed at the restaurant for about an hour and a half. did he say if they had been drinking, anything that might have impaired her judgment? mr. bane indicated that they were drinking. but his emphasis was that he went to sleep. he awoken. and she was nowhere on the boat. andrea canning: after that brief interview, the police left without searching ryan's boat. officers say they told him to contact the coast guard, which he did later that morning. he calls coast guard sector san juan command center. that is the search and area coordination center. andrea canning: lieutenant commander jan league says a team sprung into action. and they launched our 33-foot small boat. they then launched a helicopter, an mh-65 out of puerto rico. and they begin an urgent marine information broadcast. andrea canning: alerting the public to be on the lookout for a 41-year-old female who may have gone overboard. coast guard officers took us to the area where they searched.
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your team pulls up to "siren song" in a boat like this? exactly, this 33-footer. and what happens when you approach "siren song?" at that point, they just pull up alongside. they go aboard. andrea canning: and how is ryan bane reacting to the coast guard arriving? he's cooperative. he shows us all of her keys, her phone, her passport. they look in the cockpit. they do a quick look down the passageways. when someone's personal belongings are still on the boat and they're nowhere to be found, is that a really bad sign? we just take it as there is somebody in the water. and we begin our search accordingly. andrea canning: the lieutenant commander's team used something called drift analysis to help focus their search. with the good weather, we can quickly cover a lot of the area of the shoreline and the open ocean, the isolated islands like we see over there. in position. does it have to enter your mind as you're searching that there could have been a crime committed? no. at that point, our focus, again, is all search and rescue.
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andrea canning: after a full day of searching-- we started at approximately 1 o'clock. and we searched until sunset. andrea canning: --they also found nothing. like where could she be? i'm honestly not sure. andrea canning: the coast guard was puzzled. if sarm had drowned in the waters off saint john, they believed they would have found her body. a mystery in paradise was unfolding. where was sarm heslop? the search for sarm grows urgent, as volunteers take the helm desperate to find her. coming up. start rounding up the troops. we're not giving up until we have some resolution. what do you think happened to sarm? i don't know. it's just really confusing as to where she is. do you have any hope that sarm is still alive? i try to. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues.
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andrea canning: as darkness fell over the caribbean waters of saint john on march 8, 2021, sarm heslop had been missing for more than 16 hours. the coast guard had no luck finding her and returned to their headquarters. there was no signs of anyone in distress in the water. and then the radio broadcast also did not receive any leads. did you resume searching the next day? no.
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we had suspended our search and rescue. but there was local efforts. andrea canning: local volunteers like jeff jones, who runs a boat rental business. he has extensive experience in search and rescue. when you get the call about this incident, what are you told as far as what they know? what's happened? there's a woman who allegedly fell overboard in frank bay, was reported missing. and at this time, that's all we know. so start rounding up the troops. andrea canning: jeff and other volunteers grabbed their scuba gear and high-powered drones and began searching the waters where sarm was last seen. most likely, based on the data we have, she would have washed in to frank bay, which we did extensive dives. andrea canning: jeff also served another role. he became the link to sarm's family and friends. i do my best to keep them updated, to let them know that, hey, we're not giving up. we still want to keep this thing going until we have some resolution. andrea canning: two people desperately waiting for jeff's updates were vicki mogridge-percy and kate vernalls, two of sarm's best friends,
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who live thousands of miles away in england. they felt grateful for jeff and the other volunteers. the amount of people who were out snorkeling and diving looking for her, it's the generosity of strangers. and it's been awesome. what do you think happened to sarm? i don't know. it's just really confusing as to where she is. andrea canning: vicki has known sarm for years. they met working as flight attendants. and vicki remembers all too well their first flight together, transporting a prisoner. oh, i was quite nervous by it. and he was trying to get his hands out the handcuffs in flight. and i was like, god, have you seen what he's doing? and she was like, yeah. don't worry about it. she wasn't fazed by things. andrea canning: vicki describes sarm as bold, fearless, a one of a kind woman. she's not your 9:00 to 5:00 kind of wants to buy a house
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and have children. she very much spontaneous kind of person but with a really deep, beautiful heart and care deeply for her friends and family. kate, a former roommate of sarm's, says she wasn't surprised when sarm stumbled into sailing. one of sarm's first adventures was one most accomplished sailors wouldn't even attempt. friends invited her on a trip across the atlantic. ever the adventurer, sarm couldn't resist the offer. she grabbed it with both hands. she made sure that she was qualified to do it. she's brave and courageous, isn't she? so you sort of admire her. but you know, i think i was a bit worried. in the sense that, you know, you are traveling across the atlantic. andrea canning: it was at the end of that trip, when sarm arrived in grenada, that she met ryan bane. they met on tinder. i guess you don't really think about dating on the high seas. no. no. i don't think you do. what do you say, come over to my boat or i'll come over to your boat? yeah. anything like that. no.
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they seemed to hit it off, which is great. andrea canning: based on his profile, ryan appeared to be the picture of success and swagger. the 44-year-old was a former finance guy, who traded in his suit and tie for shorts and flip-flops. in 2015, he began chartering his luxury catamaran to tourists in the caribbean. sarm told vicki what she found most attractive about ryan was his personality. she liked his sense of humor. he made her laugh, which was really important. she's a very, very funny girl and always making us laugh. andrea canning: in the beginning, her friends say the relationship was nothing serious. they'd only been dating a little while when sarm decided to leave the caribbean and go to malta, where she had close friends. she left and needed to get some work. and so she prioritized that and went to malta. and then they kept in contact. and they were speaking every day. but something was calling her back to him. yeah. she just decided that, actually, do you know what? this is a relationship that's worth continuing and so decided to fly back out and join
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him in the american virgin islands, at that point. andrea canning: her friends say the timing was perfect. sarm needed a job. and ryan invited her to come work on his boat. it was a chance for sarm to pursue this budding relationship and do the things she loved most, sailing and cooking. sarm even showed off her culinary skills on instagram. the clincher though was ryan's dog hunter. she's a really big animal lover. like she absolutely loves dogs. andrea canning: so off she went to be with her new man. to her friends, all seemed well. she looked so happy in all her photographs. and when we spoke, she was really, really enjoying herself. it was like the ultimate outdoors. it was everything from previous relationships kind of pieced together to make this what seemed like a great, great life that she was starting. andrea canning: she'd only been living and working on "siren song" for about two weeks. her friends never could have anticipated the darkness
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headed sarm's way. do you have any hope that sarm is still alive? i try to. craig melvin: coming up, a crucial new clue from a single security camera. it shows mr. bane and miss heslop getting on a dinghy and going into the waters. you have no real confirmation that they ever made it to the boat. that's correct. andrea canning: this is a real mystery. trevor velinor: it is. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. ♪♪ from this can't miss moment... ..to this hello new grandpa moment... ...to that whatever this is moment... your moments are worth protecting against rsv. if you're 75 or older, or 60 or older with certain chronic conditions. you're at higher risk of being hospitalized from rsv. and there are no prescription rsv treatments.
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ask your provider for cologuard. andrea canning: the story of the british woman who vanished off a sailboat in the caribbean was making international news. every day, a new article asked the same question, where was sarm heslop? the police had no answers. your officers are really looking at three possible scenarios. she willingly disappeared. there was a tragic accident. or there was a crime. absolutely. those are the options. andrea canning: her friend vicki was certain sarm would never just take off without telling anyone. she felt it in her bones something was terribly wrong. she also doesn't believe sarm drowned. she is a good swimmer. when we trained for flight cabin crew, you have to, in your clothes, dive in a swimming pool and swim across it in your clothes to be able to pass your training.
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andrea canning: vicki grew increasingly worried and frustrated. because of covid, she, kate, and the rest of sarm's friends in england were unable to travel to the us virgin islands to help look for her. to a certain extent, you feel a bit guilty because you can't do anything. we don't want her to think that we're not doing anything. andrea canning: in fact, sarm's friends were doing a lot. it's forward thinking that's got us in this position that we're in at the moment. so we need to maintain that. andrea canning: several of them from different parts of europe held daily zoom meetings brainstorming ways to keep the media and police focused on finding their friend. she would not leave her possessions just sat on the boat. andrea canning: they appeared on british and american tv-- we're still looking for you, sarm. we won't give up on you. andrea canning: --and shared videos on social media pleading for help. we won't give up on you, sarm. andrea canning: your group has been a force, though. i mean, keeping this in the media, you know, connecting with searchers,
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i mean really keeping the story alive. we've got to get it out there. we can't sit on it and not do anything. andrea canning: meanwhile, the police were feeling the pressure. the commissioner says his team was doing everything it could to find sarm. we spare no resources. we send divers out, canine. we did ambulatory searches. we did aerial searches. we put flyers out. and nothing? and nothing. andrea canning: as the days ticked by with no sign of sarm, the police requested outside help. the fbi got involved in this case? so the fbi was able to assist in trying to locate any type of camera. andrea canning: they found one security camera pointed right at the spot where sarm and ryan left the island that night. it shows two individuals, mr. bane and miss heslop, getting on a dinghy and taking off on the dinghy
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and going into the waters in the cruise bay. and then do you lose them from there? so you have no real confirmation that they ever made it to the boat. that's correct. andrea canning: british police also got involved. we've had to go back through text messages and everything for the police here in the uk. andrea canning: island police looked through sarm's personal belongings and also searched her phone records. all dead ends. this is a real mystery that you have on your hands. it is. andrea canning: when investigators spoke to the owner of the restaurant on saint john, 420 to center, the one sarm ryan went to on the night she disappeared, he said they looked perfectly happy. and when they looked into ryan and sarm's relationship, they found nothing concerning. her friends agreed. they'd never met ryan but said it was clear from sarm that things were going well. so there were no smoke signals, no sos cryptic messages from her that would lead you to believe that something was wrong? no. and since we've all come together, as in her group
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of friends from spain and the uk, no one can put their finger on anything that casts any shadow of doubt over their relationship. andrea canning: vicki says the night of the disappearance, she got a text from sarm about life on the boat. she wasn't her bubbly self. but it didn't concern vicki, at least not at the time. on that evening, she literally just sent me a text saying, ah, in brackets about work. and so i-- what do you mean ah? like screaming. yeah. but not in a screaming way. just like, ah, work, like as in moaning about work. so i think it was just her complaining about work. i guess whatever that charter had been like that day. maybe it had been really busy. i don't know whether people were difficult. andrea canning: vicki never got to find out what was bothering sarm about work. that was the last text she ever got from her. sarm's friends were hoping to get answers from ryan. i want to know what he thinks happened. did you have an argument when you got back to the boat? were you happy? did you fall asleep watching a film?
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andrea canning: but strangely, he'd gone quiet. and they weren't the only ones getting the silent treatment. you might remember, initially, ryan had cooperated with authorities. but lieutenant commander league says ryan's behavior quickly shifted. about 15 hours after sarm was reported missing, coast guard officers went back to the "siren song" for a second time and brought along detectives from the virgin islands police department. they tried to talk to ryan bane? - yes. - to no avail? no. ryan, at that point, he refused to allow the virgin islands police department to go on board. and while the coast guard was able to board, according to the case report, quote, "mr. bane was heavily intoxicated and was telling the boarding team he did not want them on board his vessel," end quote. and at that time, he actually obstructed our post-search and rescue boarding. is it getting tense? he was very uncooperative. andrea canning: the coast guard cited bane for obstruction of boarding and safety equipment violations. as for the police, they left the "siren song"
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frustrated, filled with unanswered questions, and no closer to finding out what happened to sarm heslop. ryan's odd behavior sparks suspicions. is he telling police the whole story? coming up. if she had fallen over, would you have expected them to find the body? it's very likely that their body would be found. the fact that no body was found is very suspicious. this is the big red flag for you? it is a big red flag. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. [ music playing ] hey, flo. cool leg warmers. thanks. they are just for the bus ride to work. they are not part of the official uniform. no tunes today? no. my apartment was robbed last night. took my cable ready tv, vcr, portable cassette player. yup. all the latest tech. if only progressive had renter's insurance like their home insurance. then we could bundle our cars and get the same 24/7 protection.
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controversial rule requiring poll workers to hand-counted paper ballots. critics say, it drives up costs, increases the likelihood of errors, and build later reported results on election night. in north carolina, the trump endorsed candidate for governor, mark robinson, says, he has no plans to pull out of the race and so far, mr. trump is standing by him, this, despite some offensive comments that robinson allegedly made on a pornography site. now, back to "dateline." "date" d ryan bane's catamaran when she vanished. ryan told investigators she may have fallen overboard while he slept. then with the search for sarm still underway, he stopped talking. the investigation threatened to stall. but someone from ryan's past was about to resurface with secrets to share. back to andrea canning with "siren song." andrea canning: in the short time sarm heslop had been missing, locals
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in the us virgin islands swapped theories about what happened to her. scot mcchain, an avid sailor and a virgin islands defense attorney with over 23 years of experience practicing law in the territory, thought something was off. he didn't know sarm or her boyfriend ryan bane. but he's very familiar with the water where ryan's boat, "siren song" was anchored. in that area, that was pretty close to shore. if she had fallen over, would you have expected them to find the body? i think that if someone falls overboard and drowned, i think it's very likely that their body would be found very close by the boat. so i think the fact that no body was found is very suspicious. this is the big red flag for you? it is a big red flag. andrea canning: and authorities saw red flags of their own. commissioner velinor says not only would ryan no longer speak to his officers, he also refused to allow them to search his boat for clues. that's not happening. he indicated, no, i will not allow you onto my boat.
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andrea canning: instead-- he indicated that he had an attorney. that was quick. it was very quick, from 2:30 in the morning, now it's about 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon. andrea canning: ryan bane had not been charged or named as a suspect in the sarm heslop missing person case. but he did hire a defense attorney who advised him to stop talking to the police. that didn't surprise scot mcchain. he says lawyers recommend that all the time. but it can come with a downside. you look like you've been involved in something illegal. andrea canning: yeah. it's that fine line of like, is it a smart thing to do? or does it make you look suspicious? the answer is it clearly makes you look suspicious. but it prevents you from saying anything that would implicate you or result in a finding of guilty. andrea canning: as for sarm's friends, ryan's behavior only added to their questions. if something like that had happened to me and i had found someone missing, be it in my home, i would want to do everything i can to help the police.
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just let them search the boat. and if there's nothing on there. then fine. there's nothing on there. then we stop looking there, don't we? andrea canning: even more alarming to vicki and kate, they learned ryan didn't immediately call the coast guard, far from it. the yacht was moored here in frank's bay. and after ryan bane called the police, then he reportedly took nine hours to call the coast guard. why? if you think she's gone overboard, why did you not let the coast guard start searching that water earlier? andrea canning: james stephens, captain of a similar catamaran to "siren song" says ryan's behavior that night makes no sense to him. if you woke up in the middle of the night and your first mate or someone on your boat was missing, what would you do? i absolutely think i would have gone to the other boats. i would have been outside screaming to see if there was a voice. andrea canning: but james, who was moored right next to "siren's song," the night sarm disappeared, says ryan never contacted him. so i saw his boat tucked up into pretty much
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this location right here. it was just the two boats. your boat and his boat no it was my boat. and then there was one other that was directly behind him. andrea canning: he also says he heard nothing out of the ordinary that night. no arguing woke you up, no loud noise, no sounds of a struggle? nothing. i mean, i was 300 feet away. but not to say i would wake up. but if someone was screaming and, you know, like a life curdling scream, i would imagine i'd wake up to something like that. andrea canning: if there was a struggle on a boat and someone did die, i mean, where around here do you think someone would take a body? i mean, it's 16,000 feet out there. you know, 12,000 feet, i guess, is between here in saint croix. you put a body down to 12,000 feet and wrap it up in some anchor chain, and, no, it's not going to float back up. andrea canning: whatever did happen that night, james can only speculate. what he does know is that when he woke the next morning around 7 am, all was quiet. there was nothing here. there was no police presence. there was no nothing out of the ordinary. i just pulled up my anchor and left.
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in a statement, ryan's attorney told dateline, mr. bane had absolutely nothing to do with sarm's disappearance. he spent untold hours searching for her and remains devastated that she is missing. his thoughts, as always, are with sarm and her family during this difficult time. he added that ryan allowed the coast guard on his boat twice. and as for why he didn't call them right away, he said ryan thought the police marine unit was on its way. still, ryan wouldn't talk to police or let them search his boat. the police commissioner admitted to "dateline," his team made a mistake by not searching it when they responded to the 911 call. why not search the boat at that time? that was a decision that the officers made at that particular time. it wasn't the best decision. why do you say that now? you want to make sure that every area possible is searched. the big question i think people have is, why not get a search warrant and search ryan bane's boat? yes. so absolutely.
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so we've reached out to the attorney general of the territory. we've also reached out to the united states' attorney. and to this point, we've been unsuccessful in getting search warrants for the "siren song." andrea canning: velinor said they were told they didn't have enough evidence to justify a search. but police were about to learn more about ryan bane from this woman. turns out, this wasn't ryan's first interaction with the law. and boy, did she have a story to tell. that man should come with a warning label. craig melvin: coming up. it's just a sinking feeling to think that she was with somebody who had that past. and she didn't know. craig melvin: a dark, new picture of ryan bane. did you think your life was in danger? yes. that's-- i thought he was going to kill me. the look on his face, it was like the devil behind those eyes. that's what scared me. that poor girl had no idea who he really is. --when "dateline" continues.
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andrea canning: a few days after sarm went missing, police learned troubling information about ryan bane's past. they got a call from his ex-wife who told, them 10 years earlier, ryan had been convicted of assaulting her the news came as a complete shock to sarm's friends. it was a goosebumps moment, goosebumps all over my body. it's just a sinking feeling to think that she was with somebody who had that past.
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and she didn't know. andrea canning: we reached out to ryan's ex, cori stevenson, who sat down for her first network tv interview. she took us back to the beginning when she first met ryan. they went to high school together in lake orion, michigan, in the '90s. at that time, i really wasn't interested in knowing anything about him. andrea canning: it wasn't until several years after graduating when she ran into ryan at a bar with friends that she took an interest. he was a lot of fun. you know, he was funny. he really grabbed my attention. was he handsome? he's handsome. and charming? very charming. very glitzy and glamour and, you know, makes you feel wonderful. andrea canning: at the time, cori was a single mom with a young daughter and had a job working as a nanny. ryan had gotten his master's degree and was working in the automotive industry. he loves to talk about his education. he loves to tell everyone how educated he is. andrea canning: educated and from a well
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to do family in michigan. they live in a nice house. they drive nice cars. every weekend, they go on a boat. and it's a large boat. they actually have a-- as ryan would tell me, they have a small boat on the boat. andrea canning: it was 2007. and cori and ryan had been dating for about a year when he proposed. he was everything she'd wanted. still, she had some brief moments of cold feet. there were probably only a couple of times where he kind of let the crazy slip. and i thought, mm. like you saw another side of him, you're saying? yeah. and i was like, that's a little crazy to act this way. what would he do? just it was like the rage would just happen so fast. but i only saw it a couple of times. and then he kind of like reeled it in real quick. and i think, well, everyone has bad days. andrea canning: despite her reservations, a year later, cori went through with the wedding.
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but she says the honeymoon period didn't last, literally. there was an issue on our honeymoon actually. oh, wow. i wasn't expecting to be that quick. it was. it was pretty quick. andrea canning: they had been backpacking through spain staying in hostels. cori says she wanted to stay one night in a nice hotel. but ryan said no. i wasn't really saying anything. but i was kind of disappointed. and he doesn't like that. that you were disappointed? that i was disappointed in him. yeah. so we got in the elevator. and he like freaked out. and he actually grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me to the floor. in the elevator? in the elevator on our honeymoon. andrea canning: on your honeymoon? yeah. andrea canning: the trip was ruined. and cori told ryan she wanted to go home. we were supposed to be there for two weeks. and we left after 10 days. she says life got back to normal. but over time, things escalated. the longer we were together, the worse it was. in the beginning, it was little things.
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it was he wasn't happy about something. so he'd push or shove me. he would throw water bottles at me. he'd hit me with water bottles. shouldn't you be running? i knew that i had to leave. but at that point, i have no self-esteem whatsoever. like he's already made me feel like i can't live without him. i can't do anything without him. and at that point, i felt like i was trapped. i knew i was trapped. he told me i was trapped. andrea canning: cori says she was trapped by a master manipulator, that ryan, in charge of their finances, didn't allow her access to their money. so out of concern for her daughter, she stayed. and then you say that things really hit rock bottom. yeah. he-- we'd gone to a wedding. and it was drinking. and it was-- i don't even know where we were. andrea canning: she was the designated driver. ryan wanted to sleep. it was before all the iphones and things like that, so i didn't know how to get home.
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and i'm asking him directions. and he just starts screaming. basically, i mean, imagine an out of control five-year-old. so he's in the car. and he's kicking the dashboard. and he's kicking me. and he's kicking the steering wheel. and he's kicking the gear shifter and screaming the whole time. and you're trying to drive. and i'm just trying to drive to get home. so by the time we got home, he was in such a crazy rage, as soon as i put the truck in park, he literally grabbed me by my hair and dragged me out of the truck. boom. tackles me. i'm on the ground. he actually took my head and smashed it into the floor and then like turned me over and started choking me out. did you think your life was in danger? yes. that's-- i thought he was going to kill me. the look on his face, like i can't even explain it. it was like nobody was home. it was like the devil behind those eyes.
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that's what scared me the most. so i was like, ok, this is it. andrea canning: she says he finally stopped after cracking her tooth and choking her to the point that she passed out. when she came to, she called 911. did they arrest him and take him away? they did. to jail? mm-hmm. andrea canning: in 2011, ryan pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to 60 days in jail. he served 21. cori later filed for divorce and says she feared him every day until it was final. every night, i slept with a shotgun. it was crazy. andrea canning: after that, she thought she'd put ryan bane in her rear view mirror. until, his name pops up, international media. woman goes missing. i instantly feel terrible for that girl's family. because that poor girl had no idea who he really is. cori has no proof. but she's convinced ryan had something to do with sarm's disappearance.
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i think he did something to her, in my opinion. this is based on your personal-- based on my experience with him, mm-hmm. you've seen him snap before? i've seen it. i've seen the rage. it's he can be completely enraged one second. i mean completely out of control. and two seconds later, he can have a smile on his face. hey, everybody. it's so quick and so violent and so crazy. i couldn't imagine being in that small space with him. andrea canning: there are always two sides to a story. we heard cori. and now we needed to hear ryan's. so we hopped on a boat and went looking for him. ryan, did you have anything to do with the disappearance of sarm? craig melvin: coming up, the boat, what secrets might it hold? there may be evidence that's fallen through the cracks. and if you tear apart that boat, there may still be something there. craig melvin: and ryan bain surfaces at last.
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andrea canning: we just want to ask, do you know where sarm is? craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. [geri]: when i was 44, a doctor diagnosed me with copd, because i smoked. as my copd gets worse, moving around gets harder, so i have to pace myself. my tip is, if you're having people over for thanksgiving, start cooking in october. [announcer]: you can quit. for free help, call 1-800-quit-now. take an ekg from anywhere, but with 6-times the data. can your smartwatch do that? introducing kardiamobile 6l, the fda-cleared ekg that provides six-times more heart data than any smartwatch. and it detects three of the most common arrhythmias in just 30 seconds, including atrial fibrillation, bradycardia and tachycardia.
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is it possible to count on my ask your provider for cologuard. internet like my customers count on me? it is with comcast business. keeping you up and running with our 99.9% network reliability. and security that helps outsmart threats to your data. moaire dida twoo? -your data, too. there's even round-the- clock customer support. so you can be there for your customers. with comcast business, reliability isn't just possible. it's happening. switch to reliable comcast business internet with security and get started for $49.99 a month. plus ask how to get up to a $500 prepaid card. call today! welcome back. sarm heslop was missing. and ryan bane's ex-wife believed he was to blame. cori stevenson told investigators her former husband once beat her so badly, he was convicted and sentenced to jail.
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had ryan done the same to sarm? we wanted to hear what he had to say. but first, we had to find him. here's andrea canning with the conclusion of "siren song." andrea canning: sarm heslop had been missing for a year now. her last reported whereabouts? the luxury catamaran "siren song," a name from greek mythology that describes something appealing and alluring on the surface but underneath deceptive and dangerous. this boat could be the key to this mystery. mr. bane is the key to this mystery. would you call ryan bane a suspect in sarm's disappearance? he's absolutely a person of interest. is this a classic case of no body, no crime? well, i think, without a body, it certainly makes proving a crime more difficult. andrea canning: regardless of what happened to sarm, local defense attorney scot mcchain believes since ryan's not talking,
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this will be a tough case for police to solve. because there's no other witnesses even close who could provide meaningful information. andrea canning: but not impossible. he thinks a full search of ryan's boat is a good place to start. months have gone by now, though. i mean, if there was any evidence, wouldn't it be gone by now? even over time, there's things that are missed. there may be evidence that's stuck in cracks. there may be evidence that's fallen through the cracks. and if you tear apart that boat, there may still be something there. andrea canning: he also believes there's a way for police to get a warrant. ryan bane has a history of domestic violence. could they use that to try to get a warrant? absolutely. absolutely. because it shows that, in the past, he's had a predilection to engage in criminal activity. and you couple that with a missing body. and then i think you have what i would consider probable cause. andrea canning: when we asked both the us attorney and the attorney general of the us virgin islands
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about this, they said they do not comment on ongoing investigations. we were hoping ryan bane might talk to us. so we traveled to frank bay off the island of saint john, where we heard he was still anchored. it was three weeks after sarm went missing. but we just missed him. ryan was out in the open on his boat for quite some time and then finally slipped away. if he's not under arrest and the boat hasn't been impounded, i assume he's got every right to be. andrea canning: then we got a tip about where ryan might have gone. so we chartered a boat and searched and searched. we've been driving around the islands all day trying to find ryan bane. we finally located his boat here next to hassel island. when we pulled up, he immediately went inside. despite repeated attempts asking him to speak with us-- ryan, it's andrea canning from "dateline." can we talk to you-- he wouldn't come out. so a few hours later, we tried again.
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and this time. ryan, can we talk to you? we just want to ask, do you know where sarm is? do you know anything about the disappearance, ryan? can we just talk to you? you're going to hurt my dog. andrea canning: how are we going to hurt your dog? [indistinct] oh, i'm sorry. he wouldn't speak to me. he just kept talking about the dog. which, by the way, the dog is-- grace's dog. andrea canning: your daughter's dog. yes. andrea canning: so he took the dog. he did. yep. that was one of the many times i called the police on him during our divorce. one of the officers opened the door. and the dog went running out. and he put the dog in his car. and i had a crying 13-year-old for months. andrea canning: she brought it up with the judge. but she says the judge didn't seem to care and instead awarded the dog to ryan. he kept saying that the dog won't be able to swim. he's a lab. he swims all the time.
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andrea canning: do you think that this was another form of sort of manipulation by ryan-- yes, 100%. andrea canning: --trying to deflect off my question. absolutely. yep. andrea canning: cori believes she dodged a bullet with ryan and, after years of therapy, has found her happy ending with the man of her dreams. what is it like now to be in a truly healthy relationship? it's incredible. andrea canning: she fears sarm will never have that chance. i feel bad for her family. i feel bad that she's missing, you know? and if, god forbid, he did something to her, i want there to be justice for her. andrea canning: the police say they're not giving up. although, one potential lead could be slipping away. bane put his catamaran up for sale. sarm's friends, who've been tracking the boat, say he changed the name and has since taken it off the market. they don't know if it was sold after that. do you think this case will ever be solved? i have optimism that we'll get a little bit
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more information. someone saw or heard something that can say, this is the piece that you're missing. or that mr. bane will have the consciousness to say, let me do the right thing. let me explain to law enforcement what took place. andrea canning: bane's lawyer insists his client had nothing to do with sarm's disappearance and told "dateline," he has advised local law enforcement that if mr. bane's presence is legally required in the territory, he will appear voluntarily. what do you say to anyone who says your police department isn't doing enough? we have looked high and low. we've conducted as overarching an investigation as you possibly can for someone who was reported missing. andrea canning: and as for sarm's tight-knit circle of friends, they have vowed to keep the pressure on and push investigators to find sarm, a woman who came to paradise in search of adventure and love. now her friends just want to reflect on the person
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who meant the world to them. i want her to be remembered as this-- as the really positive person that she is. she's got a real lust for life. she is an honest and truthful person. she's someone that you want on your team. she's fun to be around. she's adventurous. she's happy. and that kind of oozes out of her. and you get really caught up in the sarm moment. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching.
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