7.
Sarm Heslop
While joining her boyfriend on his catamaran, on the night of March the 7th of 2021, Sarm
Heslop, from Britain, disappeared.
Moored off the coast of the US Virgin Islands, the couple had been seen enjoying dinner in
St. John’s before returning to the 47-foot yacht.
At around 2:30 am that night, police received a call from her boyfriend, Ryan Bane, who
reported he’d woken up to find her missing.
He was advised to contact the US Coast Guard, which he did but only about 9 hours later.
Other than contacting a personal attorney, questions were raised as to what he did during
the prolonged period, but Bane refused detectives’ inquiries as well as entry onto his boat.
Blocked from that vein of information, investigators conducted an extensive underwater search of
the coast which lasted for days but yielded no results.
Despite charging Bane with obstruction of justice, the only statement he made was to
suggest she’d fallen off the boat, a theory family and friends of Heslop found “very
difficult” to accept.
Anchored close to the coast, the luxury yacht was in shallow waters and even with perfect
visibility, no trace of a body was found.
Other concerning details continued to emerge as the investigation went on.
Previously convicted on charges of domestic violence, Bane’s ex-wife came forward to
describe him as quick to anger, narcissistic and aggressive with girls.
Publicizing her darkest days, she hoped to help the investigation in any way she could.
Unfortunately, even with a report from someone saying they’d heard a woman scream while
out walking their dogs on the night, no concrete evidence could place her on the boat.
After months of investigations, Bane disappeared from the area without any trace.
Authorities publicly appealed for him to return and help, but he remained out of their sights
and grasp.
6.
Sinead McNamara
20-year-old Instagram influencer Sinead McNamara had been working on a luxury superyacht touring
the isles of Greece, in 2018, when she was found hanging from the boat, unresponsive.
Having sold all her belongings to travel, McNamara had been part of the vessel’s staff
since May and was working her last shift before reuniting with her mother and sister to continue
traveling.
Hours away from the reunion, she was discovered by a passing boat tangled in rope off the
back of the yacht.
She was still alive and given CPR, but died while being airlifted to the hospital.
Already en route from Australia to meet McNamara, her mother and sister found out about her
passing mid-air on their flight to Greece.
With no signs of struggle or physical abuse, a Greek coroner ruled the cause of her death
as hanging, but admitted the case wasn’t clear-cut.
On the night in question, the boat was only manned by staff after its owner, Mexico’s
second richest man, billionaire Alberto Bailleres, had disembarked days prior.
Despite insisting she was happy during their regular talks, Sinead’s mother reported
she’d called the day before, crying about having fallen out with another crew member.
Greek Coast guards investigating the death questioned the staff but ultimately allowed
the superyacht to sail away.
CCTV footage displaying the moments before McNamara’s discovery was allegedly seized,
but the video was never shared publicly or with the case’s ruling coroner.
The particularities of what had happened to her that night have remained a mystery.
5.
Thomas and Jackie Hawks
A retired couple from Prescott, Arizona, Thomas and Jackie Hawks lived full-time on their
55-foot yacht, Well Deserved, for 2 years while they sailed around the Pacific Ocean.
In 2004, motivated by the upcoming birth of their first grandchild, they decided to move
back on land and sell their yacht.
Their newspaper ad was answered by Skylar Deleon who presented himself as a serious
buyer and family man.
Gaining their trust by bringing along his pregnant wife and young daughter, the former
child star and Power Ranger, convinced the older couple to take him, his family, and
2 male friends out on a test cruise before finalizing the sale.
As soon as they got out to sea, the group, led by Deleon, overpowered the couple, handcuffed
them to an anchor, and threw them overboard.
Neither was ever seen again, but the boat and their car were returned to their usual
spots.
In the aftermath, Deleon insisted everyone had returned safely after the sale had been
finalized, but his story fell through when the notary who had signed as a witness to
the sale revealed she’d been bribed.
The story unraveled completely when one of his accomplices confessed in exchange for
a plea deal.
Along with outlining how they were killed, he detailed how Deleon first forced the Hawkes
to fingerprint and sign documents that gave him power of attorney and transferred the
boat to his name.
With the testimony, Deleon and the third male accomplice were found guilty on multiple charges
in connection to the murders.
They were given the death penalty while his wife will serve multiple life sentences with
no chance of parole.
4.
Karen Barnes
After dating David Trauger for just a few months, Karen Barnes quit her job as a restaurant
manager to marry him, in 2009.
Following their short love affair, Karen filed for divorce just 2 and a half years later
and, to her ex’s displeasure, was granted their $558,000 custom-built yacht in the proceedings.
She moved into the vessel full-time, unaware that it would leave her vulnerable to David’s
abuse.
Dealing with constant harassment and stalking, Karen filed multiple police reports and a
protective order against him, only to take matters into her own hands when authorities
couldn’t locate him.
She secretly moved the yacht to St. Mary’s but was found out soon after.
In the early hours of August the 13th of 2012, David, dressed in all black, approached the
yacht on a small vessel and proceeded to light it on fire, destroying the yacht and everything
inside.
Tragically, that also included Karen and one other victim.
Spotted days later, by chance, outside an apartment complex, David started a shoot-out
after being confronted by the police.
No officers were injured, but David was killed in the fire exchange.
David’s attorney came forward later in his defense, giving a wildly different perspective
of the events leading up to the tragedy.
He claimed David and Karen’s divorce was meant to be a sham to protect the yacht against
David’s first ex-wife to whom he still owed a lot of money.
David’s attorney believed after Karen acquired the yacht and unexpectedly split instead of
returning to be with David.
Regardless of his true motive, David Trauger was categorically at fault for taking the
lives of 2 people.
3.
Jake Feldwhere
On the final day of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, British sailor Jake Feldwhere lost his life
in a yacht crash.
Feldwhere had just completed the basic superyacht training program and spent the previous 4
weeks exploring the South of France.
The crash occurred at around 9 pm between superyachts “The Vision” and “The Minx”,
who had both been chartered by one group to celebrate the final night of the festival.
Feldwhere had been in charge of pulling up the anchor of The Minx but, as he did so,
the other vessel crashed into the front, killing him.
According to reports on the incident, the captain of The Vision was told “to do some
rounds” while waiting for the Minx to pick up the anchor and was blamed for showing off.
The Vision had been traveling at 3 times the speed limit and the Minx had been stationary
in a safe anchorage zone at the time of the crash.
The captain was charged with involuntary manslaughter while the customers and crew members of the
vessels were said to have been traumatized after authorities left the bloodstained “Minx”
in the harbor for weeks without cleaning it.
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comments section below 2.
Edward Bozarth
When Denise Bozarth was 24, she married 61-year-old Edward Bozarth.
They were together for 9 years, sharing 2 children, before things between them went
awry in 2007.
The whole family used to live together on a 36-foot cabin cruiser called “Screw U
2”.
One day a neighbor complained to police that they smelled a foul odor emitting from the
boat.
On July the 1st, when police investigated, they discovered the body of Edward Bozarth
in an engine compartment, wrapped in a canvas storage bag with the AC set to 60F.
An autopsy revealed he’d died from blunt force trauma to the head and had likely been
left there for a week.
Denise became the primary suspect but, upon questioning, told police that she’d asked
Edward for a separation and had left to join her children in Panhandle, Florida, where
her parents lived.
She failed the polygraph test and her story was inconsistent, but detectives couldn’t
prove her guilt until 2012, when she confessed.
Witnesses came forward claiming that Denise would often talk about killing her husband
and the different ways she would do it.
Edward had come into a hefty inheritance from his mother and Denise had her eyes on it,
as she would often tell friends around her.
Eventually, a man living at the marina admitted he’d had an affair with Denise and claimed
she’d offered him $10,000 to kill Edward, but he refused.
She was convicted of his murder and sentenced to 14 years behind bars.
Her excuse during the trial was simply that she’d “snapped”.
1.
Mark Brennan
At the age of 42, British window cleaner Mark Brennan decided he wanted to sail around the
world on a solo adventure.
He left the UK in 2020 and successfully made it across the Atlantic.
He was seen sailing his 30-foot yacht, Avrio, between Grenada and Barbados on December the
2nd.
A few days later, at 8 pm on December the 6th he was seen pulling his vessel out of
the marina, in darkness.
The boat’s dinghy had broken on the trans-Atlantic trip and the inexperienced sailor hadn’t
equipped the vessel with a phone or a radio.
He was officially reported missing to British police on December the 21st but it took weeks
until he was found.
The vessel was finally spotted by the local coast guard, drifting 71 nautical miles off
the north coast of Jamaica.
His naked, already decomposing body was found onboard.
Alongside the lack of communication devices and a dinghy, the Avrio had dirty fuel issues
which likely caused several engine problems, leaving it and Brennan to drift helplessly.
Thanks for watching!
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