The ex-wife of missing Sarm Heslop’s boyfriend still lives in fear of him seven years after their divorce – and now carries a gun with her at all times, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Cori Stevenson, 43, who was married to Ryan Bane between 2008 and 2014, claims her ex-husband has a history of violence – and animal cruelty – that still haunts her to this day.
Bane, 44, was jailed for 21 days in 2011 after physically assaulting his ex-wife in an incident that left her with a broken tooth and finger marks around her neck.
Stevenson has claimed ‘there was never a day’ she didn’t fear Bane during their turbulent marriage and that she had slept with a shotgun throughout their divorce.
Holding up her .380 Smith & Wesson pistol outside her Florida home, the mom-of-one told DailyMail.com: ‘This is what I carry around with me now. I keep the gun with me everywhere in case he shows up and confronts me.
‘I really am that afraid of him. He was basically my bully. I don’t know what else to call him. He’s already beaten me up. I am definitely worried he would still harm me in some way.’
Cori Stevenson, 43, who was married to Ryan Bane (pictured together right) between 2008 and 2014, says she now carries a gun (left) with her at all times to protect her from her ex-husband
Bane, an American charter boat captain, remains on his catamaran on the US Virgin Islands as authorities continue to search for his missing girlfriend Sarm Heslop (pictured together)
Bane remains at sea on his $500,000 catamaran in the US Virgin Islands after refusing to be interviewed by police over the mysterious disappearance of his British girlfriend Sarm, 41, who was last seen on his vessel last month.
He is said to have waited nine hours before calling the US Coastguard to report her missing and, despite Sarm’s parents’ pleas, has refused to let police search his boat.
The American charter boat skipper, who moved to the Caribbean in 2015, met former flight attendant Sarm on dating app Tinder last year.
The couple were last seen together having dinner at a dive bar restaurant in Cruz Bay on the island of St John on March 7.
According to Bane, the pair left the restaurant at 10pm in line with the local Covid curfew and took their dinghy back to his 47ft-catamaran, Siren Song, anchored 120ft from secluded Frank Bay.
Bane was awoken by the yacht’s anchor alarm at 2am to find no trace of Sarm onboard. He later told authorities she may have fallen overboard.
Bane has since moved the yacht to a more secluded spot on a smaller island while he continues to refuse detectives’ requests to search it.
Bane is not being treated as a suspect and Virgin Islands police have said he is free to leave as they continue investigating his girlfriend’s disappearance.
Bane, 44, was jailed for 21 days in 2011 after physically assaulting his ex-wife in an incident that left her with a broken tooth and finger marks around her neck
Stevenson, meanwhile, has publicly spoken out against her ex-husband in recent weeks, describing him as a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ character who was pleasant in public but became abusive behind closed doors.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, she said she believes Bane had cheated on her throughout their marriage – alleging he entertained women at their home while she was away overnight.
In a more startling claim, she also accused her ex of being cruel to animals, claiming he once killed a baby deer she had befriended and cooked it, in an incident that mirrored Glenn Close’s infamous bunny boiler scene in 1987 movie Fatal Attraction.
The couple had lived together in Lake Orion, Michigan, where Stevenson said she had befriended a fawn that came to the edge of their backyard one day.
‘While I was at the store during the day, he actually shot it in the yard,’ she said. ‘He tried to trick me into eating it by putting it on the grill outside.
‘I had no idea that the meat on the grill was the baby deer. As he was cooking it, he was telling me: “This is going to be great – you’re going to love this.”
‘And I was asking, where has this meat come from? That’s when I saw the mess outside. You could see where he shot the deer, dragged it through the yard, put it in a garbage can and cut it up. Once I’d figured it out, he admitted it was the baby deer I used to feed.
Sarm, 41, from Southampton, England met Bane on Tinder eight months ago. She was last seen on his boat on the island of St John on March 7
Bane (pictured on his yacht last month) has not been cooperating with police investigating the former flight attendant’s disappearance and has refused to allow them to search his boat
Bane was seen with his dog Hunter last month when DailyMail.com confronted him on a secluded beach in the US Virgin Islands
‘It was one of twins who came round with their mom. After the grill incident, the mom came round but with only one baby.’
Stevenson, who has since made a new life in Melbourne, Florida with fiancé Ralph Carpenter, also recalled how Bane allegedly killed a squirrel she ‘loved’ that regularly came by the house.
‘He would come into my lap if I had food and I would feed him. He would eat out of my hand almost every day. I called him Fatty. I loved that squirrel,’ she said.
‘While I was gone one time, Ryan killed the squirrel and put it in the freezer for me to find.’
Bane is currently travelling on his boat with his pet Labrador Hunter and was recently spotted walking the dog on a secluded beach.
According to Stevenson, Hunter was actually a gift to her daughter Grace, now 20, from a different relationship.
She said: ‘The dog you see in all the pictures, is actually her dog. We gave it to her for her birthday. Grace named the dog Hunter and then halfway through the divorce Ryan obtained possession of him.
Stevenson and Bane married in 2008, but their relationship deteriorated almost immediately on their honeymoon to Spain, his ex-wife said
Stevenson told DailyMail.com she believes her ex-husband cheated on her throughout their six-year marriage
‘We went to a judge and tried to get it back but weren’t successful. The judge told me it’s just a dog.
‘I said, try telling that to a crying 12-year-old girl. She cried every day about the dog. And she still wants him back.’
Stevenson said she was told by friends two years ago that Bane had made a new life for himself on a boat in the Caribbean after years in office jobs in the States.
‘I looked up on Instagram just to see and saw pictures on Hunter with him. And I thought, oh good. Our dog is still alive.’
Stevenson, who worked as a nanny while they pair were living together in Lake Orion, near where they both grew up, believes Bane had been unfaithful throughout their marriage.
‘I would sometimes stay overnight to look after children,’ she said. ‘I would come home and there would be two wine glasses, one with lipstick all over it.
‘And I’d ask him who had been there. He’d just say, nobody. That happened a lot of times.’
On other occasions Bane told Corie he would be staying in a hotel to go hunting with friends, she said. But she claimed this was just a ruse.
Corie went on: ‘I would ask the guys, hey did you have fun hunting? And they looked at me like I was crazy. Like… we weren’t hunting.
‘I think he was cheating on me any chance he got. And I believe it was happening our whole marriage. But if asked him about anything he would just lie. He would lie about everything.’
Stevenson and Bane married in 2008. But their relationship deteriorated almost immediately on their honeymoon to Spain.
‘It was like he flipped a switch,’ Stevenson said. ‘He suddenly became a different person… a total Jekyll and Hyde character, snd that continued when we got home.
Steenson has described her ex as a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ character who was pleasant in public but became abusive behind closed doors
‘He would have a good week, and then all of a sudden he changed.
‘He was a totally different person publicly. None of his friends ever saw him like that. He was good at covering up.’
Bane was jailed in 2011 for domestic violence after Corie reported him to police following a row when they returned home at 5.30am from a wedding.
The police report said Bane was abusive to her on the way back. It added he ‘dragged her out of the truck’ and ‘grabbed’ Corie in the dining room.
An officer wrote Bane then ‘threw her to the ground and smashed her head into the floor, chipping one of her teeth’.
Bane pleaded guilty and served 21 days, according to court documents.
Other court papers reveal he served another 31 days for a probation violation in 2013, the year they began divorce proceedings.
Of the attack, Corie said: ‘I was absolutely terrified while it was happening. I saw the devil behind his eyes and it scared me. It was a totally different person who was there. It was petrifying.
‘I was terrified already when he pulled me out of the truck. But during the assault my fear reached a whole other level.’
She added: ‘My face was all red and my tooth was broken. A couple of days later my face was black and blue and I had finger marks around my neck.’
