Case 297: Bluebelle
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I don't know if it's because Niamh and I finished high school in the same year or we shared a similar taste in music, but I felt instinctively drawn to her story. As I learned more about Niamh's story, the revelations that unfolded left me in shock. The result is Missing Niamh, the latest 12-part series from Casefile Presents.

Researched and hosted by me, the series features exclusive interviews with key players who help us dive into the details of Niamh's case as we go back to Batlow to try and make sense of what really happened. The entire 12-part series will be available on September 24. Stay tuned to the end of today's episode to hear the trailer.

For more details on this episode on your app or on our website.

Today's episode involves crimes against children and won't be suitable for all listeners. The Northwest Providence Channel is a body of water that sits between the two banks that make up most of the Bahama Archipelago. To the west of the channel is the Gulf Stream, an ocean current that flows through the Straits of Florida and up along the east coast of the United States.

On Monday November 13 1961, a 21,000 tonne oil tanker called the Gulf Lion entered the Northwest Providence Channel after departing the Florida city of Fort Lauderdale, headed for San Juan, Puerto Rico. At noon that day, one of the crew members assumed the role of the tanker's lookout at the stern.

About 30 minutes into his four-hour shift, he noticed something bobbing in the choppy water about four miles away. It was a white wooden dinghy with its sails furled. Inside the small boat was a lone man. 40-year-old doctor Arthur Duperold had long wanted to take his family on a special vacation.

A successful contact lens optometrist who resided in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Arthur had previously served in the US Navy. On his way to serve in Myanmar during World War II, he had sailed across the Pacific Ocean and developed a deep love of the sea and the tropics. The climate was far warmer than in his home state of Wisconsin, and the expansive Pacific was far greater than any body of water he'd seen before.

After completing his military service, Arthur met a woman two years his junior named Jean Broch. The two had a whirlwind romance and married shortly after meeting. The couple soon had three children, a son named Brian and two daughters, Terry Jo and Renee. Over the following years, Arthur often dreamt of showing his family the tropic waters that he'd loved so much.

By late 1961, that dream finally became a reality. Arthur and Jean had saved their money and planned to escape Wisconsin's cold winter for a sailing adventure. It would start with a week-long cruise in the Bahamas, and if that went well, the family would take a year-long sabbatical together.

In early November 1961, the Duperault family road-tripped down to Florida and began looking for the right boat to charter at the city's Bahia Mar marina. Arthur Duperault inspected a number of boats docked at the marina before discovering the Bluebell, a two-masted sailboat known as a "catch" that had originally been built as a racing yacht. It was 60 feet long and 15 feet across at its widest point.

It also had a wooden dinghy and black rubber life raft. Inside, the boat's main cabin was 13 feet long with three portholes on either side and a skylight. The cabin contained a dining area with comfortable seating, a small bathroom, and a kitchenette. In front of the cabin was a main bedroom with a queen-sized bed. Another small sleeping area sat at the cabin's rear. These would be the family's quarters.

Finally, there was a forward cabin tucked in front of the main bedroom, designed to house the boat's crew. Bluebell was the perfect size for the Duperold family. Arthur found out it was owned by a man named Harold Pegg and skippered by a 44-year-old former Air Force pilot called Julian Harvey. Harold agreed to allow the Duperolds to charter Bluebell for $100 per day.

While the Duperolds would help out here and there with some minor running and steering of the sailboat, Captain Julian Harvey would take the helm as their skipper. Captain Harvey had recently married just three months earlier, and his wife Mary, who was 34, would be the family's cook. By the afternoon of Wednesday November 8, the group was ready to set sail.

Over the next few days, the Duperolds and their crew spent their time cruising across the sea. They observed pelicans soaring through the sky, watched porpoises swim alongside their boat, and even spotted a giant sea turtle floating nearby. The children got a thrill when they saw a shark fin surface at one point. The family also visited a number of the Bahamas islands, most of which were tiny and uninhabited.

All strong swimmers, the family went snorkeling and spearfishing. Sometimes Arthur went out in the dinghy with 14-year-old Brian and 11-year-old Terry Joe, and they would explore the coral reefs. Meanwhile, Jean Duperault stayed on the beach with their youngest child, 7-year-old Renee, collecting shells and digging in the sand.

Brian had brought a .22 caliber rifle along with the intention of possibly hunting sharks, but didn't end up using it. Meanwhile, Captain Harvey focused on the running of the ship, picking up supplies and assisting in filing paperwork that allowed the family to move freely through the Bahamas. His wife Mary didn't find the voyage as carefree as the Duperalts did.

In a letter she sent home to her mother, she complained about never having a moment to herself, writing: "I think I'll devise some kind of disappearing act. Why oh why can't people leave me alone?" But aside from this minor complaint, Mary seemed upbeat, telling her mother the Duperolds were lovely people and their children were well behaved.

A few days into the trip, Captain Harvey anchored the Bluebell in the harbour of Sandy Point, a small fishing town in the Great Abaco Bahamas. Over the course of a weekend, the Duperaults explored the village and chatted to locals, with Arthur Duperault telling the village commissioner: "This has been a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. We are going to come back and use Sandy Point as a winter resort.

On Sunday November 12, Captain Harvey and his wife Mary headed to the Commissioner's office to file the family's leaving papers, as they would be beginning their journey back to Florida that night. It was a 200 mile journey which Captain Harvey and Arthur Duperault planned to cover in two days by sailing almost constantly. They chatted and joked with the Commissioner and his wife.

Mary told them that the Duperolds had already decided to charter the Blue Bell again before Christmas, so they would all be back very soon. At 12:35pm the following day of Monday November 13, a crew member on board the oil tanker Gulf Lion spotted a small white dinghy bobbing in the choppy waters of the Northwest Providence Channel. The figure of a man was visible inside the dinghy.

As the dinghy was behind the tanker, they had to turn around to head towards it. As the Gulf Lion drew closer, its crew members saw the man stand and start to wave his arms, as though trying to get their attention. He appeared to have something in his arms, like a tarpaulin or life jacket, that he used to gesture with.

They could also make out a black rubber life raft tied alongside the dinghy with something inside, though they couldn't see what the object was. Finally, after about 30 minutes, the tanker reached the dinghy. The man inside looked to be in his 40s and was tall with bare feet and some bleached hair. Stammering slightly, he called out, "My name is Julian Harvey. I am master of the bluebell.

"I have a dead baby on this dinghy." It wasn't until the Gulf Lion had reached the dinghy that its crew members could finally see the object inside the life raft. It was the body of seven-year-old Renee Duperold. The sight of the little girl's body left the Gulf Lion's crew members feeling sick. Renee appeared stiff and blue and was clearly deceased. They lowered a basket to retrieve her body.

After Renee was safely aboard the oil tanker, Captain Harvey clambered up a rope ladder to the Gulf Lion's deck, where crew members gathered around him. They provided him with food and treated him for mild shock. Harvey appeared dazed as he was approached by the Gulf Lion's captain, who asked him what had happened.

Harvey explained that just before midnight the previous night, the Bluebell had been sailing smoothly when it was suddenly caught up in a sharp gust of wind known as a squall. This resulted in the catcher's main mast snapping in two. A 50-foot portion of the mast plunged down, driving a huge hole into the Bluebell's deck and hull.

As the main mast fell, it pulled the other mast down too, which fell into the cockpit over the engine room. Most of the Blue Bell's passengers were gathered in the cockpit at the time and were now trapped by the mast's cables and rigging. Captain Harvey ran below deck to fetch some cable cutters he could use to free the other passengers from the debris. When he returned with them, he saw a fire raging.

The second mast's fall had ruptured fuel lines in the engine room, resulting in enormous flames. The fire enveloped the cockpit and spread across the deck, which had recently been painted with highly flammable neoprene. Simultaneously, the catch had started to sink. Harvey returned below deck once again to grab a fire extinguisher, then tried to douse the flames, but they were too strong.

Cut off from the other passengers by the blaze, Harvey decided to launch the dinghy and attempt to reach them by water instead. He used the cable cutters to cut through a guardrail and release a life raft, then pushed the 10-foot-long dinghy into the water. As he paddled towards the Bluebells' stern, the catch began to sink faster, slipping below the rough waters.

Captain Harvey navigated through the dark sea as best as he could, calling out to his wife Mary and the Duperault family. But no one called back to him. The only passenger he was able to find was seven-year-old Renee Duperault, who floated by him wearing a life preserver. When he pulled her into the life raft, she was already dead.

Casefile will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. I enjoy a good deal as much as anyone, but I'm not about to jump through flaming hoops just to save a few dollars. It needs to be simple, no hassles, no nonsense. So when Mint Mobile claimed I could get wireless for $15 a month with a three-month plan, I was sceptical. But it turns out it really is that simple.

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The Gulf Lion's captain radioed the US Coast Guard to alert them of the tragedy, and an air and sea search was launched to look for any possible survivors. Two rescue planes and two Coast Guard cutters were dispatched and messages were sent to ships in the area. Yet no survivors were found.

Meanwhile, the Gulf Lion detoured to Nassau, the largest city in the Bahamas situated about 60 miles south of their current location, to drop off Harvey. Miraculously, the Blue Bull's captain was uninjured and unharmed, but he had still suffered a severe trauma. The Gulf Lion's crew rallied together to raise $180 to give to Harvey.

He used the collection to fly home to the United States, boarding a flight to Miami on Tuesday November 14. Upon landing in Miami, Captain Harvey phoned the Coast Guard to check in with them. They asked Harvey to attend an informal hearing in two days' time so he could describe the events surrounding the Blue Bell sinking in more detail. Harvey readily agreed and presented at the Coast Guard's Miami headquarters at 9am on Thursday November 16.

Also in attendance was Harold Pegg, the owner of the Bluebell, Pegg's attorney, and investigating officer Lieutenant Ernest Murdock. Before the hearing got underway, Harvey asked Lieutenant Murdock whether there was any update in the search for the Bluebell's passengers. He was informed that not only had the two search planes and two Coast Guard cutters failed to find any who'd been on board the Bluebell, but they hadn't even recovered any debris from the catch.

Captain Harvey began recounting what happened by explaining that the Bluebell had departed Sandy Point shortly after dark on the evening of Sunday November 12. The weather had been pleasant and calm, prompting all of the passengers to stay up in the cockpit. The adults chatted while the duper old children napped.

Captain Harvey was steering the boat. However, there were a few small rain squalls in the area and the Bluebell suddenly encountered one of these shortly before midnight. Harvey explained how this had broken the masts and severely damaged the boat. Some suffered injuries caused by the mast falling. Harvey's wife, Mary, and Arthur Duperault both had their legs cut by splinters of wood.

The accident caused 11-year-old Teri Jo Duperold to start screaming and Harvey had tried to calm her down. He stammered as he spoke and his jaw trembled. It was clear he was struggling at times to find the right words to describe the tragedy. Sometimes he shifted in his seat and ran his hands through his hair. Everyone present could see how much stress he was under.

Harvey continued on, describing the fire and how the catch started to sink. Harvey said that as he decided to launch the dinghy, the passengers cut off from him by the fire saw what he was doing and chose to jump overboard into the water. All three Duperoldt children had been wearing life preservers at the time. There were also life rings nearby that the adults had access to.

They seemingly hoped to survive by escaping the flames and landing safely where Harvey could reach them. As Harvey steered the dinghy into the sea, he could hear the others yelling out faintly. But by the time he reached the stern they had leapt from, none were visible in the water. The pitch black night made Harvey's rescue mission even harder as he struggled to see his surroundings with rain, wind, and waves pelting his face.

Harvey shouted to the others until his voice was hoarse. No replies came. The bluebell sank quietly into the sea, extinguishing the flames. When Harvey finally came across the body of Renee Duperault, he tried to resuscitate her, but she was already deceased. Harvey tied her to the life raft so her remains would be safe.

The strenuous actions of launching the dinghy by himself, rowing it solo, and searching for survivors had left him exhausted. As the sun rose the next morning, he ate the emergency rations in the dinghy. The sun helped warm up the freezing Captain Harvey, though waves continued to drench him repeatedly. By early afternoon, he spotted the Gulf Lion oil tanker and was able to signal for rescue.

Lieutenant Murdock asked Captain Harvey why he hadn't tried to use the Bluebell's radio to call for help. Harvey said he knew it wouldn't work as the main mast had taken out the antenna when it fell. Despite having flares in the emergency kit in the dinghy, it hadn't even occurred to him to use them. Plus, he explained, they were buried deep in the kit, making them hard to reach.

Finally, Lieutenant Murdock concluded his questioning of Captain Julian Harvey and turned his attention to the Blue Bells owner, Harold Pegg. Lieutenant Murdock told Harvey he could stay to listen to his employer's testimony and would be allowed to ask questions if he disagreed with anything Harold Pegg said. A few moments later, the door to the hearing room burst open.

Coast Guard Captain Robert Barber, who was handling the investigation alongside Lieutenant Murdock, rushed in. He had urgent news. Another survivor had been found. On the morning of Thursday November 16, Second Officer Nicolaos Spakidakis stared out at the water as his ship passed through the Northwest Providence Channel.

The Captain Theo was a Greek freighter that was on its way to Houston, Texas, and Nikolaus was acting as watcher. Standing high up on the bridge, he spotted a few other ships in the distance. The sun was shining brightly, making Nikolaus' job easier. Thousands of whitecaps dotted the surface of the water, but while most ebbed and flowed with the waves, one did not. The tiny white object caught Nikolaus' eye.

He stared at the object, squinting to get a better look. Nikolaus suspected it was a piece of debris. And then he spotted the outline of a person inside. Initially, Nikolaus wondered if he was seeing a fisherman on a dinghy, before realising they were out way too far for that. Nikolaus called over the ship's captain. By now, the object was about a mile away from the starboard bow of the freighter.

The ship slowly drew closer, and as it did so, Nicolaus and the captain realised they were looking at a tiny rectangular shaped life raft. It was two and a half feet by five feet and made of canvas covered cork with rope webbing in the middle. The person inside was a female child. She was sitting up but reclining slightly in a stiff, uncomfortable pose, her legs hanging over the life raft into the water.

Her hair was bleached blonde by the sun and she wore a white blouse and pink pedal pushers. The girl waved weakly at the ship's crew, who were staring at her in shock. The captain ordered his crew to stop the engines. Because the ship's lifeboats were large, he worried that lowering one down to the girl would knock her off the raft and into the water. So a makeshift raft was created from empty oil drums.

The captain suddenly noticed something alarming. The fins of several sharks were circling the girl's raft and she was still sitting with her legs dangling in the water. He called for his crew to hurry up and the oil drums were lowered over the side. A crew member followed and picked up the little girl. As soon as she was in his arms, she fell limp before being hoisted up to the ship's deck.

It was clear she had been alone at sea for some time. Her face was gaunt and sunburnt, her lips were swollen, and her eyes dazed and unfocused. She was severely dehydrated and obviously in shock. Crew members carried the girl to a spare cabin and placed her on a bunk before bringing her water, orange juice, and damp towels.

The captain asked the girl her name, explaining he would alert the coast guard so they could notify her family. Wordlessly, the girl shook her head and pointed down with her thumb. The captain interpreted this as the girl saying her family had been lost in the same accident as her. He tried to reassure her, stating: "You can't be sure they are lost. Maybe some other ship saved them." The girl shook her head again and pointed at the water.

Then she said in a hoarse voice, "Bluebell," before telling the captain her name: Terry Jo Duperault. The captain notified the Coast Guard of 11-year-old Terry Jo's rescue. A helicopter was sent to collect the girl, and as she was lifted into a basket, she weakly waved goodbye to the Captain Theo's crew. Terry Jo was transferred to a hospital in Miami where she was treated for shock and exposure.

Exhausted from her 84-hour long ordeal, Terri Jo slept for days. By Sunday November 19, after several days treatment and rest, she began to appear well again. Her room was kept under close guard and her aunt and uncle flew from Green Bay, Wisconsin to be with her. On Monday November 20, Terri Jo shared her story with the Coast Guard from her hospital bed.

Everything had been going well on her family's vacation up until the night of Sunday November 12. That evening, Mary Harvey made everyone chicken cacciatore and salad, which they ate together. At around 9pm, Terry Jo had gone down to the small cabin she shared with her little sister Renee and went to sleep. Everyone else had stayed up.

Terry Jo slept deeply until she was suddenly woken by the sound of her brother Brian screaming, "Help Daddy, help!" At the same time, Terry Jo heard the sound of footsteps running and stomping. Then all fell silent, except for a few creaks that were normal for the boat at night. Terry Jo lay still in bed, shaking and terrified.

She waited between 5 and 10 minutes, then got up and slowly crept out to the main cabin. Lying on the floor of the main cabin were the bodies of her mother and brother, both in a pool of blood. Terri Jo knew they were dead. In shock, she somehow kept moving and walked up the stairs towards the deck. She could see more puddles of blood on the starboard side of the cockpit, as well as what looked like a knife.

All of a sudden, Captain Julian Harvey appeared and ran towards her. Terry Jo started to ask what's happening when Harvey grabbed her and roughly shoved her back down the stairs, saying, "'Get back down there!' Scared and her heart racing, Terry Jo did as she was told, returning to her bunk and huddling in a corner."

Soon she heard the sloshing sound of water, followed a few minutes later by water that reeked of oil starting to flood her cabin. Then Captain Harvey reappeared in the doorway. She couldn't see his face due to the shadows of the dark room. He was holding something in his hands which might have been her brother's rifle, but Terry Jo struggled to see. Harvey stood staring at her for a long time.

Terry Jo sat frozen with fear. Finally, Harvey turned around and left. Some pounding noises followed and water continued to seep into the cabin reaching Terry Jo's mattress. Terry Jo knew she had to get out. The water was up to her waist as she stood and made her way back up the stairs again. When she reached the cockpit, she saw that the boat's dinghy and black rubber life raft had been launched over the side.

"'Is the ship sinking?' she cried out. "'Yes,' Harvey answered. He was standing behind her near the front of the boat. Then he handed her the line to the dinghy and told her to hold it. Terry Jo took the line and Harvey continued rushing forwards to get something. As he did so, the line slipped from Terry Jo's fingers. When he returned mere seconds later, he shouted, "'The dinghy's gone!'

He then leapt overboard towards the dinghy, which was floating away from the bluebell. Left all alone, Terry Jo somehow remembered the white cork life float which was kept attached to the top of the main cabin. She retrieved the float by untying the knot that held it in place as the deck beneath her feet slid underwater.

Then, Terry Jo pushed the life float in front of her while half swimming and half crawling across the mainsail, launching the float in the water. The float was so small that Terry Jo couldn't lie down on it. She tried to stay hunched down low, aware that Captain Harvey was out there somewhere in the dark. She had no food, water, or warm clothing, and nothing that would allow her to signal for help.

Terry Jo drifted through the water all night, cold and unable to see. The wind was howling, and waves periodically washed over her. When the sun rose the following morning, it helped warm her up, but it soon burnt her skin and made her dehydration worse. The cork float she sat on wasn't intended to be kept in the water for long periods of time, and its material beneath her began to disintegrate.

This led to parrotfish biting Terry Jo's exposed legs and feet. Monday November 13 slowly passed with no help arriving. Terry Jo saw a ship in the distance but it was too far away to see her. The following day was cloudy and cooler. A few airplanes flew by, including a small red one that was quite close to her. It was one of two rescue planes searching for the Blue Bell's passengers.

The red plane flew in a grid pattern above Terry Jo and circled her. She waved at it frantically, but again went unnoticed. At one point that afternoon, a pod of pilot whales surfaced about 30 yards from Terry Jo's float and swam alongside her for a time. She found comfort in their presence. Her sleep that night was plagued by strange hallucinations and dreams.

At one point she saw her father sitting and drinking a glass of red wine. He called out to her: "Come on, Terry Jo, we're leaving now." By her third day at sea, Terry Jo was well and truly suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration. All of her muscles ached and her lips were rough and swollen. As more of the cork float had broken and disintegrated through the middle, she was restricted to sitting on the edges.

This meant she had to remain upright at all times. Terri Jo began to hallucinate more frequently and became oblivious to the waves and sea around her. Terri Jo eventually found a way to remain on the float safely and more comfortably. She rested her shoulders on one edge, her arms on either side, and her thighs on the other edge with her legs in the water. By the fourth day, Terri Jo was in a near comatose state.

Her blood pressure had dipped and her temperature soared to 105 degrees Fahrenheit or 40.5 degrees Celsius. Terri Jo was barely conscious, but at around mid-morning, she suddenly opened her eyes to see the Greek freighter Captain Theo looming before her. Terri Jo found the strength to force herself upright and wave at the ship, then paddle towards it. She was finally rescued.

Terry Jo's version of events differed notably from Julian Harvey's. After Coast Guard Captain Robert Barber heard her describe what had happened the night that the bluebell sank, he asked the 11-year-old whether she had ever seen a fire at any time on the boat. Terry Jo said she hadn't. Nor did she see or smell smoke. The Coast Guard investigators were now certain that Julian Harvey had been lying.

The bluebell hadn't gone down due to an accident. In fact, Terry Jo's descriptions of her mother and brother's bodies, along with the blood she'd seen near the cockpit, made investigators certain that the boat had been deliberately sunk to cover murder. When Captain Harvey received word of Terry Jo's survival during the Coast Guard hearing, he'd appeared shocked and unsettled.

After initially expressing his amazement and stating, isn't that wonderful? He then abruptly stood and walked to a nearby window. After staring outside at the ground below for about a minute, he turned and headed towards the door. His employer and the Blue Bells owner, Harold Pegg, were still giving his testimony. Upon seeing that Harvey appeared to be leaving, Coast Guard Lieutenant Ernest Murdoch asked him,

"Don't you want to remain for the rest of the testimony? You have that privilege." Harvey smiled and shook his head, then left. Lieutenant Murdock and his partner, Captain Barber, were suspicious about Harvey's abrupt departure right after he'd found out Terry Jo survived. They paused the proceedings to quickly call the Miami Police Department and request that Terry Jo Duperold's hospital room be kept under constant guard.

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Protect yourself with a 30-day free trial at lifelock.com. Use promo code NEWS. Terms apply. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. Before his career as a skipper, Julian Harvey had been an Air Force pilot, serving in World War II and the Korean War. His service saw him receive a number of medals.

But his first love had always been sailing. As a teenager growing up in New York, he had built sailboats and took them out on the Long Island Sound. After he retired from his military career in 1958, he moved to Florida to pursue a full-time career as a master of a yacht. People in Fort Lauderdale regarded him as a handsome and dashing war hero.

In July 1961, Julian Harvey married aspiring writer Mary Jordan, who was 10 years his junior. Mary wasn't Harvey's first wife. He had been married five times before and was known to be unfaithful to his spouses. Some of his marriages ended with Harvey telling his wives he no longer loved them, but more than one ended in tragedy.

In 1949, when Harvey was 32, he was driving along a rainy highway with his second wife, Joan Boylan, and her mother Myrtle, when his car skidded into a bridge railing, then sunk into a bayou. Joan and Myrtle both drowned, trapped in the car. Harvey walked away unharmed. He attributed this to the fact he'd seen the accident coming at the last second, prompting him to open his door and jump out before the collision.

He made no attempt to save his wife or mother-in-law. Bypassers who came across the accident saw him standing on the bridge calmly, watching others diving into the water. A highway patrol officer and the police diver who responded to the incident were suspicious, especially when the car was found with all four doors closed and the driver's side window wound down.

But there was no hard evidence indicating a crime, and Harvey was permitted to move on with his life. He received a payout from a life insurance policy he'd taken out on Joan, and within weeks of her death, he was living with another woman. In 1954, Harvey and his fifth wife purchased a 68-foot yacht called the Torbatross.

Within a year of buying it, Harvey and several friends took it out one day and rammed it into a submerged battleship. The Torbatross sank but all on board survived, with Harvey suing the US government due to the submerged wreck causing the accident. Coast Guard investigator Robert Barber, who was assigned this case six years before the Bluebell sank, believed Harvey had deliberately run into the wreck.

It was a well-known navigational hazard that was clearly marked with a buoy and its exact location was clearly visible. Furthermore, a passenger who'd been on the yacht said Harvey had circled the wreck twice before the collision. Ultimately, the court found differently and awarded Harvey a $14,258 payout. Using the proceeds of this settlement, Harvey bought another boat, an 81-foot yacht called Valiant.

In 1958, the Valiant was spotted on fire in the marina where it was kept. A passerby was able to douse the flames and the boat was saved. A few months later, Harvey sailed the Valiant to Cuba. When he was 10 miles off the north coast of Cuba, the yacht caught fire. Harvey and his sole crewmen were able to escape as the Valiant burnt and sank.

A passing boat picked up Harvey and he was able to collect a $40,000 insurance payout for losing his second boat. Some were suspicious due to the earlier fire on the Valiant, and a friend of Harvey's later told author Richard Logan that Harvey had told him he'd burned and sank the yacht because he needed the money.

In the fall of 1960, Julian Harvey met a flight attendant and aspiring writer named Mary Jordan while he was skippering a yacht that had been chartered for a party. Mary and Harvey hit it off and were married in Mexico in July 1961. The pair soon began arguing frequently, often about money. Mary's father was unwell, so she promised to send her family $25 per month to help pay for his hospital care.

Harvey was unhappy about this. Two months after their wedding, he took out a $20,000 life insurance policy on his new wife. The policy included a double indemnity clause that meant if she died in an accident and her body wasn't recovered, he would receive $40,000. One month before the Duperold family arrived in Florida, the Bluebells owner Harold Pegg hired Julian Harvey as a skipper.

Harvey would receive $300 per month as well as free accommodation on the catch in exchange for taking tourists out on chartered cruises. The Duperalts had been the first clients that Harvey had taken out. After Terry Jo was rescued, her description of what had happened on Sunday November 12 pointed to a violent attack caused by a person, not a weather event.

and a number of people had noticed holes and inconsistencies in Harvey's story from the start. While most of the crew from the Gulf Lion who'd rescued Harvey empathised with him, others were suspicious of him. Some found his demeanour odd, noting that he was joking and laughing despite his ordeal and the presence of seven-year-old Renee Duperault's body. They heard Harvey tell their captain that he didn't know what happened to his wife,

Then later he amended his story when talking to the crew, saying he had seen Mary jump overboard. Harvey had also initially told the Gulf Lions crew that Arthur and Jean Duperault had been killed instantly when they were struck by the falling mast. Yet at the hearing several days later, he said only that some passengers had been injured. The Coast Guard investigators noted some contradictions too.

They found Harvey's story of a fire unlikely. There was a lighthouse stationed just a few miles from where the bluebell sank, yet the lookout there hadn't seen any flames. And Harvey's description of how the broken mast plunged directly down into the boat's deck wasn't consistent with what they'd seen in similar circumstances. If a mast was broken by heavy wind, it tended to fall sideways and overboard.

Then there was the fact that Harvey hadn't used the flares in the dinghy's emergency kit to signal for help, supposedly because he either forgot about them or couldn't be bothered rummaging through the back. Following extensive interviews and investigations, the Coast Guard officers in charge of the Bluebell case put together a theory.

They suspected that Julian Harvey had intended to kill his wife Mary while out at sea and dispose of her body overboard, with the aim of collecting the life insurance payout. Harold Pegg had noticed scratches on Harvey's arm after he was rescued. Harvey said they were from scrambling through the rigging after the yacht's mast broke. But Harold was adamant that the scratches were clearly made by fingernails, and Mary had had long nails.

Investigators thought Harvey had probably stabbed Mary in their shared cabin and she fought back. His plan was likely to later throw her body overboard when everyone else was asleep and discover her missing the following morning. The Coast Guard investigators believed that Harvey hadn't intended for the Duperold family to die or the Bluebell to sink.

But perhaps Arthur Duperault had come across Harvey while he was either murdering Mary or disposing of her body. To cover up his crime, Harvey killed Arthur and then Jean Duperault who might have also been a witness. The noise woke Brian Duperault, who cried out for his father. Harvey killed him, too. Terri Jo had spotted the bodies of her mother and brother lying dead on the floor but hadn't seen anyone else.

Because she had been sleeping downstairs, Terry Jo was initially left to drown as Harvey scrambled to sink the catch so that the mass murder would instead look like a terrible accident. When she went upstairs and interrupted Harvey, it appeared he had considered killing her too. He subsequently appeared in her doorway, apparently carrying her brother's rifle.

Ultimately, he hadn't shot her, as he'd decided she would drown anyway with the catch sinking. An autopsy indicated Renee Duperault had drowned but couldn't determine if this had been done intentionally by another person or was the result of the bluebell sinking. Investigators suspected her mother Jean might have tried to shield her during the attack and in the process of Jean's murder, Renee was struck or hit her head, falling unconscious.

She subsequently drowned when the bluebell went under, and Harvey retrieved her floating body to bolster his story. Investigators believed that Harvey hadn't used the emergency kit flares to signal for help because he didn't want to be found too close to the site where the bluebell sank. If the wreckage was recovered, evidence on board might have disproved his claims about what happened.

The bluebell was never found, and nor were the bodies of the four other victims. Captain Harvey's demeanour throughout the Coast Guard hearing had been interesting. He was obviously nervous and stammered often. He became even more uncomfortable after it was announced that Terry Jo Duperault had been found alive, abruptly leaving the hearing without explanation.

Just before noon on Friday November 17, the day after Harvey left the hearing, a cleaner at Miami's Sandman Motel knocked on the door of room 17. A man named John Munro had booked the room for one night the previous day. It was just before checkout time and she needed to make up the room. When there was no response from inside, the cleaner unlocked the door and let herself in.

She was met by a blast of cool air from the air conditioner which had been left on. The breeze was pleasant due to the stifling Miami heat outside. But the cleaner also noticed a slightly strange smell. She thought little of it and set about doing her job. The room had two twin beds and the cleaner began to strip the sheets from one. When she pulled back the covers, she noticed one of the sheets had a small patch of blood on it.

She then went to the bathroom to gather the towels. The door was closed and when she tried to open it, the handle moved but the door wouldn't open. The cleaner could tell there was something pushed up against its other side. It felt like something large and soft. She noticed that the strange odor she'd smelt was also stronger in this part of the room. Suddenly realizing that what she could smell was blood, she began to scream.

The hotel manager was summoned by the commotion and he too tried to open the bathroom door. When he couldn't push it open, he called the police. A patrol officer arrived at the scene at 12:14pm and was able to force the door partially open by using his shoulder. Sticking his head in the open space, he saw the body of a man lying on the floor, covered in blood.

The officer had previously worked at the Miami Harbor and recognized the man as Blue Bell Captain Julian Harvey. Investigators were able to piece together Harvey's movements after leaving Coast Guard headquarters the day prior. He had retrieved a suitcase from his car which was parked nearby, then caught a cab to the Sandman Motel. At 11am he checked in using the false name of John Munro and said he was from Tampa.

After going to his room, he hadn't been seen again. On a desk inside Harvey's motel room, investigators found a letter he had written to a friend. He mentioned nothing about the bluebell or what had happened to it, but wrote, "'I'm a nervous wreck and just can't continue. I'm going out now. I guess I either don't like life or don't know what to do with it.'"

After sealing the envelope, he wrote on it "Cremate and Bury at Sea" before scribbling over the word "cremate". Harvey had unpacked his suitcase, hung up his clothes, and left his suitcase on the luggage rack. He pinned a $10 note to his pillow as a tip for the cleaner. The blood on the bed suggested he'd first tried to suicide there before getting up and moving to the bathroom.

He'd taken two photographs with him, one of his wife Mary and the other of his son from a previous relationship. These photos were found propped up on the toilet tank and were visible from the spot on the floor where Harvey died. He had used a razor blade to make multiple cuts in numerous places all over his body until he eventually bled out. Investigators were struck by the brutality of the scene.

Harvey had been left mutilated by his many injuries. Franz suspected he had been left devastated and guilt-ridden by the mass casualties on the Blue Bell, including the loss of his wife. But this theory fell apart several days later when Terry Jo Duperault was finally well enough to tell her story.

Because Harvey had taken his own life before investigators had a chance to arrest him, no one would ever answer for what happened to the Bluebell and its passengers in a court of law. On Wednesday April 25 1962, the Coast Guard issued a detailed statement following a five-month long investigation. They concluded that Captain Julian Harvey murdered his wife and three members of the Duperold family before scuttling the Bluebell.

The miraculous survival of Terri Jo Duperault was deemed to have been aided by several factors, including mild weather and the fact that a slick of oil from the sunken catch had enveloped the water around her life float, deterring predators such as sharks. Terri Jo was also an outdoorsy child.

At home in Wisconsin, she had played survival-themed games by herself in the woods that had in some small way prepared her for the plight she later faced. Terri Jo's ordeal led to the Coast Guard mandating that life rafts be bright orange instead of white to make them easier to spot amongst the ocean's whitecaps. After her recovery in hospital, Terri Jo returned home to Green Bay, Wisconsin.

She was raised by her aunt and uncle alongside her three cousins. People from all over the world who had been touched by her story sent her letters and gifts. The crew of the Captain Theo, the freighter that rescued her, even bought Terri Jo a life-sized doll after learning she'd lost one similar in the tragedy. When she was 12 years old, she changed her name to Terri spelled T-E-R-E.

She wanted to escape the name that was inextricably tied with an infamous crime and move beyond being seen as a victim. Changing her name allowed her to reclaim her identity and take some control back. Those around Terri never brought up the tragedy of what had happened to her family, so she learnt to avoid the subject as well. Almost two decades went by before Terri spoke about it.

She married and had children without ever having opened up about her trauma. Eventually, she told a doctor what had happened, which gradually led to her being able to discuss it more openly. Sharing her story made her feel lighter and eventually she co-wrote a book about the tragedy with survival expert Richard Logan. Titled "Alone: Orphaned on the Ocean", the book is a detailed account of the crime, the subsequent events, and Terry's life after.

In an interview about the book's publication with CBS News, Terry revealed that ever since what happened on the Bluebell, she has felt intuitively drawn to the water and even pursued a career in water resources. Quote, "...Julian Harvey abandoned me thinking the ocean would swallow me, but instead it created a bond between me and water."

"In our book I describe what it was like to be dependent on the water for the four days I waited to be rescued. I write about the ocean life around me and the power of that experience. I went on to protect the water that had protected me as a little girl. Water is life and it is soothing for me to be on the beach. I find I can think clearly, relax, and feel closer to my lost family."

Reflecting on the message she wanted to share with readers, Terri stated: "I always believed I was saved for a reason, but it took me 50 years to gain the strength to be able to give other people hope with my story. If just one person goes on to heal from a life tragedy, my journey will have been worth it. I am a survivor trying to reach other survivors.

When 18-year-old Neem May went missing in 2002, her family did everything they could to help the police find her.

But, like so many missing persons cases, there comes a time when the leads dry up and there's nowhere left to look. At no point have we just got on with our lives. I heard something recently that really resonated. It was a woman from America who said that you never get over grief, you learn to move forward with it. And I was like, that's the best anyone's ever described it. Niamh's sister, Fanula, realised that a podcast might help find the answers the family was looking for.

So, for the past four years, I've been working with Niamh's family to take a closer look at the case. And what we found took us to places we never anticipated. Here's everything we've done. We've obviously got serious concerns about her welfare. I've just spoken to the last person to see her alive that we knew about. And he's giving me a bullshit story. When I first started looking into this case in 2020, it was originally intended to be a single case file episode.

But the more I looked, the more I found. So Steve, he is adamant that she never made it to Go Cup Road. Stan is adamant that there's a credible sighting there. Niamh set out for a gap year after finishing high school to test her independence, but she never made it home. What happened in those final days? And when the black hearse arrived, these two men got out and as soon as I saw them and I saw that black hearse, I thought...

They're baddies. Stay away from them. Mum called me and she said, look, the police are investigating now and somebody claims that he dropped her off and she was hitchhiking. What started out as a potential case file episode turned into a 12-part series that took over four years to research. He didn't smile or anything. He just kind of looked empty and just, like, get in the car.

It was just kind of like aggressively like getting in the car. Join me as we uncover what happened in Missing Niamh, the new 12-part podcast series from Casefile Presents. Something had obviously worked in me suddenly because I was disorientated.

That's when I realised that there was just a cold, rough hand holding my hand because I had my hand over the edge of the bed and I could see the outline of somebody leaning over the bed. Evil, I guess, has to be somewhat attractive, doesn't it? Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to sneak into every corner. So I whispered to my sister, asked her if she was awake and she said yes. I said, there's someone in the room and she said, I know. Missing Niamh will be available on September 24th

Be sure to download and follow MissingNiamh wherever you get your podcasts.