Lost at sea: The mysterious disappearance of Angela Westberry
Occam’s razor says that the simplest explanation for some event is the most likely one. And when someone vanishes on a boat, and neither they nor the boat are ever seen again, it makes sense to assume the boat sank.
That may well be the case with Angela Westberry. But other details don’t fit with that.
Angela Loraine Westberry was last seen in Jacksonville, Florida on December 1, 1984. She had told others that she was planning on visiting the Bahamas. Along with a friend, Theresa Hickmon, she boarded a boat, Sea Fever, a 42 or 46-foot 1960 Richardson boat with a white hull and twin cabins with a cockpit between them (a similar boat can be seen here). Two white males were also aboard the boat. They have never been identified and it’s not known who actually owned Sea Fever at the time. Sea Fever was seen in the Grand Cayman Islands by US Customs either three or thirteen days after it left Jacksonville (sources differ). Neither Sea Fever nor Westberry have been seen again.
Westberry’s sister later reported her missing, but I don’t know exactly when that was. Even now, her disappearance has very little presence online. There’s no Facebook page, no website, just a few official listings: one on NamUs, and one on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. NCMEC listed her for a very long time, but her case has been taken down for some reason. If there’s a lot of people who are looking for her, they’re not making themselves known. That lack of coverage makes it even harder to determine what happened to her; family and friends might have more information that points towards one solution or the other.
That being said, there are still several possible scenarios that can be considered.
Theory 1: Sea Fever sank in the ocean. All aboard drowned.
On the surface, this makes sense. It explains why Westberry and Hickmon have never been seen again and why Sea Fever has also not been seen since. The one hitch in this theory is that there were two people aboard the boat. If that’s the case, how come no one’s reported them missing? It’s a bit of a coincidence both of them had no family or friends who would wonder about their whereabouts. Of course, it’s also possible that they have been recorded missing, and their disappearances have simply not been publicly connected to Westberry. Hickmon’s disappearance date was given as January 15, 1985 in many records (this is most likely the date she was reported missing) and the two men aboard the boat are in there somewhere. Right now, there’s no firm evidence of that.
Any other theory has to come up with an explanation for the loss of Sea Fever. A member of the Websleuths community commented in a thread devoted to the disappearance of Westberry that a boat can be easily sold and re-registered under a new name with no connection to the previous one, or if abandoned could be auctioned off by the Coast Guard and subsequently re-named and registered elsewhere. All other theories presume this is what happened to Sea Fever.
Theory 2: Westberry vanished of her own accord and is living in the Bahamas.
In 1984, you didn’t need a passport to enter the Bahamas if you lived in the United States, and in some cases you could get one while living there. So it’s possible Westberry could have just gone there and stayed. However, the continuing missing persons’ report is a big red flag. If she did so, there’s nothing stopping her from calling law enforcement, giving them proof of her identity, and closing the case. She could not want to call attention to the fact she might be living in the Bahamas in less than legal circumstances, but she also hasn’t contacted any family since then. Thirty-seven years of silence speaks volumes. While this theory can’t be ruled out, it doesn’t seem likely.
Theory 3: Westberry was taken against her will by the two males and has been either murdered or held captive.
While a disturbing possibility, it explains both Westberry’s disappearance and why those men have not been reported missing. But there are still questions. Did they live in the Bahamas themselves? If they’re from the US, did they just decide to not come back? The Bahamas is also much smaller than the United States. If you’ve murdered someone or are holding them captive, there’s fewer places to hide. And two people would be required to not talk about her disappearance/death at all. While that does happen, it’s not very common.
Theory 4: The drug theory. Drug runners had something to do with her disappearance.
On the Websleuths thread linked above, another poster mentioned that the route from Florida to the Bahamas was a haven of drug trafficking in the 80’s (and in fact still is). If the two men on Sea Fever were involved in that trade, they could have easily run afoul of an irate dealer. Westberry could have been killed as an innocent bystander, or offered up as a victim to placate the drug kingpins. It’s also possible that some drug dealers noticed Westberry in the company of the men, assumed she had to know something about their trade, and killed her in retaliation for some slight. But like with the sinking theory, there still isn’t an explanation for why the men haven’t been reported missing if they are also victims, or never said anything if they were not.
What do I think happened to Westberry? I’d love to commit myself to one of the theories, but I can’t seem to fully accept one or rule the others out. And without more information, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to. If anyone can offer more information, I’d love to hear about it. Westberry has been missing for a long time and someone out there is probably looking for answers.
Angela Westberry on the For the Lost site