Lisa Bishop and the Freedon

[hottstuff25]

Now, this is one of the cases on UM that has bothered me for years. It aired yesterday (nov 11th) on the second episode. Many who haven't seen it may remember how she was a journalist from Georgia writing a book, and she met this European sea captain in a club named Florian who offered to take her to Haiti on a beat up Haitian vessel called the Freedon. Lisa never made it to Haiti, and went missing. However, Florian and other people on the ship have been spotted in various places in the Caribbean. This case is very obvious in what happened, but was probably too hardcore of an issue for UM to speculate into at the time. My true opinion is, Florian was really probably a drug trafficker in the Caribbean, and Lisa was probably used in some sort of extra bait in a drug trade that Florian was conducting in the Caribbean (possibly Cuba, which was en route to Haiti). She was then probably held captive with these people as a sex slave, used for sex and prostitution, and most likely is deceased now. This might sound graphic or overexaggerated, but the Caribbean is a VERY dangerous place, where drug trafficking from Cuba to Miami was very prominent at that time. Lisa was pretty aloof, being the beautiful woman that she is to go on such a ugly looking vessel with an unknown man to Haiti without conducting some kind of research on the waters. This is the reason it bothers me so much, because people can just be so overly stupid, and the thoughts of what happened are just sick. What do you guys think? Hopefully I get some responses from neone who has seen this segment.

[ddelta]

I watched this case the other day and remember it too...i think you are right. I believe that the captain is still alive and the Freedon still working (under a different name). I kept watching her boyfriend and parents talk and was like why did you not stop her from going....it is crazy to let her do that. that ship was not a yacht, this guy she hardly knew and she is going on a ship...did not make sense to me, but i think she is dead but i also believe she might of been kept for many years on one of those islands and used for that persons "pleasure". Pretty sick to think about...i am amazed though that they have never seen this captain again...he stands out compared to the rest of the crew....

[hottstuff25]

Yea that is pretty weird. But Florian probably realized himself that he is the obvious person that would know the mystery of what happened to Lisa, and would have to change identities and possibly appearance. He could have done all this, and escaped to Europe, where he was from which is the most likely scenario. Knowing that her family and authorities would be looking for her, he would have eventually fled the Caribbean.

[ForeverPluto]

After watching this segment again, here are my questions/observations.

1. Is Florian even his real name? UM never really said if there was any effort looked into this guy's background. It wouldn't surprise me if Florian was just an alias.

2. I get the feeling that Lisa may not have been Florian's(if that's his real name) only victim. I'm sure most of us have heard news stories or stories in general about guys like Florian who prey on young attractive yet vulnerable women like Lisa Bishop. I call her vulnerable because the segment mentioned that things between her and her boyfriend were stormy. Who knows what else may have been going on with her at the time. Maybe she confided in Florian about her situation and thought she had a real friend in him or who knows...she might have even fallen for him. Whatever the case, she obviously trusted him enough to go on the Freedon with him to Haiti. I think he set Lisa up from Day One. I believe that he is still alive and I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't doing this same practice with other young women like Lisa...which is luring them into prostitution/slavery oversees.


Just my two cents...

[sdb4884]

It seems strange that a girl would go off on a boat with a guy she hardly knew and leave her boyfriend behind. There is no doubt that there was more to it. Florian was probably being paid to get the boat to the Carribean to use it for illegal transportation of illegal goods. Bishop was probably murdered mid journey and dumped overboard.

[XCalibur]

I know its a serious case and I sincerely hope that girl is alive somewhere, but I couldn't help but laugh at the part of the segment where that eyewitness was testifying and commented on the name of the boat how he was thinking " Man these people really need their freedom, they don't even know how to spell it"

[Drakken]

Originally Posted by sdb4884

It seems strange that a girl would go off on a boat with a guy she hardly knew and leave her boyfriend behind. There is no doubt that there was more to it. Florian was probably being paid to get the boat to the Carribean to use it for illegal transportation of illegal goods. Bishop was probably murdered mid journey and dumped overboard.

I don't find it strange at all. Remember Oba Chandler? Like Lisa Bishop, the three women trusted Oba Chandler and he knew how to lie to them.

My take is that she was leaving behind a nice, but "boring" boyfriend and a rocky relationship for a trip at sea with a mysterious, attractive Bohemian type of man. Plenty of women, who are neither sluts nor easy, follow and sleep with guys who they "barely know", but trigger their attraction irrelevant of whether they have a boyfriend or not. When attracted to someone, it's hard for anyone to believe or even think that that "cool" person might have bad or criminal intentions against you.

I remember plainly when Stack described her relationship and how she met Florian, the first thing I said to myself was "Uh-oh... you're gonna lose your girl", right there.

From watching the segment, it was plain that she was dumping him unofficially, or at least taking a "break", and that she was attracted to Florian as following him in a sieve toward one of the most dangerous spots of sea in the world meant that she was trusting him to protect her. However, either she could not find a way to tell him she was through with him, she wanted to keep her boyfriend but have a secret adventure with Florian, or she wanted to keep her boyfriend as a rebound just in case.

[sdb4884]

Originally Posted by Drakken

I don't find it strange at all. Remember Oba Chandler? Like Lisa Bishop, the three women trusted Oba Chandler and he knew how to lie to them.

My take is that she was leaving behind a nice, but "boring" boyfriend and a rocky relationship for a trip at sea with a mysterious, attractive Bohemian type of man. Plenty of women, who are neither sluts nor easy, follow and sleep with guys who they "barely know", but trigger their attraction irrelevant of whether they have a boyfriend or not. When attracted to someone, it's hard for anyone to believe or even think that that "cool" person might have bad or criminal intentions against you.

I remember plainly when Stack described her relationship and how she met Florian, the first thing I said to myself was "Uh-oh... you're gonna lose your girl", right there.

From watching the segment, it was plain that she was dumping him unofficially, or at least taking a "break", and that she was attracted to Florian as following him in a sieve toward one of the most dangerous spots of sea in the world meant that she was trusting him to protect her. However, either she could not find a way to tell him she was through with him, she wanted to keep her boyfriend but have a secret adventure with Florian, or she wanted to keep her boyfriend as a rebound just in case.

I agree to an extent but this wasn't just a short boat trip it was a trip to another country. I suppose though that the relationship wasn't really going too well anyway.

[rubber4532]

the key to the whole mystery appears to be Felipe, but apparently the authorities have ignored him as a source.

[Blackout]

damn international cases. so impossible to solve.

[cocytus]

Originally Posted by hottstuff25

Now, this is one of the cases on UM that has bothered me for years. It aired yesterday (nov 11th) on the second episode. Many who haven't seen it may remember how she was a journalist from Georgia writing a book, and she met this European sea captain in a club named Florian who offered to take her to Haiti on a beat up Haitian vessel called the Freedon. Lisa never made it to Haiti, and went missing. However, Florian and other people on the ship have been spotted in various places in the Caribbean. This case is very obvious in what happened, but was probably too hardcore of an issue for UM to speculate into at the time. My true opinion is, Florian was really probably a drug trafficker in the Caribbean, and Lisa was probably used in some sort of extra bait in a drug trade that Florian was conducting in the Caribbean (possibly Cuba, which was en route to Haiti). She was then probably held captive with these people as a sex slave, used for sex and prostitution, and most likely is deceased now. This might sound graphic or overexaggerated, but the Caribbean is a VERY dangerous place, where drug trafficking from Cuba to Miami was very prominent at that time. Lisa was pretty aloof, being the beautiful woman that she is to go on such a ugly looking vessel with an unknown man to Haiti without conducting some kind of research on the waters. This is the reason it bothers me so much, because people can just be so overly stupid, and the thoughts of what happened are just sick. What do you guys think? Hopefully I get some responses from neone who has seen this segment.

Hmmm....
Well it's been years since the OP posted this, but I think I'll add my two cents.

There are only a few possibilities in case, IMHO:

1) Florian killed Ms. Bishop and concealed the body.
2) Florian, Ms. Bishop and some or all of the crew were all killed after an attack by pirates or drug runners.
3) Felipe killed Florian and Ms. Bishop and disposed of their bodies.
4) The crew mutinied and killed Florian,Ms. Campbell and Felipe.

The key to solving this crime, IMHO, is finding out what happened to the crew of The Freedon. Unless they were all killed in whatever happened, it would difficult to imagine that out of a group that large there wouldn't be one person whose conscience wouldn't be troubling him if he thought about a murder occurring.

Find the crew or a crew member of The Freedon and you'll solve this mystery.

[Rabbitman]

I agree. I wonder how extensive the searches have been to find any of the other crewmembers. And whether or not they're family members ever reported them missing to anyone. I've always been fascinated by this case.

[FlorianBourch]

I've come across unconfirmed reports that the FREEDON is now called the FREELIAINT.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Originally Posted by FlorianBourch

I've come across unconfirmed reports that the FREEDON is now called the FREELIAINT.

That's interesting! Is the boat still operational?

[Hambone2421]

Originally Posted by LooksLikeCRicci

That's interesting! Is the boat still operational?

Refresh my memory, but didn't the authorities find wreckage that they believe belonged to the Freedon?