American couple presumed dead after yacht hijacked near Grenada by escaped prisoners

Ralph Hendry and Kathleen Brandel were likely thrown overboard by three escaped Grenadian convicts who seized their yacht. No bodies have been recovered.

American retirees feared killed after yacht seized off Grenada

Police in Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines believe that American retirees Ralph Hendry and Kathleen Brandel were killed after three escaped prisoners hijacked their yacht, Simplicity, and threw them overboard somewhere in the 80 miles of ocean between the two island nations, forbes.com reports.

Separate press conferences on Monday saw law enforcement from both countries confirm the same grim assessment — neither body has been recovered despite searches by the Coast Guards of both nations.

Grenadian Police Commissioner Don McKenzie acknowledged that his information remained "quite limited" but said evidence indicated that the three escaped convicts "disposed of the occupants" before arriving in St. Vincent. St. Vincent Police Superintendent Junior Simmons said investigators found evidence of "several criminal acts" aboard the vessel: the couple's belongings were scattered across the deck, and a "red substance that resembled blood" was discovered in the cabin.

The three suspects — Ron Mitchell, 30, Trevon Robinson, 25, and Atiba Stanislaus, 23 — had been held in Grenada on charges of violent robbery and rape before escaping from the South St. George's police station on Sunday, February 18. Commissioner McKenzie said the force would "hold persons accountable" for the escape, with an investigation still ongoing into how the three men broke out.

The day after their escape, the fugitives commandeered the Simplicity, which was docked near Grand Anse Beach, and used the vessel to travel to St. Vincent. Vincentian police believe the trio arrived on the southern coast of the country's largest island on Monday, February 19. They were taken into custody on February 21, the same day the Simplicity was found empty. The three men have so far been charged only with immigration offences in St. Vincent; no murder charges have been filed in connection with Hendry's or Brandel's deaths.

Hendry and Brandel's sons, Bryan Hendry and Nick Buro, told NBC Washington that their parents' disappearance was "completely unexpected." The couple had sold their home in Virginia more than a decade ago and had since lived full time aboard their yacht. Buro described them as experienced world travellers, saying that "Simplicity was their home."

The pair were longtime members of the Salty Dawg Sailing Association and had recently completed a sailing rally with the club from Hampton, Virginia, to Antigua. Bob Osborn, president of the organisation, said in a statement on Saturday: "In all my years of cruising the Caribbean, I have never heard of anything like this."

Source: Google News GD — Crime