Missing US couple in Grenada: three fugitives allegedly stole their yacht

Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel vanished from their yacht in Grenada after three escaped prisoners allegedly seized the vessel. Police say the pair may have been killed.

American couple disappears after fugitives allegedly seize yacht in Grenada

An American couple has been missing since Monday after three escaped prisoners allegedly commandeered their yacht in the waters off Grenada, 6abc.com reports.

Ralph Hendry and his wife Kathy Brandel were last seen alive on Sunday afternoon by a fellow boater docked nearby. The neighbour watched them walk into a restaurant that evening and later confirmed the yacht, named Simplicity, was still at anchor when he went to bed — but gone by 6:30 a.m. Monday, according to Hendry's sister, Suellen Desmarais, who spoke to ABC News.

The Royal Grenada Police Force identified three men — Ron Mitchell, Trevon Robertson and Abita Stanislaus, all from St. Andrew, Grenada — as the alleged perpetrators. The three had been arrested on Sunday on charges of robbery with violence, but escaped from a police station before they could be held. Mitchell faced additional charges of rape, attempted rape and indecent assault, investigators said.

The fugitives allegedly used Simplicity to travel to a neighbouring Caribbean island. All three were apprehended by police in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Wednesday. Grenada Police stated they are "currently working on leads that suggest that the two occupants of the yacht may have been killed in the process."

The Salty Dawg Sailing Association, of which the couple were members, said a good Samaritan boarded the yacht after finding it anchored and abandoned off a St. Vincent beach. The individual contacted both the association and the Coast Guard upon finding no one aboard. The good Samaritan also "found evidence of apparent violence," the association said in a statement.

Bob Osborn, president of the Salty Dawg Sailing Association, said in a statement Friday evening: "I have spoken to the families and have offered our deepest condolences and our assistance in any way possible. In all my years of cruising the Caribbean, I have never heard of anything like this."

Desmarais said the couple had been in Grenada for approximately two weeks at the time of their disappearance, and the yacht had left the island a week earlier than planned. Hendry and Brandel had sailed the same annual route for several years — departing from Virginia, stopping in Massachusetts and then Florida before heading south through the Caribbean.

Grenada Police have not officially confirmed the couple's identities or nationalities, though Desmarais identified them to ABC News. The couple's two children and Desmarais' son flew to St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Friday to assist with the search.

"Their love for life and island people, they're good, basic people," Desmarais said. "Until they find a body, they're still alive."

Source: Google News GD — Crime