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The authorities in Grenada stated on Monday that they believed an American couple who had been touring of their catamaran within the Caribbean had been hijacked by three escaped prisoners who “disposed” of them final week.
The couple, Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel, had departed from Virginia and had been spending the winter cruising within the Caribbean, the place they went lacking whereas crusing off Grenada. On Feb. 21, their boat turned up empty in neighboring St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
On Monday, the Royal Grenada Police Drive confirmed that three jail escapees in Grenada made their getaway after they hijacked the catamaran, referred to as Simplicity, with Mr. Hendry and Ms. Brandel aboard.
“Data means that, whereas touring between Grenada and St. Vincent, they disposed of the occupants,” Commissioner Don McKenzie of the Royal Grenada Police Drive stated at a information convention on Monday.
The police wouldn’t say explicitly that they believed Mr. Hendry and Ms. Brandel had been useless however that they had been nonetheless thought of lacking.
“We have now nothing conclusive to say that the people are useless,” he stated.
“What I can say to the household is my condolences,” including that he was “nonetheless hoping for as what I take into account a constructive consequence which is, we nonetheless have the hope {that a} worst-case state of affairs won’t be a actuality.”
In line with the Salty Dawg Crusing Affiliation, a nonprofit that brings collectively crusing and cruising fans, a skipper notified it on Feb. 21 {that a} member’s yacht, Simplicity, was discovered anchored and deserted off a seaside on the southern coast of St. Vincent.
The skipper boarded the catamaran and famous that its homeowners weren’t onboard, the affiliation’s assertion stated. The lacking boat homeowners had been recognized as Mr. Hendry, 66, and Ms. Brandel, 71, by the affiliation and Ms. Brandel’s son, Nick Buro.
Mr. Hendry and Ms. Brandel, who had been married for 27 years, had been skilled sailors who lived on their boat.
They just lately accomplished their crusing membership’s “Caribbean Rally” — cruising from Hampton, Va., to the island of Antigua to finish 2023 with a celebration — and so they had been spending the rest of the winter cruising the Caribbean, in line with an announcement from the membership.
The affiliation stated that it had a monitoring map to observe members’ boats and that it confirmed that Simplicity was anchored in Grenada earlier than docking off St. Vincent.
Individually, the Royal Grenada Police Drive stated in a Feb. 22 assertion that three males who escaped from a jail in Grenada on Feb. 18 made their technique to St. Vincent utilizing a yacht that had been docked within the St. George space of Grenada.
The prisoners had been recaptured on Feb. 21, the identical day that the couple’s vessel was discovered.
The authorities recognized the prisoners as Trevon Robertson, 19; Abita Stanislaus, 25; and Ron Mitchell, 30.
They’d been beforehand charged, collectively, in a violent theft case in December. Mr. Mitchell additionally confronted varied separate costs that included inflicting hurt, indecent assault and rape, the Grenada police stated.
It was not instantly clear on Monday what costs they could face relating to the couple’s disappearance.
The police commissioner stated a crew of investigators from Grenada and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Coast Guard had been dispatched to St. Vincent to assist in the investigation.
In a joint household assertion on Saturday, Mr. Buro and Bryan Hendry, Mr. Hendry’s son, thanked the cruising neighborhood for its assist and assist in the search however requested them to face down.
“We additionally need to applaud the St. Vincent authorities for his or her fast actions in securing Simplicity and their courageous, swift response that led to the apprehension of three harmful fugitives,” in line with the assertion.
Bob Osborn, president of the crusing membership, described the couple as warmhearted and succesful and referred to as their disappearance “a really upsetting occasion.”
A GoFundMe web page began by a household good friend described Mr. Hendry and Ms. Brandel as “skilled adventurers” and stated that they had “spent their retirement crusing aboard Simplicity, spending summers in New England and embracing the heat of Caribbean winters.”
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