US News
Published February 24, 2024, 3:48am ET
A Virginia couple is feared dead after three escaped prisoners stole their yacht from a docked marina in the Caribbean and fled to another island.
Ralph Hendry and his wife Kathy Brandel, who live on their yacht Simplicity, were last seen by a boating neighbor in the St. George area Sunday afternoon as they headed to a restaurant in the island nation of Grenada.
The couple are living on their boat over the winter and had arrived on the island two weeks earlier, intending to stay another week before they went missing.
“On Sunday, around 3 p.m., they drove into town because another boater saw them going into town,” Hendry's sister Suellen Desmarais told Fox 5 DC. “When the other boater went to bed he noticed they were there because you always check to see who is around you and when the boater woke up in the morning they were gone.”
Ralph Hendry and his wife Kathy Brandel were last seen by a boating neighbor in the St. George area Sunday afternoon as they headed to a restaurant in the island nation of Grenada. 13NewsNow/YouTube
According to ABC News, Hendry and Brandel have sailed the same route for the past few years: They sailed from Virginia to Massachusetts before heading to Florida to visit Desmarais and finally to the Caribbean, where they went island hopping.
They went missing on the same day that three fugitives, Ron Mitchell, 30, Trevon Robertson, 19, and Abita Stanislaus, 25, “escaped lawful custody” the previous Sunday.
The trio escaped from the South St. George Police Station and made their way to the marina, where they fled to another Caribbean island.
“Preliminary information from investigators in St. Vincent indicates that the three men arrived in St. Vincent via a yacht docked in the St. George area,” the statement said.
The Simplicity was recovered by authorities after a good Samaritan found it anchored on a beach in St. Vincent, where they boarded it and discovered the boat had been searched and “found evidence of apparent violence.” 13NewsNow/YouTube
They were subsequently captured by authorities in St. Vincent and the Grenadines at around 4:35 p.m. on Wednesday
“The RGPF is currently working on evidence that suggests the two occupants of the yacht may have been killed,” the Royal Grenada Police Force said in a press release.
“It is believed that the occupants of the yacht were American citizens.”
The Royal Grenada Police Force said the three suspects were being held at the South St. George Police Station and are facing one count of robbery with violence.
Mitchell, a sailor, was separately charged with one count of rape, three counts of attempted rape, two counts of indecent assault and assault.
The Simplicity was recovered by authorities after a good Samaritan found it anchored on a beach in St. Vincent, where they boarded it and discovered the boat had been searched and “found evidence of apparent violence.”
However, Desmarais hopes that the couple is still alive.
“Why should I assume that someone without a body and DNA is dead? I want to stay positive. I want to believe they’re alive.”
Ron Mitchell. RSVG Police Officer Trevon Robertson. RSVG Police Abita Stanislaus. RSVG Police
Hendry and Brandel's two children, as well as Hendry's nephew, traveled to St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Friday to join the search for the couple, according to the outlet.
“This investigation is still in its early stages and the RGPF has deployed a team of senior investigators and a forensic specialist to St. Vincent to advance this investigation,” the RGPF statement concluded.
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