An American couple who’d been sailing in the Caribbean and have been missing for more than a week are presumed dead, though their bodies have not been recovered, authorities said in a Monday press conference.
“Based on the investigation thus far it is presumed Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brendel are deceased,” Junior Simmons of the Royal Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force said at the press conference.
Simmons also announced that three inmates who broke out of jail around the same time the couple vanished and allegedly made their getaway in their yacht have been re-arrested and are cooperating in the case, according to authorities.
Authorities have recovered evidence “consistent with signs of violence” from the hijacked boat, said Simmons.
Kathy Brandel – a retired real estate agent who would have turned 71 Wednesday – and her husband, Ralph Hendry – a 66-year-old financial advisor who worked from their yacht – had been cruising in Grenada when they suddenly stopped communicating with family on Feb. 18, according to their sons, who have been in touch with PEOPLE since before landing in the Caribbean to search for their parents.
Investigators, pictured aboard SV Simplicity, say the yacht was hijacked last week.
AP Photo/Kenton X. Chance
On Wednesday morning the couple’s SV Simplicity was reported abandoned in St. Vincent — 80 miles from where the couple had last been spotted — and with blood visible on the deck.
“The entire interior of the vessel and its decks were ransacked,” Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Coast Guard Service Commanding Officer Deon Henry told the Saint Vincent police commissioner in a Feb. 21 internal memorandum obtained by PEOPLE.
SV Simplicity was recovered by authorities Feb. 21 with an unrolled and broken bow sail.
Courtesy of Robert Osborn
Bob Osborn, the president of Salty Dawg Sailing Association, which included Brandel and Hendry among their members, said the couple’s disappearance was an anomaly.
“In all my years of cruising the Caribbean, I have never heard of anything like this,” Osborn previously told PEOPLE. “This is not common, but it’s also a very, very big deal.”
Grenada’s western coastline.
Colin Perkel/The Canadian Press via AP
An insider close to the investigation says Grenada – where the couple was last seen cruising – is typically safe but expressed concern that the public was not promptly notified about the Feb. 18 jailbreak. Both Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have a Level 1 travel advisory, the safest level.
Kathy Brandel and Ralph Hendry.
Courtesy Nick Buro and Bryan Hendry
The three prison escapees allegedly fled their holding cell at the South St. George Police Station, hijacked the couple’s nearby yacht, “disposed of the occupants” and sailed to Saint Vincent where they disembarked, Grenada’s Police Commissioner Don McKenzie claimed at a press conference Monday morning.
Those men – Trevon Robertson, 19, Abita Stanislaus, 25, and Ron Mitchell, 30 – who were re-arrested in Saint Vincent Wednesday have not been formally charged in the couple’s disappearance.
Ron Mitchell, Trevor Robertson and Atiba Stanislaus.
Royal Grenada Police Force
However, Simmons said Monday afternoon that the three men had already pleaded guilty to four counts of immigration-related charges connected to illegally entering Saint Vincent by boat. They are scheduled for sentencing on March 4.
The escapees had previously been arrested in connection with a violent robbery in December, Grenada’s police force said in a press release last week.
SV Simplicity, prior to the alleged hijacking.
Courtesy Nick Buro and Bryan Hendry
Mitchell – who worked as a sailor – was also previously charged with one count of rape, three counts of attempted rape, two counts of indecent assault, and causing harm.
A source close to the investigation previously told PEOPLE Friday that two of the men had already confessed to killing the couple.
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A fourth prisoner escaped from the Grenville Magistrate Court last Wednesday, according to police.
Levon Date – charged in the killing of a Canadian citizen in 2023 – escaped the courthouse after pushing past police officers during a requested bathroom break, Grenada’s police force alleged at the press conference.
As of Monday morning, Date remains on the run. Police say the escapee should be considered armed and dangerous.
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Publish date : 2024-02-26 03:00:00
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