Virginia couple missing in Grenada and feared killed after yacht allegedly stolen by escaped criminals

Two Individuals who deliberate to spend the winter on a yacht within the Caribbean had been formally lacking Monday, however feared to have been killed after their boat was stolen by jail escapees in Grenada. Kathy Brendle and Ralph Hendry had been final seen per week in the past close to a seashore within the small island nation. Police discovered their sailboat, and captured three escaped criminals whom they consider stole it.

Grenadan police had been nonetheless looking for the couple, who’re from Northern Virginia, they usually advised CBS Information’ Washington D.C. affiliate WUSA that no our bodies had been discovered.

Household and mates have described the couple as seasoned sailors who simply final yr sailed their yacht, named Simplicity, from Hampton, Virginia to Antigua. They confirmed that the pair had been vacationing in Grenada, the place their boat was docked.

“It is simply actually unhappy,” mentioned longtime buddy Okay.C. McAlpin, who added that Brendle and Hendry had deliberate to make this their “final grand journey” on Simplicity.

As an alternative, issues could have taken a really tragic flip. The yacht was discovered on Feb. 18, deserted on a seashore on the close by island of St. Vincent. That very same day, police in Grenada mentioned that they had arrested three convicted criminals who had escaped from custody.

The three males — recognized as Ron Mitchell, 30, Trevon Robertson, 19, and Abita Stanislaus, 25 — had been arrested in December over an alleged violent theft. Mitchell additionally confronted one rely of rape, three counts of tried rape and two counts of indecent assault and inflicting hurt.

The police consider the boys hijacked the couple’s yacht in Grenada after which traveled to St. Vincent.

Police mentioned they discovered proof suggesting the pair had been killed, however the Individuals’ deaths haven’t been confirmed and the investigation was nonetheless in its early levels, they careworn.

Over the weekend, members of the family launched a press release thanking officers and people who had helped collect data, saying it ” means a lot to us that so many individuals look after Ralph and Kathy.”

McAlpin mentioned the couple all the time made mates simply and he hoped they’d be remembered for his or her huge hearts.

“They had been only a pleasant couple and an actual blessing in my life, and the lives of so many different individuals,” he mentioned.

Extra from CBS Information