VA Couple Missing, Presumed Dead After Fugitives Hijack Yacht: Police

FALLS CHURCH, VA — A Virginia couple is missing and presumed dead after Caribbean authorities said three escaped prisoners hijacked their yacht and used it to island hop before abandoning it in St. Vincent, according to police and reports.

Ralph Hendry and his wife Kathy Brandel disappeared from their yacht, Simplicity, after it spent two weeks docked near the St. George area of the Caribbean nation of Grenada, Hendry's sister, Suellen Desmarais, told ABC News.

The couple, who lived on their boat, were originally from Falls Church, according to reports.

A fellow boater docked near Hendry and Brandel was the last person to see them alive, Desmarais told ABC News. He said he last saw the couple entering a restaurant.

"That man went to bed that night and he looked over and Simplicity was there when he went to bed," but when the neighbor "got up at 6:30 a.m. on Monday morning, Simplicity was gone," Desmarais told ABC News.

According to the Royal Grenada Police Force, the yacht was taken by three prisoners who escaped their holding cell Sunday. The prisoners — Ron Mitchell, Trevon Robertson and Abita Stanislaus, all from St. Andrew, Grenada — were facing numerous charges, including robbery, rape and attempted rape.

Simplicity was found three days later, anchored and abandoned off a beach on the south coast of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, according to a statement released by the Salty Dawg Sailing Association, an organization to which Hendry and Brandel belonged.

The association noted a good Samaritan had boarded the boat and noted Hendry and Brandel were not onboard, but "found evidence of apparent violence."

"This is a very upsetting event and details are still unconfirmed by the authorities, but this does appear to be a tragic event," Salty Dawg president Bob Osborn said in a statement. "Our hopes and prayers are with Ralph and Kathy and the family who love them."

Grenada police did not confirm the identities of the yacht's owners, but said they believed the occupants were of "American descent."

"The RGPF is currently working on leads that suggest that the two occupants of the yacht may have been killed in the process," police said in a statement.

The suspects were recaptured by the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadians Police Force on Wednesday, authorities said.

According to ABC News, the couple's children and other family members have traveled to St. Vincent to join the search for Hendry and Brandel.

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