Three prison escapees from Grenada are charged with murder over the slaying of an American couple presumed dead after they went missing from their yacht in the Caribbean.
The suspects made their first court appearance on Thursday in St. George’s Magistrate Court. The men were jointly charged with two counts of capital murder in the deaths of U.S. citizens Ralph Hendry and Kathleen Brandel, according to a statement by the Royal Grenada Police Force.
Ron Mitchell, 30, Atiba Stanisclaus, 25, and Trevor Robertson, 23, were also charged with escaping lawful custody, housebreaking, and kidnapping. Mr. Stanisclaus also faces on one count of rape.
The Virginia couple, described as experienced adventurers and seasoned sailors, were spending retirement life aboard a catamaran they named Simplicity when their “final voyage” took an “unthinkable turn,” according to their family.
The fugitives escaped a police holding cell on Feb. 18, Grenada police say. They hijacked the couple’s catamaran when it was moored at Grand Anse beach, near the police station where they escaped.
The suspects then set sail and abandoned the yacht at a beach in the nearby Caribbean island of St. Vincent, north of Grenada. The escaped inmates were then recaptured by police in St. Vincent on Feb. 21.
The victims’ bodies have not been found. According to police, the yacht showed evidence of a violent struggle, and the couple was likely thrown overboard.
During a press conference, Royal Grenada Police Commissioner Don McKenzie said the couple was “most likely disposed of at sea,” and there was a “low probability” that they are alive.
The American nationals were members of the Salty Dawg Sailing Association (SDSA). In a statement, the nonprofit said that a cruising skipper alerted the organization that the couple’s catamaran was found anchored and abandoned at a St. Vincent’s beach.
“The good Samaritan had boarded the boat and noted that the owners, Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel, were not onboard and found evidence of apparent violence,” according to a statement by the yacht club.
The SDSA said the married couple sailed their catamaran in 2023, departing from Hampton, Virginia, to Antigua, and planned to spend the winter cruising the eastern Caribbean.
“In all my years of cruising the Caribbean, I have never heard of anything like this,” Bob Osborn, SDSA president, said in a statement.
Their son, Nick Buro, told local media that his parents worked hard to make this specific journey possible. “This is what they’ve been working for, for years. This trip was a lifelong dream,” Mr. Buro said.
The U.S. Coast Guard has since taken possession of the yacht.
Police in Grenada and St. Vincent, along with the US Embassy, continue to investigate.
The three suspects were originally charged a month ago with one count of robbery with violence. At the time of their escape, they were placed in a police holding cell instead of a prison as they waited to see a magistrate who would decide whether to grant them bail or order them remanded, authorities say.
They are now being held in prison until their next hearing in this case is scheduled for late March.
