Kathy Brandel and Ralph Hendry were traveling on their yacht when three prison escapees took control of the vessel and “disposed” of the couple, the authorities said on Monday.
The authorities in Grenada said on Monday that they believed an American couple who had been traveling in their catamaran in the Caribbean were hijacked by three escaped prisoners who “disposed” of them last week.
The couple, Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel, had departed from Virginia and were spending the winter cruising in the Caribbean, where they went missing while sailing off Grenada. On Feb. 21, their boat turned up empty in neighboring St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
On Monday, the Royal Grenada Police Force confirmed that three prison escapees in Grenada made their getaway after they hijacked the catamaran, called Simplicity, with Mr. Hendry and Ms. Brandel aboard.
“Information suggests that, while traveling between Grenada and St. Vincent, they disposed of the occupants,” Commissioner Don McKenzie of the Royal Grenada Police Force said at a news conference on Monday.
The police would not say explicitly that they believed Mr. Hendry and Ms. Brandel were dead but that they were still considered missing.
“We have nothing conclusive to say that the individuals are dead,” he said.
“What I can say to the family is my condolences,” adding that he was “still hoping for as what I consider a positive outcome which is, we still have the hope that a worst-case scenario will not be a reality.”