Couple with Florida ties feared dead after escaped inmates steal yacht in Caribbean: police

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — An American couple may have been murdered while on a Caribbean voyage after three escaped inmates stole their yacht, according to law enforcement.

The Royal Grenada Police Force said Ron Mitchell, 30, of Paradise, St Andrew; Trevon Robertson, 19, of Paradise, St. Andrew; and Abita Stanislaus, 25, of Paradise, St. Andrew escaped Wednesday after escaping a Grenada holding cell on Feb. 18.

All three men were previously arrested on a charge of robbery with violence. Mitchell was also being held on charges of rape, three counts of attempted rape, two counts of indecent assault, and causing harm.

Officers said after their escape, the three fugitives went to St. Vincent via a stolen yacht, which was taken from the area of St. George. According to the RGPF, they have received leads that suggest the occupants, two Americans, were killed in the theft.

“This investigation is in its infancy stage and the RGPF have dispatched a team of senior investigators and a forensic specialist to St. Vincent in furtherance of this investigation,” the RGPF said.

According to NBC affiliate WPTV, a Fort Pierce woman said the couple was her brother Ralph Hendry and his wife, Kathy Brandel, who decided to spend their winter in Grenada instead of Fort Pierce. The Virginia couple lived on their yacht, which they named “Simplicity.”

“This was their whole life,” said Suellen Desmarais, Hendry’s sister. “They didn’t own another home. They didn’t own cars. They owned ‘Simplicity,’ and when you were invited onto ‘Simplicity’, you were made to feel as magical as they were and as magical as that boat was.”

While authorities believe the couple may be dead, Desmarais hopes they are alive. Her son and the couple’s sons went to Grenada to identify items that may have belonged to Hendry and Brandel.

“This tragedy that happened, it’s not just losing Ralph and Kathy, it’s losing a way of life. It is losing our center. They were our whole center,” Desmarais told WPTV.

According to the station, the State Department is working to assist the family at this time.