Virginia couple missing after sailing to Caribbean
Trip began in Hampton; police fear yacht hijaked
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Authorities in the eastern Caribbean said they were trying to locate two people believed to be U.S. citizens who were aboard a yacht that was hijacked by three escaped prisoners from Grenada.
The Royal Grenada Police Force said in a statement released Friday that they were working on leads “that suggest” the two occupants of the yacht might have been killed.
“This investigation is in its infancy stage,” police said.
The nonprofit Salty Dawg Sailing Association identified the owners as Virginia residents Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel. It said they were “veteran cruisers” and longtime members of the association, calling them “warmhearted and capable.”
A relative of Hendry didn’t return a message seeking comment Saturday.
Fox 5 in Washingon reported the couple are Falls Church residents who like to live on their boat in the winter months.
The association said a cruising skipper had contacted the association about a member’s yacht, Simplicity, that was found “anchored and abandoned” off a beach on the island of St. Vincent.
“The good Samaritan had boarded the boat and noted that the owners … were not onboard and found evidence of apparent violence,” the association said in a statement Thursday.
The association said Hendry and Brandel had sailed the yacht in last year’s Caribbean Rally from Hampton to Antigua, and were spending the winter cruising in the eastern Caribbean.
“This is a very upsetting event and details are still unconfirmed by the authorities, but this does appear to be a tragic event,” said Bob Osborn, the association’s president. “In all my years of cruising the Caribbean, I have never heard of anything like this.”
Family members of those missing met with authorities Saturday in St. Vincent, where they were seen boarding the yacht that was hijacked.
Authorities in Grenada said they had dispatched senior investigators and a forensic specialist to the nearby island of St. Vincent, where the escaped prisoners were arrested Wednesday.
The prisoners, aged 19, 25 and 30, were charged a couple of months ago with one count of robbery with violence. The eldest inmate also was charged with one count of rape, three counts of attempted rape and two counts of indecent assault and causing harm, police in Grenada said.
The three men escaped from their holding cell Feb. 18, according to police.
Authorities said a preliminary investigation suggested the three men seized the yacht at Grenada’s capital, St. George’s, and traveled to St. Vincent.
“When people ask us if we worry about pirates, the answer is ‘no’ — these are friendly islands,” Osborn told Fox 5. “Whether you are in NYC, Chicago or here, sometimes bad things happen. And this is heinous.”