Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel, who’ve been married for 27 years, participated in a current crusing membership rally and had been spending the winter within the Caribbean. Credit score…through The Salty Dawg Crusing Affiliation
Two liveaboard cruisers, Ralph Hendry, 66, and Kathy Brandel, 71, are lacking and feared lifeless after their 48′ catamaran Simplicity was apparently stolen throughout a jail escape from Grenada by three males on February nineteenth. On February 21, their boat was discovered at anchor in neighboring St Vincent and the Grenadines with nobody aboard, however displaying indicators of foul play.
On Monday, the Royal Grenada Police Pressure confirmed that three jail escapees in Grenada made their getaway after they hijacked the catamaran with Mr Hendry and Ms Brandel aboard.
“Info means that, whereas touring between Grenada and St. Vincent, they disposed of the occupants,” Commissioner Don McKenzie of the Royal Grenada Police Pressure stated at a information convention on Monday.
The police wouldn’t say explicitly that they believed Mr Hendry and Ms Brandel had been lifeless however that they had been nonetheless thought-about lacking. “We’ve nothing conclusive to say that the people are lifeless,” he stated.
“What I can say to the household is my condolences,” including that he was “nonetheless hoping for as what I contemplate a optimistic end result which is, we nonetheless have the hope {that a} worst-case situation won’t be a actuality.”
The BBC stories that the Salty Dawg Crusing Affiliation – of which the lacking couple was a member – characterised Mr Hendry and Ms Brandel as “veteran cruisers” who had been spending the winter months cruising the jap Caribbean. They sailed to the area from the state of Virginia final 12 months.
The affiliation was first alerted of the incident on February 21 that Simplicity had been discovered deserted close to St Vincent. The cruising skipper who discovered the vessel “discovered proof of obvious violence”.
“It is a very upsetting occasion and particulars are nonetheless unconfirmed by the authorities, however this does seem like a tragic occasion,” affiliation president Bob Osborn stated in an announcement. “In all my years of cruising the Caribbean, I’ve by no means heard of something like this.”
A GoFundMe web page arrange for the household famous that Ms Brandel had “not too long ago” develop into a grandmother.
“Kathy and Ralph, skilled adventurers, spent their retirement crusing aboard Simplicity, spending summers in New England and embracing the heat of Caribbean winters,” the web page stated.
The three escaped prisoners, aged 19, 25, and 30, had been in custody ready to see a choose after being arrested on theft with violence expenses a number of months in the past. The eldest detainee was additionally charged with one depend of rape, three counts of tried rape, and two counts of indecent assault and inflicting hurt, the Related Press reported.
Throughout the information convention on Monday, Mr McKenzie stated that Grenadian authorities had been working to find out whether or not the escape resulted from a “system failure” or “slip up”.
Couple lacking after yacht present in Caribbean
Because of Roger Eastman and Alaric Bond for contributing to this put up.
