U.S. Couple Likely Thrown Overboard And Died In Yacht Hijacking, Granada Police Say

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A U.S. couple whose catamaran was hijacked last week in the Caribbean by three escaped prisoners were presumed dead and likely were thrown into the ocean, police said Monday.

The accounts by police in Grenada and in St. Vincent and the Grenadines were a blow to those who were independently helping search for Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel and had hoped they were still alive.

Don McKenzie, police commissioner of the Royal Grenada Police Force, said at a news conference that the three prisoners escaped on Feb. 18 from the South Saint George Police Station. They hijacked the catamaran “Simplicity” on the following day and then headed to St. Vincent, where they were arrested last Wednesday, he said.

“Information suggests that while traveling between Grenada and St Vincent, they disposed of the occupants,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie said he had no conclusive proof that the couple was dead, but cited a “low probability” they were alive.

Hours later, the main spokesman for the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force posted a video saying that while no bodies have been found, the couple is presumed dead based on the investigation so far.

The suspects were being investigated for several criminal acts, including “bodily harm to the couple,” spokesman Junior Simmons said in the brief recorded statement. There were signs of violence on the couple’s boat found abandoned in St. Vincent, he said.

“Several items were strewn on the deck and in the cabin, and a red substance that resembles blood was seen on board,” he said.

The nonprofit Salty Dawg Sailing Association has said that Hendry and Brandel were “veteran cruisers” and longtime members of the association, calling them “warm-hearted and