The three convicts who escaped from jail in Grenada last month and then allegedly hijacked a catamaran with an American couple on board were formally charged with killing them last week.
The three men, Ron Mitchell, 30, a sailor, Atiba Stanislaus, 25, a farmer, and Trevon Robertson, 23 and unemployed, were all charged with two counts of capital murder “by intentionally” causing the death of Ralph Hendry, 66, and his wife, Kathy Brandel, 70, on their 48-foot St. Francis catamaran named Simplicity. The three had escaped a holding cell at the South Saint George police station in Grenada on Feb. 18.
Police say the convicts “commandeered” Simplicity the next day when it was anchored off Grenada and sailed or motored to St. Vincent, 80 miles away. Don McKenzie, the commissioner of the Royal Granada Police Force, said “information suggests that while traveling between Grenada and St. Vincent they disposed of the occupants.”
RSVG Police Photo
Simplicity was found anchored off a beach on the southern coast of St. Vincent on Feb. 21, with no one on board, a torn head sail, and what police described as “signs of violence,” including bloodstains. The three escaped convicts were arrested not far way in St. Vincent later that day and remanded to Grenada.
In court there, they were charged with escaping lawful custody, housebreaking, robbery, and two counts of kidnapping, plus the capital murder charge. Stanislaus was also charged with rape, although police did not say who is was accused of raping.
Hendry, a financial advisor, and Brandel, a real estate agent, had been married for 27 years and lived in Alexandria, Virginia, for many years until they retired and moved on Simplicity, spending summers in New England and winters in the Caribbean.
Last fall, they sailed from Hampton, Virginia, to English Harbour, Antigua, on the Salty Dawn Sailing Association rally. They then pursued a long-time dream of spending the winter cruising farther down the Caribbean.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/prison-escapees-charged-murder-deaths-american-
couple-presumed-dead-ya-rcna142414?
