American Couple Kidnapped On Yacht and Allegedly Thrown Overboard by Hijackers in Caribbean

going from port to port in these beautiful places um and you just don't associate that with violence and death and uh unfortunately it doesn't happen very often but unfortunately in this case it appears that that's highly likely a Virginia couple sets s for what was supposed to be a dream retirement but that seemingly peaceful Bliss turns into Terror as police say the couple is feared dead after three Escape prisoners hijacked their boat according to the family of Kathy brindle and Ralph Hendry that couple was spending their retirement days aboard their boat named Simplicity the family says they spent summers in New England and were embracing the warmth of the Caribbean Winters the couple were last seen by their boating neighbor at a dock in Grenada on February 18th that next morning the neighbor told authorities the couple and their boat were gone and the events that would happen next have left a family devastated and searching for answers according to police three Escape prisoners allegedly stole the couple's boat Simplicity was later found 80 M away way but no sign of Kathy or Ralph in that situation when people are on the run like that they get desperate and it's anybody in their path becomes a possible victim and they're looking to get away a boat is a conveyance it's a way to get away especially off an island um you can't hijack a plane unless the Pilot's going to fly it for you but if any of them had boating experience and they're from an island they might um that I think it was a a crime of opportunity they they were in that area they saw people on that boat and they thought let's take the boat unfortunately I spoke with retired FBI agent Bobby shakon who was a part of a dive team that worked a similar case during his time at the bureau because of the parallel between the two cases he feared the worst so I immediately got a feeling of dread because you know there's no real there's no real law enforcement on the high seas you know these people live this very like you said very romanticized lifestyle right we're sailing it's our Dream we're going from port to port in these beautiful places um and you just don't associate that with violence and death and uh unfortunately it doesn't happen very often but unfortunately in this case it appears that that's highly likely the Royal Grenada police force linked The Disappearance to The Escape of three prisoners who fled from their holding cell on February 18th the same day the family's communication stopped with Ralph and Cathy so what do we know about the escaped Prisoners the men were locked up on violent charges including robbery and rape according to to a February 22nd press release by the Royal Grenada police force the three suspects were identified as 30-year-old Ron Mitchell 19-year-old Trevon Robertson and 25-year-old Abida stalowe police say the trio were all from St Andrew and were arrested in December all charged in a violent robbery case Mitchell who authorities say is a sailor additionally faced charges including rape and attempted rape when Simplicity was reported abandoned in St Vincent authorities say they discovered visible blood stains and the interior of the vessel and its decks were ransacked I think that's what the police are basically saying um there there seems to be a violent struggle on that boat there seems to be blood on that boat if they were alive in any way um the three people that were responsible for this struggle are in custody again they were rearrested so they're not holding them hostage if they were able to make themselves known to appear to say he he we are we were beaten up or we were assaulted they would have done so by now at this time it's unclear the events that happened but shakon explains it may have been a crime of opportunity I think they that took the boat initially but I think that after a struggle um because they weren't going to let the boat go without a struggle I guess um and or the second possibility is they had those people sail them to a location and then a violent struggle took place I think the second uh scenario is probably the likelier one um they got away they forc those people to sail often times in situations like that they the the criminal will tell the person I'm not going to hurt you just take me where I want to go and then when they get where they want to go they actually do harm the person um and so I think that they may have sailed away with that couple alive on board and when um that couple was no longer of value to them uh then a struggle ensued and unfortunately it looks like they were killed by February 21st all three prisoners were recaptured by authorities and with no sign of the couple police say new lead suggests that Kathy and Ralph were killed during the hijacking and I think that's right and think that there is they are looking into the fact of how they escaped um and and whether or not there was police corruption at the jail involved and they paid somebody to allow them to get out of that prison of course all of that is no consolation to the the victims and their families and loved ones um but yeah I think that a thorough investigation has to be made um and how they got out and and then why they why if if they chose this boat I I believe it was just an opportunity uh Factor but I think they also need to know where that that boat we know where the boat started when they were last seen on that boat and we know where the boat ended up I think they need to draw a line on a on an artical chart and and see what the depths of those waters are and start to conduct a search with sonar with divers to maybe look for uh their bodies on the bottom while the couple are presumed dead authorities say they will continue the search for them but here's what else we know about Kathy brindle and Ralph Hendry according to their family the two have been married for nearly 30 years they were seasoned Sailors and even sold their home a decade ago to live aboard the vessel fulltime Kathy and Ralph were a part of a tight-knit blended family that would travel together and just last year Kathy had recently become a firsttime grandmother in a joint statement sent to law on crime Cathy's son Nick and Ralph's son Brian wrote in part Ralph and Cathy lived a life that most of us can only dream of sailing the eastern coast of the United States living on their home Simplicity making friends with everyone they encountered singing dancing and laughing with friends and family that who Ralph and Kathy were and that's how they will be remembered in our hearts we are grateful to have been raised by the strongest people that we will ever know and we hope that we can follow in their footsteps and strive to be even half as wonderful as them while the end of their life may have been dark they brought light and that light will never be extinguished from the hearts and minds of the people who knew loved and cared so deeply about them we are ever hopeful that Justice will be served the family says the day the abandoned Simplicity was discovered was Kathy's 71st birthday Kathy son Nick said his mother and stepfather had been planning the trip which would have been their first cruise of the Caribbean for years and were taking every single precaution to ensure their safety you know I think it's unfortunate I think they probably did everything they could do um and and it's still this is the end it doesn't happen often this is this should not be seen as a common occurrence on in this in this life lifestyle um there are plenty of people that do this and do it for their entire lives um but I think that cameras now on board you know we have we have Internet cameras in our homes most of us now um if you have the ability to have internet cameras on I don't know you know a lot of times when you're out to at se whether or not you can get a signal we all know those those problems but I would say have cameras all over your your boat um even if you're at a marina even if you're living a Shor side um have cameras that that that are going to monitor everything you know unfortunately cameras help somebody like me that's looking at the crime after the fact it may not help you uh you know during the commission of the crime unfortunately but um dur before the commission of a crime you know make sure you know the area make sure your cabins are secure you know th but this is a lifestyle where you want to engage with the people and and by all accounts and their family members have said you know they were an engaging couple they were friend makers they they had friends in every port and they like to engage and be social um when you live that kind of Lifestyle you know it's harder for somebody like me to say oh you should batten down the hatches and you shouldn't engage with anybody because that's the way you want to live and nobody should have to live thinking they're under such a threat but I think that um you know in situations like this you know you have to kind of take a step back and say is this the best place to be um what can we do you know um what can we do to protect ourselves shakon says authorities will have to narrow down the search area and hopes to find any trace of Cathy and Ralph the Seas obviously 70% of the Earth is covered by water and so water is a vast vast place um and so you have to narrow down the search area so I would take the last point they was seene and that neighbor that you mentioned earlier saw them on that boat and then the boat was gone and then where the boat was found so you draw a line between those two points and then anywhere along that that that line could be where they are where they were tossed over the boat now I've had cases where um people were tossed over the boat weighted down with an anchor or something like that so they would stay at the bottom along that line you want to run sonar and you want to see if it's a hopefully the depths you know the depths of if you're if you're more than a couple hundred feet of water it makes it infinitely harder to do those types of searches but if you're only in a couple hundred feet of water you can run sonar along that line and you can see if you develop any potential targets that might be these individual victims the family will continue their search for answers on What happened to the couple who were supposed to be peacefully living their dream Golden Years shakon explains it's devastating for it to end in tragedy you you're just I think you're just as vulnerable on land as you are at Sea um and so I think that people shouldn't take this as um something that is endemic to this type of Lifestyle it's not um there are plenty of people living this lifestyle and do it safely for the rest of their lives this is just I think an anomaly an unfortunate anomaly and this couple happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when these convicts escape prison and were looking for a place or a way to get off that island and a boat is is you know is the perfect conveyance to get them off that Island I just I just hope that people understand this is this is not this is not common in this in this area in this type of lifestyle and that this is a this was a tragic uh situation that happened and it's it's it's not uh it's not something I think people should fear very much um people should always be concerned with their own safety and take steps but I don't think it should prevent them from living a life a dream life if if that's what what they're so inclined a GoFundMe page has been created to help Kathy and Ralph's family in the joint statements sent by Kathy and Ralph's Sons they say they are still mourning the loss of their parents but are remaining optimistic in the ongoing search at this time the three Escape prisoners have not been charged in the couple's disappearance reporting for law crime I'm Elizabeth Milner

Channel: Law&Crime Network

Views: 163,172

Keywords: law and crime, law and crime network

Id: h8HpSS3HZmY

Length: 10min 49sec (649 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 01 2024