As Tammy Sisson hugged her friend Kathy Brandel goodbye in the Caribbean, she took comfort in the fact they’d soon be reunited.

Little did she know it was the last time she’d ever see Kathy alive.

Sisson, 62, and her husband Pete, 68, embarked on a journey from Norfolk, Virginia, two weeks earlier with Brandel, 71, and her husband Ralph Hendry, 66, who were embarking on their maiden voyage to the Caribbean.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Tammy reminisced about the moment of elation and hugged Brandel with joy when they first caught sight of Antigua, where they docked on November 14, 2023. While Tammy and Pete flew back to Newport, Rhode Island, afterwards, they hoped to reunite with their friends in a few months.

However, on February 18, 2024, the St Francis 48-foot catamaran, Simplicity, belonging to Brandel and Hendry, was seized by three escaped convicts, who commandeered the vessel while it was anchored off the coast of Grenada.

One of the convicts raped Brandel before they dumped her and Hendry, bound and gagged, into the sea. Then, the men deliberately sailed into Hendry as he desperately tried to swim away. The bodies of Brandel and Hendry were never found.

The three escapees – who were previously incarcerated for robbery and rape – were re-arrested shortly after the murders. They were sentenced in Grenada last week.

Justice Paula Gifford, presiding over the Grenada High Court, called the case the ‘most heinous’ of her career. But ahead of sentencing, defense attorneys begged the judge for leniency given the perpetrators’ poverty-stricken backgrounds.

Hendry and Brandel (left) set sail with their friends Pete and Tammy Sisson (right) in 2023

On February 18, 2024, Brandel and Hendry’s 48-foot St Francis catamaran, Simplicity, was hijacked by three escaped convicts who murdered the couple

Hendry and Brandel’s bodies were never found 

The couple’s yacht was moored off the coast of Grenada (pictured) 

Ron Mitchell, the sailor in this 30s (the exact ages of the killers are unknown) accused of being the ringleader, was initially charged with capital murder, a crime that carries a possible death penalty. 

His lawyer Jerry Edwin, however, told the Daily Mail that a plea deal was reached to reduce the charge to non-capital murder, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Mitchell received two life sentences, while his accomplice Atiba Stanislaus, a farmer in his 20s, was sentenced to 60 years for manslaughter and nearly 18 years for the rape of Brandel, among other sentences for various crimes.

The third man, Trevon Robertson, also in his 20s, received 56 years for manslaughter and other sentences for different crimes, according to The New Today Grenada.

Sisson is ‘disgusted’ by the outcome.

‘I was never in favor of the death penalty, but I am this time,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘I think it would send a huge message to the boating community. There should have been no bargaining going on. The people who did this aren’t human.’

The murders, she said, were devastating for Brandel and Hendry’s children, Nick Buro and Bryan Hendry. They traveled to the Caribbean in February 2024 to assist the search for their missing parents, who the sons described as safety-cautious but living ‘a life that most of us can only dream of.’

‘I still find it hard to accept what happened,’ said Sisson. ‘My heart goes out to their families. I do not know how and when this could get any easier for them.’

In its wake, the case has rocked the Caribbean cruising community, and it has called the region’s safety into question, highlighting the dangers lurking beyond the picture-postcard beaches of the paradise isles.

Grenada is still considered relatively safe, but Jamaica currently tops the UN’s global murder rankings, with the highest homicide rate per 100,000 people worldwide. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are in fourth; Saint Lucia seventh; and the Bahamas eighth.

In March, the US Department of State issued a travel advisory for the Bahamas, raising the risk level to two and urging travelers to ‘exercise increased caution.’

But in its wake, the case has rocked the Caribbean cruising community, and it has called the region’s safety into question

Trevon Robertson (left) received 56 years for manslaughter and other sentences for different crime and Ron Mitchell (right) received two life sentences

Atiba Stanislaus (pictured) was sentenced to 60 years for manslaughter and nearly 18 years for the rape of Brandel, among other sentences for various crimes

One of the convicts raped Brandel before they dumped her and Hendry, bound and gagged, into the sea. Then, the men deliberately sailed into Hendry as he tried to swim away

Peter Swanson, who follows yachting and regional news for his Substack, Loose Cannon, said that the Caribbean is a pipeline for drugs going north to the US and Europe, and guns coming south for the traffickers and cartels. And the wanderings of wealthy Westerners among extremely deprived local areas, he added, could be dangerous.

Brandel, a retired real estate agent, and Hendry, who still worked remotely as a financial consultant, had lived on their boat since 2013: the vessel would be worth about $1.2 million new, although older models can be bought for around $300,000.

But Bob Osborn, former president of the Salty Dawg Sailing Association – on the board of which Brandel sat for two years – said he thought the risks for travelers were ‘isolated,’ and, with sensible precautions, the vast majority of sailors were safe.

Osborn, 70, led the November 2023 rally from the East Coast down to the Caribbean, which Simplicity joined, and said he spent nine happy winters cruising the Caribbean with no serious problems.

‘I don’t believe, based on everything I’ve heard, that this was a systemic issue,’ he told the Daily Mail, speaking from his yacht currently moored off the Spanish city of Almeria. ‘There have been very few murders of cruisers in the Caribbean. The murder rate there is certainly higher than in the US, but much of that is drug-related and intra-community.

‘You have to be prudent, and anchoring remotely is not wise. But Ralph and Kathy were just incredibly unlucky.’

And Sisson says she is not able to bring herself to return.

‘It’s an uncomfortable feeling that many of us still have,’ she said. ‘Obviously people still go but it was so close to us, it’s harder to digest.

‘My husband is more ready to go, but I don’t know when I will be. I’ve had anxiety about it and no longer like sleeping on the boat. It’s still horrific, and I’m not beyond it. Several of my other friends feel the same way.’