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Three escaped inmates from the Caribbean island of Grenada have been charged with the murder of a US couple who went missing in late February.

Police said the suspects hijacked a catamaran owned by Virginia couple Ralph Henry and Kathy Brandel while they were aboard.

The couple is believed to have been thrown overboard.

The suspects then sailed away to the island of St Vincent, police said, where they were arrested.

Ron Mitchell, 30, Atiba Stanislaus, 25, and Trevon Robertson, 23, were each charged with capital murder, escaping lawful custody, housebreaking, robbery and kidnapping by authorities in Grenada.

Mr Stanislaus is also facing rape charges, though police did not specify who he is accused of raping.

Police said the trio escaped prison on 18 February before hijacking the US couple's catamaran and sailing 80 miles (128 kilometres) to St Vincent, where they were arrested on 21 February.

Grenada police commissioner Don McKenzie said at a news conference last week that the suspects allegedly committed "several criminal acts including bodily harm to the couple".

The suspects appeared in court on Thursday and will be held in prison until their hearing in late March.

The Salty Dawg Sailing Association, of which the American couple were long-time members, said the couple's boat, named Simplicity, was found anchored and abandoned off a beach on the south coast of St Vincent.

They said the boat displayed signs of "apparent violence", and that the couple was not aboard.

Police did not say whether their bodies have been recovered, but the couple's family said Mr Henry and Ms Brandel are presumed to be dead.

The sailing association said that the couple were spending the winter cruising the Eastern Caribbean. They had spent 10 years living on their boat after selling their home in Alexandria, Virginia, close to Washington DC.

In a statement, the couple's sons, Nick Buro and Bryan Hendry, said that the couple "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".

The sons had previously said in interviews that blood was found on the boat and the couple's possessions were strewn about.

"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," the family added.