BARRINGTON, R.I. -- The bodies of a couple and their young daughter who vanished seven weeks ago in a bloody and baffling murder case were found in graves less than a half-mile from their home, police said.
Ernest Brendel, 53, a self-employed patent and trademark attorney; his wife, Alice, 49, a Brown University librarian, and their daughter Emily, 8, were last seen alive on Sept. 20.
The lone suspect in the case, commodities broker Christopher Hightower, was arrested three days later when he was spotted driving the family's blood-stained car.
'There were three bodies recovered here this (Thursday) afternoon and the three bodies were Mr. and Mrs. Brendel and their daughter, Emily,' a visibly shaken Rhode Island Attorney General James O'Neil told a 5:15 p.m. news conference near the crime scene. 'Our hearts and souls reach out to the relatives of the Brendel family and the people of this community.'
A tip from a passerby who spotted some evidence, which police would not identify, led police to a wooded area owned by the private St. Andrew's School where two graves were found.
State Police Capt. Brian Andrews said two bodies were found in one grave and one in the other, but otherwise refused to discuss evidence found at the scene.
'They have not been positively identified, but due to the circumstances and the description of the three persons, we are sure it is the Brendels,' Andrews said.
The gravesite is less than a half-mile from the Brendels' home and only a block from the Primrose Hill Elementary School, where Emily was in the third grade.
Police brought a backhoe, a dump truck and a mobile crime lab to the scene at midday and set up a olive drab military tent in a meadow not far from the woods containing the graves.
All day long, hundreds of passersby joined the news media in a vigil along Middle Highway as state and local police, the FBI and representatives of the state medical examiner's office worked out of sight.
The general area in which the bodies were found had been searched twice by police using trained dogs. The last search of the site was made on Tuesday.
Brule said 'it was an act of nature that perhaps caused the discovery.' He refused to elaborate.
Hightower, 42, a popular Sunday school teacher and youth soccer coach, has been held at the state prison in Cranston on $100,000 surety bail on weapons, stolen goods and extortion charges. Police would not say if any evidence found Thursday would link him to the killings.
After Hightower's arrest, investigators said the suspect's personal and business affairs began collapsing around him after his wife filed for divorce and Ernest Brendel filed a complaint with a federal commodities regulatory agency. That complaint alleged Hightower gave him false information which cost him a $12,000 investment, authorities said.
The initial charges against Hightower involved possession of the family's car, a shotgun and attempting to extort money from Brendel's sister.
Police said Hightower drove the car to the Guilford, Conn., home of Christine Scriabine the night of Sunday, Sept. 22 and told her the family had been kidnapped by an unidentified person. Hightower asked for $75,000 to pay a ransom.
Scriabine became suspicious of Hightower's story and called the FBI, officials said.
When police found Hightower driving the Brendels' car, it contained bloodstains and teeth later determined to be those of Ernest Brendel. They also found a crossbow and an empty 50-pound bag of lime in the car. Lime can be used to mask odors and to accelerate decomposition of bodies.
Hightower has refused to cooperate with investigators since his arrest.
The family's disappearance shocked residents of the affluent town on Narragansett Bay, about 10 miles south of Providence. Residents were especially horrified by the disappearance of Emily.
Police say Hightower picked up the girl on Sept. 20 from the YMCA where she attended an after-school program. YMCA staff agreed to turn the child over to Hightower after he showed them her father's driver's license, police said. Someone had called the YMCA earlier to saythe father was held up in a meeting and wanted Hightower to take Emily home, police said.
