lizabeth Waddell, a 44-year-old physical therapist from Cary, was reported missing on July 22 while on a trip to Grenada. She was last seen at Grand Anse Beach in St. George. Surveillance video showed Waddell walking toward a jetty close to 11:30 a.m., according to police. Later that afternoon, around 12 p.m., she was seen swimming, and that is when police believe she went missing.
Several of Waddell’s family and friends went to Grenada last week in an effort to help find her, but the search was not successful, according to her husband, Cailen Waddell. The trip did result in new information about the exact time she may have disappeared, with Cailen sharing that she was seen far from shore around 5:30 p.m. by two jet skiers. Elizabeth communicated to the skiers she was confident in her swimming and where she was in the water.
While Cailen said he, the family and the Grenadian authorities do not suspect foul play, in an update released Thursday, he wrote that questions still remained.
The most likely scenario
According to Cailen, a conversation between Elizabeth and some jet skiers saw them trying to convince her to ride back to shore with them for “5 to 10 minutes.” However, they ended up leaving without her after she said she was a good swimmer and “gave them a thumbs up,” Cailen wrote.
“Though we cannot be 100% certain, based on all the available information, we believe that it most likely was Liz that they saw in the water,” Cailen wrote. “The Jet-Skiers voluntarily met with the Family, even accompanying them out on a boat to show the approximate spot they saw her.”
In his update, Cailen said the “most likely scenario” was that Elizabeth drowned after the 5:30 p.m. sighting and interaction with the skiers. However, he also wrote, “[w]ith absolute certainty, we don’t know.”
“A lot about this doesn’t make sense to us,” Cailen writes. “I do not believe she swam for 5.5 hours (from when she was seen at 12:04 on camera). Also she wasn’t swimming towards where she ended up. Could she have been on the beach along Grand Anse? Absolutely, but we are not aware of any other sightings of her, or security camera footage from the numerous hotels showing her in this area.”
Cailen also wrote that he does not believe that Elizabeth could have made the swim so far into the Grand Anse Bay, which he estimates is a third of a mile from the shore. He wrote that the swim seemed to far exceed her swimming abilities.
Elizabeth was “not really” a good swimmer, Cailen explained in the update. He said that while she had taken some swimming classes, she was most comfortable using flotation devices.
“She took 4 with her to Grenada in her suitcase, and for sure used 2 of them earlier in the trip but didn’t have one as far as we know on that day. We should note that the water in the bay is very easy to float in and it is very calm and almost lake-like near the shore,” Cailen wrote.
The Royal Grenada Police Force still has an active missing persons case, according to Cailen, and he wrote that the family hopes the investigation is productive and fills the “huge holes” in the timeline of Elizabeth’s disappearance.
A jigsaw puzzle with the middle messed up
The holes that Cailen mentions in his update come in the form of where she could be found, and why she would seemingly vanish.
Investigators have searched Elizabeth’s emails, text messages, WhatsApp and YouTube history to get a better understanding of where she was mentally and if she would do anything to hurt herself in some way. According to Cailen, nothing was out of the ordinary; in fact, Elizabeth spent a lot of time writing about good things in her life.
“She journals about her growth, and lots and lots of her plans for the future, that include me, Suwan, and the rest of our family,” Cailen wrote.
Cailen also spends some time in the update giving some idea of where Elizabeth might be, whether on a boat or on an island somewhere. He explains that if she did end up on an island, not trying to contact people would be exceedingly strange.
“Liz is a free spirit, I can see her making friends and hanging out with people for an afternoon and showing up late in the day sunburnt and having had a great time. I can’t see her disappearing for 2 weeks,” Cailen wrote. “It makes this scenario feel unlikely, but in the realm of possibility.”
As for Elizabeth ending up on a boat, Cailen writes that there is no evidence of that happening, despite several boats coming and going in the area.
“There are lots of private boats coming and going from Grenada, but there is absolutely no evidence of this,” Cailen wrote. “The coast guard and immigration checked anchored boats in the area in case she got tired swimming and took a break on one.”
In the latter half of the update, Cailen describes his own confusion and attempts to wrap his head around what has happened over the past two weeks. This includes making up scenarios he admits do not make sense. He writes that he feels like he is missing a big piece of information.
“Liz loved a jigsaw puzzle. I think I might have the border complete, but the middle is a mess. I think right now — it would help the family if there was any evidence of where Liz was in the afternoon between 12:04 and 5:30 p.m.,” he wrote.
Placing trust in the investigators
Cailen writes that the family is waiting on the results of the investigation from the Royal Grenada Police Force.
“We await the work of the Royal Grenada Police Force, who I trust are following leads and letting the investigation follow its natural course,” he wrote.
According to Cailen, he is still keeping in contact with his contacts on the island and “taking things one day at a time, and sometimes one hour at a time.”
“There are also things in the universe I simply can’t explain and to be perfectly honest, if Liz walked out of the jungle tomorrow and said, ‘Hey, where’s my passport?’ I’d not be surprised and obviously get on a plane and go get her in a heartbeat,” Cailen wrote.
Credit by: CB 17 News