A North Carolina mom who went missing while visiting the Caribbean island of Grenada was seen on surveillance camera in the moments before she vanished.
Elizabeth “Liz” Waddell, 44, a physical therapist from Cary, NC, disappeared on July 22 while staying with a female friend at the white sand beach resort neighborhood of Grand Anse in the capital of St. George’s.
Royal Grenada Police Force Commissioner of Police, Randy Connaught, told a briefing Tuesday that CCTV video seen by cops showed Waddell getting into the sea at around 11:51 a.m. — and 13 minutes later she could be seen swimming beneath a jetty.
“Ms Waddell was not seen on surveillance footage returning from the water,” Connaught said.
Elizabeth “Liz” Waddell vanished while in the Caribbean on July 22, 2027. Facebook / Liz Waddell
“Investigators have also received several eyewitness accounts indicating that she was swimming in the open water.”
Connaught said police would not be releasing the footage publicly “at this time” but would consider putting it out “should it be necessary in the future”.
The commissioner said that Waddell had arrived in Grenada on a flight from Miami on July 11 with a female friend.
For the first 10 days, they stayed at a resort on the western side of the Caribbean island before relocating to accommodation in the south on July 21 in a move that had been pre-planned by the pair.
On the day she went missing, Waddell’s friend was seen on video walking towards the jetty at 12:46 p.m. before returning alone.
The friend reported Waddell missing at South St. George police station at 5:50 p.m. that afternoon, triggering an “immediate police response”.
Officials launched a missing persons search for Waddell, making a specific appeal for fishermen, boat operators and residents living on the southern coastline to be on the lookout for her and report any sightings.
Waddell’s husband, Cailen, arrived on the island Friday. Connaught said he has been “very cooperative thus far.”
Grenada’s Commissioner of Police said that surveillance video seen by cops showed Waddell getting into the sea at around 11:51 a.m. and 13 minutes later she could be seen swimming beneath a jetty. WRAL
The couple shares an adopted adult daughter, Suwan, according to Waddell’s social media.
The police chief said that his investigators are in touch with the FBI regional office and they “may have some input on the reviewing of the video footage”.
“At this time, the matter continues to be treated as a missing person investigation,” Connaught told reporters.
“We appeal to anyone who may have information, relevant to this investigation, to come forward, and contact the Royal Grenada Police Force.
Waddell was staying with a female friend at the white sand beach resort neighborhood in the capital of St. George’s. Facebook / Liz Waddell
“We remain hopeful, very hopeful, that she is somewhere, somewhere on the island, alive and safe.”
Waddell is said to be about 5 feet tall, of medium build and with short blonde hair.
She graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy before opening the Art of Movement Physical Therapy in Cary, where she combined her decade of physical therapy experience and over two decades of experience in fitness and dance.
Her bio states she enjoys staying active, including pole dancing, CrossFit, hiking, traveling, and taking walks with her husband — an operations manager for the department of parks, recreation, and cultural resources — around their hometown of Cary.
