Surveillance video shared by Elizabeth Waddell’s family shows her jumping off a jetty into the water on July 22 before swimming out of frame toward Grand Anse Beach.
Elizabeth “Liz” Waddell, a 44-year-old Cary resident, was last seen on July 22 at Grand Anse Beach on the Caribbean island of Grenada.
She went out for a swim, according to the Royal Grenada Police Force.
Surveillance video shows Waddell walking toward a jetty near her Airbnb at 11:36 a.m. on July 22 while wearing a swimsuit, and she spent several minutes sitting on the jetty in the sun.
The video shows Waddell removing her towel before entering the water at approximately 11:51 a.m. and she was later seen swimming at 12:04 p.m.
Then came the critical detail.
Surveillance video captured Waddell swimming under a jetty at the beach on the day she disappeared, but the video does not show her returning from the water.
Her friend, Amanda Romano-Harmon, described the footage as showing Waddell “floating” and “swimming around,” adding “But then she, you know, she floats out of the camera view and so that’s the last footage of Liz.”
At approximately 12:46 p.m., video shows her friend walking outside to look for her before returning alone, police said.
When a few hours passed without her return, the friend called Waddell’s husband and filed a missing persons report.
Family friend Romano-Harmon spoke at length about the moments after Waddell vanished.
“The tone was getting a lot more serious. And he was getting a little bit upset, and, he got off the phone, and he said, that was Cailen. Liz went missing at noon today,” Romano-Harmon said.
“She’s an amazing person, and we want to bring her home,” said Amanda Romano-Harmon, adding “It seems that she went down to the pier and left her towel on the pier and went for a swim.”
Romano-Harmon and her husband, Shawn, have known Waddell and her husband, Cailen, for decades, with their husbands having been college roommates, and the families recently went camping together.
Meanwhile, Waddell’s husband responded with a Facebook appeal for help.
“Facebook friends. My wife Liz is missing in Grenada. If any of you have connections to the island, can you please share the following with your contacts there?” he wrote.
Cailen Waddell also wrote “I expect nothing less than Liz’s safe return — so please [send] your love, light, thoughts, and prayers our way.”
The husband flew to the island to help with the search effort.
Cailen Waddell, who works as operations manager for the Town of Cary, North Carolina, flew to Grenada to assist with the search after learning of his wife’s disappearance Friday.
He said on social media Friday that he was heading to the area to assist in the search and urged anyone with connections to the island to share information that could help locate her.
Once on the island, Cailen Waddell reviewed the surveillance footage himself and provided detailed commentary about what he observed.
On Tuesday, Cailen Waddell posted “We have now seen video footage that confirms on Wednesday, Liz was last seen, around 12:04 PM, about 20′ at most from shore in water around 5′ deep swimming towards the beach at Grand Anse.”
Cailen Waddell wrote “I went out and did this swim yesterday. It is easy, there are lots of rocks you can stop at if you need. The water is shallower near shore, where liz could touch if she wanted and the water is like a lake, not like ocean water we experience in North Carolina.”
He also discussed eyewitness reports of his wife in the water hours after she was last seen on camera.
Cailen Waddell wrote “You have likely seen reports from folks on Jet Skis of an interaction with a woman they potentially identify as Liz in the water farther out from shore around 5:30PM. The police are working to connect with these people and determine a more precise location, they are also working to collect security footage from all Hotels along the Beach.”
Speaking with the Grenada Broadcasting Network, Cailen Waddell said “My wife is a loving, free-spirited person. She could make friends with anyone. She often did. She placed great value in her intuition about people and was always willing to help someone.”
He praised the response from local authorities.
“The police have been wonderful,” he told the Grenada Broadcasting Network, adding “The investigation is ongoing. They have been incredibly communicative and have done everything, it seems like, they could be doing to help find her.”
Police Commissioner Randy Connaught provided updates on the investigation at a Tuesday briefing.
“At this time, the matter continues to be treated as a missing person investigation,” acting Commissioner of Police Randy Connaught told reporters.
“The Royal Grenada Police Force has not reached or announced any final conclusion regarding the circumstances surrounding Ms. Waddell’s missing persons status. At this time, the matter continues to be treated as a missing person investigation.”
Authorities appealed for public assistance in locating the missing woman.
“Any bit of information will do at this time and we do hope that we can locate Elizabeth very soon,” Connaught said.
Witnesses have told investigators they later saw Waddell in the open water, police said.
In the viral moment on July 22, Waddell left her Airbnb near Grand Anse Beach in St. George’s, Grenada, where she had been vacationing with a close friend named Heather for about a week.
Waddell and her friend first arrived in Grenada on July 11.
She was wearing a swimsuit when she headed toward a jetty near the water, spending several minutes sitting on the jetty in the sun before entering the water at 11:51 a.m.
She was seen on a camera of a bar and grill that faces toward the pier, with video showing her on the pier and getting into the water as she was just kind of swimming and floating along, but then she floated off the camera’s view.
The family has set up resources to aid the search and share information.
The family has launched a website, FindLiz.com, to share updates on the investigation and search.
Waddell, a physical therapist, wife and mother from the Raleigh area, is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall with short blonde hair and is the founder of Art of Movement Physical Therapy, having earned a doctorate in physical therapy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The search continues across Grenada with support from federal authorities.
Grenadian police said their nearly week-old search for the missing North Carolina woman is still active, with hopes of finding the swimmer alive, saying “It is our hope that Elizabeth will be found and found alive and well.”