Missing Cary woman last seen swimming off Grenada jetty, police search intensifies

Elizabeth Waddell vanished on July 22 after being seen entering the water near a jetty on Grenada's south coast. Grenada police say the case remains a missing person investigation.

Grenada police detail final movements of missing US woman Elizabeth Waddell

Grenada's Commissioner of Police Randy Connaught has released a detailed timeline of Elizabeth Waddell's last known movements, as the search for the Cary, North Carolina woman approaches one week. CBS17.com reports that Waddell, who was visiting the island with a friend, was last seen on surveillance footage on Wednesday, July 22.

According to Connaught, Waddell and her friend arrived in Grenada on July 11, spending the first ten days on the western side of the island. On July 21, the pair moved to the south side — a change of location that had been arranged in advance.

Surveillance footage from July 22 shows Waddell walking toward a jetty at approximately 11:36 a.m. and sitting on the sand. Around ten minutes later she is seen on the jetty itself. At 11:51 a.m. she enters the water, and is captured on camera swimming at roughly 12:04 p.m. At 12:46 p.m., her friend is seen walking toward the jetty and returning alone.

"Mrs. Waddell was not seen on surveillance footage returning from the water," Connaught said at a press conference on Tuesday. "Investigators have also received several eyewitness accounts indicating that she was seen swimming in the open water."

Waddell's friend reported her missing at approximately 5:50 p.m. that day. "That report triggered an immediate police response, including an initial search of the premises, the surroundings, shoreline and desperate searches of all of the areas in and around the area of that resort," Connaught said.

Waddell's husband, Cailen Waddell, flew to the island on Friday, July 24 to assist in the search. Connaught expressed the force's empathy for Cailen and the wider family.

"Let me take this opportunity on behalf of the Royal Grenada Police Force to express our empathy and support for Mr. Cailen Waddell, the husband of Elizabeth, to her relatives, to her friends who are expressing extreme difficulty at this time trying to cope with this distressing situation," Connaught said. "They seek answers, and we are here to provide those answers."

Multiple agencies, organisations and community members have joined efforts to locate Waddell. Investigators have reviewed surveillance footage and interviewed witnesses, while also working to reconstruct her movements across the island.

The Royal Grenada Police Force has not drawn any final conclusions about the circumstances of her disappearance. "The matter continues to be treated as a missing person investigation," Connaught confirmed.

"We remain hopeful, very hopeful, that she's somewhere on the island alive and safe, and we will be able to safely reunite her with her family — that is our hope," he said.

Connaught stated that the search will be intensified and that the force will commit the necessary resources to a full and comprehensive investigation. He urged anyone with information, however small, to come forward.

Source: Google News GD — Crime