Husband of North Carolina woman missing in Grenada doesn’t suspect foul play

The husband of a North Carolina woman who went missing last week while visiting the Caribbean island of Grenada said Wednesday he believes “there was no foul play” in her disappearance.

Cailen Waddell, the husband of Elizabeth Waddell, said in a statement that the ongoing investigation will focus on tracing his wife’s movements in the hours before she disappeared, adding that “no detail is too small.”

Waddell was last seen on security video at around noon on July 22 swimming off Grand Anse Beach, the Royal Grenada Police Force previously reported. According to Cailen Waddell, eyewitnesses later reported interacting with her at about 5:30 p.m. further from shore that same evening. 

“After careful and thoughtful consultation with family, local authorities, the U.S. Embassy, and others here in Grenada, I join authorities in believing there was no foul play,” Cailen Waddell said in Wednesday’s statement. “Liz was last seen swimming in the ocean near Grand Anse, around 5:30 PM, far from shore. She communicated her confidence in her swimming and location, as well as the beauty of the island.”

The 44-year-old North Carolina mother was on a three-week vacation with her close friend, Heather, at the time of her disappearance. According to her family, Waddell left the Airbnb she was sharing with Heather, and when she didn’t return for hours, Heather went looking for her and found just her towel, but no other sign of her.

A friend of Waddell said this week that surveillance video of her last known movements on the day of her disappearance showed her “floating” and “swimming around.” 

“But then she, you know, she floats out of the camera view and so that’s the last footage of Liz,” her friend Amanda Romano-Harmon said.

Surveillance video showed Elizabeth Waddell walking toward a beachside pier around 11:30 a.m. before entering the water and swimming beneath the pier shortly after noon, Royal Grenada Police Acting Police Commissioner Randy Connaught said Tuesday. About 45 minutes later, her friend was seen heading toward the pier before returning alone.

Cailen Waddell described his wife as “a loving free-spirit person,” telling Grenadian media last week that his wife “could make friends with anyone and she often did.”

Police have asked anyone with information on Waddell’s whereabouts to contact authorities immediately. The U.S. State Department has said it is aware of the disappearance.