Coverage spread: 2 sources — 1 left · 1 right
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What Happened
Elizabeth “Liz” Waddell, a 44-year-old physical therapist from Cary, North Carolina, has been missing since July 22 after she was last seen swimming off Grand Anse Beach near St. George’s, the capital of Grenada. Waddell was on a three-week vacation with her close friend, identified as Heather, and the two were staying together at an Airbnb rental in the Grand Anse beach resort area.
Newly released surveillance footage from the rental property, shared by Waddell’s family, shows her walking toward the beach around 11:45 a.m. and jumping off a jetty into the water about two minutes later. While she swam, her friend was seen on the beach adjusting a chair in the shade. Waddell reappeared on camera roughly 19 minutes later and set off walking toward Grand Anse beach shortly after noon. According to the Royal Grenada Police Force’s Acting Police Commissioner Randy Connaught, she was seen entering the water and swimming beneath a beachside pier shortly after noon, and about 45 minutes later her friend was seen walking toward the pier before returning alone — suggesting she went looking for Waddell.
Police are also investigating reports that a group of jet skiers encountered a woman matching Waddell’s description farther from shore at around 5:30 p.m. that same day. Her husband, Cailen Waddell, said authorities are working to identify those jet skiers and pinpoint a more precise location, as well as gather security footage from hotels along the beach. Waddell was described in the video as a short, blonde-haired woman wearing blue-and-white striped shorts and a burnt-orange, loose crop top. When Heather eventually went looking for her later that day, she reportedly found only Waddell’s towel, with no other trace of her.
The Search and the Husband’s Statement
The Royal Grenada Police Force first announced Waddell’s disappearance on July 23, appealing to fishermen, boat operators, and coastal residents for information. Cailen Waddell, who works as an operations manager for the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources in Cary, flew to Grenada to help search for his wife. Other friends and family joined the search effort over the following week, supported by a GoFundMe campaign, a dedicated website (findliz.com), and a tip line.
By Wednesday, however, Cailen Waddell announced that searchers were flying home after officials concluded there was no evidence of foul play. In his statement, he said that after consulting with family, local authorities, the U.S. Embassy and others in Grenada, he agreed with authorities’ assessment. He recounted that his wife was last seen swimming far from shore around 5:30 p.m. and had expressed confidence in both her swimming ability and her location, along with admiration for the island’s beauty. He also described his wife as a “loving free-spirit person” who “could make friends with anyone and she often did.” He noted the investigation would continue to trace her movements hour by hour, saying “no detail is too small.”
A friend of Waddell’s, Amanda Romano-Harmon, told reporters that surveillance video showed her “floating” and “swimming around” before she floated out of camera view — the last footage anyone has of her. Cailen Waddell separately noted he himself swam the same stretch of water to test conditions, describing it as calm, shallow near shore, and more lake-like than the rougher Atlantic waters familiar to North Carolinians, with rocky areas where a swimmer could rest.
How the Coverage Compares
The New York Post and CBS News both center their reporting on the same core timeline and the husband’s Wednesday statement ruling out foul play, but they emphasize different details. The Post leans more heavily on the surveillance video’s specifics — exact timestamps, Waddell’s clothing description, and quotes from Cailen Waddell about testing the swim conditions himself — and highlights the jet ski sighting as an active lead police are chasing. CBS News, drawing on additional reporting including contributions from correspondents Emily Mae Czachor, Cristian Benavides and Kiki Intarasuwan, gives more attention to the police commissioner’s official account of the timeline and includes the friend Heather’s search for Waddell, including the detail that only her towel was found. CBS also includes the on-the-record quote from friend Amanda Romano-Harmon describing the swimming and floating seen on video.
Both outlets agree on the essential facts: Waddell vanished after swimming near Grand Anse Beach on July 22, was last documented on camera swimming under a pier, and that her husband and Grenadian authorities have concluded the disappearance likely does not involve foul play, even though her whereabouts remain unknown.
Why It Matters
The case underscores the risks of open-water swimming for tourists unfamiliar with local conditions, even in waters described as calm. It has also drawn attention from the U.S. State Department, which has acknowledged awareness of the disappearance, and has mobilized an international search effort involving family, volunteers, and Grenadian police. As of the latest reports, Waddell has not been found, and the investigation into the precise circumstances of her disappearance continues.
Sources
Featured photo: Margauxkraemer via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)