Elizabeth Waddell Case Hinges on Jet-Ski Encounter

Elizabeth Waddell’s disappearance has taken a new turn after her husband described what he says may have been her last interaction before she vanished in Grenada. In the Elizabeth Waddell case, the central detail now under scrutiny is a reported conversation with two jet-skiers who say they saw her in the water on July 22.

Cailen Waddell shared the update on his website, findliz.com, two weeks after his wife went for a swim on the Caribbean island at around noon. He said the North Carolina native was later reported to have been swimming again at about 5:30 p.m. that day, when the jet-skiers allegedly came across her. According to his account of their report, they offered to bring her back to shore, but she insisted she was fine. He wrote that they said they spent five to 10 minutes trying to persuade her to ride in with them and not remain in the ocean. He also said they reported that she told them, I’m a good swimmer, and gave them a thumbs up.

Waddell said the exchange did not sound like the woman he knows. He wrote that he had never heard Liz describe herself that way when it came to swimming, though he said the rest of the conversation and the way she was described seemed consistent with her. That tension has become one of the few concrete threads in a case still marked by uncertainty and anguish for her family.

He also offered his own view of the scene, placing her in Grand Anse Bay roughly one-third of a mile from shore and about one-third of a mile northeast of Quarantine Point. Using charts he said he reviewed, he estimated the water there to be about 17 feet deep. From his perspective, the distance and conditions made the reported swim difficult to believe. He wrote that it seemed completely out of character for her and far beyond what he understood about her swimming ability.