Is there a more fun and magical experience than taking a fun Disney Cruise over the high seas? Such fun, vacation-friendly surroundings are hardly the place you’d expect to play host to a missing person’s case. However, in 2011, that’s exactly what happened. Crew member Rebecca Coriam was caught on CCTV cameras having a heated conversation on her a phone before mysteriously vanishing.
Coriam’s disappearance caused a massive stir in British media. The English native was 24 at the time of her disappearance, and her case remains unsolved. While some investigators have suspected foul play, Coriam’s disappearance is believed by others to be a suicide. The most puzzling part of her disappearance, however, is that she vanished while the ship was at sea.
Early on the morning of March 11, 2011, Rebecca Coriam is captured on camera in the employee lounge of the Disney cruise ship Wonder. She’s on one of the ship’s internal phones in the footage, and she appears to be in emotional distress.
Her mannerisms are broad, her posture is defeated. She’s clearly upset, and a young man approaches her in the video, presumably to ask how she’s doing.
Coriam can be seen on camera visibly mouthing the words “yeah, fine” in response to the young man’s question. Then, she runs her hands through her hair and puts them in her back pockets, exiting the employee area. Coriam was, subsequently, never seen again. Her parents became suspicious after she didn’t contact them for hours following her last Facebook message.
When Coriam failed to appear at the start of her shift later that morning, the ship started a search for her. She wasn’t discovered anywhere in the close confines of the ship, and Disney claims they don’t see her again on CCTV footage anywhere on the boat.
The investigation was brief, according to those familiar with it. The ship was registered in the Bahamas, so a Bahamian detective searched the ship. Coriam was never found aboard. However, the ship is absolutely covered in CCTV cameras, making it unlikely that Disney has no idea what happened.
Many investigators feel it is unlikely that Coriam killed herself: she had passes in her quarters for her and her sister to go to Disneyland Paris. She had correspondence with her family where she promised to call them later the day she disappeared.
The prevailing theory of her disappearance is that she simply was washed overboard by a rogue wave. However, if this is the case, it’s bizarre that Disney would hide the footage of such an event. After all, accidental deaths at sea, while tragic, aren’t uncommon.
This has led some to speculate that Coriam could have been the victim of foul play, and that Disney and the Bahamian authorities covered up what really happened in the interest of promoting tourism.
