BEAMING in her bright yellow uniform on a Disney cruise ship, the world was very much Rebecca Coriam’s oyster.
But just a day after setting sail from LA, the adventurous 24-year-old vanished from the ship.
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Her body has never been found in the 14 years since.
Haunting CCTV showed Rebecca looking distressed and on the phone in the early hours of March 22, 2011.
It was the final time the childhood studies graduate was seen and 14 years on, no one knows what happened to Rebecca.
Chilling theories of murder and suicide remain at the forefront of the mystery.
The ship’s captain blamed a rogue wave for sweeping Rebecca into the sea off the coast of Mexico.
But experts say his account simply doesn’t add up as such a huge wave would have unquestionably have caused damage and been logged.
Rebecca’s disappearance is littered with inconsistencies and unanswered questions sparked by a “seriously flawed” probe.
Former Commander of Specialist Operations at Scotland Yard Roy Ramm, now a private investigator who dug into the case, believes her disappearance was at the centre of a cover-up.
He told The Sun: “Somebody on that vessel was unquestionably responsible for her death.”
An initial investigation was done by a lone Bahamian police officer who flew in from 1,500 miles away.
The superintendent arrived on Friday, March 25 and spent less than 36 on board before concluding Rebecca’s disappearance was “not suspicious”.
Just a handful of crew members were quizzed and there was no forensic examination.
Ramm, who looked into Rebecca’s disappearance, said the probe was inadequate.
He added the case would have “unquestionably” been solved if it wasn’t for the initial series of failures.
The ex-Met sleuth said: “They chose to fly in an investigator from the Bahamas, where the ship is registered, and where there is a very keen financial interest in looking after Disney as a valued contributor to Bahamian economy.
“What they should have done was called in more experienced investigators, maybe from the FBI, from LA where the ship was heading, or even pulling into a port in Mexico and bringing somebody on board.
“But what it appeared to me was that their main objective was to keep the ship on schedule rather than having their primary concern of investigating the crime.
“So one guy came in board the ship, a detective superintendent, and he came on board on his own. He had no forensic support.
“He conducted his investigation within realistically 36 hours, including sleep, and his interviews with witnesses were perfunctory. None of that paperwork has ever been released to the family.
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“There were freedom of information requests sent to the chief constable of the force where the Coriams lived, and they refused to release the material.
“This is not a state secret. This is a young woman who has disappeared in really distressing circumstances on board a cruise vessel.
“[It was a] very, very poor investigation. Quickly done, inadequate forensic examination. It was just terrible.”
Rebecca, from Chester, landed her job with Disney cruises in 2010 as part of their youth team to help keep kids entertained.
As the ship Wonder sailed through Mexican waters, near Puerto Vallarta, Rebecca vanished.
The alarm was raised after Rebecca failed to turn up to her shift at 9am and a tannoy request calling for her was met with silence.
A search of the ship came up blanks and the US Coastguard and Mexican Navy were enlisted to search the waters.
After receiving a devastating phone call late at night to say their daughter was missing, Mike and Ann Coriam flew to Los Angeles.
They were assured Rebecca had tragically fallen to her death from the fifth deck, and were told her flip-flops were found nearby.
This is not a state secret. This is a young woman who has disappeared in really distressing circumstances on board a cruise vessel.
Roy Ramm
The ship’s captain initially claimed Rebecca must have been washed overboard by a freak wave.
Ramm dismissed this theory – pointing out how such a large wave would have undoubtedly caused damage.
“This is a massive cruise ship, she was way up,” he said.
“And the captain said he thought she’d been washed off by a freak wave.
“Well, it must have been some kind of freak wave that washed her off and left her flip-flops behind.
“Also a wave of that magnitude would have rocked the vessel.
“There would have been breakages, but there was nothing in the ship’s log about this. There’s so much about it that’s completely unsatisfactory.”
Final footage of Rebecca from the ship’s CCTV showed her looking distressed at 5.45am on the morning of her disappearance.
She could be seen on an internal phone on the first deck wearing what looked like men’s clothes.
The clues that don’t add up
- The CCTV image above is said to have been taken on Deck 5. British investigators believe it was actually taken on Deck 1, by Deven Hyde’s cabin.
2. Why is there no CCTV of Rebecca falling off the ship?
3. Captain said a freak wave must have washed Rebecca overboard from Deck 5, 90ft above the sea. Deck sides are metal and 6ft high so a wave would have to be more than 100ft high. No freak waves were reported in the area.
4. Could the ship have turned around to look for Rebecca? The Mexican coastguard was called out but allegedly searched the wrong area. With survival times at 14 hours, could she have been found?
5. Why did the Bahamas government offer to hold the coroner’s inquest in secret?
Ramm believes this is a key piece of evidence – and something that made Rebecca so distraught could have led to her death.
He said: “I think one thing is [there] is no doubt she was definitely sexually assaulted.
“She wasn’t wearing her own clothing. Clothing was ripped and torn off.
“Whether she was then thrown off the vessel because the person that did it feared she would report him, or whether she was so distressed by what happened to her she decided to end her own life.
“But somebody on that vessel was unquestionably responsible for her death.
“In fact, I think even the Bahamian investigator made a comment that if this one particular person had not been on the ship she would have still been alive.”
Rebecca’s parents were skeptical of claims Rebecca was swept off the ship by a large wave at the crew pool, given a 6ft tall wall surrounded it.
They feared their beloved daughter was thrown overboard and murdered.
Flip-flops claimed to be Rebecca’s were found to have someone else’s name written on them, adding to their suspicion.
Rebecca’s parents settled a lawsuit against Disney out of court in 2016.
Ramm said: “There were people on board that vessel who knew much more than was ever revealed at the time through the investigation – whether Rebecca actually threw herself off that vessel, or whether she was pushed, whether she was encouraged.
“I think frankly the whole company was involved in a cover-up.”
Disney did not respond to The Sun’s comment request.
