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The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Disney cruise ship worker Rebecca Coriam continues to torment her loved ones nearly nine years after she went missing at sea.

The Liverpool student vanished from the Disney Wonder ship in March 2011, leaving a painful series of unanswered questions for her friends, family and work colleagues.

Rebecca, who was 24 at the time of her disappearance, was employed as a youth activity worker on board the Disney vessel, having graduated in youth studies from Hope University.

She was last seen at dawn on March 22, 2011, as the ship made its way into Puerto Vallarta in Mexico.

Rebecca's heartbroken parents Mike and Ann claim their beloved daughter was murdered, believing she was thrown overboard after being sexually assaulted.

But Disney insist she was swept overboard by a freak wave and vanished at sea and the alarm was raised a few hours later when she failed to turn up for work.

A nine-month investigation completed by a solitary policeman in the Bahamas, the Caribbean country where the Wonder was registered, concluded her disappearance was "not suspicious."

Nearly nine years on from Rebecca's disappearance, her heartbroken parents have still never been able to lay their daughter to rest, as her body was never recovered.

The ECHO revisited the case and 10 of the ongoing mysteries that remain unanswered in Rebecca's disappearance.

1. CCTV footage shows Rebecca looking visibly distressed

Key CCTV footage, first uncovered by the ECHO, shows Rebecca talking on an internal Disney phone in Deck One’s crew quarters – at one point visibly getting upset.

A male colleague briefly puts a concerned arm around her as she anxiously chats on the phone.

Her friends and family believe this footage suggests Rebecca was sexually assaulted and in a state of distress.

The footage, which was recorded in the middle of the night, also appears to show Rebecca wearing men's pyjamas.

Her family believe this is a sign their daughter desperately threw on any available garments to escape the cabin after some sort of attack.

Rebecca's favourite shorts were also ripped when they were handed back to her parents, which led them to believe she was engaged in a violent struggle just before her death.

2. Stormy seas ruled out

Disney have always insisted their employee was swept overboard during stormy conditions, but an analysis of the seas at the time revealed the waters were reassuringly calm.

3. Flip flops found in her cabin in the wrong size

When Rebecca's parents went aboard the ship, they were surprised to see a pair of flip flops neatly placed side by side on top of Rebecca’s suitcase in her wardrobe, which had not been taken away for forensic examination.

Further inconsistencies revealed they were a size-and-a-half too small for Rebecca, and her friends never saw her wearing them.

The footwear, said to be left on the edge of the ship where Disney said she fell overboard, had a different signature and cabin number written on their side.

4. Suicide ruled out by Rebecca's parents

The notion of Rebecca taking her own life is impossible for parents Mike and Anne to accept.

They say everything about their daughters final days point to a young woman who was enjoying her life.

In the weeks before her disappearance, Rebecca was given complimentary tickets to Disneyland in Paris, and had excitedly Facebook messaged her mum.

In her cabin was a scribbled message on paper, “Phone mum!” which her family believe pointed to her positive frame of mind.

Other Disney employees told police that Rebecca was up in the ship’s staff bar area until 2am on the day she went missing, and described her as “having a couple of beers" and coming across as “happy-go-lucky.”

5. A potential love triangle

Following investigations by the ECHO undertaken seven years ago, it emerged Rebecca was in a romantic relationship with an American woman, but was also embroiled in a potential love triangle with an older man from Central America which led to disagreements and fall-outs.

6. A one-man investigation into the case of a missing woman

The investigation into Rebecca's disappearance was carried by one detective - Supt Paul Rolle of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, because that's where the ship was registered.

He flew in from Nassau in the Bahamas, 1,500 miles from the ship – just one man charged with conducting a forensic investigation and interviewing 3,000 passengers and crew.

Neither US forces, where the ship docked after the tragedy in Los Angeles, or Mexican police, as her disappearance happened in Mexican waters, near Puerto Vallarta, were involved in the probe.

The Coriam family has never received any final report and little evidence or related material to the investigation was disclosed to them.

They once said: "Cheshire Police were informed and did liaise with the Bahamas authorities, but Cheshire Police did not proceed with their own investigation, on the grounds of lack of proper jurisdiction in this matter.

“Cheshire Police also received an interim report which in their words to us, was ‘totally and utterly unsatisfactory’ and they were under instructions not to disclose to the family its contents.

“We have tried under the Freedom of Information Act with no success to see the report.”

7. Confiding in friends when she returned home

When Rebecca left the ship and came home for a brief period for a family funeral, she confided in a couple of close friends.

She told them she was fearful of "being raped or sexually assaulted" while on the ship.

8. No audio recording of her phone call on deck

Audio recording of Rebecca's strained on-deck telephone call has never surfaced.

If any tape exists of the call, which could help answer the circumstances surrounding Rebecca's fate, it has never materialised.

9. Questions over how Rebecca could be 'swept overboard'

The Coriam family have queried how their daughter could have been swept over a 6ft-plus high wall, where Disney later laid flowers on deck to mark the tragedy.

10. Disney employees point to another location

Some Disney employees believe Rebecca went overboard on Deck 5, close to the crew swimming pool - or appear to have been told this was the case.

A reconnaissance trip of the area revealed the pool had no ocean view because behind the railings is a high steel wall, which reaches well above head height.

Guardian journalist Jon Ronson concluded: "There is no way someone could accidentally fall from there."

The ECHO has approached Disney for comment, but in recent years the company has declined to respond.

The Coriam family is unable to speak publicly on the case after accepting an out-of-court financial settlement from Disney. The ECHO is in regular contact with their spokesman and advisor, Bill Anderson, who is a maritime expert.