Lost at sea…

In  Ground Truth, Greta Campbell is declared “lost at sea.” Her sister, Hanna Campbell, believes Greta is still alive and hires Michael Flint to find her.

How realistic is this story? Well…

You would be surprised by how many individuals mysteriously vanished at sea throughout history. Here’s an article listing all that we know of.

If a person has been missing for a length of time but there is no body, there is what’s called a “presumption of death.” Generally, there is a specific amount of time to wait before a person is declared dead, and this depends on the country or state in which it happened. But in other cases, it can be a shorter period of time if the circumstances surrounding the individual strongly point to their death (i.e. a plane crash or boat wreck). This situation is portrayed in the movie “Cast Away.”

Sometimes people who are presumed dead turn up alive, although this is rare. One instance was a man named John Burney. He had severe financial difficulties and vanished in 1976, then later reappeared in December 1982, after his wife and his company had already received the death benefits. The life insurance company sued him, and the court ruled Burney’s actions fraudulent. You can read more about this and the concept of being presumed dead here.