CRJ-200 FLT CREW WHILE ON THE WHITEWATER 5 DEP FROM CVG HAD SEVERAL WAYPOINTS DROP OUT OF THE FMC. DEP CTLR NOTICES THE INCORRECT COURSE AND NOTIFIES THE FLT CREW.

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INITIAL PROGRAMMING OF FMS WAS DONE BY FO. I REVIEWED ALL FMS PROGRAMMING. DEP WAS OFF RWY 27; WHITEWATER 5 DEP; CADIZ TRANSITION. SOMEHOW THE VHP AND BVT WAYPOINTS BECAME DELETED AND WE WERE PRECEDING DIRECT TOWARDS CADIZ. THIS HAPPENED FAIRLY CLOSE TO VHP. ATC NOTICED DEV THEN CLRED US DIRECT BVT TO RESUME THE DEP. NOTHING MORE WAS SAID BY ATC AND NO CONFLICT OCCURRED. WE BOTH DISCUSSED WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED BUT COULD NOT DEFINITELY FIGURE OUT WHAT HAPPENED. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THIS SEQUENCE OF EVENTS HAPPENED. ON INITIAL CLBOUT; I REMEMBER SETTING UP THE FMS TO REMOVE THE 'VECT' WAYPOINT; IE; SELECTED DIRECT CARFF AND THEN THE 'INTC CRS' SOFT KEY TO SELECT THE INTERCEPT COURSE AS DEPICTED ON THE DEP. THIS WAS DONE AHEAD OF ANY ATC INSTRUCTION. I WAS WORKING AHEAD FOR AN EXPECTED CLRNC. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT WHEN GIVEN THE EXPECTED CLRNC; I SELECTED CADIZ IN THE SAME MANNER AS ABOVE; WHICH WOULD HAVE HAD US INTERCEPTING THE BVT CADIZ COURSE LINE. BUT; THIS IS JUST THEORY. TO BE HONEST; I CANNOT FIGURE OUT EXACTLY HOW THE MISTAKE WAS MADE; DESPITE LENGTHY DISCUSSION WITH MY FO. THERE MAY BE A SMALL POSSIBILITY OF SOME SORT OF DATABASE ERROR; ONE OF MY REASONS FOR SUBMITTING THIS IS TO DOCUMENT THE INCIDENT IN CASE THIS IS TRUE.