My villagers and nearby villagers are all missing they have all dissapeared

I successfully found a village about 2000 blocks away from my decided home and i decided to transport the 3 villagers all the way home and even prepared a path using water and a boat.  I had already prepared a villager cottage where they can have access to jobs, beds and lots of food. I even brought their beds and bell. One of the villagers died enroute to their new home. The next 2 villagers were transported successfully and they settled into new bed locations and even produced a large family due to bread and carrots. Most of them soon after despawned a few survived and i noticed a hole in my wall... even then i had the area ligtened and used the bed to avoid night time. despite all my efforts my villagers somehow became extinct. So I used the village locator and checked the closest village by land yet all the villagers are nowhere to be found. I suspect something has happened to my save file and something is corrupted. I took great care in the transport and safety of these villagers.