Where In The World Is Amy Lynn Bradley?

Where In The World Is Amy Bradley ?

Overview:

Amy Lynn Bradley was born on May 12th, 1974 to Iva and Ron Bradley, and was the older sister to her brother Brad. A lot of photos of the two of them as children show the pair together where they’re playing happily and you can tell that they were extremely close. Amy has been described by her family and friends is kind of going and a lovely person. She was also described as being active and she also had been a lifeguard and had gone to college with a basketball scholarship. The Bradley’ were seemingly a normal and very close family, and it’s pretty obvious from all of the interviews they’ve done over the years how much they love each other how much love they had for Amy during the 23 years they spent with her. So, in 1998 when Ron was gifted Caribbean cruise by his work, the family of four jumped at the chance of spending a week together on the high seas. After all, what could possibly go wrong.

Despite being somewhat apprehensive and nervous about flying on a plane, and being on the open water, Amy was just as excited as the rest of the family for this trip they were going to go to go on together, and Amy was said to have been tanning for several weeks before the trip so that she could look good in photos. Below, I have attached a photo of Amy and her family that was taken directly before they got on their Cruise. The four of them look very happy and excited for the trip they were about to take together. At 23, Amy had just finished college two years before and I’m sure a relaxing family trip sounded great to her.

It was March of 1998, when the Bradley’ traveled all the way from their home in Chesterfield Virginia, to Puerto Rico, where they departed on their 7 day adventure, on Carnival’s Rhapsody Of The Seas. Soon, they arrived at the shipping port where their Cruise was waiting for them. This is where Amy and her family would take one of their last photos as a family together, and after perusing the small shops along the dock, Amy found the perfect postcard for a friend back home. This just shows us how much Amy thought of others, even on vacation she was thinking of her friends. Her postcard read:

“Hey Girl, it’s gorgeous here. We leave for Aruba tomorrow. Take care. I’ll be home Saturday at 10:00. See ya.”

Post Card From Amy

After their ship had left its original port, the Bradley’ were ecstatic to be apart of the entire thing. And, suddenly any of the anticipation Amy had before the trip had faded away, and her and her family were having an amazing time together. The family wasted no time and started enjoying the festivities of the boat right away. The four of them spent the time in between ports drinking and saying gambling and more. They were all having a great time together and we’re looking forward to going to Aruba, which was their first port on their Cruise. None of them knew it at the time, this would be the last vacation they would ever take together as a family. Nor di the bradleys realize that the photos taken on this trip would be the very last the family of four would ever share together.

Amy & Brad Bradley

Timeline:

• First Port – The cruise ship departs from Puerto Rico in route to Aruba. The Bradley’ spend these first few days on their Cruise having fun and enjoying all of the things the boat had to offer. After arriving in Aruba, the family enjoyed the sun and the surf and even participated in some water sport activities, and Amy and Brad also went to Carlos and Charlie’s , which is a very popular and well-known partying spot on the island. After retreating back to their ship, the family later participated in a limbo contest, and Amy and Brad stayed out late together at the disco.

  

  Amy and Brad can be seen on video camera enjoying themselves and dancing late into the night at one of the discos on the cruise boat. Below, I have attached a photo of Amy dancing with one of the musicians that worked on the ship. Allister Douglas “Yellow” would be one of the last people other than Amy’ family to see her before her disappearance.

  

• After Midnight –

  Around 3am, Brad and Amy return to their cabin within 15 minutes of each other. Both of them can be seen on cameras entering and exiting the elevators, and the boat also confirmed both used their key cards to enter the room that was located on the eighth deck.

  • 5:30am – Amy was seen sleeping on the balcony
  • 6:00am – Amy is heard quietly leaving her room, she didn’t take her shoes with her.
  • 7:00am – Amy has been unaccounted for, going on at least an hour at this point.
  • 7:30am – The entire family is searching the boat for the missing Amy.
  • 8:00 – Amy has been missing for two hours at this point. The ship docks in Curacao, and begins to let other passengers off of the boat.
  • The boat makes an announcement for Amy to come to the service desk, but they do not mention that Amy is missing.
  • Midmorning – The crew insists that Amy must have just gone ashore without them. Then, Yellow tells Brad that he’s sorry to hear that Amy was missing. (Very suspicious).
  • Noon – The captain tells the Bradley’s that all 900 + staterooms, as well as all public and private areas of the boat have been searched for Amy and that they didn’t believe that Amy was on the boat. It is at this time that the captain begins to suggest the possibility that Amy fell overboard into the sea. It is at this point that the Bradley’s decide that they need to stay in Curacao, while they waited for the coast guard and the FBI.
  • The FBI arrived within 24 hours of Amy’ disappearance.
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• • Once the boat had arrived in St Martin, the Bradley’s, and the FBI boarded the ship and conducted their own search for Amy. It was at this time that it came to light that the captain had lied previously when he said that all areas of the boat had been searched for Amy. Only the common areas of the boat were searched, no staterooms or private areas had been searched on the day Amy went missing.
  • Two girls on the cruise boat told the Bradley’ that on the morning Amy disappeared they saw Yellow give Amy a drink.
  • After the cruise had finished, the Bradley’ had to return home without Amy, they were all devastated.
  • The family waited no time, once back home in Virginia they setup a home office with a hotline where people could call in tips or leads about Amy.
  • Ron and Brad return to Curacao to search for Amy a few months after her disappearance.
  • The FBI continued to search for Amy and even conducted under cover operations on board the boat that Amy went missing off of. But, despite their best efforts they could not find Amy.
  • It seemed that no matter what tip or lead that came in, nothing ever seemed to come to anything.
• • In 2005, teenager Natalie Holloway vanished without a trace while on a senior class trip to Aruba. Many continue to believe that she was sold into sex trafficking. The similarities between the disappearances caused many to speculate that both Amy and Natalie had met the same fate. Around the same time a woman claimed to have seen Amy in a department store restroom in Barbados.

  • In March 2010, the Bradley family had Amy declared dead in absentia.

Notable Aspects:

Cruise Ships & Maritime Law

Some important facts to note about this case would be that when you are in open waters, the matter of police jurisdictions becomes very cloudy and murky. When on a cruise ship, you are typically under the jurisdiction of the country that the boat is registered with. Most Cruise ships are not registered to America, with many being from the Caribbean or beyond. In this case, this fact soon became extremely problematic. In 1998, Carnival’s Rhapsody Of The Seas, was a new boat in the fleet. At the time, Carnival was a US based company, however many of their boats were registered in other counties, and the boat the Bradley’ were on was registered in Norway. This meant that the US had very little to no jurisdiction on the boat at this point, and it also meant that the cruise boat didn’t have to follow US laws either. I also put the blueprint of the cruise boat Amy and her family were on below in my sources, so that way you can see the approximate areas on the boat. The Bradley’ stateroom was located on the eighth deck of the boat, just under one of the main areas of the boat.

Travel & Tourism Pre 9/11

Tourism and travel in the pre 9/11 world looked very different than what we often experience when we travel today. Cruises and airports alike often didn’t adhere to the strict laws that we have now. On cruises in particular, very little attention was paid to the imports and exports on and off the boat, and it probably would have been easy to conceal all sorts of products within the liens and countless other items that are taken on and off board while the boat is docked at a port. Now, Customs officials are very well trained to identify any suspicious materials or situations going on. It is extremely possible that in a post 9/11 world Amy would never have gone missing at all, and that is a complete tragedy. Ill talk a little more about this later, when I explain what my theory is about what happened to Amy.

Eyewitnesses & Sightings

• In August 1998, two Canadians who were traveling in Curacao and said that they saw a woman matching Amy’ descriptions, walking along a beach in Curacao with an unknown male. The woman’s tattoos were reportedly identical to Bradley’s. Bradley’s tattoos included a Tasmanian Devil spinning a basketball located on her shoulder, the sun placed on her lower back, a Chinese symbol located on her right ankle, and a gecko lizard on her navel. She also had a navel ring. It was around this time that the Bradley family was also contacted by a man by the name of Frank Jones. Ill speak about him in more detail below.
• The following year, a member of the US Navy claimed that he had met a woman in a brothel in Curacao, who had told him that her name was Amy Bradley, and that she was being kept against her will. However, despite this apparently credible source, by the time this Naval officer told the proper authorities about this sighting, the brothel had burned down by the time anyone was able to go and inspect the claims. Overall, this is probably the saddest eye witness statement in the whole case because if the officer had immediately told the proper authorities it is possible this tip could of actually ended in the rescue of not just Amy, but all of the woman who were forced to work at that brothel.
• 2005 was the last time a credible eyewitness came forward citing that they had seen Amy in a department store in Barbados, with several unidentified males. The woman was actually able to work with a sketch artist and draw a composite drawing of the woman who she had met who she believed was Amy Bradley.

Sketch of woman believed to be Amy

• later the same year, sketches of both Amy and the men she had been seen with had been widely distributed across the Caribbean. Leading to more interest and publicity for her case.
• Amy’ family appeared on the November 17, 2005 episode of the Dr. Phil Show. An image was shown of a young woman resembling Amy that had been emailed to her parents and was then shown on the program, and it suggests that she might have been sold into some type of sexual slavery. Many of the photos were revealing and most were not shown on air. But, after the photos were examined by a specialist they were able to determine that it was extremely likely that the woman in the photos was Amy Bradley.

As far as I can tell from my research, the Bradley’ had been anonymously sent several photos of this woman via email, and who sent these emails is still unknown.

Below, You can see comparisons of the photos that were sent to the Bradley family and original photos of Amy. The comparisons are startling, and in my opinion FAR too similar to be a simply coincidence. There are somethings that cannot be changed on a person. We might be able to change someone’s hair and their clothes, you can change someone’s natural style, or the size of their body. But, there are somethings you simply cannot change on a person (At least not without extensive surgery). A persons eyes can never really change, we cannot change the size, shape, placement or the color of someone’s eyes. We cannot change the physical dimensions of a persons face or body either. I think it is also important to mention that Amy’s mother Immediately said that she recognized the woman in these photos as her daughter. Mothers know their children.

Physical Comparisons

Amy & The Man With The Full Arm Tattoo

In 1999, Iva and Ron got what they believed was the first big lead in the hunt for their daughter. A woman cook on the island of Curacao came forward saying that she had seen a woman that looked like Amy being held under guard by armed Colombians on the island of Curacao. Soon after receiving this tip, the family was contacted by a man by the name of Frank Jones, who claimed that he was ex special forces and that he wanted to help rescue Amy from captivity.

Frank Jones was soon working with the Bradley’s, and he even sent two of his men down to Curacao to investigate the latest eye witness account from the cook, Margaritha. The woman claimed to see Amy often, and explained that she was being held captive by armed Colombians in a housing complex. Also, the woman explained that when out, Amy was often accompanied by a blond man with a full arm tattoo.

Frank Jones assured the Bradley family that he would do his very best to fully investigate these claims. But, he would need financial help from the Bradley’s in order to do so. In the months to follow, Jones would periodically update the Bradley family about the progress he was making on finding Amy. Jones even sent photos of proof of Amy walking on the beach, with her tattoos exposes and eventually claimed to be close to rescuing Amy, but that he would need one more financial contribution from the Bradley’ in order to extract Amy from captivity. The Bradley family was desperate and paid the fee to jones, and even flew down to Florida to wait for Jones to return with Amy. But, Jones never showed.

Soon, it was discovered that Frank Jones was a con artist, who had been enjoying himself in Curacao on the Bradley’s dime. Naturally, the family was devastated at this emotional blow. Amy had never been under armed guard, there were no Colombians, no man with a full arm tattoo, and it was eventually revealed that the eyewitness that had originally claimed to see Amy with this man was also nothing but a con artist trying to take advantage of the Bradley family.

Theories:

Suicide

I am going to discuss the theories that I believe the least first, and then go from there. One commonly suggested theory in this case is that Amy committed suicide by jumping off of the boat. In my opinion this theory just doesn’t really add up for several reasons. Amy had clearly not gone on this trip with the intention of taking her own life, she wrote her friend saying she would see her soon, shortly before she went missing and Amy was supposed to pick up her new puppy when she came back from the trip as well. These facts don’t exactly point to a suicidal person, and this would mean that if this had been a suicide it would of had to be an impulsive choice and that doesn’t make too much sense either since Amy didn’t have any of the risk factors we might see in someone who might commit suicide impulsively. Amy had never been mentioned as struggling with her mental health or as someone who had suffered with suicidal ideation in the past. Its also important to note that the majority of suicides involve some type of plan, and are not impulsive, so this fact alone goes against the plausibility of the suicide theory.

In a Houston study on near fatal suicide attempts, they discovered that substance abuse and ongoing depression and interpersonal conflict were three of the main contributors for those that attempted suicide impulsively. Based on what we know about Amy, it doesn’t appear that she had any of these risk factors, she didn’t have a bad fight with a family member, she didn’t suffer with depression, and she didn’t abuse illegal substances or alcohol. Also, no one ever really mentions this but if you’re nervous about being on the open ocean, it makes no sense that you would throw yourself off of your boat just a few days later. And, i tend to think if Amy jumped off the boat I think we would of found her if she had died only a few miles from shore. Honestly, I think that there is just not enough evidence to really consider this theory.

Accident Or Cover Up?

In my opinion, I think that any kind of accident where Amy fell off the boat can probably be ruled out for the most part. If Amy had left her state room on deck 8 and gone up just one deck, she would of been on one of the main floors of the boat, so its pretty unlikely that someone else would not have seen her fall off of the boat. Also, on cruise boats its pretty common for the boat to significantly slow down when its getting closer to port so its not as if the boat would have been violently rocking or swaying which is probably what would be needed for someone to fall off the boat on accident. Guard rails on cruise boats are also around 4 feet high, so it would be pretty hard if not impossible for someone to simply fall off the side of the boat.

However, I don’t think that the possibility that Amy died somewhere else on the boat after some type of accident and the crew covered her death up afterwards can be completely ruled out. In fact, it actually is the most plausible and realistic theory, but we don’t really have a ton of evidence to support the theory. But, sometimes the easiest answer is the right answer and for that reason I think it has to be considered that Amy died as a result of an accident while she had accompanied “Yellow” somewhere on the boat, either due to foul play or misfortune and the captain and crew helped to cover up the death to avoid bad press and or a lawsuit. This theory could possibly explain some of the odd behavior of the Captain and crew. Such as when “Yellow’ told Brad shortly after the on board search for Amy had begun (no one knew Amy was really missing at this point) that he was “sorry to hear about your sister.). Obviously, this confused Brad and its an encounter that he remembers to this day, as it seemed so odd at the time.

Sex Trafficking

The Caribbean has long been known as a hub for sex tourism and as a result this has landed Curacao on a sex trafficking watch list for many years in a row now. This makes the idea that Amy could have been sold into sex trafficking even more plausible. Curacao is also one of the islands that separate the Caribbean from South America, specifically Colombia and Venezuela. This makes Curacao an unfortunate middle man in the export and trade of humans between the Caribbean and South Americas. It has been reported that it is very common for woman and children to be sold to brothels in the Caribbean where where the sex trade is often much more lucrative and where sex tourism is legal and makes up large portions of countries incomes. Where prostitution is legal sex traffickers/pimps can force their girls into prostitution, take their wages, and force them into drug use as a means to keep control over them.

The theory that Amy fell prey to sex trafficking is a plausible theory given the evidence that we have. The eyewitness accounts and the photos of a woman who looks almost identical to Amy that her parents were sent, certainly make this the theory that we have the most evidence for. I suspect that if this theory is true like I believe than its likely that Amy was either smuggled off the boat the day she went missing, or was stashed somewhere on the boat that was not searched. We know that it was eventually discovered that the search on board the boat for Amy was subpar at the very best, and negligent at worst. Amy also is a prime victim for trafficking as she was a fit female from the age of 18 to 35.

What I Think Happened To Amy:

I have two personal theories about this case and suspect that one of them likely is what happened, or at least close to it. I suspect that ” Yellow” the base player likely was involved in some way as well because if eyewitness accounts are accurate he was seen giving Amy a drink immediately before she went missing and couldn’t be found. It wouldn’t have been very hard to drug Amy and take her off to his stateroom for whatever insidious purpose to later just dump her body over board later on, or smuggle her body off the boat in a laundry bin or even in a large suitcase. Its even possible that Amy went somewhere with “Yellow” willingly and then something between them went wrong and an incident went down that caused Amy’ death to occur, and it was subsequently covered up by the cruise line.

The theory that I believe the most is definitely that Amy was sold into sexual slavery. However, the only issues we encounter when considering this theory is that (if it is in fact true), we have no way of knowing where, when, or even how Amy was smuggled off the boat, because its not as they simply walked her off the boat with no one noticing. The fact that only common areas of the boat were checked could mean Amy wasn’t taken off the boat until it docked in St Marteen and had just been hidden on the boat somewhere no one could find her. I suspect that Amy was drugged likely at the time or very soon after the last witnesses reported seeing her on the boat with “Yellow” the base player. After this, Amy was smuggled off of the boat either in Curacao or in St Marteen inside some type of container that would not be checked by anyone. I suspect that she was likely taken off the boat as fast as possible to remove her from the place people were looking for her, but the idea that she was taken off the boat later cannot be ruled out for sure. Then, Amy was sold to someone and likely forced to work in brothels around the Caribbean, while being forced into drug addiction. Unfortunately, this is not a good fate if this is what happened to her, most trafficking victims survive less than a decade in this kind of life, the drugs, lack of good nutrients and health care, the abusive johns, and vicious pimps do not make for a long life expectancy. In fact, the average life expectancy of a trafficked individual is typically only 7 years. Sadly, this fact would also line up with the last credible eye witness siting that we had of Amy in 2005. I have also feared that its possible that Natalie Holloway going missing could have been bad for Amy, as her case was thrown back into the spotlight across the globe after Natalie went missing. People naturally questioned if both could have met the same fate and as a result Amy case became a name known across the globe once again. It is completely possible that this exposure could have been the final blow to Amy, as the people who took her could have decided that the money they made off of her wasn’t worth the risk of keeping such a well known/recognizable person, especially after the incident in that department store in Barbados. I strongly doubt that Amy is alive now as it has been almost two decades since the last credible siting of her.

An Open Letter to Amy:

I’m so sorry your country couldn’t have help you more when you first went missing, and I’m sorry for all that you endured after. I hope that your suffering was as short as possible, and that you are now finally at peace no matter what that looks like. You didn’t deserve anything that happened to you, none of it. You survived for years, likely living a half life, a torturous life. You went through pure hell, and there is no excuse for this. So, the true crime community will keep telling your story, and the stories of the countless others who had their voices stripped away from them so viciously; forever attempting to keep the metaphorical porch light on for all those who are victimized and lost. Always and forever.

UP NEXT: ‘The Delphi Murders, Who Killed Abby & Libby?’

Sources:

• https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/amy-lynn-bradley
• https://casefilepodcast.com/case-59-amy-lynn-bradley/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0w5h0ec2OI
• https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/assets/deckimages/web/www.cruisedeckplans.com-deckplan.php-ship=Rhapsody-of-the-Seas.webp
• https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=131968&page=1
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4965648/
• https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/means-matter/means-matter/duration/
• https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/curacao/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_the_Dutch_Caribbean

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