In 1998, at the age of 23, Amy Lynn Bradley had just graduated from college, gotten a new apartment and dog, and was set to begin a new phase in her life. That year, both her parents, who were insurance agents with Illinois Mutual Insurance Company, won a contest and were awarded a cruise. The Bradley family was tight-knit and they looked forward to spending quality time together before Amy started this new chapter in her life.
The Bradley family (filmdaily.co)
On March 21, Amy, her parents Ron and Iva, and her brother Brad (21 years old) boarded the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas for a 7-day cruise out of San Juan, Puerto Rico, traveling to Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas. A typical cruise ship housing around 2,400 people, the family had a great time on their first night. On the second night, the family dressed up for a fancy dinner and according to Brad, the waitstaff were noticeably attentive to Amy at the dinner table, almost flirting with her. A photo of Brad and Amy was taken by the cruise ship photographer and can be seen below:
The last known photograph of Amy taken before her disappearance (Investigation Discovery)
After dinner, the family headed to the upper deck of the ship for a party, with Brad even winning a limbo contest. At 1 a.m., Amy’s parents retired to bed, and Amy and Brad headed to the ship’s nightclub. After motioning to Amy that he was leaving the club, Brad went and hung out on the upper deck for around thirty minutes before heading back to their room. The time was around 3:35 a.m. when he returned to the room and Amy returned to their room shortly after at 3:40 a.m. The two talked for a bit about plans for the next day while finishing their drinks. During this conversation, Amy mentioned to Brad that she had been dancing and talking with the bass player from Blue Orchid, the band in the club that night, and that he had made a physical pass at her. She did not seem worried at all by this and just mentioned it casually to him. Brad then decided to go to bed, while Amy chose to stay on the balcony because she wasn’t feeling well and enjoyed the fresh air.
At around 5:30 a.m., Ron briefly woke up in their shared room and saw Amy's feet and legs outside on the balcony and went back to bed. He woke up again around 6 a.m. and noticed Amy was no longer sitting on the balcony. The balcony door was open 12–14 inches, her cigarettes were no longer outside, and the yellow shirt she had been wearing that night was now lying on the chair in the room. Thinking his daughter had left the room to get a cup of coffee, he left, assuming he would find her shortly. When he could not find Amy, he went back to the family's room to alert his wife.
That morning, the ship was en route to docking in Curaçao. The family asked the crew to make a voice announcement on the ship that they were looking for Amy, but the ship refused, as they did not want to disturb other passengers at 7 a.m. They were told to keep looking for Amy, and if they still had not found her in 30 minutes, the ship would get their security guard involved. After pleading with ship officials not to let any passengers disembark, the ship docked anyway, as officials did not want to disappoint the thousands of passengers aboard.
At 9 a.m., ship officials conducted their own search of the ship with every crew member involved, but found nothing. Thinking that Amy must have either jumped or fallen overboard, local authorities in Curaçao were notified of the incident and then conducted a search of the sea for her body. Authorities found it strange when no body or belongings were recovered, as the sea currents were so strong they were almost certain the body would have washed ashore. Family and friends remained skeptical that Amy may have taken her own life, especially since she had recently adopted a new dog, started a new job, and moved into a new apartment. In the days leading up to the cruise, she seemed genuinely excited about life. While on the trip, she even called friends to say she was having a great time, couldn’t wait to see them when she got back, and had picked up gifts for them.
The Bradley family decided to stay in Curaçao and contacted the American Embassy for help. The FBI also became involved. Onboard the ship, the FBI was briefed by the captain and searched the Bradleys' cabin for any clues. Unfortunately, the room had been cleaned before the FBI could search it. In the room, agents noticed that the railing was relatively high on the balcony, with a sheer drop straight down to the water. The table had been moved to the side, and Amy's shoes were found neatly placed together on the balcony.
A cruise video promoter gave the FBI footage he had taken at the nightclub that night, which included clips of Amy dancing with a man named Alister Douglas, also known as Yellow, the bass player of Blue Orchid (see all the clips of Amy from this video here). Two girls also said they saw Alister and Amy together sometime between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m., in an elevator going back into the nightclub, even though it was closed. They watched them exit the elevator, and then 15 minutes later saw Alister walking past them from the front of the boat, alone. They thought it odd, as in the nightclub he had tried talking to them, but did not engage with them there on the dock. Alister was brought in for questioning, his polygraph was deemed inconclusive, but he was not arrested.
Video of Amy dancing with Alister Douglas (Yellow) at the ship nightclub (boredomtherapy.com)
After returning home to be with family, reconnect with friends, and set up their own call center for leads, Ron and Brad headed back to Curaçao to hold a press conference. After the press conference, while they were outside hanging flyers, a taxi driver approached Ron and told him that his daughter did not fall, jump, or get thrown from the ship and that she was on the island and that he hoped Ron could find her. The taxi driver remembered Amy approaching his taxi and said she seemed frantic. She was wearing a white top and jeans, which matched the white shirt she had worn underneath her yellow one. She told him she needed to use a phone, but when he pointed to a public one, she turned and walked in the opposite direction. He gave Ron two places to check: the resort Coral Cliffs and Kadushi Cliffs, instructing him not to talk to anyone, only to look and observe.
They soon learned that these two places were controlled and owned by different mafia groups, with at least one having open water access. After visiting both locations, they were not able to find her. Around this time, America’s Most Wanted aired a special on Amy, which brought in new leads, one of them being David Carmichael.
Five months after Amy went missing, Canadian computer engineer David Carmichael was on Porto Marie beach in Curaçao for a diving trip with a friend. As the two friends were washing their equipment, they saw three people walking up to them, two men and a woman in the middle. One of the men appearing to be local. As the woman approached David and his friend, he noticed a tattoo on her that resembled the Tasmanian Devil, the same tattoo Amy has. As the woman was about to speak, one of the men she was with came up, stared intently at David, and motioned for her to leave. David shared his story with the FBI and identified the man on the beach who had stared at him as Alister Douglas, the same man seen in the cruise ship videos aired on America’s Most Wanted.
I am haunted by that encounter with Amy. I know it was her.David Carmichael, diver who spotted Amy on a beach on Curaçao (People Magazine)
Ten months after Amy's disappearance in January 1999, Navy officer Bill Hefner was aboard the USS Chandler when it docked in Curaçao for the night. That evening, he visited a brothel where he saw two men and two women descending the stairs. He sat with the women, one white, one Hispanic. When the Hispanic woman went to the bar, the white woman leaned in and, speaking in a Southern accent, said she was being held against her will. She told him that she owed $200, and had left a cruise ship to buy drugs but ended up trapped. She said her name was Amy Bradley. When the other woman returned, she stopped talking. Seeing armed men nearby and unsure of what to believe, Hefner left. Fearing disciplinary action for being in a brothel, he didn’t report the encounter. Years later, he came forward after recognizing Amy in a news report, but by then the brothel could not be found.
Bill's story started to make the family wonder: if it was true, how had she gotten herself into that kind of situation? Brad remembered the amount of attention the waitstaff paid to Amy. Iva then recalled a member of the waitstaff approaching her to ask where Amy was, saying they wanted to take her to Carlos'n Charlie's, a bar in Aruba. When Iva told Amy, she showed no interest in going. Iva also remembered an odd event that happened during dinner on the night of Amy’s disappearance. The cruise photographer had taken photos of all the patrons and posted them for sale outside the restaurant, but every single photo that Amy appeared in was missing from the board. The photographer told the family he distinctly remembered printing the photos and placing them on the display board, but to this day, it remains unknown who took them.
Years pass with the family still searching and trying to keep Amy's story in the news. In 2005, the family received an email from a website based in the Caribbean and Venezuela region, known for facilitating free sex and prostitution. Attached to the email were photos of a woman named Jas who looked identical to Amy. The FBI conducted a forensic analysis of the photo, and the analyst believed the woman in the image was Amy Bradley.
Photos of "Jas" (Reddit)
The family appeared on Dr. Phil to discuss the new development. During the episode, a woman named Judy Maurer recognized Amy as someone she had seen in Bridgetown, Barbados, while on a cruise with her husband in March 2005. While shopping for souvenirs downtown, Judy stopped to use a public restroom. While inside, she heard several people enter, including men. One man said, "The deal's at eleven o'clock, and I'm warning you, you better be ready to go." The men tell her she better not try to leave or do anything suspicious, warning her that they would be outside watching all night. Amy then asks if they will be able to stop and see "the children," to which they respond, "Yes." Judy remembers hearing Amy's voice grow excited when she mentioned the children. After they left, Judy exited the stall and saw a young woman with long, unkempt dark hair standing by the sinks, crying. Judy asked if she was on vacation or lived there, but the woman silently shook her head. When Judy asked her name, the woman replied, "Amy," and spoke with a Southern accent. When Judy asked where she was from, she thought she heard "West Virginia." As Judy left, a man was standing in the doorway blocking her path, but she managed to get around him. Recounting the story to her husband moments later, she saw two men leading the young woman out of the restroom. Judy reported her story to the FBI, but they were ultimately unable to verify whether the encounter had actually occurred. A composite sketch was created based on this sighting but did not lead to anything.
Sketches based on Judy Mauer's description of the woman in the bathroom (Reddit)
Nineteen years after Amy's disappearance, in April 2017, the family received a voice message from Amica Douglas, the daughter of Alister Douglas. Amica said her mother once told her that when her father returned from one of his cruises, he brought home a bag filled with photographs—all of Caucasian women. She also recalled that when she asked her father about Amy, he reacted oddly, becoming upset whenever the topic was raised. She never received any answers from him.
The FBI released an age-progressed image of Amy to the public, but to this day, her case remains unsolved.
FBI age progression of Amy Lynn Bradley
