Things You Didn't Know About Amy Lynn Bradley

On March 24, 1998, Amy Lynn Bradley went missing from a cruise ship en route to Curacao from Aruba. Although the disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley did not initially generate the same media response precipitated by other cruise ship disappearances (like those of George Smith or Rebecca Coriam), over time the baffling circumstances of her case and repeated accounts of her being sighted throughout the Caribbean have elevated the mystery surrounding her fate to a high profile incident.

Additionally, a sinister photograph, purportedly of Amy, surfaced on an adult website in 2005, added fuel to the theory that the missing woman was kidnapped and forced into a sex trafficking. Around 20 years after her mysterious disappearance, theories about what happened to Amy Lynn Bradley only add to the uncertainty and dread surrounding one of the most disturbing missing persons cases in history. 

Since her disappearance in 1998, there have been several alleged sightings of Amy Lynn Bradley. The most disturbing was a 2005 email sent to the Bradley family website, which contained two photographs of a female. These photographs were observed by a member of an organization that attempts to track potential victims of sex trafficking on adult websites that feature prostitutes.

The photos depict a scantily clad female who closely resembles Amy, but who also appears to be both distraught and despondent. One of these photos was seen publicly when the Bradley family appeared on the Dr. Phil show in November of 2005.

In August of 1998, a Canadian named David Carmichael encountered two men and a woman walking on the beach near Port of Maria, Curacao. When he spoke in a loud voice in English to a friend who was a few feet away, the woman suddenly turned around and began to walk in his direction. Just as the woman was about to speak with him, one of the the two men distinctly signaled to her to walk away.

She dejectedly entered a small cafe with the two men, but continued to stare at Carmichael whenever she could get his attention. Carmichael had no idea who Amy was, until he eventually saw her profiled on the television show Unsolved Mysteries. When he contacted the Bradleys, he was able to describe Amy's distinctive tattoos, as he observed her from only a few feet away. He claims to be "100%" certain that the woman he saw was Amy Bradley.  

Another disturbing sighting occurred in January of 1999, when a Navy Petty Officer claimed to have encountered Amy in a hotel brothel in Curacao. Recognizing him as an American, Amy supposedly told the individual her name, said that she was being held against her will, and asked for help.

Unfortunately, the officer kept the information to himself, fearing the repercussions that would come with his solicitation of a prostitue. He only contacted the Bradleys through their website, after his retirement. The brothel in question burned down under suspicious circumstances before the officer came forward. 

Even before Amy disappeared, there were a few odd instances around the ship. Three of the waiters on the ship were quite friendly with Amy, almost immediately. While the ship was docked in Aruba, one of them even asked Amy's father about her whereabouts by name. When asked why he was looking for her, he told Mr. Bradley that "they," presumably members of the wait staff, wanted to take her to Carlos and Charlie's, the same bar that Natalee Holloway disappeared from in 2005.

Amy subsequently told her father that the waiters "gave her the creeps," and she didn't want anything to do with them. That night, when the ship staff posted photos taken of all of the dinner participants, Amy's mother noticed that all of her daughter's photos were missing, despite the gallery supervisor clearly remembering they were posted earlier.

On March 23, 1998, Ron and Iva Bradley, their 23-year-old daughter Amy, and their son Brad were enjoying their third day on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas. As the ship docked in Curacao after visiting Aruba, the family attended a dinner party on the upper deck of the ship. Amy and Brad both danced until the early morning hours, and Amy was seen dancing with a band member on a ship disco dance floor. However, both Brad and Amy entered their stateroom between 3:30 and 4 AM.

Ron Bradley would recall seeing his daughter in a chair on the room's balcony when he briefly woke up at approximately 5 AM. When he woke up again around 6AM, Amy was gone, the only missing items were her cigarettes and a lighter. She clearly intended to leave briefly, as she did not even bring shoes, identification, or any other important items with her. Her family never saw her again.   

After dinner on the evening of March 23, Amy Bradley entered the disco of the ship and was observed dancing continuously with a member of a band was performing on the ship. This individual, Alister "Yellow" Douglas, and Amy were even videotaped repeatedly by a cameraman producing a promotional piece for the cruise line. Footage surfaced when the video producer heard about Amy's disappearance, and assumed she must be in some of the video he shot from the evening in question.

After Amy left her room, she was seen near the disco with Douglas on ship security footage at approximately 6 AM. A witness would subsequently claim to have seen Douglas hand Bradley a dark drink, possibly coffee. Other witnesses saw Douglas leaving the area by himself, but Amy was never seen again. Footage of Amy dancing with "Yellow" Douglas appears in the above video. Police eventually cleared Douglas after a polygraph, before the FBI got a hold of the disco video.

The FBI conducted a thorough investigation of Amy Bradley, her hometown friends, co-workers, neighbors, and associates and concluded she had no reason to disappear or leave her family. The rest of her family also successfully underwent polygraph examinations, and even her college athletic coaches were interviewed and exonerated.

Additionally, Amy sent numerous postcards on the first days of the voyage, had just adopted a dog, recently graduated from college, and was supposed to start a new job. In other words, hardly the behaviors or outlook of someone who was suicidal or intent on disappearing. All of the background checks and investigations pointed to an involuntary disappearance.

In 2005, a woman named Judy Maurer was in a Kingstown, Barbados women's restroom stall when she suddenly heard two men loudly enter the bathroom and begin screaming and threatening another woman in a different stall. Maurer waited for a few minutes and then exited the stall to find a very upset woman hunched over the sink area.

The woman allegedly told Judy Maurer her name was Amy, and that she was from Virginia. Seconds later the two men re-entered the bathroom and forcibly removed "Amy from Virginia." Judy Maurer provided the FBI with descriptions of the two men and the woman. "Amy from Virginia" strongly resembled the two online, adult website photos sent around the same time to the Bradleys.

In probably the most reprehensible chapter of the entire Amy Lynn Bradley incident, in the fall of 1999 an individual named Frank Jones contacted the Bradleys and claimed that Columbian gangsters were holding Amy Lynn on the island of Curacao. Jones claimed to be a former member of American Special Forces, and he offered to help set Amy free.

He also claimed he had an eyewitness to Amy's location, a female cook who accurately described Amy's tattoos, and even a lullaby she heard Amy sing (which she was taught by Mrs. Bradley). Two other former Navy SEALs were sent to Curacao to specifically determine Amy's location. When Jones demanded more money to underwrite the actual armed rescue, the Bradleys asled for concrete proof their daughter was actually under Jones's teams' surveillance. He responded with a photo of a similarly tattooed woman (who resembled Amy) and the Bradleys paid him the rest of the money. The total came to $210,000.

The Bradleys were instructed to fly to Florida to wait for a call from Jones as soon as Amy was recovered. They waited in a hotel for a week before they got a call from one of Jones's associates (who had also been duped) and determined the whole operation was a scam. The cook, the photos, the Colombians, and the house under surveillance were all a fraud. Jones, who had never been in the Special Forces, eventually plead guilty to mail fraud and got a five year sentence and an order to make restitution. 

After the Bradleys determined Amy was missin,g they frantically asked the ship's purser to back the ship away from the dock and prevent any guests from leaving. They also requested an announcement be made concerning Amy's disappearance. Other than the usual announced request for Amy to report to the purser's desk, no other special effort was undertaken to find her.

By the time a cursory search of the ship began at 8 AM, many of the ship's guests and staff already left the vessel for the day. The family was subsequently told that no announcement would be made, and no photographs would be posted concerning Amy's disappearance, as this would be too disturbing to other passengers. The Bradleys left the ship in Curacao, but flew to St. Maarten and subsequently reboarded when they were told by the FBI the search for Amy had only included bathrooms and common areas, and ignored staterooms and employee living quarters.

The FBI eventually boarded the ship, but their investigation went nowhere and Royal Caribbean went on to claim Amy probably was intoxicated and fell overboard, despite having no evidence such an incident occurred.