fridaybaker
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Jezel, thanks so much for the info. WOW. Hard to read those posts. Just heartbreaking.
VA - Amy Bradley - missing from cruise ship, Curacao - 1998
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fridaybaker
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Maybe someone else has a better memory than I, but my recollection is that she did have a steady boyfriend.
Jezel
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Amy's boyfriend is mentioned on the aforementioned site on a thread called "Porto Marie, Curacao":
"Amy's boyfriend was the manager of a restaurant in Virginia. One of his suppliers gave him a Dos Equis watch, similar to the one above. But Amy's watch was a different color. Amy brought the watch with her on the cruise and she was wearing it when she disappeared. Information about the watch had not been released to the media. David Carmichael accurately described the Dos Equis watch to the FBI, the Bradleys, and the Federal Grand Jury. He has no doubt that he saw Amy in Porto Marie."
"Amy's boyfriend was the manager of a restaurant in Virginia. One of his suppliers gave him a Dos Equis watch, similar to the one above. But Amy's watch was a different color. Amy brought the watch with her on the cruise and she was wearing it when she disappeared. Information about the watch had not been released to the media. David Carmichael accurately described the Dos Equis watch to the FBI, the Bradleys, and the Federal Grand Jury. He has no doubt that he saw Amy in Porto Marie."
BethAnn777
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Thank you.
BeginnerSleuther
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Everything we know about Amy, her relationship with her family, her behavior, and the events on that ship contradict suicide. It's not just a matter of her being happy or appearing content or anything like that. I'm talking about very objective data about suicidal people. Amy checked none of the boxes from everything we know, not to mention the FBI's decades long probe into her death also suggests this is not a suicide. I will never buy that Amy committed suicide. In my professional opinion.
Jezel
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I haven't seen a lot of people write that they think she ended her life on purpose. I think most of the overboard theory supporters think it was an accident.
On the surface, that would make sense. But in order to subscribe to the overboard theory, you have to believe the following all at once:
Personally, I have a problem with writing off all of those items simultaneously, especially #8. I can see some of them being incorrect, but all? That seems to me to be a stretch.
I don't buy it. There's more to this case than Amy accidentally falling overboard.
Also, there's been some mention of Alister Douglas's daughter being suspicious of him. The only place I can locate that currently is on this Reddit post. Does anyone know anything more about that?
On the surface, that would make sense. But in order to subscribe to the overboard theory, you have to believe the following all at once:
- No one heard or saw Amy fall, even though the ship was right off the coast and undergoing docking procedures, with staff outside (although I don't know how many)
- Her body was swept away by a current and never found despite falling into relatively shallow water and there being a four-day search involving three helicopters and a radar plane
- The creepy behavior of the staff meant nothing
- Amy's cruise photos being missing meant nothing
- Alister Douglas telling Brad "sorry about your sister" before Amy's disappearance was public knowledge was either a mistake on Brad's part or meant nothing
- Every single sighting of Amy, including by David Carmichael who testified before a federal grand jury, was either a mistake or made up
- Wesley Neville and everyone else who thought the photos of Jas were actually Amy were completely wrong
- The FBI are totally incompetent fools who put resources toward this case at least as recently as 2018 for absolutely no reason
Personally, I have a problem with writing off all of those items simultaneously, especially #8. I can see some of them being incorrect, but all? That seems to me to be a stretch.
I don't buy it. There's more to this case than Amy accidentally falling overboard.
Also, there's been some mention of Alister Douglas's daughter being suspicious of him. The only place I can locate that currently is on this Reddit post. Does anyone know anything more about that?
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iusedtofloat
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personally i never understood the fascination with this case. either someone threw her overboard or she fell overboard, in my opinion (leaning towards the second one). this stuff happens much more than it should. lost at sea is a wild way to go.
IDK
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I agree with many of your points! I don’t know anything specific about Alister Douglas’s daughter, but I am highly suspicious of him.
I’ve seen the videos of Amy dancing with him the night before her disappearance, and I’ve also read the witness accounts of Amy being seen on the glass elevator with him the morning of her disappearance. She was seen going up towards the dance floor level with him, and he was seen coming back down on the elevator by himself.
Multiple witnesses have said the railings on the ship were quite high, chest height I believe. Of course that’s a subjective measurement, but Amy was only 5’6” tall. Not exceptionally tall despite her basketball skills.
Read here the comment from Chris Fenwick who was reporting on board this cruise ship: "Let me fill you in on some details you may not know... Amy was last seen alive and well after she left the room, successfully NOT falling over board and heading up the glass elevator with the Bass player in the very early morning hours. She did not fall overboard, the rails on that ship, in that room, with that short of a girl would have made it impossible to accidentally fall overboard.
2 witnesses reported seeing Amy go up the elevator with Yellow and shortly after Yellow came down the elevator alone. The "handoff", if you will, likely took place in the back of the bar in the disco on the 11th deck and she was almost certainly drugged, and taken off the boat in a garbage bag thru a service entrance before the passengers were allowed to exit the boat in Curacao.
One of the worst parts of this case is the preponderance of people who weren't there, who have NOT spoken to the people involved sharing speculation of what they THINK happened as though it was fact.
I was there. i speak to the family. It is tragic." in Chris Fenwick's Custom Tutorials - Home - Amy Bradley is missing.
Commentai
2 witnesses reported seeing Amy go up the elevator with Yellow and shortly after Yellow came down the elevator alone. The "handoff", if you will, likely took place in the back of the bar in the disco on the 11th deck and she was almost certainly drugged, and taken off the boat in a garbage bag thru a service entrance before the passengers were allowed to exit the boat in Curacao.
One of the worst parts of this case is the preponderance of people who weren't there, who have NOT spoken to the people involved sharing speculation of what they THINK happened as though it was fact.
I was there. i speak to the family. It is tragic." in Chris Fenwick's Custom Tutorials - Home - Amy Bradley is missing.
Commentai
Jezel
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This is excellent info. Thank you.
fridaybaker
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I highly recommend that everyone read the information at )ezel’s link above. Lot’s of information!
Here are a few things that I picked up:
So many people point out that Amy wouldn’t have been an ideal “trafficking target” for a couple reasons: That she wasn’t in an “at risk” kind of category- she was from a solidly middle class family with funds to hire a PI, etc., and was close with her family and would be missed, looked for, etc. Also, while Amy is attractive, she’s not a “knockout”, so to speak.
There are actually TWO threads on the site that discuss specific women who are missing and who have been matched up to women advertised on these erotic vacation websites, mostly owned or otherwise associated with by a small group of people, at least one of which looks an awful lot like one of the “handlers” described by witnesses in Amy’s case and which operate in and around the Caribbean.
Who knows if these women who are advertised on the adult websites are, in fact, the women who went missing, but most seem to be pretty similar looking, with one even seeming to have the same partially missing finger digit as a missing woman and who also just happens to look an awful lot like her. I have no idea how much analysis went into these matches, but the similarities between them are startling, IMO.
Some things I noted: The women were of a broad age range, everything from well under 18 and into their 30’s. One of the most striking things I noted was that most of these women are definitely not “knockouts”. I saw very average looking women who were made up -glamorized in their adult website photos.
And: None of the missing women were known to have ever been associated with sex work or in other high risk categories, such as runaways. They were from various parts of the U.S. and even Canada and, if we believe the photos, were trafficked to do sex work in and around the Caribbean, where we’re told that certainly no one would ever have any need to traffic American women, since prostitution is legal in some of those countries and it would be so easy to get local women. Food for thought.
Here are a few things that I picked up:
So many people point out that Amy wouldn’t have been an ideal “trafficking target” for a couple reasons: That she wasn’t in an “at risk” kind of category- she was from a solidly middle class family with funds to hire a PI, etc., and was close with her family and would be missed, looked for, etc. Also, while Amy is attractive, she’s not a “knockout”, so to speak.
There are actually TWO threads on the site that discuss specific women who are missing and who have been matched up to women advertised on these erotic vacation websites, mostly owned or otherwise associated with by a small group of people, at least one of which looks an awful lot like one of the “handlers” described by witnesses in Amy’s case and which operate in and around the Caribbean.
Who knows if these women who are advertised on the adult websites are, in fact, the women who went missing, but most seem to be pretty similar looking, with one even seeming to have the same partially missing finger digit as a missing woman and who also just happens to look an awful lot like her. I have no idea how much analysis went into these matches, but the similarities between them are startling, IMO.
Some things I noted: The women were of a broad age range, everything from well under 18 and into their 30’s. One of the most striking things I noted was that most of these women are definitely not “knockouts”. I saw very average looking women who were made up -glamorized in their adult website photos.
And: None of the missing women were known to have ever been associated with sex work or in other high risk categories, such as runaways. They were from various parts of the U.S. and even Canada and, if we believe the photos, were trafficked to do sex work in and around the Caribbean, where we’re told that certainly no one would ever have any need to traffic American women, since prostitution is legal in some of those countries and it would be so easy to get local women. Food for thought.
fridaybaker
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Oh and, I forgot: One of the other things I noted was that although there were similarities in physical characteristics, such as facial features, between the missing women and the ones in the ads, the hairstyles and often other changeable aspects, such as eyebrow shaping, were all different.
The thing that REALLY got me, though, was that many of the women on the ads had PERMED hair. Like the photo of the adult escort suspected of being Amy. It seems to be a go-to for either: A clientele that really loves permed hair, or as a handy way to change the appearance of a woman who’s been trafficked. Which would you think?
The thing that REALLY got me, though, was that many of the women on the ads had PERMED hair. Like the photo of the adult escort suspected of being Amy. It seems to be a go-to for either: A clientele that really loves permed hair, or as a handy way to change the appearance of a woman who’s been trafficked. Which would you think?
It’s been 26 years since a Virginia woman went missing while on a Caribbean cruise. The FBI says it is still investigating the mysterious disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley, 23. She was last seen on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas March 24, 1998. Her family reportedly said they started looking for Amy just as the ship was docking in the island of Curacao and they don’t know if she departed the ship or not. Inside Edition Digital’s Mara Montalbano has more.'
The FBI is seeking public tips in the case of Amy Lynn Bradley, a Virginia woman who disappeared 20 years ago this month. More information at https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/amy...
A reward of up to $25,000 is available for information leading to the resolution of the case of missing Virginia woman Amy Lynn Bradley, who was last seen while on a cruise in 1998. More at https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/amy...
fridaybaker
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One of the bits of information on the site that Jezel linked that I hadn't known before is about the watch Amy was wearing when she went missing. A gift from her boyfriend (which he apparently received from a supplier at work) it was quite distinctive in that is was a Dos Equis branded watch, with a non-white face. How many of those are floating around? That information had never been released to the public, but one of the witnesses described it accurately.
fridaybaker
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Well, I'll take a stab at why this case holds such "fascination", if that's what it is: How many of these overboards are still active investigations within the FBI many years later? How many happened sans any evidence, such as a witness, someone hearing a scream, scuff marks on rails, etc.
How many happened exactly at the time when a kidnapping would likely occur -when the ship was in docking procedures?
I've read about several cases over the years of people going overboard, but never one like this. Many accounts, from different people, of strange happenings surrounding the disappearance, including missing cruise photos (all photos of Amy missing, but none of anyone else). A record of the missing person complaining about "creepy" people who had expressed interest in her.
Here is the crux of why I find this case so compelling: The patterns. The story. One can lay it all out chronologically: Amy goes on a cruise and meets, dances with, a guy who many end up characterizing as "creepy". Amy is "partying", out having fun and, as such, likely off her normal, day-to-day "guard".
Parents feel that the attention given her is odd. She, herself, complains about them. She's seen very early, as the ship is starting docking procedures, accompanied by the guy from the night before, who "gives her something to drink - a dark liquid". They're both seen going up in the glass elevator to the disco floor, but only one is seen coming down. There is a freight/staff elevator behind the disco which, conveniently, is not glass.
As the boat is docking, Amy becomes missing. Then, there are the sightings. They are mostly in and around the Caribbian, with the exception of the SF sighting. Even that sighting, though, is taken very seriously by the FBI, and seems to involve some of the same "handlers" identified in the other sightings. They are all within a few months to a few years after the disappearance, and witnesses describe details that haven't been released to the public, such as the watch and tattoos. A few years later -again, within months to a few years after the disappearance- a professional analyist determines that she is, indeed, the adult escort pictured on a website. (Except now with long, permed hair.)
Yes, people do go overboard on cruise ships. The chances of it are incredibly low, considering the millions of people who take cruises every year, but it does happen. I can say; however, that I've never followed any of the other cases because they seem to be just what they are: Someone who fell, got pushed, or committed suicide.
Really, is there another story out there like Amy's?
fridaybaker
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Thanks for posting this Dotr.
One of the issues I have with these photos is that they represent Amy in age progression as she would be had she continued on with the cruise and with her life. I think in reality she would look very, very different. I'd like to see how she may look having lived a life of homelessness, etc. Not pleasant, but perhaps more accurate. If Amy really was kidnapped, it's unlikely, in my book, that she'd look like the photos above, and the point, after all, is to get her recognized.
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iusedtofloat
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Woah, do you have a link regarding the escort pics? (Obviously asking for just her face)
Thanks for typing this all up for me - I didn't know a lot of that. I understand more now
fridaybaker
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I'm sort of power posting now, so I'll back off after this. I just have to say, though, that Amy's case is probably THE ONE that I have been most interested in here at Websleuths. There are several reasons for this, one of which is that I think many of us can identify with Amy in many ways. She seems to be an average, decent, young woman, who comes from a close and loving family, and who does pretty much what most of us do: Plays sports, goes to college, gets a job, is interested in many things life, has a boyfriend, etc. Many of our lives feature variations on the same scenario that was Amy's middle-class, American life. If we can't see ourselves in her, we can see her in our next door neighbor. Or in the one down the street. Or in people we know anywhere in life. And then, the unthinkable happens: She's living in a hell of being trafficked. It's a nightmare I'm sure many of us have thought about, albeit maybe not the exact scenario. And it happened in the blink of an eye. If this is the case, and it sure seems possible, it's terrifying. We can hardly imagine it. It's the stuff of modern day nightmares.
Another reason that I'm so drawn to this case is that in the late 1990's through today, we see such possibility in tracking anything down, in finding just about any criminal. We have cameras practically everywhere, videographers on cruises, a supposed crack FBI, etc. It's hard to imagine that being able to pinpoint the time and place of her disappearance, knowing pretty assuredly at least some of those who took part in it, having family who make it their mission in life to find her, numerous sightings, etc., that Amy has never been found. There have been so many near-misses, such as all the sightings. A questionable polygraph of the person who was last seen with her, and that person then seen again with her later, according to credible witnesses. When she told the guy at the hotel that she was Amy Bradley, but due to his own circumstances, he didn't do anything about it, even though he was concerned for her at the time. Thought she seemed to be in trouble. Etc. Her family started looking for her almost immediately, asking the Captain to not let anyone off the ship, but he did, anyway, and did only a very cursory search of the ship. I can't think of many adults who go missing wherein their family start searching for them within an hour or so. All for nought, though. ALL for nought.
So tragic. Amy's case just haunts me.
Another reason that I'm so drawn to this case is that in the late 1990's through today, we see such possibility in tracking anything down, in finding just about any criminal. We have cameras practically everywhere, videographers on cruises, a supposed crack FBI, etc. It's hard to imagine that being able to pinpoint the time and place of her disappearance, knowing pretty assuredly at least some of those who took part in it, having family who make it their mission in life to find her, numerous sightings, etc., that Amy has never been found. There have been so many near-misses, such as all the sightings. A questionable polygraph of the person who was last seen with her, and that person then seen again with her later, according to credible witnesses. When she told the guy at the hotel that she was Amy Bradley, but due to his own circumstances, he didn't do anything about it, even though he was concerned for her at the time. Thought she seemed to be in trouble. Etc. Her family started looking for her almost immediately, asking the Captain to not let anyone off the ship, but he did, anyway, and did only a very cursory search of the ship. I can't think of many adults who go missing wherein their family start searching for them within an hour or so. All for nought, though. ALL for nought.
So tragic. Amy's case just haunts me.
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fridaybaker
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Megsto, here is the link. I'm hoping it works, but I did get it off of one of Jezel's posts a page or two ago, so if it doesn't, try it from that post.
Amy Lynn Bradley is still missing
Website dedicated to spreading accurate information regarding the 1998 disappearance of Amy Lynn BradleyForensic Evaluation - Amy Lynn Bradley
amybradleyismissing.com
fridaybaker
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Sorry Megsto, I'm not sure that's the one you were asking for, but at the same amybradleyismissing.com site, there are also a couple of threads comparing photos of actual, missing women with photos of women in adult website ads, if that's what you were referencing. Apparently, there are people dedicated to finding missing women who are suspected as being victims of trafficking, and they scrutinize many of the adult website ads for them. I think that's how the escort thought to be Amy showed up. A person was perusing the adult ads, tyring to find missing women and saw and recognized Amy, since her story has been in the news quite a bit. He then sent the photo to the Bradleys, who had it forensically analyzed. (At least, that's the story according to my memory!)