Amy Bradley, 23, Disappeared from cruise ship en route to Curaçao, 24 March 1998 #4

[Hiandmighty]

I wonder if the FBI was able to get any information from the Tropical Adult Vacations guy that was arrested , Alfred Cotten.

The artist depiction is the one that was on the FBI website for a long time. It looks like the pics of Alfred Cotten , IMO. He was one of the men allegedly seen with Amy, IIRC, on the beach in Curacao and in San Francisco.

Without knowing what they have exactly, we can only go by the new FBI update, which IIRC doesn’t even mention these men.

So I feel like we should end this tangent assuming (knowing?) the FBI never found anything regarding it.

We can also assume that sighting was never substantiated since the eyewitness never received any reward money for the tip.

 

[Hiandmighty]

JUST found this: they are serving probation in Florida. The judge said:
“Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Laura A. Ward said she offered the pair a non-jail deal partly "because there has been absolutely no proof of underage girls in this alleged prostitution scheme and because of Mr. Cotten's medical issues.

Genay Leitman, the wife's attorney, said prostitution is legal in the Dominican Republic and that this case exemplifies that the statute is too broad.

"It's technically a crime. The law was violated according to the statute," she said. "The question is should it be a crime?"

"Why is New York concerned with morality in another country?" Leitman added.“

https://www.google.com/amp/www.nyda...nning-sex-tourism-operation-article-1.2565642

At this point, I personally consider it possible harassment to continue to bring up his name and photo in a highly speculative nature regarding this case. (Even though he seems to be a in general).

(No offense to neesaki)

As far as we know, Cotten has never been named as the alleged person in an alleged sighting.

 

[Masterj]

Without knowing what they have exactly, we can only go by the new FBI update, which IIRC doesn’t even mention these men.

So I feel like we should end this tangent assuming (knowing?) the FBI never found anything regarding it.

We can also assume that sighting was never substantiated since the eyewitness never received any reward money for the tip.

I don’t think we should assume anything when it comes to any missing person case.


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[Hiandmighty]

I don’t think we should assume anything when it comes to any missing person case.


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But how is his name connected other than he possibly looks like what might be a made up bystander sighting. He might look like an imaginary person.

The FBI originally put up the photo.

Websluthers threw in the name based on the possibility that he might maybe look like someone who an eyewitness may or may not have seen.

It is tenuous at best.

That he was arrested for booking trips with Americans for prostitution in a place where it is legal? That is almost not a crime.
Has he ever been on trial for kidnapping?

(Or someone remind me how his name was thrown in this?)


Now yellow, while I don’t think he is involved in a kidanp or murder, he was on the ship and had contact with Amy. But this guy? No proof anywhere he is involved in any way.

 

[Galbin]

I completely agree about the FBI's involvement.

 

[neesaki]

But how is his name connected other than he possibly looks like what might be a made up bystander sighting. He might look like an imaginary person.

The FBI originally put up the photo.

Websluthers threw in the name based on the possibility that he might maybe look like someone who an eyewitness may or may not have seen.

It is tenuous at best.

That he was arrested for booking trips with Americans for prostitution in a place where it is legal? That is almost not a crime.
Has he ever been on trial for kidnapping?

(Or someone remind me how his name was thrown in this?)


Now yellow, while I don’t think he is involved in a kidanp or murder, he was on the ship and had contact with Amy. But this guy? No proof anywhere he is involved in any way.

The FBI had his photo posted because he was a person of interest in Amy’s case. I’m quite sure when they do this they have good reason to do so. He was then later arrested , and connections to human trafficking were also mentioned in the articles. As far as I’m concerned, he was at least at one time involved in human trafficking, whether as a flunky or not, it doesn’t matter to me. He was identified as one of the men with Amy at more than one location, that and his profession is all that matters.

My guess is that they arrested him as a strategy, I.E., the human trafficking angle. As in to get to whoever is behind it, aka the big dogs. He only got probation because that’s all the evidence they had on him. This stuff happens aaallll the time. Of course that’s just my best guess, and also JMOHO.

 

[liltexans]

[...]

During the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 24, 1998, the 23-year-old young woman went missing. According to FBI Special Agent Erin Sheridan, “That evening, Amy was out at the disco with her brother, other passengers and crew, socializing and having a great time. In the morning, when her parents and her brothers woke, Amy was gone.”

The ship later departed Curaçao and continued on to the island of St. Martin (Sint Maarten) and further traveled to St. Thomas” before returning to San Juan on Saturday, March 28. But the truth about Bradley’s disappearance has remained a mystery to this day.

Upon leaving the ship’s nightclub, brother Brad was the last person to see Amy. “My parents and myself have had to endure a lot of sadness,” he admits in a video put together by the FBI, “but the last thing I ever said to Amy was ‘I love you’ before I went to sleep that night. Knowing that was the last thing I said to her has always been very comforting to me.”

“We get up every single day,” says Amy and Brad’s mother, Iva, “with the thought that maybe today, we’ll find Amy.”

Even two decades later, the FBI continues to hope that someone who may have been on board that fateful sailing of Rhapsody of the Seas will remember something which might help crack the case. “If you have any information,” Sheridan implores, “whether it be that you were a passenger or crew member, we ask that you come forward. The smallest detail could assist us in finding Amy.”

[...]

https://cruiseradio.net/help-find-missing-cruise-passenger/

 

[liltexans]

[...]

Back in 2011, the family said they had a website up and running in the hope that one day Bradley will be found alive. There have been unsubstantiated sightings over the years. The family has never wavered in their belief that Bradley was kidnapped by someone on the ship.

Amy's father, Ron Bradley believes someone onboard the ship at the time of Bradley's disappearance likely has information that can help. "Whether it's a passenger or a crew member, we don't know. We have absolutely no clue as to what happened. That's why we're continuing our investigation."

[...]

http://www.nbc12.com/story/37796220/fbi-to-offer-reward-for-woman-who-went-missing-20-years-ago

 

[jashrema]

Maybe her smokes were in her pocket and went over with her.

I seem to recall that when she went out on the balcony, she took her smokes with her and put them on a little table. Women don't typically put cigarette packs in pockets. Your cigarettes get broke that way.

 

[Hiandmighty]

I seem to recall that when she went out on the balcony, she took her smokes with her and put them on a little table. Women don't typically put cigarette packs in pockets. Your cigarettes get broke that way.

Maybe she was holding them (not smoking) when she went over? Maybe she had them resting on the balcony and they fell off at some point?

 

[Mica]

The FBI had his photo posted because he was a person of interest in Amy’s case. I’m quite sure when they do this they have good reason to do so. He was then later arrested , and connections to human trafficking were also mentioned in the articles. As far as I’m concerned, he was at least at one time involved in human trafficking, whether as a flunky or not, it doesn’t matter to me. He was identified as one of the men with Amy at more than one location, that and his profession is all that matters.

My guess is that they arrested him as a strategy, I.E., the human trafficking angle. As in to get to whoever is behind it, aka the big dogs. He only got probation because that’s all the evidence they had on him. This stuff happens aaallll the time. Of course that’s just my best guess, and also JMOHO.

I totally agree with your opinion. I’m of the same exact belief.

 

[TTF14]

I just watched this case on Disappeared, and I have to say I'm very on the fence about this one—but I think I lean more towards her never having left the ship alive, and possibly falling overboard, due to others saying she had been feeling sick from partying a little hard that night.

Now she might've left the cabin to meet up with Alister Douglas ("Yellow"), the band member that had been flirting with her earlier that evening. That would coincide with a sighting of them together around the time she went missing, and a later sighting of Yellow returning alone. If this happened, then maybe there was an accident, and she fell overboard either because she was still drunk and/or sick, and Yellow just covered it up in order not to be involved. That would explain why he so quickly offered condolences to Brad, as well as his admittedly distasteful "thumbs-up" after being questioned. It might also explain why Amy's father woke up so suddenly. Maybe, in the state between sleep and wakefulness, he unconsciously heard the sound of his daughter falling.

A note about Yellow's comment, though. I know that in the context of what ended up being a 20-year missing person's case, it's so tempting to take "Sorry to hear about your sister" as an admission of guilt and/or involvement. I can hear that too. But is it possible that, given the fact that Amy had partied hard and might be feeling sick, the comment might mean something more like, "Sorry to hear your sister's had a rough night," especially since he too would've heard Amy being paged about an hour prior?

The sightings on Curaçao afterwards could be erroneous. Heck, even the sighting on board the ship could be mistaken. All of us on WS have encountered this before. I remember the case where a young girl went missing, and was thought to later be present in a New Kids on the Block video two years later—and later, the family learned the young girl had sadly been killed shortly after being kidnapped. Tattoos can be misremembered, names misheard, timelines mixed up, all out of a genuine desire of people who do want to help, and wish for answers and closure.

I'm sure that in three other threads on this case, many timelines have been made. But for the convenience of this thread, here's what I can piece together from various cited sources.

Tuesday, March 24, 1998
1:00am: The parents go to bed.
3:40am–4:00am: Brad, Amy's brother, returns to the cabin. Amy returns a few minutes afterwards.
5:15am–5:30am: Amy is sighted asleep on the deck by the father.
5:30am: (Astronomical) Twilight begins in Curaçao.
5:30am–6:00am: Crystal Roberts says she sights Amy going up to the next deck with the band member.
6:00am: The father wakes up, and Amy is no longer there.
6:37am: Sunrise in Curaçao.
7:00am: The mother is wakened and told Amy is missing.
7:00am-8:00am?: The Rhapsody docks and passengers are formally allowed to disembark.
7:50am: The first page to Amy is broadcast on the ship. ("By then... most of the passengers had disembarked...")
9:00am: The band member tells Brad, "Sorry to hear about your sister."
12:00pm ("lunchtime"): The captain tells the family that Amy is not on board the ship.

(Sources: https://www.drphil.com/slideshows/the-search-for-natalee-amy-bradley/ Page 2
http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Amy_Bradley
https://unsolved.com/gallery/amy-bradley/
https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/curacao/willemstad?month=3&year=1998 )

Thank you for this timeline. I'm most interested in this 5:30-6AM sighting by Crystal Roberts. I wish she'd been on the Disappeared episode. I suppose there's no CCTV footage of this? I'm new to this case.

 

[Hiandmighty]

The fallacy of Alfred Cotten

I have extensively googled and:
1) have found zero links connecting the FBI and/or Alfred Cotten and//or Amy Bradley

I have searched this site and:
2) have found no links connecting FBI and/or Alfred Cotten and/or Amy Bradley

The 20 year old FBI update flier:
3) doesn’t mention Alfred Cotten or sex trafficking in regard to Amy Bradley:
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/amy-lynn-bradley


4) you can’t name every person mentioned in an article connected to unproven allegations for sex trafficing just because you want to. Alfred Cotten is on 5 years probation for legally hooking up men looking for sex win prostitues in the Dominican Republic where prostitution is legal. This is legal (old man’s tinder) in Florida where he lives. It is not legal in New York. He was tried in New York where the judge had harsh words for the prosecution. It was technically illegal. Morally irrelevant. The judge gave him the absolutely bare minimum and said the charges we were not proven.

 

[Hiandmighty]

Also, in googling extensively, I have found:

5) no connection of Alfred Cotten to Royal Caribbean

6) no connection of Alfred Cotten to Curaçao

7) no proven charges of Alfred Cotten to human trafficking

 

[Hiandmighty]

Thank you for this timeline. I'm most interested in this 5:30-6AM sighting by Crystal Roberts. I wish she'd been on the Disappeared episode. I suppose there's no CCTV footage of this? I'm new to this case.

Unfortunately, no CCTV back in 1998

 

[Hiandmighty]

Official age progression of Amy Bradley from the FBI

 

[Tssiemer]

Whenever I hear of sightings of missing people I always think of the McStays. People were soooo sure it was them when they had been dead from day 1.


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[Kittybunny]

I don't believe that Amy went overboard. While not impossible, it's still pretty rare for people to go overboard "accidentally" - I think most cases are suicide or unsolved murders - JMO, of course. On the other hand, I don't believe the convoluted, complicated, non-sex trafficking mule traveling internationally version of what happened to Amy either. My personal theory is that she did indeed go up to hang out with Yellow after she was on her balcony, taking her smokes with her, and he wanted things to get sexual and she didn't, and he got violent and killed her, and threw her body overboard. I don't believe she left that ship alive. Eyewitness sightings are remarkably unreliable. I suppose it's possible he somehow got her off the ship alive - drugged, or the use of a gun or knife and got her to a local brothel, but I find that less likely.

 

[TTF14]

I don't believe that Amy went overboard. While not impossible, it's still pretty rare for people to go overboard "accidentally" - I think most cases are suicide or unsolved murders - JMO, of course. On the other hand, I don't believe the convoluted, complicated, non-sex trafficking mule traveling internationally version of what happened to Amy either. My personal theory is that she did indeed go up to hang out with Yellow after she was on her balcony, taking her smokes with her, and he wanted things to get sexual and she didn't, and he got violent and killed her, and threw her body overboard. I don't believe she left that ship alive. Eyewitness sightings are remarkably unreliable. I suppose it's possible he somehow got her off the ship alive - drugged, or the use of a gun or knife and got her to a local brothel, but I find that less likely.

So, in this theory, she left her balcony, through the room, and nobody in her family heard her leave the room? I'm not arguing, just asking if this is your theory. I don't know the set-up of those rooms and how quietly she would have left, of course.

 

[Tssiemer]

I’ve gone back and read a lot of posts. I’m interested in what happened after the alert was sounded. Where did the ship go after the docking and search?


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