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At 6 a.m. on Wednesday, 24 hours after Amy disappeared, authorities on Curacao began the first full day of sea-and-air searches for Amy. Three helicopters, a British warship, a low-flying radar plane and numerous cargo ships, tugboats and fishing boats scoured the sea and coast for the next two days, finding no sign of her.
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The ordeal has changed the Bradley family. Iva and Ron always look tired. Brad transferred from GMU to Virginia Commonwealth University and moved back home. Though Ron won the Illinois Mutual trip again this year, they didn't go. (It's a trip to San Francisco.
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He says the FBI told Royal Caribbean that a table with Amy's footprints on it was found pushed against the railings with Amy's shoes atop it. He also says that Amy was heard to say to someone onboard that a great way to get attention would be to jump overboard and swim to shore.
Iva Bradley says Steck's statement about the table is a lie. The FBI has told her that Amy's footprints were never found on it, she says. Furthermore, the Bradley family all say the table was actually three feet from the railing. An FBI spokesperson denied that any representative of the FBI would have told Royal Caribbean anything about evidence in the case, though they wouldn't confirm that Amy's footprints were not found on the table. (Questioned later, Steck says he "may have leapt to a conclusion." He maintains that the FBI told the cruise line a footprint was found on the table but says he's not sure if it was Amy's.)
The Bradleys are adamant that Amy didn't jump. She wasn't suicidal and she wasn't stupid, they say, and she was afraid of the ocean. As for any shoes being left in the room or on the balcony, Amy packed at least 10 pair, they say, and they're not sure which are missing.
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Royal Caribbean says none of its 40 video monitors that night were linked to videotape and none of the guards recalls seeing Amy. There are electronic records of Amy using her key card to enter the room at 3:40 a.m. Tuesday but, her brother Brad says, "because the [ship's] lock-link [system] does not record when a passenger exits the room, there is no record of what time Amy left the room."