VA - Amy Bradley - missing from cruise ship, Curacao - 1998

[StillDiggin]

Family of woman who vanished on cruise offer new reward on her 50th birthday

THE PARENTS of a woman who disappeared on a Caribbean cruise are offering a new reward to mark her 50th birthday. The American family were left heartbroken when their 23-year-old daughter vanished …

www.thesun.co.uk

 

[fridaybaker]

Sadly, I think Amy is long gone. It must have been terribly difficult for her parents to try to find her. It seems like if she was, indeed kidnapped, she was all over the Caribbean. That "adult vacation" group moved around the Caribbean, both on and off shore. Her parents being located in the U.S., wow. What a challenge. One would almost need to move there and infiltrate the seedy sex trade. They were left always responding, often way too late, to tips.

That being said, I don't know much about photography. Would those photos of Jaz have exif data available?

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The simplest explanation to her disappearance was that between 5.30am and her father trying to find her, she had fallen overboard.

However, her family is reluctant to believe this, stating that she was an excellent swimmer, was a trained lifeguard and the boat was not far from shore.

Over the years have held on to hope that their daughter is still alive, but an episode of TV show Dr Phill suggested a rather dark suggestion as to what happened to the young woman.

In 2005, the family received a tip off that Amy may have been sex trafficked. It is not clear at what point this would have happened and Royal Caribbean staff state they searched every inch of the vessel when they were made aware of her disappearance.

An aged up photo of Amy aged 60 (FBI)normal
With that being said, while on the TV show, the family were shown haunting images of a woman who strongly resembled Bradley. She was scantily-clad and posing uncomfortably in lingerie in the picture.

The internet archive has a cached version of the images being promoted on a defunct website advertising adult holidays in the Caribbean.

It identified the woman as "Jas" - and includes two pictures of a woman with long black hair.

Iva said: "When I first looked at the picture, it wasn’t the Amy I know. The picture looks like a harsh and tormented Amy."

Family of woman who vanished on cruise fear 'haunting' photo is their missing daughter

The parent's of Amy Lynn Bradley fear a haunting alleged photo of their missing daughter reveals a heartbreaking story

www.unilad.com

 

[fridaybaker]

"Royal Caribbean staff state they searched every inch of the vessel when they were made aware of her disappearance." Ah, yes. The lying started immediately.

 

[GXP Sleuther]

removed

 

[GXP Sleuther]

removed

 

[dotr]

25 Jun, 2024

Family fear daughter who vanished during Caribbean holiday is now victim of sex trafficking

Amy went missing 27 years ago. Could this photo provide a clue to where she is?

www.nzherald.co.nz

Digitally processed image of Amy Lynn Bradley at age 42. Photo / FBI

''To mark their daughter’s upcoming 50th birthday, Amy’s parents are offering a huge reward, up to $US25,000 ($40,000), for any information that leads to finding Amy, and information that leads to the arrest of those responsible for her disappearance.
The Petersburg, Virginia native weighed about 54kg at the time she went missing, was 167cm in height, and had short brown hair and green eyes.''

 

[OwnedByALabrador]

Last year, I first saw the old Unsolved Mysteries segment featuring the AB disappearance. And, I recently saw the Disappeared episode featuring the case - which was obviously a lot more detailed/updated. The interviews with the family members were especially sad. This is obviously one of the more well-known missing persons cases.

The way I see this, there are three possible explanations as to what happened here:

1) IMHO, the most likely possibility is that she accidentally fell overboard & drowned. She had been drinking prior to disappearing & also wasn't getting a lot of sleep due to being up late, etc. So, I find this extremely plausible/possible. Note that even someone who hasn't been drinking/isn't tired could still accidentally fall overboard while on a cruise ship/boat. As it turns out, a good # of people fall overboard in situations like this each year.

I honestly don't know why the idea of her falling off the cruise ship & drowning isn't considered more often. It's the most likely explanation as to what happened here.

2) She met someone on the ship, they were walking together, and got into an argument/altercation - and he?! threw her overboard as the result of this. Maybe this guy was coming on to her & she pushed him away; then, he couldn't take no for an answer & got angry, etc. Or, she met with foul play due to a similar situation & the body was disposed of in some other way (maybe taken off the ship, etc.).

3) IMHO, the least likely possibility is that she was abducted/kidnapped & taken off the boat against her will, etc.

It's unfortunate that AB's parents/family were taken in by that scammer who convinced them that she was on the island Curacao & being held against her will..and that he was going to mount a 'rescue operation'...but, he needed a huge amount of $ from them first. What a crock. It's terrible that he took advantage of them like this, but not surprising - scammers are everywhere.

Going along with this, I never thought that AB ever made it to Curacao. I believe that all of the 'sightings' of her there were nothing more than red herrings.

I also don't believe she was the woman in the picture on that website (as seen on the Disappeared episode). She looked nothing like the pic., even if you account for her being older & possibly having longer hair, etc. Not sure why anyone ever thought there was a resemblance.

I would suggest it's unlikely she went overboard because apart from anything else, she was a trained lifeguard and thus a strong swimmer. In addition, all of her family have stated, repeatedly, that she didn't like being on open water and was known to stay away from the very edges of the boat etc. Moreover, if it was maybe just one sighting of her or even two, I'd agree they could be red herrings, but there have been I think about four or five sightings that are classified as 'confirmed' by LE.

 

[OwnedByALabrador]

I don't doubt that it's like that now. However, I don't know if it was like this in 1998. But, even if it was - these accidents still happen. I don't want to post the link since I'm not sure if it's allowed, but I did read this in a 2018 article about cruise ship safety:

• Since 2000, around 300 people on cruise ships have fallen overboard. There were 17 overboard incidents in 2017 alone.

Granted, that's not an incredible # when you consider the huge amount of people that travel on cruise ships each year. However, I still find it extremely significant - given that this type of accident is far from unheard of. Note that in a lot of these cases, the people that fall overboard survive/are retrieved. However, in AB's case, given that she was last seen late at night by her family - I believe she fell overboard late at night/early in the morning when there weren't a lot of people around/awake to see/hear anything.

She was last seen at around 5.30, 6am by her father. There would have been plenty of people around at that time, in general, on a cruise ship, given that the ship was about to dock.

 

[BethAnn777]

I would suggest it's unlikely she went overboard because apart from anything else, she was a trained lifeguard and thus a strong swimmer. In addition, all of her family have stated, repeatedly, that she didn't like being on open water and was known to stay away from the very edges of the boat etc. Moreover, if it was maybe just one sighting of her or even two, I'd agree they could be red herrings, but there have been I think about four or five sightings that are classified as 'confirmed' by LE.

I hope this doesn’t sound snarky because that is not my intention, but why would her having been a lifeguard and a strong swimmer prevent her from going overboard?

That seems akin to saying someone is a professional chef and therefore cannot cook a bad meal or someone is a mechanic so their car cannot break down.

 

[OwnedByALabrador]

I hope this doesn’t sound snarky because that is not my intention, but why would her having been a lifeguard and a strong swimmer prevent her from going overboard?

That seems akin to saying someone is a professional chef and therefore cannot cook a bad meal or someone is a mechanic so their car cannot break down.

My point was that even IF she did fall overboard, ,she was an extremely strong swimmer. Added to which, she was known to avoid standing/leaning over the railing of the ship; her whole family has attested to this fact.

 

[OwnedByALabrador]

Many years ago, the verified poster suggested that Amy was targeted because she fit a profile. The poster was purposefully vague because she was convinced that Amy was alive and could be put in danger if too many details surrounding her situation were made public. The poster was very focused on just getting Amy's physical description and possible locations of sightings out to the public, rather than the actual situation, because of this concern.

There are many, many strange aspects of Amy's case that simply don't jibe with any other case of a person missing off a cruise ship. The implication from the VI here was that Amy was targeted by very powerful people, for a very specific purpose -not that she was taken for run-of-the-mill sex trafficking. In fact, there was an incident talked about here where her family found people surveilling their home. There were sightings listed on the FBI's website years ago about Amy being seen in San Francisco. The VI tried to point us to a situation that is much bigger than what people normally think of regarding kidnapping.

I don't have much imagination, nor do I have any experience within the world of "trafficking", but my interpretaion from the VI was something along the lines of a person of Amy's profile would be needed to perhaps put potential clients at ease, or care-take people who were the actual targets of trafficking. Something like that. Babies maybe? Parents of babies? Unsuspecting organ donor victims? There are many possibilities. All of these things happen today. Whatever the case, I do think Amy would probably fit an awful lot of awful situations.

Sadly, I think she's probably no longer alive. I think she likely suffered an awful existence for some time, though. These threads are so frustrating at times for many reasons, but especially when there is evidence, everyday, if one cares to look, of so much evil in this world. It's very hard to face, though, and much easier to dismiss as isolated cases, or too fantastical to be real. One of the worst aspects of this case, in particular, is the often cavalier attitude and posts that seem to mock the idea that Amy could have been a victim of kidnapping.

Well, tell that to the FBI.

All MOO.

Superb post. I couldn't agree more.

 

[rosesfromangels]

My point was that even IF she did fall overboard, ,she was an extremely strong swimmer. Added to which, she was known to avoid standing/leaning over the railing of the ship; her whole family has attested to this fact.

She would most likely have been knocked unconscious when hitting the water, or sucked under the ship. Not pleasant thoughts.

I’m in the minority opinion here, but this is exactly what I believe happened.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[OwnedByALabrador]

One of the strangest aspects of this case, to my mind at least, was the vanishing of the photos taken of Amy on the cruise - the night before she went missing.

It makes me think that someone took them to show to either 1) someone who would then decide if Amy fit their profile as a victim or 2) to pass to someone so they would recognise her the following day when Alistair Douglas brought her up to the disco for the 'hand off'.

The fact that Amy chose not to go to bed that night, but instead apparently remained awake and on the deck, makes me think she and Alistair Douglas had arranged to meet in the early hours - which ties in with the two witnesses who swore they saw the pair together, in the glass elevator, going up to the disco. Another witness, a woman on the cruise, stated that she saw them together and that Douglas was giving Amy a drink (a dark liquid). That would have been between 5.30 and 6am I believe. Shortly afterwards, Alistair Douglas was then seen alone, coming back down in the glass elevator.

It's a very tight time frame. My personal belief, after doing a deep dive into this case, is that Douglas had already decided (or been instructed by someone else) that Amy was to be abducted and that's why he spent so much time with her the night before, at the disco. That's when they arranged to meet some hours later, just as the ship was about to dock/docking.

It also explains Douglas remarking to Amy's brother Brad, 'Sorry to hear about your sister.' BEFORE it was public knowledge that Amy was missing.