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

[tasidasi]

Anyway..did anyone see the Vanished episode? I thought it was informative but missed a couple things...such as the Judy Maurer sighting and the one Crystal Roberts mentioned in Unsolved mysteries.

 

[DakotaMayi]

Anyway..did anyone see the Vanished episode? I thought it was informative but missed a couple things...such as the Judy Maurer sighting and the one Crystal Roberts mentioned in Unsolved mysteries.

Yes I did see it and although it didn't cover everything, I found it more informative than the disappeared episode. It took more time to go over certain things.

I really think Amy's case, and most on disappeared, could do with a 2 hour or more slot.

 

[Dushi]

Do you know if this is due solely to eyewitness or the electronic door security ? I was reading they had Brad entering the room followed by Amy five minutes later. Nobody mentioned anybody leaving.

I don't know a great deal about cruising, having only cruised once.
But isn't your entry registered because you have used your key card?
You would not need the card to leave the room, so there wouldn't be a record would there?

 

[scadagirl28]

I don't know a great deal about cruising, having only cruised once.
But isn't your entry registered because you have used your key card?
You would not need the card to leave the room, so there wouldn't be a record would there?

You are right. It just registers when you open the door. There seems to me to just be enough suspicion to go either way on this one. Most over board occurrences happen due to reckless or intentional behaviour. This doesn't seem like Amy. However all it takes is one stupid drunk mistake too. UGH.

 

[Tssiemer]

Ok.

I think I fell down the Reddit rabbit hole.

What alerted the Bradley’s Amy was missing (missing missing) in the first place? Just the fact that she wasn’t in the cabin at 6am?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dushi]

Ok.

I think I fell down the Reddit rabbit hole.

What alerted the Bradley’s Amy was missing (missing missing) in the first place? Just the fact that she wasn’t in the cabin at 6am?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have never read anything that stated there was anything specific in the room/on the balcony that led them to believe she was missing.
Just that she was gone. Took her cigarettes and lighter. I am not certain about shoes, whether she had them or didn't

 

[Hiandmighty]

Ok.

I think I fell down the Reddit rabbit hole.

What alerted the Bradley’s Amy was missing (missing missing) in the first place? Just the fact that she wasn’t in the cabin at 6am?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Right. According to all the retellings of the story, the fact that a 23 year old adult was "missing" from the balcony caused alarm.

The word "missing" always reminded me of Scott Peterson saying Laci was "missing" when her family wondered why he used that word immediately when he would have said, "I can't find Laci" "I don't know where Laci is" or "have you seen Laci" in any other circumstance.

(Not drawing parallels with that case, only telling where my mind goes when I re read the initial events).

It seems like there is part of the story missing here.

Brad IIRC went looking for her and by 7am they were in full blown panic mode demanding the captain hold the gangways and not let people off the ship.

I have always wondered if they had a reason why they would panic so quickly. It has always struck me as odd.


If she had gone to breakfast at a dining room instead of the buffet, that would take about 45 minutes.

So instead of thinking, maybe she went to breakfast and then to shoot some hoops, they immediately went into panic mode.

Why?

 

[JSolt1210]

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 )

Anyway..did anyone see the Vanished episode? I thought it was informative but missed a couple things...such as the Judy Maurer sighting and the one Crystal Roberts mentioned in Unsolved mysteries.

I just finished watching the Vanished episode on Amy Bradley, and I definitely thought it was more comprehensive than the Disappeared version. The YouTube version I saw does include the Judy Maurer sighting (search for "Amy Bradley Vanished Pt.5"), and although it does not mention Crystal Roberts by name, her sighting is included as the "two college-age girls" ("Pt. 2") who ran up to the Bradleys when they reboarded the Rhapsody.

I note, however, that Vanished does give us a slightly different timeline of events on March 24, 1998, when compared to the one I was able to cull from sources above.

01:00: "The ship sets off [from Aruba] to Curação... Exhausted, Iva and Ron decide to call it a night."
04:00: Brad says he returns to his room, possibly 20 minutes later than indicated in other sources.
04:15-04:30: Brad says Amy "came in and joined me on the balcony," 15-50 minutes later than elsewhere indicated.
05:30: "As the ship arrives in Curação, Ron Bradley wakes to find his daughter still on the balcony, relaxing" same as above.
05:45: "The [two college-age girls] claim that... they saw Amy heading back to the ship's all-night dance club with the band's bass player."
05:50: "But when Ron wakes up again 20 minutes later, Amy is nowhere in sight." 10 minutes earlier than other sources.

I realize that some of these differences in time may seem tiny, and it's not my intent to nitpick. But we all know that in missing persons cases, length of time is crucial to reconstructing a series of events. According to Vanished, we are now talking about a 15-minute window of time (as opposed to 20-30 minutes) between Amy positively being on the balcony, and Amy possibly already having left the cabin, rendezvoused with Yellow, ridden an elevator with him en route back to the club.

Iva says, "They said they saw them come up the elevator, and then when the elevator door opened to the disco, she turned, and they stepped into the disco."

Is all of this feasible in 15 minutes? (And I'm asking sincerely, because I don't know the layout of the ship.)

 

[Hiandmighty]

Also, just because Brad couldn't find her in 45 minutes also didn't indicate she was missing-- at the time (because now we know she was gone).

People move around ships. If she had gone to breakfast and then to shoot some hoops and then through the women's spa to the work out area would mean she would have been hard to find.

Eventually, he would have run into her or she would have returned to the cabin.

So to me, having cruised with pre teens and then teens, I would say after 2-3 hours I'd start to actively look for them and then get mad they didn't check in.

 

[Hiandmighty]

I just finished watching the Vanished episode on Amy Bradley, and I definitely thought it was more comprehensive than the Disappeared version. The YouTube version I saw does include the Judy Maurer sighting (search for "Amy Bradley Vanished Pt.5"), and although it does not mention Crystal Roberts by name, her sighting is included as the "two college-age girls" ("Pt. 2") who ran up to the Bradleys when they reboarded the Rhapsody.

I note, however, that Vanished does give us a slightly different timeline of events on March 24, 1998, when compared to the one I was able to cull from sources above.

01:00: "The ship sets off [from Aruba] to Curação... Exhausted, Iva and Ron decide to call it a night."
04:00: Brad says he returns to his room, possibly 20 minutes later than indicated in other sources.
04:15-04:30: Brad says Amy "came in and joined me on the balcony," 15-50 minutes later than elsewhere indicated.
05:30: "As the ship arrives in Curação, Ron Bradley wakes to find his daughter still on the balcony, relaxing" same as above.
05:45: "The [two college-age girls] claim that... they saw Amy heading back to the ship's all-night dance club with the band's bass player."
05:50: "But when Ron wakes up again 20 minutes later, Amy is nowhere in sight." 10 minutes earlier than other sources.

I realize that some of these differences in time may seem tiny, and it's not my intent to nitpick. But we all know that in missing persons cases, length of time is crucial to reconstructing a series of events. According to Vanished, we are now talking about a 15-minute window of time (as opposed to 20-30 minutes) between Amy positively being on the balcony, and Amy possibly already having left the cabin, rendezvoused with Yellow, ridden an elevator with him en route back to the club.

Iva says, "They said they saw them come up the elevator, and then when the elevator door opened to the disco, she turned, and they stepped into the disco."

Is all of this feasible in 15 minutes? (And I'm asking sincerely, because I don't know the layout of the ship.)

IMO,no,but let me pull their cabin number and deck plans again.

 

[Hiandmighty]

Also, just because Brad couldn't find her in 45 minutes also didn't indicate she was missing-- at the time (because now we know she was gone).

People move around ships. If she had gone to breakfast and then to shoot some hoops and then through the women's spa to the work out area would mean she would have been hard to find.

Eventually, he would have run into her or she would have returned to the cabin.

So to me, having cruised with pre teens and then teens, I would say after 2-3 hours I'd start to actively look for them and then get mad they didn't check in.

Check Chris Fenwick's story for his time line about the college girls.
http://chrisfenwick.com/home/2010/3/1/amy-bradley-is-missing.html


ETA: Amy went missing on wednesday. The girls were frantically questioned by Iva on Friday.

"Friday March 26th,1998 - 3AM
Sometime later that night, probably around 3AM, I took another walk to stretch my legs. It was not unusual for me to work all night and sleep during the day. While I was standing on the 8th deck, my deck, looking over the large center atrium of the boat, I witnessed 2 young girls, probably around 19 or 20 years old, walk toward the stern of the boat on the starboard side. Minutes later a young man ran from where the women had walked toward the bow of the boat.

Soon, a woman with blonde hair and another gentleman and at least one man from Royal Caribean began to congregate on what may have been the 6th deck across from where I was standing. They began to question the 2 young girls. It was around this time time that it became obvious to me that the people I was watching was the family of the missing girl.

I was curious as to why this meeting was taking place in the middle of the night and being wide awake I decided to eavesdrop to find out what I could. Apparently the 2 girls had seen Amy Bradley, the missing girl, during the early morning hours of the day she vanished. They were trying to find out anything and everything that the two girls had seen.

What I witnessed was the older woman was immensly distraught. I over heard her saying, “please, think very carfully did you see anything else? Are you sure you didn’t hear anything else, are you sure you didn’t see anything else.” The poor women was so frantic I just remember everyone trying to get her to calm down and be cool. Later I found out her name was Iva Bradley.

After seeing the frantic nature of the woman it kind of “put the humanity” on the story for me. It dawned on me that the woman had disappeared on Tuesday morning and we had heard that she had been in the disco on Monday night, if that was the case, we were in the disco with one of our cameras on Monday night. Maybe I had some video of Amy in my room on one of my video tapes."

 

[Hiandmighty]

Cabin # 8564 Rhapsody of the Seas

Deck plans: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/rhapsody-of-the-seas/deck-plans/1663/BD

Easier one: https://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/_images/Rhapsody_2012-11May13_tcm16-14811.pdf (can scroll up and down)

Floor plan for cabin 8564, junior suite: https://cruiseline.com/ship/rhapsody-of-the-seas/cabin/8564

http://amybradley.net/oct2498wcqtguide.htm (article posted: what happened to that nice girl in cabin 8564)

 

[Hiandmighty]

Video of Rhapsody of the Seas junior suite, same deck *not the same cabin number: (aft balcony)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFcTUia2Vf0

And another jr suite on Rhapsody, not Amy's cabin:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Co0NSbQ81MU

** same layout as Amy's cabin but her cabin was starboard (right) and had lifeboats under it

 

[CoolJ]

Ok.

I think I fell down the Reddit rabbit hole.

What alerted the Bradley’s Amy was missing (missing missing) in the first place? Just the fact that she wasn’t in the cabin at 6am?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This has always been my question. It doesn't make sense to go into panic mode that quickly. The conclusion that i have come to is that some information has been suppressed since day 1. They had reason to believe Amy was in trouble and likely being taken off the ship.

Although some seem to have made it their life mission to discredit the Bradleys, I do not question their honesty or their motives whatsoever. It is my opinion they are keeping some information close to the vest to protect the integrity of the investigation.

 

[Hiandmighty]

So I guess Amy and Brad shared the sofa bed right next to their parents??? <modsnip>

View attachment 133359 (deck plan showing 8564 is a junior suite and mid ship but getting toward aft)

 

[Hiandmighty]

This has always been my question. It doesn't make sense to go into panic mode that quickly. The conclusion that i have come to is that some information has been suppressed since day 1. They had reason to believe Amy was in trouble and likely being taken off the ship.

Although some seem to have made it their life mission to discredit the Bradleys, I do not question their honesty or their motives whatsoever. It is my opinion they are keeping some information close to the vest to protect the integrity of the investigation.

Just giving another perspective that maybe the Bradleys discredited themselves when they were found guilty of fraud on the court.

Two sides to every story kind of thing...

 

[Hiandmighty]

So I guess Amy and Brad shared the sofa bed right next to their parents??? <modsnip>

View attachment 133359 (deck plan showing 8564 is a junior suite and mid ship but getting toward aft)

I wanted to add that this cabin had always been 243 sq ft,so there is no question that they were in a super small space and Amy would have had to pass everyone to leave, but the balcony does have sliding doors.

 

[Hiandmighty]

Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas page with nice video of the ship:
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/rhapsody-of-the-seas


I just noticed this from the article on Amybradley.net:

"Though authorities initially believed that Amy Bradley was the victim of suicide, a man-overboard accident, murder of abduction, the family and others who know Amy well flatly rule out suicide."
http://amybradley.net/oct2498wcqtguide.htm

Weak argument here IMO:
"A man overboard accident (i.e. the possibility of falling off the cabin balcony or other rail-side location on the ship) is thought to be statistically unlikely, unless hazardous behavior is involved. Such activity would be most likely to be detected by ship's staff during the maneuvering of the large ship in the causeway approach to the Curacao pier." (But they were ten miles out when she disappeared)


"Given the Coast Guard's determination that Amy was not in the water and the dismissal of other theories based on the family's feelings, investigative experts hired by the Bradleys feel that it is most likely Amy was abducted at the hands of passenger(s) or crew, drugged or otherwise incapacitated, and spirited off the ship at Curacao. One corroborative theory suggests Amy might have fallen victim to suspected "white slavery" activity in the region, and others theories, which are part of the confidential ongoing search, are being taken seriously by investigators."

 

[CoolJ]

Cabin # 8564 Rhapsody of the Seas

Deck plans: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/rhapsody-of-the-seas/deck-plans/1663/BD

Easier one: https://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/_images/Rhapsody_2012-11May13_tcm16-14811.pdf (can scroll up and down)

Floor plan for cabin 8564, junior suite: https://cruiseline.com/ship/rhapsody-of-the-seas/cabin/8564

http://amybradley.net/oct2498wcqtguide.htm (article posted: what happened to that nice girl in cabin 8564)

The floor plans we were looking at back in the day was for a family suite:
This one I believe: https://cruiseline.com/ship/rhapsody-of-the-seas/cabins/YW

 

[scadagirl28]

So I guess Amy and Brad shared the sofa bed right next to their parents??? I only made my pre teens do that and then I moved them to their own room across the hall when they got older.

(deck plan showing 8564 is a junior suite and mid ship but getting toward aft)

This was a company paid for event. They may have had no choice.