VA - Amy Bradley, 23, Petersburg, 24 March 1998 - #2 - ***READ FIRST POST***

[dotr]

Bed Rail: Post #745 first thread.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/570417625/Hot_selling_Promotion_metal_frame_single.html

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4936&page=30

Yes, I thought it might have been previously posted, but posted anyway just in case, and was not sure I could find it again.
Now I see why F.A. thought it was an important clue to finding Amy - that exact headboard has been liking seeking the holy g/rail!

 

[dotr]

Yes I don't really understand the lay-out of these boats and just wondered if apart from the official exit there was anyway to unload a jetski. But thanks as I said probably far-fetched and possibly not worth too much thought.

It might explain why Amy may have left her shoes behind.See pic. in link.
http://www.cruiseoften.com/royal-caribbean-labadee-jet-ski-shoreside-activities/

"New Pier: Previously, guests arriving at Labadee had to take a ferry from the cruise ship to the shoreline but now, thanks to the new enhancements, that practice is a thing of the past. Now the new pier extends out more than 1200 feet into the bay, deep enough so that passengers can disembark directly onto the pier. This will give guests that much more time to fully enjoy the private beaches of Labadee, and to explore to their heart’s content."

 

[helpful]

I just lurk on this thread, but Amy's case is one that haunts me.

On Monday, a 21-year-old woman fell overboard from the Royal Caribbean ship Allure of the Seas. Royal Caribbean states that their Care Team "is providing support to the guest's family."

I can only hope that the Royal Caribbean Care Team "support" is better than anything the cruise line offered the Bradleys.

(Please note that I don't mean to suggest that Amy fell overboard - I just thought another "missing passenger" incident on a Royal Caribbean ship was worth noting. There was a witness in this situation, however, and she was able to confirm that the woman did indeed go over.)

 

[pdxmama]

I just lurk on this thread, but Amy's case is one that haunts me.

On Monday, a 21-year-old woman fell overboard from the Royal Caribbean ship Allure of the Seas. Royal Caribbean states that their Care Team "is providing support to the guest's family."

I can only hope that the Royal Caribbean Care Team "support" is better than anything the cruise line offered the Bradleys.

(Please note that I don't mean to suggest that Amy fell overboard - I just thought another "missing passenger" incident on a Royal Caribbean ship was worth noting. There was a witness in this situation, however, and she was able to confirm that the woman did indeed go over.)

I was just coming here to post this. Thank you!

 

[neesaki]

I just lurk on this thread, but Amy's case is one that haunts me.

On Monday, a 21-year-old woman fell overboard from the Royal Caribbean ship Allure of the Seas. Royal Caribbean states that their Care Team "is providing support to the guest's family."

I can only hope that the Royal Caribbean Care Team "support" is better than anything the cruise line offered the Bradleys.

(Please note that I don't mean to suggest that Amy fell overboard - I just thought another "missing passenger" incident on a Royal Caribbean ship was worth noting. There was a witness in this situation, however, and she was able to confirm that the woman did indeed go over.)

This is just so bizarre to me. If these cruise ships have railings for safety reasons, which they must have, yet passengers are still falling overboard, then why are the railings so low that this is even a possibility. Why haven't these ships installed higher railings? Is it just me, or is this one of those things that is just so obvious, like the elephant in the room?

 

[pdxmama]

This is just so bizarre to me. If these cruise ships have railings for safety reasons, which they must have, yet passengers are still falling overboard, then why are the railings so low that this is even a possibility. Why haven't these ships installed higher railings? Is it just me, or is this one of those things that is just so obvious, like the elephant in the room?

In several stories I've read, people go over the railings when they are climbing on them, going from balcony to balcony, etc. Alcohol is pretty much always involved. I've never been on a cruise but I have been very close to ships that are docked, they are HUGE! I can't imagine climbing over one of those railings. Completely terrifying.

 

[pdxmama]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, if it has, I apologize. I wonder what the stats are when comparing going missing on a cruise ship to missing under "normal" circumstances.

http://www.cruiseshipmissing.com/

 

[helpful]

I was just coming here to post this. Thank you!

You're welcome, neighbor!

It's unbelievable to me that things like this happen. You expect to have fun and relax on a vacation, and for something like this to happen "in paradise" sure makes the universe seem like a cruel place.

 

[chicagofa13]

Regarding her maybe being hidden on the ship all the way to PR, I highly doubt it for one big reason. I don't think these traffickers wanted immediate attention from the FBI and US LE who will have some jurisdiction in PR and the Caribbean islands linked to the US. Those independent islands, or still under some foreign country's rule are a much safer bet.

I think I made the comment back in thread 1 that I want to know what made Amy such a target. I think she was an attractive, healthy, fun young woman. But there are so many of them roaming the islands who could be taken w/out as much fuss and creating as much drama. Why?? The question just gets me. I know runaways in the US are trafficked and smuggled out but as runaways, sadly they are put in a negative environment. This is a girl with her whole family in tow!!! Why risk the attention?

I know FA said there was no way Amy was drugged while on the ship partying that night (when she was spotted dancing) but I am not so sure. I think her guard was clearly down (or maybe she just drank too much). If they were grooming her during the cruise it seemed to be working. She was at a comfort level to wander alone on the ship. In the beginning I get the feeling she wasn't so sure of it all.

Argh it is so frustrating. I go back to what I said earlier. The way to find her is to be there and look. And look and look. I would love to know the sightings post '05 so we had a better idea where to even begin. Sorry this post is all over the place. My mind goes crazy at night (yep, that's why I have insomnia!!).

PS Pdxmama and helpful, native Oregonian here. Nice to see you.

 

[Dushi]

This is just so bizarre to me. If these cruise ships have railings for safety reasons, which they must have, yet passengers are still falling overboard, then why are the railings so low that this is even a possibility. Why haven't these ships installed higher railings? Is it just me, or is this one of those things that is just so obvious, like the elephant in the room?

I have only been on one cruise so I am no expert.
The railings on my ship were high!
We commented on how hard it would be to fall over
However, I am talking about the railings on deck
We were on a small ship and did not have a balcony
I don't know what the balcony railings are like but doubt they are extremely low

very sad to hear about the above case

 

[Wondergirl]

A piece of fence, with some adjustment?
http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=frenc...4&start=12&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:18,s:12,i:169

The heart appears to be brass to me.

Brass is not able to be welded easily or readily.

Is the heart a different material than the rest of the headboard, or is the rest of the headboard painted?

 

[masootz]

I am not sure why the family left the boat again flew home from St. Thomas. As they were leaving the boat was arriving in Puerto Rico.

Ron's boss chartered a Lear Jet for them. I will just guess that maybe or more of Amy's family were cracking up under the strain (?). (Or in line with what I recently suggested and C.M. concurred with could someone in the company be trying to get the family back to the U.S.)?

Why do this and why this huge expense? I'd be wanting to talk as long as possible to people on the boat surely some others would be interested I doubt everyone of the boat is completely shallow and wouldn't care about a missing woman - also Puerto Rico has a very different status politically vis a vis the U.S. And since the trip was ending there Puerto Rico would be one place you would want to make sure she was not being smuggled off.

Anyone know what the status of the FBI and American Law Enforcement is in Puerto Rico?

As I understand it the Puerto Rico sighting is unverified but it makes some logical sense it IS eerie how close in nature it is to the other sightings with a handler controlling Amy etc. It could be fiction but why does it fit the later Curacao and Barbadoes and San Fran stories so closely?

It is totally possible that Amy was on the boat until Puerto Rico. Also do we know where the boat went and when after Puerto Rico?

There are no doubt innumerable places to hide someone on board a ship and as someone pointed out there is information the Captain may have been around when this ship was being commissioned and built?

<modsnip>

the link below is an article from march 27, 1998 from the free-lance star (picked up from the AP wire). it describes the ship as nearing its trip and describes federal agents as having been on the ship, sea searches being done, etc. it provides some context (at least to me) for why the family may have left the ship.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAAIBAJ&pg=2506,4843224&dq=amy-bradley&hl=en

 

[neverletgo]

I have only been on one cruise so I am no expert.
The railings on my ship were high!
We commented on how hard it would be to fall over
However, I am talking about the railings on deck
We were on a small ship and did not have a balcony
I don't know what the balcony railings are like but doubt they are extremely low

very sad to hear about the above case

I have been on many, many cruises, and I totally agree with what you've said above. I am a 5'10" woman and the railings on all the ships I've been on (Carnival) have been chest high on me at least. I also agree that this current situation is very sad.

 

[Wondergirl]

Has anyone been able to find the radio interviews with the witnesses, as discussed here in the past?

 

[danzn16]

I hope nobody will be offended if I just bring up a couple of discrepancies between the Vanished and Mysteries shows as well as as magazine articles.

In Vanished Ron says he went back to sleep after seeing Amy at 5:30 because he knew they were planning to get up in twenty minutes to have breakfast because they were planning to go into Curacao. In the other show he says he woke up at 6:00 but he doesn't know why, something just made him wake up. Vanished is the later show obviously so in effect there he claims to have known he was going to get up in 20 minutes and then does, in the earlier show he doesn't seem to be planning to get up but something, he doesn't know what wakes, him. In the earlier show he seems slightly annoyed when he asks Amy to turn off the light (a simulation) and when he insists that he would have shut the balcony door.

The times of when Amy arrives back to the cabin vary a lot. Some say 5 minutes after Brad. But one article says the ship lock system recorded I think 3:40 for Brad that article doesn't give a time for Amy but on Vanished Brad says she came back between 4:15 and 4:30. Lot's more time for Amy to be talking to someone alone though on the other hand they seemed to be separated for a lot of the night anyway.

I have no idea if these are significant differances or what it would mean if anything. Just documenting it.

One thing that struck me in the article: on the balcony Amy asks Brad if he has ever gone jet-skiing. Could this have been suggested as an activity to lure Amy? And this may be a little crazy but is there any way Amy could be jet-skiied from the boat? Overall, to her credit, Amy seems to have a bit more of any "edge" to her than the All American girl label would suggest I don't even think tattoos were as common as they are now back in 1998. Would she up for a pre-breakfast adventure assuming this is even possible.

I attach an article on how to jet ski with two people just in case this idea makes any sense.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2323457_jet-ski-two-people.html

Wow I always thought Brad and Amy were always together and came back to the room together, so that's new information to me.

And you may be on to something about being lured off the boat by something fun. She obviously did like Yellow, even if just in a friendship way. I would never dance with someone I did not like in the way they did if I was not friendly towards him and would want to do something fun with him. So she may have trusted him to do something like that. However they were out to sea so they couldn't have gotten off the boat at night. It would have had to be the next morning when the ship was docking and I would think that Amy would have at least mentioned it to her brother since it was said they talked that night when she got back to the room. Or maybe her brother didn't like Yellow? That could be a reason why it wasn't mentioned. It all depends on when the boat was scheduled to dock, what time the family was supposed to eat breakfast and if there was enough time in between for her to think she could fit in an activity. If the boat docking and breakfast time were close together then that would make me discount this theory.

 

[danzn16]

http://www.freep.com/article/201209...e-of-the-Seas-lost-passenger?odyssey=nav|head

article doesn't state if she fell overboard on accident through negligence of the ship and their rails, through a suicide attempt, or due to an alcohol induced accident. It was 9:30pm at night when it happened and the person was seen going overboard so I'm sure it will be released exactly what happened.

 

[neesaki]

Amy certainly was accomplished and that does not always sit well with competitive others, for example..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-silence-Texas-Cheerleading-murder-plot.html

"In 1991, Wanda Holloway's bizarre plot to kill a Texas cheerleader's mother - all so her 13-year-old daughter could win a spot on the school squad - captivated the nation.


The absurd scheme gripped headlines with Holloway being dubbed a crazed 'Pom-Pom Mom' and was immortalized in two TV movies and a book.


Over the past two decades the daughter, who's cheerleading success was so important to Holloway that she was willing to kill for it, has never spoken publicly about the case"

Snip
"But Shanna failed to make the squad and Holloway watched enviously as neighbour Verna Heath's daughter Amber managed to make the cut and filled her bedroom with trophies.


Holloway - who was divorced from Shanna and older brother Shane's father Tony Harper - was convinced Verna had somehow hindered her daughter's chances of becoming a cheerleader"

I remember hearing about this case back then, I couldn't believe it.

I have also thought that Amy was targeted because, not only was she young and attractive at that time, but she had a very pure, fresh, untainted, girl next door look about her. I think these traffickers look for that, which is one reason trafficking of children is so rampant, I think.

 

[neesaki]

I am not sure why the family left the boat again flew home from St. Thomas. As they were leaving the boat was arriving in Puerto Rico.

Ron's boss chartered a Lear Jet for them. I will just guess that maybe or more of Amy's family were cracking up under the strain (?). (Or in line with what I recently suggested and C.M. concurred with could someone in the company be trying to get the family back to the U.S.)?

Why do this and why this huge expense? I'd be wanting to talk as long as possible to people on the boat surely some others would be interested I doubt everyone of the boat is completely shallow and wouldn't care about a missing woman - also Puerto Rico has a very different status politically vis a vis the U.S. And since the trip was ending there Puerto Rico would be one place you would want to make sure she was not being smuggled off.

Anyone know what the status of the FBI and American Law Enforcement is in Puerto Rico?

As I understand it the Puerto Rico sighting is unverified but it makes some logical sense it IS eerie how close in nature it is to the other sightings with a handler controlling Amy etc. It could be fiction but why does it fit the later Curacao and Barbadoes and San Fran stories so closely?

It is totally possible that Amy was on the boat until Puerto Rico. Also do we know where the boat went and when after Puerto Rico?

There are no doubt innumerable places to hide someone on board a ship and as someone pointed out there is information the Captain may have been around when this ship was being commissioned and built?

<modsnip>

I too have been quite confused about the Curacao versus Puerto Rico thing. I mean, this is straight from the AmyBradley.net website on the page explaining the lawsuit filed by the Bradley's attorneys. It states she was removed from the ship after it docked in Puerto Rico then shoved into a waiting taxi.

FAMILY OF ABDUCTED VIRGINIA WOMAN SUES ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISE LINE

MIAMI - The family of Amy Bradley, a Virginia woman missing for nearly a year, today filed a lawsuit in Miami circuit court against Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. The lawsuit was filed by Andrew Hall and Michael Gilfarb of the Miami firm of Hall, David and Joseph, PA. Bradley mysteriously disappeared while on vacation on a Royal Caribbean ship on the morning of March 24, 1998. The suit alleges the cruise line was negligent in its search for Bradley, defamed her father and brother, and caused intentional emotional damage to the family.

The Complaint charges that Bradley, then 23, was abducted from the ship "Rhapsody of the Seas." The lawsuit states that Bradley, abducted, hidden and then forcibly removed from the ship when it docked in Puerto Rico on March 28, was shoved into a waiting taxi at the terminal. http://www.amybradley.net/lawsuit.htm

 

[Chorley8]

the link below is an article from march 27, 1998 from the free-lance star (picked up from the AP wire). it describes the ship as nearing its trip and describes federal agents as having been on the ship, sea searches being done, etc. it provides some context (at least to me) for why the family may have left the ship.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAAIBAJ&pg=2506,4843224&dq=amy-bradley&hl=en

Danzn16 yes when Ron went to check on his kids around 2:30 they were on separate decks and I don't see Brad in any of the videos where Amy is dancing if anyone does please say. And yes you can have strange euphorias when travelling I have done at least 10 completely dangerous things over the years while travelling some when younger than Amy was at that time. You can get so tired of being distrustful or seeming xenophobic.

Thanks for the additional article a few points. I do completely agree that P.R. is less likely than Curacao except for that (discredited or just not confirmed?) sighting in P.R. and also, well, just to keep our minds open to possibilities. But I don't think it explains the flight from St. Thomas which would be hugely expensive. For a one or two day advantage in getting home? And while there was such a disconnect between the family and the boat admin. with only the family believing at the time there had been a crime.
I realize the uncle is the spokesperson for this article but it is interesting that there is no mention here of the two girls who saw Amy with Y after she had been on the balcony. Here it is the Neth. spokesperson saying she might have fallen vs. the belief by the family that she was grabbed by a person unknown in a corridor. In this story it is the mother who seems Amy on the balcony not the father but this is probably a mistake by the uncle or the newspaper (?). The article says the boat was 10 miles from Wilemstadt at the time, that is further out than I thought

 

[Chorley8]

http://www.caribbeaninstyle.com/imgs/jets/newyorktimes.pdf

This New York Times article gives some idea of the cost of private jets in 2007. Richmond is a lot further than Florida I doubt it would cost less than 30,000 dollars unless the boss had a corporate rate which is possible.