VA - Amy Bradley - missing from cruise ship, Curacao - 1998 #3

[BeginnerSleuther]

Can I also just add, since I'm familiar with sex trafficking, that victims don't usually get kidnapped from a theme park or cruise ship or sporting event. They aren't being abducted from these places, never to be seen again.

What happens is, pimps go themselves or send a woman out to these places in order to find girls they think are vulnerable enough to fall victim to their plans. They don't just abduct the girl right then and there. They first determine if she will be controllable and if she is vulnerable. Then they pretend they want to get to know her and slowly they earn her trust.

Eventually they get the girl to enter into the sex trade, through threats and coercion, or drug dependency, or all of the above. So those places are where pimps will go to find girls .They also use social media, night clubs, shopping malls, schools, you name it.

Being a physician, I'm well-versed in sex trafficking as well. We're trained in it extensively, especially if we do any ER work, because trafficking victims sometimes end up in the emergency room. The links I posted show very clearly that it DOES happen on cruise ships and from hotels and a number of other places. And no, it doesn't always happen after an extended grooming period. Remember Natalee Cramer?

 

[Danaya]

Being a physician, I'm well-versed in sex trafficking as well. We're trained in it extensively, especially if we do any ER work, because trafficking victims sometimes end up in the emergency room. The links I posted show very clearly that it DOES happen on cruise ships and from hotels and a number of other places. And no, it doesn't always happen after an extended grooming period. Remember Natalee Cramer?

You're a physician. I experienced it first hand.

 

[Jezel]

Can I also just add, since I'm familiar with sex trafficking, that victims don't usually get kidnapped from a theme park or cruise ship or sporting event. They aren't being abducted from these places, never to be seen again.

What happens is, pimps go themselves or send a woman out to these places in order to find girls they think are vulnerable enough to fall victim to their plans. They don't just abduct the girl right then and there. They first determine if she will be controllable and if she is vulnerable. Then they pretend they want to get to know her and slowly they earn her trust.

Eventually they get the girl to enter into the sex trade, through threats and coercion, or drug dependency, or all of the above. So those places are where pimps will go to find girls .They also use social media, night clubs, shopping malls, schools, you name it.

First, sex trafficking isn't the only reason Amy could've been targeted and in fact probably wasn't, if that is what happened.

Second, I think we've all heard this. It doesn't preclude one extremely unusual situation that may have come about from a predator's illogical line of thought.

 

[Danaya]

First, sex trafficking isn't the only reason Amy could've been targeted and in fact probably wasn't, if that is what happened.

Second, I think we've all heard this. It doesn't preclude one extremely unusual situation that may have come about from a predator's illogical line of thought.

When did I ever say it's not possible? I have my own opinions. If you've heard similar opinions before, oh well. People are allowed to share their perspectives.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

You're a physician. I experienced it first hand.

I'm sorry you went through that. Truly. I hope that you're in a much better place now and can heal in peace. I also hope the scum who hurt you are all behind bars for the rest of their life/lives.

My purpose is posting is to say there is no one-size-fits-all in human trafficking. It can and does happen in all venues, unfortunately.

 

[Danaya]

I'm sorry you went through that. Truly. I hope that you're in a much better place now and can heal in peace.

My purpose is posting is to say there is no one-size-fits-all in human trafficking. It can and does happen in all venues, unfortunately.

I never once said that it's the same for everyone. However, I speak on the subject having had actual lived experience with it. What I wrote is the honest truth.

You brought up the fact you were a physician, which is nice, but I've actually been in it. I've met these women and know them as friends, not as a medical professional.

In any case, I'm not interested in debating the validity of something that I know to be true. Not once did I say it's a "one size fits all" thing.

 

[Salah11]

I believe the most likely scenario is she met Yellow and rejected his advances and he murdered her and put her in a suitcase and took her off board.

I don’t rule out her being trafficked as I don’t know enough about it but her falling over board with her cigarettes and lighter seems farcical.

Moo

 

[dop1985]

Why would they report anything about a random person they saw? Nothing any of them saw would be worthy of a police report without the context. This is actually the least suspicious thing about the whole thing, IMO.



This is actually very unlikely. The human brain doesn't manufacture details of personal experience that easily. If it did, then all of us would be at risk of mind control anytime we watch a movie or play a video game.

All of the witnesses alleged that Amy appeared distressed or in danger. The witness on the beach that supposedly saw Amy in 1998 or 1999 said he followed Amy and her "captors" into a nearby bar.

The person in the brothel was explicitly asked for help by Amy.

The woman in the department store in Barbados said four men followed Amy into the bathroom... Even in 2005 that would have been incredibly alarming.

Would be very interested to read more details from the Grand Jury. Grand Jury indictments are notoriously easy to get, so if nothing even came from that...

Being a physician, I'm well-versed in sex trafficking as well. We're trained in it extensively, especially if we do any ER work, because trafficking victims sometimes end up in the emergency room. The links I posted show very clearly that it DOES happen on cruise ships and from hotels and a number of other places. And no, it doesn't always happen after an extended grooming period. Remember Natalee Cramer?

I am not at all victim shaming Natalee Cramer here: Natalee went out seeking marijuana from strangers and voluntarily went into a parking garage with them. She was also 15 and not in her mid-20s. Unfortunately, teenagers make a lot of mistakes that a person in their mid-20s wouldn't.

 

[thref23]

High profile missing persons cases usually attract false sightings, interesting personalities, and people who want attention.

In this case, there was actually at least one con man paying a woman to pose as Amy, in public, as part of an attempt to con her parents.

Anything is possible, but for an abduction to have been possible, there are lots of questions to answer, the first of which simply involves coming up with a reason why Amy would have gotten up from the balcony and left her room.

For her to have gone overboard - either by accident or suicide - there are far fewer questions to answer. She was last seen by the rail, it a statistically plausible scenario as is, and we additionally now know that she was dealing with a heavy emotional toll at the time, may have felt forced to go on the cruise against her wishes, and had actually mailed a letter which potentially inferred that she was suicidal.

Occam's razor is not always right, but occam's razor says that she went overboard.

 

[SadieSeeks]

I'm sorry-but I don't believe the whole kidnapped, sex trafficking thing...there are always so many conspiracy theories. And it almost always comes out to be the simplest answer..in her case I think she partied all night, was super drunk-got back up after being on the deck-went back to the disco or a bar and partied more. Maybe she OD'd or had alcohol poisoning, or was in an altercation regarding a sexual advance that she didn't want to accept-and she died. Someone covered it up by getting her body off the ship-concealed in some way.
As for the sightings-everyone has doppelgängers, and everyone loves a conspiracy theory....so I think some stuff is made up, some is coincidental-and none of it is true. Unfortunately I believe she died the morning she went missing. Very sad.

I was also wondering if it was potentially an OD situation. Being up still partying at 6am makes me think of drugs. But not enough evidence to warrant that at all. When they searched the ship was any significant amount of contraband found?

 

[GXP Sleuther]

It was reported to be cabin #8564.


Three witnesses correctly placed Allister Douglas with Amy despite the fact that, at the time of the alleged "sighting", they didn't know those two from any of the other thousands of people on the ship? If a "trade off" did actually occur, Amy would have had to have gone voluntarily as any struggle, particularly in an area as public as a disco, would be noticed.

So many incredibly implausible events would have had to occur for the trafficking theory to be even the slightest bit accurate--cooperation of numerous individuals, no one seeing or hearing anything on a crowded cruise ship, no one talking for nearly three decades, etc. If this case is ever solved (incredibly doubtful at this point), and the trafficking theory actually proved correct, would likely take the cake for the most implausible and unlikely missing persons case in true crime history. It's definitely an intriguing and interesting theory, but incredibly unlikely.

So did a woman at Wal-Mart in Mexico.. only she 'confirmed' it was the McStay family. It actually was not.

 

[GXP Sleuther]

If Amy did go overboard, I think she jumped. I have never felt right about her just falling over that railing, drunk or not.

Alcohol often exasperates depressive thoughts and can trigger suicidal urges. She had (allegedly) just come out to her parents. Maybe something was said to Amy that triggered something already building up inside of her.

Personally, I just don't think Amy was sex trafficked. I have met victims of trafficking and know a lot on the topic. Amy just doesn't fit the profile. Neither does the location in which she was last seen.

However, I do find it interesting that the FBI is still searching for Amy. If she went overboard, her body is never going to be recovered from that ocean. Especially not after nearly three decades.

It's unusual for FBI agents to do interviews on a case, unless they're trying to drag some information out from the public. Maybe old allegiances have changed. If the FBI believed that Amy fell over board by accident, then there would be no need to publicize her case now.

IMO it's very possible that Amy was murdered on that cruise ship and her body thrown overboard. The murder, IMO, would've been sexually motivated. I believe that the FBI may have evidence to support this and investigators are hoping for a Hail Mary at the last hour.

I think she was thrown FWIW.

 

[GXP Sleuther]

All of the witnesses alleged that Amy appeared distressed or in danger. The witness on the beach that supposedly saw Amy in 1998 or 1999 said he followed Amy and her "captors" into a nearby bar.

The person in the brothel was explicitly asked for help by Amy.

The woman in the department store in Barbados said four men followed Amy into the bathroom... Even in 2005 that would have been incredibly alarming.

Would be very interested to read more details from the Grand Jury. Grand Jury indictments are notoriously easy to get, so if nothing even came from that...

I am not at all victim shaming Natalee Cramer here: Natalee went out seeking marijuana from strangers and voluntarily went into a parking garage with them. She was also 15 and not in her mid-20s. Unfortunately, teenagers make a lot of mistakes that a person in their mid-20s wouldn't.

Wrong. The family was found guilty of defrauding a federal court by not reporting 'over 100 sightings' of her doing just fine and well.

It's public information. https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Cruise-line-s-law-firm-seeks-fine-in-missing-person-case

 

[BethAnn777]

(Not about Amy.)

March, 2025 - Woman allegedly goes over railing of cruise ship and has not been found in the water despite days of searching. She was reportedly drinking and went over the balcony. The incident occurred approximately 20 miles from the Bahamas. She was also said to have been arguing with her fiancé.

Faster Pussycat Singer’s Fiancée Presumed Dead After Allegedly Falling Overboard from Cruise Ship: Report

A 56-year-old woman who is the fiancée of Faster Pussycat singer Taime Downe is presumed dead after allegedly going overboard on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, said the victim’s mother, according to a report.

people.com

 

[dop1985]

(Not about Amy.)

March, 2025 - Woman allegedly goes over railing of cruise ship and has not been found in the water despite days of searching. She was reportedly drinking and went over the balcony. The incident occurred approximately 20 miles from the Bahamas. She was also said to have been arguing with her fiancé.

Faster Pussycat Singer’s Fiancée Presumed Dead After Allegedly Falling Overboard from Cruise Ship: Report

A 56-year-old woman who is the fiancée of Faster Pussycat singer Taime Downe is presumed dead after allegedly going overboard on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, said the victim’s mother, according to a report.

people.com

Unfortunately, it happens. Free-pouring alcohol and open waters are a recipe for disaster. I don't think the Rhapsody of the Seas was equipped with an "overboard alarm" like this ship was. I know technology has changed drastically in nearly three decades--such a thing may have not even existed in 1998.

A similarity with Amy's case is that this person was reported to be heavily intoxicated as well. It's a fact that alcohol leads to bad decisions, poor choices, and actions one wouldn't make sober. Video of her at the disco shows her having difficulty standing (at least from what I perceive) at one point.

Another posted made mention to how the movie Titanic had come out the year prior to Amy's disappearance... Could possibly be the impetus to do something stupid on a ship (no evidence to support this, but a possibility).

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

I am not at all victim shaming Natalee Cramer here: Natalee went out seeking marijuana from strangers and voluntarily went into a parking garage with them. She was also 15 and not in her mid-20s. Unfortunately, teenagers make a lot of mistakes that a person in their mid-20s wouldn't.

None of that is relevant to the overall point, especially since we don't know what Amy was doing just before she disappeared. The last sighting by her father was of her on the balcony. But there are witnesses who claim to have seen her afterward.

MOO.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Wrong. The family was found guilty of defrauding a federal court by not reporting 'over 100 sightings' of her doing just fine and well.

It's public information. https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Cruise-line-s-law-firm-seeks-fine-in-missing-person-case

"Found guilty" has a legal meaning and this isn't it, IMO.

 

[dop1985]

None of that is relevant to the overall point, especially since we don't know what Amy was doing just before she disappeared. The last sighting by her father was of her on the balcony. But there are witnesses who claim to have seen her afterward.

MOO.

It's the closest confirmed "forced abduction" case anyone has been able to cite that is even remotely similar to what is theorized to have happened to Amy.

It's, sadly, a lot easier for some people to accept the theory that a woman was forced into sexual slavery by foreigners than it is to accept the likelihood of what actually happened.

 

[GXP Sleuther]

None of that is relevant to the overall point, especially since we don't know what Amy was doing just before she disappeared. The last sighting by her father was of her on the balcony. But there are witnesses who claim to have seen her afterward.

MOO.

Did RC have any video cameras confirming she entered the room?

 

[Mandala]

Did RC have any video cameras confirming she entered the room?

Fairly sure the swipe card or similar registered twice, first when her brother returned and then she returned shortly after. Then her dad said he woke up around 5:30am and saw her on the balcony.