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

[osu]

Interesting new post from Amy Bradley’s brother. 7/19/25

https://twitter.com/x/status/1946610714610905577

 

[avob00]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1946707890884030536

That clears that up then. Amy was seeing a man at the time of her disappearance and was bi. As for the girlfriend she was also seeing????

<modsnip>

 

[GreyPhantom]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1946707890884030536

That clears that up then. Amy was seeing a man at the time of her disappearance and was bi. As for the girlfriend she was also seeing????

From his Twitter/X I’ve also learned the family are also right wing, which explains the disapproval of LGBT.

No offense but I think her family is still downplaying her LGBT lifestyle. Packaging her as bi is more palatable to digest.

 

[Quill]

No offense but I think her family is still downplaying her LGBT lifestyle. Packaging her as bi is more palatable to digest.

Do you not think that maybe the "kiss" Amy mentioned in the message in the bottle was the "boyfriend"? Maybe Amy was really bi. Maybe she wasn't . Maybe she was seeing a guy who gave her the watch we have discussed, but it wasn't working. She kissed him and it cemented in her mind that she wanted to be with her girlfriend. She was forcing it. We'll never know now, but maybe when Amy came home she and the girlfriend would have worked it out. I don't know, but it's just my gut feel.

 

[cujenn81]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1946707890884030536

That clears that up then. Amy was seeing a man at the time of her disappearance and was bi. As for the girlfriend she was also seeing????

From his Twitter/X I’ve also learned the family are also heavily right, which explains the disapproval of LGBT. Jesus…

Maybe her boyfriend was the person Amy kissed — which caused her girlfriend to request a break. Amy told her girlfriend that the kiss was a mistake and only solidified the way she felt about her.

Maybe Amy was feeling a bit confused for a time. I mean… who could really blame her, TBH?

 

[kcroo]

This is the case that brought me to Websleuths 14 years ago. The documentary broke my heart for Amy’s parents; they have zero closure. Watching them go through her luggage 27 years later was gut-wrenching.

Amy does not fit the profile of someone who would typically be trafficked. I used to think she fell overboard. However, after watching the new documentary - I am admittedly undecided.

I cannot overlook that fact that eyewitness accounts are often unreliable. Yet, I can’t deny the similarities between “Jas” and Amy. I did notice the FBI agent carefully worded her conclusion; “It’s believed to be her.” Not a confirmation.

If anything, I am thankful for the much needed attention this Netflix Documentary has brought to Amy’s case. After 27 years and statistically speaking, she is more than likely deceased. Will we ever know what happened? For the sake of her family, I certainly hope so. They deserve answers. This case has been somewhat of a Roman Empire for me. And I’ve never been more undecided about what I think happened to Amy Bradley than I am now.

 

[DustysMom]

If we go with the theory that Amy never left the ship, then wouldn’t that mean all four eyewitness accounts were mistaken? The documentary mentioned: the taxi driver, the surfer from Calgary, the active-duty military member, and the woman on vacation with her husband.

What I found interesting was that the taxi driver approached Gary Bradley immediately after he had finished a local press conference—where Brad had just mentioned a $250,000 reward that could increase with additional support from friends, family, and associates.

Is it possible the taxi driver was hoping to steer them toward an area he thought she might be, in the hopes of being right and claiming the

You have to remember that Yellow was seen leaving the upper deck/disco by himself fairly soon after they both went there. So he wouldn't have had the time to walk her to shore from a lower deck.

The long time theory was always that he handed her off to another rogue crew member in the back service elevator at the disco.

Ohhhhhh —- so then this crew member helps her off the ship (service elevator to lower level kitchen to gangway with supplies being loaded) or is there a blitz attack and she’s immobilized?
What do you think? It would seem MUCH easier to target a woman on vacation with girlfriends than a woman sharing a stateroom with her family.

 

[Sillybilly]

ADMIN NOTE:

Reddit is not an approved source, and posts stating information as fact without a supporting link to an approved source will be removed.

NO LINK, NO POST !!

 

[GXP Sleuther]

Interesting new post from Amy Bradley’s brother. 7/19/25

https://twitter.com/x/status/1946610714610905577

This is the same crap he spewed on the Longwood College podcast (now deleted and I bet this is the reason why) with FBI Agent Sheridan in the documentary. Agent S specifically mentioned
"that the entire 24hrs before and up unto the time she went missing were not clear to investigators (para)." The podcast is deleted. She dismissed what Brad was saying as bogus but in a nicer way.

 

[otto]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed due to no link>

My impression from the Netflix program is that Amy's family wants to believe that she was abducted and was forced to live a terrible life. They don't accept that she could have gone over the railing, even though she had been drinking and partying through the night.

Although there were 6 beer on her tab, we don't know what other drinks were given to her. She's had enough to drink that she wanted to stay on the balcony until she felt a little better, rather than go to bed - per Netflix. That's more than 6 lite beer spread over 10 hours.

Her judgement was impaired. That's true of everyone who parties until 4 in the morning. Maybe she did go near the railing that morning. It's more likely that she went over the railing than the long detailed story that is required to believe that she's living on an Island under the control of men who buy her cigarettes and only reveal her to tourists.

I'm surprised that her father started looking for her at 6 a.m. and decided that she was missing an hour later. It's a big ship, and he could not have looked everywhere, but he knew that she was no longer on the ship? Did I hear correctly that her parents flew home within a day of her vanishing from the ship? I found that surprising. Natalee Holloway's family did the opposite.

 

[Danaya]

Amy was last seen wearing a white top, according to her dad. He stated this during their first press conference in 1998. (Part Two, 39:57)

Wouldn't that mean that Amy had to have removed her yellow top before heading out to the balcony to chat with her brother, or before laying down on the chair?

The last person to see Amy was her Dad, around 5:30am, when he woke up briefly, and glanced towards the balcony. However, in the documentary’s visual reenactment (39:16) I don't believe we can see Amy's upper body clearly (39:13) if at all.

At voiceover of the journalist who is questioning Amy's Dad at the press conference, asks him, What colour clothing she had on? (39:09)

And as her Dad responds, She had on a white top, (39:05) we are given a visual of a very brightly yellow top being tossed on to the edge of the couch. We only see Amy's hand, in the top right of the frame, but it looks to have been tossed from very close to the balcony doorway.

I'm a bit confused. I thought people have established that Amy took off her yellow top after she came in from her rest on the balcony. This would've had to have been between the half hour period of 530am to 6am.

Then why did he see her wearing white? This doesn't make sense to me.

 

[DustysMom]

My impression from the Netflix program is that Amy's family wants to believe that she was abducted and was forced to live a terrible life. They don't accept that she could have gone over the railing, even though she had been drinking and partying through the night.

Although there were 6 beer on her tab, we don't know what other drinks were given to her. She's had enough to drink that she wanted to stay on the balcony until she felt a little better, rather than go to bed - per Netflix. That's more than 6 lite beer spread over 10 hours.

Her judgement was impaired. That's true of everyone who parties until 4 in the morning. Maybe she did go near the railing that morning. It's more likely that she went over the railing than the long detailed story that is required to believe that she's living on an Island under the control of men who buy her cigarettes and only reveal her to tourists.

I'm surprised that her father started looking for her at 6 a.m. and decided that she was missing an hour later. It's a big ship, and he could not have looked everywhere, but he knew that she was no longer on the ship? Did I hear correctly that her parents flew home within a day of her vanishing from the ship? I found that surprising. Natalee Holloway's family did the opposite.

Regarding her Dad freaking out after an hour, I suspect it was due to Dads intuition and deviation from her normal behavior. In the back of his mind he is seeing quite a few crew members (who aren’t supposed to fraternize) pay her a lot of attention, she is an adult on vacation and is drinking and having fun socializing and she came home late. With little sleep she leaves the stateroom and doesn’t leave a note or tell anyone. Yes, the ship is large, but at 6am there are specific venues open with coffee service. If he spent 30-40 minutes looking for her there and in common areas, I can see him being worried, all things considered.

 

[DustysMom]

Amy was last seen wearing a white top, according to her dad. He stated this during their first press conference in 1998. (Part Two, 39:57)

Wouldn't that mean that Amy had to have removed her yellow top before heading out to the balcony to chat with her brother, or before laying down on the chair?

The last person to see Amy was her Dad, around 5:30am, when he woke up briefly, and glanced towards the balcony. However, in the documentary’s visual reenactment (39:16) I don't believe we can see Amy's upper body clearly (39:13) if at all.

At voiceover of the journalist who is questioning Amy's Dad at the press conference, asks him, What colour clothing she had on? (39:09)

And as her Dad responds, She had on a white top, (39:05) we are given a visual of a very brightly yellow top being tossed on to the edge of the couch. We only see Amy's hand, in the top right of the frame, but it looks to have been tossed from very close to the balcony doorway.

I'm a bit confused. I thought people have established that Amy took off her yellow top after she came in from her rest on the balcony. This would've had to have been between the half hour period of 530am to 6am.

Then why did he see her wearing white? This doesn't make sense to me.

Thanks for bringing this up - in the video clip from the disco, when dancing with AD, it appears she is wearing a light crew neck short sleeve tee- not a collared polo. IIRC, she had a polo on during the earlier pool party where Brad won the limbo. Seems to me she changed before the disco…

 

[Danaya]

Thanks for bringing this up - in the video clip from the disco, when dancing with AD, it appears she is wearing a light crew neck short sleeve tee- not a collared polo. IIRC, she had a polo on during the earlier pool party where Brad won the limbo. Seems to me she changed before the disco…

I always like to explore the different symbolism that artists and filmmakers use. I can’t help but wonder why they chose to show Amy dropping that very bright yellow top onto the couch right after her dad stated she was last seen in a white top. Like I said, I think the press conference scene in the documentary was packed with different layers of imagery and symbolism. Particularly in their visual reenactments.

 

[DD Byrd]

I'm surprised that her father started looking for her at 6 a.m. and decided that she was missing an hour later.

Ditto, and my biggest takeaway from the series. If she were a child I get it. Yet, not only is she an adult, but he said he saw her around 5:30am "and she was safe." My first reaction..."why would she not be safe?" Perhaps he's adding protective words in hindsight, but he makes a point of saying he looked for her feet, and she was there. Not that he assumed she was in the bathroom which would be a logical deduction. Perhaps he did say as much but it was cut as not provocative enough.

Anyway, it's curious he went from 0-60 on the panic meter so early on. Especially since he knew she was out into the wee hours, and never stated he was concerned about that part. You could chalk it up to being overprotective, but no one was clutching their pearls about her drinking, in a nightclub, with what amounts to strangers...so it's hard to reconcile.

Regardless, she's not in the cabin...why go looking for her if only 30ish minutes had passed? If they had an early excursion I'd imagine he'd think she was already lined up to disembark rather than feel the need to find and remind her, and certainly not go straight to catastrophizing. I'm left wondering if something relayed by Brad to his parents about either he and Amy's conversation on the balcony, or something recalled from the nightclub prompted such a reaction. Then on top of that, her mother requests a voice broadcast at 7am when we're just past an hour. Now the family at least sounds exponentially alarmed. How did they know she wasn't social butterflying in another cabin, staff or passenger? The father being so concerned, and the way it was edited, sounds like he thought maybe she'd committed suicide, but "you can't let anyone off this ship" to me actually rings of knowing or assuming something else is at play. Some kind of intervention off-ship narrative might put pieces into place, but actual evidence would be needed to name any...organization as a factor in this disappearance.

A lot of sensationalism and just-so editing, but that's another post.

 

[DD Byrd]

I always like to explore the different symbolism that artists and filmmakers use. I can’t help but wonder why they chose to show Amy dropping that very bright yellow top onto the couch right after her dad stated she was last seen in a white top. Like I said, I think the press conference scene in the documentary was packed with different layers of imagery and symbolism. Particularly in their visual reenactments.

It was said she was wearing the yellow top over the white top. Her father did say she was wearing the white top, but my take was he deduced that since the yellow top was left in the cabin, not necessarily that he last saw her in white.
It gets dewy on the balconies, maybe she took off a damp outer layer. Maybe she had spilled beer on it, or wet ashes. Or maybe she was headed off ship and was prepping for much hotter weather than overnight. If she left the ship on her own, I'd surmise she wasn't planning to be gone long., or care how fresh she looked while out.

 

[GreyPhantom]

Ohhhhhh —- so then this crew member helps her off the ship (service elevator to lower level kitchen to gangway with supplies being loaded) or is there a blitz attack and she’s immobilized?
What do you think? It would seem MUCH easier to target a woman on vacation with girlfriends than a woman sharing a stateroom with her family.

Yes, the former except they subdue her and then load her into a some sort of cargo container and exit as a crew member.

I imagine this group acts on opportunity. If they can isolate and overpower a young woman, they don't care who she came with.

 

[lebvidox]

No offense but I think her family is still downplaying her LGBT lifestyle. Packaging her as bi is more palatable to digest.

For many of us LGBT people back in the day, "bi" was the least "frightening" way of coming out, so it's possible Amy at some point told them that, but she was obviously open with her college friends, and had to have been honest enough about her girlfriend for the father to know where to mail that 3 page long letter.

 

[lebvidox]

Amy was last seen wearing a white top, according to her dad. He stated this during their first press conference in 1998. (Part Two, 39:57)

Wouldn't that mean that Amy had to have removed her yellow top before heading out to the balcony to chat with her brother, or before laying down on the chair?

The last person to see Amy was her Dad, around 5:30am, when he woke up briefly, and glanced towards the balcony. However, in the documentary’s visual reenactment (39:16) I don't believe we can see Amy's upper body clearly (39:13) if at all.

At voiceover of the journalist who is questioning Amy's Dad at the press conference, asks him, What colour clothing she had on? (39:09)

And as her Dad responds, She had on a white top, (39:05) we are given a visual of a very brightly yellow top being tossed on to the edge of the couch. We only see Amy's hand, in the top right of the frame, but it looks to have been tossed from very close to the balcony doorway.

I'm a bit confused. I thought people have established that Amy took off her yellow top after she came in from her rest on the balcony. This would've had to have been between the half hour period of 530am to 6am.

Then why did he see her wearing white? This doesn't make sense to me.

She had a white top underneath the yellow polo. The yellow polo was in the room, which the father - who only saw her legs - seemed to have interpreted as if 'Amy had to have changed'. But if the father says she was last seen wearing the white top, then the brother had to have confirmed she had her white top when she joined him in the balcony (Amy got rid of the yellow polo when she returned to the cabin at 3:40 am, before going to the balcony)

 

[lebvidox]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1946707890884030536

That clears that up then. Amy was seeing a man at the time of her disappearance and was bi. As for the girlfriend she was also seeing????

<modsnip>

"Nobody gave a " - sure... The father WROTE a 3 page letter to Amy's girlfriend. The woman herself talked about the content of the letter. It was not in the lines of 'that's not what we wanted for Amy, but as long as she's happy with you, I'm all for it'. It's okay to admit parents in the mid 90s wouldn't be as welcoming to this news. It was a different time and place. But to now act as "this was a non-issue"... Sorry, don't buy it.