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

[GreyPhantom]

I wonder if the suggestion was that Yellow took them as his wife said he had a suitcase full of photos.

Yes of course. Among many others.

 

[earthgurl]

And your point? Am I not allowed to say what I experienced in the same timeframe in a similar part of the US? Do you think I’m the only one with my experience? If so, then I guess you are the only one who experienced the opposite? This thread is getting more ridiculous by the post.

Yeah, I knew a couple gay kids in the 90s/early 00s and while their peers may have been accepting, parents were not. This was the midwest in the 90s/00s. Heck, when I was in college in the 00s/10s, people were out and accepted but there was still violence against gay people on campus (again, the midwest).

The other posters providing anecdotal evidence opposite to ours may be forgetting how big of a time the 90s were for the LGBTQ+ community. The first lesbian kiss on TV was in 1991, Ellen DeGeneres came out as lesbian in 1997- gay people were visible, yes, but they were also extremely controversial. Especially with older generations.

As a member of the LGBTQ+ community who minored in gender and sexuality studies in college and as someone who was a preteen/teen when Amy disappeared, I feel like my opinion is slightly more than ancedotal. I still don't think its unreasonable to suppose that Amy's parents may have changed the gender of her significant other due to fearing her disappearance wouldn't be taken as seriously. MOO.

 

[GreyPhantom]

I keep thinking back about posts from FindAmy that were about how she was being used for something nefarious yet nebulous. People were wondering about sex, money, drugs, jewels, and all of the more common illegal activities that we think of yet FA kept alluding to Amy being involved in something different. Does anyone else remember that? The amybradleyismissing site is mostly focused on sex tourism. I can't do a lot of research right now and hope that doesn't have anything to do with FA's departure that would be against terms to bring up. For some reason Amy's story unsettles me more than most cases. There is something extremely dark about it.

As far as the gay thing, I was in the Dallas Tx area at the time. I had just graduated college with a friend that everyone knew was lesbian but it was just something that was completely and bizarrely danced around. Several other friends came out after college. I think that in the late 1990s there were pockets in some cities that had gay/lesbian communities, but outside of those areas it was just Not Discussed.

Yes! FindAmy was instrumental is steering people away from the sex trafficking angle and using our imagination to understand why they took such an enormous risk to kidnap her.

 

[GXP Sleuther]

What happened to Amy’s cruise pictures? That is just such a weird thing to go missing. Why, and who took them?

Whoever took them must have known she would be dead before she died.. it reeks of premeditation. Why? Because Amy was with her mother when she went to go get the photographs..
PS: Brad's photos were also gone.

 

[lebvidox]

What happened to Amy’s cruise pictures? That is just such a weird thing to go missing. Why, and who took them?

What pictures went missing? Can someone bring me up to speed on this, please?

 

[GreyPhantom]

What pictures went missing? Can someone bring me up to speed on this, please?

Any picture that had Amy in them from the cruise ship photographer disappeared from the gallery before the family could buy them.

 

[Danaya]

I believe he did photograph her. In the documentary it is mentioned that he first took pictures of her and then said, "Now let's get some of you and your boyfriend", meaning Brad. Amy told him "That's not my boyfriend, that's my baby brother!". The photographer recognized Amy, according to her mother, when they walked into the gallery to get the photos. He went right to the spot he had put her pictures and started looking. When he couldn't find them, he asked her if anyone in her group might have gotten them. They had not. He found it very odd. Her mother then asks him if he can retake them and he does. That's the story they told in the doc.

Ahhh, I see. That makes sense.

I wonder what happened then?

 

[GreyPhantom]

Ahhh, I see. That makes sense.

I wonder what happened then?

Ahhh, I see. That makes sense.

I wonder what happened then?

They took them as part of their scouting process

 

[lebvidox]

Any picture that had Amy in them from the cruise ship photographer disappeared from the gallery before the family could buy them.

I always thought her picture with her brother (she's dressed in black, they're holding hands etc) had been taken in the cruise. Am I mistaken? Were those digital or physical? Had the family seen them in this gallery before?

 

[GreyPhantom]

I always thought her picture with her brother (she's dressed in black, they're holding hands etc) had been taken in the cruise. Am I mistaken? Were those digital or physical? Had the family seen them in this gallery before?

There were on the cruise just the first prints (physical) disappeared so they were reissued.

Not sure if the family saw the first run or just noticed they weren't there. Not really important though.

Just that there was suspicious behavior around Amy pre kidnapping.

 

[lebvidox]

There were on the cruise just the first prints (physical) disappeared so they were reissued.

Not sure if the family saw the first run or just noticed they weren't there. Not really important though.

Just that there was suspicious behavior around Amy pre kidnapping.

I understand now. That really, REALLY doesn’t seem meaningful at all. Reading some other comments, I gathered that a cruise photographer took a picture of her and her brother (they do this with every other passenger, taking hundreds or thousands of those a day).

At some point, Amy and her mother went to the gallery to possibly buy some of the printed pictures. The mother says “the photographer recognized Amy” (I doubt he even knew her name, though he could have remembered their interaction or mistaking her for someone else).

Then the photographer apparently went to a spot where he thought the printed photos were and couldn’t find them in that spot (it could be literally of anyone else, printed pictures like these are discarded all the time). And he didn’t even look any further because Amy’s mother asked him to retake the pictures.

It would make no sense for the family to see the printed pictures than note they weren't there hours and/or days later. They didn't even buy those. The digital files were still there if those photos could be reprinted. I first thought personal pictures of Amy, perhaps taken by the family or kept in their cabin, had gone missing.

I can't see an issue here.

 

[Tired Professor]

My apologies for asking as I binge-watched the documentary overnight but were the results of Yellow’s polygraph test ever released? Also, was the guy in the next room that she would talk with from the deck ever given a polygraph test? The documentary made him sound kinda sus…

 

[GreyPhantom]

My apologies for asking as I binge-watched the documentary overnight but were the results of Yellow’s polygraph test ever released? Also, was the guy in the next room that she would talk with from the deck ever given a polygraph test? The documentary made him sound kinda sus…

Yellow's polygraphs were inconclusive. But lie detectors are pseudo science anyways so it's a moot point. They are a law enforcement tool to see if the target cracks under pressure (I.e. Chris Watts).

Her cabin neighbor was just an eccentric loner. Not a suspect by any means. Not even sure why they included him in the docu.

 

[Tired Professor]

Yellow polygraphs were inconclusive.

Her cabin neighbor was just an eccentric loner. Not a suspect by any means. Not even sure why they included him in the docu.

Thank you. I am still not too sure about the guy next door. I am guessing you are probably right about him though. Something in the documentary just seemed a bit off and Amy’s mom seemed to think he was odd, IIRC.

 

[GreyPhantom]

I understand now. That really, REALLY doesn’t seem meaningful at all. Reading some other comments, I gathered that a cruise photographer took a picture of her and her brother (they do this with every other passenger, taking hundreds or thousands of those a day).

At some point, Amy and her mother went to the gallery to possibly buy some of the printed pictures. The mother says “the photographer recognized Amy” (I doubt he even knew her name, though he could have remembered their interaction or mistaking her for someone else).

Then the photographer apparently went to a spot where he thought the printed photos were and couldn’t find them in that spot (it could be literally of anyone else, printed pictures like these are discarded all the time). And he didn’t even look any further because Amy’s mother asked him to retake the pictures.

It would make no sense for the family to see the printed pictures than note they weren't there hours and/or days later. They didn't even buy those. The digital files were still there if those photos could be reprinted. I first thought personal pictures of Amy, perhaps taken by the family or kept in their cabin, had gone missing.

I can't see an issue here.

<modsnip - bickering>

The key takeaway is that only her pictures were taken by somebody with the access to remove them from the gallery.

 

[earthgurl]

I understand now. That really, REALLY doesn’t seem meaningful at all. Reading some other comments, I gathered that a cruise photographer took a picture of her and her brother (they do this with every other passenger, taking hundreds or thousands of those a day).

At some point, Amy and her mother went to the gallery to possibly buy some of the printed pictures. The mother says “the photographer recognized Amy” (I doubt he even knew her name, though he could have remembered their interaction or mistaking her for someone else).

Then the photographer apparently went to a spot where he thought the printed photos were and couldn’t find them in that spot (it could be literally of anyone else, printed pictures like these are discarded all the time). And he didn’t even look any further because Amy’s mother asked him to retake the pictures.

It would make no sense for the family to see the printed pictures than note they weren't there hours and/or days later. They didn't even buy those. The digital files were still there if those photos could be reprinted. I first thought personal pictures of Amy, perhaps taken by the family or kept in their cabin, had gone missing.

I can't see an issue here.

<modsnip - bickering>

The photos were pre-printed and displayed in a gallery on the ship where passengers could go, find their photos, and take them (I'm unsure if they had to pay or not). When Amy and her mom went to get their photos, the pictures with Amy were not there despite the photographer knowing they had been printed and displayed. (EDIT: Amy's photos were the only ones missing. So its not that the photographer recognized her specifically so much as he knew that he had printed all the photos from the first day on the ship and hers were the only ones missing.)
MOO.

<modsnip - bickering>

 

[GreyPhantom]

Thank you. I am still not too sure about the guy next door. I am guessing you are probably right about him though. Something in the documentary just seemed a bit off and Amy’s mom seemed to think he was odd, IIRC.

He is socially off but harmless. Even him agreeing to be in the documentary was weird. His only connection to the case was that he shared a balcony wall with Amy for a couple days.

 

[Danaya]

Maybe it depends on where you lived. I'm from what would be considered the Midwest, and my city was extremely conservative. Back then, there was a lot of homophobia. People still saw being gay as a “lifestyle choice”. My best friend in high school was out, and the bullying he went through was awful.

I’d like to think Amy didn’t have to deal with that kind of hate. But it was unsettling to hear that her dad wrote her girlfriend an angry four-page letter. That doesn’t exactly scream acceptance. If anything, it sounds like Amy's parents wanted to just sweep it under the rug, or convince her that being gay was unacceptable, which may have left Amy feeling like she really didn't belong.

Do I think her parents loved her? Absolutely. But I also think there was more tension behind the scenes than they let on.

Some people point to all of this as reason to believe that Amy jumped. That maybe things had reached a breaking point for her. Personally, I think it’s just as likely she wanted an escape — not to vanish forever, but maybe just to breathe for a day.

 

[Danaya]

Did the documentary say specifically that the results of Yellow's lie detector test were found to be inconclusive? If not, does anyone know where this has been mentioned? I may have missed it, but I thought the detectives were vague on the outcome.

 

[Danaya]

He is socially off but harmless. Even him agreeing to be in the documentary was weird. His only connection to the case was that he shared a balcony wall with Amy for a couple days.

I enjoyed his perspective. It helped to paint a picture of the scene.

I agree, I think he's just a bit of an awkward and eccentric guy who likes to travel alone.