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

[otto]

I wonder how much she normally drank and if she was well over her limit that night or not. Did her brother say how many drinks she had and how drunk she seemed when they went back to the room?

I think it was 6 lite beer after 6 PM on her tab. Someone else may have given her some shots or drinks. We don't know.

 

[TizerisT]

Bill as a witness who said he saw her in a brothel and that she could not leave because she owned some people 200 bucks. Why, for what? Drugs? That seems more likely than for a sex arrangement, as they would collect that money, if she was forced to have sex for money

In trafficking its quite common for the victim to be in some kind of manufactured debt, having to pay back money spent for plane tickets, accomodation, drugs or whatever. Perhaps Amy was told that she needed to entertain guests at this bar until she had raised $200 for whatever she was paying back. That figure could potentially go up every night she stayed in the room upstairs due to accomodation costs.
As I said, its a 'manufactured' debt. They'll come up with a ruse that means she owes money to them in order to keep her busy. It could be anything from them doing the website advertising to purchasing the lingerie she wears in the photos, or maybe even the food they gave her.

 

[Sarahlou]

Well he left her and went to bed so he obviously didn’t pick up on anything untoward.

If somebody was planning to end their life 5 mins after their brother went to bed you would think there would be signs of anxiety and whatnot.

She did say she wasn't feeling well. That might have been a excuse/reason for going outside that wouldn't raise suspicions.

 

[sylke96]

In trafficking its quite common for the victim to be in some kind of manufactured debt, having to pay back money spent for plane tickets, accomodation, drugs or whatever. Perhaps Amy was told that she needed to entertain guests at this bar until she had raised $200 for whatever she was paying back. That figure could potentially go up every night she stayed in the room upstairs due to accomodation costs.
As I said, its a 'manufactured' debt. They'll come up with a ruse that means she owes money to them in order to keep her busy. It could be anything from them doing the website advertising to purchasing the lingerie she wears in the photos, or maybe even the food they gave her.

Understood. So a debt that never goes down because they keep coming up with new stuff to keep her busy and then obviously they gain money from that. What I do find odd, lets say she did went off to buy drugs (and I am not sure if I believe this, but well stranger things have happened) I do have a problem believing that somebody randomly goes off a ship with not enough money for drugs, to buy drugs of, surely some shady men, that wouldn't be me first train of thought on doing if I wanted to buy drugs I would definitely not go up to someone without money, unless she did but ''they'' decided she owned them more money on the spot and things took a darker turn from there. A young female tourist alone is super handy to use for ulterior motives like sex work. But why on earth would somebody bring themselves in such a situation? And she was feeling sick according to the doc, who knows if she was already on drugs?

<modsnip: Comments and screenshots removed due to no link to an approved source>

 

[otto]

In trafficking its quite common for the victim to be in some kind of manufactured debt, having to pay back money spent for plane tickets, accomodation, drugs or whatever. Perhaps Amy was told that she needed to entertain guests at this bar until she had raised $200 for whatever she was paying back. That figure could potentially go up every night she stayed in the room upstairs due to accommodation costs.
As I said, its a 'manufactured' debt. They'll come up with a ruse that means she owes money to them in order to keep her busy. It could be anything from them doing the website advertising to purchasing the lingerie she wears in the photos, or maybe even the food they gave her.

Trafficking and prostitution does involve manufactured debt. For example, someone is brought from Eastern Europe to Western Europe for a "hostess" job, and is then forced into prostitution to pay their transportation to Western Europe. Their passports are withheld, and they are isolated/ trapped.

Amy was on a cruise ship and vanished before it docked. No one getting off the ship noticed a woman being forced to go somewhere. No one local to the area has seen her - other than a taxi driver who reported that a woman who may have looked like Amy asked about a telephone.

Let's suppose that Amy was in trouble and she was free to approach a taxi driver. Would she ask for a phone, or would she jump into the taxi and ask for police/emergency help? Common sense says she would not ask about a phone. She was an intelligent capable woman who had plans for her life. She wouldn't be intimidated into believing that someone on an Island was going to kill her family in the USA if she didn't live her life as a drugged-up prostitute.

 

[DD Byrd]

Falling overboard is rare and most people don’t put themselves in a position where it is possible.

According to Google, in 2019 25 people fell overboard, but 29 million went on cruises. That sums up the likelihood of her falling that morning. It’s not impossible but the likelihood is slim to none.

Agreed. But falling overboard and intentionally going overboard (or being forced overboard for that matter) are different things. If Amy was afraid of heights or open water, it seems a curious method for a suicide. On the other hand, she wasn't afraid enough to be ON the balcony and surrounded by water. Someone who is suicidal may be be partying and jovial in one moment and cross the mental point of no return in the next. Especially with alcohol and possibly something else. And while there are certainly patterns and likelihoods, we're not yet known to be at the point where we can know what someone else is thinking.

Meanwhile, her father could've awoken from the chaise scraping across the floor innocently, the table being moved to the edge innocently or not, the cabin door clicking shut, or even a noise in a dream he was having. My only takeaway from the cabin is the time she entered (or her card did, if you sway towards facty facts.)

I would surmise from what we know now that she went back to the cabin to pass the time (aka not fall asleep by staying out on the balcony in the fresh air) until a quickly arranged rendevous time/place to get off the ship. Likely with help from Yellow and/or others. If that sequence of events happened, I imagine a few scenarios: she purchased and used some drugs stronger than she was used to (or tried a sample) OD'd and died, used drugs and was then sexually assaulted and murdered, went for drugs but ended up being robbed and murdered, or some combination. Tourists make great victims, and it's possible whoever she met up with didn't know she'd come from a cruise. If she were to get busted, it makes sense Yellow wouldn't have her say "Yellow sent me." He, or someone else on the ship, might've had another alias for transactions in that port.

When a ship docks, shipS during cruise season, there are thousands of people flooding the area in a short period of time. Not counting vacationers their on their own without a cruise, as well as non-native staff working the terminals and who live there. In essence, dozens of Amy Bradleys walking around. Even without hats and sunglasses, she'd be one of many with the same look. And not only that, but within days there'd be an entire new set of Amy Bradleys walking around.

All to say, I don't see the international escort angle happening for myriad reasons already discussed. Specifically, I don't see Amy in the original Jaz photo, besides a passing resemblance. I know girls, young women, and mature women who resemble both of them - age-regressed/progressed and actual. Furthermore, Jaz's picture looks from mid to late 80s or early 90s. I'd also think a captive, potentially drugged or drug using escort wouldn't be heavier than Amy, although irrelevant if the picture is indeed earlier. The 2nd Jaz photo has even less resemblance.

The FBI is involved due to international waters as I and others mentioned threads ago. As for comments and sound bites...they are wholly vetted (if not assigned verbatim) and never off the cuff on record. "Our understanding is," "believed to be," "allegedly," "person of interest," "known to be," "assumed," and my personal favorite.."a source connected to," is all We-Don't-Know-101. Lawyer Language, Non-Committal Truthiness...whatever you want to call it. You can only hope it's temporary deflection until there are answers actually being pursued. In Amy's case, the FBI is active if a picture is believed to be her, by an unnamed expert of currently unknown affiliation.

 

[TizerisT]

What I do find odd, lets say she did went off to buy drugs (and I am not sure if I believe this, but well stranger things have happened) I do have a problem believing that somebody randomly goes off a ship with not enough money for drugs, to buy drugs of, surely some shady men, that wouldn't be me first train of thought on doing if I wanted to buy drugs I would definitely not go up to someone without money, unless she did but ''they'' decided she owned them more money on the spot and things took a darker turn from there.

In this scenario, I find the following to be quite possible:

Amy had mentioned to Yellow that she wanted some weed. Yellow said he can sort that out when the ship docks. Arranges to meet at 6am on the top deck. She grabs $10 dollars or whatever and meets him. They get off the ship pretty much unnoticed and go to an apartment. It was a trick, and she was unable to leave from that point.

 

[sylke96]

In this scenario, I find the following to be quite possible:

Amy had mentioned to Yellow that she wanted some weed. Yellow said he can sort that out when the ship docks. Arranges to meet at 6am on the top deck. She grabs $10 dollars or whatever and meets him. They get off the ship pretty much unnoticed by anybody and go to an apartment to get weed from a local guy that Yellow knows. It was a trick, and she was unable to leave from that point.

Technically that could be an angle to be considered. Based on the screenshots, if they are legit, he is known to at least be overly friendly to multiple women. If he is more of a 'middle men'' e.g. delivering girls to pimps, but not directly being the pimp itself, it be less easy to directly incriminate him as he would be more of a background character. Also, my BF happens to be from Curaçao and he says it is a corrupt place, so who knows what kind of ''ties'' AD has.

 

[otto]

Per Netflix, the band member "Yellow" was investigated and is not a suspect.

 

[sylke96]

Per Netflix, the band member "Yellow" was investigated and is not a suspect.

But the way the FBI could investigate him was severely limited based on jurisdiction problems. Not saying he is definitely ''the man,'' but I don't think he can be entirely dismissed as not being a suspect, based on the limitations. Maybe I missed it, but not sure how the Curaçao police, or any of those islands have investigated him.

 

[Sillybilly]

ADMIN NOTE:

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[robbsilv33]

has there been any new info/tips reported since the doc came out?

 

[TizerisT]

Almost certain there was more than one pair

I'm going to change this to "I am assuming there was more than one pair" because I can't find any info on this.
But this point is absolutely crucial: if there was only one pair, surely she went overboard. if there was two pairs, she exited the apartment.

 

[GXP Sleuther]

Wrong. The witness told her story on America's Most Wanted in 2003. The sketches from this sighting were on the FBI website for 10 years.

Wayback Machine

Story:
On April 18, 2003, the witness was in San Francisco with her husband near Pier 39, not far from the Alcatraz tours. The couple stopped to listen to a street band, joining about 20 other people who were gathered around the musicians. The witness noticed a woman, who looked somewhat familiar, surrounded by two men. The witness concentrated on the woman's face and realized the woman looked like Amy Bradley, who was profiled on America's Most Wanted. According to the witness, the two men talked and looked at the witness. Then, the balding red-haired man gave the woman some change to tip the band. The men abruptly grabbed the woman's elbow and hustled her away from the crowd. As they were walking away, the witness said the woman looked back and gave a pleading look. The trio disappeared quickly from the crowd. In June 2003, the witness met with the FBI and a sketch artist, and together they made composite sketches of the two men.

The FBI says the two men are wanted for questioning and have not been charged with any crime. The woman seen by the witness may or may not have Bradley.

Bradley disappeared off of the Royal Caribbean International vessel called "Rhapsody of the Seas" cruise ship on March 24, 1998. She was vacationing aboard the cruise with her parents and brother. At 5:15 a.m., Bradley's father saw her sitting in a chair on the private balcony of their room. Later, between 5:30-6:00 a.m., two women saw Bradley in an elevator with the bass player, Alister Douglas, who is nicknamed "Yellow." His band, Blue Orchid, performed on that ship. At the time of Bradley's disappearance, the cruise ship docked at the island of Curacao and passengers were let off to explore the island around 7:30 a.m. that morning. Royal Caribbean security conducted a partial search of the ship later that day, and they waited two days to do a more thorough search. There was no sign of Bradley. To this day, she remains missing

BBM

 

[GinaSeikwa]

In this scenario, I find the following to be quite possible:

Amy had mentioned to Yellow that she wanted some weed. Yellow said he can sort that out when the ship docks. Arranges to meet at 6am on the top deck. She grabs $10 dollars or whatever and meets him. They get off the ship pretty much unnoticed and go to an apartment. It was a trick, and she was unable to leave from that point.

Why would Yellow , who is from Grenada, know a random drug dealer/pimp in Curaçao?
Is there any evidence that he has any ties at all to Curaçao? All these islands are so very different culturally and linguistically from each other and even though there is inter island hopping it is still not the norm to be travelling back and forth often by plane or boat. Most workers on these islands wouldn’t spend their money on that either

Respectfully, I find some of these comments/ theories display a certain ignorant ethno- racism.
Even the mention of the “Arab men in their white garb” in the port terminal in Curaçao during the disembarkation bothers me.
Yes there may have been an oil tanker also docked in port but it’s a stretch to think that these “arabs” were waiting to smuggle off kidnapped white women from the neighbouring cruise ships.
Or should I say “woman” singular because as far as I know there has never been any evidence of any other women being kidnapped from a cruise ship and sold through a network of arabs and black men into sexual slavery. This would be the one and only time from a cruise ship wouldn’t it?

There is no evidence that Yellow even disembarked that day. In any case, staff didn’t have carte blanche to come and go as they please in ports of call. There are rules governing their disembarkation including staffing minimums that must remain onboard per transport rules and clearance from their superiors. I think it is unlikely that before the general passenger disembarkation, Yellow and Amy covertly sneaked out to score drugs from a presumed drug/pimp contact on a island a thousand kms away from Yellow’s home island that he has no known connection to.
And then if we were to believe that months later there was a credible sighting of Yellow and Amy on a beach in Curaçao when we know that Yellow continued to work on the same cruise ship until 2000.
His work and the FBI would know where he was during the time the eyewitness allegedly saw him in Porto Marie
So did Yellow on that particular day and if he was even anywhere near Curaçao on that day decide to get permission to disembark in Curaçao during a port of call to travel one hour by car or taxi to Porto Marie to walk along the beach there and have a drink at the beachside bar with Amy and then travel another hour back to the ship ?
Why would he do this?
I think it’s far more likely that the eyewitness was mistaken in his identification of both Amy and Yellow

MOO

 

[Danaya]

It was the woman who saw her in Barbados that I remember saying she saw Amy on Dr. Phil and then came forward. Pretty sure the two Canadian scuba divers who saw Amy on the beach came forward sooner than that. They saw her in August of 1998 and reported it to the FBI when they returned to Canada. He had seen her segment on Unsolved Mysteries in May of 1999. This is the man who noted the watch and at that time it had been held back from her description. I will add that this man testified before a federal grand jury.

I think you have conflated the lady in Barbados sighting with the beach sighting. She is the witness who saw Amy's segment on Dr. Phil.

I guess I was a bit tired last night. But it just goes to show you how confusing this case can be! Sorry about that, guys.

It was actually an episode of America’s Most Wanted, aired on December 5th, 1998, that the beach witness saw — not Dr. Phil. So his tip was presumably reported to the FBI just 4–5 months after the alleged sighting of Amy on the beach with two men, which he said occurred in August 1998.

Maybe a mod can edit my earlier post. I now realize those details apply more to the female eyewitness who saw Amy on Dr. Phil — not the beach witness. She didn’t report her sighting of a woman being controlled in a bathroom until after the sex trafficking angle had gained major attention, partly due to the “Jas” photos and the media coverage that followed.

The America’s Most Wanted episode did show a close-up of Amy’s Tasmanian Devil tattoo and stated it was on her left shoulder blade. There was no mention of the beach eyewitness identifying any “hold-back” detail, such as Amy having a gold watch. The FBI did investigate his claim but ultimately said they were unable to confirm the sighting.

 

[Danaya]

Why would Yellow , who is from Grenada, know a random drug dealer/pimp in Curaçao?
Is there any evidence that he has any ties at all to Curaçao? All these islands are so very different culturally and linguistically from each other and even though there is inter island hopping it is still not the norm to be travelling back and forth often by plane or boat. Most workers on these islands wouldn’t spend their money on that either

Respectfully, I find some of these comments/ theories display a certain ignorant ethno- racism.
Even the mention of the “Arab men in their white garb” in the port terminal in Curaçao during the disembarkation bothers me.
Yes there may have been an oil tanker also docked in port but it’s a stretch to think that these “arabs” were waiting to smuggle off kidnapped white women from the neighbouring cruise ships.
Or should I say “woman” singular because as far as I know there has never been any evidence of any other women being kidnapped from a cruise ship and sold through a network of arabs and black men into sexual slavery. This would be the one and only time from a cruise ship wouldn’t it?

There is no evidence that Yellow even disembarked that day. In any case, staff didn’t have carte blanche to come and go as they please in ports of call. There are rules governing their disembarkation including staffing minimums that must remain onboard per transport rules and clearance from their superiors. I think it is unlikely that before the general passenger disembarkation, Yellow and Amy covertly sneaked out to score drugs from a presumed drug/pimp contact on a island a thousand kms away from Yellow’s home island that he has no known connection to.
And then if we were to believe that months later there was a credible sighting of Yellow and Amy on a beach in Curaçao when we know that Yellow continued to work on the same cruise ship until 2000.
His work and the FBI would know where he was during the time the eyewitness allegedly saw him in Porto Marie
So did Yellow on that particular day and if he was even anywhere near Curaçao on that day decide to get permission to disembark in Curaçao during a port of call to travel one hour by car or taxi to Porto Marie to walk along the beach there and have a drink at the beachside bar with Amy and then travel another hour back to the ship ?
Why would he do this?
I think it’s far more likely that the eyewitness was mistaken in his identification of both Amy and Yellow

MOO

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 reward?

 

[TizerisT]

Why would Yellow , who is from Grenada, know a random drug dealer/pimp in Curaçao?
Is there any evidence that he has any ties at all to Curaçao? All these islands are so very different culturally and linguistically from each other and even though there is inter island hopping it is still not the norm to be travelling back and forth often by plane or boat. Most workers on these islands wouldn’t spend their money on that either

He had been familiar with the various port towns of the cruises as per his job and perhaps got to know a shady character or two. We dont know who he did or didnt know. But a document has surfaced on fb showing other instances of him guiding women off cruise ships before.

 

[Quill]

Geeze, I guess I was a bit tired last night. But it just goes to show you how confusing this case can be! Sorry about that, guys.

It was actually an episode of America’s Most Wanted, aired on December 5th, 1998, that the beach witness saw — not Dr. Phil. So his tip was presumably reported to the FBI just 4–5 months after the alleged sighting of Amy on the beach with two men, which he said occurred in August 1998.

Maybe a mod can edit my earlier post. I now realize those details apply more to the female eyewitness who saw Amy on Dr. Phil — not the beach witness. She didn’t report her sighting of a woman being controlled in a bathroom until after the sex trafficking angle had gained major attention, partly due to the “Jas” photos and the media coverage that followed.

The America’s Most Wanted episode did show a close-up of Amy’s Tasmanian Devil tattoo and stated it was on her left shoulder blade. There was no mention of the beach eyewitness identifying any “hold-back” detail, such as Amy having a gold watch. The FBI did investigate his claim but ultimately said they were unable to confirm the sighting.

It happens and it is definitely confusing!
It's interesting because the family's website (also more about the watch there) does say Unsolved Mysteries, but we watched it again and they did say America's Most Wanted. So, there ya go. There is a lot of information and gets told different ways and it's hard to keep track of.

 

[GinaSeikwa]

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 reward?

Yes I think they were all mistaken sadly.

The taxi driver was apparently debunked early on as someone trying to claim the reward.

I think the others had noble intentions and were sincerely hoping to help. I think they did see what they saw but it wasn’t Amy.

It happens. It’s human nature
People really really want her to be found safely and all the publicity and tv campaigns trigger a response.
I don’t think any of them were mal-intentioned but I do think they were mistaken