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

[logic284]

Just tossing this question out there...so Amy's shoes were found out on the balcony deck where she was last seen. Let's assume she did decide to leave the cabin room. Why would she change her shoes when the pair she was wearing was right there next to her? She didn't change the clothes she was dancing and sweating in , but would switch shoes?
Thoughts..?

Just as a girl myself I assumed either because she had been dancing all night and like I have a million time, got blisters or irritated from the same sandals and wanted to move to sneakers or something or that she wasn’t feeling open toed sandals and wanted to put on sneakers. Totally speculating in my experience, I retain so much water when I fly on vacation from the flight I am guaranteed blisters when dancing even in Birkenstocks, so I had assumed she needed a shoe change after wearing the same pair all night. Just a total guess. I would have moved to sneakers or a cheap pair of flip flops myself.

 

[logic284]

I am profoundly skeptical that, in a situation where Amy Bradley was made a sex slave and carried to term children born of these rapes, she the mother would not get custody. If she was mentally incompetent to parent, perhaps? But even then, I would imagine that authorities in the Caribbean would realize the terrible optics, and politics, of keeping an American woman terribly victimized in their country from her children.

Mind, all this assumes that her abductors would allow her to carry the pregnancies to term. (If, in fact, they let her live so long.)

Looking to Curaçao, the US State Department's 2024 report does suggest there are serious problems in the local government's response to trafficked women.

Technical Difficulties

It should be noted that it also identifies the women subjected to sex trafficking as coming mainly from Hispanic countries in the Caribbean basin, with Venezuelans being especially common these days thanks to that country's breakdown. An Anglophone--an American, definitely--would stand out in this population.

Oh I am not remotely arguing she would not custody, of course she would, I am saying that if she was in this predicament I could imagine captors saying something to the effect of - don’t think about leaving, you will never see your kids again, your family can’t help you because you can’t get them out of the country. Of course a court in all reality would award her custody. I was saying that in her vulnerable position it could have been used as a threat to keep her compliant.

 

[DustysMom]

Just as a girl myself I assumed either because she had been dancing all night and like I have a million time, got blisters or irritated from the same sandals and wanted to move to sneakers or something or that she wasn’t feeling open toed sandals and wanted to put on sneakers. Totally speculating in my experience, I retain so much water when I fly on vacation from the flight I am guaranteed blisters when dancing even in Birkenstocks, so I had assumed she needed a shoe change after wearing the same pair all night. Just a total guess. I would have moved to sneakers or a cheap pair of flip flops myself.

YES! Especially in hot weather! Even if my feet aren’t hurting, swollen or getting a blister, I take my shoes off and wear flip flops or go barefoot
— after a hike, a dog walk, a shift at the gallery, and definitely after a night of dancing.

 

[Chypre]

First, I LOVE that Netflix brought this case back to life.

Secondly, there are 69 pages of comments. I have not read them all, but, who is Yellow? I am doing a deep dive into the band member who was seen on the boat with her, Douglas, after 5:15am. He was scene with her en-route and not at port, and then he came back to his cabin without her. Means nothing. But, he was absolutely the last person who saw her alive and in person. Is Douglas Yellow?

It seems that Amy was on the balcony of the suite, sleeping at 5:15am. Off the master bedroom. Dad got up and checked. then checked again, but didn't hear anything from 5:15am to 6:00am when she was gone.

I think she was murdered, but I say that without any evidence. I am still trolling. what is the thoughts here?

Welcome

 

[Sweetluv]

Could someone clarify...was Facial Recognition Technology used in the comparison of Amy and "Jaz?" It was used in the comparison of the Anglin Brothers (Alcatraz escaped inmates) and a photo brought forward of two men living out of the country suspected of being them. The technology is fascinating and I'm not sure if it was used in Amy's case...

 

[na19]

Remember - she isn’t here to defend herself. I don’t believe she told him this! It’s too much information for someone you just met!

I thought she might have told him when he made a pass at her. IMO

 

[Silverstorm]

When Amy’s mother told her the waitstaff wanted to take her to Carlos and Charlies -Amy said she wouldn’t go anywhere with any of them. They give her the creeps.

I think the only interest she had with AD is he could get her drugs.And I think that is how it happened. She was handed off to a waiter or another staff involved in this.

 

[na19]

First, I LOVE that Netflix brought this case back to life.

Secondly, there are 69 pages of comments. I have not read them all, but, who is Yellow? I am doing a deep dive into the band member who was seen on the boat with her, Douglas, after 5:15am. He was scene with her en-route and not at port, and then he came back to his cabin without her. Means nothing. But, he was absolutely the last person who saw her alive and in person. Is Douglas Yellow?

It seems that Amy was on the balcony of the suite, sleeping at 5:15am. Off the master bedroom. Dad got up and checked. then checked again, but didn't hear anything from 5:15am to 6:00am when she was gone.

I think she was murdered, but I say that without any evidence. I am still trolling. what is the thoughts here?

Yes, Douglas = Yellow. Welcome!

 

[TizerisT]

I think the only interest she had with AD is he could get her drugs.And I think that is how it happened

According to Brad, no chance. Whether he includes weed in that, I don't know.
Is getting off to get cigarettes possible? Perhaps the ones on the ferry were too expensive?

 

[bestill]

You should watch the video interview of him- on YouTube - search James Renner Amy Lynn Bradley. The interview took place this year in Grenada (where he performs exorcisms and is a reverend in his own church) so he might have read something online about her sexual orientation and then wove it into his narrative of what happened that night.

Yellow mentioned in that interview several times that Amy was chain smoking when he met her that night. I would like to know if this was unusual or normal for her?

 

[Mica]

Yellow mentioned in that interview several times that Amy was chain smoking when he met her that night. I would like to know if this was unusual or normal for her?

I am not a smoker. However, in my younger years, I had many friends who were. They tended to chain smoke only when they were drinking alcohol. Perhaps it’s a norm?

 

[TizerisT]

Alcohol raises the amount people smoke. She was probably smoking fairly regularly and he's just exagerated it into chainsmoking

After all, that feeds quite nicely into the 'stressed and confused girl that didnt want to be there' narrative that works for him.

 

[na19]

I wonder if Yellow smoked? Maybe it seemed like a lot to him if he's not used to seeing someone smoke.

 

[bestill]

I wonder if Yellow smoked? Maybe it seemed like a lot to him if he's not used to seeing someone smoke.

I don't believe he is or was a smoker, based on the interview that I saw. JMO

 

[Opsec]

Alcohol raises the amount people smoke. She was probably smoking fairly regularly and he's just exagerated it into chainsmoking

After all, that feeds quite nicely into the 'stressed and confused girl that didnt want to be there' narrative that works for him.

Amphetamine and Cocaine use will often cause people to smoke heavily. It can also make them very talkative.

 

[Chypre]

Amphetamine and Cocaine use will often cause people to smoke heavily. It can also make them very talkative.

welcome

 

[Tired Professor]

According to Brad, no chance. Whether he includes weed in that, I don't know.
Is getting off to get cigarettes possible? Perhaps the ones on the ferry were too expensive?

Good suggestion, if they had them at all, they would probably be very expensive. Also, given the dance club atmosphere, maybe Ecstasy?

 

[MesquiteO21]

I mean, isn't that why were still talking about this case so many years later? Because there is no real evidence of what happened to her? The room had already been cleaned, therefore any evidence was lost. Now we're just kicking around theories trying to see what fits best. Going over the side by using the table (accidentally or on purpose) is not outside the realm of possibility.

well exactly, lol that was my point in asking. i'm not outright discounting ANY theory i'm just curious why some seem to lean more towards a jump or fall because maybe i missed something like neighboring rooms hearing a scream, thud, etc. I wonder what exactly the "commotion" was that her dad had heard

absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence absolutely, but also, weighing one theory more than another simply based on statistics ('more likely to have fallen than been ST') doesn't hold up for me at all.

MOO

 

[cujenn81]

I assumed it was because there is a perception that inherent discrimination against LGBTQ means that less resources will be used to locate them. Back in 1998 I think that would have been a very fair concern. In my own opinion I would suspect that it would not interfere with any assistance by the FBI, but homosexuality is still in some and most definitely was back then discriminated against in many Caribbean countries, it was just not as acceptable (not all but many). I had assumed that the FBI or someone else had suggested to the family to lay low on those details because they would need cooperation and buy in from local authorities. I am assuming that is not an issue anymore (to lay low on her sexuality)because either they didn’t get assistance anyway or the culture has moved in many places to make it a non issue. For example a mother hid her daughters LGBTQ status last year in the Bahamas because she worried it would impede the investigation and people would stop looking for her. Mother of American missing in Bahamas shielded daughter's trans identity

That’s a really good point actually. I went to Grenada on my honeymoon in October 2020 and remember reading that consensual same-sex sexual activity among men is criminalized (on the State department’s website). It also says that Grenadian society is intolerant of general same-sex sexual conduct. And that’s today’s society.

I looked up what it says about other Caribbean islands —

Curaçao, Aruba, Saint Martin, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas, Dominican Republic: no laws or bans against LGBQT individuals or events

Barbados: same-sex relations are criminalized and carry a possible life sentence

Jamaica: specific prohibitions on physical intimacy between persons of the same sex; negative attitudes towards LGBQT individuals and communities are widespread and reports of discrimination and abuse are frequent (including assault, “corrective rape” of women accused of being lesbians, arbitrary detention, mob attacks, stabbings, harassment by hospital and prison staff, blackmail) and police have not been responsive in making arrests or prosecuting assailants in these cases

Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: same-sex sexual activity is illegal

Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis: same-sex activity between adult men is illegal

Travel Advisories | Travel.State.gov

Travel Advisories keep U.S. citizens informed about destination-specific risks and essential precautions, making your travel abroad safer.

travel.state.gov

 

[RandyMcDonald]

I assumed it was because there is a perception that inherent discrimination against LGBTQ means that less resources will be used to locate them. Back in 1998 I think that would have been a very fair concern. In my own opinion I would suspect that it would not interfere with any assistance by the FBI, but homosexuality is still in some and most definitely was back then discriminated against in many Caribbean countries, it was just not as acceptable (not all but many). I had assumed that the FBI or someone else had suggested to the family to lay low on those details because they would need cooperation and buy in from local authorities. I am assuming that is not an issue anymore (to lay low on her sexuality)because either they didn’t get assistance anyway or the culture has moved in many places to make it a non issue. For example a mother hid her daughters LGBTQ status last year in the Bahamas because she worried it would impede the investigation and people would stop looking for her. Mother of American missing in Bahamas shielded daughter's trans identity

The problem with doing this continuously for the past thirty years is that it has hidden key elements of what was going on.

The idea that the family has been pushing, that Amy was so attractive that men were constantly coming up to her, lay the seeds for the idea that she was abducted and sexually trafficked. She was a perfectly normal woman, and I do not think I ever got why Amy was such a focus of attention. Now that her sexuality is evident, this insistence makes much more sense as an artifact of the family still not dealing well with the fact that Amy was not interested in men as sexual or romantic partners. Even with her gone, her family is still trying to make her heteronormative--get her dressed up nicely, talk about her boyfriend, try not to talk about the girlfriends--and to downplay Amy's sexual orientation and their bad reaction to said as much as possible.

This all, in turn, feeds into some significant misreadings of what could have happened. Hiding her sexual orientation for so long complicates the story that they were telling. It seems pretty unlikely that Amy's interest in a man was a significant factor, now. It also seems clear that this goes a long way towards explaining why she drank so much, a combination of college freedoms and her reactions to her problems with her family. Someone with substance issues could easily get in trouble, whether you are talking about someone who accidentally fell off the balcony or someone who (much less likely) ended up getting abducted.

All of this does relate, of course, to the family's trauma. If Amy had come back from her cruise, then they would have been able to move forward in their lives, the family getting used to the idea that Amy was out and definitely not straight. She did not, and they have remained caught up in the denial that they were still in that night. I feel for them, but they really hampered a proper understanding of what happened to Amy. Out of a combination of their desperate desire to believe that Amy was still alive and their continuing troubles with her sexual orientation, they promulgated a myth of Amy as uniquely sexually attractive to men and an obvious target for sexual trafficking. Lots of people still believe this myth. They failed to separate their perceptions from the reality, creating this mystery.

Incidentally, while Curaçao was in the late 1990s definitely more conservative than the Netherlandss, it was then and still is one of the most LGBTQ-friendly places in the Caribbean.

LGBTQ rights in Curaçao - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Is Curaçao a queer-friendly Caribbean paradise?

Things are changing in the Caribbean and if you know which islands are welcoming, you are likely to discover paradise The post Is Curaçao a queer-friendly Caribbean paradise? appeared first on Attitude.

uk.style.yahoo.com

It is not clear to me that being less private about Amy's sexual orientation would have harmed the search for her there, whether you are talking about the search for a body or a search for a living person.