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

[TizerisT]

The Caribbean region is pretty diverse, with huge variations in culture, language, politics, and economics. Curaçao is not Port-au-Prince.

Yes I know this. I've spent many months travelling and staying on those islands. And I've been in the murky areas, as a white dude.

 

[RandyMcDonald]

It should be worth noting that the current US State Department security update for the Dutch Caribbean including the Caribbean recommends normal precauctions.

https://www.osac.gov/Content/Report/dccfe992-4b6c-4ddd-97cd-1d2d3fc22a21

Petty crime is apparently an issue, including theft and credit card fraud, and there are concerns about increasing numbers of handguns. These are rates as being relatively minor, while local drug trafficking and terrorists in neighbouring countries are noted as factors that should not impact travellers.

I would be interested to see a comparable report from the late 1990s. Curaçao is simply not described now as a place incredibly dangerous for women, and I would like to see evidence as to how it was perceived by the US government at the time of Amy's disappearance.

 

[sylke96]

According to her brother, she was not drunk. She was sober, didn't feel well.

The party was over and everyone had gone to bed. Amy wasn't interested in men and wouldn't meet with someone who didn't interest her at 6 AM. No one does that.

I don't want to sound rude about the family, but considering the family is still up to this date downplaying her sexuality going so far as to mention Amy had a BF before she left onto the cruise (which imo isn't anything worth mentioning in regards to her case?) it could also well be that they downplayed her being not drunk. Not saying she was or wasn't, but still. It would also fit in better with a sex trafficking narrative, cause obviously if you are drunk you would be more prone to possibly fall over a railing or whatnot.

 

[otto]

I agree. Any scenario that involves her being smuggled off the ship would rely on a lot of high-risk moving parts that would all have to operate completely smoothly. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I personally think it's pretty near the bottom of the list of likely explanations

Every scenario of Amy walking off the ship, or being put in a box and removed from the ship, requires a plausible reason for her to leave her room at 6 AM. No one has provided a reason - not even family.

Per her brother, she was not drunk, she did not feel well, and we know she hadn't slept during the night. There is no plausible reason for her to leave the room.

The Brad Bradley social media account has an answer for that - she went through a moveable balcony wall ... look, here's a random photo from the internet to make that seem plausible!

 

[GXP Sleuther]

Why (at this point) is this a federal case; when suicide/accident seems the most likely explanation? Why would the FBI have this on their website for 28 years?

Have any missing persons on that FBI list died from suicide? Most times (that I have seen) they are found murdered..

I can only think (if you eliminate trafficking) than homicide would be the only reasonable answer for being placed on the FBI's list? How could that be proven?

 

[otto]

I don't want to sound rude about the family, but considering the family is still up to this date downplaying her sexuality going so far as to mention Amy had a BF before she left onto the cruise (which imo isn't anything worth mentioning in regards to her case?) it could also well be that they downplayed her being not drunk. Not saying she was or wasn't, but still. It would also fit in better with a sex trafficking narrative, cause obviously if you are drunk you would be more prone to possibly fall over a railing or whatnot.

Boyfriend? Netflix interviewed girlfriends that Amy had contact with, including one on the day before the cruise ... with planned continued contact after the cruise. Amy sent her a postcard from the cruise. According to her family she had a boyfriend. No one who knew her recalls a boyfriend.

How did Amy and sex traffickers end up in the same place? Why did she leave her room? Cruise ships are not a place where sex traffickers loiter looking for victims.

I think it's quite possible that Amy had a lot more to drink, but according to her brother, she only had 6 lite beer during 12 hours. He was the last person to speak with her, presumably he gave facts. Therefore, she was not drunk.

 

[Quill]

It can't be an actual photo of the balcony from 1998. Any photo taken at that time has to be hard copy.

The photo looks like another rabbit hole that someone wants people to run down.

I'm confused here. I have no idea when this picture was taken and I do not take cruises so there's that. But I am a prolific shutterbug and I have taken literal thousands of photos pre internet, pre digital cameras and I have digitized many, many of my pre internet era photos. Apologies if I am missing a point here, but I'm just not seeing it. Old hardcopies of photos are digitized and used on the internet widely.

 

[Quill]

Money.

Pish. Who is paying them?

 

[RandyMcDonald]

Boyfriend? Netflix interviewed girlfriends that Amy had contact with, including one on the day before the cruise ... with planned continued contact after the cruise. Amy sent her a postcard from the cruise. According to her family she had a boyfriend. No one who knew her recalls a boyfriend.

If there was a boyfriend, then I think it makes most sense to understand this as Amy's last family-pleasing fling with heterosexuality. Her family is invested in the idea of her being bisexual, but her college friends clearly describe her as lesbian or gay.

I actually do think that what her brother said on X, about the boyfriend quite possibly being much more into Amy than Amy was in the boyfriend, quite believable. He only said that when he was confronted with other people asking about the message in the bottle Amy gave to the long distance girlfriend, but it rings true.

How did Amy and sex traffickers end up in the same place? Why did she leave her room? Cruise ships are not a place where sex traffickers loiter looking for victims.

It is probably also worth noting that, even if Amy did encounter sex traffickers, they may well not have been interested.

Consider sex abusers. I am willing to bet that everyone here has met someone at some point in time who has sexually abused someone. If we did not know this, it is because they are selective in their attentions, picking only the people they want to pick and trying not to call attention to themselves. They do not target indiscriminately, outside of rare cases. They pick and choose.

I think it's quite possible that Amy had a lot more to drink, but according to her brother, she only had 6 lite beer during 12 hours. He was the last person to speak with her, presumably he gave facts. Therefore, she was not drunk.

Assuming he was aware of everything, perhaps. She was still a relatively small person, and depending on what she drank and in the timing she might well have been ill.

 

[lohrtabitha]

Stereotypically, it is vulnerable people who get trafficked. Amy did not fit into this category of being vulnerable. She was college educated, from a financially secure family, and in the presence of her parents and brother, in a controlled environment (the cruise ship has security) when she went missing.

Amy had seven beers that night. Being intoxicated creates vulnerability for anyone.

 

[RandyMcDonald]

Why (at this point) is this a federal case; when suicide/accident seems the most likely explanation? Why would the FBI have this on their website for 28 years?

Have any missing persons on that FBI list died from suicide? Most times (that I have seen) they are found murdered..

I can only think (if you eliminate trafficking) than homicide would be the only reasonable answer for being placed on the FBI's list? How could that be proven?

I think the most likely answer is that Amy's fate is both technically undetermined and potentially a political issue. Natalee Holloway disappeared from neighbouring Dutch island of Aruba just seven years later, and her disappearance became not just a major media sensation but a crisis in bilateral American-Aruban and American-Dutch relations. Trying to prepare is not a bad idea, just in case.

 

[TizerisT]

Overview of what the possibilities are (imo)

 

[na19]

Amy was an intelligent, high-functioning, healthy young adult.

It doesn't add up that she left her room more than an hour before the boat docked to go on shore wearing her party clothing from the night before. We need to keep Amy in mind for all possibilities. Who is she and what would she do.

Recall that the boat had not yet docked when her father reported her missing at 7 AM. Her father said that she was no longer on the balcony shortly before 6 AM.

Why would she leave the room through the door, or did she?

There has to be a reasonable explanation for unwell, sober, sleep-deprived Amy leaving the room to wander the corridors of the sleeping ship passengers. None has been provided.

Maybe she wasn't going to be able to get any sleep so figured "Let me go get some coffee, walk around a bit, try to wake up, I'll take a nap later, etc." then whatever happened, happened. She was only 23 so maybe she wasn't as exhausted as some people would be after drinking/partying all night.

 

[GreyPhantom]

My take on that was..IF Amy is still alive and has children from force, the mother is speaking to Amy, saying dont feel ashamed and think you can't contact us in fear we will reject your children. We will be accepting of our grandchildren. I believe she fears Amy would be afraid to reach out knowing how the children were conceived and the mom is reassuring her its ok.

Maybe she wasn't going to be able to get any sleep so figured "Let me go get some coffee, walk around a bit, try to wake up, I'll take a nap later, etc." then whatever happened, happened. She was only 23 so maybe she wasn't as exhausted as some people would be after drinking/partying all night.

The rumor was that they were going to see the sunrise over Curacao for her photography. The disco gave the best vantage point for this.

 

[na19]

Maybe but there is also the hereto
The rumor was that they were going to see the sunrise over Curacao for her photography. The disco gave the best vantage point for this.

But wasn't the camera found in the safe?

 

[TizerisT]

Yes I believe in the safe

 

[GXP Sleuther]

Pish. Who is paying them?

I'm not sure but life insurance experts might know the answer..

 

[osu]

But wasn't the camera found in the safe?

Amy’s brother posted yesterday that they found her camera in the cabin safe. However on the ‘Amy Bradley Is Missing’ website it says that the camera and one roll of film are missing.


Amy Lynn Bradley is still missing

 

[GXP Sleuther]

uhm...

 

[lohrtabitha]

According to her brother, she had 6 lite beer over 12 hours. She wasn't feeling well at 4 AM, so she didn't go to bed.

Were there illegal drugs on the cruise ship that staff used to inject passengers before sneaking them off the ship into the waiting arms of prostitution gangs? There's no evidence of that whatsoever.

There are so many "what if" possibilities, but very little reason to lean into them.

Once again it is very important to the truth to cite your statistics. Amy had 7 beers. If you watched the Netflix doc she appeared to be very intoxicated while dancing. Yellow was grinding with her on the dance floor.
Amy Bradley Is Missing (TV Mini Series 2025) 6.7 | Documentary, Crime, Mystery.

It only takes a couple of people to kidnap or abduct a person. Here is a case in point. You don't need a gang.

Iowa Couple Sentenced to 40 Years for Kidnapping, Sex Trafficking, and Torturing a Young Woman — FBI

RICHMOND, VAAldair Hodza, 36, and Laura Sorensen, 31, of Clive, Iowa, were sentenced today for their roles in a heinous crime involving the kidnapping, forced prostitution, and torture of a young woman the couple kidnapped in Iowa.

www.fbi.gov

Many cruise lines have illegal drugs smuggled onto them. This group of four passengers had enough to tranquilize an elephant.

4 Carnival Cruise ship passengers detained in Bermuda for smuggling ‘illegal’ drugs, including one used to tranquilize elephants

Authorities in Bermuda said Tuesday that they arrested four U.S. cruise ship passengers accused of drug possession.

nypost.com