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Where Is Amy Lynn Bradley, Who Disappeared on a Cruise Ship 26 Years Ago?

On the night Amy went missing, she was at the cruise ship's disco with her brother, other passengers and crew members, according to the FBI

On March 24, 1998, 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley went missing while on a cruise ship with her family. For more than 25 years, her disappearance has puzzled investigators who are still trying to solve the cold case.

On Saturday, March 21 of that year,  the Royal Caribbean International Cruise Line’s ship Rhapsody of the Seas left San Juan, Puerto Rico, for Aruba. Two days later, on March 23, the ship left Aruba and headed to Curaçao. Amy went missing in the early morning hours of March 24 while the ship was between the two destinations, according to the FBI.

On that night, according to FBI Special Agent Erin Sheridan, Amy was at the cruise ship's disco with her brother, other passengers and crew members. The next morning, Amy's brother and parents couldn't locate her.

"Myself and my parents have had to endure a lot of sadness, but the last thing that I ever said to Amy was, 'I love you,' before I went to sleep that night," Amy's brother Brad said in a video shared by the FBI. "Knowing that's the last thing I said to her has always been very comforting to me."

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According to a 2005 NBC News report, numerous rumors surrounded Amy's disappearance. Some passengers claimed to see a woman, who was not confirmed to be Amy, heading to the top deck of the ship in the early morning hours while others claimed she was with an unidentified ship employee. Others also claimed to see Amy on Curaçao in the years after her disappearance, but these sightings remain unconfirmed.

"When we discovered Amy missing, we begged the ship's personnel to not put the gangway down, to not allow anybody to leave the ship. And we told them that if Amy had left the room for any more than 15 minutes, she would have left us a note. And they put the gangway down anyway. People left the ship in Curaçao," Amy's mother, Iva Bradley, told NBC News in 2005.

After stopping in Curaçao, the ship made two additional stops during the cruise and returned to Puerto Rico on March 28 as planned.

According to a missing persons poster , Amy has four tattoos that could be used to help identify her: A Tasmanian Devil on her shoulder, the sun on her lower back, a Chinese symbol on her right ankle, and a gecko on her stomach.  A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the solving of the case.

Anyone with information on Amy's disappearance is asked to contact their local FBI office.

Amy Lynn Bradley’s family fear she is a victim of sex trafficking after cruise disappearance

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Amy Lynn Bradley disappeared in 1998. Many people believe she has been sex trafficked after a new photo emerged.

The resurfacing of a disturbing photo of a woman missing from a cruise since 1998 has sparked fears she has been trafficked for the sex trade.

Amy Lynn Bradley was on a luxury cruise with her family in March 1998 on the Royal Caribbean ship Rhapsody of the Seas, when suddenly she vanished. That was 27 years ago — she was 23 at the time.

Amy, together with her mother, father and brother, boarded the ship from Puerto Rico. Three days before arriving at the final destination in Curacao, Amy was gone without a trace.

NBC News reported the last sighting was on March 24 when Amy was seen to be sleeping, after previously partying at the ship’s on-board club.

“So that evening, Amy was out at the disco with her brother, other passengers, and crew socialising and having a great time,” FBI special agent Erin Sheridan said.

At 5.30am, Amy was seen dozing outside on a chair in their cabin’s private balcony. When her father awoke 30 minutes later, he couldn’t find her.

“When we discovered Amy missing, we begged the ship’s personnel to not put the gangway down, to not allow anybody to leave the ship,” Amy’s mother, Iva, told NBC News.

Before continuing its journey, the ship’s crew searched the vessel — without any luck. It then travelled to St Martin and St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands before returning to San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Eventually, the case escalated to the FBI.

Initial theories were that Amy fell overboard. Over the years, however, there have been several reported sightings.

According to the Daily Star , in January 1999, a US Navy officer reportedly spoke with the missing woman in a brothel in Curacao, and that she said she was “being held against her will and was not allowed to leave”.

However, out of fear he would be reprimanded by the US Navy for going to a brothel, the officer didn’t pass this information on to the family until he retired.

Seven years after the disappearance, the family received a haunting tip-off — prompting fears that Amy has been coerced into the sex trade.

One photo, which was first publicly revealed on an episode of Dr Phil , was from a website advertising escorts, the Sun reports.

The chilling image shows a woman posing uncomfortably with few clothes on. The website, according to the Sun , stated the woman’s name was “Jas”.

Many people believe this is a photo of Amy about the time when she would have first gone missing.

To mark their daughter’s upcoming 50th birthday, Amy’s parents are offering a huge reward, up to $US25,000 ($40,000), for any information that leads to finding Amy, and information that leads to the arrest of those responsible for her disappearance.

The Petersburg, Virginia native weighed about 54kg at the time she went missing, was 167cm in height, and had short brown hair and green eyes.

She also has distinctive tattoos: a Tasmanian devil spinning a basketball on her shoulder; the sun on her lower back; a Chinese symbol on her right ankle; and a gecko lizard on her navel. She also has a belly button piercing.

“Myself and my parents have had to endure a lot of sadness, but the last thing that I ever said to Amy was ‘I love you’, before I went to sleep that night. Knowing that that’s the last thing I said to her has always been very comforting to me,” said Amy’s brother, Brad Bradley, in an FBI video.

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Inside the disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley on cruise ship

Amy Lynn Bradley disappeared decades ago on a family cruise holiday but a disturbing photo has emerged that could explain the American woman’s fate.

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When Amy Lynn Bradley, 23, boarded the Rhapsody of the Seas cruise ship, she was excited to embark on the trip of a lifetime.

Joined by her family – parents, Ron and Iva, and brother, Brad, 21 – she was looking forward to a blissful week sailing around the Caribbean Islands.

On the third night, Amy and Brad partied at the ship’s nightclub, where band Blue Orchid performed.

Footage from the night showed Amy, from Petersburg, Virginia, laughing and dancing on the dance floor.

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Around 3am, the siblings headed back to their family cabin where they chatted on their balcony before Brad went to bed.

At 5.30am, Ron stirred and saw his daughter asleep in a deckchair on the balcony. But when he woke again at 6am, Amy was nowhere to be found.

The only other thing missing were her cigarettes and lighter – even her sandals were still in the room.

Ron knew she wouldn’t leave without telling someone.

Concerned, he searched the common areas of the ship before coming back to tell Iva and Brad. They immediately told the ship’s crew and begged them to make an announcement and stop anyone from getting off until she was found.

“Don’t let anybody off this boat. Someone has got my daughter,” Ron said.

But they were told it was too early to make a ship-wide announcement, and allowed passengers and staff off when they docked in Curaçao regardless.

If Amy had wanted to escape – or someone wanted to remove her – this provided the perfect opportunity.

It wasn’t until 7.50am – when the majority of passengers had already disembarked – that an announcement was made asking for Amy to report to the front desk.

While crew searched the common areas, no passenger or staffrooms were looked at.

There was no evidence Amy had fallen overboard. And she was a strong swimmer, so it was unlikely she would’ve drowned so close to the shoreline.

The Bradley family were suspicious of the crew.

“We noticed immediately there was a tremendous amount of attention toward Amy from the crew members,” Iva later told talk-show host Dr Phil.

Ron even remembered an encounter where a waiter asked about Amy because he said the crew wanted to take her to Carlos and Charlie’s Restaurant when the ship docked in Aruba.

When he asked Amy about it, she was adamant she wouldn’t be going.

“They give me the creeps,” she said.

Passenger Crystal Roberts told the family she’d seen Amy on the ship’s deck around 6am.

In a strange twist, the night before Amy’s disappearance, Iva had gone to look at photos for sale taken by the cruise photographer during dinner.

Despite the photographer saying he remembered printing photos with Amy in them, none were there. Someone had taken them.

While crew were adamant the cruise needed to continue for the sake of the other passengers, Amy’s frantic family stayed behind in Curaçao and called in authorities who conducted a four-day search of the surrounding land and sea.

The case went cold until five months later, when Canadian engineer David Carmichael reported seeing a woman escorted by two men on a Curaçao beach.

“She looked frightened like she was about to say something when one of the guys motioned her away,” he said. He even remembered her two distinctive tattoos – a gecko and a Tasmanian devil – which matched ones Amy had.

While investigators immediately went back to search, they found no trace of Amy.

Another man who was in the US Navy at the time, said he’d been approached in a Curaçao brothel by a woman named Amy, asking for help. He didn’t report the sighting until years later, when he’d retired and seen her photo in a magazine.

Then in 2005, witness Judy Maurer claimed to have seen Amy in a department store in Barbados with three men.

When the men left briefly, she told Judy her name was Amy and she was from Virginia, before the men returned and led her away.

That same year, seven years after Amy’s disappearance, came the biggest – and most disturbing – lead yet.

The Bradley family were sent photos of a woman known as ‘Jas’ looking dazed and dressed in lingerie. They’d originally been posted on a defunct website advertising adult holidays in the Caribbean.

Had Amy been taken and sold as a sex slave?

Independent forensic experts agreed the pictures were a ‘perfect’ match for Amy.

“When I first looked at the picture, it wasn’t the Amy I know,” Iva told Vanished . “The picture looks like a harsh and tormented Amy.”

But the photos gave them hope Amy was still alive.

“We’ve maintained from the beginning that someone saw Amy and took Amy from that ship in some way,” Ron told NBC.

In March 2010, Amy Lynn Bradley was declared legally dead by authorities, despite the absence of witnesses and no body being found.

Now, 24 years after her disappearance, the family are still no closer to having answers. A reward for information leading to Amy’s recovery, along with photofit drawings of an older Amy are still listed on the FBI website.

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“Myself and my parents have had to endure a lot of sadness, but the last thing that I ever said to Amy was, ‘I love you’, before I went to sleep that night,” Brad said in a Wanted by the FBI video.

“Knowing that that’s the last thing I said to her has always been very comforting to me.”

This article original appeared in that’s life! magazine and was reproduced with permission

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Family of woman who vanished on cruise desperate to find her after receiving chilling tip off years ago

Amy lynn bradley was last seen in march 1998.

Rhianna Benson

When 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley disappeared on a cruise ship back in 1998, her friends and family feared they'd never lay eyes on her again.

Despite the odds, however, Amy's loved ones have constantly clung onto hope of discovering what happened to her that fateful day, and are reportedly more desperate now than ever, praying that an eerie tip off they received seven years after she was reported missing will one day assist in discovering the truth .

Amy, her mother Iva, father Ron, and brother Bradley had been travelling through the Caribbean on a family holiday 26 years ago, when she went suddenly vanished in the middle of the day.

The group had boarded Rhapsody of the Seas cruise ship, starting their journey in Puerto Rico before sailing to Aruba.

Having enjoyed several days of tropical island paradise, Amy and her family were looking forward to setting off towards their next holiday hotspot, with the ship scheduled to travel three days to reach their next port of Aruba.

It was during this voyage, however, that Amy - a trained lifeguard - was tragically reported missing.

The young woman had last been spotted asleep in the early hours of 24 March, having spent the evening partying on board.

Witnesses found Amy slumped over a chair on her private balcony at around 5.30am, but just half an hour later, he family could find no trace of her.

Royal Caribbean staff members frantically scoured the ship to indicate what had happened to Amy - hoping her plethora of abstract tattoos would assist in identifying her - yet the girl was nowhere to be seen.

Despite having not been able to find the missing passenger, the cruise was forced to continue with its journey, travelling to the island of St Martin and onto St Thomas before returning to San Juan on the 28th.

It wasn't until seven years later, in 2005, that the devastated Bradley family were informed that investigating authorities had received a chilling tip off, potentially pointing towards that fate befell Amy.

The 'evidence' consisted of a series of photographs taken of a woman that looked to have been sex trafficked.

In the images, the lady in question - who bore a strong resemblance to Amy - was seen to have long, black hair, wearing minimal clothing and posing awkwardly in a set of lingerie.

The images - which were later aired on US talk show Dr Phil in an appeal for information - were then traced back to a defunct website, advertising x-rated, adult holidays in the Caribbean.

On the page, the woman was identified as 'Jas'.

Following the tip off, Amy's parents became understandably more desperate to pin-point exactly what happened to their daughter, fearing she may have inadvertently become embroiled in the sex trafficking industry.

As such, they recently offered a $25,000 reward for anyone with an inkling about what befell her following her disappearance, to mark what would have been Amy's 50th birthday.

Her mother Iva previously admitted in an appeal to the public: "We get up every single day with the thought that maybe today, we’ll find Amy."

Topics:  Crime , True Crime , US News , Parenting

Rhianna is an Entertainment Journalist at LADbible Group, working across LADbible, UNILAD and Tyla. She has a Masters in News Journalism from the University of Salford and a Masters in Ancient History from the University of Edinburgh. She previously worked as a Celebrity Reporter for OK! and New Magazines, and as a TV Writer for Reach PLC.

@ rhiannaBjourno

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The Charley Project

Amy lynn bradley.

Bradley, circa 1997 - 1998; Sketch of woman resembling Bradley; Sketch of woman's companion; Unidentified men sought by police

• Missing Since 03/24/1998
• Missing From Curacao, Netherlands Antilles
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Date of Birth 05/12/1974 (50)
• Age 23 years old
• Height and Weight 5'7, 115 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A short-sleeved white scoop-neck body-style t-shirt, maroon shorts or jeans, a silver navel loop ring with an imbedded blue bead, a man's silver watch with a blue face, a silver college class ring with a black onyx stone on her right hand and a thin silver band with cut-out turtle figurines on her left wrist.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, green eyes. Bradley may dye her hair blonde. Her ears are pierced multiple times and her navel is pierced. She has the following tattoos: a baby Tasmanian devil on the back of her left shoulder, a green and blue gecko lizard around her navel, a Japanese symbol on her right ankle and a primitive Japanese sun tattooed on her lower back. Bradley is a cigarette smoker.

Details of Disappearance

Bradley was vacationing with her parents and her brother aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's ship, Rhapsody of the Seas, during March 1998. She and her brother returned to their cabin at approximately 3:30 a.m. on March 24, 1998 after dancing at the ship's disco. They sat on their suite's balcony until approximately 5:30 a.m. Bradley's brother stayed in the cabin, while she mentioned possibly disembarking at Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles to purchase cigarettes. At 6:00 a.m., two other passengers on the ship saw her riding the elevator to the top deck. Bradley was last seen carrying her room key, cigarettes, and a lighter when she was last seen. She had a hundred dollars in her pocket as well. Rhapsody of the Seas was preparing to dock in Curacao's port at the time Bradley was last seen. Her family realized she was missing between approximately 6:00 and 6:30 a.m. The sliding glass door to the balcony was partway open and a pair of Bradley's sandals were found inside of her suite, but there was no other sign of her. She had brought nine other pairs of shoes with her on the trip. She has never been seen again. Bradley's parents stated that they asked the ship's staff not to let anyone off the ship once they realized she was missing, but the staff lowered the gangplank anyway. The family searched Curacao for signs of her but turned up nothing. Authorities are not certain if Bradley went ashore on Curacao of her own will and vanished while in port or if other factors were at work. A cab driver later stated that she approached his cab and said she urgently needed a phone, but this sighting has not been confirmed. Her family believes that Bradley was coerced by unknown person(s) whom she befriended during the cruise and abducted. There are rumors of maritime pirates operating out of Curacao and Bradley's loved ones believe that she may have become a victim of the individuals. Bradley was last seen in the ship's elevator with "Yellow," a member of the cruise ship's band, Blue Orchid. It is not known if this person was involved in Bradley's disappearance; there have been no arrests made in her case. Bradley also spent time with various waiters while on the cruise. Authorities do not believe that Bradley fell overboard, as Rhapsody of the Seas was extremely close to shore at the time of her disappearance. Witnesses would have undoubtedly heard or seen any accident. Bradley was also a strong swimmer and a trained lifeguard, and in any case her body was not found when the water was searched. Investigators also determined that it is very unlikely Bradley chose to disappear of her own accord. She was a recent college graduate with a degree in physical education and was planning to start a new job at a computer consulting firm after returning from the cruise. There were possible sightings of Bradley on Curacao in August 1998 and January 1999. The witnesses in the 1998 sighting accurately described her tattoos and the witness in the 1999 sighting said she identified herself by name and asked for help. Bradley's parents therefore believe the sightings are authentic. In March of 2005, a woman resembling Bradley was seen in Barbados. Sketches of the unidentified woman and her male companion are posted with this case summary. The Barbados woman has not been conclusively identified as Bradley. Authorities believe two men may have information about Bradley's disappearance; sketches of both subjects are posted with this case summary. One of the men is described as Caucasian, in his late thirties or early forties, between 5'11 and 6'0 tall, with a receding hairline, red hair and a red beard. The other man was in his early thirties, approximately 5'11 tall with dark, curly shoulder-length hair. Neither person has been identified. Bradley was a resident of Chesterfield County, Virginia at the time of her 1998 disappearance. She attended college in Longwood, Virginia on a basketball scholarship. Bradley smoked Marlboro cigarettes at the time she was last seen. She enjoys drinking Coca-Cola and Miller Lite beer and eats hard candy. Foul play is suspected in her disappearance, but there is no evidence to support the theory.

Investigating Agency

• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• 202-324-3000
• Puerto Rican Office
• 787-722-3045

Source Information

• Missing Person: Amy Bradley
• Unsolved Mysteries
• America's Most Wanted
• Cruise Bruise

Updated 4 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated October 24, 2008; picture added.

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Missing for 25 years: FBI searching for woman who disappeared on family vacation in 1998

by JESSICA A. BOTELHO | The National Desk

Authorities continue searching for a woman who went missing while she was on a cruise to the Caribbean with her family nearly three decades ago.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Amy Lynn Bradley , of Petersburg, Virginia, was last seen on March 24, 1998. At that time, she was 23 years old and vacationing with her loved ones aboard the Royal Caribbean International Cruise Line’s ship Rhapsody of the Seas.

The FBI said the agency is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information that leads to Bradley, as well as information that leads to the identification, arrest, and conviction of whoever is responsible for her disappearance.

According to a news release, the ship departed San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 21, 1998 and headed to Aruba. Two days later, it made its way to Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, with Bradley going missing the next day.

FBI Special Agent Erin Sheridan said Bradley went to a club with her brother, Brad, along with other passengers and crew, the night before she went missing.

"In the morning, when her parents and her brother woke, Amy was gone," Sheridan said in a video included in the release.

Brad was the last person to see her alive, according to authorities. He said the last word he said to Amy were I love you.

Knowing that that's the last thing I said to her has always been very comforting to me," he said in the footage.

In 2017, the FBI shared age-progressed photos of what Bradley might look like. The agency described Bradley as a white woman who has short brown hair, green eyes, weighs 120 pounds, and is 5 feet 6 inches tall.

The FBI also said Bradley has several tattoos, including a Tasmanian Devil spinning a basketball on her shoulder; the sun on her lower back; a Chinese symbol on her right ankle; and a Gecko lizard on her navel. She also has a navel ring.

The agency said anyone who has information about Bradley's disappearance was urged to contact their local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.

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Amy Lynn Bradley: What Really Happened To The 23-Year-Old Who Vanished On A Family Cruise Ship?

Before her disappearance, her parents claimed the cruise crew was giving her “special attention.”

Amy Lynn Bradley was on vacation with her parents and brother on the Royal Caribbean International cruise line ship Rhapsody of the Seas when she disappeared on March 24, 1998.

The ship was making its way through the Caribbean Sea when the 23-year-old vanished. Before she went missing, Amy was out socializing at the cruise’s disco with her brother, other passengers and a live band, Blue Orchid. One of the band’s member’s, Alister Douglas, known as Yellow, said he and Amy partied together, but that they said goodnight around 1 a.m.

Between 5:15 and 5:30 am, Amy’s father, Ron said he saw his daughter asleep on the cabin balcony. When he got up at 6 a.m, she was no longer there. She reportedly left behind her shoes, but took a lighter and her cigarettes. Her father said it was very unlike her to leave without telling anyone where she was going.

Her brother Brad was the last family member to speak to her, when he said bye to her before going to sleep the night before.  “Myself and my parents have had to endure a lot of sadness, but the last thing that I ever said to Amy was, “I love you,” before I went to sleep that night. Knowing that that’s the last thing I said to her has always been very comforting to me,” Brad said.

The crew reportedly refused the family’s pleas to keep the ship away from the dock to prevent any potential kidnapper from carrying Amy to land. The cruise did not page for the missing woman until the cruise had docked in Curaçao and after many passengers already exited the ship. Investigators said there was no evidence that Amy, a trained lifeguard, fell overboard.

Before her disappearance, her parents claimed the cruise crew was giving her “special attention.” That led them to believe she was possibly kidnapped and sold into sex slavery.

Two Canadian tourists reported seeing a woman that looked like Amy on a beach in Curaçao in 1998. The woman they spotted had tattoos that reportedly matched Amy’s: a Tasmanian Devil spinning a basketball on her shoulder, a sun on her lower back, a Chinese symbol located on her right ankle and a gecko lizard on her navel.

A member of the Navy claimed he spotted Amy in a brothel in 1999. He said she told him that "her name was Amy Bradley and [she] begged him for help." That woman said she was not allowed to leave the brothel.

A photograph that appears to be Amy Lynn in her underwear was sent to the Bradley family via email in 2005. The image was spotted and sent to the family by a member of an organization that tracks down potential sex trafficking victims on adult websites.

The FBI has offered a reward of $25,000 for information leading to the resolution of this case.

[Images: FBI and YouTube]

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What happened to Amy Lynn Bradley, the 23-year-old who went missing on a Royal Caribbean cruise?

Nearly 30 years ago, 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley disappeared while on vacation with her family on a Royal Caribbean cruise. The intensity of the case undoubtedly shocked the entire world, eventually becoming one of the most jaw-dropping unsolved cases in the history of true crime .

In the early morning hours of March 24, Bradley unexpectedly disappeared while the Rhapsody of the Seas cruise ship was between the destinations of San Juan, Puerto Rico and Curaçao. Earlier in the night, before her sudden disappearance, Amy had attended the ship’s nightclub with her brother Brad. After the brother-and-sister duo returned to their room, they spent some time talking on the room’s balcony, with Brad eventually heading to bed while Amy stayed awake on the balcony. 

At around 6 am, Amy’s father Ron discovered that she was missing from the balcony, marking the last time that Amy was ever officially seen by her family. Despite pleas from the family for the ship’s crew to not allow passengers to leave while the ship was docked in Curaçao, the pleas were ignored. 26 years later, however, an abundance of theories and speculation continues to increase in regards to the case — with a large portion of folks wondering exactly what happened to Bradley that night.

The theories about Bradley’s disappearance, explained

Over the years, a plethora of theories have been suggested regarding Amy’s exact whereabouts. One major theory, which many consider to follow the tune of Occam’s Razor, suggests that Amy drank far too much alcohol while attending the nightclub with her brother. Back in the room, it is incredibly possible that Amy bent too far over the balcony while attempting to vomit, which would result in her falling over the balcony and landing in the ocean below. 

While the theory listed above is the most likely, true crime fanatics have argued that the ship was certainly close to the shore at the time, meaning Amy likely could have swam to the shore and saved herself — especially with her family insisting that she was an excellent swimmer. However, the rough waters or dangerous sea life could have easily dragged her under the surface and resulted in her unfortunate death.

That being said, several sightings of Amy have been reported by various sources over the years — including a U.S. Navy SEAL insisting he encountered Amy in a brothel back in 1999, just one year after she disappeared. Another sighting was at a Caribbean beach, while a photo of a prostitute named “Jas” was discovered on an inappropriate website and strongly resembled Amy’s facial features. These sightings have led a large community of people to believe that instead of falling overboard that night, Amy might have been drugged, abducted, and sold into sex slavery.

Will Amy ever be found?

As of right now, the last reported sighting of Bradley was back in 2005, which has led many true crime aficionados to believe she has likely passed. However, folks are split down the middle as to whether she passed that night from falling overboard and drowning, or if she eventually passed after years of exposure in a ring of sex trafficking. 

Either way, interest in this unfathomable case has certainly yet to waver.

Chilling mystery of woman who disappeared from cruise ship - but didn't fall overboard

On March 24, 1998, Amy Lynn Bradley vanished seemingly without a trace while enjoying a Caribbean cruise with her family. Her whereabouts remain a mystery to this day

• 17:05, 1 Sep 2023

In the early hours of March 24, 1998, Amy Lynn Bradley was seen fast asleep and looked well, according to her father Ron Bradley. The 23-year-old had drifted off in a chair on the private balcony of their family cabin aboard the Rhapsody Of The Seas, a Royal Caribbean cruise liner headed for Curaçao.

This would be the last time Ron or any of Amy's family members would see her, and the mystery of what exactly happened to the outgoing and sporty physical education graduate has since proven to be one of the most perplexing missing person cases of all time.

When Ron went to check on his daughter again just 30 minutes later, at around 6 am, she was nowhere to be seen. Amy's shoes had been left behind, but her lighter and cigarettes had apparently vanished alongside her. At this point, Ron has a gut feeling that something was wrong, knowing that it just wasn't like his daughter to take off without letting her family know where she was going.

Ron, of Petersburg, Virginia, set about searching the common areas of the ship but to no avail. At around 6:30 am, he woke his wife Iva and their son Brad, letting them know that something was wrong. The family begged the crew to make an announcement and asked them not to let anyone off the ship until Amy was found, fearing that somebody could carry her off. Their pleas were refused.

Iva told NBC News: "When we discovered Amy missing, we begged the ship's personnel to not put the gangway down, to not allow anybody to leave the ship. And we told them that, if Amy had left the room for any more than 15 minutes, she would have left us a note. And they put the gangway down anyway. People left the ship in Curacao."

An announcement was finally made at 7.50 am, by which point the majority of passengers had disembarked, and although crew conducted a search of the common areas, the passenger and staffrooms went unsearched. During an interview with Dr Phil, Iva recalled how "there was a tremendous amount of attention toward Amy from the crew members".

The family says one crew member even wanted to take Amy out to a restaurant when the ship docked in Aruba, but the offer gave her the "creeps". To make matters even stranger, the Bradleys say pictures snapped of Amy by the cruise photographer had disappeared the night before Amy vanished.

Over the course of the next five days, Royal Caribbean staff and the Netherlands Antilles Coast Guard searched the ship and surrounding waters, but found no trace of Amy, and no evidence to suggest foul play or that the young woman had overboard. Furthermore, trained lifeguard Amy was known to be a very strong swimmer, and it was deemed unlikely that she would drown so close to the shore.

The search officially ended on March 29, and although her body has never been found, Amy was legally declared dead 12 years later. Many people feel there's more to the story, however, and there have been numerous reported sightings over the years. Within just 24 hours of Amy's disappearance, a taxi driver came forward, claiming he was approached by a frantic woman matching Amy's description, who asked him where she could find a pay phone before running off.

In that same year, Canadian engineer David Carmichael claimed to have spotted a woman on a Curaçao beach, who had the same distinctive tattoos as Amy - a gecko and a Tasmanian devil spinning a basketball. Stating that he was "100 per cent sure" the woman in question was Amy, Carmichael claimed she was being escorted by two men, and later told People that he was "haunted" by the encounter. He added: "She looked frightened like she was about to say something when one of the guys motioned her away and gave me a menacing look."

In 1999, a sailor with the US Navy claimed to have encountered a woman at a brothel, who gave the name Amy Bradley and informed him that she was being "held against her will and not allowed to leave". He stated that he didn't come forward immediately to report the alleged sighting as he feared facing disciplinary action for frequenting a brothel.

More recently, in 2005, a shopper reported seeing Amy in a department store bathroom in Barbados. Three men allegedly followed her into the bathroom before threatening her and leaving her be. Just before they returned and dragged her out again, the witness claims the woman told her that her name was Amy and that she was from Virginia.

In that same year came the most compelling alleged sighting yet. The Bradleys were emailed photos of a lingerie-clad woman named "Jas", which had been posted on a defunct website advertising "all-inclusive Erotic Vacations" in the Caribbean. The woman bore a striking resemblance to Amy, and gave her family fresh hope that she could still be alive.

During an episode of Vanished , the Bradleys stated that an independent forensics expert had informed them the eerie photo was a "perfect" match for their missing daughter. Iva said: "When I first looked at the picture, it wasn't the Amy I know. The picture looks like a harsh and tormented Amy."

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Amy Lynn Bradley Vanished off a Cruise Ship in 1998—But Witnesses Claim to Have Spotted Her Since

Did this promising young woman fall victim to a vile plot?

• Photo Credit: Alchetron

On March 21st, 1998, 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley and her family boarded a Royal Caribbean International cruise ship en route to Curaçao. The Chesterfield County, Virginia resident had plans to start a new computer consulting job after her graduation from Longwood University, and the trip was meant to be a celebratory vacation. Unfortunately, what unfolded was only a nightmare.

Related: 7 Famous People Who Mysteriously Disappeared Without a Trace

Two days later on March 23rd, Amy and her younger brother, Brad, attended a party at the ship's nightclub. They stayed out late dancing and drinking with the ship's band, Blue Orchid. Brad retired to the family cabin around 3:35 am, which was recorded by the ship's computerized door lock system. Five minutes later, Amy followed him back, where Brad says he and his sister then sat on the balcony to talk before he went to sleep. At 6 am the next morning, their father, Ron, found Amy missing from the balcony she slept on.

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A photo of a sex worker named "Jas," believed by some to be Amy Lynn Bradley..

Having briefly woken up between 5:15 am and 5:30 am, Ron saw that Amy was in the lounge chair. He later described to local papers that he saw his daughter from the hips down, and that the door to the balcony had been closed. But no more than 45 minutes later, his daughter had vanished, along with her cigarettes and lighter. According to him, it wasn't typical of Amy's behavior to go somewhere without telling someone.

Ron searched the cruise's common areas for his daughter before waking up his family at 6:30 am to tell them the news: Amy was gone. The situation was immediately reported to the onboard crew. The Bradley's begged the crew to make a ship-wide announcement regarding Amy's disappearance, and to keep all 2,000 passengers from leaving the ship until Amy was found. The crew refused, saying it was too early for such an announcement.

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Finally, at 7:50 am, after most of the passengers had disembarked from the ship, an announcement was made requesting that Amy make her way to the purser's desk. After no response, the cruise staff searched the ship between 12:15 pm and 1:00 pm. The slow and inadequate response from the ship crew is cited as a large reason there are so few leads into Amy's disappearance.

After the official authorities were notified of Amy's disappearance, the Netherlands Antilles Coast Guard launched a four-day search, concluding on March 27th. Their initial instinct was to assume that Amy had either committed suicide or had fallen overboard. However, it was well-known that Amy was a strong swimmer, and there was no evidence in the area of foul play.

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There was very little information to go off of in the investigation, but on the morning Amy went missing, two passengers told Ron they saw a woman matching Amy's description on the elevator with cigarettes and a lighter. Beyond that, Amy was notably seen with a Blue Orchid band member—Alister Douglas, A.K.A. Yellow—during the party the night before. A videographer captured the two dancing together, but Yellow claims to have left the party by 1:00 am.

To this day, Amy Lynn Bradley's whereabouts remain unknown. However, there have been multiple potential sightings of her in the years since, leading to a belief that on that fateful morning Amy was taken to be sold into human trafficking.

Later in 1998, a cab driver said that a woman matching Amy's description approached him with an urgent request to use a phone, but this sighting was never verified by the authorities. In August of that year, a Canadian tourist claimed to see a Amy—a woman with identical tattoos that made him certain in was her—walking with two men on a Curaçao beach, desperate to get his attention.

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In 1999, a member of the U.S. Navy reported that a woman in a brothel claimed to be Amy and asked for his help. She allegedly told him she was being held against her will, but the petty officer didn't report the incident as he feared for his career. He only came forward after he retired, but provided no evidence to support his claim.

During the fall of 1999, the Bradley family received an email from Frank Jones, an alleged Navy Seal. He told the family that he'd seen Amy held hostage by Colombian personnel in a housing complex, and, as a former US Army Special Officer, he and his team could launch a rescue. Jones and his team verified their claims by describing Amy's tattoos and singing the lullaby her mother used to sing for her. Over the next couple of months, they fed news and reports to the family, all while asking them for a total of $210,000 in funds. As the family awaited his call after the "rescue," it never came. The dramatic tale had all been a scam, and in 2002 Jones was sentenced to prison for fraud.

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In 2005, a woman named Judy Maurer claimed she spotted Amy in a Barbados department store bathroom. According to her story, Amy walking in followed by three men threatening her to follow through on a deal. She alleges that, after the men left, the distraught woman said her name was Amy and she was from Virginia. The men then came and took "Amy" away again. Maurer reported this to the authorities and helped them create composite sketches of the men and woman.

November of 2005 saw Amy's parents make an appearance on Dr. Phil , bringing with them an image that had been emailed to them depicting a “distraught and despondent” young woman resembling Amy, which suggested she was sold into sexual slavery. The photos were found by a member or an organization dedicated to tracking down the victims of sex trafficking.

In regards to the sex trafficking theory, some believe that cruise staff or the Blue Orchid band members were involved with her kidnapping . Yellow, who had been seen with Amy, gave a story to the authorities that did not match up with what the CCTV captured. Others also cast suspicion upon a waiter aboard the cruise. Allegedly, this waiter approached the Bradley family multiple times, asking them to pass on a note to Amy inviting her to get drinks with him on the shore. Chillingly, the professional photographer on the cruise printed out all the photos he'd taken to sell them at his stall, but the family could find no evidence of Amy, leading them to believe someone else had taken all of them first.

When a jawbone washed ashore in Aruba in 2010, authorities initially thought it was linked to a much more notable missing person's case: Natalee Holloway. Once the bone was cleared of any connection to Holloway, the authorities ceased pursuing the lead, despite the fact that nine other Caribbean vacationers were still currently missing. No DNA testing was done on the bone, but it was determined to be belonging to a Caucasian.

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On March 24, 2010—12 years after her disappearance—Amy Lynn Bradley was declared legally dead. With no verified witnesses and no remains found, the truth is still uncertain. Currently, the FBI is offering up a $25,000 for any information that could lead to closure in Amy's case. Additionally, the Bradley family is offering $50,000 for information regarding her location and $250,000 for information that leads to her safe return.

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What Happened to Amy Lynn Bradley? Was She Found?

Investigation Discovery’s ‘Disappeared: Troubled Waters,’ as the title suggests, looks into the disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley in 1998. In a truly baffling case, the young woman vanished into thin air while on a cruise with her family. Over the years, the family has been vigilant in her search, and there were numerous possible sightings at different places, but nothing concrete enough to act upon was found. Curious to know more about what happened to Amy? We’ve got you covered.

What Happened to Amy Lynn Bradley?

Amy Lynn Bradley was 23 years old and was from Chesterfield County, Virginia. Her family included her parents, Ron and Iva, and her brother, Brad. The four of them were vacationing on a Royal Caribbean cruise called the Rhapsody of the Seas when the unfortunate incident occurred. Amy had just finished college, and a new full-time job was waiting for her back home. The cruise had left Oranjestad, Aruba, and was headed towards Curacao around the time of her disappearance.

In the early hours of March 24, 1998, Ron and Iva had gone back to the family suite to sleep while Amy and Brad were hanging out at a party on the cruise. According to the door-lock system, Brad returned to the room at 3:35 AM, followed soon by Amy. He had stated that they hung out on the suite’s private balcony for a while before he went to sleep. Ron woke up sometime around 5:30 AM and saw Amy in the lounge chair on the balcony, but when he checked back at around 6 AM, she was gone, and so were her cigarettes and lighter.

Ron then started to look for her and alerted the cruise’s security about an hour later. The ship was about to dock at Curacao at the time, and the family’s request to not let people disembark fell on deaf ears. A search of the cruise didn’t reveal any clues, and investigators stated that there was no evidence that she was pushed overboard or had committed suicide. Unfortunately, the family had to return home without Amy.

Was Amy Lynn Bradley Found?

No. To date, Amy has not been found. But, there have been numerous people who came forward stating that they had seen Amy at different locations. In addition, people that were investigated during the interview provided a better idea of her last known movements. Two of the cruise’s passengers stated that they saw her on one of the elevators and further mentioned that she was with a musician who played on the cruise. Yellow, as the musician called himself, stated that Amy had a drink with the band but that he was with her only till 1 AM.

Not just that, a cab driver from Curacao had also stated that Amy had come up to him asking where she could find a telephone, but nothing came of it. The family also set up a hotline and a website back home for tips about her location. One lead cropped up in the form of a sighting. A Canadian tourist said that he saw Amy with two other men on the beach in Curacao in August 1998. He mentioned that when she was about to say something, one of the men gestured her away.

He had later recognized her from a photo on a segment of ‘America’s Most Wanted.’ There was another reported sighting in 1999 when a US Navy Officer stated that he had seen her at a brothel in Curacao. She had told him her name and even asked him for help. The officer didn’t report it back then for fear of repercussions, but he contacted the family after his retirement when he saw her picture.

A third sighting was reported in 2005 when a witness stated seeing Amy in a department store restroom in Barbados. In the same year, the family also received an anonymous email that contained images of a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Amy, dressed in a revealing outfit. This led to a possible theory that she might have been forced into prostitution.

Despite these numerous sightings, Amy has stayed missing. In January 2021, the family stated that the officials on the cruise ship should have been more serious about their daughter’s disappearance. They said that the crew didn’t let them pass around Amy’s picture because they were worried about disturbing the guests. In the end, the family still seeks answers. Their plight does put a spotlight on similar incidents that happen on international waters and the roadblocks the ensuing investigations face.

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The Mysterious Disappearance Of Amy Lynn Bradley

It was a balmy evening on March 23, 1998, when 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley enjoyed a night of dancing on a luxury cruise ship during a family vacation in the Caribbean. A few hours later, she would go missing and spark a mystery that remains unsolved more than 20 years later.

Amy Lynn had been dancing and drinking into the early hours of the night when she finally retired to her room around one o'clock in the morning. Her father would see her sleeping on her balcony a few hours later. According to History Daily , by 7 a.m., she was considered missing and the ship was searched, but she was not found.

Due to her prior experience as a lifeguard, authorities did not believe that she accidentally fell overboard, nor did they think that she committed suicide. Some have suggested that she was murdered on board. Despite the fact that no person managed to see her disembark, the leading theory was that she left the boat.

Amy Lynn's family insisted that she was not the type of person to go anywhere without informing her family and friends of her whereabouts. They claimed that if she left the boat, it was not by her own free will.

A new theory emerged: Could Amy Lynn Bradley have been kidnapped?

Two cruise ship passengers claimed that they saw Amy Lynn in a ship elevator with a member of the crew around 6 a.m., suggesting that she had not been alone before her disappearance. In addition, a taxi driver said that a young woman who looked like Amy Lynn had approached his cab and said she needed a telephone, per NBC News .

The plot began to thicken months afterward when two different people later came forward and said that they had spotted Amy Lynn since her disappearance. A Canadian computer engineer said that he saw her on a Curaçao beach with two men a few months after she went missing. Curaçao was close to where the ship was docked when the then 23-year-old disappeared.

"She looked frightened, like she was about to say something, when one of the guys motioned her away and gave me a menacing look," he claimed, per People .

A  U.S. Navy  petty officer also claimed that he met her in a brothel in Curaçao. He said she asked for help and told him her name. However, he had not heard of her and therefore did not mention it to his superiors until much later.

Even though it has now been more than two decades, the search for Amy Lynn Bradley continues, and her parents remain hopeful that she will one day be found.

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Family of woman who went missing on cruise convinced photo is their daughter

The 23-year-old disappeared after partying at the ship's nightclub.

The family of a woman who went missing from a cruise ship 27 years ago are convinced they've found photographs of their missing daughter.

On 21 March 1998, 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley, from Petersburg, Virginia in the US , boarded a Royal Caribbean International cruise from Puerto Rico to Curaçao with her mum, dad and brother.

But, just three days into their holiday onboard the Rhapsody of the Seas ship, things took a sinister turn.

In the early hours of 24 March, Amy and her brother Brad headed to the ship's nightclub to go dancing.

Records show that Brad returned to their cabin at around 3:35 am, with Amy joining him five minutes later. The siblings spoke for a short while then headed off to bed.

At 5:30 am, their father Ron checked in on his children and saw Amy sleeping on a lounge chair on the cabin's private balcony.

But half an hour later, she was gone.

The Royal Caribbean crew searched every inch of the vessel and the Netherlands Antilles Coast Guard conducted a four-day search in the surrounding waters, but Amy was never found.

Initially, authorities suspected that the 23-year-old had fallen overboard and drowned. But this was soon discredited as Amy was known to be a strong swimmer.

And, in the months that followed her disappearance, there were multiple possible sightings of Amy in Curaçao .

In August 1998, a tourist claimed to have seen Amy walking along a beach with two men. They said she was constantly trying to get their attention until they lost sight of her at a nearby café.

And, in January 1999, a member of the US Navy claimed a woman in a brothel said she was Amy and asked him for help.

Seven years later in 2005, the Bradleys received chilling images that indicated she may have been sex trafficked.

The images - which were publicly revealed on Dr. Phil after being provided to authorities as a 'tip-off' - showed a woman strongly resembling Amy, looking uncomfortable as she posed in just her underwear.

Unfortunately, the tip-off never came to anything.

Now, in a renewed effort to find their missing daughter, Amy's family are offering a reward of $25,000 (£19,700) for help with the cold case.

"We get up every single day with the thought that maybe today, we’ll find Amy," Iva Bradley, her mother, said.

Age-processed images using AI have since been created to show what she may look like today, aged 50.

People with information are instructed to contact their local FBI office, nearest American Embassy or Consulate.

Topics:  Crime , News , World News , Cruise Ship

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Family of woman who vanished on cruise fear 'haunting' photo is their missing daughter

The parents of amy lynn bradley fear a haunting photo might reveal what happened to their missing daughter.

Gerrard Kaonga

The family of a missing woman fear a photo might reveal what happened to her after she vanished from a cruise ship 26 years ago.

Amy Lynn Bradley went missing while she was on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship with her family, parents Iva and Ron and brother Bradley back in 1998.

The then 23-year-old was parting in the Rhapsody of the Seas’ club on March 24 and was last seen sleeping in a chair on her cabin’s private balcony at around 5.30am.

This would be the last time the woman would ever be seen again.

Within half an hour, Bradley had vanished and her father couldn’t find her.

The simplest explanation to her disappearance was that between 5.30am and her father trying to find her, she had fallen overboard.

However, her family is reluctant to believe this, stating that she was an excellent swimmer, was a trained lifeguard and the boat was not far from shore.

Over the years have held on to hope that their daughter is still alive, but an episode of TV show Dr Phill suggested a rather dark suggestion as to what happened to the young woman.

In 2005, the family received a tip off that Amy may have been sex trafficked. It is not clear at what point this would have happened and Royal Caribbean staff state they searched every inch of the vessel when they were made aware of her disappearance.

With that being said, while on the TV show, the family were shown haunting images of a woman who strongly resembled Bradley. She was scantily-clad and posing uncomfortably in lingerie in the picture.

The internet archive has a cached version of the images being promoted on a defunct website advertising adult holidays in the Caribbean.

It identified the woman as "Jas" - and includes two pictures of a woman with long black hair.

Iva said: "When I first looked at the picture, it wasn’t the Amy I know. The picture looks like a harsh and tormented Amy."

These alleged leads failed to result in the mystery of her disappearance being completely unfurled.

The family has since issued a fresh appeal for information regarding her disappearance on what would have been Bradley’s 50th birthday.

The FBI appeal for information described Bradley as being a white 5 foot 6 woman weighing 120 pounds with short brown hair and green eyes from Petersburg, Virginia .

The FBI appeal also included aged up images of Bradley to better help people identify the missing woman.

The release states: "The FBI is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the recovery of Amy Lynn Bradley and information that leads to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the person(s) responsible for her disappearance.”

Topics:  News , US News

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.

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The Strange Disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley: What Happened to Her? 

By Author Steven Jones

The disappearance of Natalee Holloway on the island of Aruba in the mid-2000s captivated the world about the danger of young, single women being taken advantage of in traditionally safe vacation spots.

But while her disappearance captivated the world, an eerily similar disappearance happened seven years before that is not as well known.

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 28, 1998, vacationer Amy Lynn Bradley was with her family enjoying a Caribbean cruise. But as the ship docked on the island of Curaçao, her family soon realized she was nowhere to be found.

To this day, her disappearance remains shrouded in rumor, conspiracy theories, and speculation. So, what really happened to Amy Lynn Bradley?

Who Was Amy Lynn Bradley?

Amy Bradley was born on May 12, 1974, in Petersburg, Virginia. A Virginia native her whole life, she attended a local college, earned a degree in physical education, and was planning to take a new job at a computer consulting company.

To celebrate this major accomplishment in her life, her father, Ron, mother, Iva, and her younger brother, Brad, decided to turn the cruise Ron had won at a work competition into a family vacation. The trip itself was a Caribbean cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise line Rhapsody of the Seas.

The itinerary had the family departing San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Saturday, March 21, traveling to Aruba on Monday, March 23, arriving at Curacao on March 24, and then going onward to Saint Martin, St. Thomas, and finally docking back at San Juan a week later on March 28.

Amy’s family was excited about the trip, considering the cooler-than-normal wintry weather that still embraced central Virginia at that time of year. But little did they know that this family vacation would turn into their worst nightmare.

The Disappearance Of Amy Bradley

At first, Amy was apprehensive about the trip. Though she had been a trained lifeguard who was a strong swimmer, being out in the middle of the ocean was a little daunting for her. However, after reassurances from Amy’s family, she decided to go on the trip.

After arriving in San Juan, the family boarded their cruise ship after spending a day in the city. The first port call was in Aruba, one of three islands of the Netherlands Antilles.

Once Rhapsody of the Seas departed Aruba on Monday the 23rd, the next night was going to be short before they pulled into port early the next morning in Curacao.

That is where Amy Lynn Bradley supposedly met with disaster.

During that alcohol and party-fueled night, Amy Bradley and her brother Brad were partying pretty hard. Their parents, Ron and Iva, decided to call it a night and leave the wild partying to their children. CCTV footage from that night shows that the two siblings partied well into the early morning hours.

At one point, their father, wanting to make sure Brad was not getting into any more trouble after accidentally trying to make a move on a married woman, went to the dance floor to check up on his kids.

There, he found his son dancing away to Jazz music played by the band Blue Orchid while Amy was talking to some of the crewmembers on the upper deck. Satisfied that his children were fine, he went back to bed.

After partying into the early hours of the morning, the two siblings called it quits around 3:30 a.m. Thanks to the electronic key logs on their family cabin, it is known that Brad entered the cabin at exactly 3:35 a.m., and Amy followed soon after at 3:40 a.m.

According to her brother, they spent a short time talking on the balcony before he went off to bed while Amy continued smoking cigarettes.

Amy’s father woke up around 5:15 to 5:30 a.m. and saw his daughter slumped over in a lounge chair on the balcony, probably asleep. When he got back up for good at 6:00 a.m., Amy Lynn Bradley was nowhere to be found. But where had she gone?

At first, Amy’s family believed she had just wandered off somewhere to smoke a cigarette since the balcony door was open as if she had left in a hurry. After all, it was quite windy that morning, and she may have gone to a more secluded place to have an easier time lighting her cigarettes. 

However, after searching the cruise ship for a few hours, it was clear Amy was nowhere to be found. With Amy’s sandals, all her other shoes, photo ID, and personal belongings still in the cabin, it was evident that if she had left, she should have returned by now.

Worried, her family begged crew members not to let any of the nearly 2,000 guests off the ship before a thorough search could be conducted. However, cruise ship authorities decided against that.

Instead, they let everyone off the ship that morning and made a ship-wide announcement for her to come to the front desk. Amy Lynn Bradley never answered that call.

After conducting a more thorough search of the ship and finding no evidence of Amy or foul play like her being thrown overboard, Royal Caribbean authorities pleaded with the Netherlands Antilles Coast Guard to help conduct a search for Amy.

During the course of that four-day search, the Coast Guard found zero signs of Amy. 

Despite not finding her, Royal Caribbean also chartered their own search vessel to try to find Amy. But after two days of combing the surrounding waters between Aruba and Curacao, this ship also could not find Amy.

With both searches having turned up nothing and there being no foul play suspected, the cruise line told the Bradley family that the most likely scenario was a fall overboard in the early morning hours of that third night at sea.

However, Amy’s family refused to accept that theory, and there was plenty of testimony afterwards to conclude that Amy never went overboard that night.

Was Amy Lynn Bradley Ever Found?

Not satisfied with Royal Caribbean’s official story, the Bradley family, with the help of the FBI, began their own investigation into her disappearance. They started with some of the last known people to see Amy alive that night, besides her brother Brad.

Multiple eyewitnesses and CCTV footage showed that Amy was spending a lot of time with a member of the ship’s band that night, a man named Alister Douglas, nicknamed Yellow.

When authorities interviewed Yellow, he claimed that the last time he had seen Amy was around 1:00 a.m. after the show had ended. Suspicion landed squarely on him since he had been seen getting up close and personal with her, like grabbing Amy’s legs and buttocks.

But with no other evidence to refute his claim, and with it difficult to establish who was actually at the ship’s nightclub in those early morning hours, investigators and her family looked elsewhere. That is when Iva Bradley made a startling discovery.

When the Bradley family first arrived on board, a cruise photographer took their photo. When Amy’s mother returned later to retrieve the photograph, the same cruise photographer could not find it anywhere.

Was this incident a mere coincidence or perhaps an indication of a larger cover-up?

Through the investigation, the Bradley family discovered that there had been rumors of a slavery ring operating in the Caribbean, with particular value placed on white female women.

With no evidence of Amy having fallen overboard on the ship’s deck and no concrete evidence of her reaching land despite being a strong swimmer, Amy’s family concluded the most likely scenario was she had been abducted. And there have been numerous eyewitness accounts to back this up.

The first of these comes from a local taxi driver. He claimed that after Rhapsody of the Seas pulled into port, a frantic, single white female who looked frightened approached his cab.

She kept saying she needed a phone. However, thinking she was probably just a drunk tourist who had a bit too much to drink, he brushed her off, and she ran away.

The next sighting of her comes about five months later from vacationing Canadian engineer David Carmichael.

David claimed that in August 1998, he was sitting on a Curaçao beach when he saw a woman matching Amy’s description being escorted by two men. The woman looked frightened and wanted to talk to him. However, the two guys motioned her away. 

While this purported sighting might not seem credible, what gave this account validity is that he was able to describe some of Amy’s distinctive tattoos.

Among these distinctive tattoos included a Tasmanian devil spinning a basketball on her shoulder, a Japanese sun on her lower back, a Chinese symbol on her right ankle, and a gecko by her belly button.

The chance of David Carmichael’s testimony being a coincidence is just too low. After all, how many women in Curacao are walking around with a Tasmanian devil tattoo on their shoulder?

The next purported sighting of Amy came in January 1999. The unidentified witness was a sailor in the US Navy at the time when his ship docked in Curacao.

During this port visit, he said he visited a local brothel. During that visit, a woman approached him and said her name was Amy, and she needed help. Like the cab driver, he brushed her off and saw another woman instead. 

Unfortunately, despite a very promising lead, the man neglected to report the incident for several years until after he had retired from the Navy. This is because visiting prostitutes was and remains against US Navy regulations.

The last and most dramatic sighting of Amy came in 2005. An unidentified woman reported that she was shopping at a department store in Barbados when she had to use the restroom.

Once inside that department store restroom, she struck up a conversation with a woman since she said her name was Amy, which was also one of her daughters’ names.

After Amy began telling her about herself, including that she was from Virginia, three men barged into the restroom and took her away. 

The woman immediately reported the incident to authorities, and sketches were made of the woman and suspects, but no concrete leads came out of it until a photo surfaced later that year.

Several months after the latest alleged sightings in Barbados, the Bradley family received an email that gave them new hope in the case. The anonymous tipster stated that he had found this picture of Amy on an adult website advertising lovemaking trips to the Caribbean. 

The single photograph depicted what looked like Amy wearing lingerie. While her parents believed it was their daughter, it looked like a tormented Amy who was being held against her will. They needed further confirmation from experts to confirm their suspicions.

What the experts found was shocking. Numerous analysts confirmed that, without a doubt, the woman in the photo was Amy Lynn Bradley.

This discovery gave Amy’s family hope that she was still alive despite enduring whatever horrible suffering she was going through as a slave. 

However, with no further evidence of Amy being alive, her parents had her declared legally dead in 2010.

But while courts may have recognized that falling overboard in the international waters around Curacao was the most likely cause of her death, her parents have not stopped searching for her.

In fact, her family keeps Amy’s disappearance alive in the media through numerous outlets, including specials on television shows like Unsolved Mysteries, podcasts, and websites.

With this tremendous amount of media coverage the family keeps on Amy’s disappearance, it is hoped that the 250,000 dollar reward for her safe return or the 50,000 dollar reward for information leading to her verifiable location will one day convince someone to come forward.

However, until someone with intimate knowledge of how Amy disappeared comes forward, it is likely no one will ever know the truth of what happened to a young woman whose life was cut far too short.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200830211907/https://historydaily.org/amy-lynn-bradley-disappearance-everything-we-know

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna8289068

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/amy-lynn-bradley

https://unsolved.com/gallery/amy-bradley

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/inside-the-disappearance-of-amy-lynn-bradley-on-cruise-ship/news-story/e76b2967c3e5c119a2de3099f1559583

https://charleyproject.org/case/amy-lynn-bradley

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Jawbone rekindles cruise ship mystery.

• Amy Lynn Bradley vanished as her cruise ship docked in Curacao in 1998
• She was last seen having a drink with the ship's band, Blue Orchid
• Band member says they parted ways about 1 a.m.
• Know something? Call 804-276-2204. Ample rewards are offered

(CNN) -- If the human jawbone that washed up on a beach in Aruba late last year wasn't Natalee Holloway's, whose was it?

Authorities continue to investigate. They say the jawbone is human and likely was from a Caucasian. It held a single tooth.

Ten people have vanished while vacationing in the Caribbean in the last 15 years, according to the Aruba Missing Persons website. One of them was Amy Lynn Bradley, then 23, who disappeared 12 years ago while on a vacation cruise with her family.

Bradley and her mother, father and younger brother were on board the cruise ship "Rhapsody of the Seas." The ship had just left Oranjestad, Aruba, and was heading to Curacao, in the Netherlands Antilles, on the day she went missing -- March 24, 1998.

Bradley left her cabin early that morning, barefoot and carrying her cigarettes and lighter. It appears that she vanished while the ship was docking in Curacao.

The last person to see Bradley, according to her family, was her father, at about 5:30 a.m. Earlier, she had been with members of the cruise ship's band, "Blue Orchid."

Band member Alister Douglas, who goes by the moniker "Yellow," told CNN that Bradley joined band members for a drink at the ship's dance club after the band's performance. He said he parted with Bradley at about 1 a.m. and headed to the staff elevator. She went off in another direction, he said, but did not see where she went.

He recalled that he was awakened in his room at about 6 a.m. by a cruise line manager, who asked if Bradley was with him. Investigators searched his room, and those of his band mates later that day, but nothing was found, he said.

Bradley's family insists she had no reason to run off. She was planning a life back in Virginia, with a new job and a new home. She has no history of running away and would never abandon her family or pet bulldog, Bailey, the Bradleys said.

Did she fall overboard by accident? Could foul play be involved? Was she kidnapped by someone she encountered on the ship's deck? Did she get into a violent argument with someone?

The Bradleys say they have received no answers from authorities in Curacao and Aruba.

Ron and Iva Bradley said in a statement to CNN: "We believe that our daughter is alive, but being held captive by someone." They say they had a sighting in 2005 they believe was credible, when a witness said he saw their daughter in a department store rest room in Barbados.

Royal Caribbean International Cruise Lines, which owns "Rhapsody of the Seas," did not respond to CNN's request for comment, and authorities in Aruba and Curacao would say only that their investigations remain open.

The Bradleys' complaint that that no one looked closely at their daughter's disappearance echoes the complaints during the early days of the Natalee Holloway investigation.

Holloway's parents also complained of a lack of urgency by the authorities when she disappeared during a senior class trip to Aruba in May 2005. To this day, authorities have no resolution as to what happened to Holloway five years ago.

A local man, Joran van der Sloot, who was last seen with Holloway, was arrested and questioned several times. He was released and since has been arrested and charged with murdering a young woman in Peru.

At the time she disappeared, Bradley was 5'7" tall, weighed 120 pounds and had short brown hair and green eyes. She had a Tasmanian Devil tattoo on her left shoulder blade, a Chinese symbol tattooed on her right ankle, a green and blue gecko lizard tattoo around her navel, navel ring and multiple ear piercings.

A $250,000 reward is offered to anyone who provides information leading to the safe return of Amy Lynn Bradley. A reward of $50,000 is offered for information leading to her verifiable location. Please contact 804-276-2204 with tips.

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Shocking Facts About Amy Lynn Bradley, The Woman Who Disappeared At Sea

On March 24, 1998, Amy Lynn Bradley went missing from a cruise ship en route to Curacao from Aruba . Although the disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley did not initially generate the same media response precipitated by other cruise ship disappearances, over time, the baffling circumstances of her case and repeated accounts of her being sighted throughout the Caribbean have elevated the mystery surrounding her fate to a high-profile incident.

Additionally, a sinister photograph, purportedly of Amy, surfaced on a maturely themed website in 2005 and added fuel to the theory that the missing woman was forced to sell her body. Around 20 years after her  mysterious disappearance , theories about what happened to Amy Lynn Bradley only add to the uncertainty and dread surrounding one of the most disturbing missing person cases in history.

Amy Bradley Left Her Family's Stateroom And Was Never Seen Again

On March 23, 1998, Ron and Iva Bradley, their 23-year-old daughter, Amy, and their son, Brad, were enjoying their third day on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas . As the ship docked in Curacao after visiting Aruba, the family attended a dinner party on the upper deck of the ship. Amy and Brad both danced until the early morning hours, and Amy was seen dancing with a band member on a ship disco dance floor. However, both Brad and Amy entered their stateroom between 3:30 and 4 am.

Ron Bradley would recall seeing his daughter in a chair on the room's balcony when he briefly woke up at approximately 5 am. When he woke up again around 6 am, Amy was gone, the only missing items were her cigarettes and a lighter. She clearly intended to leave briefly, as she did not even bring shoes, identification, or any other important items with her. Her family never saw her again .   

A 2005 Website Photograph Showed Someone Similar To Amy

Since her disappearance in 1998, there have been several alleged sightings of Amy Lynn Bradley. The most disturbing was a 2005 email sent to the Bradley family website, which contained two photographs of a woman. These photographs were observed by a member of an organization that attempts to track potential victims on sites that feature sex workers.

The photos depict a scantily clad woman who closely resembles Amy but who also appears to be both distraught and despondent. One of these photos was seen publicly when the Bradley family appeared on the Dr. Phil show.

A US Serviceman Claims To Have Encountered Amy In A Brothel

Another disturbing sighting occurred in January 1999, when a Navy Petty Officer claimed to have encountered  Amy in a hotel brothel in Curacao. Recognizing him as an American, Amy supposedly told the individual her name, said that she was being held against her will, and asked for help.

Unfortunately, the officer kept the information to himself, fearing the repercussions that would come with his solicitation of a sex worker. He only contacted the Bradleys through their website after his retirement.

A Band Member May Have Been Involved In Amy's Abduction

After dinner on the evening of March 23, Amy Bradley entered the disco of the ship and was observed dancing continuously with a member of a band that was performing on the ship. This individual, Alister "Yellow" Douglas, and Amy were even videotaped repeatedly by a cameraperson producing a promotional piece for the cruise line. Footage surfaced when the video producer heard about Amy's disappearance and assumed she must be in some of the video from the evening in question.

After Amy left her room, she was seen near the disco with Douglas at approximately 6 am. A witness would subsequently claim to have seen Douglas hand Bradley a dark drink, possibly coffee. Other witnesses saw Douglas leaving the area by himself, but Amy was never seen again. Police eventually cleared Douglas after a polygraph but before the FBI got a hold of the disco video.

Amy Was Also Sighted On A Curacao Beach In 1998

In August  1998, a Canadian named David Carmichael encountered two men and a woman walking on the beach near Port of Maria, Curacao. When he spoke in a loud voice in English to a friend who was a few feet away, the woman suddenly turned around and began to walk in his direction. Just as the woman was about to speak with him, one of the two men distinctly signaled to her to walk away.

She dejectedly entered a small cafe with the two men but continued to stare at Carmichael whenever she could get his attention. Carmichael had no idea who Amy was, until he eventually saw her profiled on the television show Unsolved Mysteries . When he contacted the Bradleys, he was able to describe Amy's distinctive tattoos, as he observed her from only a few feet away. He claims to be "100%" certain that the woman he saw was Amy Bradley.  

The Bradley Family Was Scammed Out Of Over $200,000 By A Fake Bunch Of 'Navy Seals'

In probably the most reprehensible chapter  of the entire Amy Lynn Bradley incident, in the fall of 1999, an individual named Frank Jones contacted the Bradleys and claimed that Columbian gangsters were holding Amy Lynn on the island of Curacao. Jones claimed to be a former member of American Special Forces, and he offered to help set Amy free.

He also claimed he had an eyewitness to Amy's location, a cook who accurately described Amy's tattoos, and even a lullaby she heard Amy sing (which she was taught by Mrs. Bradley). Two other former Navy SEALs were sent to Curacao to specifically determine Amy's location. When Jones demanded more money to underwrite the actual armed rescue, the Bradleys asked for concrete proof that their daughter was actually under Jones's teams' surveillance. He responded with a photo of a similarly tattooed woman (who resembled Amy) and the Bradleys paid him the rest of the money. The total came to $210,000.

The Bradleys were instructed to fly to Florida to wait for a call from Jones as soon as Amy was recovered. They waited in a hotel for a week before they got a call from one of Jones's associates (who had also been duped) and determined the whole operation was a scam. The cook, the photos, the Colombians, and the house under surveillance were all a fraud. Jones, who had never been in the Special Forces, eventually pled guilty to mail fraud and got a five year sentence and an order to make restitution. 

Amy May Have Been Spotted In Barbados

In 2005, a woman named Judy Mawer was in a Bridgetown, Barbados , women's restroom stall when she suddenly heard two men loudly enter the bathroom and begin screaming and threatening a woman in a different stall. Mawer waited for a few minutes and then exited the stall to find a very upset woman hunched over the sink area.

The woman allegedly told Judy Mawer her name was Amy and that she was from Virginia. Seconds later, the two men reentered the bathroom and forcibly removed "Amy from Virginia." Judy Mawer provided the FBI with descriptions of the two men and the woman. "Amy from Virginia" strongly resembled the two online, racy photos sent around the same time to the Bradleys.

Strange Incidents Preceded Amy's Disappearance

Even before Amy disappeared, there were a few odd instances around the ship. Three of the waiters on the ship were quite friendly with Amy, almost immediately. While the ship was docked in Aruba, one of them even asked Amy's father about her whereabouts by name. When asked why he was looking for her, he told Mr. Bradley that "they,"  presumably members of the wait staff, wanted to take her to Carlos and Charlie's, the same bar that Natalee Holloway disappeared from in 2005.

Amy subsequently told her father that the waiters "gave her the creeps," and she didn't want anything to do with them. That night, when the ship staff posted photos taken of all of the dinner participants, Amy's mother noticed that all of her daughter's photos were missing , despite the gallery supervisor clearly remembering they were posted earlier.

The Cruise Line Refused To Cooperate Or Provide An Appropriate Search

After the Bradleys determined Amy was missing, they frantically asked the ship's purser to back the ship away from the dock and prevent any guests from leaving. They also requested an announcement  be made concerning Amy's disappearance. 

By the time a cursory search of the ship began, many of the ship's guests and staff had already left the vessel for the day. The family was subsequently told that no announcement would be made and no photographs would be posted concerning Amy's disappearance, as this would be too disturbing to other passengers. The Bradleys left the ship in Curacao but flew to the next stop to subsequently reboard when they were told by the FBI the search for Amy had only included bathrooms and common areas and ignored staterooms and employee living quarters.

The FBI eventually boarded the ship, but their investigation went nowhere.

A Human Jawbone Might Be From Amy's Remains

In late 2010, probably as a result of environmental turmoil caused by Hurricane Tomas, a human jaw bone washed up on a beach in Aruba. It was quickly determined to have no connection to Natalee Holloway, another woman who had disappeared around the same time.

Once local authorities determined the jawbone was not connected to the Holloway case, they ceased any further testing, despite the fact that Amy Lynn Bradley and up to as many as nine other Caribbean vacationers were said to have disappeared in the 15 years prior to the Holloway case. Because dental records were able to rule out any connection to Natalee Holloway, no DNA testing was ever done on the material. However, the tests performed did determine that the jawbone came from a Caucasian person.

A $250,000 Reward Is Still Offered For Information About Amy's Whereabouts

The last suspected sighting of Amy Bradley occurred in 2005. Possibly to help generate interest and keep Amy's story in the public eye, a $250,000 reward is currently offered on the Bradley family website . The FBI is also offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to her recovery or information about the individuals responsible for her disappearance.

In March 2017, the FBI released a  public service video  detailing the facts surrounding Amy's disappearance, along with an appeal for information concerning the case or Amy's current whereabouts.

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A closer look at mysterious disappearances that continue to baffle detectives.