The Disappearance of Amy Bradley

"Woman Sitting" by Frederic Forest

On March 24, 1998, 23 year old Amy Bradley of Petersburg Virginia went missing while on vacation with her family on the Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas cruise-line. And while she was never discovered dead or alive, her story has remained infamous due to the troubling discoveries made years after the night she disappeared.

One night during the week-long cruise, while the ship made its way to a stop in Curacao, Amy, her brother Brad and her parents Ron and Iva enjoyed a dinner together, noticing that some of the staff members were paying extra close attention to Amy, with even a bass guitarist of the cruise's band, Alister Douglas (also known as Yellow) taking interest in her and joining her for dancing at the cruise's club later on in the night.

Before going to bed, Amy had a smoke on her room's deck with her brother, and he bid her goodnight, not knowing that would be the last time he'd ever speak to his sister.

The next morning, Amy was nowhere to be found. Her family determined that she wouldn't have left her room without letting them know where she'd be, and after checking a few likely places on the ship, they finally decided to report her missing to the captain and his crew. At this point, Alister Douglas who Amy had been partying with that night, approached her brother Brad and said something to the effect of  "Hey man, I'm sorry to hear about your sister," when at that point no one knew she had gone missing besides the family, the captain and a few crew members.

In interviews, her parents have stated that the crew involved in her search were seemingly careless and unwilling to help. They didn't seem at all pressed to find her, refused to do room checks, and didn't even make announcements to guests that they were on the look for someone. They simply checked the restaurants and common areas for her and made the announcement "Will Amy Bradley please come to the purser's desk?” which of course would not be helpful in the event that she was held hostage.

Amy's family begged the captain not to let anyone off the boat in Curacao until Amy was found. But the captain refused their request, dismissing guests and possibly Amy and anyone holding her captive upon arrival. In fact, a couple of women approached the Bradley family, letting them know that that morning around 5:00 AM, they saw Amy heading to the disco with Alister Douglas. Later on, Douglas was forced to take a lie-detector test, which he passed, and with the support of the cruise-line staff claiming they checked the entire boat for her and finding nothing, he was somehow determined to no longer be a suspect. Disturbingly enough, all souvenir photos of Amy that had been taken by cruise-ship staff had been erased from the system, which the staff treated as a coincidence.

The family searched all over the island of Curacao looking for Amy, trying to keep track of where they had searched before now that all the people onboard had been let off into that town. When they came up with nothing by the time the ship was scheduled to leave Curacao, the captain told them that they could either join them back on the ship to return home or they could stay on the island, and that they would not wait for them and their investigation. They decided to stay on the island.

While they stayed on the island, Curacao authorities sent a search team to look for Amy, helicopters and all. The Bradley’s then had family back in the US contact the FBI to put out a search for her, which they would eight months later come to find had never been touched or looked into. This discovery later on of the FBI's incompetence was extremely devastating for them.

Amy's brother and father visited the islands again later on to go looking for her, to no avail. 

Fascinatingly, several people over many years came forward to let the Bradley family know that they believe they had run into Amy while on the islands.

• A man named David Carmichael claimed that a woman who had a tattoo of a baby Tasmanian Devil spinning a basketball on her shoulder, tried to run up to him on a beach but was escorted away by two men. The matching tattoo description made the family hopeful.

• Another man, Frank Jones "of the Special Forces: claimed that he kept seeing a woman on the beaches with all of Amy's tattoos. He even sent photos to the parents of the back of the woman, and collected thousands of dollars from the family as he did his own private investigation. It was later discovered after he requested over $100,000 for his research, that the man had in fact lied about having served in the Special Forces, and had never actually encountered Amy. He had staged his own model with similar looking tattoos to swindle her parents. At this point he had taken $24,444 from the Bradleys and $186,416 from the Nation's Missing Children Organization of $186,416. Not to mention, he had stolen valuable time that could have been spent actually getting closer to solving Amy's case. Jones was sentenced to five years in prison (which I believe is not enough considering the emotional damage he caused) and is expected to repay his debt.

• A Naval officer visiting the islands, visited a brothel in 1999, when a young woman approached him begging him to help her. She said something to the effect of "My name is Amy Bradley and I need your help. They won't let me leave this place." He never ended up helping her, and held his tongue about the incident until much later on, after the brothel had already burned to the ground and there was no way of tracing those who used to do business there.

• In 2005 a woman on vacation in Barbados was in a women's restroom stall when she heard a man screaming at a woman to "not mess up his deal" and to "be ready by 11." She exited the stall to see a woman crying over the bathroom sink. After speaking to her for a few minutes, the woman mentions she's "Amy from Virginia." After the woman tried to relate to her and mention that her daughter's name was Amy too, Amy panicked that they'd be caught talking and lunged toward the woman in a menacing way. The woman left, only to later find out the case about Amy Bradley and realize who she may have been speaking to.

• Finally, Amy's parents were contacted by people who claimed that they may have seen photos of Amy on an adult website. The site showcased women on the islands dressed scantily and posed on beds, and one woman looked like a slightly older, thinner and more disheveled and overly made-up version of Amy. It's still never been confirmed if that was her, but some investigators have a strong inkling that it's her.

Amy has still never been placed, but her family still continues the search for her.

So what do I think happened to Amy Bradley?

Clearly I am not a professional investigator, nor have I worked personally with the details on this case, so I can only go off of what the public knows, and it has lead me to believe that Amy Bradley was sold into sex slavery.

Human trafficking is a problem all over the world, and many cases, even in the United States, are not properly discussed or reported on. The problem with a cruise line that touches several different countries is that depending on where it is, the laws it must abide by become muddied. They may have started in the US, but when you leave the US, the people you deal with no longer have to comply with the FBI or American law enforcement to a certain extent. And on many of these islands, the criminals have way more power than police. And that can cause people to fear losing their livelihoods or lives if they try to fight these people. So it causes many people to become quiet when someone goes missing, or if they know what's going on.

I believe that someone working for Royal Caribbean was at least partly responsible for her disappearance, as she had spent time with staff members, because staff member Alister Douglas already knew she was missing before the news had been let out and because the souvenir photos of her had all disappeared along with her. 

I also believe she was not murdered when she disappeared. I believe that she was kidnapped and trafficked as unfortunately many people are. And I believe those alleged sightings of her on the islands besides of course that of Frank Jones. 

The problem with this case, as well as many others like it is that word doesn't always spread far enough or to the correct people when a person goes missing. If all of those people who saw her knew before who she was, I'm sure they would have realized what was going on and done more to help. 

Also, even if people do put two and two together, most people don't know what to do with that information. Many times law enforcement in other countries is just as corrupt as the criminals. Or they fear that if they aren't able to help Amy, they'll instead put their lives in jeopardy for reporting anything. 

Finally, there are thousands of people who become prostitutes willfully. A lot of people do what they do to make money because they enjoy it or they feel it's the most lucrative thing for them. So with that knowledge, many people think if they see a phone girl or a prostitute or a pornstar, that they're looking at someone doing something she is willing to do. But that of course is not always the case, and that's something we need to realize as a country so that we can help those in need.

I believe that there's a possibility Amy Bradley is still alive to this day. I know this may sound crazy, but there is a possibility. Not only have remains of her never shown up, but even seven years after her disappearance, she was seen by someone. Meaning that if that was her, she survived seven years of the terrifying life of a sex slave. If she has the strength to endure that, still remembered her name and still wanted to make contact with outsiders, I think it's possible she is still out there. Unfortunately, if she is, there's a huge chance she's still being used or abused. But I wish all the luck to her family to solve this case and possibly reunite with her. Hope is something we should never let go of.

Amy Bradley would be 43 years old at the time I have written this article. When she disappeared, she had several tattoos including a baby Tasmanian Devil spinning a basketball located on her shoulder, the sun placed on her lower back, a Chinese symbol located on her right ankle, and a gecko lizard on her navel. She was last allegedly spotted in Barbados, although that was over a decade ago. If you find any information that could lead to her discovery, please call (804) 276-2204 or email TeamAmy@hotmail.com. 

If you are witness to any suspicious behavior, or feel that someone you know is in danger, please don't hesitate to contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center which is available 24/7 at (888) 373-7888

Too often in this country, the cases of missing people and human trafficking fly under the radar. But we can change that by spreading awareness. Awareness as to what we can do to avoid becoming victims, and awareness that it's a real threat in this country that needs more attention.

Please check out the Kendall Rae video below about her disappearance for a more in-depth take.