It was with great reluctance and only after constant encouraging that twenty-three-year-old Amy Bradley agreed to accompany her family on a cruise through the Caribbean. She was an excellent swimmer in the pool, but she was uncomfortable on the swirling ocean waters. Her parents and brother assured her she would be fine and that, with their help, she would conquer her fear.
On March 21, 1998, Amy, her brother Brad, and her parents, Ron and Iva Bradley, departed their West Chesterfield County, Virginia, home for a cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s Rhapsody of the Seas. One week later, Ron, Iva, and Brad returned home, but Amy did not.
The possibility that Amy Bradley, last seen aboard the ship in the early morning hours of March 24, voluntarily disappeared is remote. The suggestion that she may have fallen into and perished in the Caribbean waters is possible. The evidence, however, suggests an even more sinister scenario.
Amy Bradley is believed, but not confirmed, to have been abducted and forced into the burgeoning Caribbean slave and sex trade industry.
Amy Bradley
Amy Bradley had recently graduated with a degree in physical education from Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.
She was slated to soon start working at a computer consulting firm.
Recent College Graduate
On March 21, 1998, the Bradleys boarded the “Rhapsody of the Seas” and set sail on the four-hundred-fifty-mile voyage from Puerto Rico to Aruba, a small Caribbean island and sovereign state of the Netherlands just north of Venezuela.
The family partied, relaxed and enjoyed themselves for three evenings while the ship was docked in Aruba’s capital, Oranjestad.
Family Having Fun
Late in the evening of March 23, the Rhapsody of the Seas departed for Curacao, also a sovereign state of the Netherlands, one-hundred-thirteen kilometers (seventy miles) east of Aruba.
Destination Curacao
Amy and Brad partied all evening of March 23 at the ship’s nightclub, dancing, drinking, and chatting with other cruise members. The ship’s door-lock system recorded Brad returning to the family suite at 3:35 a.m. on March 24 and Amy five minutes later.
Ron awoke when Amy entered the room, and they briefly chatted before he went back to sleep. Amy told her dad she had a great time and was going to sit on the suite’s balcony for a little while; she was not drunk.
Amy and Brad chatted on the balcony for approximately one-and-a-half hours until Amy said she was having a little motion sickness and wanted to get off the ship to purchase cigarettes.
When Brad went to bed at 5:15 a.m., Amy was still on the suite’s balcony. The captain later said the ship, at that time, was approximately fifteen-to-twenty miles outside the docking destination of Willemstad, Curacao’s capital.
Ron awoke again at 5:30 a.m.. He saw Brad asleep in the suite and Amy on the balcony. She appeared to be resting comfortably; Ron saw only her legs as the curtains obstructed his view of the upper half of Amy’s body. The balcony door was closed as Ron dozed back to sleep.
The Rhapsody of the Sea captain said the ship had by then entered the inland channel that leads to the harbor at Port Willemstad on Curacao.
Ron Bradley
Amy’s Father
Two passengers saw Amy riding the elevator alone to the ship’s top deck at approximately 6:00 a.m.. Around that time, Ron again awoke and saw the balcony door partly open. Amy’s sandals were inside the suite.
After Iva awoke, showered, and dressed, she and Ron spent an hour unsuccessfully searching for Amy. Worried, they asked the ship’s crew to assist them. Ship personnel, however, did not initially do so as the ship was docking in Curacao and they had to tend to their responsibilities.
The Bradleys say the first page for Amy was not made until 7:50 a.m., nearly an hour after the ship docked. By then, the ship’s gangway (the passage to board and disembark the ship) had been lowered, and most passengers had disembarked for the day on Curacao Island.
Several subsequent pages for Amy were made, but to no avail. Ship officials say they combed through all ten decks and nine-hundred-ninety-nine rooms on the ship but found no sign of Amy.
Amy Vanishes
After being told the ship had been searched top to bottom and that Amy was likely on land in Curacao, the Bradleys left the Rhapsody of the Blue at 6:00 p.m. to search the island.
The ship departed Curacao on schedule approximately half-an-hour later.
Was Amy On The Island?
After island police were notified of Amy’s disappearance, a cab driver on Curacao reported a young woman he believed to be Amy had frantically approached his cab on the afternoon of March 24 saying she needed a phone. It could not be confirmed that she was Amy.
FBI dogs searching the ship were unable to track Amy’s scent. A three-day search of the harbor by the Netherlands Antilles Coast Guard encompassing a twenty-mile area around the Curacao Port and the surrounding waters by the Royal Dutch Marines found no evidence she had been on the island. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines chartered a boat to continue looking for her, but that search also came up empty.
No Trace Of Amy
Investigators concluded Amy had likely either accidentally fallen or purposefully jumped overboard and drowned. Her family rejected both possibilities. In addition to the Coast Guard searches finding no trace of Amy, she was nervous about being near the water and would not likely to have gone to the edge of the boat.
Purposefully taking her life seemed even less likely as Amy did not suffer from depression and had never exhibited any suicidal tendencies.
Searches Produce Nothing
The Bradleys pieced together Amy’s last hours aboard the ship.
They know she changed her clothes and believe she left their suite sometime between 5:30-6:00 a.m., but they do not know where she was going. As the ship had not yet docked, she would not have been able to buy her cigarettes.
Ron and Iva believe Amy had several hundred dollars with her. She took her room key, her remaining cigarettes and a lighter, none of which were ever found.
What Is Known
Cruise member Crystal Roberts, who had met Amy aboard the ship, believes she saw her at approximately 6:00 a.m. on March 24, around the same time she was seen by two other cruise members on the elevator. Amy was with Alister Douglas, nicknamed “Yellow.” He was the bassist of the band Blue Orchid that performed at the club the previous evening.
Crystal says she saw the two walk to the deck above her and that ten minutes later, Yellow came back down, alone.
Crystal Roberts
Cruise Passenger
Other passengers said they had seen Yellow and Amy dancing at the party the previous evening. All said he was acting flirtatious, making Amy uncomfortable. Other dancers heard her tell him several times to back off.
Yellow says he last saw Amy at approximately 1:00 a.m., five hours before she was last seen, on March 24. Investigators found no evidence he was involved in Amy’s disappearance.
“Yellow” And Amy Dancing
In August 1998, five months after Amy Bradley disappeared, two Canadian tourists reported seeing her on Curacao. The sighting was deemed credible because they accurately described several of her tattoos.
Five months later, in January 1999, an American Naval officer said a woman in a brothel introduced herself to him as Amy Bradley. She was agitated and asked for help, saying she was being held against her will. At that point, two men promptly escorted her from the tavern.
The naval officer believed it was a boyfriend/girlfriend dispute and did not report it. He was not familiar with Amy’s disappearance and her name did not ring a bell with him. Only when he learned of her case several months later did he report it to authorities. By then, the bar in which he believed he had encountered Amy had burned down.
Reported Sightings
In February 2002, Frank Jones was convicted of defrauding the Bradleys of over $24,000 and the Nation’s Missing Children Organization of over $186,000 in providing false information relating to Amy’s whereabouts.
Jones had emailed the Bradleys in 1999, saying Amy was being held prisoner by armed Columbians on Curacao. He claimed to be a former United States Army Special Forces officer who, with a team of former fellow Army Rangers and Navy Seals, would, for a price, attempt to rescue Amy.
Jones provided “surveillance” photographs of the woman he claimed was Amy. After viewing them, Ron and Iva were convinced the woman was their missing daughter.
Judith Margaritha, a cook in Curacao, subsequently told the Bradleys she had seen Amy shopping regularly at a local grocery store and working out at a gym, often with a man with long blond hair. After she accurately described Amy’s tattoos, favorite foods, and activities she liked as a child, the Bradleys were convinced Jones and Margaritha were legitimate. It was, however, all a ruse.
The photo Jones had provided the Bradleys was taken in Pensacola, Florida, of a man in a blond wig wearing fake tattoos to match Amy’s real tattoos. Jones was exposed by a real Army Special Forces sniper as having never served in the Special Forces. The house where he claimed Amy was being held by armed Columbians was the residence of a local unassuming family.
Frank Jones pled guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to repay the money. I could not find what punishment Judith Margaritha received.
Frank Jones
In March 2005, seven years after Amy Bradley’s disappearance, she was reported seen in a different part of the Caribbean.
American tourist Judy Maurer saw a woman resembling Amy in a department store restroom in Barbados, six-hundred-forty miles east of Curacao. When the woman left the department store, she was accompanied by a male companion. Judy saw the woman enter the restroom accompanied by three men, who grabbed her in a forceful manner and appeared to be threatening her.
A Drawing Of The Woman In Barbados
After the men left, Judy says she approached the distraught woman who said her name was Amy and she was from Virginia. The men then returned and angrily took her away. Judy called area authorities, but they were unable to locate the woman or the men.
Based on Judy’s recollections, investigators created composite sketches of the woman and three men.
Six months later, provocative photos surfaced suggesting an ominous possibility as to the fate of Amy Bradley.
Composites Of The Men
In September 2005, Ron and Iva were emailed several photographs of a scantily clad woman, including the images below, from an adult website based in the Caribbean. The women were advertised as female escorts.
Authorities were unable to trace the exact location of the website’s IP address.
The Emailed Photos
Amy’s parents believed the woman in the photos is their daughter, who would have then been twenty-nine-years-old. If they are correct, the photos suggest an ominous possibility: that Amy had been abducted and was being used in the Caribbean sex industry.
Human trafficking for sexual purposes is increasingly prevalent in the southern Caribbean. Young white women, such as Amy, are considered especially desirable to foreign procurers.
Is The Woman Amy?
After analyzing the photographs and studying the woman’s facial features, hairline, and multiple ear piercings, a forensic detective sated he is so certain the woman in the photographs is Amy Bradley that he would “bet his career.”
Similarities Noted
Authorities want to identify and speak to the three men seen by Judy Maurer in Barbados in March 2005. The men were in the company of a woman Judy believed to be Amy Bradley. The photos and physical descriptions are from 2005.
The Caucasian with dark hair on the left is believed to be in his thirties.
The middle man is also Caucasian, possibly in his late thirties to early forties, approximately six-feet tall with a receding hairline and red beard.
The man on the right may be Hispanic and appeared to be in his early thirties, approximately six-feet tall with dark, shoulder-length hair.
Sought For Questioning
This photo of Amy Bradley was taken aboard the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line ship approximately ten hours before she disappeared. She was last seen aboard the ship at approximately 6:00 a.m. on March 24, 1998.
At the time of her disappearance, Amy was five-feet-seven-inches tall and weighed one-hundred-fifteen pounds. She had green eyes and naturally brown hair which she sometimes dyed blonde. Her naval and both of her ears were pierced multiple times.
Amy had several tattoos: a baby Tasmanian devil on her back left shoulder, a green and blue gecko lizard on her navel, a Japanese symbol on her right ankle and a primitive Japanese sun on her lower back. She smoked Marlboro cigarettes.
Evidence suggests Amy Bradley may be a victim of human trafficking, forced into the Caribbean sex/slave industry.
The Last Photo Of Amy Bradley
Amy Lynn Bradley would today be forty-nine-years-old.
A $260,000 reward is offered for information leading to her whereabouts.
Computer-Aged Images
If you believe you have any information relating to the disappearance of Amy Bradley, please contact any of the numbers or email addresses below.
Contact Information
Amy Bradley’s disappearance is similar to the disappearances of twenty-eight-year-old Claudia Kirschhoch and eighteen-year-old Natalee Holloway.
Like Amy, both American women disappeared in the Caribbean; Claudia in 2000, Natalee in 2004. Claudia is rumored to have also possibly been forced into the Caribbean sex trade, while Natalee is now believed to have been murdered.
In October 2023, Johan van der Sloot confessed to murdering Natalee Holloway by blunt force trauma after she rebuffed his sexual advances. He says he disposed of her body in the ocean. If he is telling the truth, it is unlikely her remains will be recovered.
Claudia Natalee
Kirschhoch Holloway
Here is the link to my write-up on the disappearance of Claudia Kirschhoch.
SOURCES:
- ABC News
- Charley Project
- Doe Network
- European Stars and Stripes
- FBI
- Harrisonburg (Virginia) Daily News
- International Cruise Victims
- Richmond Times
- Unsolved Mysteries
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