Amy Lynn Bradley was like any other 23-year-old girl before she vanished. In high school, she earned a varsity letter in five sports, went to college on a full basketball scholarship, and among her other recognizable tattoos, she had a Tasmanian devil playing basketball on her left shoulder (remember this).
By 1998, she had graduated college from Longwood University with a degree in physical education. She was also about to get her master’s degree. She had just gotten a new apartment, was about to start a new job, and was planning on adopting a new puppy. She truly had everything to live for.
She was also very close with her mother, Iva Bradley, her father, Ron Bradley, and her younger brother, Brad. Amy and Brad were only two years apart, so they were more like best friends.
In March of 1998, the entire Bradley family boarded a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. It was a vacation that Amy’s father had won at work. It was a dream vacation that would soon become a living nightmare.
On the second day of the vacation, the cruise ship docked in Aruba, and after a day of exploring the island, the entire family boarded back onto the ship. Amy and her brother ended up splitting up from their parents, and a waiter actually approached Amy’s mother and asked her where her daughter was. This was really strange because the entire family had noticed that this particular waiter had been kind of checking out Amy the entire time they were on this cruise ship. So, Amy’s mother asked why he was looking for her daughter, and the waiter just said, “A couple of us guys were thinking about taking her off the ship and going to a club in Aruba.”
Later, Amy’s mother passed this message on to her daughter, and Amy just said, “Ew! They’re creepy. I’m definitely not going anywhere with them.” That night, the cruise left Aruba and was heading towards its next destination of Curaçao. There was a band playing that night, and at this point, Amy’s parents had already gone to bed. However, Amy and her brother continued to party at the ship’s onboard nightclub. Amy was spending her night hanging out and dancing with the band’s bass player, who went by the nickname “Yellow.”
By 3:40 a.m., Amy and her brother had returned to the family cabin. They were sitting out on the balcony off their room, just chatting about life. After a little bit, Amy’s brother went to bed, but Amy stayed out on the balcony, and she was there until around 5:30 in the morning. By the time her dad woke up at 6 a.m., Amy was gone. She had changed out of her clothes and grabbed a couple of her belongings that she would take with her everywhere, but she hadn’t taken a pair of shoes. Wherever she was, she likely thought she would come right back because she was barefoot.
Witnesses saw Amy that morning around 6 a.m. walking around with that bass player, Yellow, but by the time her dad woke up and realized that his daughter was gone, he searched for her but couldn’t find her anywhere. He ended up getting really frantic. He went up and woke the rest of his family. Together, they went and spoke to the ship security, begging them to make an announcement over the intercom saying that Amy was missing. They also asked to hand out photos of Amy so people could keep an eye out for her, but the ship security refused because they said it would worry and scare the other passengers.
The only thing that the Royal Caribbean cruise ship did do was, after Amy was already missing for two hours, make an announcement over the intercom for Amy to go to the front desk. Of course, she never showed up. Strangely enough, before that announcement was ever even made, while Amy’s entire family was searching the ship for her, that bass player, Yellow, went up to Amy’s brother and apologized for what happened to Amy, even though he shouldn’t have even known that she was missing.
At this point in the day, the ship had arrived in Curaçao, and the 2,500 passengers were allowed to depart the ship. Amy’s family begged that no one be allowed to leave the ship until their daughter was found, but the Royal Caribbean ship refused. The cruise ship didn’t even take note of who was departing the ship, so if Amy had been kidnapped, they would have easily been able to take her off the ship.
Later in the evening, the ship was about to leave Curaçao and head toward the next destination. Amy’s family had to make a decision: either stay on the boat looking for their daughter and hope she hadn’t been taken off the boat yet, or stay in Curaçao and search for her there. The Royal Caribbean staff told Amy’s family that they had searched the entire ship thoroughly and that Amy was definitely not aboard the ship, even though they later learned this was a lie. The staff only searched the common areas of the ship and didn’t check any of the passengers’ rooms.
Amy’s family finally got off the boat in Curaçao, believing there was no chance Amy was still on the boat, and the Royal Caribbean cruise ship left the family behind. Curaçao authorities searched for Amy by sky and sea, but there were no signs of her. At this point, Amy’s family got in touch with the FBI. The FBI and Amy’s family both met up with the ship at its next destination, searched the ship, and again found no signs of her. By this point, she had been missing for days.
Shortly after, the week-long cruise was over, and the Bradley family had to return to Virginia with their daughter still missing. It has been concluded that it’s very unlikely Amy fell overboard on the ship. At the point where she vanished, they were very close to land, and Amy was a very strong swimmer. She was a lifeguard and on the swim team in both college and high school. If she had fallen overboard, she would have been able to swim to land, or her body would have washed up on shore.
What most likely happened, and is believed by most authorities, is that Amy Bradley was kidnapped from her cruise ship and then sold into human trafficking. There are a lot of credible sightings of Amy Bradley that support this theory.
The day after Amy vanished, a cab driver in Curaçao said a woman matching Amy’s description came to him very distraught and frantic, saying she urgently needed a phone.
Five months after Amy vanished, a Canadian citizen was on a beach in Curaçao and said there was a woman with two men on the same beach. The Canadian said that once the woman realized he spoke English, she started to run towards him but was pulled away by the two men. This woman had tattoos identical to Amy Bradley’s tattoos, and he specifically remembered the Tasmanian devil on her shoulder.
Ten months after Amy vanished, a U.S. Navy officer was in Curaçao and said he saw a woman in a brothel who told him her name was Amy Bradley and that she needed help. She explained she was being held against her will. Unfortunately, the man left the brothel without Amy and didn’t report the sighting immediately because he was afraid he would get into trouble for being in a brothel.
In 2005, a woman who was also on a cruise ship docked in Barbados went to a ladies’ room in a shopping complex. A distraught woman rushed into the bathroom while being followed by three men. The men were yelling at the woman and threatening her about a deal she better not mess up. The distraught woman said her name was Amy, she was from Virginia, and she needed help. But before the other woman could help her, the three men took her away. However, the witness was able to make composite sketches of the woman and the three men with her.
In 2005, Amy’s parents received an anonymous email that linked to a website advertising sex workers in the Caribbean. Two photos on the website showed a sex worker believed to be Amy Bradley. Looking at the photo, it proves that Amy Bradley was sold into human trafficking.
In March of 2010, after missing for 12 years, Amy Bradley was legally declared dead.
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