The Disappearance of Amy Bradley
http://amybradley.net
Disappeared; 24th March 1998, aged 23, from cruise ship enroute to Curacao.
Missing for; 16 Years and 4 Months.
Status; Whereabouts unknown, possibly still alive, possibly sold into sex slavery.
Abductors; Possibly 3 unidentified men.
Mysterious disappearances fascinate me, but this one is the one that really got under my skin! (long but worth it!!)
Amy Bradley was vacationing with her parents and brother on the cruise ship, ‘Rhapsody of the Seas’ in March 1998.
At around 5:30am on March 24th 1998, Amy’s brother left her sitting on the outdoor balcony when he returned to his cabin. She was seen a short time later riding in an elevator by another passenger, she was seen with a member of the ship’s band ‘Blue Orchid.’ He was simply known as ‘Yellow.’ The ship was en route to Curacao, Antilles at the time she was last seen. Shortly before the cruise ship docked in Curacao, it was discovered that Amy Bradley was missing.
As investigation of her disappearance began, things were strange. The cruise ships photo service that sold photos of the passengers, mysteriously ‘lost’ every single photo of Amy Bradley from their database 9 to 10 hours after Amy disappeared. Out of thousands of passengers aboard the ship, photos of Amy were the only ones that had vanished.
The first sighting of Amy Bradley took place in Curacao sometime in August 1998, 5 months after she disappeared. 2 Canadian tourists reported seeing a woman walking along the beach with two other men flanking her. When the woman heard the tourist speaking English she ran towards him, but before she even spoke, she was grabbed by two men and lead into a cafe. As the mysterious woman was lead away, she pointed out her tattoos to the tourist, her tattoos matched those of Amy Bradley’s.
Now things get weirder. Later, in 1999, an American sailor reported visiting a brothel in Curacao and was approached by a young woman. She told him her name was Amy Bradley and that she needed help. Before the sailor had time to react, two men came and escorted the woman upstairs. By the time the sailor had reported this to the police, a few months later, the brothel had mysteriously burned down.
The last potential (in person) sighting of Amy Bradley was in 2005 in Bridgetown, Barbados. A woman named Judy Mawer was in a shopping mall restroom when she heard two men burst in shouting things like “a deal is coming through, you need to obey to not mess it up!” When the men had left, Judy came out of her cubical and found a woman, who the men had been threatening. Judy comforted the woman, who appeared to be in her early thirties, and was extremely distraught. The woman then told Judy her name was Amy, and that she was from Virginia. Suddenly the men burst back into the restroom, dragging the woman away as Judy ran. Judy described the woman and her two captors to the FBI, who compiled sketches of the three. This was the last time anyone came in contact with Amy.
Pictures were discovered in 2004-2005 on a website advertising prostitutes in the Carribbean, of a woman named only as ‘Jas.’ ‘Jas’ bared a strong resemblance to Amy Bradley, which strongly suggests she could have been sold into sexual slavery. You can find the comparison between Amy and ‘Jas’ here; http://i.imgur.com/BX4PchS.jpg (photo is not mine.) Sketch of Amy’s potential captors, as described by Judy Mawer; http://i.imgur.com/M8XcVZZ.jpg (again not my photo)
Despite 3 possible encounters with Amy Bradley, sketches of her captors, and very convincing photos that she may be in the sex trade, Amy Bradley has never been seen since, the same is to be said for her captors.