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In March 1998, 23-year-old Amy Bradley, along with her family, went on a Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas. She was accompanied by her parents, Ron and Iva, and her younger brother, Brad. The family was on vacation; however, during the trip, Amy mysteriously disappeared from the cruise one night, without a trace. Since then, multiple investigations have been launched, but Amy was nowhere to be found. Netflix recently released a true-crime documentary that addresses theories around the case, including claims that Amy was spotted multiple times since her disappearance. Since its release, the Bradley family says they’ve received thousands of new tips, some from viewers who claim to have seen Amy.
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Netflix viewers points out to new details in Amy Bradley’s case
On March 23, the day Amy disappeared, the ship had docked in Curaçao. Nearly 2,400 passengers spent the day exploring the island. For years, theories have circulated that she might have accidentally fallen into the sea after being intoxicated, or claims that she could have been trafficked off the ship. Despite multiple searches conducted on the ship, there was no sign of Amy. The fact that passengers had already left made it possible for her to blend into the crowd or be taken away unnoticed.
Brad Bradley, Amy’s sibling, recently told SWNS that a former Curaçao police officer, Herman Goilo, contacted the investigators on the case with a new lead. Goilo claims he saw Amy as recently as 2016, which is the most recent sighting since she was last seen in 2005. Goilo told the investigators that he knows the people behind the disappearance. In November 2024, two investigators travelled to Curaçao to speak with him. According to Brad, Goilo gave “verifiable truths mixed with verifiable lies.” While he believes that this new information may give the family a new direction to explore, he admits that the family has been misled before. “We do think she’s still alive,” he said. “My parents and I have always shared this gut feeling that she’s still alive. And I know that to a lot of people, they can’t relate to that feeling, but we’re not going to stop feeling that way unless we’re given a reason to.” Brad confirmed that the FBI is now searching for Amy and that his family is “working closely with a private investigator to find out what happened to their beloved daughter and sister.”
Netflix brought the case to a whole new audience, with viewers now having different theories surrounding it. A retired US Navy man, Bill Hefner, claimed that in January 1999, nearly 10 months after Amy vanished, he saw her in a Curaçao bar, in a concerning condition. This led to theories that she was abducted and forced into sex trafficking. Some were convinced by that Amy may have willingly left the ship and started a new life. While the reason behind her disappearance is unclear, there is evidence to support the theory that she is alive, including suspicious logins from IP addresses in Barbados. The show has sparked debate among the viewers, who are questioning why Amy’s parents stayed in the US instead of relocating or asking for help from the Caribbean to investigate the reported sightings.
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“It was bizarre to me that the parents had their war room in the US even after multiple sightings around the Caribbean that they felt were credible. What? Why did they not temporarily move to the island she was seen on and spend the next few years investigating it first hand themselves?” Asked one detective during an interview with The Mirror UK. A legal expert, Alphonse Provinziano (via Mirror), took notes on the problem with reopening the case after so many years, citing loss of evidence and mishandling of information. He also blamed the cruise line for letting passengers leave the ship at Curaçao instead of allowing a full search and seizure. “The argument has long been that Amy Bradley was smuggled off the ship, and the question is, is she alive or not? Was all the evidence properly preserved to determine who was last seen with her and if she was taken off the ship?”
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One major theory links Amy to Alister “Yellow” Douglas, an entertainer on the ship who was seen dancing with her in the nightclub hours before she disappeared from the public eye. A woman named Lori Thompson claimed she saw them together again later that night. Douglas was questioned by the FBI, and a polygraph test was conducted, he was later released without being charged.
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