Did she jump? Did she fall? Was she pushed? Was she taken? What happened to Amy Lynn Bradley? The disappearance from the luxury cruise has fascinated, as well as perplexed, professional and amateur investigators for close on three decades.
When Amy Bradley boarded the Royal Caribbean cruise at the port of San Juan in Puerto Rico with her parents and younger brother, she could never have imagined the frantic panic she would unintentionally cause to her family, friends and the wider public around her. Just days into her dream vacation she fell off the face off the earth… or was it fell off the face of the ship?
Amy Lynn Bradley was born on 12th May 1974 in Petersburg, Virginia in the United States of America to Ronald and Iva Bradley. She was the eldest child after her brother Ronald II, otherwise known as Brad. She grew up in her childhood home in Chesterfield, Virginia and attended the nearby Lloyd C. Bird High School where she recognised as an honours student for her academic abilities and earning a varsity letter for her achievements in basketball.
Amy’s interest in sports were vast and varied as she participated in everything from basketball, track and field, soccer, tennis and more.
Following her successful time in high school she was given a basketball scholarship at Longwood College in Farmwille, Virginia. In 1998 she earned a degree in Physical Education.
During this time at college Amy announced to her parents that she was gay. They were allegedly not happy with this but they accepted her.
After her graduation Amy moved into a new apartment in Chesterfield with her British Bulldog whom she named Sir Billionaire Bailey Boy. She formed a bond with Bailey and all the pieces to her adult life were fitting together nicely. She had worked full-time in Ruth’s Chris Steak House but had secured a job as a marketing/office assistant in a computer consulting firm which she was expecting to begin upon her return from the cruise.
Amy sported a short pixie hairdo and had several tattoos. One of a Tasmanian Devil spinning a basketball on her left shoulder, a sun on her lower back, a chinese symbol on her right ankle and a gecko on her naval.
The Disappearance
Amy’s father Ron surprised his wife with a belated birthday trip on a luxury cruise. Ron had won the holiday through his employer. He worked for an insurance company who were forever giving away free cruises and this time it was Ron Bradley’s turn. The trip was initially intended for just Ron and his wife Iva. However, he pushed for two extra tickets for his son Brad and his daughter Amy, who were eventually accommodated for.
Amy was not keen on the trip as she dd not like heights, nor the ocean. However, despite her wariness, she relented and agreed to accompany the rest of her family on the cruise.
The Bradley family flew out to San Juan in Puerto Rico where they boarded the Rhapsody Of The Seas Royal Caribbean Cruise Liner. Amy was right to be apprehensive given her fear of heights as the ship was a staggering size with twelve decks, totalling just over one thousand passenger rooms and accommodating approximately two thousand people.
As Ron, Iva, Amy and Brad settled into their cabin number 8564 on the eighth deck, the family prepared for the trip of a lifetime – an adventure that would take in the sights at Aruba, Curacao and St Maarten before returning to Puerto Rico in a week’s time. In their cabin they were fortunate enough to have a personal balcony where they could look out onto the vast ocean. Amy did not find it fortunate though. In fact, on the occasion she went outside with her brother she held as far back as possible so as to not be near the edge.
The huge vessel Rhapsody Of The Seas set sail on Saturday 21st March 1998 at 10pm and headed for it’s first destination in Aruba. That first day, the Bradley family spent time together eating dinner, enjoying the special attention that Amy seemed to be receiving from the waiting staff. in fact, she received such swift service that her mom, dad and brother joked:
“Just get Amy to order it and they’ll bring it straight over!”
During this dinner, however, Amy was left feeling uncomfortable following an unwanted and inappropriate advance by a waiter.
“You don’t have to come with your parents, you can come with me.”
This left Amy feeling unsettled and it is especially inappropriate considering crew members had strict guidelines to follow regarding not flirting with, sleeping with, disembarking with, or doing anything with any passenger.
With a full day at sea that Sunday 22nd March, Amy had plenty of time to socialise and get to know her fellow passengers as well as crew members. There she met members of the ship’s band Blue Orchid. She got to know a few of the band members, including the bass player Yellow, so named due to his penchant for dying his hair yellow. His hair was not yellow or any other colour during this cruise, but he was still called Yellow nonetheless. His real name was Alister Douglas.
Yellow came with a warning notice though. Unbeknown to Amy or any of her family a telegram had been circulating, dated 6th March 1998, just two weeks before they set off on their adventures, advising extreme caution if travelling on the Rhapsody Of The Seas. It read:
“If you meet someone called Yellow, stay away!!!! I have met another woman he dropped the same line on. Bass player in the band Blue Orchid.”
That warning was given in advance of what we know now, but it was only seen by the Bradleys after Amy’s name was international news, thus showing the authenticity of claims made about the character of Yellow.
The following day, the ship docked at it’s first port of call in Oranjestad, Aruba at 8am on Monday 23rd March. Amy and her family disembarked and spent the day exploring and taking photos. Amy was a keen photographer and was collecting and collating photos for a competition she planned to enter when back home.
That Monday night of the 23rd March, Amy attended a formal dinner with her family. It was an opportunity to get all dressed up and enjoy a relaxing evening with nice food, nice company and professional photographers taking professional portrait photographs. When these photos had been taken they were printed off and hung up on a gallery for owners to purchase. Amy had her pictures taken, both individual portraits and family ones.
During dinner, Amy’s dad had a conversation with one of the ship’s waiters. Eduardo Cabrita asked him if Amy would go with him to an Aurban bar named Carlos n Charlie’s. This, coincidentally, was the very same bar that Natalee Holloway disappeared from in 2005. Amy denied Eduardo as she described him as being ‘creepy’.
*When Amy vanished, the FBI questioned Eduardo. Within that interview he claimed that Iva Bradley had asked him about procedures should someone fell from the ship. Iva claims this conversation never happened. Why would Eduardo lie?
Following on from the formal formalities Amy and Brad went together to The Dragon’s Lair nightclub. There Amy once again met up with Yellow from the Blue Orchid band. Once again he was neither sporting a yellow hairdo nor any other colour. During the evening they danced together and Amy opened up to him about her struggles after coming out as gay to her parents. Her mom and dad did not accept her sexuality. She also told him of her love of jazz music as she was a saxophone player.
According to Yellow he left Amy after a short time and was back in his cabin just before 1 am. There he remained for the rest of the night. This account is contradicted by numerous eye-witnesses who claim to have seen Yellow and Amy dancing together well after 1 am, including Brad who stated he saw the two of them together right up until 3am. Additionally his key card clocked in at 3am so there’s that.
Brad went back to his room, with documented evidence as his room key clocked in at 3.35am. Amy followed shortly after at 3.40am, which again was recorded on her key card. Both Ron and Iva, their parents, were already asleep in their bed while Brad and Amy sat out on the balcony for a while. Amy was smoking and feeling a little unwell so was making good use of the fresh air. Although she had been drinking, she was not drunk and was coherent. Brad left Amy out on the balcony and went back into the cabin to sleep.
Sometime between 5.15am and 5.30am, Amy’s dad Ron awoke. He looked over to the balcony and saw Amy’s legs and feet resting outside. Content that Amy was asleep, he put his head back down and fell back to sleep himself.
Approximately half an hour later, around 6am, Ron woke up after hearing a noise. He went over to the balcony, noticing that the sliding doors were slightly ajar, whereas they had not previously been. He went out onto the balcony and found that Amy was missing. Her cigarettes and lighter were gone, but her sandals were still out there.
The Search
Ron Bradley was slightly confused. He had definitely seen his daughter sleeping outside not too long ago. Now she was missing. He didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it but it seemed slightly odd so he went for a walk to see if he could find her around the ship or out on deck. He fully expected to find her quite quickly. Probably a simple explanation. She had probably just gone for a walk to clear her head or similar. However, after searching for about half an hour he began to feel a little uneasy about the situation and returned to his room to rouse his wife and son. He told them he couldn’t find Amy.
This could have been seen as premature as she was a full adult who had been drinking and was missing for an hour or less, but the family jumped up and became search-ready. Brad was ordered to stay behind in the cabin in case Amy returned. Ron and Iva both went down to the ship’s reception and requested that they made an announcement throughout the ship alerting everyone to Amy being missing. However, the crew members refused to do that as it was ‘too early’; either too early in terms of time being missing or too early in terms of it only being around 7am and they didn’t want to wake thousands of passengers that early in the morning.
According to Yellow he was also awoken at 7am by security who called him to ask if he had a woman in his room. When he answered that ‘no, he did not’, he was told that the woman he was dancing with last night had gone missing. From a neutral perspective this may seem a little odd as the Bradleys had literally only just informed crew members that Amy was missing. How did word get out so quickly?
When Ron and Iva returned to their cabin, they were taken slightly aback by the sight of a security staff member loitering near their room. This was again before any alarm had been raised about Amy. Could it have been a simple coincidence? Perhaps, but it was a huge ship, so why was he lurking there specifically?
A little while later an announcement was finally made over the tannoy, but it was not what they had hoped.
“Would Amy Lynn Bradley please come to the Purser’s Desk?”
They had wanted an announcement to alert everyone to her disappearance but that was a nothing in their eyes. As the ship docked in Willemstad, Curaçao, passengers prepared to disembark for their day exploring the island. However, the Bradleys had other ideas. They insisted to crew members that they delay disembarkation to enable Amy to be found. However, their request was flatly denied. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a business to run and they were not going to stop that many people from enjoying the holiday they’d pay thousands of dollars for in order to find an adult who had been missing for such a short period of time.
The ship’s doors were opened and thousands of passengers filed out without a care in the world unaware of the panic coursing through the veins of Amy Bradley’s family. As they watched everybody depart they felt Amy slip away and there was no way to stop it.
“No way to stop Amy’s soul fade away. No way to stop Amy’s heart dimming. No way to stop their pain shooting through their bodies.”
Brad, in his continued search, encountered Yellow who offered his condolences. Brad felt this was a little odd as it was still not common knowledge about Amy. He said “Hey man, I’m sorry to hear about your sister.” Brad did not think too much about it, but then Yellow asked what had happened. As Brad began to explain his timeline of events Yellow stopped him in his tracks.
“Wait! I want my brotha to hear this!”
He grabbed one of his band members and told Brad to continue. Without thinking Brad gave Yellow – and his bandmate – a full timeline to work from. Did he need a timeline for his alibi? Did he need his bandmate to know the timeline to cover for him? Perhaps. Could also have been a coincidence or misunderstanding.
The Bradley family were advised to take their search to shore that day as the ship needed to get on with their journey because they had passengers who needed to carry on with their luxury trip.
Amy’s family searched tirelessly throughout the island for several days, asking residents, handing out flyers, attempting to enlist local law enforcement. However, it was no good. There was no sign of Amy.
It was decided they would catch back up with the cruise to see if anything had been found. They took a flight from Curacao to another island to meet the cruise late in it’s route.
Back on Rhapsody Of The Seas the Bradleys were told that the entire ship was searched. No stone was left unturned. Nothing. Amy was NOT on that ship. They would later discover that this was not entirely true. In fact it was not only not entirely true, it was an outright falsity. The crew members had only searched the public areas such as the lounges, bathrooms etc. None of the passenger cabins had been searched and, allegedly, the crew searched their own rooms.
Bereft of all hope, Brad walked solemnly along the ship corridor. Lifting his head briefly he noticed two young women running towards him…
The Witnesses
“Are you… Are you the family of the missing girl??!”
The two women overlapped each other excitedly trying to get their words out. They had been trying to get in contact with the Bradleys for days but couldn’t find them. Of course, they were on the island of Curacao.
Lori and Crystal were two young women who had been enjoying themselves that evening of 23rd March into the early hours of the 24th. They returned to their cabin when they had had enough of the nightclub. However, when they found they weren’t tired enough to sleep they decided to go for a walk. What they saw would change everything. Looking up at the glass elevator that ran all the way up to the top of the ship, they spotted Amy. They were absolutely certain it was her. They had had conversations with her that night and in the past. They were sure. It was her. They knew what she looked like and knew her. It was not a simple case of they recognised a girl who may have looked like Amy. They were well acquainted with her.
Amy Lynn Bradley had not fallen or jumped over the edge of her balcony by the looks of things. Clear as day she was on her way up the elevator. She was not alone though. She was with another very recognisable face. Yellow. The band. Yellow from the band. Again, they were absolutely certain. His face and demeanour was unmistakable. Lori and Crystal had been well acquainted with the advances of the Blue Orchid’s bass player. Yellow, otherwise known as Alister Douglas had hit on them during the course of the evening. Yellow was like that. He admits this himself. He was a player and he would take on the challenge of most girls.
Amy and Yellow were gliding to the top deck, towards the Viking Lounge, which lay adjacent to the nightclub. This sighting happened somewhere between 5am and 6am. To this date, this remains the most credible witness testimony.
Elizabeth
One other reason the testimonies of Lori and Crystal were so believable was because a third witness claimed to have positively identified both Amy and Yellow together in the Viking Lounge shortly after the two women had seen them get out the elevator.
Elizabeth was sitting up in the lounge because she had taken ill and was on antibiotics so she was unable to go out onto the deck but she had a good view to watch out over the ship and ocean from that position.
She saw Amy and Yellow come into the lounge. He popped some music on before going behind the bar and handing Amy a ‘dark-coloured’ drink. This could have been Coke or coffee or similar. Moments later they walked where she couldn’t see them. Next thing Elizabeth knew a young Hispanic girl, maybe 18 or 19 years old was yelling:
“SENORITA!!! KIDNAP!!”
Has this random unknown Spanish/Hispanic Royal Caribbean crew member witnessed what actually happened to Amy Lynn Bradley? Is she the missing piece?
The Sightings
Taxi Driver 1998
On the day Amy vanished, Brad was frantically searching the island of Curacao. As he was handing out flyers regarding Amy’s disappearance he was approached by a taxi driver. The man had one of Amy’s flyers in his hand and told Brad categorically that his sister was not on the ship, nor had she fallen or jumped. He knew this for certain because he had seen her on the island. According to the taxi driver Amy had come running up to him looking for a phone. However, when he pointed her in the direction of a phone box she went in the opposite direction.
Scuba Diver 1998
Approximately five months after Amy went missing a Canadian scuba diver named David Carmichael was in Curacao. While on the beach he was talking to his friend in English which gained the attention of a woman. This woman approached him but before she could say anything he was whisked away by two men. David thought the encounter was strange but didn’t think too much more of it until he returned home to Canada. There he saw news about a woman who had vanished from a cruise in Curacao. His first and only thought was “that was her.” The girl he saw was Amy. He described the tattoos which Amy had plus he described an item which was not public information. David noticed she was wearing a Dos Equis watch and accurately described it. The Dos Equis watch was given to Amy by her boyfriend and she was wearing it during her cruise trip. There was no doubt in his mind that he saw Amy that day.
Additionally, one of the men with Amy he pointed out was the image of Alister ‘yellow’ Douglas.
Navy Officer – Brothel 1999
Less than a year after Amy disappeared, in January 1999, a Naval man by the name of Bill Hefner came across who he believes for certain was the missing girl. His ship, USS Chandler, docked in Curacao. According to the Naval History And Heritage Command website:
“The ship visited the island of Curaçao in the Netherland Antilles from 24–30 January.”
While on the island, Bill Hefner visited a hotel/bar/brothel that he “wasn’t supposed to be in.” While there he noticed four people come down from the hotel upstairs. Two guys and two girls. The two guys had guns, but that did not deter Bill. He sat down with the two girls while the men went over to the bar. One girl was hispanic but the other was white. This girl was ‘petite, short hair, with tattoos’. A moment in time Bill will never forget. The white girl leant over to him and said:
“Hey, they’re holding me against my will. I need help. I owe them $200. I can’t get my freedom. My name is Amy Bradley. I left that ship on my own. I went to score drugs. Me and my brother were partying and I went ashore to get drugs and now I’m stuck here with these guys.”
Amy is pleading to a United States military man for help. Seems a smart move from her. Did Bill save the day? Nope. Bill kept this information to himself because he was close to retiring and didn’t want to get into trouble with the military.
Just over two years later, Bill sees Amy’s face and name pop up in more appeals to find her. Finally he realises that that was the girl he met in Curacao and yes she was a missing person and yes her name was Amy Bradley and yes he should have helped her. Better late than never though, he reported his sighting to the FBI.
The brothel he met Amy in was tracked down but was found to have burnt down. The site was searched for any evidence but nothing was found.
San Francisco, California – 2003
On April 18th 2003 a man and woman stood watching street performers at Pier 39 near The Alcatraz Tours on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. While they were there two men and a woman caught their eye, particular because the woman looked familiar. They could not put their finger on it. Staring the woman’s face harder and harder until it dawned on her. It was the woman from America’s Most Wanted. The boat person. The missing girl. As the realisation was etched across her brows, the two men spotted that they had been spotted. They grabbed the girl and hustled her off and disappeared from sight. As she was being hurried away, the girl looked back pleadingly.
The sighting was reported to the FBI and composite sketches were built, including the balding man with a red beard and red hair.
Craigslist (Southern California) 2004
Was Amy possibly trafficked globally? According to a man by the name of Rob Steven Hatton he knew Amy from a brothel in Irvine, California. This sighting was from 2004. He frequented this brothel regularly and came to know her for about three months before she was moved on. During the time he was able to get familiar with her, Rob claims that she went under the name Emily but she disclosed her real name as Amy.
The girl told him that she was kidnapped off a cruise . She was deliberately left at a port because she was selling pills on the ship. As the staff was buying off her, it cut out the main crew’s dealer ‘Mr Yellow, the guy in the band’. He then sold her to human traffickers on the island. The girl also mentioned that she sold Oxy and Vicoden back in her college days – a claim everyone who knew Amy denies as she had no involvement in drugs. She also claimed that she had two children over in Barbados.
To cement the thought in his head Rob recalls that this girl had a Tasmanian Devil tattoo on her shoulder, as well as a smaller tattoo on her ankle and on her inner arm.
Rob would find ads for these escorts on Craigslist.
Barbados Restroom 2005
Seven years to the very month Amy went missing, 1st March 2005, back ‘home’ in Bridgetown, Barbados, another possible and very credible sighting. Judy Maurer was in a restroom in a department store when she encountered a woman who was accompanied by three men. The woman spoke to Judy and identified herself as being Amy from Virginia.
Judy reported her sighting to the FBI and helped put together a composite sketch of Amy and the men she was with.
That same day Amy was seen standing in the cash register line in the Del Sol store on Broad Street with what was described as four ‘handlers’ and later walking along the sidewalk a block away from Broad Street surrounded by those same four ‘handlers’.
Aruba 2007
Amy was seen at The Mill Restaurant in along with the red bearded man (since been identified as Alfred Cotten) along with three other men.
Corrupt Cop
Unfortunately with notoriety comes scammers and the lowest life forms imaginable. Up step Herman Goilo, a corrupt retired police officer from the island of Curacao. He has been communicating with the Bradley family for about two years. He claimed to have seen Amy on multiple occasions and knew who took her and had her captive. According to Goilo, Amy was being held by a super powerful drug dealer. She had been taken off the ship and, remember that taxi driver sighting we mentioned earlier? Apparently Amy was actually in that taxi. The driver pointed the Bradleys in the wrong direction on purpose. This is all according to a self-confessed crooked ex-cop of course.
In October 2024 a group of investigators, including Brad Bradley, travelled to Curacao to confront Goilo. After being given the runaround, they finally caught up with him and forced him to answer their questions. Goilo repeatedly stated that Amy was still alive, but not the same woman now. They allegedly got her hooked on drugs.
The Bradleys continue to investigate this line of enquiry and believe there’s at least some truth in this corrupt cop’s stories. You can read the full story right here!
The Jas Photos
In the early to mid 2000s, approximately 2005, the Bradleys were anonymously emailed a photo which bore a striking resemblance to Amy. It was of a sex worker called Jas. According to the Amy Bradley Is Missing website:
“From 2002 until 2008, Amy’s photograph appeared on the website for an escort resort in Venezuela. The resort was known as Affordable Adult Vacations in Playa el Agua, Margarita Island. Owners of the Affordable Adult Vacations resort claimed Amy’s website photograph had been obtained from a source in Curacao“
As you can see the side-by-side photos of Amy on the left and ‘Jas’ on the right are very very similar, if not identical. From the cheekbones to the mouth shape and teeth, to the chin shape and nose to the ears – to even the untrained eye this is the same person.
The photographs were forensically analysed by experts and they were determined likely to be Amy.
“The photographs of Amy were forensically evaluated by Wesley Neville, a Certified Forensic Artist at the International Association for Identification and a law enforcement officer in the State of South Carolina.“
Yellow
Alister Douglas was the Royal Caribbean’s resident bass player in the ship’s band The Blue Orchid. He was nicknamed ‘Yellow’ due to his tendency to dye his hair yellow. Either that or it was because of his cowardly ways. Either or both could be true.
Yellow was a man very familiar on the cruise ships with female women. So much so that he was even talked about on cruise message boards online at the time. Warned of even. One message, posted just two weeks before Amy disappeared, read:
“If you meet someone called Yellow, stay away!!!! I have met another woman he dropped the same line on. Bass player in the band Blue Orchid.”
Infamous for hitting on the girls. Infamous for his smooth ways. Infamous for his connection with Amy.
Alister ‘Yellow’ Douglas was born on 23rd June 1970 in Grenada. He began playing music at the age of eight years old. By the age of eighteen, around 1988, he joined the Royal Grenada Police Force Band. He remained there, learning and honing his musical skills, until the exciting draw of the open ocean called. He set sail on the Royal Caribbean cruise line with the band The Blue Orchid at the age of twenty-one (1991). During the next seven years he balanced his cruise career with producing reggae and calypso music for local performers in Grenada.
During that fateful cruise of March 1998 Yellow did what Yellow did best and flirted with, perhaps even inappropriately, the women passengers of the ship. Afterall, it was one of the perks of working on a cruise, right? Yellow certainly thought so. He became acquainted with Amy Bradley during the few days before she vanished. He did maintain they only spoke briefly, but the facts speak differently.
On the night Amy vanished, he was seen by other passengers, as well as on video, to be dancing with her. Despite his claims of not knowing her that well, she told him all sorts of inner secrets, such as how she was gay and her parents weren’t happy about it and that she was also a jazz musician, playing the saxophone. Yellow also seemed perturbed by Amy’s chain smoking which he claims was strange to him. As a devout religious person smoking was apparently new to him. That is despite him working on cruise liners for seven years whereby absolutely passengers will have smoked during a time where smoking was a very much accepted part of society.
Yellow claimed to have returned to his room at around 1am – something his key card confirmed. Incredibly, having worked on the cruise for seven years he was unaware that his key recorded times of entry. However, as key cards didn’t need to be swiped when exiting, if he left his room again that time would not be recorded. It is highly possible and plausible that he could have got his band mate, whom he shared the room with, to let him in the second time, therefore no time would be recorded.
Despite Yellow being back in his room for 1am, which is confirmed, he was allegedly talking with Amy at around 3am. This is confirmed also by his own key card even though he is now claiming to not have left the room after 1am. This is according to Brad Bradley’s testimony as he left his sister with him when he returned to his own room. Again that time is confirmed and verified by his own key card.
Yellow was again spotted between 5.30am-5.45am by the two girls who identified him and swore under oath to the Grand Federal Jury that they saw him and Amy going up the glass elevator towards the Viking Lounge, before returning alone with no Amy. The question is, if he was indeed with Amy at that time, but he was not involved in anything nefarious, why is he lying? Surely the best form of defence would be to just say you went for a walk. But, nope. If the sighting is correct and the timeline is correct, he is lying. But why?
Was Yellow’s bandmate ever questioned? Was he ever asked if Yellow was let back into the room? Or indeed the time he returned? Presumably this is the same bandmate who Yellow was so desperate to hear the Bradley’s timeline. Perhaps Oscar Alexander would not be the best witness.
In the aftermath of Amy vanishing, Yellow joined the Bradleys in talking to the media, giving his perspective. He has not spoken to the family since that day – not to offer his help or condolences. Nothing.
Yellow has always maintained his innocence. In fact, he reckons his notoriety surrounding this case has lost him big opportunities throughout the years due to being associated negatively with it. He even wrote to Lifetime to complain when the episode of Vanished with Beth Holloway aired in May 2011. He accused them of not allowing his right of reply and they had damaged his reputation.
In October 2024 the journalist James Renner uploaded an interview with Alister ‘Yellow’ Douglas, now known as Christopher Douglas. Sorry, that should be Reverend Christopher Douglas as he is now a fully ordained minister with his own church and everything. He operates out in the mountains of Grenada. Additionally he operates a slightly dubiously, perhaps morally corrupt, sideline hustle of exorcism. Apparently this is normal in Grenada, but not entirely legal. Go figure.
During the lengthy filmed interview Yellow proceeds to explain his side of the story. He left the disco at 12:55am and was back in his room for 1am.
“We played until midnight. Normally people come up to us and I remember her clearly coming across and came up to me and said ‘hi, good set’. At that time the band was packing up. It used to be my line, once finished playing we used to go up to the Viking Lounge. We would hang there only until about 1, maybe five to or ten to one because we had to be out of the area by one o’clock. So I went down like I normally do, changed my clothes, had a quick shower. When I came up she was on the decking outside…”
He then proceeded to explain how he disliked how she was chain smoking and the conversation surrounding Amy being gay.
Yellow had a rocky first marriage where even his wife had her doubts about his involvement in dodgy dealings. His daughter Amica explained in the recent Netflix docu-series Amy Bradley Is Missing that her mother once found a bag full of photographs of ‘white’ women. It is unknown whether or not Amy’s photos were in that bag but nonetheless this raised huge red flags within his family.
Alister ‘Yellow’ Douglas has since remarried.
Suspects
Yellow
Alister ‘Yellow’ Douglas has been the main long-time suspect. His name will forever be tarnished by his involvement, whether real or imagined, with Amy Bradley going missing. He was named by three key witnesses as the last person known to have seen her. This is especially important given the timeframes involved. Yellow claims to not have seen Amy since 1am and yet he was not only seen by Brad around 3.30am but three independent witnesses say he was with her around 6am, which coincidentally was the time the ship docked. The big question is, were the timeframes correct with these witnesses? But even if those three witnesses were wrong, Brad still saw Yellow with Amy, thus debunking his claim that he was in his room from 1am.
Alfred Cotten
He was positively identified a number of times by witnesses while with a woman who resembled Amy. The composite sketch created after these encounters are identical to Alfred Cotten, who ironically runs a number of Adult Vacation websites. Alfred Cotten was also charged, in May 2016, of promoting prostitution in the Dominican Republic. Alfred and his wife Jennifer were given five years probabtion for running a sex tourism business Tropical Adult Vacations. After sentencing at Manhatten Supreme Court, Alfred stated:
“What right does this court have to bring me up on charges that are bullshit. What I did was legal in the Dominican Republic. I paid my taxes for the business I ran. I never paid the prostitutes directly. These were consenting adults. And this was legal in Florida where I live.”
However, Alfred Cotten has now been heavily implicated in the sex trafficking of Amy Bradley, due in part to his remarkable likeness of the composite sketch which must be like looking in a mirror to him.
Did Amy Jump Or Fall?
One popular opinion is that Amy Bradley either jumped from the balcony that night or fell or was pushed. Amy had been drinking and the possibility remains that she could simply have fallen over the balcony into the ocean. Perhaps she was sick and leant over too far and fell? Maybe she had been drinking and was feeling a little daredevil-ish, climbed up on the balcony, slipped into the ocean or even tried to climb from her balcony to the neighbour balcony? What if she was with Yellow as the witnesses stated but instead of trafficking her, he pushed her overboard for whatever reason? Maybe they got into an altercation, perhaps he made a pass at her, she rejected him and he lashed out? Or perhaps Amy was simply feeling in a low mood because she was struggling with her sexuality in a world before it was accepted to be who you wanted to be, particularly as a female? Maybe her family’s disappointment in her went further than they thought?
One problem with investigating whether or not she went overboard is that the cleaners went in and cleaned the room. The little side table had been pushed up against the railings but there is no way to know whether the cleaners did this as part of their job or if Amy put the table there to climb on before jumping.
The biggest clue as to whether or not she left that balcony or jumped from it was that she left her sandals right there. Would she have walked out the cabin door without her shoes? Perhaps if she thought she was coming back. Additionally, her cigarettes and lighter were missing. Would she have put them in her pocket before jumping? Unlikely. She could have if she had fallen over accidentally though. That being said, if she was rushing to be sick overboard she probably wouldn’t have grabbed her smokes first.
Amy also did not like heights so it seems unlikely that she would go anywhere near the edge, even to throw up. She was also a very strong swimmer and a lifeguard so if she fell in she may be able to swim ashore. The only caveat to this is her fear of the open ocean and what if she hit her head on the way down? Her swimming skills would have been of no use.
If Amy went overboard, would they even have found her body in the vast ocean? A common misconception is that the ship was in the middle of the ocean and she could quite easily never be found. However, it seems the truth of this is not the case at all.
The photo shown here is of the canal just before the docking in Willemstad, Curacao. The time it takes for the ship to dock is around one hour. They docked on time, or a little earlier according to records of that day, at 6am. This means the ship was in the process of docking from 5am, floating through that canal. According to Ron Bradley, Amy was ‘asleep’ in her chair on the balcony at 5.15-5.30am. Therefore, if Amy had got up and either jumped or fell overboard, this would have happened during the period they sailed through the canal. Her body would have washed up on the shores. Her body was never found. No clothing was ever found. No sign of her in that canal was ever found.
“It involved 4 full days of sea-and-air searches using 3 helicopters, a British warship, and a low-flying radar plane, coupled with numerous cargo ships, tugboats, and fishing boats that scoured the harbor, sea, and coast. “
For a full timeline of the docking, please click here
Royal Caribbean
The Royal Caribbean have a lot to answer for and not just the way they initially handled the calls for help when Amy Bradley went missing. Their first reaction was to not do anything. The Bradleys asked if they could put an announcement out about Amy being missing. They said it was too early. The Bradleys asked that they delayed the passengers disembarking. They refused as it would disrupt too many people’s holiday. A little later they did put out an announcement but it was simply to ask Amy to come to the reception. Nothing about her being missing or making passengers aware of her being missing. In fact, such was the job they did to not let other passengers know, there have been people say how they were on the ship but only found out years later about Amy.
Cruise Director Kirk Detweiller
Kirk Detweiller was the Cruise Director that day and he was responsible for overseeing the disappearance of Amy. His ship. His responsibility. His actions could have made or broken the early investigations. However, his early attitude to finding Amy was nothing short of contemptible.
“We’re not gonna stop everybody’s cruise cos there’s a missing girl. That’s one family’s unfortunate incident but we still had 2400 people who paid a lot of money and as cold as that sounds, that’s the reality…. we went back to normal operating procedure. Life goes on. Cruises go on.”
Mr Detweiller was very focused it seems. Some might say cold. Some might say selfish. Some might say other things. What we do know, though, is his actions or lack of actions at least indirectly hindered the search.
What was Detweiller like really? He certainly did not cover himself in glory in the recent Netflix series. Was all that he said down to procedure and reality or him just being him? Perhaps to understand his psyche we need to take a look at a music video he produced and sung some seven years after Amy’s disappearance. His one-hit wonder titled ‘Drunk Girl’ gives us an insight…
Drunk Girl
See the pretty girl slipping off the stool there
I think she’s on her 17th Bud Light
If I play my cards just right
She’s gonna f**k me tonight
She’s my little drunk and disorderly
(Drunk girl, drunk girl, drunk girl)See the pretty girl take a shot a provin’
She never gets one in but she don’t care
She can cheat, she can swear
Like nothin’ i’ve heard anywhere
She’s my little drunk and disorderly
(Drunk girl, drunk girl, drunk girl)Drunk girl, can’t you see
Or should I repeat it louder
The moment you girls looked at me
Turned into my happiest hour
(Drunk girl, drunk girl, pretty little drunk girl)She’s acting kinda dumb
But don’t let that fool ya
She only squints because her vision’s blurred
Her speech is constant and quite slurred
But I’m in love with her
She’s my little drunk and disorderly
(Drunk girl, drunk girl, drunk girl)
It seems to be that he perhaps has and had very little empathy for Amy going missing as his value of girls and women in general appears very questionable.
Editor Chris Fenwick
Chris Fenwick was an independent video editor travelling on that cruise working for a computer software firm. He was tasked with editing a highlight reel from footage filmed by his colleague Bob. This was nothing to do with the Royal Caribbean, nor was he commissioned by them to do this work.
While filming the night of the disappearance, Chris Fenwick caught a number of important images on camera. Amy was dancing with Yellow. This gave an insight into what was happening that night.
As part of the ‘investigation’, Chris receives a call from the ship’s security asking him for his master tapes of the night Amy went missing. Chris vehemently refused.
“A man contacted me that afternoon and introduced himself as Head of Ships Security “Lou Costello” and said they needed to come to my room to “pick up the master tapes”. They also said that “they were working with the FBI and they were going to need to get the masters”.
Was the ship’s Head of Security using a fake name?? Chris would not be handing his master tapes over to ‘Lou Costello’ of all people! Incredibly, though, the FBI never even looked at the footage of Amy before going missing, in a missing person’s investigation, for about a year!
In addition, the Cruise’s own video editor Steve had been told by security to delete any images of Amy. Why would they want important evidence deleted during a possible criminal investigation?
Relationships
Amy Bradley’s sexuality in particular has been used as reason or not for whatever happened to her that night in March 1998. Amy came out to her parents as gay during her college years, a few years prior to her disappearance. By all accounts they were disappointed in her at that time. However, according to her family, that was all dealt with a long time before the trip, years before. If Amy was still struggling with it all only she knows.
An interesting omission from the recent Netflix docu-series was the facct that Amy had a boyfriend at the time of her going missing. He was interviewed for five hours for the show but they cut it out completely. This went without mention. Were Netflix trying to push the lesbian angle?
Amy did however have a long-time girlfriend who she had broken up with. Mollie McClure explains during the Netflix doc how she was in love with Amy and it appeared, based on the letters she sent that the feeling was mutual.
As Amy had a boyfriend this would mean she was bi-sexual? Maybe. Perhaps. The feeling is possibly the boyfriend was a cover for the fact she was 100% gay. Of course we’ll never know the truth.
Scammed
Unfortunately with high profile missing persons cases such as Amy’s along with all the good people trying to help it also brings out the dredges of society.
A little over a year after Amy Bradley went missing a man claiming to be a former US Army Special Forces officer contacted the Bradleys offering his help and services to bring Amy home. The family were desperate. It had been such a long hard struggle to get their girl back and they were no closer than they were from the outset. Frank Jones seemed to be a legitimate option and, so after some deliberation, they decided to hire him. He promised to have ex-Army Rangers and ex-Navy Seals working with him, as well as contacts on the ground in Curacao.
Jones claimed to have sent his men to Curacao to gain intelligence and prove Amy was alive. One contact who lived on the island, Judith Margharita, passed on information that Amy was being held in a barbed wire complex being protected by heavily armed guards. She accurately described Amy’s tattoos and even hummed a lullaby that Iva would sing to Amy as a baby. She also said to have seen Amy with a man with long blond hair and a tattoo sleeve.
Jones reported that he had two sex-Navy Seals setting up surveillance and had seen Amy in a dark green SUV with a man with long blond hair which validated the information Margharita had provided. According to Jones, Amy was in imminent danger.
Over a period of months Jones drip-fed details to confirm sightings of Amy, which of course kept the payments coming for him. These payments were financed by the Bradleys personal savings alongside donors and non-profit organizations who were keen to help. Eventually Jones said he was ready to launch the rescue mission and would need even more funds to do so. With this in mind and desperate to have their daughter home with them, the Bradleys requested proof.
Jones sent a photograph of a woman on a beach with a man with long blond hair. She was difficult to identify as she wore a hat so they couldn’t see her face very well. However, she did have some unique tattoos visible; a baby Tasmanian Devil on her shoulder and a symbol on her ankle. Their hearts jumped and missed many beats. Amy. Their girl was right there. They could almost reach out and touch her.
Desperate to get her home, the Bradleys sent the photograph to be forensically examined. They got the confirmation they were so desperately hoping for when they were told the photographs were real and likely to be Amy.
The Bradleys opened their wallets one final time to pay Jones. In total they parted with $24,000 of their own personal savings and $180,000 of donated funds. It would be worth it though. They would soon have their girl home.
Jones instructed the Bradleys to travel to Florida and await further details. They waited and waited and waited. Excited and anxious in equal measure, they waited. Ron’s employer had even provided a private jet ready to go when they were. A full week passed without word from Jones.
Meanwhile, one of Jones’s team, Timothy Buckolz, a former army special forces sniper, began to grow suspicious of Jones. He was assigned to watch over the location where Amy was supposedly being held under armed guard. However, the only thing he saw was a normal family living in a normal home. His suspicions were further amplified when he overheard Jones on the phone to the Bradleys telling them that the location was under constant surveillance and his men were watching it at that very moment. Buckholz knew that Jones was conning the Bradleys and took his concerns to the family.
“Utter devastation. How could one person do that to an already devastated family?”
During the investigations into Frank Jones’s scam it was uncovered that the photograph which was supposed to be of Amy with her captor was in fact Jones wearing a blond wig and his friend. What about the tattoos though? They went to the extent of having two temporary tattoos matching Amy’s painted on the woman.
In February 2002 Jones was charged with defrauding the Bradleys out of $24,000 and the Nations Missing Children’s Organization out of $186,000. He was sentenced to five years in prison. It was initially going to be longer but the Bradleys agreed on a shorter term in exchange for Jones’s family repaying the money. His father footed that bill.
This is an extremely distressing story of a con man taking advantage of a vulnerable and grieving family. You can look at this and say they were naive to trust this man. Ron Bradley said:
“If it was your child, what would you do? I guess we took a chance. And I guess we lost.”
No, Ron, you didn’t lose. Frank Jones lost. You, Iva and Brad simply got stronger and stronger. The world has come together to help find Amy. You are the real winners here.
Burning Questions
Did Amy fall or jump off the ship?
To be completely honest when I first watched the Netflix docu-series it left me with a feeling that the most reasonable and logical answer was probably the correct one. Amy was most likely in the water somewhere. However, since doing further research it would seem highly unlikely she went overboard – whether that be from jumping, falling or being pushed.
The evidence in favour of her going into the water would appear to be the fact her sandals were positioned neatly on the balcony, the fact the table was pushed up against the railings and there’s no way she could have left the cabin quietly without everyone waking up.
I think her sandals being left there has very little bearing on whether or not she left the room or went overboard. It is very feasible that she left without wearing any shoes at all, especially if she imagined she was returning shortly. Walking quietly without shoes would make more sense if she was trying to not wake her family. The one issue there is the ‘wind tunnel’ which occurs when the balcony door is left open and the cabin door is open. Would this wake everyone? I’ve watched some demonstrations of this and yes it does make a noise but is it possible to open the door in such a way to minimise the noise? Additionally, Ron Bradley did say he woke after hearing a noise. My suggestion is that was the noise he heard as she left the room.
The table being pushed up against the railings we can’t take too much from this. From videos i’ve seen it appears the position that table tends to be is up against the railings. Perhaps the cleaners put it there.
Could she have climbed on the table to throw up or leant too far and fallen overboard? I genuinely don’t think so. The railings are actually much lower than I had imagined, having watched the room tour of their actual room. That being said, it’s at a height where Amy would not need to climb on a table to be sick over the edge while also not being low enough to fall over. My opinion is there is no way this happened unless she was being reckless in some way – climbing or walking on the railings for example. In addtion though, she was terrified of heights so it seems highly unlikely she would have done this.
On top of all that, the ship was in the process of docking. It was cruising down that canal at the time Amy would have fallen over. They were not in the middle of the ocean as many people assume. They would have definitely found her as she would’ve washed up on the canal’s shores. She would not have been lost forever in the middle of the ocean.
Finally, the time was nearly 6am. It was light outside. People were awake and getting ready for their day. Surely someone would have heard her screams if she fell over? Or seen her?
Did Amy simply walk away?
This is a theory I hadn’t given much credence to until recently. Was she struggling more than her family and friends knew? Was she ashamed of who she was? 1998 was a very different time for the gay community. I imagine especially so for women. Did she think she could just start over? I have a theory that will blow your mind.
We’ve talked much about whether or not Yellow was involved in her disappearance. However, what if he was but not in the way we think? What if he offered her a way of starting a new life and that’s why she went to meet him? He appears like he’s lying or being half truthful at least but maybe that’s to protect Amy. Maybe he agreed with Amy that he would never tell anyone. Maybe.
Was Amy trafficked?
The most popular theory is that Amy was trafficked within the cluster of Caribbean islands. Ordinarily I would scoff at this possibility. However, the more I looked into it the more likely it sounded. The amount of witnesses who have given pretty decent accounts of encountering her since she vanished. Some are more believable than others. Are they all real though? Who knows? However, it feels like some are likely true and if that’s the case then she’s out there somewhere.
The sighting by the Naval officer seems to be legitimate. What would he have to gain by lying? The whole thing makes him look bad. Firstly he is admitting that while on duty serving his country he was hanging out in an illegal bar or brothel. Secondly, he’s admitting that he failed to report the sighting and waited until he had got what he needed – his retirement or pension – before reporting it. None of this shows him in a good light. My instincts tell me he’s telling the truth.
Trafficking seems to be the most plausible of all the theories. We’ve pretty much written off falling overboard, she could have walked away although i’m doubtful just how likely that would be. All the evidence points towards her being removed from the ship, probably against her will.
Why wouldn’t she have come home now or at least made contact? Perhaps she’s ashamed of who she’s become, maybe she has kids and she can’t just simply leave them or maybe her kids are being trafficked too. Maybe it’s because this is her life now. This is who she is. Her old life is long gone.
Was that photo of Amy?
The sex worker ‘Jas’ photo is so eerily similar if not identical to Amy. It’s frightening. Even without seeing the forensic analysis of it I could see myself that every single feature on Jas’s face was identical to Amy’s. If that is not Amy then it’s one hell of a doppelganger. Some have pointed out the lack of tattoo on her shoulder. Personally I’m not paying too much attention to that because it’s possible to have the photo covered up to not show the tattoo or maybe she had it removed or covered. The Taz tattoo is very distinctive so would they really want that on show? Is this Amy though?
The photo itself is a very very close match. However, if you separate it from the Amy situation you can trace the photo all the way back to Alfred Cotten who we know has been caught literally with his pants down running sex trafficking websites. That girl in that photo, Amy or not, is in high probability a trafficked girl which in itself gives extra credence to it maybe being Amy. Let’s not forget even if that girl is not Amy, she is still likely a trafficked girl.
Was Yellow involved?
Yes. Next question?
He lied and was caught lying. He was back in his room for 1am as stated by his key card. By his own admission he never left the room thereafter. However, he was clearly seen by Brad at around 3am sitting with his sister. That means he lied. Outright lied. Why lie? Then there’s the moment he was spotted by not one, not two, but THREE independent witnesses who claimed to have seen him around 6am with Amy going up to the Viking Lounge. That’s an awful lot to explain away.
Allegedly after the cruise he was acting very oddly according to his daughter Amica. She was told this information by her mother – Yellow’s ex-wife. Apparently he came back home bragging that he had a lot of money and soon after he left his wife. He also had a suitcase full of photos of ‘white women’. Of course that is all hearsay from a third hand account so maybe we can’t take too much from it. However, it doesn’t paint a very good picture.
The interview conducted by James Renner was interesting. First viewing I believed him. He came across very well and was extremely believable. Many others are of this same opinion. However, his own daughter does not believe him. She has stated that she knows him. She knows what he’s like and she knows he’s lying. Take from that what you will. I also can’t get beyond the fact he is 100% lying about being in his room.
My theory is this. Amy arranged to meet Yellow at around 6am. There was not cell phones back then so it was all making arrangements in advance. She stayed outside on the balcony when everyone else went to bed. Her dad saw her ‘sleeping’ but she wasn’t really asleep. She was just lying there waiting for the time she had arranged to meet Yellow. When the time came, she grabbed her cigarettes and lighter as she envisaged having a smoke and anyone who smokes knows you don’t go anywhere without your cigs and lighter. She didn’t bother putting her shoes on because she expected to return to her room. I feel it’s probably not uncommon to walk down the carpeted hallways in your socks. She met Yellow and went up the elevator. When they got to the lounge he passed her the drink which may or may not have been spiked. Either way, it was at that time he handed her off to whomever was removing her from the ship.
Whether or not he know what happened to her after that is debatable, but he does know what happened that day.
Were the Bradleys involved?
A few people have suggested the family were behind her disappearance. They don’t get good vibes from Brad or Ron. Maybe Brad pushed her overboard and Ron is covering for him, but Iva definitely doesn’t know and that’s why they need to keep up the pretense of searching for her.
Do I think this is what happened? Absolutely not. I never got that vibe during any documentary or interview. In my mind there’s absolutely no way they did anything. Some will argue that they constantly change their timelines. To that I’ll counter them with it’s been 27 years, yes times have maybe been adjusted over that period. Maybe they remembered something they didn’t remember at the time.
There’s no chance they were involved.
Is Amy Bradley still alive?
That’s the million dollar question. If she was trafficked would she really still be alive 27 years later? Would she be of any use to the traffickers? Some people don’t realise this but absolutely yes. There’s a number of reasons she may have been kept alive. She’s 51 years of age now. There may be a market for the more mature ladies. She may have been converted into a trafficker herself. They may not see her as any threat as she’s been conditioned for 27 years to believe this is her life.
The only caveat to this is would all this recent media attention have pushed the traffickers to do something they wouldn’t have been thinking of doing? Did they think it’s too risky to keep her alive? I certainly hope that’s not the case.
Whatever has happened to Amy Bradley this is an extremely sad case, with many possibility and theories. The family continue to strive for answers and they deserve to know. If anyone out there has any information please contact amybradleyismissing@gmail.com
I believe there’s still a $25,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts. Do the right thing and call it in.
