Latest news with #AmyLynnBradley
IOL News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Unsolved at sea: ‘Amy Bradley Is Missing' revisits one of the most puzzling cruise disappearances
'Amy Bradley is Missing' tells the story of the 23-year-old who vanished from a cruise ship while on holiday with her family. Image: X What was meant to be a fun-filled family vacation turned into a nightmare for a family who, almost three decades later, are still frantically searching for their beloved daughter. It all started in 1998 when 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley went on a cruise to the Caribbean island of Curaçao aboard the Rhapsody of the Seas with her family. The American youngster, who recently graduated from college at the time and was accompanied by her parents, Ron and Iva Bradley, and her younger brother, Brad Bradley, spent the first few days enjoying the festivities. They had feasts, made incredible memories as they partied it up. But two nights into the trip, just as they were about to disembark onto the island, Amy vanished into thin air. According to loved ones and passengers, she was last seen in the early hours of March 21, 1998, dancing at the ship's nightclub. Amy then returned to the room she shared with her family and spent some time chatting with her brother on the balcony of her cabin. Brad then decided to go to bed, leaving Amy alone outside, and by the time her father went to check on her, she had vanished, leaving no trace but a polo shirt and a pair of sandals. Every nook and cranny of the 10-floor cruise line, which was one of the biggest during the late 90s, was allegedly searched, but still, Amy could not be located. Despite an FBI investigation and her family's exhaustive efforts, which continue 27 years later, Amy has never been found. Her chilling disappearance forms part of the riveting new documentary called 'Amy Bradley Is Missing.' The three-part Netflix show, directed and executive produced by Ari Mark and Phil Lott, revisits this harrowing ordeal and the decades-long investigative effort it sparked. It also explores the various leads and purported sightings over the years that have troubled her family's ongoing quest for answers. What I found fascinating about this series was how it provided informative and educational insights on this poignant case in a way which kept me intrigued to find out more. I started watching it with no knowledge of Amy or her disappearance, but after I was done binge-watching the documentary, it sparked such a curiosity within me that I am now reading up on the matter. It is also impressive how the film-makers managed to compress such a large amount of information into just a few easy-to-watch episodes. This must have been a challenging ordeal, considering that the incident took place almost 30 years ago. Accessing this information, as well as finding experts who can vividly recall the matter and help to place it back in the spotlight in a refreshed bid to find Amy, is an admirable but strenuous task. And those who were interviewed on 'Amy Bradley Is Missing', including eyewitnesses who were aboard the cruise ship as well as FBI investigators, did a stellar job on shedding light on an incident which took place such a long time ago. The testimony from cruise director Kirk Detweiler was particularly insightful as he vividly recalled the events during that time and brought them to life in a vibrant yet eerie manner. The interviews from cruise safety officials were also notable, as they raised questions about how passengers travelling through international waters are subject to the law of whichever country they are passing through. Even more startling was how they delved into cruise lines' often unverified hiring practices, which means that those onboard a ship could be in the company of questionable characters. 'Amy Bradley Is Missing' also presents all evidence to viewers, allowing them to draw their own conclusions. Some version of events which were unpacked included if she committed suicide by jumping off the boat. But many of the series argued that she was a confident and happy person who was about to start a new chapter in her life. In addition, another potential incidence of apparent foul play was also explored. Amy Bradley's mother Iva Bradley is featured on the documentary. Image: X However, the most powerful aspect of the documentary was the testimony from Amy's parents and her brother. The close-knit group detailed how they have continued their search for Amy, ever since that fateful morning she vanished. They reflected on the heartbreak of losing her and how, after all these decades, they are still emotionally torn about the incident which caused them so much trauma that they were unable to eat or sleep. Their heartfelt pleas for any information which could locate Amy's whereabouts left a lasting impression on me, and their unwavering quest to find her remains as strong as it was when she first disappeared. I rate this 3 out of 5 stars.
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Four tragic theories on what REALLY happened to Amy Bradley after she vanished on cruise
In March 1998, Amy Lynn Bradley vanished in the middle of the night while on a cruise ship with her family and was never found. A new Netflix documentary has explored the main theories behind the case, from sex slave fears to a website riddle and last sighting The sad disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley, a 23-year-old from Virginia who vanished from the cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas, remains one of the most perplexing unsolved cases in true crime history. Despite being last seen on her cabin's balcony aboard a ship filled with potential eyewitnesses, Amy's trail went cold almost instantly. Now, a new Netflix docuseries explores the leading theories in the 1998 case that continues to grapple the world. "There are no easy answers in this story," producer Phil Lott admits. "Getting to meet [the people on the ship] and interview them at length just made the stories that much more interesting, rich, deep - and raised more questions." Here, we take a look at four theories that have been suggested in the years following her mysterious disappearance. Theory 1: Amy fell or jumped overboard One of the earliest and most contested theories is that Amy may have accidentally fallen or intentionally jumped overboard. Her shoes were left on the balcony, and a table had been moved, suggesting she may have leaned over the railing. However, no physical evidence was ever recovered from the sea, and her family firmly rejected the notion she would have died by suicide or put herself in danger. Officials insisted if she had of fell overboard, remains would have washed up on shore due to the tide that evening. Theory 2: Involvement of cruise entertainer A significant portion of the docuseries revisits the theory involving Alister "Yellow" Douglas, a cruise ship entertainer seen dancing with Amy the night she vanished. Their interaction was captured on video inside the ship's nightclub. Lori Thompson, another passenger, told investigators she also saw Amy with Douglas earlier that night. Though the FBI questioned Douglas and he voluntarily took a polygraph test, the results were inconclusive. He was released without charge and has consistently maintained his innocence. "Every single person who worked on this was conflicted about what happened to Amy... that sort of whiplash made this particularly surprising," says producer Ari Mark. Theory 3: Human trafficking One of the most chilling theories comes from retired US Navy officer Bill Hefner, who believes he encountered Amy in January 1999 - ten months after she vanished. Hefner claims he met a distressed young woman in a Curaçao bar who told him, "My name is Amy Bradley. I'm from Virginia." The woman was quickly taken away by unidentified men. Hefner's tip circulated in true crime circles for years but was never explored on camera until now. The possibility that Amy was abducted and trafficked has gained traction as similar reports and unverified sightings surfaced over the years. Theory 4: Amy left the ship voluntarily A more recently considered theory is that Amy chose to leave the ship of her own accord. Though once dismissed, the documentary highlights a surprising new piece of evidence: a pattern of IP addresses traced to Barbados repeatedly logged into a forum on during family anniversaries and holidays. The site, founded by online investigator Anthony Willis in 2018, was designed to centralize tips. The IP activity has led some to speculate that Amy could be alive and living in secrecy. "I don't think the notion of her willingly walking off the ship was ever presented as a possibility until the [documentary]," says Mark. "And I don't believe that the eyewitness testimony or the IP information was really ever presented in any way to anyone." "It's very uncommon to have that many scenarios that feel possible," Mark said. "I dare anybody to look at those scenarios and argue me off one of them because there's enough information to suggest that any of those scenarios could be possible. It drove us nuts." In 1999, Amy's family filed a lawsuit against Royal Caribbean, alleging negligence in the handling of her disappearance. The company maintained that it had acted appropriately at all times. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed, and no charges have ever been filed in connection with the case. For Amy's relatives, the pain of her disappearance remains raw. Through interviews with friends and loved ones, the series paints a portrait of a young woman whose presence is still deeply missed. "It's one thing to talk about the void of Amy, and it's another thing to experience it," adds Mark. "This is a family who really deeply believes in what they're saying, and what they're saying is, 'She's out there, we're going to find her, and we're ready.'' Amy Bradley Is Missing is now streaming on Netflix.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Amy Bradley Sent Girlfriend a 'Message in a Bottle,' Lamenting 'an Ocean Between Us.' Then She Vanished at Sea
Netflix's docuseries 'Amy Lynn Bradley Is Missing' goes in-depth into the mysterious 1998 disappearance of the 23-year-old At first, the message seemed straightforward. In January of 1998, Amy Lynn Bradley, 23, of Virginia, confessed over the phone to her girlfriend, Mollie McClure, that she had kissed another woman while both of them had been drinking. Needing time to process the news, McClure, then 23, stopped taking Bradley's calls. Determined to reach McClure, Bradley sent her a 'message in a bottle,' expressing her remorse in a handwritten letter — one that took on new meaning after Bradley vanished in March of 1998 during a Caribbean cruise with her family. "Mollie, I hurt you deeper than you can ever forget,' Bradley wrote in a letter McClure shares in episode three of Netflix's true-crime series Amy Bradley Is Missing, which premiered on July 16. 'I'm not asking you to forget, because that'll never happen," Bradley wrote. "I just wanted to ask you if you could find it in your heart to forgive me." Then, in an eerie foreshadowing of what may have befallen Bradley a month later, she wrote, "I feel like there is an ocean between us, like I'm on a desert island waiting for you to rescue me. A message in a bottle, my only hope. I miss you, Mollie.' Bradley ended the missive writing, 'Save me, please. Stranded, Amy." On March 24, 1998, exactly one month after Bradley wrote the message in a bottle, she disappeared from a Royal Caribbean ship in Curaçao. She has been missing ever since. Some believe that Bradley fell overboard or died by suicide. Others wonder if she had been kidnapped, trafficked and forced into a life of prostitution. In the series, McClure says she has no idea what happened to the woman she loved, who vanished while traveling with her parents and brother. Her father last saw her sleeping on the balcony of their cabin between 5:15 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. on the morning of March 24, 1998. But by 6 a.m., she was gone, and had only taken her lighter and cigarettes with her, leaving even her shoes behind. "Some viewers have fixated on Bradley's letter and phrases that now seem haunting in retrospect — like "an ocean between us" and "stranded." But McClure says in the series that "the convenience of the metaphor is ripe for misunderstanding." 'It could suggest suicide,' McClure says. 'But I don't connect with it in that way.' She notes that 'it is a love letter.' During a nearly 30-year-search for Bradley, her family has received tips that have seemed promising. Canadian tourist David Carmichael said that in August 1998, he believed he saw Bradley in Curaçao, "flanked by two people" on the beach. As he got closer, he says the woman pointed to her tattoos — which matched all of Bradley's. Authorities searched the area after getting Carmichael's tip, but didn't find any sign of Bradley. In January 1999, a Navy petty officer reportedly visited a brothel in Curaçao and said a woman told him her name was Amy Bradley and asked him for help. He told her there was a naval ship about five minutes away, but she responded, "No, you don't understand. Please help me. My name is Amy Bradley." The officer didn't take action, her father, Ron Bradley, told NBC News — in in part because the officer wasn't allowed to be in the brothel and because he didn't know anyone by that name was missing until he saw a magazine cover with Amy's face and name on it. Related: Was Amy Bradley Ever Found? Unpacking the Theories About Her Disappearance and Alleged Sightings Over the Years In September 2005, an anonymous source allegedly sent the Bradleys online photos of a woman named Jas whom they claimed was their daughter. The Bradleys had a forensic detective analyze the photos, who allegedly said it was a perfect match for Amy. Unfortunately, they weren't able to pinpoint the site's IP address, and the FBI still lacks evidence to detain or charge anyone with kidnapping. Amy Bradley Is Missing began streaming on Netflix on July 16. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Woman living in Netflix's Amy Bradley home keeping memory alive in touching way
A woman living in the former home of Amy Lynn Bradley who vanished from a cruise ship decades ago sparking a new Netflix series said she "wants to keep her memory alive". Mom-of-three Shelby Peers, 26, was initially unaware of her new home's history and link to the infamous 1998 missing persons case when she moved into it with her family in 2019. Peers later researched the case and connected with Bradley's family, who said they especially appreciated her efforts to maintain Amy's garden. Along with the release of the Amy Bradley is Missing docuseries on Netflix, her viral TikTok video sparked renewed interest in the unsolved disappearance and led Peers to form her own theory involving suspected sex trafficking. In spite of its tragic past, Peers says her family enjoys living in the home in Chesterfield County, Virginia. The stay-at-home mom to 23-month-old twin boys and a five-month-old daughter, lives at the home with her husband, Adam, 30, who works in logistics. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Amy Bradley Went Missing on a Cruise Ship. The True Story & Top Theories
It was March 23, 1998, and Amy Lynn Bradley was vacationing on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship with her family. Rhapsody of the Seas was sailing "somewhere between Aruba and Curacao, Netherlands Antilles." The FBI page devoted to Bradley's story gives the following account. According to Special Agent Erin Sheridan, Amy and her brother Brad Bradley "had a night out." Her parents, Ron and Iva Bradley, were also on the cruise ship. She was a "talented basketball player and college graduate," just 23 years old. "So that evening, Amy was out at the disco with her brother, other passengers, and crew, socializing and having a great time. In the morning, when her parents and her brother woke, Amy was gone," Sheridan says on the website, noting that her brother, Brad, was the last person to see her. Where is Amy Bradley now? Is she dead, under duress, the victim of human trafficking, or did she leave on her own? Did she fall overboard, or was she murdered? A new Netflix documentary, Amy Bradley Is Missing, revisits the story of the missing woman. That has a lot of people wondering about the true story, as well as the top theories in the case. There's a $25,000 reward in the case, according to the FBI. "Myself and my parents have had to endure a lot of sadness, but the last thing that I ever said to Amy was, 'I love you,' before I went to sleep that night. Knowing that that's the last thing I said to her has always been very comforting to me," Brad Bradley says on the FBI page. According to the FBI, Amy has "several tattoos, including a sun, a gecko lizard, and a Tasmanian devil spinning a basketball." "On Saturday, March 21, 1998, the vessel departed San Juan, Puerto Rico, and traveled to its first port of call, the island of Aruba," the FBI explained."On Monday, March 23, 1998, Rhapsody of the Seas departed Aruba and was traveling in international waters to its next island port of Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. During the early morning hours of Tuesday," it says. "March 24, 1998, Amy Lynn Bradley went missing. The vessel later departed Curacao and continued on to the island of St. Martin (Sint Maarten) and further traveled to St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands, before returning to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Saturday, March 28, 1998." According to TODAY, Bradley was "last seen asleep on her chair on the balcony of the ship's eighth deck at 4:30 a.m." She has never been seen by her loved ones again, and it's not clear whether she is dead or alive. "I'm telling you, if she came off the ship or fell off the ship, we would get a body,' Adtzere 'John' Mentar, who was Harbor police chief at the time, said on the Netflix show. 'She would have washed ashore …' The series also shows Sheridan explaining the family's cabin was cleaned before investigators could search it, one of the challenges of investigating a crime on a cruise ship. The series entertains various theories about Bradley's disappearance. One woman interviewed, Lori Thompson, "claims she saw Amy with Alister 'Yellow' Douglas, an entertainer on the ship, shortly before Amy vanished," Netflix writes. "Earlier that night, Douglas had been seen dancing with Amy in the nightclub, a detail backed by video footage." The series also does not rule out the possibility that Bradley fell or jumped overboard. The series also explores the claim that Bradley might have been human trafficked. US Navy seaman Bill Hefner "believes he met a distressed Amy in a bar after his ship arrived in Curaçao in January 1999, 10 months after she went missing," Netflix reports, adding that another theory has Bradley vanishing on her own, buttressed by a "pattern" of logins to the family's missing person website on key dates from IP addresses in Barbados. According to Netflix, Douglas took a polygraph test, but it was inconclusive; he says he's innocent, and he's never been accused by authorities of any wrongdoing in connection with Bradley's disappearance. Various people have claimed they saw Bradley since she vanished, but none of those claims has been authenticated, USA Today reported. . Another twist in the case came in 2005, when an "anonymous source allegedly sent the Bradleys photos of a woman whom they claimed was Amy that they found online," People reported. Despite differences in the woman's appearance, Iva Bradley "believed it could have been her daughter," according to People, which reported the photos came from "an adult website based in the Caribbean." There was never enough evidence to trace the photo's origin or the woman. A Coast Guard lieutenant initially said that authorities believed she fell from the balcony in the family's room on the 8th deck into the water, according to a 1998 Associated Press article. One tantalizing clue: The door to that balcony was open, the AP reported. Her uncle John Noblin said in that article that the family didn't think Bradley fell overboard because she was afraid of heights and would have been cautious around the railing. Noblin said at that time that he believed someone had "grabbed" Bradley in the corridor. FBI agents searched the ship to no avail, and her flyer was distributed in nearby ports. Bradley was a "trained lifeguard," that story says, adding that authorities found no evidence of foul play on the Bradley Went Missing on a Cruise Ship. The True Story & Top Theories first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 16, 2025
