Parents believe daughter who vanished from cruise ship 27 years ago is still alive
It’s been 27 years since Amy Bradley went missing, and her father, Ron Bradley, still makes sure to keep her car shiny and filled up with gas, waiting for her return.
"We flew down to Virginia and sat with her parents to have a nice meal," filmmaker Ari Mark told Fox News Digital.
"Her car is ready to go. The bag that she took with her on that [fateful] cruise is still sitting in her room. You still see the exact change she was carrying. You still see all her belongings. Her photos are everywhere. You get the sense that she’s still alive in that house."
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The Bradleys strongly believe that their daughter could still be alive and a victim of international sex trafficking. They’re speaking out in a Netflix documentary, "Amy Bradley Is Missing," in hopes that anyone with leads will come forward. Some who claimed to have seen Bradley over the years also shared their accounts in the film.
"It’s been 27 years, and in those 27 years, there have been probably 12 twists and turns that occurred that I could think of," Mark explained. "… And it wasn’t until I met the Bradley family that it felt urgent. It felt like something needed to be done right now."
"The sightings [being shared in the film] are extremely significant," Mark shared. "… The sightings allow viewers, the family and law enforcement to believe that Amy could be out there. It keeps the case fresh, and her story going. It keeps the leads coming, that somebody may have possibly seen something. New questions are raised."
In March 1998, Bradley, then 23, went on a Royal Caribbean International cruise with her family. It was supposed to be a seven-day tropical adventure. She had recently graduated and was eager to pursue a master’s degree in sports psychology. According to the documentary, she had just adopted a bulldog and had a new apartment.
In a celebratory mood, Bradley was seen dancing at the Rhapsody of the Seas nightclub with her brother Brad. In the early morning hours of March 24, the siblings returned to their family suite. There, Ron saw his daughter sleeping on the cabin’s balcony.
About half an hour later, as the ship was heading towards Curaçao, Bradley went missing. Her shoes were left behind.
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Despite an extensive search, Bradley wasn’t found. The cruise resumed its scheduled stops before returning to Puerto Rico on March 28.
Netherlands Antilles Coast Guard Lt. Sjoerd Soethout told reporters that Bradley may have fallen from the balcony, The Associated Press reported. According to the outlet, an FBI spokeswoman said the agency had "no evidence of foul play."
Ron and Iva Bradley filed two lawsuits against Royal Caribbean in 1999, claiming the cruise line was negligent in how it handled the disappearance of their daughter. At the time, the cruise line issued a statement, stating they acted "appropriately and responsibly at all times." Both lawsuits were dismissed in 2000.
Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean for a comment about the documentary.
Over the years, there have been numerous theories about what happened to Bradley. Some speculated that Bradley had fallen overboard and drowned. Others wondered whether she took her life. But as shown in the film, the family are adamant that she was possibly taken against her will.
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In 2005, an anonymous tipster sent the family disturbing images of a woman from an adult website based in the Caribbean. She had long, voluminous hair, appeared aged and wore heavy makeup as she posed provocatively. She appeared to be positioned in a way that notable markings, such as a tattoo of a Tasmanian Devil spinning a basketball, wouldn’t be visible.
While the woman was listed as "Jas," Iva believed it could have been her daughter.
"Just imagine getting a photo like that of your kid," said Mark. "I know that it devastated the Bradley family, but at the same time, it offered a little glimmer of possibility that Amy’s alive. I think there is that bittersweet reaction there.
"It also deepens the mystery. Is there anything in the background we can focus on to determine the location? Is there even the slightest detail that would give law enforcement something to go on?"
"… [Investigators] did check out that escort service," Mark continued. "They did send someone on the ground to see if they could find anything that resembled that photo or find employees of that website. They gave it a good try … [But], do the features match? I think that’s up to the audience to decide. Ultimately, it’s pretty compelling."
Filmmaker Phil Lott told Fox News Digital that the family had a forensic detective to analyze the photos. Jaw lines, ear shapes and eye placement were compared.
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"There’s a very significant degree of … I’m not going to say certainty, but there’s a degree of belief that this photograph does represent a potential version of Amy as an older … lady," he said.
There were also alleged sightings.
In the documentary, tourist Judy Maurer claimed that she had seen a woman believed to be Bradley in a Barbados restroom. Maurer alleged that three men had escorted the woman in question away. A Canadian named David Carmichael also believed that he may have spotted Bradley "flanked by two people" while visiting Curaçao. Similarly, a Navy veteran, Bill Hefner, claimed he may have seen a distressed Bradley at a bar in Curaçao.
"If Judy Maurer hadn’t seen Amy in a Barbados bathroom, we wouldn’t be asking questions about why the hell Amy was in Barbados," said Mark. "… But the testimony of these witnesses, I think, will convince anybody that what those people saw was real."
The documentary also explores how, on specific birthdays and holidays, traffic to the family’s tips website appears to spike up in the same geographical area where Bradley supposedly had been spotted, The Hollywood Reporter shared.
Still, there isn’t enough evidence to detain or charge anyone with kidnapping. In 2017, the FBI shared age-progressing photos of Bradley in hopes it would spark new leads.
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TJ Ward, a private investigator hired by Natalee Holloway’s family in 2005 and again in 2010, told Fox News Digital that it’s crucial to go back to the very beginning.
"One of the things that needs to be looked at is the employees on the boat," said Ward, who didn’t participate in the documentary. "You need to find out about the people who worked on that boat. . . . They would have a lot more flexibility in hiding somebody or taking somebody without anybody knowing it."
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"That would be one of the first people that I would look at conducting an investigation," he added.
Bradley was spotted hanging out with Alastair "Yellow" Douglas, a member of the ship’s band. In the film, he is seen dancing with Bradley hours before her disappearance.
While his daughter, Amica Douglas, confronted him in a telephone call, as shown in the film, the FBI found no evidence to charge him. Douglas has also vehemently denied any involvement with Bradley's disappearance.
"Amica was initially hesitant to go on camera," said Mark. "… Ultimately, Amica realized that this tragedy had impacted her family in a way that feels almost irreparable. She has been harassed, and her family name has been thrown all around the internet. She wants to get to the bottom of this as much as anyone else. And she has real empathy for the Bradley family."
"And look, there’s no a-ha moment," he stressed. "I think it does reveal the fraught relationship Amica has with her father. . . We also wanted to give Alastair Douglas a chance to say his piece, which I believe he did.
"He feels like, ‘I’m a nobody. I’m just a guy from the Caribbean, a hardworking person on a cruise ship. And all of a sudden, I’m being not only questioned by the FBI, but unfairly vilified by the internet.'"
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The filmmakers hope that a renewed interest in the case will finally bring the family answers.
"This is so urgent and pressing for the family," said Mark. "We both felt the urgency of the family that every single minute is a minute that Amy’s not home."
Anyone with information about Bradley is asked to contact their local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.