1998 жылғы жоғалып кеткен американдық әйелдің құпиясы

Unsolved 1998 disappearance of 23 year old American woman

Amy Lynn Bradley (born May 12, 1974) is an American woman who went missing during a Caribbean cruise on the Royal Caribbean International cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas in late March 1998 while en route to Curaçao. Her whereabouts remain unknown to this day. She was a 23 year old Longwood University graduate at the time of her disappearance. After midnight on Monday March 23, 1998, Amy and her younger brother Brad headed to the ship's nightclub to go dancing. Records show that Brad decided to return to his cabin earlier than Amy. The ship's door lock records show that Brad had entered his cabin at around 3:35 am, and Amy soon followed five minutes later. The two chatted before heading to bed. Amy's father Ron awoke around 6:00 a. m. to check on his daughter only to find her missing from the balcony she had slept on earlier. When authorities were alerted that Amy was missing, the Netherlands Antilles Coast Guard conducted a four day search in the surrounding waters and along the cruise lines to no result. Authorities began to speculate that she may have fallen overboard and drowned, but investigators have rejected this theory as Amy was known to be a strong swimmer and searches turned up no sign of her. There have been possible sightings of Bradley in Curaçao. In August 1998, tourists saw a woman resembling Bradley on a beach and in 1999 a member of the U. S. Navy claimed a woman in a brothel said she was Bradley and asked him for help. In the years after Amy's disappearance, some new evidence would arise leading to theories including Amy being sold into a human trafficking industry or potential remains. The case has been presented on Dr. Phil in a segment entitled The Search for Natalee: Amy Bradley, the case was also presented on America's Most Wanted.

Amy Lynn Bradley was born on May 12, 1974, in Petersburg, Virginia. She was a resident of Chesterfield County, Virginia. She attended a local college, Longwood University, graduating with a degree in Physical Education. She attended with a scholarship in basketball and was known for her strong swimming abilities as well as having previously worked as a lifeguard. As a celebratory event, Amy decided to join her family on a cruise vacation on the Royal Caribbean International cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas en route for Curaçao, a Dutch Caribbean island under the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

On March 21, 1998, Amy and her family boarded the cruise towards Curaçao. One of the band's members, Alister Douglas, otherwise known as ‘Yellow,’ was drinking with Amy that night and claimed that he left the party at around 1:00 am. After a couple of hours, Brad decided to rest for the rest of the night at the family cabin at around 3:35 am. The ship's computerized door lock system recorded that Brad returned to the cabin at 3:35 a. m. where Amy followed five minutes later. Brad reported that he and his sister sat on the suite's balcony and talked before he went to sleep while Amy stayed awake for a while longer before she fell asleep shortly after.

Between the times of 5:15 a. m. and 5:30 a. m. March 24, 1998, Amy's father Ron woke up and got up to check on the status of his children where he saw Amy still sleeping on the lounge chair of their cabin's balcony. Ron told local papers—"could see Amy's legs from her hips down. [ ] I dozed back off to sleep. The balcony door was closed, because if it hadn’t been closed, I would have gotten up and closed it." When he got up at 6:00 am, however, she was missing along with her cigarettes and lighter. He later said, "I left to try and go up and find her. When I couldn't find her, I didn't really know what to think, because it was very much unlike Amy to leave and not tell us where she was going." After Ron searched the common areas of the cruise, he woke up the rest of the family and told them Amy was missing at 6:30 am.

Initially, the authorities suspected that Amy had either fallen overboard or died by suicide. However, this speculation was soon discredited as Amy was known to be a strong swimmer and her body was never found in the waters as well as no evidence of foul play. and did not report the incident earlier as he feared for his career in the Navy having been in a brothel. The witness only contacted Amy's family after he retired and saw her picture in a magazine. There was no evidence to support the witness's claim. There was another potential sighting in March 2005 when a witness named Judy Maurer claimed to have seen Bradley in a department store restroom in Barbados. She claimed a woman entered the restroom accompanied by three men who proceeded to threaten her if she did not follow through on a deal. She alleges that after the men left, she approached the distraught woman who said that her first name was Amy and that she was from Virginia before the men re entered and took her away. Maurer called authorities and they created composite sketches of three men and the woman based on her account.

In the fall of 1999, Amy's parents received an email from a self proclaimed Navy Seal Soldier—Frank Jones. authorities ceased any further testing despite the fact that there were nine other Caribbean vacationers that were said to be missing. No DNA testing was done on the material. They say that the bone is human and was likely from a Caucasian origin. An email was sent to the Bradley family website containing two photographs of a woman that closely resembled Amy. The photographs were observed by a member of an organization that attempts to track victims on sites that feature sex workers. The woman in the photo has been said to appear "distraught and despondent"

There are some theories that are circulating the internet in regard to the disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley. One of these theories was that she was kidnapped and sold into the illegal human trafficking industry in the Caribbean. claiming that he heard a worker at a brothel in the Caribbean claiming to be Amy and a 2005 photo that was emailed to Amy's family. Another piece of evidence would include the inconsistencies of the witnesses on the night of the disappearance. In People Magazine, Amy's mother stated, "I remember watching people watch her admiringly" and later goes on to say "Amy would have been a trophy."

The FBI is currently offering a reward of up to $25,000 for any information that could potentially lead to the recovery of Amy Lynn Bradley or leads to an arrest or conviction of the person(s) responsible for Amy's disappearance. Her case was featured on America's Most Wanted and the television show Disappeared. Her case was also the subject of episode 59 of the Casefile podcast and the podcasts Crime Junkie and The Casual Criminalist. Renewed attention was paid to her case after the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in 2005.