What happened to Amy Bradley? Timeline and theories behind her disappearance

College graduate Amy Bradley disappeared without trace on a family cruise in the Caribbean in 1998.

Twenty-seven years later, her family and friends are no nearer knowing what happened to her or whether she is alive or dead.

Now a three-part true crime documentary series, Amy Bradley Is Missing, on Netflix from Wednesday 16 July, will explore the case once again – talking to family, those involved in the investigation, and expert witnesses to see if they can shed any light on the longstanding mystery.

Theories and sightings of the 23-year-old have abounded in the intervening years. We take a look at the some of the detail.

Who is Amy Bradley?

Amy Bradley is a college graduate, who had studied at Longwood University on a basketball scholarship and graduated with a degree in physical education.

She had been working at a local steak house but was due to start a permanent job at a computer consulting firm.

Amy is the daughter of Iva and Ronald Bradley and the older sister of Brad.

All four family members went on an an all-expenses-paid cruise that Mr Bradley had won through work, in March 1998.

Shortly before going on the cruise with her family, the 23-year-old, from Chesterfield County, Virginia, had come out as gay to her family.

How and when did Amy Bradley go missing?

The Bradley family boarded the Royal Caribbean International cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas en route for Curaçao, a Dutch Caribbean island, on 21 March 1998.

Two days later on 23 March, Amy and her brother Brad went out drinking and dancing until late with the ship’s band Blue Orchid at a party on the ninth floor deck of the ship.

Amy was videoed dancing with one band member, Alister “Yellow” Douglas.

Brad returned to the family cabin at 3.35am, his sister Amy returned five minutes later.

Both sat out on the family suite’s balcony talking before Brad fell asleep. When he awoke hours later his sister had disappeared.

Timeline of the search for Amy Bradley

• 5.15am-5.30am on 24 March – Ron Bradley awakes and checks on both children sleeping on the balcony.
• 5.30-5.45am on 24 March – three witnesses report seeing Amy on the upper deck with Alister Douglas. He was seen leaving the deck at around 6am. Mr Douglas has always denied knowing anything about Amy’s disappearance.
• 6am on 24 March – Ron Bradley gets up and notices Amy is missing from the balcony and so are her cigarettes and lighter. He begins a search for Amy in the public areas of the ship.
• 6.30am on 24 March – Mr Bradley wakes the rest of the family and informs them Amy is missing. They inform the ship’s crew Amy is missing, and ask for an announcement to help find her and to prevent the 2,000 passengers from disembarking. The family are told it is too early to make an announcement.
• 7.50am on 24 March – the ship’s crew issue an announcement asking Amy to come to the Purser’s office.
• 12.15-1pm on 24 March – the crew search the ship for Amy.
• 24 March – Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard conduct a four-day search for Amy using helicopters and radar plane, ending on 27 March. The Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines chartered a boat to continue the search.

What are the theories about what happened to her?

There have been a number of sightings and a string of theories regarding Amy’s disappearance and whereabouts.

Possible Sightings

• April 1998 – the Bradley family travelled to Curaçao where a cab driver said he had seen Amy running through a car park on 24 March in search of a phone.
• August 1998 – two Canadian divers claimed they may have spotted Amy at Playa Porto Marie. She was at a beach bar with a man they said resembled Alister Douglas.
• January 1999 – US Navy petty officer William Hefner said he saw a woman, who told him she was Amy Bradley, at a Curaçao brothel. She approached him in the bar and asked for help. He told the Bradley family in 2002, after he had retired. An FBI investigation revealed the brothel had burned down.
• Autumn 1999 – Amy’s parents received an email from self-proclaimed Navy Seal Frank Jones claiming he could rescue Amy. When he continued to ask for more funds for his rescue mission, it was discovered the entire project was a scam. Jones pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was given a five-year jail sentence.
• April 2003 – Amy was spotted in San Francisco with two men, who are reported to have seized her and fled when she was recognised.
• March 2005 – a witness claimed to have seen Amy in a department store in Barbados. Two other witnesses reported seeing Amy in the same area on the same day.
• January 2007 – Amy was reported to have been spotted having dinner with four men in a restaurant in Aruba.
• 2010 – a jawbone belonging to a Caucasian human is washed ashore in Aruba. It has not been identified or DNA tested.
• 24 March 2010 – Amy Bradley is declared legally dead.

Theories about her disappearance have centred around her being kidnapped and then sold into illegal human trafficking industry in the Caribbean. This would appear to be supported by some of the possible sightings of her.

Another theory is that Amy was murdered on board the ship and then thrown overboard, although the only evidence of a possible death is the unidentified jawbone.

A third theory is that she jumped or fell overboard, although Amy was a former lifeguard and strong swimmer.

Finally, there is the supposition that Amy left the ship of her own volition and chose to live abroad in secret.

This appears to be supported by fresh evidence involving a pattern of IP addresses, traced to Barbados, logging into the amybradleyismissing.com forum on key family anniversaries and holidays.

Online investigator Anthony Willis, who is also interviewed in the Netflix documentary, launched the site in 2018 hoping to create a centralised platform where any leads could be examined to potentially aid the ongoing search efforts.