As fans of Netflix documentaries know, the missing persons case of Amy Lynn Bradley is a twisting true crime with lots of questions and few answers.
The FBI is hoping to fix that by offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to her recovery or the identification of those responsible for her disappearance.
Age progression photo developed by the FBI
Age progression by the FBI
FBI
And many are still asking: Is she truly missing?
Per the FBI, Bradley went missing from the Royal Caribbean International Cruise Line’s ship Rhapsody of the Seas during the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 24, 1998. That was three days into a Bradley family cruise, where Bradley shared a cabin with her parents and her brother.
On Saturday, March 21, 1998, the vessel departed San Juan, Puerto Rico, and traveled to its first port of call, the island of Aruba. 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. 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.
What investigators know for sure is that Bradley returned to her family's cabin on the cruise ship at some point the night of March 24, and was never seen again. Debate has raged since then about whether she went overboard, accidentally or on purpose, was kidnapped, or walked off the ship on her own and chose to disappear.
Following the release of a Netflix docuseries on the case, new leads emerged, including a claim that a ship bartender heard Bradley yelling "Senorita kidnapped!" on the night she disappeared, leading her brother to believe she was targeted and taken from the ship.
Despite the lack of concrete evidence she was kidnapped, Bradley's family remains hopeful that she is still alive, with her brother stating, "The hope doesn’t go away... it’s possible that she’s still alive and still out there."
Multiple sightings of Bradley have been reported over the years, fueling theories that she may have been abducted and forced into sex work in the Caribbean or chose to start a new life there. One sighting had a woman who looked like an older version of Bradley telling a stranger in a bathroom her name was Amy until she fled in the company of a man who seemed to frighten her; Another encounter was on the beach in Curacao in 1990 where a tourist reportedly recognized her distinctive tattoo
In 1999, Naval Officer Bill Hefner claimed to have been approached by a woman identifying herself as "Amy" in a brothel, stating she was being held against her will.
Bradley has a Tasmanian Devil spinning a basketball on her shoulder; the sun on her lower back; a Chinese symbol on her right ankle; and a Gecko lizard on her navel. She also has a navel ring.
If you have any information concerning the disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley, please contact your local FBI office, or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.
Field Office: Washington D.C.
