Amy Lynn Bradley: What Really Happened To The 23-Year-Old Who Vanished On A Family Cruise Ship?

Amy Lynn Bradley was on vacation with her parents and brother on the Royal Caribbean International cruise line ship Rhapsody of the Seas when she disappeared on March 24, 1998.

The ship was making its way through the Caribbean Sea when the 23-year-old vanished. Before she went missing, Amy was out socializing at the cruise’s disco with her brother, other passengers and a live band, Blue Orchid. One of the band’s member’s, Alister Douglas, known as Yellow, said he and Amy partied together, but that they said goodnight around 1 a.m.

Between 5:15 and 5:30 am, Amy’s father, Ron said he saw his daughter asleep on the cabin balcony. When he got up at 6 a.m, she was no longer there. She reportedly left behind her shoes, but took a lighter and her cigarettes. Her father said it was very unlike her to leave without telling anyone where she was going.

Her brother Brad was the last family member to speak to her, when he said bye to her before going to sleep the night before. “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 said.

The crew reportedly refused the family’s pleas to keep the ship away from the dock to prevent any potential kidnapper from carrying Amy to land. The cruise did not page for the missing woman until the cruise had docked in Curaçao and after many passengers already exited the ship. Investigators said there was no evidence that Amy, a trained lifeguard, fell overboard.

Before her disappearance, her parents claimed the cruise crew was giving her “special attention.” That led them to believe she was possibly kidnapped and sold into sex slavery.

Two Canadian tourists reported seeing a woman that looked like Amy on a beach in Curaçao in 1998. The woman they spotted had tattoos that reportedly matched Amy’s: a Tasmanian Devil spinning a basketball on her shoulder, a sun on her lower back, a Chinese symbol located on her right ankle and a gecko lizard on her navel.

A member of the Navy claimed he spotted Amy in a brothel in 1999. He said she told him that "her name was Amy Bradley and [she] begged him for help." That woman said she was not allowed to leave the brothel.

A photograph that appears to be Amy Lynn in her underwear was sent to the Bradley family via email in 2005. The image was spotted and sent to the family by a member of an organization that tracks down potential sex trafficking victims on adult websites.

The FBI has offered a reward of $25,000 for information leading to the resolution of this case.

[Images: FBI and YouTube]