Amy Bradley is (still) missing, but new evidence may help find the now 51-year-old American, if she’s alive.
Netflix docuseries Amy Bradley Is Missing from filmmakers Ari Mark and Phil Lott made a huge splash with its July release. The success of the series — it spent four weeks on Netflix’s Top 10 — has helped put Bradley’s case in the national spotlight, bringing in hundreds of new leads to the FBI and Bradley’s family. Three are “very significant,” a source close to the production tells The Hollywood Reporter.
In 1998, 23-year-old Amy Bradley vanished overnight from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship she and her family were vacationing on. A full search of the ship found no trace of the recent college graduate, leading officials to believe Bradley likely jumped or fell overboard on the way to Curaçao. Her body was never found, however, and in the ensuing decades multiple people have reported seeing Bradley alive on the Dutch Caribbean island (as well as an alleged sighting in Aruba). Bradley’s family has always dismissed the idea that she fell victim to an accident or to suicide. Amy Bradley Is Missing served up compelling evidence that she may have instead been trafficked off the boat, potentially by crew members.
Now a source close to the production claims that additional evidence gathered after the production wrapped lends credence to that theory.
The source says a female bar server onboard the cruise ship has come forward to corroborate this version of events. On the night Bradley went missing, this source says, the server was heard exclaiming to passengers and crew, “Señorita kidnapped! Señorita kidnapped!” The server does not speak much English, the source, who spoke with THR on the condition of anonymity, continued. The bar server was told to “shut up” and taken to the back by a bartender, the source said.
The witness and her story were not mentioned in Amy Bradley Is Missing because her identity was not known at the time. But due to the popularity of the documentary, the bar server has since come forward and is currently being interviewed by investigators.
The Bradley family has a whole team looking for Amy. The docuseries influenced the FBI to reopen the case with a new agent, the source said. The FBI, whose activities have been somewhat curtailed due to the government shutdown, did not immediately respond to THR’s request for comment on new developments.
In its most recent statement to THR about the case, the FBI press office stated, “We have nothing further outside of the seeking information poster.” (Link here.) “Tips can be submitted via 1-800-CALL-FBI or at tips.fbi.gov.”
The Bradleys have also hired private investigators through what our source believes to be funds raised as a result of the Netflix show. A spokesperson flor the family declined to comment on this story.
The FBI and the Bradleys’ PIs are now in Curaçao “and other surrounding countries,” the source said. It’s a big step as the matter of jurisdiction has been a major hurdle in the case — the FBI cannot just infiltrate a country and start poking around.
The Amy Bradley “missing person” poster.
FBI.gov
There has also been a new “highly suspicious” hit to Amy Bradley’s missing-persons websiteour source said. The site is being professionally monitored for activity with the idea being that Bradley herself may use it as a way of feeling connected with her family — activity in the Curaçao region has historically spiked around family holidays and occasions — or that her potential captors may use it to keep tabs on the investigation. Through geolocating, investigators were able to trace the suspicious hit to the IP address of a device on a boat off the west end of Barbados, we’re told.
“A lot of trafficking of drugs takes place on the water,” the source said, “so that’s obviously highly suspicious.”
There has also been a potential sighting of Bradley in Barbados, the source said. The FBI responded to the sighting and interviewed the witness.
Drug-running and sex-trafficking often go hand in hand in that part of the world. One major theory is that Bradley was smuggled off the cruise ship and forced into a life of prostitution. Sex workers are often drugged as a means of control. The drugging can be ongoing and/or it can create a habit causing the individual to “willingly” continue the drug use.
And finally, there is new information surrounding a potential child, the source said. The documentary flicked at that possibility but new evidence makes a more compelling case that Bradley has at least one child. The source believes the child is more than likely the result of Bradley being forced into sex work and not a signal that she had settled down to have a family.
Though vague (I know more than I can share), it is the most significant piece of new evidence — if Amy Bradley has a child, Amy Bradley did not die at sea.
