There is a $250,000.00 REWARD for information leading to Amy’s safe return. There is also a $50,000.00 REWARD for information leading to her verifiable location.
Amy, our beautiful 23-year-old daughter, who had recently graduated from college, vanished in the Caribbean on March 24, 1998.
My husband, son, Amy and I were leisurely traveling as a family during the time of her disappearance. The cruise ship was in the docking procedure in the port of Curacao, Netherlands Antilles.
Amy had left her cabin during the early morning hours of March 24th, taking her cigarettes and lighter with her. Obviously, she had not intended to be gone for very long, as she did not wear her shoes.
There are many, many unanswered questions surrounding Amy’s disappearance… Who was she meeting at this early hour? Why would she take her cigarettes and lighter? Neither the cruise line nor government authorities have provided any answers. At this time, neither of these entities has made or is making proactive efforts of inquiries regarding our daughter’s mysterious disappearance.
The last person seen with Amy during the early hours of that morning was a cruise ship band member, known as ‘Yellow’ from a group called ‘Blue Orchid.’ There were other crewmembers that had also had contact with Amy during the cruise… a girl who worked in the casino, and three cruise ship waiters who were stationed at our dining table. The waiters were very over-attentive towards Amy from the moment they met her. After dinner one evening, one of the waiters approached us while we were visiting with associates with whom we had been traveling and asked for Amy by name. The waiter stated ‘they’ wanted to take Amy to Carlos and Charlie’s while docked in Aruba. When Amy and her brother, Brad, met with us a short time later, we told Amy about the waiter who had asked for her by name. She responded, “I wouldn’t go and do anything with any of those crewmembers. They give me the creeps.” While docked in Aruba, Amy and her brother did not leave the ship that evening.
That same evening, March 23rd (Monday), while docked in Aruba, all four of us attended a party on the upper deck, where the band was playing. We noticed a group of individuals, standing alongside the railing who had boarded the ship with a dance troupe, and who also were not passengers. They were not a part of the cruise! I wondered, “How could they be allowed to board a ship and just stand around watching the performance with paying passengers??” Looking back now, it seems even more dangerous to us.
During the party, Amy and I went to the 4th deck to look at the photos that had been taken after dinner that evening. ALL of Amy’s photos were missing! We asked the person in charge of the gallery where Amy’s pictures would be posted. He said he remembered placing them with the other photos taken at the same time, but acknowledged he couldn’t find them either. I asked him if he could have them redeveloped and he agreed, claiming they would be available the next day. In my possession, I still have the ticket for the redevelopment of those photos.
On Tuesday morning (March 24th), when we couldn’t find Amy, we begged the purser’s desk to back the ship from the dock and secure all of the gangways. They did neither. We pleaded with the supervisor of the purser’s desk to make an announcement that Amy was missing and to post her picture. Only a customary announcement was made…”Amy Bradley please contact the purser’s desk”.
Around lunchtime, the Captain of the cruise ship told us that he would not make an announcement that she was missing or post a photo for others passengers to view, as this would disturb the other guests. He told us that every nook and cranny of the ship had been searched for Amy.
The following day, while we were in a hotel in Curacao, the F.B.I. informed us that the search only included the common areas and restrooms.
Knowing the ship had not been entirely searched; we flew from Curacao, met the ship in St. Maarten and re-boarded on Thursday (March 26th). We demanded a meeting with the Captain and Chief of Security. Both had the look of a deer in the headlights, probably assuming they would never see us again. By this time, the cruise line had sent their ‘risk management’ agent to the ship. Later, we learned that the individual, who identified himself as merely ‘risk management’, was actually an attorney, who represented the cruise line against us. We had contact with the F.B.I. and the following day, they boarded the ship in St. Thomas. The cruise line ‘attorney’ was present during ALL interviews, yet we were prohibited. He was also present during our interview with the F.B.I. as well.
Again, there are so many questions that require answers…Why would a multi-million dollar cruise line not help in the search for our daughter, Amy? To this date, the cruise line has failed to cooperate with our family by way of information or assistance.
The only known facts that we have are: My husband and I took a cruise with our two children and returned home WITHOUT our daughter, Amy…Her brother, Brad, returned home to Virginia WITHOUT his sister.
