Emily Chan
Amy Lynn Bradley was born in Petersburg, Virginia, on May 12, 1974, and was a resident of Chesterfield County, Virginia.
She went on to attend college at Longwood, Virginia, on a basketball scholarship. Then, she graduated with a degree in physical education and was looking forward to starting a new job at a computer consulting firm before her tragic disappearance during a family vacation in 1998.
On March 21, 1998, 23-year-old Amy joined her parents and brother on the Rhapsody of the Seas, the Royal Caribbean International Cruise Line’s ship. That day, the ship left San Juan, Puerto Rico, for Aruba. Two days later, on March 23, the ship departed from Aruba and headed to Curacao.
According to the FBI, Amy went missing in the early morning hours of March 24 while the ship was traveling between the two destinations. The night before she vanished, Amy’s brother, Brad, who was then 21-years-old, told authorities that he and Amy went to a party on the ship.
They were dancing and drinking with Blue Orchid, the ship’s orchestra. One of the band members, Alister Douglas, otherwise known as Yellow, reported that he and Amy parted ways at 1:00 a.m.
The computerized door lock system on the ship showed that Brad returned to their family’s private suite at 3:35 a.m. Five minutes later, Amy arrived. Brad said the two of them chatted on the suite’s balcony before he went to sleep. When he left to go to bed, Amy was seated on a lounge chair on the balcony.
The next morning, Amy’s loved ones awoke to find her gone. Between 5:15 and 5:30 a.m., Amy’s father, Ron, woke up and saw Amy still resting on the lounge chair. But when he checked on her again at 6:00 a.m., she was no longer there. Her cigarettes and lighter were gone as well.
Brad believed that Amy had possibly mentioned leaving the ship when it reached Curacao to buy some cigarettes. The sliding glass door that led to the balcony had been left partially open, and a pair of Amy’s sandals were found inside her suite. Her ID was still in the room, along with the nine other pairs of shoes she bought on the cruise.
Two passengers on the cruise claimed they saw a woman riding the elevator to the top deck of the ship at 6:00 a.m. However, the sighting was not confirmed to be Amy.
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