Casefile True Crime - Case 59: Amy Lynn Bradley

Episode Date: August 18, 2017

In March 1998, 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley joined her parents and brother on a weeklong cruise through the Caribbean. While the rest of her family was excited about the trip, Amy was reluctant. She had an apprehensive feeling that she just couldn’t shake. --- Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Researched and written by Anna Priestland For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-59-amy-lynn-bradley

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local Crisis Centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. In the autumn of 1998, 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley was told by her parents that they had been gifted a Caribbean cruise. Amy wasn't excited by the news like they were. She had only just moved into her own apartment after graduating from her degree in physical education and she was just about to start a new job. She was busy, but more than that, the idea of a cruise

across the sea gave her the creeps. She didn't really want to go. She would be just as happy settling into her new place, which was nearby her parents and brothers home in Chesterfield, Virginia. Amy was really close with her younger brother Brad, who was 21, and he and their parents, Ivor and Ron, were eventually able to talk Amy into joining them. Ron had been given the trip by the insurance agency he worked for and he believed it was a great chance to spend some quality time together. Seven days of sunshine, cruising the Caribbean, cocktails and endless sunsets. It wasn't long before Amy thought perhaps a cruise wouldn't be so bad after all. It was starting to sound like the trip of a lifetime.

Amy was born on May 12, 1974 and grew up with her family in the Creekwood subdivision in Chesterfield, Virginia. She loved sports and excelled particularly in basketball and swimming. When it came time for college, she chose to study close to home and attended Longwood University. She was a star basketball player and at the time was the only student in the school's history to attend on a full athletic scholarship. By the time she completed her degree in physical education, she was a trained lifeguard, a strong swimmer and had a teaching certificate. But despite those attributes, Amy couldn't help but feel nervous about going on a cruise. It just didn't sit right with her. The day before they left for their cruise,

Amy adopted an English bulldog puppy which she named Daisy. Daisy would be ready to pick up the day she got back from the cruise. The Bradleys flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where on Saturday, March 21, 1998, the cruise would depart for seven nights. They would cruise the waters of the southern Caribbean to Aruba, Curacao, onto Saint Martin and back to Puerto Rico. The Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas was a brand new luxury ship at the time, with its first voyage less than a year earlier. It was owned and operated by Royal Caribbean cruise lines of Miami, Florida, and although it has been registered in the Bahamas since 2005, back in 1998, it was registered in Norway. At 280 metres long, the ship carried

close to 2,000 passengers and over 700 crew, with Norwegian officers and crew members from over 50 nationalities. Like many cruisers, the itinerary was a mix of days docking at port for day trips as well as days cruising the sea, passing islands and watching the sunset in a new place each evening. Itineraries were planned with formal dinners and casual meet and greets. The crew's experience was enhanced by personal service. Crew members are encouraged to be friendly with passengers, many addressing them by name. The allure of cruising has been at the heart of American vacations for decades, with TV shows like The Love Boat painting a picture of luxury, fun and adventure.

The 80s and 90s saw the cruise industry become the fastest growing category in the leisure travel market, continuing to consistently grow approximately 7% per annum since 1980. Cruisers are a loyal type of vacationer, with many returning year after year. Passengers are drawn to the fun party atmosphere. In 1998, the cruisers at the Caribbean were the most sought after voyage, and now, almost 20 years on, 34% of all cruisers worldwide are on the Caribbean and Bahamas routes. When it came to travelling in style and luxury close to American soil, people loved the idea of days wandering exotic places, crystal blue waters,

clear skies and quaint charming tropical islands. It gave them a taste of the island life without having to stay on the islands themselves, as they could return to their luxury cabin on what was essentially a floating city. In 1998, few people questioned how things were run aboard luxury cruisers. Most passengers received information from their travel agents, and then read the brochures listing all the perks and offers available to them. Although there have been some changes made now, in 1998, the US government had no jurisdiction over cruise ships.

Governed by century-old maritime laws, if something went wrong aboard an international cruise on international waters, US passengers were not protected by any US laws. Instead, they were governed by the laws of the country of the ship's registry, and or the laws of the country of the port of call. Even the FBI often had their hands tied. Many passengers who went on luxury cruisers at the time believed they were boarding an extension of their own country, especially in the case of Americans boarding ships like the Rhapsody of the Seas, where the cruise company was based in Florida.

But with offshore registration and ancient laws of the high seas, they were actually entering an almost lawless floating city. With regulations specific to countries many passengers had never been to, and knew very little about. And the tropical paradisers that awaited them had their own dark and secret underbelly, not advertised in the glossy brochures. Many destinations were rife with illegal trading of drugs, money, sex and people. Islands of great unknown.

The Bradleys travelled to Puerto Rico to board the Rhapsody of the Seas on Saturday, March 21st, 1998. Prior to boarding, Amy sent some postcards to friends. In one, she wrote, Hey girl, it's gorgeous here. We leave for a Uber tomorrow. Take care. Tell Madison and Niles hello.

I'll be home Saturday at 10. See ya, Amy. On another, she wrote. Hey, it's beautiful here. Old San Juan has got some amazing buildings. I am taking pictures. Maybe you can see them at Easter. Wish you were here.

Amy. Seeing the new ship in the blazing sunshine, crew rushing around and thousands of passengers ready to board gave a nervous passenger like Amy comfort. The excitement of other passengers was infectious. It was an exciting experience approaching a large ship about to hit the open sea, and the sheer size of the Rhapsody was a comfort itself. It felt safer than Amy expected, and she started to relax. Everyone received their onboard cruise cards and room keys.

As Amy and her family prepared to walk the gangway onto the cruise, they had their photo taken to remember the special occasion. It was set to be a memorable week, and with check-in over, the Bradleys boarded the Rhapsody of the Seas. A moment they would never forget. As Amy's mother, Ivor, looked at her family, she thought how special that moment was. The Bradleys were given a junior suite on deck 8, cabin number 856-4, which was halfway down on the starboard side of the ship,

close to the elevators. They were all together in the same room. They had their own private balcony where they could sit and enjoy the view, and their room had floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors, so Ron and Ivor could see out from their bed. There were twin beds for Amy and Brad, and all the other amenities of a hotel suite. Amy unpacked her bags, including nine pairs of shoes and 15 rolls of film. She planned to take plenty of pictures to make a collage for a coffee table for her new apartment.

As they departed, dark shadows formed over the forts of Puerto Rico right alongside the ship, and as the sun set, they left the twinkling lights of the city behind them. The first nights before the cruise docked in a rubour, the Bradleys enjoyed everything promised by the Rhapsody. There was a formal dinner where Amy and Brad posed for a photograph taken by the ship's resident photographer. Ron had other insurance colleagues on the ship who they caught up with, and everyone talked excitedly about the places they were heading to. Three waiters who were stationed at the Bradley's Table began to flirt with Amy.

Ivor thought it was a bit forward, but she was happy that her daughter was getting attention. Ivor, quote. After dinner one evening, one of the waiters approached us and asked for Amy by name. The waiters stated they wanted to take Amy to a bar, Carlos and Charlies, while docked in a rubour. When Amy and Brad met with us a short time later, we told Amy about the waiter who would ask for her by name. She responded, I wouldn't go and do anything with any of those crew members. They give me the creeps. Carlos and Charlies was a hotspot for partying for crew members and holiday makers.

This is the same location where seven years later, 18-year-old Natalie Holloway would disappear while on a school graduation trip. When the ship docked in a rubour the following morning, the Bradleys disembarked together and posed for a family photo on the gangway with the ship in the background. Everyone was relaxed and all were looking forward to a day of shopping and sightseeing. They rented a jeep to tour the island, and Amy bought some gifts for her friends to take back home. As the day drew in, they returned to the crew's terminal to re-board the ship. That evening, there was a calypso dinner party on board the Rhapsody of the Seas. The Bradleys had enjoyed their day off the boat in a rubour, but were looking forward

to a relaxing evening and some fun entertainment. Amy and Brad had no intention of going partying with the crew members off the ship in a rubour. They were happy just to stay together on board. Later that night, the ship would leave a rubour for the island of Curuso, which at the time was a small island territory of the former Netherlands Antilles, another top destination of the cruise circuit and only 70 miles east of a rubour. They got ready and headed up to the upper deck where the houseband was entertaining guests. A dance troupe had boarded the ship in a rubour temporarily to perform, and with them, they brought a group of locals who were standing alongside the ship's railing.

The Bradleys weren't the only passengers to notice the group. It seemed a bit weird to them. They weren't paying guests, and they weren't there to perform themselves. Either, quote. How could they be allowed to board a ship and just stand around watching the performance with paying passengers? During the party, Amy and Ivar went to the fourth deck to look at the photos that had been taken after dinner that evening, as well as the evening before. Like all cruisers, they were board set up where passengers' photos were displayed. Every table had group dinner shots taken, and the photographer had also taken other photos around the ship. The photos were then put up on display for sale.

Ivar, quote. 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. Ivar walked away wondering why anyone else on board the ship from outside their family would want to take the photos of Amy. The Calypso party continued on, and Amy and Brad won a limbo contest. During the evening, Amy met the bassist from the ship's band, Blue Walkard.

The bassist, Alasda Douglas, also known as Yellow, had taken particular interest in her, and they enjoyed a few drinks together after the band finished playing. They danced together with a large group of other guests and some of the crew. At 1.30 am on March 24, Ivar and Ron retired to their family's suite on the 8th deck, leaving Amy and Brad dancing at the Calypso party. After the party, Amy and Brad continued on at the nightclub. Amy and Yellow were slow dancing on the dance floor at 3 am. Brad left back for the cabin just before 3.30, and a few minutes later,

Amy was seen approaching the lift at the side of the dance floor, alone. The nightclub had around 30 to 40 people still dancing by the time Amy left. The ship's computerized door lock system recorded Brad's return to the suite at 3.35. Amy's arrival was five minutes later. Ivar and Ron were asleep, so Brad and Amy sat on the balcony and chatted for a little while. Brad started to fall asleep, so he went inside the bed. Amy stretched out on a lounge chair on the balcony and fell asleep there. Around 5.30 am, Ron woke up. As he looked outside from his bed,

he saw Amy's legs on the lounge chair. He couldn't see her face, but assumed because she was so still, she was asleep. Amy's cigarettes and lighter lay on the deck next to her chair, and the sliding glass door was closed. He thought it best just to leave her. Amy and Brad had had a big night, and it wasn't long before they would have to wake up. The ship was already heading towards Port at Curacao, and after an early breakfast, the ship would dock. Ron dozed a little more himself.

Just before 6.00 am, Ron thinks he may have heard their cabin door quietly close. At 6.00 am, Ron woke up and saw that Amy wasn't on the balcony, and the sliding glass door was now ajar about 16 inches. He looked around a little and saw that her shoes were still out on the balcony, but her cigarettes and lighter were gone. She was nowhere in the cabin, so he thought that she must have gone up to one of the decks to have a cigarette and watch the ship come into port. He thought it was a bit strange that she hadn't taken her shoes, but perhaps she had only popped out for a moment. Ron got dressed and headed out to look for her.

By the time he got to the upper decks, the cruise ship was approaching the dock. After looking around the open areas of the ship and finding no sign of Amy, Ron's concern turned into panic. He didn't have a good feeling. On his way back to the cabin, Ron ran into the ship's security chief, Lou Costello. He told Costello he was unable to find his daughter, and he asked him if he would look out for her. To the security chief of a 2000-person cruise ship, a 23-year-old who left her cabin with a packet of cigarettes less than an hour before was not a great concern. Costello believed Amy was likely standing somewhere watching the view of the island as they drew near her.

With 35 beaches on such a small island, the view was a memorable one, and many passengers often line the rails to watch. Just before 7am, Ron went back to the cabin and woke up Ivor and Brad. Ivor said that from the moment she saw her husband's face, she knew that something terrible was going on. He was frantic, and in turn, that made Ivor panic. The Bradleys left their cabin and walked the entire length of the ship, deck by deck. Passengers were busy getting off the ship and on to the island. Ron and Ivor went to the captain and requested

he make an announcement over the speaker system for Amy. The captain refused. He said it was too early in the morning to use loudspeakers. The Bradleys requested that the gangways be secured to stop letting people off the cruise until they found Amy. They were worried that if someone had her, they may carry her off the ship. The captain refused. They requested that they post a picture up of Amy, but again, the captain refused. The captain remained adamant that any announcement or formal search would disturb the passengers. It was now 8am, and Ron had been looking for Amy for almost two hours.

After more pleading, some of the ship's officers finally agreed to make an announcement, but not that she was missing. The message simply said, Amy Bradley, please contact the purses desk. The Bradleys were frantic. The cruise personnel kept telling them that Amy must have gone ashore. Either, quote, Amy would just never think of going ashore or to some secluded part of the ship without telling us because she knows how we'd worry. The Bradleys continued to search everywhere, and the security chief, Luke Costello and the captain told them that they were conducting a thorough search themselves. While searching an internal deck, Brad ran into Yellow, the base

player from the ship's band who Amy was dancing with the night before. Yellow said he was sorry to hear about Amy, but he didn't offer to help look for her. By lunchtime, the Bradleys were literally begging the captain to make an announcement that Amy was missing. Either, quote, Around lunchtime, again the captain of the cruise ship told us that he would not make an announcement that she was missing or post a photo for other passengers to view, as this would alarm the other guests, and he was not prepared to do that. He told us that every nook and cranny of the ship had been searched for Amy, all 10 decks and 999 rooms. There was no sign of Amy Lynn Bradley anywhere. It was then that the captain made the comment that Amy may have

fallen overboard, but the Bradleys weren't having it. In order for her to fall, she would have had to have been climbing or flung in rough seas. The sea was calm that morning, and the Bradleys were adamant that there was no way Amy would climb the railings. She was nervous enough about stepping on the boat. They also knew that the railings were designed so that people didn't just stumble over them, even after a night of drinking. The railing on their balcony also had a shelf below it, so Amy falling overboard didn't make any sense to them. But the captain felt it was a possibility, and he contacted the US Coast Guard to organise a sea search. It was at this time that a member of the crew suggested that the Bradley's disembark and search for Amy in Curacao.

As the Bradley's had already done a thorough search of the ship, they felt this was a good idea, and they prepared to disembark. The crew's terminal at the pier in Curacao is an open area. Thousands of passengers disembark and go through the formalities of customs, and are then free to go. While the ship is docked, staff come and go, and the laundry carts and garbage bins are regularly wheeled past customs officials by crew members. In 1998, regulations were not as strict as in the years that followed 9-11. It was highly possible that someone could travel or be moved through the customs area without being checked. When Ron, Ivor and Brad got off the ship, they immediately contacted the Curacao authorities and the US Embassy for help.

They were soon in touch with the FBI, but they were told that investigators would not be able to get there for 24 hours. They were completely lost, they didn't know where to look or how to ask anyone for help. They walked the streets and beaches, but there was no sign of Amy anywhere on the island. The Bradley's then had to decide whether they would get back on board the Rhapsody of the Seas and head on to the next destination, St. Martin, or stay in Curacao and keep searching for Amy while waiting for the FBI. In the end, they decided to stay in Curacao. They watched as the Rhapsody of the Seas pulled out of port. At the time, Amy Lynn Bradley disappeared. She was five feet seven inches tall, weighed 120 pounds, and had short brown hair and green eyes. She had a

Tasmanian devil cartoon with a basketball tattooed on her left shoulder blade, a Chinese symbol tattooed on her right ankle, a green and blue gecko lizard tattoo around her navel, a navel ring, and multiple ear piecings. Curacao was and still is one of the most anticipated destinations on any Caribbean cruise. The island is small and built up with quaint, colourful, Dutch-style architecture. It's a sought-after spot for divers and snorkelers with around 60 dive sites surrounding the island. It's known for its relaxed and fun atmosphere, but there is a dark side. The busy tourist market, the constant comings and goings of aircraft, cruise ships, crews, and tourists provided an infrastructure in which illegal activity flourished. Drug trafficking and

money laundering mainly. At the time of Amy's disappearance, US officials estimated that 40% of all drugs reaching the US mainland passed through the Caribbean. That figure was four times what it had been a decade earlier. The 90s were a very busy time for illegal activity in the Caribbean and a very busy time for tourism, including sex tourism. On the majority of the Caribbean islands, sex work is illegal, but the Dutch interleaves provided a unique opportunity for the sex industry not legally available in the rest of the Caribbean. According to Aleya Walker, a researcher for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, quote, As present or former territories of the Netherlands, the Dutch interleaves fall under

many of the same general laws as their mother country, including the controlled legalisation of sex work on the six Dutch-speaking islands. Being regulated arguably makes the work safer than other Caribbean locations. Sint Maarten and Kurosso are particularly prime locations for sex tourism as they house the two largest brothels in the Dutch Caribbean. The largest, Campo Allegri, is located on Kurosso, while the smaller Siemens Club is located on Sint Maarten. Although the regulations were stringent, it was widely known that much of the sex trade was being run outside the parameters of the law. With the demand increasing, a huge influx of women were brought in from other parts of the Americas, many without appropriate permits.

A new type of sex holiday emerged where both men and women would book holiday packages linked to brothels, and with that came a dark underworld of sex trafficking. Kidnapped people, mostly women, were sold into sex rings. They were often drugged and tortured and threatened that they or their families would come to harm if they didn't do what they were told. The Bradleys felt this is what happened to Amy. While waiting for the FBI to arrive in Kurosso, they wondered helplessly how Amy could have disappeared in the space of half an hour. Brad told Ivor and Ron more about Yellow and how he and Amy had been dancing together. Nothing seemed to make sense, and with such a short time frame of her going missing, it seemed like a bad dream.

In 1998, the Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas was registered in Norway. By being known as a Norwegian flagship, it was governed by the maritime rules of Norway rather than the USA, even though the owners were and still are situated in the US. This is the same for most cruise ships, often flying the flags of Panama, Liberia and Greece, just to name a few. Cruise ships are rarely registered to the USA, because if they were, they would be bound by the US maritime laws for building regulations, crew members nationalities and work permits, minimum wages, working hours, and also certain laws when things go wrong. The cruise lines being registered in the USA is just too costly and too strict. The crew restrictions, ship construction,

and ownership requirements to flag a vessel in the US are among the most restrictive of the maritime nations. By registering your ship elsewhere, cruise lines pay cheaper or no taxes, get cheaper labor, and can essentially sidestep laws. The freedom of the seas law allows a ship to move freely on the ocean as long as it follows the international law and remains governed by its registered country. The Bradley's learned very quickly that the US government had virtually no jurisdiction over whatever had happened to Amy in their waters just off the coast of Curacao, because the rhapsody of the seas was within 12 nautical miles of Curacao when Amy went missing. It wasn't international waters, so the situation was technically in the hands of Curacao police

and governed by the maritime laws of Norway. In the event of death of an American citizen at sea, that being a relevant death that occurs beyond three nautical miles from shore worldwide, the death on the high seas act applies. This is the United States Admiralty Law which was created in 1920 to ensure that the widows and children of seamen could get a share of their husbands or fathers' salaries if they were killed at sea. But for it to apply at all, shipping companies need to be charged either with negligence or unlawful actions. At this point, the Bradley's didn't know if Amy was alive or dead, and if she fell off the ship, was it beyond three nautical miles from shore? They had no idea, and the only people who were

willing to help were the FBI, and even they had their hands tied. The rhapsody of the seas was self-regulated, there were no investigators or police on board, no policies in place for dealing with an incident of this nature, and no legal responsibility to investigate a situation that could very well have been an accident or suicide. At the time, U.S. Federal Law Enforcement Agencies, including the FBI, Navy, and Coast Guard, had to obtain permission from a cruise ship's flag country before beginning a criminal investigation. U.S. agents couldn't just board a cruise ship that may have been the scene of a crime if the ship was located beyond U.S. waters. By not getting back aboard

the rhapsody of the seas, the Bradley's had the ability to call and gain the assistance of the FBI, but they lost all control of what was happening aboard the ship. Security footage if they had it, access to their cabin and other rooms, preserving evidence. It was all left in the hands of the ship's crew, who had nearly 2,000 passengers left on board to keep happy. The following day, Wednesday, March 25th, the Bradley's sat helpless in their hotel room in Curacao. The FBI phoned and informed them that they would meet them in St. Martin the following day. The plan was for the Bradley's and the FBI to board the rhapsody of the seas together while it was docked in St. Martin. The FBI would then meet with the captain and other personnel and conduct

their own investigation. While on the phone, the agent told the Bradley's that they had been in touch with some of the ship's crew already. When they asked the crew about the search they had conducted after Amy went missing, they learned that the search hadn't been as extensive as what was originally made out to the Bradley's. The Bradley's listened as the agent told them that only a cursory search of the common areas and the restrooms had been conducted. The Bradley's fell apart. Back on board the rhapsody of the seas, rumors began to circulate that a young woman had committed suicide. Chris Fenwick was a videographer and editor who had been contracted to work aboard the crews. His job was to create an entertaining video of the crews and edit it on board. The video

would then be shown to guests on the last night and be made available to purchase as a memento. One of Chris's team members asked him that morning if he had heard about the young woman who ended her life. Chris's team member had heard about it upstairs from another crew member. This got Chris wondering if he had footage of the woman. He tried to find out more information. On Thursday, March 26, over 48 hours after the last sighting of Amy, FBI agents boarded the rhapsody of the seas in St. Martin together with the Bradley's who had met them there. They went directly to the captain, the chief of security, Lou Costello, and the ship's risk management representative. This risk management representative was in fact

an attorney for Royal Caribbean International. While the FBI met with this attorney, the Bradley's were not allowed to be present. Agents spoke with the Coast Guard who were two days into what would eventually be a three-day air and sea search. Despite the captain's belief that Amy had gone overboard quite close to port, the Coast Guard had found no sign of her and nobody had been found washed up along any of the beaches of Curacao. The Bradley's felt that the lack of cooperation from the ship's personnel extended to that day in front of the FBI when members of the crew started to go hostile and defensive. The FBI conducted their own search of the ship, including the Bradley's cabin and other areas. They surveyed the railing of the cabin and looked

for evidence of Amy either falling overboard, going overboard by her own doing, or foul play. They then commenced separate interviews with each family member, and during these interviews, the ship's attorney was permitted to be present, thus allowing the Royal Caribbean personnel to later be made aware of everything that was said by the Bradley's. Band members, including Yellow, had their room searched by investigators. Nothing was found. Yellow himself was also interviewed. Ron Bradley sat outside the room while Yellow was being interviewed. When he left his interview, Yellow walked past Ron, smiled at him, and gave him a thumbs up. Yellow had been given a polygraph test, so Ron assumed this thumbs up was a sign that he

had passed his test. During his interview, Yellow maintained that he didn't know what happened to Amy. He claimed that Amy had a drink in the disco with the band at about 1am, and then he didn't see her after that. Other crew members, including the waiters who had been in contact with Amy, were also interviewed. That afternoon, Chris Fenwick, the videographer, was with his colleague Steve in the editing room. Steve mentioned to Chris that the ship's security had instructed him to make sure that there were no images of the missing girl in his crew's video. Meanwhile, new whispers started circulating around the ship. Maybe Amy Lynn Bradley didn't commit suicide. Maybe she had been abducted.

It didn't take long for crew members to start talking about Yellow. Lots of people had seen he and Amy flirting and dancing at the disco just a few hours before she disappeared. The Bradley stayed on board the rhapsody of the seas and returned to their cabin. The last few days had been a blur, and the whole thing felt like a bad dream. They kept turning things over and over in their heads, trying to make sense of it all. They couldn't get any sleep. Many passengers had no idea what had happened, and continued on with their vacation, sipping cocktails and watching the sunset, while the Bradleys were living a nightmare. About 3am on Friday, March 27th,

Chris Fenwick took a break from video editing. He was standing on the 8th deck, looking over a central banister down through an atrium to the lower levels. Two floors down, he watched as two young women ran towards a group of people. As he looked closer, he realised that the group of people were the Bradleys, and they were with someone from Royal Caribbean. The two young women seemed stressed and were explaining something to them. As Chris listened on, he overheard the two women tell the Bradleys that they had seen Amy just before she went missing. They had been hoping to come across the Bradleys sooner, but they couldn't find them anywhere on the ship. This must have been when

the Bradleys disembarked in Curacao. The women said they saw Amy around 6am, coming out of an elevator near the disco, and she was with Yellow. At this point, Iva became frantic. It had taken almost 3 days to hear this information. The women explained that they were waiting near the disco as the ship came into port around 6am. It's then that they saw Yellow and Amy get off the large glass elevators and walk to the bar in the disco. Yellow turned up the music on the sound system and then got Amy a drink containing a dark liquid which they assumed was a coke or a coffee. Then moments later, Amy and Yellow were gone. It was around this time when Ron was getting dressed to go and look for Amy. 10 minutes

later, Yellow exited the elevator again. This time he was alone. Not thinking much of it, the two women left the disco after that and got ready to disembark in Curacao. They both passed polygraph tests. The Bradleys were furious. Had the ship's personnel helped conduct the proper search of the ship early on and made a proper announcement, they would likely have found out this information days before. After overhearing this information, Chris Fenwick went back to his cabin and pulled the tapes he had from the Monday night. After almost an hour of watching party goers enjoying the Calypso party and disco, he found what he was looking for. He had footage of Amy. The time the footage was shot was just

after 3am. Chris had three different sections towards the end of the tape where Amy could be seen dancing. There were around 30-40 other people also on the dance floor at the time. Firstly, Amy was dancing with Yellow quite close to the camera along the edge of the dance floor. They were separated by a couple of feet but facing each other and clearly dancing together. Then the video cut to Yellow and Amy further into the middle of the dance floor, dancing close together. They were both facing the same direction, smiling and their bodies were touching. A few moments later you can see that they are holding hands. On the last section on the tape, there was a shot of Amy standing by the elevators on the

side of the dance floor. It appears she is dancing while waiting for the elevator to arrive. The time was 3.35am, the same time that the computerised door system recorded her brother Brad returning to the family's cabin. It was five minutes after this final shot that the computerised door system recorded Amy returning to the cabin. He said that Amy had joined band members for a drink at the ship's disco after the band's performance and he parted with her about 1am. He headed to the staff elevator and Amy went off in another direction. Chris Fenwick's video footage told a different story and there were two witnesses who said they saw them together again around 6am. Right at the time Amy went missing.

Yellow also said in his interview that he was asleep when crew security knocked on his door in the morning looking for Amy. They then searched his cabin. He said this door knock was around 6am, the same time the two witnesses saw him back at the disco with Amy. According to Royal Caribbean, security actually knocked on Yellow's door sometime between 7.30am and 8am. Given that Ron Bradley didn't alert security officer Ron Costello until around 7, there's no way security were knocking on Yellow's door at 6am as he claimed. Sometime during the morning search carried out on the ship. Brad stated that he ran into Yellow and Yellow said something along the lines of, I'm sorry to hear your sister is missing.

Brad took this as odd as he believed that Yellow shouldn't have known at that time that Amy was missing. According to the Bradleys, only the ship's captain and security chief, Luke Costello knew Amy was missing at that stage. But according to Royal Caribbean, they had already begun searching by then. This was after the gangway had been lowered and passengers were disembarking and word had already spread, mostly through the crew, that Amy Bradley was missing, presumed overboard. So according to Royal Caribbean, Yellow would have known Amy was missing at the time he made that comment to Brad. When Chris Fenwick found Amy on his tapes, he copied the footage to a blank,

better SP tape. He wrote his name and room number on the tape's label and then headed out his door to the location he had seen the two witnesses talking to the Bradley's. The time was now 4am. The Bradley's and the witnesses were gone, but a man was standing there. This man was Mike McCourt, Ron's boss. Mike told Chris he was a good friend of the Bradleys and he would give them the tape. After handing the tape over to Mike, Chris went to bed. Around 9am later that morning, Friday March 27th, the Bradley's were sitting at a breakfast table with Mike McCourt. They looked distraught and by now more passengers knew it was them whose daughter was missing. The rumours were rife, but the question of suicide had clearly

now moved on to abduction or maybe even murder. Chris Fenwick approached Mike McCourt later that day and Mike told Chris that the tape was now in the hands of the FBI. Later that afternoon, Chris received a call in his cabin. It was Lou Costello, the chief of security. Costello wanted to know if Chris was the guy with the video. Chris Fenwick, quote. At that point he told me that he was going to have to get that tape from me. I informed him that there was no way I was going to give up my master tapes. I never give these away. And that besides that, it was on a tape format that I'm sure he didn't have access to and that I would be glad to make a broadcast quality dub of if he liked. He then informed me

that the FBI were involved in this and they would want the original tapes. I told him that if that was the case and the FBI wanted my master tapes, then they would have to contact me. Chris never heard from the FBI and he never heard from Lou Costello again. By the time the Rhapsody of the Seas docked back at Puerto Rico, the Bradleys had no answers and they had no support from the cruise line. The cruise line was adamant nothing untoward had happened to Amy and they were in the process of doing whatever they could to protect their gleaming reputation. A Royal Caribbean spokeswoman said that the company had cooperated with investigators and didn't believe foul play was

involved. They stated that they believed Amy had accidentally fallen over a railing and drowned, perhaps while intoxicated after the Calypso party. They quoted numerous cases of cruise ship passengers going overboard, but the majority of these cases involved people recklessly climbing railings or committing suicide. Although regulations for railing heights have changed since 1998, FBI investigators didn't believe Amy accidentally fell over the railing of either one of the main decks or on her own balcony, which actually had a small shelf below. The US Coast Guard completed their three-day air and sea search and found no trace of Amy. The sea conditions were calm. Amy was a lifeguard and a very proficient swimmer

and the ship was believed to be very close to land at the time of her disappearance, making it seem less likely that she would drown. There was a chance however that she hit her head and entered the water injured or unconscious, but in that case it was believed that the Coast Guard would have found some sign of her body either in the water that morning or washed up ashore, or another vessel in the busy port would have seen some sign of her. From their onboard investigation, the FBI could find no evidence to directly link yellow to Amy's disappearance and it was not detained nor was it considered a suspect. Neither were any of the other crew members. The Bradleys wouldn't accept the idea that Amy fell

overboard and they didn't believe she committed suicide. They said she would never abandon her family or her dog. The FBI agreed with the Bradleys. They didn't believe Amy had committed suicide. Her background, her life back in Virginia with a new job and a new home, and her making plans for when she returned, all pointed to someone who didn't fit the general criteria for someone wishing to end their life. Amy had no history of running away, hadn't had any family disagreements or issues with anyone back home. They found no reason for Amy to cause harm to herself. Yellow was fired at the end of the cruise for fraternizing with a passenger.

The Bradleys returned home to Chesterfield County, Virginia without Amy. Friends and family were shocked and soon the Bradleys had a large support group rowling around them. They decided that they needed to do something to get answers. They set up a hotline and website in the hope that someone might come forward with information. With their phone hotline set up, the Bradleys barely left their home office, which had once been their dining room. The walls were filled with photos of Amy, notes and a map of the world. Friends and family were often around to help. Four days after they returned home, a Spanish-speaking man called the hotline.

The Bradleys got a Spanish-speaking neighbour who was a good friend of theirs to translate for them. The caller was a Puerto Rican man who was studying to be a police officer. He had just seen a news report about Amy's disappearance on Puerto Rican television and he realized from a photo that it was her he saw just days before. He believed he saw Amy being forced into a taxi cab by a man in a baseball cap at the terminal at San Juan, Puerto Rico shortly after the rhapsody of the seas docked back there on March 28th after the cruise had finished. It caught his eye because it felt it looked like a policeman forcibly leading a person into a cop car. The woman he saw didn't appear happy and she looked disorientated. He thought they looked like they were fighting.

After hearing this, Ron Bradley phoned the FBI agents investigating Amy's case and gave them the witness's details. With this new information, Ron and Brad made plans to go back to Curacao. Ron's boss helped fund the search and helped put up a reward that was posted on their website. A $250,000 reward was offered for any information leading to Amy's safe return, as well as a further $50,000 reward for information that pinpointed her verifiable location. Within a few weeks, the Bradleys had hired private detectives to bore the rhapsody of the seas under cover, but it turned up nothing. In desperation, they consulted psychics, which also came up with nothing. The FBI continued to look into Amy's backyard.

After interviewing family and friends, co-workers and school associates, they confirmed once again that they didn't believe Amy had committed suicide. Brad, Ron and Ivar all took polygraph tests and nothing seemed unusual with the results. The Bradleys believed that Amy may have been drugged while drinking that coffee or Coke in the disco area with yellow, the drink that the witnesses saw them have together around 6am. Then they believed she was possibly put into the nearby staff elevator in a drug condition and then sent to a lower level of the ship. There, she may have been put in a garbage bin or a laundry cart and smuggled off the ship through a crew door and through the

crew's terminal. Others believed that Amy may have willingly met with someone and left the ship of her own free will, or she may have been forced off under duress, or that she may have witnessed an illegal activity and somebody panicked. But for the Bradleys, nothing would sway their belief that somebody had her. Ivar, quote, somebody saw her, wanted her and had to have her. She would have been a trophy. Amy would have been someone that I believe could have been picked out and fingered to move off that ship. She could have been held and hidden. She could have been possibly drugged and taken from that ship. According to the US-based International Crews Victims Association, which was set up in 2006 by

loved ones of several people who had gone missing from cruisers, between 1995 and 2012, more than 170 people went missing off cruise ships. In 1998, the Bradleys weren't alone in their situation, but there weren't many records or investigations for them to draw on. The murky jurisdictions and laws made their case difficult. The Bradleys found it difficult to ignore the possibility that Amy's disappearance may have been linked to sex trafficking. According to the UN Refugee Agency, the Netherlands Antelese is a transit and destination point for women and children who are victims of forced sex work in what is a multi-billion dollar industry. They estimate approximately 80% of all sex workers in the

Netherlands Antelese are foreigners. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime lists the Netherlands and Netherlands Antelese as some of the top destinations for victims of human and sex trafficking. Women who are coerced or kidnapped, facing humane conditions, extreme violence and multiple rapes to break their spirit. Victims are often threatened with death, along with the death of their family members should they try to escape, and forced drug dependence is also common. When Ron and Ivar looked back over their time on the Rhapsody of the Seas, they realised the extent of the unusual behaviour of some of the staff towards Amy. They couldn't get past the behaviour of the waiters that first

night, the behaviour of yellow, and even the disappearance of Amy's photographs from the photo gallery. To them, they felt she had been targeted. On April 17th, 1998, three weeks after returning from the Caribbean, the Bradleys put out a public plea for help. Quote, The family of Amy Lynn Bradley, who has been missing since March 24th, 1998, from the cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas as it arrived at Port in Curacao, would like to make the following plea. Please let Amy go. Blindfold her and leave her somewhere safe at night, unharmed. She doesn't know who you are and only wants to be with her family in her country. We will ask no questions. You will remain unknown. Please let Amy go.

The Bradleys were 100% adamant she had been abducted. Ron and Brad made their way back to Curacao as another taxi driver had come forward, saying that he had been parked at the cruise terminal at Curacao the morning Amy went missing. He saw a woman fitting Amy's description looking for a phone. She seemed in a rush, but she didn't seem frantic or scared. Despite the FBI's intensive investigation, heavy publicity in newspapers and numerous TV shows, like America's Most Wanted, Vanished, and Dr. Phil, as well as numerous news outlets and magazines, nothing of any value had arisen. Amy had simply vanished. Once again, Ron and Brad came home with

nothing. In November that year, seven months after Amy disappeared, the FBI confirmed during an interview with the New York Times that they had nothing. We pursued every angle from whether there was foul play, a suicide, or an accident, and we have basically not gotten anywhere. In December that year, eight months after the Bradleys informed the FBI of the phone call they had received from the Puerto Rican man who believed he saw Amy being forced into a taxi, they discovered that the FBI never interviewed him. Despite the Bradleys providing proof they forwarded on the information, the FBI denied receiving the lead. US Department of Justice agents working within the poll did go on to interview the man in early 1999. He positively

identified Amy from a photo lineup as the woman he saw the previous April. It wasn't confirmed publicly if he positively identified the man he saw her with. Given the media saturation of the case by then, including Amy's photo being broadcast everywhere, it's not known how much weight this ID was given. However, quote, we had lost time because leads were not followed up. We were told the FBI would leave no stone unturned. We were confident that they were contacting the witness, following the lead, and tending to everything. Fed up with getting nowhere with the FBI, the Bradleys wrote to congressmen, foreign officials, and even the president. They continued to man a 24 hour hotline and kept up the press and plight to find Amy. They still held the belief

that Amy was alive and being held against her will. That same month, Chris Fenwick saw the America's Most Wanted episode on Amy. He was surprised that the videotape that he had provided Mike McCord, Ron's boss, wasn't used on the show. He began thinking about the conversation he had with the chief of security, Luke Costello. Costello had been adamant that the FBI wanted the original tapes. Chris had given the copy to Ron's boss who said he passed it on to the FBI, but Chris had never heard from the FBI himself. He picked up the phone and left a message for an agent, but he never heard anything back. Another man was also watching America's Most Wanted that night. Canadian computer engineer and avid scuba diver David Carmichael came forward

immediately after seeing the episode. He and another scuba diving friend were on a beach in Curacao in August of that year, approximately five months after Amy disappeared. David Carmichael, quote. I noticed three people walking along the beach. One of them was a young girl and she was flanked by two fellows. She had two tattoos. One of them was of a gecko. The other was of a Tasmanian devil. The girl walked towards me. She started to stare at me. Just as she was about to say something, she looked frightened, like she was about to say something when one of the guys motioned her away and gave me a menacing look. I was stunned. The minute I saw her picture and saw her face on the program, I realized that was the girl on the beach. I am haunted by that

encounter with Amy. I know it was her. David Carmichael flew to Virginia to meet the Bradleys. Although Amy's family had a feeling that she was still alive, they started legal proceedings in late 1998 in order to have Amy declared dead. In June 1999, their wish was granted. This allowed them to pursue legal proceedings against royal Caribbean cruisers. The Bradleys filed a lawsuit against royal Caribbean cruisers limited, alleging negligent security, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. But in November 1999, the judge dismissed all lawsuits against the cruise line, as the Bradleys were accused of perjury and committing fraud in court. When presenting evidence, the Bradleys stated that

they only had three witnesses who had seen Amy since she disappeared. All three said she was under duress. But what they withheld was that they actually had over 100 eyewitness sightings reported of Amy living on the island of her own free will, not under any duress. These extra sightings could have indicated to the court that Amy, if it was her who the witnesses saw, may have left the cruise on her own free will. The court ruled that the Bradleys misdirected the court in an attempt to portray that the only explanation for Amy's disappearance was that she was abducted. Despite the setback, the Bradleys continued to search for answers. The Bradleys had also heard from a woman in Curacao, a local cook named Judith Margarita.

She believed Amy was being held by heavily armed Colombian guards in a housing complex protected with barbed wire. She also said that she regularly saw Amy shopping at a grocery store and working out at a gym, and that she was often with a man with long blonde hair and tattoos all the way down one arm. Judith was able to give the Bradleys an accurate description of tattoos that Amy had. But it was when Judith harmed a lullaby that Iva used to sing to Amy when she was a baby, that the Bradleys were completely convinced she was telling the truth. Officials on the island told the Bradleys they could do nothing with the information because there was no evidence of a crime, and the investigation by the FBI had made little

progress, so it wasn't a priority for them. While Ron and Iva were deciding what to do and how they should deal with the information they had been given by Judith, they received an email from a man named Frank Jones. Jones told the Bradleys he was a former US Army Special Forces officer with a team made up of ex-Army Rangers and ex-Navy Seals who might be able to help rescue Amy. When the Bradleys told him about the information they had received from Judith, Jones offered to act as a private investigator in order to scope out the situation and then carry out a stealth mission to rescue her. Iva, quote, he told me that he'd put Amy on his own back and swim her out of there. His team had the experience and credentials to rescue Amy.

The Bradleys felt that their prayers had finally been answered and they agreed to hire Frank Jones. In order to do so, they had to sell their car and Ron's boss also chipped in. In the year that had passed since Amy disappeared, the Bradleys and the FBI continued to get leads which all ended up going nowhere. But this information from Judith seemed different and Ron and Iva's gut feeling told them it was going to lead to Amy. Frank Jones sent two of his men, former Navy Seals, down to Curacao to check out the information given by Judith. Shortly after, Jones sent the Bradleys a report saying that he believed Amy was in a dangerous situation and was under guard. They had attempted to set up surveillance points

that the locations Judith had given and they had seen Amy being driven by her kidnapper, believed to be a man with long blonde hair and one arm sleeved with tattoos in a dark green SUV. But Jones and his men were forced to flee for a week after being fired upon by around 10 men. Things had gotten serious, but knowing Amy was alive gave the Bradleys some level of comfort. The next few months were brutal. They constantly felt that Amy was in imminent danger and may be killed at any moment. They wanted Jones to get her out immediately, but they needed to trust him and his men. It wasn't the right time. It was too dangerous. Over the following months, Jones sent two more of his operatives to the island and provided a series of reports to the Bradleys

on the whereabouts of Amy. The Bradleys continued to wait, hoping that the next day would be the day Amy would be rescued and they would be a complete family again. In 1999, there was another possible sighting of Amy in Curacao. This man didn't want any reward money, but his conscience had gotten the better of him. He was an American sailor who stopped off in Curacao and visited a brothel, something he wasn't supposed to be doing. At the brothel, he claimed he approached two women sitting at a table and one of them told him her name was Amy Bradley and she began begging for help. He told her there was a Navy ship just down the road, but she said, you don't understand. I can't leave. Help me. Please help me.

He said he dismissed her plea because he wasn't aware Amy was a missing person and he was also worried his superiors would find out he was there. But after he saw the picture of Amy in People magazine, he recalled that after pleading with him to help her, the woman was escorted forcibly upstairs by two men. When investigators went to check on the brothel, it had burnt down. It was around this time Chris Fenwick received a call from his brother who had seen a rerun of the TV segment on Amy on Unsolved Mysteries. Once again, the dance floor video wasn't used by the show. Chris's brother took it upon himself to call the network and asked if they were aware of the dance floor video. A few days later,

Chris's brother got a call from Ivor Bradley. He was shocked to learn that the Bradley's had never seen the video. Chris immediately made a copy for them. It was almost a year and a half since he attempted to give it to them the first time. The remainder of 1999 and the year 2000 was excruciating for the Bradley's. Frank Jones continued his surveillance and kept them up to speed. His surveillance validated Judith's information. It seemed what she had seen was legit. The continued surveillance and the additional operatives cost Ron and Ivor more money every month but they kept going. They had spent all their savings by this point and accepted help from

donors and non-profit organisations that were willing to help. Eventually, the Bradley's received word from Jones that he was ready to launch the rescue mission. He just needed the final payment so he could arrange his team. With the financial help and the advice of Ron's boss, Ron and Ivor asked Jones for some kind of proof that Amy was still alive. So he sent them a photo. It was of a young woman sitting on the beach with her back to the camera. The man next to her had long blonde hair and a sleeved tattoo on his arm. The woman was wearing a wide-brimmed hat so you couldn't see her face but the tattoos were unmistakable. They were all there. When Ivor saw the picture she knew it was Amy.

Ivor quote, when I got the pictures I knew Amy was okay and it was just a matter of time. The Bradley's arranged the final payment and flew to Florida to wait in the hotel room to hear word from Jones. He said he would call to let them know the rescue had been successful. As a donation from Ron's boss, the Bradley's had a private jet on standby so that they could immediately fly out to Curacao to meet Amy when she was rescued. The Bradley sat in the hotel room for a week waiting for the phone call. They were so anxious that they hardly left the room. In Curacao, one of Jones' men, a former Army Special Forces sniper, Tim Buchholz, had been

noticing over time that Jones was telling the Bradley's things that weren't true. When Buchholz was on duty watching the house where Amy was supposedly being held, he never saw any sign of her. The residents of the house appeared to be regular people and he hadn't seen anything suspicious but he later overheard Jones on the phone in a bar drinking telling the Bradley's that his people were watching the house at that very moment. Buchholz's heart sunk as he realized it was all a lie. Buchholz contacted the Bradley's who were still desperately waiting in Florida for word from Jones. He had to tell them that Frank Jones had lied to them. Some of the operatives employed

by Jones were legitimate. Those that were were unaware until that point what they were involved in. The Bradley struggled to cope with what had happened. They had paid Jones approximately $24,000 of their own personal savings and over $180,000 from the Amy Bradley Fund at the nation's missing children organization. A non-profit that provided assistance to the family and held a restricted fund specifically for costs related to search and recovery. When they found out the photo of Amy was fabricated they literally fell apart. No one could comprehend how someone could prey on parents of a missing woman at such a desperate time. Later, Jono Sink who had been working with Jones admitted to prime time that he agreed to wear a blonde wig and pose as the

kid number. He said they staged the photograph on a beach with a young woman they knew who resembled Amy. They had temporary tattoos made to match Amy's and Frank Jones took the picture. Judith Margarita's son Giovanni came forward to say that his mother made up the story. He believed she was just trying to still reward money but Judith maintained she had never lied to Amy's parents. She was paid $8,000 for her tip. In February 2002, federal prosecutors charged Frank Jones with defrauding the Bradleys of $24,000 and the nation's missing children organization of $186,000. Jones pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to repay the money to both parties. He had never served in the Special Forces. When the Bradleys finally spoke publicly

about the ordeal, Ron said, quote, if there's a chance, I mean what else do you do? If it was your child, what would you do? So I guess we took a chance and I guess we lost. In 2004, seven years after Amy went missing, an anonymous source sent online photos to the Bradleys. They were from a sex website selling what was essentially sex holidays in the Caribbean. The site consisted of mostly naked women in sexually suggestive poses for buyers to choose for their holiday. The photos sent to the Bradleys were of a woman named Jazz who resembled a slightly older and harsher looking Amy and the email seemed to suggest that she had been sold into sexual slavery. FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt who has worked on many kidnapping cases and top forensic

artist experts looked at the pictures. They concluded that the woman in the photos could be Amy. The following year in 2005, Judy Moore was on holiday in Barbados when she entered a public toilet in a department store in Bridgetown. While in the toilet store, she overheard some men come in and threaten a woman in another store. She heard them say, quote, a deal is coming through. You need to obey to not mess it up. After a few minutes, Judy Moore kept out of the store and approached the woman who was cowering over the basin. Judy asked her who she was. The woman who she thought was in her 30s said she was from Virginia and that her name was Amy. Moments later, the men opened the door, not seeing Judy who was standing to the side of the

door. They grabbed the woman and dragged her out. Judy was terrified and went to the local authorities. She also later provided the FBI with the description of the men, allowing them to circulate sketches from her descriptions. In 2006, the International Cruise Victim Association was launched, also known as the ICV. It was launched to offer support and assistance to those affected by crimes committed against themselves or family members while on cruise ships. Kendall Carver, the company's CEO and founding president of the ICV, began lobbying for change after his daughter, Marion Carver, disappeared aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, the Mercury, in 2004. Kendall Carver, quote, We're not here to put these companies out of business. We just want to see

that if a crime takes place, appropriate action is taken and people are prosecuted. Whether this can ever be achieved voluntarily, however, is a different question entirely. In the time between Kendall's daughter disappearing and the official setup of the ICV was when Natalie Holloway disappeared at the front of Carlos and Charlie's in Aruba. The ICV became the subject of five congressional hearings in Washington. They brought the cruise companies to account after years of them being able to run outside US laws. In 2008, the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, supported by Senator John Kerry, was unveiled, which pushed for stricter regulations and systematic change. Kendall Carver, quote, The cruise lines tell us they're not equipped to

investigate crimes and that they report everything to the FBI. Meanwhile, the FBI top brass claimed they lack the resources to follow up such reports. Nobody is assuming responsibility, so nothing is getting done. In 2005, 10 million passengers embarked upon cruises. 50 criminal cases were opened and only four convictions were made. That is scary. On July 27, 2010, President Obama signed Senator John Kerry's Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, which increased security, law enforcement, and accountability on cruise ships in international waters. All cruise lines and passenger shipping operators are required by law to report to the FBI any criminal activity against US citizens. Reports are mandatory, even on incidents at sea

when vessels are in international waters. The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act will improve ship safety by requiring 42-inch guardrails, peepholes in every passenger and crew member's door, on-deck video surveillance, and an emergency sound system. It will provide transparency and reporting by establishing a structure between the cruise industry, the FBI, and the Coast Guard. It will improve crime scene response by requiring rape kits and a trained forensic sexual assault specialist to be aboard each ship. And it will establish a program designed in consultation with the FBI to train appropriate crew members in crime prevention, detection, evidence preservation, and reporting of criminal activities in the international maritime environment.

Senator John Kerry, quote, We have a responsibility to ensure the safety of the millions of Americans who will board cruise ships this year. This law will finally do away with the murky lines of jurisdiction that have put American cruise ship passengers at risk in the past. I applaud President Obama, Representative Matsui, and my colleagues for helping to ensure the security, safety, and accountability be strengthened to hold criminals accountable and to end the cycle of serious crimes on these vessels. Kendall Kava, quote, Today marks the beginning of a new accountability for any crimes that are committed against

passengers on cruise ships. This came about because a small group of victims joined together four and one half years ago to form ICV. From just a few families, ICV now has membership in over 20 countries. The lesson learned from this is that no one should ever underestimate the power of organized victims who are all volunteers to make changes. This legislation would not have happened without the dedicated support of Senator Kerry and Representative Matsui, who joined our efforts to pass this historic legislation. This legislation will protect millions of passengers in the coming years, and we are deeply indebted to all those who helped make it happen. In 2010, an American tourist who was holidaying on the western side of a rubour

found a human jawbone washed up on the beach. After forensic testing, the jawbone, which had a wisdom tooth attached, was found to be likely from a Caucasian female. Forensic testing was able to determine that the jawbone did not belong to Natalie Holloway or Raimi Lynn Bradley. In 2016, of the 200 overnight ocean-going cruise vessels owned by nine cruise lines, there were four suspicious deaths, one of those on royal Caribbean cruises. There were six missing US passengers, four of those on royal Caribbean cruises, and of the 62 sexual assault allegations made aboard cruise ships in 2016, 15 of those were aboard royal Caribbean cruises. In the first three months of 2017,

the now 10 cruise line companies worldwide reported two missing passengers, one kidnapping, two assaults with serious bodily injuries, six thefts over $10,000, and 16 sexual assaults. In 2017, after years of staying quiet on the case, and despite the fact that Raimi Bradley was declared dead in 1999, the FBI released a video relating to her disappearance. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the recovery of Raimi Lynn Bradley, and information that leads to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the person or persons responsible for her disappearance. Either Bradley, quote, Our lives have been so drastically changed. Every waking moment is where is Raimi. I just want

people to know that when girls disappear outside of the country, they're disappearing for a reason, and slavery and sex trafficking is so alive and well, it would absolutely blow you away. We believe with every fiber in our being that someone took her, and we want her back. And I have tried to make deals with God. If we find her today, you can take me tomorrow. When they say it's the worst nightmare, it is. It's the worst nightmare.