Sad reason FBI couldn’t do anything about 'Amy Bradley photo' found on sex worker website
In 1998, Amy Bradley disappeared from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship headed to Curaçao and 27 years on, her family are no closer to finding her.
Amy was traveling with her parents, Ron and Iva, and her brother Brad, when she disappeared. She was last seen resting on her cabin balcony in the early hours of the morning before her dad discovered her missing on 23 March.
And recently, Netflix has released a new documentary about the case, which summarises all the major theories behind her disappearance.
The doc, called AMY BRADLEY IS MISSING, includes arguably the largest update that the family ever received in confirming their long-held hope that she is still alive – Amy being ‘found’ on a sex worker’s website.
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Her family believes that she was trafficked off the ship and onto Curaçao, and in 2005, seven years after her disappearance, this theory was given extra hope when a picture was found on a sex worker’s website thought to be based out of the Caribbean.
The picture shares a striking similarity to Amy, leading her parents and brother to appear on the Dr Phil show to share their stories in the hope that she would be found following the picture's discovery.
In the documentary, Iva said: "All I could keep thinking is, 'Is that my daughter? We all looked at it — the nose, the chin and the hair — it took my breath away."
The FBI investigated the photo with an agent close to the case revealing in the Netflix documentary that forensic analysts had determined that it could very well be Amy.
The picture is certainly compelling evidence, with the woman in question seemingly posing in a specific way that would have hidden all of Amy’s known tattoos - like a Gecko lizard on her navel, or sun on her lower back - if it had been her.
When asked about this in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ari Mark, co-director of AMY BRADLEY IS MISSING, said: “That part really made us scratch our heads, too.”
He went on to add that, on the other side of that, however, it is ‘hard to ignore is how seriously the FBI took that photo’.
Mark adds: “They really did chase that down. They analyzed the bed frame, tried to figure out where it was made.
“They sent an operative down there to actually scope it out. And they did look into that website, and they brought in that trafficking expert — it’s hard to ignore.”
Despite this, the FBI were unable to find anything that could help identify where the photo was taken as agents were unable to trace the IP address of the website.
The director went on to claim that ‘from the FBI standpoint, they’ve exhausted everything’.
In 2010, Amy was legally declared dead by abstentia, and the FBI still maintain a missing persons page for her, which show simulations of what she may look like now if she is still alive.
The page also states that a $25,000 reward will be given for any information that will help lead to Amy's discovery, with the FBI still looking for tips from the public.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact their local FBI office, or American Embassy or Consulate.
AMY BRADLEY IS MISSING is available to watch on Netflix now.
Topics: Amy Bradley, Netflix, True Crime, Royal Caribbean, TV and Film, TV, Documentaries
Michael Slavin