The Disappearance of Amy Bradley

Amy Bradley, a 23-year-old American woman, disappeared from the Rhapsody of the Seas cruise ship on March 24, 1998, while the vessel was docked in Curaçao in the southern Caribbean. She had last been seen by her family asleep on their cabin balcony at 5:30 a.m. By 6 a.m. she was gone. The ship departed Curaçao without her. No trace of her was found on the ship or the dock, and the Royal Caribbean cruise line's initial response was criticized by her family as sluggish and inadequate.

In the years that followed, multiple reported sightings placed Amy in the Caribbean region. In 1999, a couple on vacation in Barbados reported that a young woman matching Amy's description approached them on a beach, said her name was Amy, seemed frightened, and quickly disappeared into a nearby hotel before they could help her. A U.S. Navy sailor stationed in Curaçao reported seeing a photograph of a woman he believed was Amy in a prostitution brochure. These reported sightings, if credible, suggest Amy may have been taken by a human trafficking network.

The FBI and other agencies investigated the disappearance, and her family mounted a sustained public campaign over decades to keep her case in the public eye. Amy's distinctive tattoos — a Tasmanian Devil, a sun, and a music note — were circulated widely. The suspected involvement of the ship's band "Blue Orchid," some of whose members had last seen Amy socializing, was investigated but never resulted in charges.

As of today, Amy Bradley has never been found and her fate is unknown. Her case has been featured in numerous television programs about missing persons. The investigation highlighted serious gaps in cruise ship jurisdiction and record-keeping that have since prompted changes in U.S. law — including the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010 — governing how cruise lines must report crimes and disappearances at sea.