Crime Weekly - S3 Ep328: Amy Bradley: The Surveillance Footage That Never Existed (Part 2)

Episode Date: August 8, 2025

1. https://www.TryFum.com/CrimeWeekly - Use code CRIMEWEEKLY to get a FREE gift with your Journey Pack! 2. https://www.Coyuchi.com/CrimeWeekly - Get 15% off! 3. https://www.HelloFresh.com/CrimeWeekly10FM - Use code CRIMEWEEKLY10FM for 10 FREE meals and a FREE item for life! 4. https://bit.ly/3H99doi - Love a good mystery? Use code CRIME20 for 20% and FREE shipping on Hunt A Killer: Lakeside Slaughter! 5. https://www.EatIQBAR.com - Text WEEKLY to 64000 for 20% off ALL IQBAR products and FREE shipping! In the early morning hours of March 24, 1998, 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley vanished from the balcony of her family’s cabin aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. Just a few hours earlier, she had been at a party, joking with her brother, dancing with the ship’s band, and planning out the next day’s adventure in Curaçao. By sunrise, Amy was gone. Her sandals were still on the balcony. Her cigarettes were missing. Her key card and license were gone too, but everything else had been left behind. What began as a family vacation quickly turned into a nightmare, and the moments leading up to Amy’s disappearance would raise questions that remain unanswered to this day. We're coming to CrimeCon Denver! Use our code CRIMEWEEKLY for 10% off your tickets! https://www.crimecon.com/CC25 Try our coffee!! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.com Become a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeekly Shop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shop Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcast Website: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.com Instagram: @CrimeWeeklyPod Twitter: @CrimeWeeklyPod Facebook: @CrimeWeeklyPod

Hey, it's Addie Sharp from Bite Back with Abby Sharp podcast. Here to talk about Tena's sensitive care incontinence pads for women. Break the stigma. Be unapologetically you. Incontinence is often associated with aging, but it shouldn't define you. Enjoy peace of mind with Tena's sensitive care pads with skin comfort formula, providing up to 100% frictionless protection from irritation and triple protection from leaks, odors, and moisture. Sleep tight, wake up right with Tenna sensitive care pads. Learn more at

tena.ca. TENA.com. Grab a coffee and discover nonstop action with Bud MGM Casino. Check out our hottest exclusive. Friends of one with multi-drop. Once even more options. Play our wide variety of table games. Or head over to the arcade for nostalgic casino thrills only available at BetMGM. Download the BetMGM Ontario app today. 19 plus to wager, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531, 2,600, to speak to an advisor free of charge. But MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Crime Weekly. I'm Stephanie Harlow. And I'm Derek

Lavasser. And we are diving in to part two of. of the Amy Bradley series. So I'm going to give a quick little recap. March 24th, 1998 was the day the Bradley family was supposed to dock in Curacao, enjoy a day on the island, and return to the cruise ship in time for dinner. But when Ron Bradley woke up just after 6 a.m., his 23-year-old daughter Amy Lynn Bradley was gone. The sliding glass door to their cabin's balcony had been left open, and the pack of cigarettes

that sat beside her just 30 minutes earlier had vanished. too. Her sandals were still there, along with the yellow polo shirt she had worn the night before, but her key card and ID were missing. Ron searched the ship, expecting to find her with a coffee or a camera. Instead, he found nothing. Amy had vanished without a trace, and the search that followed would raise more questions than answers. Now, on that note, before we dive into new information, I wanted to highlight a comment that somebody made on YouTube on the first part of this series. Because remember, we were talking, about how when when Amy's parents woke up, they said the sliding glass door leading to the

balcony had been left open. Yeah. And they assumed that she had left the room because she wasn't there anymore. Now, somebody wrote, and this person is Allison Chapel. She said, as someone who cruises a lot, I find it hard to believe. She opened to the cabin door with the balcony door open and no one woke up. Having them both open would have created a wind tunnel that made a mess and woke everyone up. And somebody said, just commented.

the exact same thing. It never occurred to me until they said that this time it clicked. I swear the cabin door would cut your arm off if you weren't quick on your feet when you leave the balcony door open. A lot of people said great point. They think she never left the room, et cetera, et cetera. I've never been on a cruise, as we know. You have. You concur. Well, remember I kind of brought this up when we were talking about it last episode where I said they wouldn't have left the balcony door open for a couple of reasons. One, it's a safety measure because people can access your room from the next door balcony. They're all connected.

But I think I also said that if she had left it open, it would be super noisy. It creates like a wind tunnel. I don't know about being able to open the cabin door, like with it open because of the wind pushing against it. That seems a little extreme. I think I could open the door. But overall, it's a known thing that you shut the balcony door because if it's open just a little bit, just the same way if your car windows down a little bit and not

all the way, it creates a really annoying sound. Oh, I hate it. Yes. It's not great. Now, or if, like, or if your window is slightly open and then one of the kids rolls down their window in the back and suddenly it's just this nails on a chalkboard, like sound slash feeling and you're like, what, close that door, that window immediately. Yeah.

To me, I think the window shows something in a moment's notice whether she had to vomit or something. But if you've been on a cruise ship for a while, even a couple days, if you've never been on one before and you're leaving the room for the morning, if you're going out somewhere, like, let's just play this out for a second and we're going to get more into it, but let's just say that you're leaving the room because you're going to meet up with someone or you're going to grab something, whatever, or you're just going to get some air. Just as a respect or courtesy to the people sleeping, you're not going to leave the room with the balcony door open. You're not going to do it because it's going to wake up the people that are in the room. And if you're doing

it, if you're sneaking out of the room, which some people have suggested, you're definitely not going to leave it open because that's going to wake them up and let them know that you're no longer in the room. So although some people are like, why is everyone harping on this balcony door being open so much? If you're a cruiser, if you've been on a cruise before, then you know why. It is a bigger deal than some people are making it. And it's not a very common thing to do. It's not impossible. But if you're going to say that she left the room voluntarily, whether that was for five minutes or an hour, whatever it might be, again, at minimum, as a courtesy, she would have shut that door just to not wake her brother and her father and her mother.

That's a simple fact. Now, here's the thing, because I'm thinking about this, maybe the balcony door wasn't open. Maybe Amy's family who wanted people to be looking for her, who truly believed that she left the room and something happened or, maybe they said, oh, actually, the balcony door was open so she couldn't have fallen off because the balcony door being open means that after, we saw her sitting out there, she opened the balcony door and came back inside. And if she'd gone back out to the balcony, she would have closed the door behind her. So the balcony door being open means she definitely came back into the cabin, which means she definitely left the room, which means something definitely happened to her outside of there. The balcony door may not have been open.

And they're just saying that because they really believe something nefarious happened to her on that cruise ship. And they want to kind of add details or even misremember details that make that more likely. misrememberers. I've talked about examples in my own life where I've misremembered important details for certain things and that's possible. I think if they wanted to convince people that she wasn't in the room, I would be more interested if the door was shut. If the sliding glass door was shut, I'd be like, oh, that's interesting. Maybe she did lock up for the evening and head out. I think the door being open is more suggestive that she might have been in the room, felt sick, was closer to the balcony door, throws the balcony door open to, to vomit over the edge and never comes back. That's to me where I go. Or to them, the door being open because it was closed when they saw her out there earlier. That means, hey, she did reenter the cabin room. She couldn't have fallen off the balcony because she came back in.

Maybe that's just what they're thinking. Yeah, I get it. I get it depending on how you want to look at it. There's a lot to it. And there's a couple things that we can talk about before we get into the episode. First off, I just, you know, I want to point out here that a lot of you have watched the detective perspective episode. And I just want to point out that the reason why we're doing this now is,

And it's a good reason, is when we finalized that episode, that was the day after the Netflix documentary came out. So I didn't have a lot of time to go back and pick that whole series apart, that documentary apart, where now we're getting the chance to include that in this research. So that's something. Most of that episode was based on newspaper articles and earlier reports. So just so if you're comparing the two, I will say some of the times and details mentioned in detective may slightly be different here.

because now we're using the Netflix doc as well. The only other thing I want to say before we dive into the episode, you guys know me, you call me the devil's advocate guy, I love discourse, I love debate. Here's my one suggestion

for anybody who's going to push back on what we're saying in this whole series. I would recommend just me personally not dealing in absolutes. And what I mean by that is not saying, oh, it's 100% certain that she was trafficked,

or it's 100% that she was out of that room. Oh, she definitely wasn't in the room. the truth is you don't know and we don't know it's all opinions no one knows and you're definitely not going to know just from watching the Netflix documentary as we've already talked about there can be a filtered lens that's being discussed in those documentaries and by the way I'm going to prove it to you in either tonight or in a later episode of how that can be done I actually have an example of it that I'm going to save for the moment when it's time when we get to this point in the story but I just say listen it's okay not to agree with us but

when you talk in certainties as if you are that person or you were there or you investigated this case, that's to me, just maybe it's only me. I'm not speaking for Stephanie. That's where I see that comment and you lose me and I move on to the next one because no one here knows 100% what happened, including, maybe including Amy's own family and they were on the ship. So we got to speak in possibilities and plausibilities, not absolutes because if you go there and you're saying and you're presenting as if you know it for certain as fact, that's where you lose me a little bit and I'm less likely to engage with you because to me I've already lost you.

If you're 100% convinced that something that she didn't fall off the boat, well, then I can't debate you on it because you've already made up your mind. That's the only thing I would say. And also I would like to say we don't actually know like these eyewitness sightings, what her parents are saying, what Brad is saying, even what anybody's saying. But especially with those closest to her, they could be viewing the evidence what they saw through the lens of confirmation bias. We don't think she fell or jumped. Therefore, every piece of evidence we see, every eye sighting, we're going to filter that through our confirmation of what we think happened to her and we're going to find a way to make that fit.

So we don't even know if what they're saying is 100% true. Not that it would be nefariously said incorrectly. But, I mean, Derek talks about this all the time. eyewitness statements of a crime are so unreliable because nobody is really thinking that they need to be remembering these things to tell a police officer later, right? So they're going to be able and then if they hear things or if they start to see things and then a narrative builds of what they think happened, that evidence and that the things that they saw are sort of going to fold into that already predetermined narrative. So we don't know if anything's true. No. And even though what

you just said is a hundred percent accurate, there's also a possibility that they are telling the truth. But that's why when we, when we view or listen to these testimonies, you just have to have that natural skepticism about it. You have to basically vet everything. You can't just assume that because they want to do the right thing, they're going to relay accurate information. And that's something that took me a while as a detective to learn because whenever someone came forward, I was like, oh, well, why would they lie to me? Well, that's the wrong question. They're not lying to you. They're telling you truthfully what they believe. And that could be from things, like you said, that they don't even know they're being influenced by. It could be something that

they're remembering and they have the date wrong. And they don't even know it. How many times have you thought about something where you last left your keys or whatever? And you thought for sure it was there and it wasn't. And then you find out later that you were wrong. You're not doing it intentionally. I have time blindness. I was like, when did I see this TikTok video that I was telling you about? And I'm like, was it a few days ago? Was it yesterday? We could have been the this morning. I honestly couldn't tell you. And then you have to add in factors outside elements, right? It's six o'clock in the morning. There's alcohol, most of the time involved. There's a lot of factors in it. And then you do have people who just want to be in the limelight, who just want to be

part of the story. And that's unfortunate when that happens. But when a case like this gets, notoriety and there's, I hate to use the word fame, a little bit of like, you know, fame with it. I don't know how to say it, where you start to get your name out there and people want to talk to you or interview you, that could incentivize the wrong people to come forward with the things that they actually didn't see or hear. But as we go forward with this, you know, you guys know if you watch DP where I stand, but I'm always open to it. I know Stephanie's coming into it, maybe a little bit of a change in her opinion. But if I hear or see something that completely discredits what I think, I've done it before. I'll say, yeah, man, I've been changed. But at this

point, I'm not seeing it in the episodes or any of the research or in the comments. Everything that's being said is things that I've already heard. So I need more. I need more than what we have so far to say, yeah, you know what? It's not likely that she fell over the balcony. There's something else here, definitely. You know, I won't say 100%, but more likely than not, we'll go with that. That's better than saying I 100% know this didn't happen.

I agree with you. Yeah, it's rough. But we're going to dive in more today and hope to clarify and add some more finer detail. 12 minutes just on the opening. That's a lot for us. I think it was important to say that thing about the balcony door because I've never been on a cruise and never thought about it. However, I have been in like a room on the ocean where it's kind of the same thing, not as drastic. But if you have the balcony door open and then you open the door to your room with the like stronger like ocean air, it'll sort of like cause this like suction thing and kind of pull the door.

like that's kind of the feeling it is i knew exactly what they were talking about when they said it i can't recall i never left the balcony door open so i don't think i've been in that situation but i've left the balcony door open where all of a sudden the bathroom door you know slams yeah that'll happen in houses too if a big gust of breeze comes up your door yeah exactly and there's nowhere for it to escape in that little cabin so it's it goes right through you and and yeah if you've been on a cabin on a ship before you know what we're talking about nobody is sleeping unless you're just a heavy sleeper and you've got earplugs in. Nobody's sleeping with the balcony door open.

So if you're leaving the cabin and whether you're doing it to go undetected or just doing it as a courtesy, you're not going to leave the balcony door open. It's going to wake everybody up. All right. So Ron Bradley, Amy's father, he gets up, balcony doors open, allegedly, flip-plast out there, her cigarettes out there. Her shirt that she wore the night before in the cabin. He's like, ah, maybe she went up to get coffee.

He's going to look. He's going to try to find her. After Ron Bradley searched the ship and couldn't find Amy, he went back to the cabin and woke up his wife, Iva, who later said she knew something was wrong the second she saw his face. Then they woke up Brad, and he too could also right away tell that something wasn't right. His parents looked panicked as they told him Amy was missing. At first, they asked Brad to stay in the room in case she came back while they went out and again to keep searching. But after 20 or 30 minutes passed with no sign of her, they came back and asked Brad to help.

Together, the three of them walked the entire ship, through hallways and public areas, past the pool deck and the disco along the walking track, but Amy wasn't anywhere. By around 7 a.m., the Bradleys knew for sure that Amy was missing, so they went to the purser's desk, which is basically a help desk, and told the staff their daughter had disappeared. Brent Hunter, the guest relations manager, was brought over to speak with them, and he later described the Bradley's as really concerned and a bit forceful in wanting to know what the crew could do to help. They asked for an announcement to be made over the loudspeaker system, and Brent told them it was too early in the morning and asked them to keep looking. He said if they still hadn't found Amy in 30 minutes to come back and he'd contact the ship's security officer. Now, do you think, Derek, okay, you're not going to make an announcement. It's too early. I sort of understand that.

Do you think that it was too early at that point, though, to contact the ship's security officer and just have at least the security team be on the lookout for Amy so that at least the security officer and that at least the security officer and, the security team on that ship would know, hey, this family says their daughter's missing. They can't find her. We're not going to make an announcement yet, but can you and your team just kind of be on the lookout for this girl? So I don't want to jump ahead. To answer your question directly, no, it's not too early for that. But here's where this case gets a little convoluted.

And you're going to talk about it. No doubt it's probably coming up in the next couple of minutes. I have not read your script. It does appear that there was an internal notification made to crew members because I can't say this without saying it. They go to Yellow's room. They go to Yellow's room at 6 o'clock before an announcement's ever made. And there's like a crew captain or a director who goes in there and is like, hey, is this girl in your bed with you?

Like, is she in your room? So there was internal messages sent out to like go check these areas to the crew. I don't know how significant or how big of an announcement that was. Was it sent out to all people? Or was it just specific to this cruise director or whoever it was manager who went down to Yellow's room to see if Amy was there? So to answer your question directly, yes, it should have. happened if it did as a like a shipwide announcement amongst crew members or just specifically to yellow's cabin, I don't know.

But there was something done before the announcement was made over the over the intercom. I do know that. So I don't know. Did you see that other documentary about the cruise ship that like stalled the poop cruise one? You saw it? I saw pieces of. I didn't see the whole thing. So I guess it is pretty common for like a bunch of sex to just be happening.

So for them to go to yellow's room and be. like, hey, is this girl in your bed? That wasn't like a crazy thing. It's just like, pretty. Think about something. I mean, and people were making fun of us because we do the pineapple and they're like, oh, are they trying to hint something? No, we're not.

No. But yes, on these cruise ships, it is well known that people go out there. There's swingers. There's, you know, sex parties. There's crew members hooking up with, you know, people who are just on the cruise for an attendee, whatever you want to call them. What would you call that? What's the word I'm looking for here?

Crew passengers? A passenger, yeah. Like, there's crew members hooking up with passengers. Yeah, it happens. So it's not uncommon, I'm sure, for them to be like, and which isn't, by the way, there's probably a policy against it. There is. Most major cruise lines like Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Carnival. They have strict rules.

Yeah, they have strict rules that prohibits staff from engaging in romantic or sexual relationships with guests. However, yes, it happens all the time because that one girl that was talking, that one cruise ship employee on that documentary I'm talking about, she was like, yeah, like, we're just always having sex. Like one day, one night I was in this guy's bed and then, you know, the week after I was with this guy. Like, yeah, it happens all the time. It's just like, what else are you going to do kind of thing? Makes sense. So it seems to be that this wasn't like where the cruise company themselves were even like,

oh, yellow's doing something wrong. It was just kind of like, yeah, this happens. We know it does. So let's just check and see if that's the case here. That's my impression. That's what I took away from it is that they came up to the desk and said our daughter's missing and immediately it was like, oh, she's hooking up with a crewman. remember we know it and so that was their first thought like we're not going to make an announcement

and wake up the entire ship when your adult daughter who was dancing a couple hours ago and has only been missing for a half hour where we're going to just put it out and wake at the whole because you do you hear it in your room so it'd wake up the entire ship yeah and so i think at that point they're thinking let's go downstairs let's go see yellow let's see if we can find her without you know putting up the you know five star alarm here and that's what i think they were doing behind the scene. So yes, there's more they could have done, but I do think they were trying to find her to help this family out. They just weren't treating it like a missing child at that point. Right, which I mean, she's not a missing child. She's not. She's an adult and she's allowed

as a grown woman to sleep or go with whoever she wants. Or to just, I mean, leave and walk the ship. Exactly. Exactly. But there, there is like, maybe she doesn't want, that's the other thing. Like, maybe she didn't want her parents knowing that she was going and hooking up with someone. And so these crew members are also thinking about that as well. Like we don't want to be in this in the triangle here. So Brent Hunter, the guest relations manager, he said, hey, we're not going to make an announcement. But if you can't find her 30 minutes, come back. We'll contact the ship's security officer.

So as the 30 minutes came to an end, the Bradley still hadn't found Amy. And the crew had already started preparing to lower the gangplank so that passengers could disembark for the day in Carousal. Amy's family started to panic. Obviously, they begged them not to let anyone off the ship. But the staff said they couldn't delay the disembarkation process to search for a single missing person. The cruise director, Kirk Dightweiler, talked about this decision during his interview for the Netflix documentary. He said, quote, we're not going to stop everybody's cruise because there was a missing girl. That's one family's unfortunate incident, but we still had 2,400 people who paid a lot of money.

As cold as that sounds, that's the reality, end quote. It does sound kind of cold. I mean, in hindsight, I don't know if I would have said that in a documentary. Like, that's one family's misfortune. Yeah. Like, you know, this happens sometimes and we don't want to disturb everybody kind of thing, but to just be like, that's their problem. We have people who paid good money.

I don't know. It's a little cold. No, it is cold. And I did see those clips from Kurt. And listen, I do feel a certain way about this case. But I will also agree with you that I thought this was very insensitive and knowing where we are right now. Exactly.

In hindsight. Take some balls. Take some balls to go on a documentary like Netflix and say this. And I'll tell you what, he's getting crushed by. social media and all these things. So, yeah, that's what you get, man. I don't think he was considering how big this could be, and now he's getting the blowback from it.

And it's deservingly so. He came off like an asshole to be frank. Yeah, viewers immediately picked up on how flippant he sounded. His attitude has since been described as cold-hearted, unsympathetic, off-putting callous, unconcerned. And like I said, I can see saying that to somebody in the moment because you don't know where she is. You know, chances are she's just off somewhere,

maybe by herself, and she'll come back. But to say it this many years later, knowing that she's been missing this long and no one knows what happens to her. Something that happened. That's ridiculous to do that. Yep, I agree. Yeah, he could have chosen his words more carefully. I'm sure he's wishing he had. Well, I mean.

Too late. Yep. So actually, let's take a quick break. And then we'll be right back to continue talking. You know how in true crime, it's always the little habits that give people away the creaky floorboard that they always stop. on, the specific brand of gum they chew, or the cigarettes they smoke. Well, maybe it's time you ditched one of your own. Let me introduce you to fume. That's F-U-M. It's not a vape. It's not a pipe, not a diffuser. It's something completely different. A flavored air device that satisfies

that urge to reach for something without nicotine, vapor, or batteries. And it's honestly kind of addictive, but in the best way possible. I like to fidget with it all the time. In fact, it's odd. I didn't even know I was doing this, but a few videos ago on my channel, I I had the fume device in my hand, and I was fidgeting with it, and some people picked up on it. I didn't realize it was just... I got it right here. Yeah, it was sitting next to me because of Crime Weekly, and I picked it up, and I started playing with it, and there was a few people in the comments, like, what's that thing you're playing with? And I was like, oh, I wish I hadn't been caught.

If you're on YouTube right now, you can see it. You've got the magnets, got the twist. Not just hearing it click, but the feeling of it clicking is just so satisfying. It's got a beautiful wood grain handle. It's very nice and weighted. You can tell this is not cheap. And I mean, like I said, it tastes really good. And it's not bad for you in any way. You know, I've been using the Crispin flavor for a long time. It's really refreshing. It's portable, subtle. And it feels kind of like a stylish little habit reboot. Plus, it's backed by third party safety testing and even supported by doctors in the U.S. So that's a good thing. We love fume. We're fidgeters. We're type A. kind of on the go, very antsy people, so it works for us. And Derek will tell you exactly how you can check it out for yourself. Yeah, Fume has already helped over 400,000 people take steps towards better habits. And now it's your turn. Use our code Crime Weekly to get a free gift with your journey pack. Head over to tryfume.com. That's t-R-Y-F-U-M-com and use code

crime weekly to claim this limited time offer today. Okay, we're back. And, you know, obviously Amy's parents, her brother, they're like, hey, don't let anyone off the ship. Anything could happen. We understand that. Understand it. I would want the same thing. Exactly. If it's my child, my family member, I would feel the same way. But they did let people disembark anyways. And Amy's parents and brother were devastated that the passengers were allowed to leave the cruise ship. They kept asking for the bare minimum of an announcement being made. And eventually at 7.50 a.m., a quiet message came over the ship. speaker system. Will Amy Bradley please come to the purser's desk? That's it. Meanwhile, Brad sat alone near the pool trying to process what was happening. That's when Alistair, A.k. Yellow, A. Lester Douglas, a.k.a. Yellow, the band member, Amy, had been seen with the night before. He walked over to him. And Yellow said, hey, man, I'm sorry to hear about your sister. And he added that he felt guilty. Brad thanked him, but right away, he wondered how Yellow even knew something was wrong so

quickly. Brad told him he had last seen Amy around 3.30 or 3.40 a.m. and started to ask when Yellow had seen her last, but before he could finish, Yellow cut him off and said he wanted his bandmate to hear the story too. He walked away, brought the bandmate over, and asked Brad to start over again. Brad told them that he and Amy had been on the balcony around 3.40 a.m., talking and winding down from the night. He said they told each other good night, and then he went inside to sleep while Amy stayed outside because she didn't feel well, and she said the breeze was helping. that's another thing I want to ask you because I thought you said you suffered for motion sickness sometimes sometimes but on a cruise ship you don't especially in a Caribbean cruise there's not a lot of motion

and you could take I took the dramamine and I don't have an issue with it and I'm usually fine so if you didn't take dramamine because I'm thinking about myself if I've had some drinks and I'm feeling a little you know when you drink what do you get you get the spins you feel like a little I don't feel great would being outside on a moving ship and watching the landscape move make that better or worse because I feel like being in bed would be better than there. So at this point, they're close to carousel and I can tell you that if you can see land and you have a point of reference and you can look at that land while moving, it usually takes away my motion sickness and other people in the comments can weigh in. So if she was close to

Carousel, which they were, nobody's disputing that. Often the distance you could probably see land. Also, the breeze just on your face can help. But no, it's mostly the most. motion. Like if I, I usually feel more sick when I'm on a lower level of the ship and I can feel it moving up and down. What about if you're drinking alcohol? Does the motion have more of an impact on you at that point? I've never been like really drunk on a cruise ship. No, but you had a few drinks. I haven't seen a difference. No. Okay. The worst time was for crime con actually, coincidentally, we had some bad weather. Like there was a hurricane. Oh, the crime cruise? Yeah, they had to divert us to a different island. We went to the Dominican instead. And it was

really choppy water and I could I remember feeling it when I was in the casino because that's the lowest level so I went up to my room which was in the center of the ship higher up and I was fine that's the only time I ever felt it I need a point of reference but when the what the floor is just moving below you that's right I start to get a little like oh okay let me chill because I feel like when you're intoxicated and you start getting that like spinny like oh yeah I'm sure it doesn't feeling. I can't imagine that being out on the balcony would help, but weigh in if you've been on a cruise and you've been inebriated on a cruise, let us know. I want to quickly talk about what you just said here because I've seen other places and it's true where Brad is talking to

Yellow and I don't know if you're going to get to this, but him in hindsight saying all this information to Yellow, if Yellow was involved, not great because now Yellow has a timeline and he can adjust his timeline off of that. So if he did do something to Amy, he now knows the timeline that the family's reporting and can change or alter his alibi and his story so that it aligns with Amy's last known whereabouts. So in hindsight, not great. And I would also say, and I know people in the comments will be able to confirm or deny this, I'm unsure if Yellow approached Brad before the announcement went over the intercom or after,

although I don't think it matters. It sounds like after. And I don't know if that matters as much because, as I said a couple minutes ago before the break, Like, my understanding is that before any announcement was made, they went down to Yellow's room. So he would have been aware that something was going on when the cabin director or whoever said, hey, is she with you? So he was already aware something was going on. And that's where he probably said, hey, I'm sorry to hear about your sister. If he's not involved.

Yes, because it did sound like it was a quiet announcement and just asking her to come to the desk, not saying like she's missing. So to hear an announcement where somebody said, hey, Amy Bradley, come to the desk. And then to go up to their brother and be like, sorry to hear about your sister. that's weird. That is weird. I agree. I agree. That would be weird. But them coming to his cabin at 7 o'clock in the morning or 6.45, whatever time it was, then hearing this, I could see where you'd be like, oh, man, sorry to hear your sister's missing, you know, but to Brad's point, he, in hindsight, was like, oh, man, how would he already know that something bad happened to her if they just made the announcement?

Well, the argument would be he knew about it prior to the announcement being made because they came to his room. Yeah, or if the announcement didn't even really clarify that she was missing, just that she was wanted at the desk, right? So Yellow didn't share any helpful information. Brad went back to find his parents. By then, people had already started getting off the ship. Ron later said, quote, it was like nothing we've ever felt before. People going on their merry way, having a vacation, laughing, talking, and there we are looking for my daughter. It was what nightmares are made of, end quote. So crew members told the Bradley's to return to their cabin and wait for the chief security officer. When he arrived, he asked a few questions, and he asked for a

photo of Amy. He told them she was probably just visiting someone's room and she would show up soon. But by 9 a.m., Amy still hadn't been found, so the crew decided to initiate what's called a Charlie Drill. And this is essentially a bomb threat protocol. It's a full-scale search that involves nearly every crew member on board. And according to the cruise director, Kirk, who will forever be known for his lack of empathy, quote, every crew member has to check their own cabin every inch of the cabin, end quote. He said the search covers every nook, every cranny, usually takes around 45 minutes. I mean, I don't know how you can check every nook and cranny of a cruise ship in 45 minutes, but okay. Yeah, I mean, it's, we don't know the process, but at this point,

and I'm supporting the argument that she was trafficked at this point, she's already off the boat, whether that's in a container or whatever it might be. As you're getting, as you're disembarking the ship, you can see the crew members are taking off their real. replenishing food and water and all these different things. And probably getting rid of garbage and stuff even. So if you wanted to get a body off the boat and you had multiple people involved, I don't think it'd be difficult. You could do it undetected. And we talked about before, once again, you've only, they were the only one out of us that's been on a cruise.

Do the staff, let's say they are getting rid of garbage and replenishing supplies, they would probably be using a different exit for that, not the same gangplank that like the passengers are going down. They still have to use a plank. It may not be the same one that the passengers. are using because why would you want that experience of like garbage passing through you, but it's still a plank that probably they're using because I know when I get off the boat, I can see the crew members. They're working fast.

They got people, they're restocking everything. But yeah, if you had a couple people involved with this, or even if you didn't, you could dump a body into some type of trash and they're not scanning the trash. So she could have been taken off that boat and nobody knew about it. And if she was drugged or she was already killed, she probably would go undetected. So doing this Charlie drill at 9 a.m., When people have been able to get off the boat for over an hour, it kind of is not going to have the same significance that it would have had if it were done before anyone was allowed to lead the ship. And it's not going to reach as many people.

That's right. But at that point, if something's happened, it already did. So from what I can tell, cruise ships have multiple gangways, which are the ramps or planks used to enter an exit of the ship. Passengers use designated ones often on the upper or middecks with signage and security personnel checking everything. And then the crew and the logistical operators like supplies, waste removal, crew shore leave. They're usually going to use a lower deck gangway, often on deck zero or A, which are off limits to guests. And I think I've seen that before just in videos where it's almost like a straight. It's not like going down on a slope.

It's like straight coming off the ship to the dock. Yep. Sounds about right. And then it's because they store all that stuff, right? They store the trash. Everything's down in those lower decks. Below deck in a refrigerated room to avoid smell and back to. material growth and they keep all the supplies and stuff down there too. So yeah, I mean, like you said,

at that point, hours after, people are leaving. If this was done by somebody who had access to those lower gangplanks and who would not be questioned as to why they were removing trash or bringing on supplies or even leaving the ship to begin with, she's in the wind. We don't know where she is. That's right. So Amy wasn't found during the Charlie Drill, obviously. Because of that, the Curasaw Harbor police were called in, which was standard protocol. The chief, John Mentar, later told Netflix that Royal Caribbean told him Amy had likely fallen overboard. The chief told the ship they would begin a water search using the Curacao Coast Guard, the Venezuelan Coast Guard, and the Navy. The chief also said that based on the boat's position, the wind force, the sea current, and the wave height,

he was confident that if Amy had gone into the water, her body would wash up. The agency set up a search grid between Aruba and carousal. That effort included three helicopters, a British warship, a low-flying radar plane, and a fleet of cargo ships, tugboats, and fishing boats that scoured the harbor, the sea, and the coastline. It was the largest search they had ever conducted. Now, at that point, I don't know if they were looking for Amy to be alive, or if they kind of knew falling from the height she would have fallen from. She probably would have been knocked out. I mean, that water would hit her like a cement floor, and maybe they were just looking for her body at that point to wash up or some sign of her.

Yeah, I would definitely say they're just looking for her body at that point. They probably assume she went overboard. And we could get into it right here. I don't see why we wouldn't. But a lot of people say, hey, listen, the boat was docked or very close to being docked. If she was in the water, they would have found her. And that's simply just not true. We've seen numerous cases of it.

Yes, you would think that she'd be found. But there are times when bodies are not found where they're supposed to be. you guys don't need me to convince you look at robin pope anyone who's been watching our episodes for a while now robin pope whether she was thrown off the dock or fell in was literally nine feet away from the rocks of her house she wasn't found for almost a month the water was only 14 feet deep they knew more than likely where she was they were scouring that water there was people searching the banks and yet 23 days later she was found under a dock on the rocks. Things can happen in that ocean,

especially initially when you go to the bottom, if your body gets stuck on something, rocks, coral, trees, branches, whatever it might be, a tire, whatever's on that ocean floor, that we're not anticipating, yeah, there could be a world where she was at the bottom

and they just didn't find her. It's a needle in a haystack. So anyone's like, oh, if she would have fell off near the dock, they would have found her body by now. you would think so but that's not a guarantee and so that's the only thing i'll say about that we had a few comments who said that and i mean this guy the the chief of police in kerosow he's like yeah i'm confident if she fell off the ship where you say she fell off that her body should be found yeah

i saw that i saw that and that's one that's one police officer who's not an oceanographer who's not an expert giving his opinion just like i'm giving mine i think it's because he knows the area and he that's great happy form yeah you know what i mean that's because i i get a lot of lot of pushback on that where there's a police officer who said if she fell in that water, she would have been found. I totally believe what he's saying, that he believes what he's saying to us. Doesn't mean he's not wrong. And so it's the same way I'm saying, oh, it's possible she wouldn't be found.

It's an opinion. But there's not a certainty or a guarantee in any instance that no matter what happens, if they go in the water, they're going to be found. I mean, we also know that the Kurosau's, you know, on the Caribbean Sea, that area has powerful ocean currents. And this can carry a body far from the point of entry within hours. And if Amy fell at night when it was dark, which we're kind of assuming it was given her last known sighting. Yeah, 5.36 a.m. in the morning, the sun's just coming up. Yep. Currents could have dispersed her remains into an open ocean, making recovery extremely difficult. Also, this is really

something I didn't know, but research for this case, the ocean is like a very highly efficient ecosystem. So especially in tropical waters, marine life, like fish, crustaceans, even sharks can rapidly scavenge remains. And there's not a lot of sharks around Curacao, actually. I was looking that up. Yeah, there's like harmless sharks, most that are not aggressive. Yeah, most that are not aggressive to humans. So I don't think it was a shark attack. But if you think about it, the Caribbean has steep drop-offs near many of these islands. I've been to the Bahamas and I've seen this myself, a body sinking into deep water could easily reach depths of thousands of feet where there's no light, water pressure is extreme, and few human search methods can reach.

So if she didn't get washed up or didn't get stuck in like coral reef, which would keep her body sort of stable and in the same place, once a body reaches that depth, recovery becomes nearly impossible. It's just, and you wouldn't even know where to start looking. Yep. Like I said, I'll concede that you would think if the boat wasn't moving and she was, they started searching within a few hours, they would find her. that's if none of those other things that you just mentioned took place. Gases fill up in your body, you eventually rise back to the service. You would expect to see her wash up along the shore. That does happen in many cases, but there are also many cases where it doesn't happen that way.

So I don't think the lack of a body automatically rules out the possibility that she was pushed overboard, that she jumped overboard or accidentally fell overboard. I don't think it's, I don't think it's a sculptory where it says, no, that couldn't have happened. I agree, actually. And I would say that a lot of people use her body not turning up as a sign that something else happened. But this is the ocean we're talking about. Like, it is. It's a monster.

It's a monster. It's a scary. It is a scary monster. Anything could happen. And there have been plenty of people who have fallen overboard whose bodies have never been recovered. This is not an uncommon occurrence. So that's that. Later that afternoon, as the air and sea search got underway, the cruise ships captain went to the Bradley's cabin and said,

we have searched and your daughter's not on this boat. He told them the crew had checked every nook and cranny and said that anything bigger than a bread box had been searched, but Amy was nowhere to be found. Ron and Iva asked him to distribute Amy's photo and notify passengers that she was missing, hoping that someone might remember seeing her. So after the sighting of her in the cabin that Ron had, did someone see her at any point after, could they say where? And that would help sort of hopefully narrow down the search area and narrow down what could

have happened to her. But the captain refused saying he didn't want to upset the other guests. What's your take on that? Because I don't agree with that. I don't agree with it either. I'm not the Royal Caribbean business advisor there, but I understand there's a balance. But I think the number one priority should be the safety of your passengers and your customers. Because if it gets out later that something happened to this woman, that's bad for business as well. So even if you're approaching it from that perspective, it's a discretionary call. I think we should always proceed with caution and go above and beyond to make sure that every single passenger is accounted for and that they're safe. And at this point, we know that something's wrong,

whether it's a medical emergency or she's being held against her will or she went overboard. Something's not right because this woman would have turned up by now. And so, yeah, I don't agree with this decision either. Yeah, it's like the mayor of New York City being like, hey, I know that there's a person missing, but we're not going to like distribute flyers because we don't want to scare people. Yeah. I think people for the most part are good people and would have been on board with trying to help and would have been more than fine with helping the Bradley's find their loved one. There would be a couple assholes for sure. They're like, oh, we got to hold up for this, you know, but I think most people would be on board to help. They're not even asking

to be held up. They're just saying distribute the flyers. So if somebody saw her, they can come to us and say, right? And the best account you're going to get is as soon after the, as soon after the incident as possible. The longer time, the more gray it gets. And like you're saying, hey, maybe in the moment, okay, we don't scare the passengers. But now after, when people, found out a girl went missing and you refused to distribute her picture. They're going to think, well, what if that was me? What if that was my daughter? What if that was my wife? And they didn't want to do that. I would have wanted them to do that. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The handling of this case can have waves on future cruises and the people choosing whether to use Royal Caribbean or a competitor.

So I don't think they're thinking about that in the moment. They're probably at this point still assuming that she's just off somewhere and not wanting to be found. But you don't know this person. And if the family's coming to you saying this is a problem. Whether it's true or not, you got to look into it. You got to treat it in the same way that they're looking at it because they know this person better than you. Yeah, and the captain's literally saying she's not on this boat. And we know she hasn't been on the boat, or at least we haven't been able to find her since before we docked. So what happened? And so the captain told them, if Amy wasn't on the ship, she had to be either on the water or on the island. And he encouraged the family to disembark. And yeah, thank you. Thank you. Captain.

Obviously. He encouraged the family to disembark in Curacao and reminded them that an active water search was already in progress. And he told them, if Amy's found in the water, you'll want to be there. He warned that if they stayed on board, they might miss the chance to search the island. I've asked if he was absolutely sure Amy wasn't on the ship, and he said he was certain. Now, according to the Bradley's, they later found out the ship had not been fully searched. While some public areas, closets, and certain crew spaces had been checked, the passenger cabins had not. The common areas in some of the crew quarters were all that had been searched. Dozens of guest rooms and actually most of the ship had been left untouched, which that's hard to get over. That's hard to get over because now you're telling them, hey, she's definitely not on the ship. So she's either on carousel or in the water. She fell in the water. She's definitely not in the ship. We searched every nook and cranny.

What could possess you to tell a family that when you know that that is not the case? Yeah, a good portion of the ship hasn't been searched. This is back to the question you just asked me a couple of minutes ago. right, where now this is a different thing. This isn't just flyers. Now you're going to ask crew members and passengers to allow someone to go and search every single room where that's your privacy at that point. Now, every single day on the cruise ship, you have someone cleaning your room.

So I think 99% of the people who are on that boat are not going to care if a security officer quickly comes in and just scans the room. And there's not too many places to hide, right? And just says, hey, everything normal in here, nothing out of the ordinary. it's going to take five seconds to search that room because again the beds are all they're kind of bolted to the ground there's really nowhere to hide a person you do a quick search you have the housekeepers search their quadrants search their rooms that they're responsible for quick pass through anything that stands out to you anything that looks like

a crime may have occurred it would probably take them a couple hours so I completely agree with you at this point you have to inconvenience the passengers a little bit because it just got a lot more serious but here's another thing there you know although we're Royal Caribbean has never released a detailed cabin occupancy list for that sailing, I wonder why. It's very likely that there were vacant passenger cabins on the Rhapsody of the Seas during the Bradley's family cruise on March 1998 because most cruises don't fill every single cabin, especially outside of peak holiday seasons. The Bradley's family, they were on a cruise in late March, which is close to spring break, but also not a guaranteed sellout period. and even on sold-out cruises, there are often cabins left unused for many reasons. Last-minute cancellations, no shows, or crew-held gas rooms,

or even they keep some empty in case something goes wrong with, like, the plumbing or the air conditioning or something in a cabin, and they have to move passengers. So they'll keep, like, extra ones just in case. And who would know which cabins were vacant and which were not would be somebody who worked on the cruise? So those weren't even considered to be checked at all. Yeah, that's a problem. And it also opens up a lot of questions that we have right now, right?

If they had done all that and there was no sign of Amy in the vacant rooms or in the passenger rooms, maybe there's a lot more people who say, yeah, maybe she did go overboard. But because you have that unanswered question that can never be answered today, you're always going to have people who defer to that when they say that and say, listen, I might be more on board with the whole accident theory if they had done this. and we see this in a lot of cases. Although they're not investigators on the ship, this should have been done if for no other reason than to rule it out. But now this is why people still have questions. And understandably so, including the Bradleys. I get it.

I don't disagree. Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. Okay, between the research, the cases, the general madness of life, I live for a good night's sleep. I can't even believe. Sometimes I'm trying to get in bed, and I'm not going to sleep right away. I just want to be in bed. I live to be in bed, and I can't wait to fall asleep and really get a good, like, solid eight hours. I've never been like that before, but I am now. Recently, I upgraded my sheets to Koiuchi. And now I'm seriously questioning how I ever slept before. You know, I've got a great mattress, great pillows, et cetera, et cetera, but I never really thought how much difference sheets could make.

Koyucci's organic crinkled percal sheets have changed the game for me. They're naturally cooling, which is great. So I'm not flipping the pillow every 20 minutes to try to find the cold side. And knowing that they're certified organic and free of toxins, that just helps me sleep even better. Koiuchi's not just about luxury. It's luxury you can feel good about their stuff is made with natural fibers, low impact dyes, and it's all certified fair trade. So your home looks beautiful and the planet isn't paying the price.

So yeah, these sheets are amazing. They have a lot of other stuff, too, that I could really shout out. I have their towels. Their bath towels are so, so nice. I love them. So check Koyuchi out, and Derek's going to tell you how. That's right. I become a bed sheet snob.

I really have. And I have, like, my rotation now where I like to switch them every few days. And Koyuchi is now in the rotation. I absolutely love them. And if you want healthy, handcrafted luxury bedding that lasts a lifetime, you need Koyuchi. Get 15% off when you visit koiuchi.com slash crime weekly. that's coyucci.com slash crime weekly to get 15% off. You need that spelling, because I know I did.

That's C-O-Y-U-C-H-I dot com slash crime weekly. So like we talked about, Captain told the Bradley's, hey, we searched every nook and cranny. Now we know that the search only took 45 minutes, which is impossible to search every nook and cranny. Yeah, when 60% of the rooms weren't. search. That's not every nook and cranny. I would say, honestly, that the majority of the ship was not searched. Yeah. I agree. But on the 24th, the Bradley family didn't know that yet. So they took

the captain at his word. They reluctantly agreed to get off the ship. The president of Ron's company came with them and, you know, he saw how overwhelmed they were. So he helped arrange a room at the Atra Banda, which was a run-down casino hotel and carousel. Now they were stranded in a foreign country with no clue of what to do next. They wanted to keep looking for Amy, but they didn't know where to start. They tried contacting the U.S. Embassy, but it was closed. Iva called her brother, and he contacted the FBI who said they were ready to help, but because the ship was in international waters and registered in another country, Royal Caribbean would have to give them permission to board, which is crazy to me. But once again,

I've talked about this. They're kind of like floating lawless cities where there's no real jurisdiction. It's like, who's got jurisdiction right now? Yep. Is it the country where the ships registered to? Is it the country that the ships in the waters of? You know, who's got jurisdiction here? If the majority of the passengers are American and the FBI can't even do anything to help those passengers until they have permission from the company, the Royal Caribbean, that's kind of an issue when you want to move quick, right? Time is of the essence here. Always. So at 6.30 p.m., this is basically 12 hours after they start looking for Amy. Ron, Iva, and Brad stood at the hotel window watching the Rhapsody of the seas pull away from the dock. And this is like,

makes me uncomfortable because we just talked about the possibility that Amy could have still been on board. That's right. They were close enough to hit it with the rock. And as the ship drifted further out to the canal, they noticed that their stateroom was the only one still dark. Iva later said, quote, it was extremely difficult for us. That ship left as scheduled on time. And there we stood watching. Everybody was partying and having a good time and that we were by ourselves end quote yeah i saw this quote already and when i read it the first time it got me a little emotional because although i've never been in this exact situation i've been in quick scenarios where for a second you look and you can't find one of your kids and your your life ends like in that

moment like your heart drops and it goes into your throat yeah and i can't imagine how helpless they must have felt in this moment because you basically want to be in two places at once you want to be on the ship. You want that ship to be locked down. You don't want anybody moving. You want everyone to be as concerned about this as you are. And yet you're having to make this difficult choice of the ship or stay in carousal and not really knowing what the right approach is and not feeling like you have anybody else looking out for you or helping you. And so I sit there. And that's the last place you saw her. And yeah, you're looking and you have to wonder in your head is she still on that boat somewhere in need of our help. And you have to take the word of people who don't really seem that

interested in finding her. Like you said, they're doing a party. And I think this is a good part to remind everyone that we care about this case because even though Amy was an adult, at one point she was a little girl, sat on probably Ron's knee and played and was doing her here with Iva and played in the backyard with Brad. And that's how they're still seeing her as Amy, their sister or their daughter. Not as Amy the adult who could do what she wanted and made her own decisions, not as the girl who was just sitting on the balcony with a buzz on with a pack of cigarettes. They're seeing the girl that they've known the entire lives. And so I look at it from that perspective and my heart breaks for them because at the end of the day, that's the person they loves. And we're sitting

here kind of breaking down this case from an objective impartial perspective with not a lot of emotion because now everybody's weighing in on it and dissecting every part of it. But regardless of where we fall, Amy's no longer around from what we can tell. And that's a tragedy. And there's no doubt, regardless of how we feel about this at the end of the series, Royal Caribbean could have done more. There should have been a liaison assigned to this case, working with this family hand in hand, even after getting off the boat. In fact, I would argue that someone from Royal Caribbean should have been off the boat with them and served as their communication line to the boat as the search has continued. There has to be things that are done

differently here because at this point, it was clear something happened to Amy, whether that was falling off the boat or something more severe, but to just completely, sever ties with them and leave them in this area that they're unfamiliar with and say, hey, good luck. It's just completely insensitive and unprofessional and every other adjective that you can think of. So couldn't disagree with Royal Caribbean's approach more here on this. And they're getting a lot of blowback about this case now because now everyone's being

made aware of it. And it's deserved. They should because this is not how these things should go. Because if it can happen to Amy and their family can happen to you. So they have to do better. Yeah, I think also it's like, do none of these people working at Royal Caribbean, like the captain, the security people, do they not have kids? Do they not understand how these people would be feeling? Yep.

I don't like it. But that particular image in my head when he described it was tough. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's a tough one because now you're feeling like as her father, her protector, what do you do? It's a 50%? It's a coin flip. Do you stay in the boat or do you stay in the hotel?

You can't be in two places at once and you don't want to divide. You just lost one person. You don't want to send your wife on the boat while you stay home in the hotel. You don't know what the right choices. And I can't imagine how helpless they felt. I honestly, if it was me and there's three people, I would have been like, Brad, you're staying on the ship. Yeah, stay on the ship. Stay on the ship.

We can communicate with you. We can communicate with you. Yeah. I agree. But maybe they didn't even feel like that was an option. I don't know. I don't know. But to your point, they were given the impression that the boat was completely searched.

So just to give them credit, they were like, okay, the captain told us she's physically not in the bolt. There's no chance. They searched, quote, every nook and cranny. If they had known that that wasn't the case, maybe they would have made a different decision. That's what I'm saying. They're taking the word of people who are the authority figures on the boat, but don't necessarily seem like finding Amy as their top priorities. It would definitely wasn't, I can completely concur with that. It was not a top priority.

They strongly felt like she had gotten off the boat on her own or she fell in the water. But they were like, hey, not on the boat, not our problem. Yeah, and even Brad. Brad said it felt like the cruise line just wanted to move on. And that's exactly what happened. They were like, ew, this ugly thing happened. We don't want to destroy people's vacation. We don't want this to be a memory.

So we're going to kind of really keep it on the download and brush it under the rug as much as possible. And then we're going to really like blast that music, pour those drinks when the ship pulls away just so they even forget we made an announcement about anybody named Amy Bradley. everything's fine, smile, happy, nothing happened here. When that boat left, Curacao, there was no more Amy Bradley on anyone's lips, I can guarantee you that. So Brad said, you know, he believed that Royal Caribbean's focus was not on helping his family. It was on keeping the other passengers happy and protecting the company's image. Most people on board didn't even know someone was missing, and as soon as the Bradley's

were off the ship, it left right on schedule as if nothing had happened. Brad said Royal Caribbean leadership seemed more concerned with minimizing liability, than finding Amy and that their priority was getting his family off the boat and resuming business as usual. I agree. They told the Bradley's like, hey, it's better if you get off the ship, you know? They want them out of there. Yeah, we searched everywhere, I promise.

So she's definitely not here. So you definitely don't want to be here. Like, this is the last place you want to be because we're 100 million percent sure she's not here, but you don't know. She could be a carousel, so that's your only chance. You should get off the boat like ASAP. We already packed your stuff for you, by the way. let's get let's get you going and then royal caribbean didn't even arrange a place for them to stay

on kerosau ron's employer did so they're really doing nothing they want to wash their hands of this as soon as they can and the cruise director kirk dietweiler he didn't exactly deny that he told netflix quote we still had a couple thousand people to entertain feed they were still on vacation so we went back to you know normal operating procedure life goes on cruises go on and quote man Kirk really, he should have talked to a PR person before doing this. Royal Caribbean, I don't know if he's still working for a Royal Caribbean. I'm assuming he isn't because they would have shut that shit down. He's not now if he was.

He would not be the spokesperson for Royal Caribbean moving forward. So by the end of March 24th, the water searches still hadn't turned up Amy or any of her belongings. The Bradley still completely rejected the idea that she had jumped overboard or chosen to disappear. She had just graduated college, moved into her own apartment, adopted her dream dog, an English bulldog, and accepted a new job. She'd been writing postcards, taking pictures for a photo contest, and making plans for when she got home. They said there was no way she would have jumped, accidentally or on purpose. She'd been terrified of the railing, wouldn't go near it, and it came up to her chest, which meant she would have had to have climbed. Now, I agree.

Amy did not go into the water willingly. Intentionally. Yeah, like, I want to end my life. There was no reason for that. We can't, yeah. We won't deal in absolutes, but we can say it's highly unlikely. There's nothing to support it. There's nothing, there's zero evidence to substantiate that claim.

She just reconnected with the love of her life. She wanted to get back and see her and show her her apartment and really like reintegrate their lives together. I do have some problems with the argument that she couldn't have accidentally gone over. I think the points that are made here could be disputed, but that's my opinion. We can get into it now. We can get into it later. But I think there's some things that could be said here to say that if she had fallen over

accidentally, there are a series of circumstances, unfortunate circumstances that could have taken place to allow that to happen. And that's why it's called an accident. Of course. Of course. And I'm with you. There's a chance that she was taken off the boat. There's a chance she was still on the boat when it pulled away. And they were waiting to go to a next island to take her off and traffic her if that's your theory. There's also a chance that she accidentally fell off. Right. I think those are all plausible scenarios. And for you to say, oh, it's not possible she could have fallen over because, you know, she wasn't tall enough. The railing was too tall. Yeah. It just, that's, it's not going to convince me.

Well, if she went into the water, the Bradley's believed it wasn't by choice. So they agree with us there. But if that had happened, if someone had forced her, then why hadn't she been found? That question kept circling, and it led them to one conclusion. Amy might still be on the ship. So they decided they had to get back on it. Ron's boss chartered a private plane so the whole family could fly to St. Martin and intercept the Rhapsody of the Seas at its next port of call. At 6 a.m. on March 25th, 24 hours after Amy vanished, Curacao authorities continued their sea and air search. Meanwhile, the Bradleys and Ron's boss boarded the chartered plane and headed for St. Martin, hoping to reboard the Rhapsody of the seas and convince Royal Caribbean to allow the FBI to investigate.

By 7.30 a.m., just before passengers began disembarking, the Bradley's arrived at the dock and demanded to speak with the captain. As soon as they were allowed back on board, they were met by attorneys representing the cruise line. Iva recalled they looked surprised to see them. She said, quote, my personal feeling is they felt they'd never see us again, and we were the last people they wanted to see, end quote. I don't think that's your personal feeling. They made that pretty clear.

Yeah, I think that's apparent. The Bradleys and Ron's boss were taken into a conference room where they met with the attorneys, the captain, the chief security officer, and several other Royal Caribbean officials. After a lengthy discussion, the cruise line agreed to let two FBI agents board, and later that day, the FBI agents arrived wearing jeans and golf shirts. According to the Netflix documentary prior to arriving, the agents hadn't been given much information, only that Amy had disappeared and nobody had been found.

The captain gave them a quick briefing, and then they asked to see the Bradley's cabin. Right away, they noticed the room had been cleaned, but not packed up. Amy's yellow polo shirt was still draped over a chair. The agent stepped out into the balcony where there was a small table in two chairs. Amy's sandals were placed next to the table, which was moved up against the railing. The agent said there was no sign the table had been used to help her climb over,

and it was just as likely that it had been moved by the cleaning crew. The agents further noted that the railing came up to their chests, and when they looked over, they saw a straight drop down to the ocean. I'm surprised, honestly, that the ship had the room cleaned, but not cleared out. Yeah, so what I think happened when I saw this was there's obviously house cleaners for different quadrants of the ship. maybe that house cleaner due to a lack of communication wasn't informed what was going on with that room. So they cleaned the room like they normally would, which is to go in there, sort of leave everybody stuff there.

And leave stuff around because they're not taking your clothes out. So to me. But they could have moved that table. They could have moved the table for sure. And just my own anecdotal experience, it doesn't mean it's true, right? Everyone has a different experience. There's been times where we've moved around furniture in our rooms because it was just more convenient for us. like you move the chairs or you move the tables to just make it a better layout for what you're

doing. And usually they will not move that stuff because they know you've done it for a reason and they leave it until the end of the trip to put everything back where it originally was. So when I read this, my interpretation, which doesn't hold a lot of weight, was that wherever that table was is where it was when they entered the room to clean it. And that table being pushed up against the railing could suggest that she stood on top of it. Now, I also saw the part where the FBI said there was nothing to indicate that the table was used to, you know, to stand on top of. I as an investigator don't know how you would deduce that. I don't know how you would come to that conclusion unless it was tipped

over on its side, which I inaccurately said in my DP episode, which I had to correct, I thought it was tipped over. It was just pushed up against the wall. But even still, it being pushed up against that railing like that, to me, opens the possibility that she stood up on it. That's just me. I don't think the cleaners moved it, but I will acknowledge I have nothing to prove that. They could have moved it, but in my experience, and anybody who's taken cruises before, you got no skin in the game, either do I. Let me know in your experience when you move a couch or a chair or the little ottoman

that usually comes in those rooms. I usually shove that all into the corner. When you came back after the room is cleaned, did they put all that furniture back? Or do they leave the furniture where you had it? They usually, yeah, I think they usually leave it where you had it. And I want to hear what they say. You haven't been on cruises. Maybe I'm wrong.

I mean, at a hotel at least, if I move like the table. They're going to leave it. Or I move like a chair to like go and buy the table so I can use it as a desk. They leave it because they realize that's how you wanted it set up. So the fact that they left the sandals and everything kind of where it was would lead me to believe that the table was that the table was that position when they found it. And so does it open the door that she could have stood on the table to lean over? I don't think that's a stretch. Yeah, I don't think so either.

Now here's the thing that I'm going to consistently come back to in question because according to Brad, Amy's brother, they found Amy's camera inside the room safe along with 14 roles of undeveloped film. She'd bought the film to document the trip and she planned to use it for a photography contest and that personal project, that little coffee table in her apartment. And after the cruise, the film was developed, most of the photos were taken in Puerto Rico and Aruba. None of them showed anything out of the ordinary. but it's like, I can't find officially where anybody besides Brad says the camera was found in the safe. I kept looking. I kept looking and I just couldn't find it. I think that if he were lying, that'd be a stupid thing to lie about because it can be disproven.

I am leaning towards the camera was found in the safe and maybe it just wasn't documented properly. I can tell you that Brad's doing a lot of interviews right now. He's on all different types of podcasts. Every time I look on social media, he's doing a podcast. So maybe it's something where we're on the fence, you know, we might have them on here if you'd like to do that. We want to get the whole story out there, but maybe we could do another situation like we did with Darley. But I'm in the camp of the camera does exist and they have it because if that's something that, again, we can go back to and say, oh, you guys have the camera, show it. Well, here's the thing.

You wouldn't throw it out. This is when the FBI comes on. So the FBI's never confirmed officially or, you know, royal court. Caribbean authorities have never confirmed officially. It's just Brad, and later the family developed the film. Don't you think that if this was an investigation, the FBI would have taken the camera and developed a film? Because she might have captured something on there.

Maybe, but I think the way you framed how the FBI agents came on, the cruise ship is also important. And this is coming from someone who's worked in this field where if they're on vacation or they're doing another case and they get pulled off that case to go on this cruise ship, they might have did a I don't know but they might have kind of phoned it in you know they're they get on the cruise ship yep look overboard no signs of fall foul play here they don't do a full evidence collection and maybe the family takes the camera out beforehand I don't know if they took the camera out before they got off the boat the first time or they took it out off when they got on the

second time it kind of makes it seem like they left all their stuff this should be a clarification question from Brad and his family because you go to the source we'll get the answer maybe they the safe and they took the camera and you know they still have the photos to this day I haven't seen them anywhere either but I'd love to see them maybe we see something in those photos that's a point of interest that they didn't see I don't know exactly because it's like the family says there was nothing of interest in them but don't you want to show them to law enforcement maybe put them out publicly at this point it's been so long yeah put them out publicly maybe somebody will see something in there and be like oh I know that guy he's bad news he was arrested for kidnapping

women, but you wouldn't have known that if you're just three people looking at it. I'm saying there's no reason to keep those photos private at this point because anything, especially if you think she's out there somewhere and something nefarious happened to or anything in those photos could stand out to somebody else. That's not just the three people looking at them and saying, hey, nothing's out of the ordinary here. You could see the same guy in multiple pictures. Who knows? Somebody may be following them. We don't know. I agree. It could also be three photos that were taken before they got off the boat and she was waiting to take the, Amy, was waiting to take the camera out of the safe when they, when they disembarked. That's also possible.

So, but we won't know. And there's a lot of speculation around it. And it's something that could be answered relatively quickly if Brad just came out and said, hey, listen, I've been seeing this. I have the camera or we have the camera. There were three photos. They were taken before we boarded the ship. There's nothing there. But here's the photos in case you wanted to look at them. Well, the FBI attempted to lift fingerprints from the cabin and collect fibers from the bedding, but because the room had already been cleaned, there was nothing usable. It's been reported that they took some of the deck furniture and other items for testing, but there's no indication that anything came from that. So after they finished in the room, the FBI agents met

with the Bradley family. At first, they interviewed them all together, and then they separated them for individual conversations. One of the agents later explained the reasoning in the Netflix documentary. He said, quote, we're not only looking for evidence of what possibly did happen. We're also looking to eliminate potential alternatives, end quote. And because the Bradley's were the last people to see Amy, the FBI said they had to investigate them as potential suspects. But in the end, they found no indication that any of them were involved. All right, so we're going to take a quick break. And I know I can tell by your face, Derek, you have something to say about that. So when we get back from the break, we'll talk about it more.

All right. So I have a confession after a long day of, you know, getting the kids ready for the day, getting them to camp, making sure they have everything they need. need, making sure the pool's ready for everyone, researching disturbing cases, writing scripts that keep me up all night. The last thing I want to do is figure out dinner. I really don't want to. If it was just me, I would probably never eat, honestly. And that's why I've been turning to Hello Fresh.

And honestly, this isn't the Hello Fresh you remember. They have doubled their menu this summer. We're talking 100 recipes each week, which is crazy, from seasonal dishes to global flavors to high protein meals that actually keep you full. and Hello Fresh they've got steak, tons of vegetables, veggie-packed options, and, yes, three times more seafood at no extra cost. I just made their shrimp tacos with mango salsa. It was the perfect summer dinner, of course. It was fresh and really delicious.

It was giving five-star patio dinner. And I love that it takes all the mental load off. No planning, no shopping, just fresh ingredients, step-by-step recipes, and dinner that's actually satisfying. Ninety-one percent of their customers say they feel healthier, eating health. HelloFresh, and I totally get it. It is delicious. I love it. It's easy.

It always tastes good. We love HelloFresh, and Derek's going to tell you how you can try them out for yourself. The best way to cook just got better. Go to Hellofresh.com slash Crime Weekly 10 FM now to get 10 free meals plus a free item for life. That's one box with an active subscription. Free meals applied as a discount on first box, new subscribers only varies by plan. That's hellofresh.com slash crime weekly 10 FM to get 10 free meals plus a free item for life.

All right, so we're back from break. And yeah, I was looking at this and I saw some comments on my episode and on other podcasts about this and, you know, why would you interview the family? Well, they wouldn't be doing their job if they didn't. They were the last people to see her alive or at all. So you would definitely want to question them not only to confirm their stories, but see if you separate them, if their stories change at all or if they differ from each other because if they start telling their stories and they're not lining up, now you got to question

them. And so this is part of the process. You want to go with the people who have the last known information for your victim, and that would be the family members. And so, yeah, I wouldn't call them suspects, but definitely persons of interest, people that you want to get their story on paper, lock them into their accounts, and then go from there because that's your foundation. Now, if you go back and you find that something they said was actually not true, well, they could transition from persons of interest to suspects. That's how these cases work. Yeah, I would think it was weird if they didn't.

I mean, if this was a husband. They'd be killed if they didn't. Yeah, if this was a husband and wife on a cruise and then the wife went missing, the husband would be the first person spoken to. Right. So you can have issues in relationships that might cause something like that to happen outside of a romantic or marital relationship. You can have issues like that in a family relationship as well.

So, of course, they're going to have to do that. Of course. Yep. No issues with it whatsoever. I know it comes off as a little harsh, but these family members could be suspects as well. And you have to treat it as such. You don't want to go into it and just assume that they're innocent because they're family members because that could be the fatal flaw in the case. Well, the FBI then asked Royal Caribbean for surveillance footage from the night Amy went missing.

And here's the thing. Yep, this is what piss me off. This is what pisses me off. But the cruise line said none of the ship's 40 video monitors. were connected to a recording system, which is what the, how is the point in you having it then? What is the point in you having it? I mean, and then none of the guards recalled seeing her.

So I don't know, are they saying that somebody's monitoring it 24 hours a day? So what? You got 40 screens that somebody cannot keep their eye on at all times. And then they're like, well, none of the guards were called seeing her. Do they mean seeing her on the footage? How could you keep your eye on foot? Why are you not recording it? Is this like, this is what I want to know, is this common for Royal Caribbean?

Is this the case or was this the case with all of their ships? Or was this just a convenient like, oh yeah, sorry, it's not hooked up to a recording system. Like for specifically this ship where somebody went missing. Why would you not be recording it? I don't understand. There's no point in having it then. It's ridiculous. So the only electronic record was for Amy's key.

card, which showed she entered the cabinet 3.40 a.m., but because the system didn't log exits, there was no way to know if or when she left. Now, at that point, the only confirmed timeline was that she entered the room at 3.40 a.m. or that someone using her key card entered the room at 3.40am. Ron claims he saw her sleeping on the balcony at 5.30, and by 6, she was gone. Very narrow window. Now, the FBI wanted to narrow down that 30-minute window and to fill in as much of the night before as they could. Before you get to that, I want to really put some emphasis on what you just said here because when you ask yourself, why are we talking about Amy Bradley's case?

And there's many other instances where there's cases like this. We've had other cases on cruise ships. The reason, partially, that we're talking about it right now is because of two things. The fact that the ship wasn't completely searched and the fact that the video cameras were not recording. Why do I say that? Well, let me ask you this, Stephanie. If you saw video of Amy Bradley entering that cabin and then that same camera never records

her coming out, is Netflix covering this documentary? No. No, because at that point, you know she entered the room and either something happened with a family member or she accidentally fell overboard, right? The mystery is gone for most of it, right? But because the absence of evidence, it opens up a. gamut of scenarios including human trafficking. And because you don't have the answers to those questions, they can be filled in with possible scenarios, possible theories. So all because of this

mistake by Royal Caribbean, not having those cameras up and running and recording, now we're going to all sit here like we are right now and speculate on what could have happened. But this all could have been avoided if the cameras were running. Because even if there wasn't a camera on her door, there would have been a camera in her hallway and so you would have seen her coming and going you would have been all right here she is walking up the hallway going down the corridor to her room we have both ends of that corridor covered

does she ever walk back down there no so either she got captured by someone immediately outside her room or she never left her room and so the window where something could have happened and the window of people that could have done it narrows down by a lot and we wouldn't be talking about this case right now

So I want to really just put some emphasis on what you're saying here because it sounds like, oh, you know, just not recording. It is what it is. But this would have solved everything if it was. Well, I did some research on it because I wanted to know, like, is this suspicious? Like, are they lying? And, you know, they're just saying they didn't record it. Yeah, that's also something I've heard. So what I found out is at this time, which was the late 90s, it was not standard across the cruise industry to have recording CCTV systems.

Right. So most cruise ships had live feed only CCTV in public areas, and this was done primarily to monitor crowd flow and emergencies in real time. Very few ships recorded 24-7 or had centralized DVR system. Cruise lines were not yet heavily regulated in terms of surveillance at that time, especially when sailing under flags of convenience, which Rhapsody of the Seas did. And so surveillance systems, they did have some that would record, but they were often limited to like if the ship had a casino. or a bank vault or something like that, they would have that, like, recording. But in general, even the CCTV, when you're watching it happen in live time, it's like really poor quality cameras. There's blind spots all over the place, and they had no obligation to preserve our archive footage.

Now, of course, after cases like Amy Bradley's. Yeah, of course these are doing it. And then there's another case, George Smith, that happened in 2005. The cruise industry did come under intense scrutiny. and U.S. legislation like the cruise vessel security and safety act of 2010 began requiring recording cameras in public areas, better preservation of footage, yeah, and mandatory reporting of crimes to the FBI and Coast Guard. But really understand, like, so many crimes happen on cruise ships. And I almost think that they got away with it for so long because they didn't

want to do it for so long, because they knew. And you have stories of people like getting sexually assaulted, and then the cruise lines pay them off. And they're like, hey, don't talk about this. you know, because obviously that would not be great for business. So I imagine it was almost like an intentional thing, like that the cruise industry in general decided on, we don't want to have all of these recordings that we are going to have to hand over to law enforcement if something goes wrong because then people are going to see these things and they're going to know what's happening. In fact, we'd just rather have these things be a mystery.

We would rather have them be a mystery. Yep, but they don't know, can't hurt them. And that's the problem. And that's the major issue with this case. And when I was doing the research on it, this was what I was like, I pinpointed it. I said, here's your problem right here. Because, and understandably so, I'm not criticizing the people that are questioning what happened without that recording. That's what we should be doing.

I'm only putting forward that if the cameras were up in recording, we wouldn't be here right now. We would have a more definitive answer as to what happened to Amy or at least a smaller suspect pool. And because we don't, everyone's a suspect on the ship. and that allows people like us and people like Netflix and everybody else to put out all these scenarios, even though there's not a ton of evidence to support it. And I know right there, I just bothered a lot of people. I got something for you guys. We're going to talk about it.

I'm just waiting until we get there. So speaking of suspects, right? Because Amy had been seen with the band member known as Yellow before she disappeared, the FBI wanted to speak with him. So he sat down for a voluntary interview and admitted that he knew who Amy was. He also acknowledged that he had flirted with her. He described himself as a flirt, and he said he often got flirtatious with female passengers, but he insisted he had nothing to do with Amy's disappearance. One of the agents said that Yellow seemed bothered by the questioning,

and they had him take a polygraph, but the results were inconclusive. The FBI looked into his keycard activity, and according to Brad, according to Brad, the records show that Yellow returned to his cabin around 3.30 or 3.35 a.m. But like we talked about, there was no data showing if or when he was. left again. With no hard evidence linking yellow to Amy's disappearance, there wasn't anything more that the FBI could do, and yellow was let go. Now, according to Amy's family, he walked out of the room smirking and dismissive. Ron, already overcome by grief and suspicion, nearly confronted him, and other family members had to step in to hold him back. So as the FBI kept interviewing

passengers and crew, rumors started to spread across the ship. First, it was that someone had fallen overboard. Then the story changed to a suicide. Later, people were saying someone had been drugged and abducted. Most passengers didn't know who was missing, but the crew did. Kirk, Mr. No Empathy, he recalled one of the stranger rumors. Mr. No longer employed. Mr. Never Working in the Cruise industry again. Yeah, he is done so.

It's called the hospitality industry, and he just did not have any of that. He must not be working for Royal Caribbean anymore. It is no shot. His resume is all over right now. So he recalled one of the stranger rumors, he, heard from the staff. He said, quote, she'd kind of bragged that she was a good swimmer. And when she saw the lights of Curacao, she was going to jump in the water and try to beat the ship ashore. End quote. That's stupid. That's stupid. And I mean, I don't believe that because even if she'd

said it. She didn't mean it. Yeah, she's scared of the balcony. She's not jumping off from this high of a point. She knows it's how dangerous it is. No, that's that's idiotic. Yeah, she's just talking like, hey, I could swim to shore. You know, it's just like something you say. You're drinking. I think she would have had some people. And if she said it was going to do it. I think she would have been like, hey, Brad, watch what I'm about to do or something, you know, some, some record of it to show how cool it was. You just remember, like, when we were in Vegas and we'd had a couple of drinks. And I was like, Derek, let's go in this ball thing that gets shot in the sky. And you were like, you don't want to do that.

And I'm like, I do want to do it more than anything. And nobody is surprised by this. Yeah. And you were like, well, I'm not doing that. And I'm like, Derek, like for like an hour, I tried to convince you and then random other people to go on this thing with me. Voice of reason right here, guys. I know some of you can't see me, but for you always watching, you're welcome. Would I have actually done it?

No, I'm just talking. I'm like, this looks fun. I may have, but not, but then, but then, but maybe like when I got on there, I'd would be like, give me off. I would have freaked out, right? So, no. That's also possible. I feel like it's just something you say.

And then it's like, it moves on. I mean, I'm like, okay, do it. And you're like, well, wait. No, you're supposed to stop me. Yeah, exactly. Like, that's what I was counting on you to hold me back. What the hell, man? Because now I look like the cool daredevil.

Yeah, exactly. And you have to be the boring person. And you're like, oh, Derek's a lameo. I did. I have a video of myself being like, Derek sucks. He won't let me go on this. It's like a person in a fight who's like, hold me back. Oh, yeah, exactly.

Exactly. And then they're like, oh, that's on you back. You're like, wait, what? I mean, it's actually pretty, pretty accurate. But I really would probably not have done that. No, I think this is stupid. Yeah. I don't think that she meant it.

Even if she said it, there's no way she meant it. That's so dumb. So the FBI brought dogs on board to assist with the search, but there was still no trace of Amy. In the meantime, Royal Caribbean staff began sliding flyers under cabin doors with Amy's photo and case details. Well, better late than ever, I guess, guys. Now, this was the first time that the passengers as a whole found out who had gone missing. One of these passengers, a man named Chris, later told Netflix that when he saw the flyer, he remembered filming at the disco the night before, and he wondered if he might have captured something helpful.

Yes, this is why we put flyers out to the passengers, Royal Caribbean. Everyone recording on their phones or maybe not phones back then, but cameras. Maybe before we docked in Curacao, okay? So when Chris reviewed the footage, he found clips of Amy dancing with yellow. And he said that when the ship's head of security found out about this footage, he asked for the master tape, but Chris declined. Good job, Chris. Instead, he made a copy and he gave it to the FBI.

Now, while all of this was happening, the Bradleys were still on board, doing everything they could to find Amy. They followed their own leads and passed along tips to the FBI. Amy's mother, Iva, told investigators she was uneasy about their cabin neighbor, a man named Wayne. He was traveling alone, and he had tried to talk to Amy through the divide between their balconies. Weird. The FBI interviewed Wayne, and he admitted that he had spoken with Amy while she was outside. He said they talked about sports, her new job, and other normal things.

He told investigators he last saw Amy at the disco around 2 a.m. and went back to his room around 2.30. He didn't hear anything from the Bradley's cabin then. night and he never saw Amy again. Now, this is interesting that this guy, Wayne, saw Amy at the disco that night and he went back to his room, which was right next to her, but he didn't go out on the balcony that night. He didn't see her at all, even though he seems to have spent a lot of time on the balcony, kind of checking to see if Amy was there. So the FBI searched his room and obviously found no sign that Amy had been there, which, I mean, why would he leave that there

at the point that he knows. Yeah, he knows the FBI are on board. He knows that there's flyers being handed out. And there's an ocean right there you could just throw things into, you know, that are never going to be found again. So Ron and Iva also shared their concerns about a waiter named Eduardo. They said that on the night of March 23rd, Eduardo asked if Amy would join him and a few other staff members at an Arubian bar called Carlos and Charleys. Now, if that sounds familiar to you, Carlos and Charlies, in Aruba, that's because there's another very, very. very well-known missing person's case that happened there. Do you know who it is? Natalie Holloway. Yes. She went missing on spring break, et cetera, et cetera. So, and kind of it, this was a bar that was sort of known for things that were maybe not super legal happening.

So Amy turned him down. She said she didn't feel comfortable and had told her parents she thought he was creepy. Ron had also noticed Eduardo's overly attentive behavior and he was worried. that he might try to cross boundaries. The FBI interviewed Eduardo, and according to the Bradleys, he claimed that Iva had asked him what happens when someone falls off a cruise ship. Iva said that the conversation never happened, and she asked the FBI to give him a polygraph,

but according to the Bradleys, he was never given one. Yeah, this is interesting to me depending on where you fall, because it's hearsay, obviously. Well, it's technically not hearsay because Eduardo's saying that he heard it directly from them, right? but for the sake of just what we're talking about right this second, let's say we were able to prove that that question was asked. How would it change your perception of Iva, Ron, and Brad? If they had asked what would happen if someone went overboard,

hours before Amy potentially went overboard, right? It would change a lot of people's opinions, I think. Now, understandably, whether it happened or not, especially if they had nothing to do with it, the Bradleys are going to say that conversation didn't happen because that's only going to make people assume that they're responsible for this. So I actually don't even blame them

if it even did happen. If it was innocent, the question that was asked, which by the way, could be an innocent question and not the first time I'm sure crew members have been asked. That's what I was just going to say.

I feel like I would have asked that question of a crew member because I'm like, hey, if anybody would know, you've probably seen something like that happen. Absolutely. Yeah,

I would have asked. But if I'm Iva and I'm Ron, I'm not admitting to that because you know court of public opinion, you're going to get crucified for it. So we'll never know, but I would like to have seen Eduardo given that polygraph test because although they're not always accurate, if he had said this on that machine and passed it, it would give us a better idea whether he's telling the truth or not. Again, although they're not 100% accurate, but was never done. You could technically still do it now, but let's say he did do the polygraph and he said that they asked him about some. someone going overboard and he passed it, is it going to help us? I don't think so. I don't think so because even if they asked this question, like I just said, it doesn't mean they're involved in Amy's disappearance. I don't. I don't even believe in polygraphs. You know. I know you. I know

you don't. And a lot of people don't. A lot of people don't. I understand it. Well, we're going to take our last break and then we're going to come back and finish up today's episode. So we're going to talk about something that anyone who is interested, in true crime, we'll be interested in. And if you're listening to our podcast, I assume you're interested in true crime like we are. And this is going to be your new addiction. It's called Hunt a Killer, and it's a fully immersive murder mystery game. Think case files, suspect lists, crime scene photos, police report. It's like solving a real cold case from your couch or a kitchen table or wherever you're doing it from. But basically, I love Hunt a Killer. I've always loved

hunt a killer. They've been around for years. And pretty much since they've been around, I've been subscribing to them and getting their boxes because it's just such a great experience. It's not like playing a board game. It's just very realistic. The evidence that they give you to go through and use to solve this, it's very realistic. It looks like real police reports, real evidence, real stuff that's actually fitting in. It's not just there for props or toys. Everything's important. Yeah, I don't want to spoil it, by the way, because somebody else. might buy this, but there's also pieces of actual evidence in there. I'm just going to say that. That's all we'll say. But it's pretty cool, pretty realistic. So a few weeks ago, I played

their lakeside slaughter box with a few friends. And there's even a sealed time capsule with a key that you have to find. It was so awesome. It felt like I was doing actual detective work. And I love it. I love the fact that you can really take all of this evidence and you have to work, you know, you have to work at it. It's not just going to be a quick thing. You can make timelines and put everything together and it's just absolutely right up my alley. And I know what's up Derek's alley. He said it felt like he was actually working at a detective job again. Listen, if you're someone who has aspirations to be a detective and you want to get the feeling of what that would be like, Hunt a killer, we'll give you that. I can tell you as a detective, I felt like I was back

behind the desk working a case for sure. The best part is you can find Hunt a Killer all over the place now. Derek's going to tell you where. Yeah, that's right. If you love true crime, or just want something different for game night, check out Lakeside Slaughter at Target or Hunter Killer products at Amazon, Target, Walmart, or Hunticiller.com. Also, I have a link in both the description on audio and video. I would appreciate it if you click that. That directly lets them know that you're coming from us.

So if you want to click those links, we would greatly appreciate it. Go check it out. You're going to love this game, especially for someone who's here looking at our content every week. It's going to be something that's going to be right up your alley. Go check it out. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack sponsor.

And I have to say it's one of those partnerships that makes complete sense because I've been eating these bars like they're a crime-solving superpower. And just in general, they do feel like a superpower for me. I'm not one to snack during the day. I'm not one to kind of stop working so I can eat. These are fast. They make me feel better. They make me feel great.

And they taste good. IQ bars are plant protein snacks packed with brain boosts. boosting nutrients, which, let's be honest, I definitely need when I'm knee-deep in court transcripts and conspiracy theories and trying to build timelines. They give me energy, keep me full, really great mental focus, and there's no sugar crash, which is a big deal for me. They sent us their ultimate sampler packs. I've got a really, really big addiction to the peanut butter chip.

But there's the, is it blueberry lemon, Derek? It's in the blue box, right? Yep. Oh, my gosh. I don't know why, because usually I go for. sweet and chocolate over anything fruity, but I just, I took a whole box, put it in my office so nobody else could have it. And I've been hoarding them like Golem. The best part is they're free from gluten, dairy, soy, GMOs, and artificial sweeteners are really going to fit into anybody's

diet. So when I say I feel good after eating one, I mean it. We love IQ bars. You guys have heard us talk about this forever. We genuinely, genuinely mean it. Everybody in my office tries to eat all my IQ bars. Everyone in Derek's office tries to eat all his IQ bars. They do. They actually do eat them all. Ashley. Ashley, don't call Ashley out. There's not that many people that work here. It doesn't take a detective to figure out who's eating. Well, Ashley deserves it.

She needs it. She has to work with you, so she needs as much help as she can get. So Derek, tell them how they can check IQ bar out for themselves. And actually, there's a really good discount right now. That's right. I just got three new boxes of IQ bar. They just arrived at my house yesterday. Chocolate peanut butter, all the good ones.

Love them all. You guys know we're huge fans of IQ bar. We think you guys will love them as well. And right now, IQ Bar is offering our special podcast listeners and viewers, 20% off all IQ Bar products. Plus, you can get free shipping. To get your 20% off, just text weekly to 64,000. Again, text weekly to 64,000. That's weekly to 6400.

Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. All right, we're back. So the Bradley's kept searching. One morning Brad and Iva got up early and retraced Amy's possible path around the ship. As they moved through the different decks in public areas, two passengers, Crystal Roberts and Lori Renick approached them. They looked visibly shaken as they said they had seen Amy and Yellow going up the glass elevator between 5.30 and 6 a.m. on the 24th. About 15 minutes later, they saw Yellow again, alone this time, walking quickly and saying nothing.

It struck them as odd because he'd been friendly and talkative the night before at the disco. The FBI was told about the sighting, but they were not able to confirm the exact time. By this point, the FBI did think that Yellow was kind of a suspicious character, but because they were in international waters, they couldn't detain him. They could ask questions, and if they believed he was guilty, they could take that to local authorities, but they didn't have the power to arrest him themselves. They really didn't have a lot of power to do anything. So the investigation would have to continue, just kind of putting a pin into Yellow.

By the end of March 26th, two and a half days of shipwide and sea-based searches had taken place and there was still no sign of Amy. Royal Caribbean told the Bradleys that she had either voluntary left the ship, taken her own life, or suffered an accident, and gone overboard. But the Bradleys didn't believe any of these explanations. They said Amy would never have left them without a word, not when she had so much to look forward to back home, and they didn't believe she had fallen either because the railing was too high for that to happen by accident. So based on what Lori and Crystal reported, the family feared that Amy had been abducted on board and smuggled off the ship. Brad pointed out that on the back of the cruise ships, there are large bay doors used for loading supplies and removing trash, busy areas that aren't open to passengers and aren't visible to the public. We talked about this earlier.

When the Bradley spoke to the FBI agents about their concerns, they said they still didn't know what had happened to Amy. There were too many unanswered questions and too many possible scenarios. And by this point, the Bradleys were spiraling. They felt helpless and overwhelmed. A friend suggested they get off the ship early while it was docked in St. Thomas on the 27th, so they wouldn't have to disembark with everyone else in San Juan on the 28th, where the media would likely be waiting. The family agreed, and on the 27th, they exited the ship for the last time. They stayed behind in St. Thomas while the FBI remained on board and continued investigating.

Here's something that I wonder about. Why wouldn't you want to go on to San Juan? Why wouldn't you want to speak to the media? Why wouldn't you want to get this story to the media? For me, you feel like Royal Caribbean and they can't, they're not really wanting to do anything. The FBI can't really do anything. Isn't that the time you go to the media and you're like, hey, listen, this is what's happening. This is our daughter's face.

This is her picture. This is what please be on the lookout for her, especially in these Caribbean islands. Why would you want to avoid the media at that point? It's hard to put myself in their shoes and understand why. I will say we're talking 1998 and the power of social media and media itself was definitely different back then, where now you can just put out a tweet and you can have the entire internet supporting you. Back then, I'm just, you know, there could be a lot of reasons why, but they were probably under the impression that the FBI was working it, Royal Caribbean was working it.

Everyone was looking into this, trying to help them as much as possible. And maybe at this point, they felt like they, finally people were receptive to what was going on and offering the services they needed. So they didn't feel it was necessary yet to go public with it. That's the only thing I can think of. but they're the only ones that can truly speak to that. Yeah, I guess so. I just, to me, I'm like, hey, I will.

Well, you got the FBI on the ship. I mean, they're working with them. But they can't do anything. They're like, hey, we're suspicious of yellow. We can't do shit about it. Right now. But maybe they left them with a cliffhanger like this is what the next plan is. I don't know.

There has to be a reason for it. Well, the following morning, which would have been March 28th, the Rhapsody of C's did dock in San Juan. The cruise officially ended there. By then, air and sea searches had been ongoing for days. but once again, no sign of Amy, any of her belongings, nothing, nothing had been found. The Kurosau Harbor Police Chief and the Kurosau Coast Guard both told investigators that if Amy had gone into the water, her body should have been recovered. The chief later told Netflix, it was, quote, very, very unusual, end quote.

He said he was born on the island. He knows the water. He believed that if Amy had been in the water, she would have washed ashore. He said, quote, our waters have sharks, but the shark will not eat her completely. Something, maybe a leg or an arm. something would have washed ashore, end quote. With the cruise over, no trace of Amy and nothing left to search, Ron's boss chartered a private jet in St. Thomas to bring the family home to Virginia.

The decision to leave without Amy was obviously agonizing. Iva later said, quote, none of us wanted to leave. That's one of the most single, difficult things. I don't really have words to describe what it was like to leave as I flew over the island and I didn't have Amy beside me, end quote. Yeah, I can't even imagine. I don't even want to think about it. It gave goosebumps, I don't like it.

absolute nightmare. So Brad, Amy's brother, he said coming home was devastating. Their house was filled with relatives and friends, but the emotional weight was unbearable. He said it wasn't just the loss of his only sibling that broke him. It was watching his parents suffer so much. He described their life before Amy's disappearance as happy and nearly perfect, right? So this loss, this situation they now found themselves in felt obviously shocking, but surreal. Like, how do we even exist in this new normal in this reality. We've never encountered or gone through anything like this. Yeah, you get on the ship with your best friend and now you're off the ship and they're no longer with you. Yeah. Just vanished. I just can't. And this is, you know, obviously for Brad,

that's hard. We're talking about parents whose job it is to protect their children, to make sure they're always okay. Like you brought her on a cruise because you thought it would be a nice thing, a nice way to spend a family vacation. And she's completely gone without a trace in the space of 30 minutes. and now you have to leave and you've gone through, I mean, a whole lifetime in like a week. You know, you got off at Curacao and then you had to be flown to a different island so you could get back on the ship. And then you get back on the ship, the FBI is there. Yeah, everyone's coming up to you and saying, oh, we saw this or we saw that or here's this footage. And it's just an entire lifetime lived in this short amount of time for only to an amount to nothing, right?

You still don't have her. You still don't know what happened. and who's really in charge of this investigation at the end of the day? Who's really on it? The FBI can only do as much as they can do. Royal Caribbean doesn't really seem to want to do much about it. Who's in charge here? Who's actively trying to find her?

And I think that the Bradley's realized there really wasn't anyone like that. So they kind of felt like they needed to step in. They needed to be the ones to be in charge and at least know that they were out there, still remembering Amy, still looking for Amy. So the search wasn't over. The Bradleys weren't finished. They launched their own investigation. But what they uncovered will have to wait until next time.

Yep. Yep. And where I stand after part two as far as staying within this timeline, I have basically ruled out suicide. I have ruled out the fact that she was in a bad mental state and decided she was going to end her life in the middle. of the morning, essentially, after having a great night out with her brother. It just, it doesn't add up to me. There's no indications of it. So as we leave this episode, I'm left with a few possible scenarios, but two main ones. The first one being, this was an accident. As much as they're saying it's not possible, I disagree with that statement. I think it's very possible, especially with the

table being out on the balcony. It's very possible that she fell over. The second scenario is foul play. And there are a few tentacles off that foul play scenario. One being, she leaves the room and she meets someone who is not in the storyline we've never been introduced to them it's just this person who went undetected saw her in the hallway

made advances towards her maybe she agreed to hang out with them maybe she didn't but whatever the case was she ends up in someone's room they kill her and then throw her overboard or they discard her in some other way or there is a scenario where she meets up with yellow or another crew member

maybe something happens that's accidental, like an overdose, or it's intentional, like a strangulation. And for whatever the reason may be, they make a collective decision to discard her body because they know how it's going to look. The other scenario, which I have not mentioned, and many of you are indicating in the comments, is that she was trafficked. And I'm going to wait till next episode. But I also explored that possibility as well.

And even though the people who believe that she's still alive go towards this theory, I do not believe that's what happened. And a lot of the people who are hanging on to this theory point to a couple things, mainly a photo, and a lot of the people refer to this photo that possibly shows Amy as a sex worker. We're going to save it for the next episode, but I'm fairly confident that it's not her, and I'm going to prove it to you guys in that next episode. I am sort of open to the possibility of that. You know I am, because I've... As you should be. I had to get there. I've done some research. I've seen the statistics, especially with this area of the Caribbean. And it happens. We know what happens. Unequivocally, it happens. So it is a potential possibility and we will explore it. I'm looking forward to it. And I'm looking forward to the discourse and the debate. I want it. Because if there's something there that I didn't think of, whether it's by you or someone listening or watching this, I'm open to it. But I'm looking forward to it. I would just say again, we want the comments. We want the engagement. We want the conversations. But.

let's all approach it the way it is. We don't truly know what happened to Amy. These are all opinions. You know the saying when it comes to an opinion. Everybody has one. Opinions are like assholes. There you go. There you go.

So we can all talk about it and feel confident about something, but you don't know for certain as much as we don't know for certain. So let's just all talk about it. And I'll keep the number one goal in mind here, which is to find Amy or at least figure out what happened to her. And if this community of true crime people who are all, now engaged with this with the Netflix documentary and all these podcasts and YouTube channels. If we don't figure it out after all this, it's probably not going to happen.

Yeah, sadly. So you got to keep going. Any final words from you? No, I think it's been a great episode, honestly. I really, I'm moving closer to your opinion. My opinion. Yeah. I'm really excited. I have some stuff for you next week. I know you're doing your own research, but, and I know we have talked off record because this is a case that we're really fascinated by, but I'm looking forward to going over some of the things that I found and maybe some of the things that you found that might discredit what I found, but I really want to dive into it because I see the comments. I'm not responding to all of them because we're not at that point in the story yet, but I can't wait to get there because some of the things that I discovered, I don't see

anywhere, even though other people in smaller pockets have addressed them and for some reason they've never gained steam. So we'll talk about it, but until then. Yeah, and keep putting your comments. Yeah, put them down there. We want to see them. We do read them. And if we see something like the sliding glass.

door thing. I found it to be very interesting. Adding context of the situation, throw them in there because you're helping us out and you're helping make this a more textured, contextual, wide-ranging sort of discussion. So we love that. We love your guys' interaction. We love your guys' opinions, your thoughts, your feelings, and your experiences, which lend, I think, you know, like I said, color and texture to this, whereas I've never been on a cruise ship. So that was very interesting for me to see and read. So thank you guys for that. Keep it up. We appreciate you. comment, subscribe if you're watching on YouTube, if you're listening on audio and you haven't done

already, make sure your notifications are on, leave a review. We're always looking for how to get better and we get that information from you guys. That's how we can improve what we're doing here to make sure it's what you guys want to hear about and the way you want to hear about it. So until next week, everyone stay safe out there and we'll see you soon. Book Club on Monday Jim on Tuesday Date night on Wednesday Out on the town on Thursday

Quiet night in on Friday It's good to have a routine And it's good for your eyes too Because with regular comprehensive eye exams at Specsavers You'll know just how healthy they are. Visit specksavers.caver's.ca to book your next eye exam. I exams provided by independent optometrists.