Family of woman who vanished on cruise desperate to find her after receiving chilling tip off years ago
When 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley disappeared on a cruise ship back in 1998, her friends and family feared they'd never lay eyes on her again.
Despite the odds, however, Amy's loved ones have constantly clung onto hope of discovering what happened to her that fateful day, and are reportedly more desperate now than ever, praying that an eerie tip off they received seven years after she was reported missing will one day assist in discovering the truth.
Amy, her mother Iva, father Ron, and brother Bradley had been travelling through the Caribbean on a family holiday 26 years ago, when she went suddenly vanished in the middle of the day.
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The group had boarded Rhapsody of the Seas cruise ship, starting their journey in Puerto Rico before sailing to Aruba.
Having enjoyed several days of tropical island paradise, Amy and her family were looking forward to setting off towards their next holiday hotspot, with the ship scheduled to travel three days to reach their next port of Aruba.
It was during this voyage, however, that Amy - a trained lifeguard - was tragically reported missing.
The young woman had last been spotted asleep in the early hours of 24 March, having spent the evening partying on board.
Witnesses found Amy slumped over a chair on her private balcony at around 5.30am, but just half an hour later, he family could find no trace of her.
Royal Caribbean staff members frantically scoured the ship to indicate what had happened to Amy - hoping her plethora of abstract tattoos would assist in identifying her - yet the girl was nowhere to be seen.
Despite having not been able to find the missing passenger, the cruise was forced to continue with its journey, travelling to the island of St Martin and onto St Thomas before returning to San Juan on the 28th.
It wasn't until seven years later, in 2005, that the devastated Bradley family were informed that investigating authorities had received a chilling tip off, potentially pointing towards that fate befell Amy.
The 'evidence' consisted of a series of photographs taken of a woman that looked to have been sex trafficked.
In the images, the lady in question - who bore a strong resemblance to Amy - was seen to have long, black hair, wearing minimal clothing and posing awkwardly in a set of lingerie.
The images - which were later aired on US talk show Dr Phil in an appeal for information - were then traced back to a defunct website, advertising x-rated, adult holidays in the Caribbean.
On the page, the woman was identified as 'Jas'.
Following the tip off, Amy's parents became understandably more desperate to pin-point exactly what happened to their daughter, fearing she may have inadvertently become embroiled in the sex trafficking industry.
As such, they recently offered a $25,000 reward for anyone with an inkling about what befell her following her disappearance, to mark what would have been Amy's 50th birthday.
Her mother Iva previously admitted in an appeal to the public: "We get up every single day with the thought that maybe today, we’ll find Amy."
Topics: Crime, True Crime, US News, Parenting
Rhianna Benson