Iva and Ron Bradley woke up on their dream vacation and were plunged into a nightmare.
Their 23-year-old daughter was missing from her room on their cruise ship.
That was 27 years ago. They never found her.
Now, the Bradleys’ story has surged back into the nation’s consciousness, intriguing millions and sparking furious debate, because of a hit Netflix documentary, ‘Amy Bradley Is Missing.’
If one woman knows the Bradley family’s pain, it’s Jamie Barnett. Her 24-year-old daughter, Ashley Barnett, died of a suspicious drug overdose on a Carnival Cruise Lines ship in 2005 – a tragedy that she partly blames on the company.
Carnival Cruise has long denied responsibility in Ashley’s death.
Now, Jamie – who is featured in the three-part Netflix series – is speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail about the ‘hidden dangers’ of a cruise ship holiday, and what she believes may have happened to Amy.
In March 1998, Amy Bradley embarked on a Royal Caribbean International ship with her brother and parents for a seven-day spring break trip to the Caribbean. The recent college graduate was preparing to pursue a master’s degree in sports psychology.
Iva and Ron Bradley woke up on their dream vacation and were plunged into a nightmare: their 23-year-old daughter, Amy (pictured), was missing from her room on their cruise ship
If one woman knows the Bradley family’s pain, it’s Jamie Barnett. Her 24-year-old daughter Ashley (pictured) died of a suspicious drug overdose on a Carnival Cruise Lines ship in 2005
Jamie (pictured) is speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail about the ‘hidden dangers’ of a cruise ship holiday and how she is fighting for the safety of cruise line passengers
The evening before Amy disappeared, she and her brother Brad partied in the ship’s nightclub into the early hours. Her father, Ron, claims he saw her sleeping on the balcony of the cabin she shared with her parents and brother that morning. But approximately 30 minutes after that, as the vessel prepared to dock in Curaçao, Amy was reported missing.
There are various theories about what happened to Amy, from sex trafficking to murder to a simple accident – slipping overboard. But Jamie doubts the latter speculation.
‘I absolutely don’t think she went overboard,’ said Jamie, leaving open the possibility that Amy was murdered on the ship or even still alive today.
Indeed, maritime officials on the Dutch Caribbean Island told Netflix filmmakers that sea currents in the region would invariably wash a body – or at least part of it – ashore. But no remains were ever found.
Meanwhile, a series of tourists across the Caribbean told the documentary team that they were certain that they had seen and even spoken to Amy in the months after she vanished from the ship.
Seven years after Amy’s disappearance, photographs of a sex worker who bore a striking resemblance to the missing woman surfaced on an adult website. The FBI analyzed the images and found the likeness to be conclusive, suggesting it deserved further inquiry.
The Bradley family filed two lawsuits against Royal Caribbean Cruises, alleging the company acted negligently in the handling of their daughter’s disappearance.
Royal Caribbean said at the time that they acted ‘appropriately and responsibly at all times,’ and the lawsuits were dismissed in 2000.
Now, Amy Bradley’s family – who speak to Jamie almost daily – are heartened by the revived interest in their daughter’s case. Jamie hopes that, beyond the renewed interest in Amy’s case, larger lessons can be learned.
The Bradley family (pictured) filed two lawsuits against Royal Caribbean Cruises, alleging the company acted negligently in the handling of their daughter’s disappearance
Amy’s (pictured left) story has surged back into the nation’s consciousness because of a hit Netflix documentary, ‘Amy Bradley Is Missing,’ which features Ashley’s (pictured right) mom
The evening before Amy disappeared, she and her brother Brad partied in the ship’s nightclub into the early hours. Her father, Ron, claims he saw her sleeping on the balcony of the cabin she shared with her family that morning
‘If something happens to you, it’s an entirely different process than what you go through if you were on land,’ said Jamie. ‘I think most people are surprised by the realization that, as these ships get bigger, holding more and more people, they truly are little floating sovereign nations.’
If the victim of a crime is American, said Jamie, the FBI will investigate when the ship makes shore. But, she claimed, authorities are often forced to deal with contaminated crime scenes and belated reporting.
In 2008, Jamie’s organization, International Cruise Victims, came close to securing the passage of a California law that would make it compulsory for ships to have two independent law enforcement officials on board: one licensed marine engineer and one certified peace officer.
The bid failed the last committee hearing by one vote.
‘We’ll go back to it,’ she said. ‘We’ve been around for 20 years. We’re not going anywhere.’
They face an incredibly tough challenge trying to push through legislation in the face of lobbyists determined to defend an industry worth $168 billion worldwide. Almost 38 million people are expected to take a cruise this year – 19 million of them are American.
Asked what one thing she would change about the cruise industry, Jamie said, ‘I want them to truly make safety and security their number one priority.’
Jamie’s group publishes a booklet titled ‘Don’t Snooze before you Cruise’ which advises individuals on cruise ships to, first and foremost, ‘be aware of your surroundings.’
‘Don’t do anything alone, have a buddy system: always make sure somebody’s with you all the time,’ she said.
Sexual assault is the most common crime at sea, Jamie said. And shockingly, a third of all reported offenses are against children, she claimed.
The Cruise Lines International Association, which represents all major cruise companies, declined to comment when approached by the Daily Mail.
‘People think, “Oh, I can just take my kids to the kids’ camp, and they’ll be safe, and I can go get them and drop them off,”‘ she said. ‘That’s when most children are assaulted,’ she alleged.
Staff are often not adequately vetted, according to Jamie, who says that can allow predators to slip through into trusted positions.
Ashley (pictured right) was found unconscious in her cabin on a cruise ship. Jamie says it allegedly took half an hour for the crew to find a defibrillator
Additionally, Jamie alleged, hazards are not confined to the ships. Sometimes, the ‘idyllic’ destinations where the cruises dock come with risks of their own.
‘The Bahamas now has a level two travel advisory – Exercise Increased Caution – due to crime,’ Jamie said. ‘And yet the cruise ships just sail right on through there.’
The Caribbean – the destination for 72 percent of US cruise ship passengers, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA) – is currently home to eight of the 10 countries worldwide identified by UN as having the highest murder rates per 100,000 people.
Popular cruise destination Jamaica tops the list, with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines fourth, Saint Lucia seventh and the Bahamas eighth.
Jamie also pointed to worrying lapses in health care onboard, which she became grimly familiar with when her daughter Ashley, an aspiring actress, died 20 years ago.
Ashley was traveling with her boyfriend and some friends, but when she was found unconscious in her cabin, it allegedly took 30 minutes for the crew to find a defibrillator.
Her cause of death was found to be caused by ‘toxic effects of methadone,’ despite her friends and family insisting she was adamantly anti-drugs. Ashley’s boyfriend later said that he had brought methadone onto the ship, contained in a cold medicine bottle. He has never been charged with a crime.
For their part, the cruise company said Ashley was dead when they found her unresponsive in her cabin – and there have never been criminal or civil penalties associated with this case.
Twenty years have done nothing to diminish Jamie Barnett’s loss.
To this day, seeing a cruise ship makes her shudder.
She said, ‘People think, “Oh nothing will ever happen to me, that happens to other people.” And I will be the first to say the risk is small.
‘But it cannot be denied that bad things happen. Don’t let your guard down.’
