Latest news with #RhapsodyOfTheSeas
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Most notorious cruise ship deaths as Netflix airs chilling Amy Bradley mystery
The disappearance of the young woman from Virginia isn't the only tragedy on the high seas - from being thrown to the sharks to a couple jumping to their deaths, cruising can be a risky business Amy Bradley was 23 when she was last seen on the balcony of her cabin on Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas. She had danced in the ship's nightclub before returning to her cabin in the early hours of March 24, 1998. But by 6am Amy's father Ron had found her shoes on the balcony but no trace of his daughter. The young woman from Virginia in the US was never found and now the public's interest in the case has been renewed by a new Netflix three-part series, Amy Bradley Is Missing, which takes a deep dive into the perplexing circumstances surrounding her disappearance. Some 30 million people enjoy a cruise each year, with the average number of deaths aboard major liners annually said to be just 31. We take a look at some of the most notorious events on the open waters... Thrown to the sharks Gay Gibson's body was thrown out of a porthole by deck steward James Camb during a voyage on the Durban Castle to Southampton in 1947. Camb initially denied even seeing the actress on the cruise ship before claiming she had died from a medical episode while the couple were in bed. The murderer, 30, had spotted the 21-year-old on the ship after it departed from South Africa, where Gay had been working for six months, before they 'became intimate'. He claimed she had begun 'frothing at the mouth' and he committed the 'beastly' act of throwing her body out of the porthole in a panic. The killer wasn't believed - Camb was initially sentenced to hang but avoided capital punishment as a no-hanging bill was being discussed in parliament at the time. "The House of Commons has, by its vote, saved the life of the brutal lascivious murderer who thrust the poor girl he had raped and assaulted through a porthole of the ship to the sharks," said Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Released in 1959, Gay's killer was later convicted of further sexual offences and 20 years later, he died behind bars. The actress's body was never found. Enduring mystery Amy Lynn Bradley was seen on the balcony of her family cabin aboard the Rhapsody Of The Seas in the early hours of March 24, 1998. But when her father Ron checked on his daughter at 6am, she was nowhere to be seen. Amy's shoes were still on the balcony but her lighter and cigarettes had vanished with her. Ron searched the ship and when he couldn't find his daughter, he woke up his wife Iva and their son Brad. The family begged the crew to make an announcement and not let anybody off the ship at the port of Curacao until Amy had been found, in case of abduction. The announcement her family had begged for was made at 7.50 am, by which point the majority of Royal Caribbean passengers had disembarked and crew searched common areas - but not passenger and staff rooms. What happens to Amy remains a mystery today - did she go overboard? Mum Iva claimed Amy had received a lot of attention from crew members on the ship and her family pointed out that she was a strong swimmer and trained lifeguard. Amy was declared dead after 12 years but many people have come forward to claim sightings of her since then, including speculation she was sex trafficked after leaving the ship. Disney disappearance Rebecca Coriam, 24, was working on the Disney Wonder cruise ship when she disappeared on May 22, 2011. The vessel was sailing off the coast of Mexico when the youth activity worker from Chester was spotted on surveillance video talking on one of the ship's internal phones. Rebecca appeared very upset and was asked if she was ok by a fellow employee in the crew lounge, appearing to say yes before hanging up the phone and walking away. What happened next remains a mystery but a common theory is she was swept overboard by a rogue wave while at the crew pool. Others alleged foul play and blamed the crew member's upset on a turbulent relationship. Rebecca's family made an out of court settlement with the entertainment giant in 2016. Date rape drug Dianne Brimble left Sydney, Australia on P&O's Pacific Sky on September 23, 2002 with her daughter Tahlia, sister Alma Wood and niece Kari Ann. Later that evening, she headed to the ship's nightclub and her daughter woke up the following morning with her mother nowhere to be seen. Alma was later called to the ship's medical centre where she was told her sister had died. Dianne's naked body had been found on the floor of a cabin occupied by four unknown men. It transpired the group of men had put a date rape drug in the 42-year-old's drink in the club. The mother-of-three had died from a combination of alcohol and an overdose of GHB - three times the amount a recreational user would have consumed. Alma, Kari Ann and Tahlia were forced to endure two more days on the ship before they could disembark and fly home to Australia. The cabin belonged to a group of four men who were part of a larger group of eight and would soon become infamously known as 'The Adelaide Eight.' Three of the men would later be convicted of crimes associated with Dianne's death, which caused a public outcry for tighter security measures to be put in place on cruise ships to protect future potential victims. Hot tub drowning Also known as Michael Moses Ward, Birdie Africa had been the only child to survive the 1985 M.O.V.E. bombing. The tragedy, which killed 11 people including his mother, was the result of a firefight between Philadelphia Police and members of the Black liberation group. Sadly, in 2013 Birdie, 41, perished aboard the Carnival Dream, which was sailing the Caribbean. He had been drinking heavily when he slid under the water in the ship's hot tub and drowned while a crowd looked on. A police report said: "Two passengers saw the body but didn't react initially, thinking it was a 'painting' and called their friends over to take a look. "A doctor who refused to be identified also stated that he saw passengers and crew looking on and had to tell them to pull the body out." The same doctor alleged a nurse who obtained a defibrillator was hesitant about using it, allegedly unsure if it was safe to use on a wet body. Thrown overboard Newlywed Karen Waltz was on the last day of her honeymoon cruise to Mexico in February 1988 when her husband Scott Roston claimed she had been swept overboard by a hard gust of wind. The chiropractor said they had been jogging around the ship's running track when tragedy struck close to San Diego but his story didn't add up. There were no wind gusts at the time Karen went overboard Sundancer Cruises' Stardancer ship and an investigation found the doctor had been angry with his wife at dinner for eating sweets and not knowing which utensil to use. Roston, 36, soon changed his story to claim Israeli assassins had in fact slain his wife. This tale was given short shrift and the callous honeymoon killer was sentenced to life in prison, later reduced to 33 years. Still missing In August 2004, Merrian Carver embarked on a solo holiday to Alaska with Celebrity Cruises. But just two days in to the week long holiday, her steward Domingo Monteiro noticed that her bed hadn't been slept in although all of her belongings were still in her room. The concerned member of staff reported the investment banker missing to his boss daily but was allegedly told 'Just do your job and forget it' - this manager was later fired. When the cruise ended and crew members realised Merrian's belongings were still onboard, they packed them up and donated to charity. Royal Caribbean officials had failed to secure the Massachusetts businesswoman's room, collect evidence, search the boat or even contact authorities or notify her family. Her father reported Merrian, 40, missing when they realised she had disappeared weeks later but she has never been found. Failed rescue attempt Newly engaged Paul Rossington and Kristen Schroder died on the Carnival Spirit cruise ship in May 2013. They had been seen arguing at dinner and were caught on security cameras quarrelling in the ship's casino shortly before they took their argument to their cabin. Security cameras showed estate agent Kristen, 27, climb over the fifth floor balcony railing of her cabin and cling to the outside of it before slipping. She struck level three of the ship and a lifeboat before tumbling into the ocean. Paramedic Paul, 30, who was naked at the time was seen diving into the Tasman Sea, off the coast of New South Wales in Australia, in a desperate attempt to save his fiancée. The couple were never found. Toddler plunge Chloe Wiegand, from Indiana, was just 18 months old when she fell from her grandfather's arms and through an open window on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas in June 2019. The vessel was docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico and she was sent plummeting 11 stories, 150 feet to the pier below. The toddler was in a children's play area of the ship when Salvatore Anello held her up, saying he wanted her to bang on the glass as she enjoyed while watching her big brother's hockey games. He later pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and was sentenced to three years of probation.
News.com.au
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Eerie clue missing cruiser still alive 27 years on
Embarking on her first ever Caribbean cruise, Amy Bradley was excited for the luxury trip ahead. Her insurance agent parents, Ron and Iva, had won the once-in-a-lifetime holiday for being top of the annual sales list and were delighted that their children – Amy, 23, and Brad, 21 – were allowed to join them. But the family's dream holiday turned to tragedy on the high seas when Amy disappeared without trace – sparking a mystery that remains unsolved 27 years later. The lively, vivacious young woman, who had soon made friends among staff and passengers, often stayed up with brother Brad after their parents headed back to the cabin on the Rhapsody of the Seas cruise liner. On the third night aboard she was letting her hair down and planned to head to the ship's nightclub after bidding Iva and Ron goodnight. 'I said 'I love you' as I headed back to the cabin, and she said, 'I love you, too, Mum. I'll see you in the morning.' And we went to bed,' recalls Iva. But Iva was not to see her fun-loving daughter ever again. Somehow, during the early hours of the morning of March 24, 1998, she vanished. Did she drunkenly fall overboard, take her own life, or hide on the ship and leave when it docked the following day – or was she taken against her will? There have been many theories over the years and several 'sightings' of Amy, but one thing is for certain – her family are convinced she is still alive. 'Twenty seven years of looking for Amy every day. It's a life goal,' says Iva. 'In my quiet times it's like, 'What did we miss?' I know somebody knows something.' Amy's disappearance is examined in the new three-part Netflix documentary Amy Bradley Is Missing, which explores the various leads and purported sightings over the years with interviews from suspects, family and friends. On that fateful night, the ship had just left Aruba when Ron and Iva went to bed around 1am. 'We went up to the disco because that was the last place that was open,' says Brad. 'We weren't ready to turn in yet. We were having drinks and listening to music and having a great time.' After a while he indicated to Amy, above the noise, that they should call it a night and he headed back to the cabin at 3.35am. 'My parents were sleeping,' he remembers. 'I went out onto the balcony and five minutes later, Amy came back to the room. 'We were both finishing our drinks and hanging out and talking about the next day. She brought up that someone she had been dancing and talking to during the course of the evening made some sort of physical pass at her. 'She told me it was the bass player from the band. She didn't make a big deal of it, just mentioned it in passing. 'At that point we were both tipsy. It was time for bed. She said, 'I don't feel too good. I'm going to sit right here with all the fresh air and the wind.' 'I told her I loved her and would see her tomorrow and shut the glass door behind me and I went to bed.' Brad would not see her again – but her father did, briefly. 'I remember waking somewhere around 5.30 in the morning,' says Ron. 'Brad had come in and gone to bed, but I didn't see Amy in there. 'I saw her legs and feet, sitting in a lounge chair on the balcony, and told myself, 'Well, she's safe.' 'About six o'clock, something woke me again. I don't know what it was but when I looked out, she wasn't there. 'I noticed that the balcony door was open about 12 to 14 inches, the shirt that she had on that night was laying on the chair in the room and her cigarettes weren't there. 'So I'm thinking she's changed her clothes and has left the room to get a coffee and take pictures, because we were coming into port.' Amy's shoes were on the balcony neatly placed beside the little table. 'I left the room, leaving the others asleep and figured that I would find her in a few minutes and then everything would be good,' says Ron. 'But when I didn't, that's when I came back and told Iva, 'I can't find Amy'.' Becoming increasingly concerned, Ron and Iva reported their daughter's disappearance at the purser's desk and a call went out over the tannoy system asking for her to make contact. By now people were starting to disembark for the next stop, Curacao. 'They were still all going on their merry way, laughing, talking, and there we were, looking for our daughter. It was what nightmares are made of,' says Ron. At 9am a full search of the ship by staff found no trace of Amy. The immediate assumption was that she had gone overboard and so a search took place at sea between Curacao and Aruba involving the Venezuelan Coast Guard and Navy. 'Our waters have a very strong current, so something should wash ashore,' says Curacao harbour police chief, Adtzere 'John' Mentar. 'Because of the position of the boat, wind force, sea current, wave height, the body would have washed up. But she was nowhere to be found. 'We have sharks but the shark will not eat her completely. Something, maybe a leg or an arm, would have washed ashore. It is very strange.' The incident hit news headlines and two days after Amy went missing the FBI boarded the ship, but were frustrated to find that if there was any evidence in the cabin, it had been cleaned away by room service. The Bradleys were all interviewed together and separately. 'I said to Iva, 'You understand why they are interviewing us separately? It's because we're suspects,'' Ron recalls. Ultimately the FBI found no evidence that led them to consider a family member was responsible. Mystery conversation Establishing an accurate timeline leading up to Amy's disappearance has been difficult. What is certain is that she returned to the cabin at 3.40am from the nightclub, because the electronic key card kept a record. But no one knows if she left the room after that as the key is not used when exiting. The FBI also interviewed others of interest, such as Wayne Breitag, the passenger in the adjoining cabin. 'I told them that I saw Amy Bradley at the disco that night around two o'clock because I went there to see what was going on and I just observed and sat down and, yeah, looking for girls, whatever,' he says. 'That night I probably was back in the room by 2.30 … I don't remember hearing anything from their room. That's why it was a real surprise to me that this stuff happened.' Iva says: 'I told the FBI, Wayne Breitag would come out on his balcony next to us and lean over the partition to talk to Amy. 'He was just odd. The passengers in the cabin on the other side of him said that after Amy disappeared, his TV or radio was at a level of, 'You gotta be kidding me.' 'They could hear him talking inside of his room, even over the sound of the loud TV or radio. I thought, 'Well, who's he talking to?'' After posters of Amy were stuck up on the ship, several people came forward to talk to the investigators, including Chris Fenwick. He worked for a computer company in San Francisco that had organised a trip for its top sales people and had been editing some footage that his cameraman had been taking at the nightclub that evening for a 'highlights reel'. 'I remember seeing Amy. She was the life and soul of the party,' he says. 'I went through my box of tapes and until I found her and she's dancing with Yellow.' Yellow was the nickname of the bass guitarist in the band, Alister Douglas. Lori Thompson, then 18, told the FBI that she and her friend had got talking with Amy at the nightclub and later, between five and six in the morning. She claimed she saw Amy and Yellow in the glass elevator going up to the nightclub even though it was closed. Then, 10 to 15 minutes later, she said Yellow walked briskly past them alone, without saying a word. 'I thought it was strange because in the nightclub he had tried to get us to talk to him,' Lori says. 'I got a bad vibe. Immediately I thought, 'Where's Amy?'' In his interview with the FBI, Yellow admitted that he knew who Amy was and had flirted with her, but said that was the kind of thing he does. In a polygraph test he vehemently denied having anything to do with her disappearance. The results were not conclusive and the FBI released him due to having no evidence to charge him in Amy's disappearance. Sex trafficking fear Back home in Virginia the family felt powerless, so Ron and Brad returned to Curacao to hold a press conference. Afterwards they were approached by a taxi driver, named Deshi, who said he had spoken to a frantic-looking Amy on the island when she asked for directions to a phone box. 'He said, 'You need to go to Kadushi Cliffs and look around but don't talk to anybody because it was dangerous',' recalls Ron. It was the first indication Amy was alive. Worried about their safety, harbour police chief Adtzere 'John' Mentar accompanied them. 'Curacao is a very lovely island but the crime we have here is drug-related because we are not too far from Venezuela,' says John. 'We also have some prostitution on the island and sometimes sex trafficking. She could have been lured off the ship. Someone might be able to sweet-talk her.' On a remote car trip at one o'clock in the morning, Brad was sure he heard his sister. He says: 'We were driving along this little dirt path and I distinctly heard Amy's voice say, 'Brad!' in what seemed like a vehicle that was passing us. 'I freaked out and spun around and asked everybody if they heard it and they said they did. 'We turned round and followed the car into a backstreet, fully expecting we were going to pull the guy over and she would be in the car, but it ended up being just an old dude by himself. 'I know what it sounds like when Amy calls me. This was very distinct. I've never been so sure of anything in my life that that's what I heard.' Beach sighting Ron is also convinced his daughter is still alive. Over the years there have been several more credible sightings, often from people whose memories have been jolted after the family has appealed for information on TV chat shows. Among the identifying features was a distinctive tattoo of the Tasmanian Devil cartoon animal on Amy's left shoulder blade. David Carmichael told the FBI that he and his friend had been on a diving trip at Porto Maries, Curacao, when he was convinced he saw Amy and two men walking towards them along the beach. He noticed her Tasmanian Devil tattoo and was about to say something when he was unsettled by the larger man staring at him. He believes the other man was Alister Douglas. Bill Heffner, from Nevada, said he was in the US Navy in January 1999 when he walked into a bar in Curacao and met a white girl with tattoos who told him her name was Amy Bradley, and she was being held there against her will by armed men. 'I had heard all kinds of stories from working girls in Singapore and Thailand and I just kind of took it with a pinch of salt and I left,' he says. 'It wasn't until 2001 when I saw her picture in a magazine feature that I connected the dots.' The family was emailed pictures in May 2001 of a woman who resembled Amy, posing provocatively on a prostitution website in the Venezuela area. An FBI forensic analyst studied the photos, measured things like the chin, ear and eyes, and believed that it was Amy. But police inquiries led nowhere. Eerie 'premonition' At college Amy had come out as gay to her family and friends. In 1998, she told her girlfriend, Mollie McClure, that she had kissed another girl after they had been drinking, but that it didn't mean anything and that it had helped confirm her feelings for Mollie. But Mollie told her that she needed time to process this and stopped answering her calls, so she sent Mollie a letter – a message in a bottle – asking for her forgiveness. It has a heart-aching resonance of her going missing at sea with the comment: 'I feel like there is an ocean between us. Like I'm on a desert island waiting for you to rescue me. A message in a bottle is my only hope. I miss you, Mollie. Save me please. Stranded, Amy.' Mollie says there have been suspicions that this note, which she sent one month before her disappearance, may have had deeper meaning. 'Because of the circumstances of her going missing a month to the day that she sent me this letter, and also it being a message in a bottle, the convenience of the metaphor is ripe for misunderstanding,' says Mollie. 'It could suggest suicide but I don't connect with it in that way. For me, it is a love letter. 'After the message I reached out to her and we got together a few days before she left for the cruise. 'She wanted me to meet the dog she had adopted and to see her new apartment. I knew we were going to make it work and we had planned that we would see each other after the cruise at Easter. 'She was incredibly excited about the trip. She had written me a postcard that arrived after I had got word she was missing. I'm a photographer so she referenced taking photos and then she said, 'I wish you were here'.' Wherever she is now remains a mystery, but the Bradleys will never give up their search. 'We've lost a lot of years of our life, searching, but we won't stop,' says Iva. 'Somebody knows something. We were told by an FBI agent, 'Keep your lights on. Nobody can keep a secret their entire life'.' 'We keep her car in the garage at home, out of the weather and polished,' adds Ron. 'It's going to be pristine when she gets here. And then she'll get to drive it again.' Amy Bradley Is Missing is available to stream on Netflix from today.
