Why Did Amy Bradley’s Family Declare Her Dead If They Still Believe She’s Out There?

How does someone just vanish—poof—without a trace from a Royal Caribbean cruise, and somehow, decades later, keep the world’s attention piqued? I mean, the only thing harder to lose than your suitcase on a ship has to be a living, breathing person . Yet, here we are, still in the wake of Amy Bradley’s mysterious 1998 disappearance (and let me just say, there’s drama on these ships that even Bravo can’t touch) . With Netflix’s latest doc “Amy Bradley is Missing” causing a fresh tidal wave of intrigue, Amy’s family is out here riding the media currents, holding tight to hope and tossing out new leads like life vests . Is she alive? Is she really gone? Her family’s belief that she’s out there somewhere somehow managed to coexist with—wait for it—their official move to have her declared legally dead . (Because clearly, nothing about this story fits into a logic-shaped box.) All this escalation, contradiction, and documentary-induced déjà vu leaves me asking: how do you mourn, hope, and litigate in the same breath? Dive headfirst into the wild world of missing persons, cruise ship chaos, and a family who refuses to let the story end . LEARN MORE

Amy Bradley’s family continue to speak out following the renewed interest in her disappearance after the release of Netflix’s new documentary.

Amy disappeared off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in 1998 and, despite numerous attempts to find her, no body has ever been found, nor concrete proof she is still alive.

This was covered in Netflix’s Amy Bradley is Missing which explores the various theories around what happened to the 23-year-old.

Her parents, Iva and Ron Bradley, and brother Brad have long maintained that she is still alive and have even claimed the documentary has brought about ‘new leads‘.

Brad and Iva discussed this on ITV’s This Morning today (7 August), continuing to state that they believe Amy is still alive to this day.

Despite this, Amy’s family had her legally declared dead.

Amy Bradley’s family had her declared legally dead (Netflix)

Though it was widely reported at first that she had been declared dead in 2010, it was later discovered that her family had applied to have her declared legally dead in 1999, just a year after she disappeared.

Brad Bradley, Amy’s brother, has opened about this on X, stating why the family went with this decision even though they have maintained since her 1998 disappearance they don’t believe she is dead.

He responded to a Netflix viewer asking about the decision, claiming that a law firm they hired to sue Royal Caribbean for negligence had recommended they also ‘file a wrongful death suit’.

Iva and Ron Bradley had taken out the suits against the cruise liner alleging that their actions following Amy’s disappearance had constituted criminal negligence.

This was thrown out of court after it was found that they had perpetuated ‘fraud on the court’ and lied during the lawsuit.

Amy disappeared in 1998 but her family maintain she is still alive (Netflix)

Amy’s parents had included correspondence with just three people in discovery for the case, all of whom claimed to have seen a woman who ‘looked like Amy’ being held against their will.

While this obviously supported the claim that she was taken off the boat against her will, meaning that Royal Caribbean may have been responsible, this was not the full story.

They had obscured correspondence with over 100 people who claimed to have seen her living freely and safely.

This led the court to throw out the case entirely, though they did not pass judgement on the veracity of the claims from people who said they had seen her alive.

When discussing the lawsuit and why they declared her dead, Brad went on to add: “We listened to [lawyers telling them to declare her dead], not knowing what to do, they assured us it was a stronger case and the way to go.

“In order to file a wrongful death suit, you must have a certificate of death.

“Obviously turned out to be a mistake in the end because the case was dismissed before it ever got to court.”

Amy Bradley is Missing is available to watch on Netflix now.