New Twists in Amy Bradley Mystery Could Unravel Decades-Old Secrets—But Investigators Face Daunting Challenges

So, imagine this: a woman vanishes off a cruise ship nearly 30 years ago, and despite her being legally declared dead, her case is still open like a stubborn store that just won’t close. That’s the baffling saga of Amy Bradley, who disappeared from the Rhapsody of the Seas back in ’98. Now, with a Netflix documentary stirring up fresh leads and amateur sleuths poking around like nosy relatives at a family reunion, folks are wonderin’—can the FBI really reboot the investigation? Well, hold your horses, because a savvy lawyer just laid out why reopening Amy’s case isn’t as simple as hitting “play” on a true-crime binge. Between the flood of false tips, multi-country jurisdictional headaches, and trackin’ down a swarm of long-forgotten crew members, the FBI’s got a mountain to climb. Still, hope springs eternal, and maybe this new buzz is just what’s needed to get the ball rollin’ again. What do ya think—could Amy’s mystery finally find daylight, or is this a case where time really did sail away? LEARN MORE

A lawyer has laid out the issues which investigators would face if the probe into Amy Bradley’s disappearance was reopened.

Although the fate of the US woman still remains a mystery nearly three decades after she vanished on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, her loved ones have not given up hope.

Neither have amateur internet sleuths, for that matter – and following the recent success of a Netflix documentary which delves into the baffling case, a number of new leads have come to light.

Although Amy was legally declared dead in March 2010, the investigation into her disappearance was never officially closed.

Now, 27 years on from when she vanished from the Rhapsody of the Seas cruise ship in March 1998, a lot of people are hoping authorities will take another look into the case.

Amy is still listed as a missing person by the FBI, while there is also a $25,000 reward on offer for any information which helps them find the Longwood University graduate.

Viewers who tuned into Amy Bradley Is Missing might think officials could easily reopen the investigation into her disappearance – but according to a US lawyer, this is anything but an open and shut case.

Francisco Mundaca, founder and managing partner at the Mundaca Law Firm, explained that authorities would have to overcome a string of difficult hurdles to get the ball rolling.

However, he does think it’s ‘plausible’ that the case of Amy’s vanishing could be revisited, especially thanks to the renewed interest which has reared its head as a result of the three-part documentary.

According to Mundaca, one of the main problems with recommencing the investigation into Amy’s whereabouts is the overwhelming likelihood that loads of false tips would come in.

“With anything that receives a lot of interest, you may get a lot of false tips,” he told the Mirror US. “And it’s going to be a monumental effort for the FBI and other authorities to have the go through all these tips to determine which ones are most credible.”

So, it would require a lot of manpower and time to verify all of the clues called in by member of the public – which authorities might be unable to afford to spare.

On top of this, there are multiple countries entangled in Amy’s disappearance – as for starts, she’s a US citizen, who disappeared as the cruise ship was docking in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao.

The FBI would have to overcome a few tricky problems if the investigation into Amy’s disappearance was reopened (Netflix)

Alleged sightings of the missing American were also reported in Bridgetown, Barbados, as well as in Aruba.

Alphonse Provinziano, a California lawyer and former district attorney, explained that all these places would have to be willing to cooperate so that the FBI could conduct a thorough probe – but he can’t see that going smoothly.

“In this case, the missing person is a U.S. citizen, which means it falls under the FBI’s jurisdiction,” he said. “But then you also have the registry of the ship and the Curacao authorities.

“That can lead to conflicts over different standards of evidence and which agency will take the lead.

“Ultimately, without a clear authority, the question will remain whether it was an accidental death, suicide, or if she was removed from the ship against her will.”

The other ‘major factor’ which could falter the probe if it was reopened is that all of the workers on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship would need to be tracked down.

The US woman vanished on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in March 1998 (Netflix)

As Amy’s disappearance ‘occurred potentially while on their shift’, officials would need to talk to the staff members again…but finding them and convincing them to open up would likely prove incredibly difficult.

As well as this, the ship might have sailed in terms of obtaining evidence that could actually lead somewhere – as 27 years have passed since Amy was last seen and the witnesses recollections would probably be hazy.

Mundaca added: “These cases are so complicated and time is of the essence.

“You can only hope that when these instances occur, everyone is notified immediately, everyone is is organised in the matter, which could then hopefully preserve evidence so that we minimise the amounts of unsolved cases and missing persons.”

Mundaca reckons that the FBI would probably ‘start anew’ if it did reopen the missing persons case, although there are currently no plans for this to go ahead.

But the lawyer believes it is ‘possible’ that the buzz surrounding Amy Bradley Is Missing could ‘create new opportunities where, for instance, the FBI may reopen the case and essentially take lead on the investigation’.