“Should you ever needed to kill any person, simply take ’em on a cruise … since you’ll by no means get caught.” I disagree with the blanket fact of this assertion made by “cruise security advocate” Jamie Barnett throughout the brand new Netflix true crime documentary, Amy Bradley Is Lacking, so I’ll modify it to suit the truth of precise observe: There’s probably a smaller likelihood that you just’ll get caught.
The three-part collection is about Amy Bradley, a 23-year-old girl who disappeared in 1998, from a Caribbean cruise ship. I’ve handled felony allegations that occurred on cruise ships. I’ve needed to navigate that state of affairs earlier than; the atmosphere is much from lawless.
Certain, jurisdiction for felony issues occurring on a cruise ship can range primarily based on the ship’s location and different components. Nonetheless, there are legal guidelines that particularly govern cruise ships, a minimum of from america’ perspective. One regulation, the Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act of 2010 (CVSSA), outlines laws that cruise ships and their employees should comply with, like logging incidents comparable to assaults with critical bodily harm, suspicious deaths, disappearances, homicides, sexual assaults, rapes and different felony acts that have to be reported to the FBI. These statistics are simply accessible, too.
Disappearance
Though the documentary’s explanations about crime aren’t fleshed out, it’s nonetheless crafted in a approach to make a narrative with none conclusion pretty compelling. In spite of everything, Amy Bradley continues to be lacking. She disappeared whereas on a visit together with her brother and fogeys. After a proper dinner and dancing, Amy and her brother made their separate methods again to a shared cabin. Amy’s father recounts that he awoke round 5:30 a.m. and noticed Amy on a balcony lounge chair. Nonetheless, when he awoke once more round 6 a.m., she was not there. The door was open, and her cigarettes had been gone, however her shirt remained.
Amy’s father went to search for her however was unsuccessful. He went again to tell his spouse. At about that very same time, the cruise ship was making ready to dock in one other Caribbean harbor. Amy’s mother and father begged the ship’s crew to delay the docking till their daughter was discovered.
In keeping with one of many liaisons working that day, the ship was “not going to cease all people’s cruise simply because there’s a lacking woman. That’s one household’s unlucky incident, however we nonetheless had 2,400 different individuals who paid some huge cash.” Later, after most passengers had departed, the ship’s crew searched your entire boat. Regardless of tons of of employees wanting, Amy Bradley wasn’t positioned.
Investigation
The ship’s employees contacted native authorities in Curacao to alert them of a lacking passenger. The authorities performed a large-scale investigation into the disappearance, combing the encompassing ocean for any signal of Amy. In keeping with one of many regulation enforcement brokers, if Amy had both jumped overboard or fallen off the cruise ship, the tide would have finally carried her physique ashore.
As for the notion {that a} shark might have eaten her, he defined it wouldn’t eat your entire physique; some a part of Amy Bradley would have been found finally. But it surely by no means was.
In the end, the FBI took over the investigation. By the point the case was assigned, the ship’s employees had already cleaned Amy Bradley’s room. Despite the fact that brokers had been unable to collect any proof from the room itself, they had been in a position to interview varied passengers who had both seen or interacted with Bradley. Quite a few leads pointed to 1 particular person: Alister “Yellow” Douglas.
Douglas was the bass participant for the cruise ship’s band. A number of people had seen him with Amy within the hours previous her disappearance. The FBI questioned him and even administered a polygraph, however, as one agent defined, “This was worldwide waters, so we are able to’t detain anybody. We are able to ask questions, however that’s about it.” Regretfully, the documentary supplied no dialogue about felony jurisdiction and the way it utilized in that state of affairs.
In the end, viewing Amy Bradley Is Lacking seems like watching a spark run the size of a dynamite fuse with none eventual explosion. Myriad investigative leads develop all through the practically three many years since her disappearance, however nothing ever materializes into actionable proof.
Over time, photographs had been despatched to the household that very nicely might depict Amy years after she was final seen. A number of individuals reported assembly a woman named “Amy” who shares comparable tattoos and different identifiers with Amy Bradley. The documentary even shares a managed telephone name with Douglas, performed by his daughter. A web site set as much as collect and consolidate info relating to Amy Bradley’s disappearance exhibits IP addresses from the Caribbean accessing the location on holidays and occasions like her birthday.
Nonetheless, many years later, the household isn’t any nearer to discovering the reality.
Cruise ships are completely different
On the finish of the day, Amy Bradley Is Lacking misplaced a superb alternative to debate the attention-grabbing guidelines and laws that govern cruise ship crimes. It’s a disgrace the one actual evaluation the viewers receives comes from the “cruise security advocate” referenced earlier.
For one, Barnett’s notion is considerably biased: In spite of everything, her daughter died whereas on a cruise from the poisonous results of methadone. To say that she is skeptical of cruise ships and their skill to navigate a possible crime scene is an understatement. She does present useful dialog factors, comparable to evaluating a cruise ship to a small metropolis the place the closest factor to police is the safety crew. In step with that analogy, she explains that the “sheriff” of that metropolis … “the boss of this little floating village … is the captain … and the captain is an worker of a multibillion-dollar firm.”
However the Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act necessitates necessities to assist stop crime, comparable to mandating the upkeep and monitoring of onboard video surveillance. Moreover, the act outlines particular details that have to be logged relating to any reported crime.
Moreover, cruise strains should make use of a minimum of one crew member per ship who’s licensed “within the prevention, detection, proof preservation and reporting of felony actions within the worldwide maritime atmosphere.”
Furthermore, there’s at the moment a push to additional bolster security on this space. Apparently, information that regulation makers reintroduced the Cruise Passenger Safety Act of 2025 in each homes of Congress conveniently coincides with the worldwide intrigue surrounding Amy Bradley Is Lacking. Whatever the motive, the measures purpose to enhance cruise ship medical care, security measures and correct felony investigations.
There’s been loads of constructive change relating to cruise line felony exercise since Amy disappeared in 1998. Hopefully, legal guidelines will proceed to progress, and fewer and fewer individuals will expertise the endless nightmare Amy Bradley’s household has endured for nearly 30 years.
Adam Banner
Adam R. Banner is the founder and lead lawyer of the Oklahoma Authorized Group, a felony protection regulation agency in Oklahoma Metropolis. His observe focuses solely on state and federal felony protection. He represents the accused in opposition to allegations of intercourse crimes, violent crimes, drug crimes and white-collar crimes.
The research of regulation isn’t for everybody, but its observe and process appear to permeate popular culture at an rising price. This column is in regards to the intersection of regulation and popular culture in an try to separate the actual from the ridiculous.
