Director left baffled by insane detail in Netflix documentary of woman who went missing onboard cruise ship
The director of the recent Netflix documentary about Amy Bradley, the woman who vanished from a Royal Caribbean cruise, has revealed the one detail that left him baffled.
Amy Bradley was 23-years-old when she went missing from the Rhapsody of the Seas cruise ship in 1998.
The Virginia native - who had been on vacation with her mom, Iva, dad, Ron and brother Brad - was last seen on the balcony of her cabin in the early hours of March 24, 1998.
Now, a Netflix series, Amy Bradley is Missing, examines the mind-boggling case, featuring both conspiracy theories and witness testimonies.
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Despite major searches both on and off the ship, Amy was never found and was declared legally dead in 2010 - but her family still hold out hope that she's alive today.
The three-part series covers a lot of her case, but doesn't give a 'full account' of what happened in the 27 years since her disappearance, Amy's brother Brad has said.
And while some heartbreaking details are left out, what the series does cover is pretty shocking.
Director Ari Mark spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the particular detail that left him scratching his head.
One theory examined in the series is that Amy was trafficked into sex work in Curaçao, where the ship docked just hours after her disappearance.
Seven years on from her disappearance, a photo emerged from a Caribbean-based sex worker site of a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Amy.
In the documentary, Iva recalled the moment she saw the photo: “All I could keep thinking is, ‘Is that my daughter?’ We all looked at it - the nose, the chin, the hair - it took my breath away.”
Forensic analysts concluded the photo very much could've been of missing Amy - although not everyone agreed that it was.
Discussing how people could 'deny' the photo was of Amy, Mark told the publication: "You’d be surprised. I think a lot of people don’t believe the photo could be her - not because it doesn’t look like her, not because the characteristics don’t match up, just because the scenario is so hard for them to follow through with."
But it was the way the photo was taken that had Mark perplexed.
The woman was positioned in such a way to hide Amy's identifying markers - such as birthmarks and tattoos, including a Tasmanian Devil on her shoulder and a Gecko lizard on her navel.
"That part really made us scratch our heads, too," Mark admitted.
He went on to explain how 'seriously' the FBI took the photo, adding: "They analyzed the bed frame, tried to figure out where it was made. They sent an operative down there to actually scope it out.
"And they did look into that website, and they brought in that trafficking expert - it’s hard to ignore."
Despite their efforts, the FBI couldn't trace the IP address of the website and ultimately were unable to track down where the photos were taken.
Mark added that ‘from the FBI standpoint, they’ve exhausted everything’.
For Amy's family, though, the decades-long wait for news on their daughter drags on.
Amy Bradley is Missing is streaming now on Netflix.
Topics: Conspiracy Theories, Cruise ship, Film and TV, Netflix, Streaming, True crime, Amy Bradley
Ellie Kemp