“If you ever wanted to kill somebody, just take ’em on a cruise … because you’ll never get caught.” I disagree with the blanket truth of this statement made by “cruise safety advocate” Jamie Barnett during the new Netflix true crime documentary, Amy Bradley Is Missing, so I’ll modify it to fit the reality of actual practice: There’s potentially a smaller chance that you’ll get caught.
The three-part series is about Amy Bradley, a 23-year-old woman who disappeared in 1998, from a Caribbean cruise ship. I’ve dealt with criminal allegations that occurred on cruise ships. I’ve had to navigate that situation before; the environment is far from lawless.
Sure, jurisdiction for criminal matters occurring on a cruise ship can vary based on the ship’s location and other factors. Still, there are laws that specifically govern cruise ships, at least from the United States’ perspective. One law, the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010 (CVSSA), outlines regulations that cruise ships and their staff must follow, like logging incidents such as assaults with serious bodily injury, suspicious deaths, disappearances, homicides, sexual assaults, rapes and other criminal acts that must be reported to the FBI. Those statistics are easily accessible, too.
Disappearance
Although the documentary’s explanations about crime aren’t fleshed out, it’s still crafted in a way to make a story without any conclusion fairly compelling. After all, Amy Bradley is still missing. She disappeared while on a trip with her brother and parents. After a formal dinner and dancing, Amy and her brother made their separate ways back to a shared cabin. Amy’s father recounts that he awoke around 5:30 a.m. and saw Amy on a balcony lounge chair. However, when he awoke again around 6 a.m., she was no longer there. The door was open, and her cigarettes were gone, but her shirt remained.
Amy’s father went to look for her but was unsuccessful. He went back to inform his wife. At about that same time, the cruise ship was preparing to dock in another Caribbean harbor. Amy’s parents begged the ship’s crew to delay the docking until their daughter was found.
According to one of the liaisons working that day, the ship was “not going to stop everybody’s cruise just because there’s a missing girl. That’s one family’s unfortunate incident, but we still had 2,400 other people who paid a lot of money.” Later, after most passengers had departed, the ship’s crew searched the entire boat. Despite hundreds of staff looking, Amy Bradley wasn’t located.
Investigation
The ship’s staff contacted local authorities in Curacao to alert them of a missing passenger. The authorities conducted a large-scale investigation into the disappearance, combing the surrounding ocean for any sign of Amy. According to one of the law enforcement agents, if Amy had either jumped overboard or fallen off the cruise ship, the tide would have eventually carried her body ashore.
As for the notion that a shark could have eaten her, he explained it wouldn’t eat the entire body; some part of Amy Bradley would have been discovered eventually. But it never was.
Ultimately, the FBI took over the investigation. By the time the case was assigned, the ship’s staff had already cleaned Amy Bradley’s room. Even though agents were unable to gather any evidence from the room itself, they were able to interview various passengers who had either seen or interacted with Bradley. Numerous leads pointed to one person: Alister “Yellow” Douglas.
Douglas was the bass player for the cruise ship’s band. Multiple individuals had seen him with Amy in the hours preceding her disappearance. The FBI questioned him and even administered a polygraph, but, as one agent explained, “This was international waters, so we can’t detain anyone. We can ask questions, but that’s about it.” Regretfully, the documentary offered no discussion about criminal jurisdiction and how it applied in that situation.
Ultimately, viewing Amy Bradley Is Missing feels like watching a spark run the length of a dynamite fuse without any eventual explosion. Myriad investigative leads develop throughout the nearly three decades since her disappearance, but nothing ever materializes into actionable evidence.
Over time, photos were sent to the family that very well may depict Amy years after she was last seen. Multiple people reported meeting a girl named “Amy” who shares similar tattoos and other identifiers with Amy Bradley. The documentary even shares a controlled phone call with Douglas, conducted by his daughter. A website set up to gather and consolidate information regarding Amy Bradley’s disappearance shows IP addresses from the Caribbean accessing the site on holidays and events like her birthday.
Still, decades later, the family is no closer to discovering the truth.
Cruise ships are different
At the end of the day, Amy Bradley Is Missing lost an excellent opportunity to discuss the interesting rules and regulations that govern cruise ship crimes. It’s a shame the only real analysis the audience receives comes from the “cruise safety advocate” referenced earlier.
For one, Barnett’s perception is somewhat biased: After all, her daughter died while on a cruise from the toxic effects of methadone. To say that she is skeptical of cruise ships and their ability to navigate a potential crime scene is an understatement. She does provide helpful conversation points, such as comparing a cruise ship to a small city where the closest thing to police is the security crew. In line with that analogy, she explains that the “sheriff” of that city … “the boss of this little floating village … is the captain … and the captain is an employee of a multibillion-dollar company.”
But the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act necessitates requirements to help prevent crime, such as mandating the maintenance and monitoring of onboard video surveillance. Furthermore, the act outlines specific facts that must be logged regarding any reported crime.
Additionally, cruise lines must employ at least one crew member per ship who is certified “in the prevention, detection, evidence preservation and reporting of criminal activities in the international maritime environment.”
Moreover, there’s currently a push to further bolster safety in this area. Interestingly, news that law makers reintroduced the Cruise Passenger Protection Act of 2025 in both houses of Congress conveniently coincides with the international intrigue surrounding Amy Bradley Is Missing. Regardless of the motive, the measures aim to improve cruise ship medical care, safety measures and proper criminal investigations.
There’s been plenty of positive change regarding cruise line criminal activity since Amy disappeared in 1998. Hopefully, laws will continue to progress, and fewer and fewer people will experience the never-ending nightmare Amy Bradley’s family has endured for almost 30 years.
Adam Banner
Adam R. Banner is the founder and lead attorney of the Oklahoma Legal Group, a criminal defense law firm in Oklahoma City. His practice focuses solely on state and federal criminal defense. He represents the accused against allegations of sex crimes, violent crimes, drug crimes and white-collar crimes.
The study of law isn’t for everyone, yet its practice and procedure seem to permeate pop culture at an increasing rate. This column is about the intersection of law and pop culture in an attempt to separate the real from the ridiculous.
