Following Amy Bradley Is Missing, a detective has weighed in on how much evidence there really is to prove each theory about what happened to the missing woman.
The 23-year-old disappeared from the Caribbean cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas in March 1998 while on holiday with her parents and brother, and nobody knows what happened to her almost three decades later.
Some theories say she jumped overboard or was sex trafficked, but how much evidence is there really to support them? Former Connecticut State Police detective Peter Valentin has weighed in, and shared the sad truth.
Credit: Netflix
Amy Bradley theories say she jumped or fell overboard
Speaking to Fox News, Valentin explained that there isn’t much evidence to support the idea that Amy Bradley jumped or fell overboard, because “the room was cleaned before the FBI agents had access to the room”.
“So, whether they realised it or not, they demphasized the value of physical evidence in that room. The challenge here is that among the potential scenarios that they’re evaluating, meaning she either fell, was pushed off the balcony, the physical evidence for those scenarios are essentially the same [as they were at the time],” he said.
“Or, none of those things happened and all she’s ever done the entire time she’s been in her room is she’s looked out the balcony, so her DNA, her fingerprints, her shoes are on the balcony. So, how would you distinguish between those scenarios if all you’re finding are fingerprints and potentially DNA?”
The way we can examine DNA is a lot more advanced now than it was in 1998, so there is a chance they could resubmit evidence and find new leads, but ultimately, the lack of initial evidence from the scene makes the case really difficult.
Others think the missing woman was sex trafficked
Another theory explored in the documentary is that Amy Bradley was sex trafficked, after photos of a woman called “Jas” were found on a sex worker site in the Caribbean. The sex trafficking theory is mainly supported by various eyewitnesses, who claim to have seen Amy with strange men. However, Valentin has revealed the problems with eyewitness testimony.
“This is challenging to assess forensically. Eyewitnesses can become very convinced of what it is they say they saw, even though the forensic evidence makes it quite clear that they could not have seen what they said they saw. It’s almost as if the witness convinces themself of what it is they thought they saw,” he explained.
“Our memories are not perfect recorders of events that happened to us. That’s not to discount these statements at all, but it’s just to recognise that they might not be the perfect recollections of these events that we would hope they are.”
Credit: Netflix
Another theory says Amy left the ship by herself
One more theory is that Amy Bradley walked out of the room on her own and never wanted to be found. Valentin said doing an inventory of her clothes and shoes could help to work out whether this was the case.
“I have been very keen to know, was she missing a pair of shoes? Did she take shoes with her? Were there shoes that were unaccounted for? That might mean next to nothing. She could have jumped or fell off with a pair of shoes, but if all the shoes are accounted for, every shoe she travelled with was either in the room or on the balcony, that’s an intersting observation,” he said.
“That makes it less likely for some of the scenarios that were discussed, about her leaving on her own accord.”
Ultimately, there’s not much evidence for any Amy Bradley theory
So, while the Netflix documentary makes it seem like there is lots of evidence to support each of these theories, there actually isn’t much at all to go off from a forensic point of view. This makes it really difficult to find out what happened to her.
“This case is one that I think is probably going to hinge on somebody remembering that they know something. Because of this case reemerging in the public eye,” the detective concluded.
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Featured image by: Netflix
