Netflix’s Amy Bradley is Missing has reignited public interest in the decades-old case, and one name is repeatedly dropped throughout: Alister “Yellow” Douglas, a former cruise ship musician who appears in the documentary in an unexpected way.
Amy Bradley vanished on March 24, 1998 during a family vacation on board Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas ship. She was last seen in the early hours of the morning after spending time dancing at the cruise’s night club.
Despite widespread searches and FBI involvement, no trace of Amy has ever been found. Theories have swirled for years – and Alister’s connection to her final night has always drawn speculation from the public.
He features briefly in the new true crime documentary thanks to a phone call from his daughter. But what happened to him after that cruise, and where is he now?
Where is Alister “Yellow” Douglas now?
Alister is now living in Grenada where he’s made a career pivot. Rather than touring the world as a cruise ship bass player, he’s now the reverend of a church and an exorcist.
We know this thanks to true crime author James Renner, who managed to track Alister down and interview him last year. In a YouTube video, the host explains that Alister “runs a church with a congregation of about 40 or 50 people.
“It’s relatively small. It’s kind of a little more than a Shack on the side of a mountain. They gather there every Sunday, they also have services during the week, but I flew out there… and appeared at his church service and he granted me an interview.”
During their exchange, Alister recalls the night in question, denying any wrongdoing or having anything to do with Amy’s disappearance.
Alister has a daughter, Amica Douglas, who appears in the Netflix docu-series. Despite being close to her father, she admits that she’s not entirely sure he’s innocent.
In 2017, she reached out to the Bradley family, explaining that her mother – who is now separated from Alister – told her about his behavior after returning from the cruise where Amy disappeared.
According to her mom, “everything changed” and he “said a lot of hurtful stuff” to her. He also allegedly had a bag full of photos of “all caucasian women.” Amica says this is “what raised a red flag” for her.
She decides to call her father to try and find out more, but he insists he knows nothing, saying the FBI cleared him.
As for his nickname “Yellow”, former Royal Caribbean cruise director Kirk Detweiler explains that it’s because at one point, Alister dyed his hair yellow.
Why is he connected to the case?
As well as footage showing Alister dancing with Amy on the night of her disappearance, two women claim they saw the pair heading to the ship’s Viking Crown Lounge in the early hours of the morning.
Lori Thompson, one of the witnesses, appears in the Netflix documentary to describe what happened. She remembers Amy well as there weren’t many other young people on the cruise.
After the nightclub closed, Lori and her friend went to the top deck and saw Amy and Alister going to the Viking Crown Lounge between 5am and 6am – just before Ronald Bradley noticed his daughter was missing.
Around 10 minutes later, they reportedly saw Alister walk past them on the top deck alone. Erin Sheridan, an FBI agent who worked on the case, says this information could have been a “game changer” as it would show Amy had left her cabin before disappearing.
However, it’s impossible to prove. Even though passengers and staff’s key cards digitally recorded when they entered their rooms, they didn’t record when they left again.
Alister himself denies the eyewitness accounts in the 2024 interview, saying that he and the other entertainers would only hang around at the club until just before 1am, when they had to leave the passenger areas.
Another piece of evidence arrived in December 1998, when the Bradley family appealed for information on America’s Most Wanted. Holidaymaker David Carmichael was watching when he instantly recognized Amy.
In Amy Bradley is Missing, he states that he’s “100% sure” he saw her on a beach in Curaçao in August 1998 – after she vanished – and that he remembers her tattoos. David recalls seeing Amy with two men, identifying one of them as Alister.
When Amica speaks with Alister, he again denies it. “So you don’t know if she ever got off the boat?” she asks, to which he replies, “How would I know that? I left her in the club at one o’clock.”
Despite the eyewitness accounts, there was never enough solid evidence to make any arrests. During the initial investigation, Alister was questioned by the FBI and voluntarily took a polygraph test before being released without charge.
To this day, no one knows what really happened to Amy Bradley.
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