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Disappeared The Bradley Sisters 2023
Transcript
00:00:08My name is Pamela Childs. Most people when they hear Special Victims Unit think of television
00:00:15drama. For me, it's been my life. Since 2001, people have known me as someone who closes
00:00:25missing persons cases. But there's one case that has remained unsolved for 22 years since my first
00:00:34year as a detective on the job until now. July 6, 2001, Tracy Bradley leaves her daughter's home
00:00:43alone while she goes to work. She returns to find a note saying they were headed for this school.
00:00:49They never made it. We were all sent out, every able body that's working for the Chicago Police
00:00:58Department. A massive police investigation by air, water, and along the railroad tracks.
00:01:05It was the biggest manhunt that the city of Chicago ever had. 22 years, five lead detectives.
00:01:15Several of them have died since these girls disappeared. We've since seen 9-11, a housing
00:01:24crisis, and a major pandemic. And yet Diamond and Tionda Bradley are still missing.
00:01:34From the very beginning, there were elements to this story that just didn't sit right.
00:01:41Within the community, the south side of Chicago, from what I understand, there's been a great
00:01:46deal of suspicion against the mother. That's not to say that she's guilty of anything.
00:01:52This case has haunted me for 22 years. At the heart of it, the Bradley family has changed forever.
00:02:02I saw my mom coming my way, and she was just like, Rita, have you seen Tionda and Diamond? I'm
00:02:07like,
00:02:07no. And then she was like, get up, they're missing. I was feeling like something, something is wrong.
00:02:16The mystery remains, and the case is wide open.
00:02:21And somebody knows what happened to Tionda and Diamond.
00:02:37When the Bradley girls disappeared in 2001, I was a new detective. I gave all of my missing
00:02:47persons cases, the dedication, everything I had to give for 29 years with the Chicago Police
00:02:55Department. If a victim has been missing for a year or maybe nine months, that is so unusual.
00:03:05But for Tionda and Diamond, these girls have been missing for 22 years.
00:03:14My name is Ed Carroll. I'm a retired Chicago police detective. I was a Chicago police officer
00:03:19for 26 years. I retired in 2013. I was a detective for 13 years. I still missed the job.
00:03:29I came upon the Bradley case when I got signed to Bradley in the Cole case department.
00:03:40This case did become the largest missing persons investigation in Chicago that we had ever seen
00:03:47in the city at the time. For the Bradley family, the summer of 2001 was like any other. The 4th
00:03:54of July
00:03:54was two days before the girls disappeared.
00:03:58Our July 4th celebrations in Chicago are very robust, very loud, very crowded. No matter where you go,
00:04:06you know, you can ride down any street in any neighborhood and you can smell the barbecue coming
00:04:11from the grills. You can hear the kids playing. Maybe you can see the ice cream truck. You hear the
00:04:16fireworks.
00:04:20The 4th of July 2001 was one of the last times that the family was all together.
00:04:26For Tracy, the girl's mother, it was a good day. You guys had a family outing, is that correct,
00:04:33on the 4th of July? Where was that? I watched the park. We had a little thing out there and
00:04:40we had fun,
00:04:41you know. Okay, like a family barbecue? Yes, something like that. Me, my mom, and some of my cousins
00:04:49and my auntie now, we had went to Washington Park. That was the 4th of July. We was by the
00:04:54lake.
00:04:55Water, yeah. Because I remember we had a ball and Diamond kept hitting the ball in the water,
00:05:00so I remember that. Tionda don't even have a different color that day. We all had on purple.
00:05:05Tionda had on green. And Diamond had purple. Yeah. And how old were you in 2001? 12. And
00:05:16Victoria? 8, 9. It's essential with missing people to retrace their steps in the days leading
00:05:23up to their disappearance. You never know what detail might emerge that breaks the case open.
00:05:30This is Washington Park. This is the park that Tracy Bradley and her family spent 4th of July
00:05:38together. It's the last place that the family spent time with Tionda, Diamond, Victoria, and Rita all together.
00:05:53My niece Tracy had four kids. We've always just been one big family.
00:05:58Ooh, Lord have mercy. You know, I write them down as each baby is born.
00:06:05At the time, I was in my early 20s. Tionda was 10 and Diamond was 3. Tionda was very outspoken,
00:06:14very mature for her age. She knew how to cook during that time. She was a little mini adult, to
00:06:21be honest.
00:06:22So she took that role of having a big personality. So that way you knew who she were. Diamond had
00:06:31borets and beads all the time. She was a baby. She can talk as much as I would say at
00:06:38least 20 words.
00:06:39Diamond was more the shy one.
00:06:45At the time, the girl's mom, Tracy, was dating a friend of hers named George Washington.
00:06:53Re-examining the facts of this case 22 years later, I want to ask the family more about him.
00:07:01Let's talk a little bit about your relationship with George. You have been dating him for how long?
00:07:07Oh, wow, since, um, 90, 95, 96, somewhere over there.
00:07:14She didn't like George. She loves him. She was in love with George and I've never seen her as happy
00:07:22as I was with George.
00:07:24What did he do?
00:07:26It was just the attention. The attention. He would show up at our house and just spend time with her
00:07:32and talk with her.
00:07:36We would go out for a little bit and at night time he would come and get me and we'd
00:07:40just go to his house.
00:07:42My understanding is that George was never close to the girls.
00:07:47Only time we probably been connected with George if we at my grandma house or he pick us up.
00:07:52Because mama, she'll go pick us up from now. She'll pick all of us up and take us home so
00:07:56we can get ready and go to school.
00:07:58I've never been to his house. Never been to eat with him. Never in life.
00:08:05Moving on to the 5th of July.
00:08:08Yes.
00:08:09You were home with all your daughters, correct?
00:08:13Yes.
00:08:15July 5th. George Washington asked, do we want to go camping?
00:08:20He asked you on the 5th of July if he wanted to go camping? Okay.
00:08:23I have to go back to refresh my memory.
00:08:25Okay.
00:08:26It might have probably been about a week or a week ago or something like that.
00:08:31So a week prior to July 5th?
00:08:33Right, right.
00:08:34It was his say so that he wanted to go camping.
00:08:39It was only a weekend.
00:08:40I did not know where I was at, but I went to the store and bought some camping stuff, like
00:08:46a tent.
00:08:49George was planning to go on a camping trip, but I was surprised that he cared enough to take Tracy
00:08:54and her kids.
00:08:55Probably a couple months before, they just kept saying that we were all going to go camping.
00:09:00But then down the line, it was like, we're going to take Tiana and Diamond first, and then you and
00:09:04Victoria the next week.
00:09:06Because my mama, she wasn't struggling, but come on, you have four kids, so.
00:09:11You know, it was a hard time, and they just felt like they couldn't afford to take all four.
00:09:19Victoria explained to me that Rita and Victoria were at their grandmother's house the night before the evening of the
00:09:295th of July,
00:09:30and Tiana and Diamond stayed home with Tracy.
00:09:35I didn't really understand that, but I guess, you know, people have their reasoning for doing things that they do.
00:09:43There have to be a logical reason why the four girls were separated.
00:09:53We ended up dropping them off, and I think we went back to the house.
00:10:00Diamond and Tiana was there. They were sleeping on the bed.
00:10:03What happened the rest of that evening?
00:10:05I just have to think back a little bit.
00:10:07Okay, take your time.
00:10:08We ended up dropping them off, and I think we went back to the house, or we either went somewhere.
00:10:16Either to the house or somewhere we went, and that was it.
00:10:20I got on the couch and laid down and went to sleep.
00:10:22The next day, I told Tiondi, I'm going to work.
00:10:27After that, we go camping.
00:10:29Don't open the door for nobody.
00:10:32George took me to work. He dropped me off.
00:10:34So you get to work at, like, about 7 in the morning?
00:10:38Yes, because I have to open up, yes.
00:10:40Okay, so you two adults are the only two people that had knowledge that Tiondi and Diamond was in that
00:10:48apartment alone when you left for work that morning.
00:10:53Yes, they was there.
00:10:55No one else knew?
00:10:56No.
00:10:58Tracy was working the lunch, what they used to call a lunch program.
00:11:02Yes.
00:11:02After work, she was going on a camping trip.
00:11:06Okay, and you started checking in on the girls by calling?
00:11:11Yes, yes.
00:11:11After that in the morning, I had, like, a little lunch break.
00:11:15So I called, and I called, and I called.
00:11:17It was no answer.
00:11:18It just kept going to voicemail, voicemail, voicemail.
00:11:21Then I called my mom, my mom, and she kept calling.
00:11:26She kept calling the house, too.
00:11:29Okay, at some point, George Washington returns.
00:11:32Yes, pick me up.
00:11:34George picked me up from work.
00:11:36And I'm coming home, and the back door was open.
00:11:40And we walked up the stairs and everything.
00:11:43And I put my key in the door, and I called for Diamond Tiondi.
00:11:47So I was nervous, and, you know, like, where are they, you know?
00:11:54When Tracy entered her apartment from work on the morning of the 6th, around noonish,
00:12:00there was a note that was discovered in the house.
00:12:04There was a note on the back of the couch that said that they were going to the school,
00:12:08and they were going up to the store.
00:12:11I find it odd.
00:12:13And when we went up the stairs, my mom opened the door.
00:12:16She my mom just knocked the TV over and got to crying and got to calling the family.
00:12:21My sister, Marie, told Tracy, do not call the police.
00:12:27Let's just look for the kids, because if you call the police, they're going to take Vicki and Rita.
00:12:32I was scared.
00:12:33I wanted to find them, you know, like, on my own to see if I could find them, you know,
00:12:38go, you know, and see what, who house they went to, you know, and just look around.
00:12:43So we went by the lake, you know, over there and everything, you know, searching and asking,
00:12:49you know, have you seen two little girls, you know?
00:12:52They're like, no, no.
00:12:54And in your mind, you're thinking, you know, I left them alone.
00:12:58I could get in trouble for this.
00:13:00Yes.
00:13:04To really reacquaint myself with this case, I had to go back to where it all began.
00:13:12I am here at the Lake Grove Village Apartment Complex.
00:13:17This is the home of Tracy Bradley and her four children.
00:13:23Around the side of the building was a door, a side door that was easy access from her apartment.
00:13:29The side door that was always held open by a rock or something that they stuck in it to get
00:13:36in and out.
00:13:37Rarely did the kids use the front entrance, which would be right here.
00:13:42They always went around to the side entrance.
00:13:44This is the back entrance to Tracy's building, where back in 2001, this back door was always open.
00:13:53And now it's 2023, and the back door is still open.
00:14:03I remember just going home and everybody just being there.
00:14:08And everybody just looking so devastated because you really, if something like this happening,
00:14:14you really wouldn't think it happened to our family, but it did.
00:14:18And just seeing my mama crying, putting towels around her forehead, just crying, devastated.
00:14:27Since my kids been gone, just put a totally stop on my life.
00:14:35Heartbreaking.
00:14:36You know, I just talked to my Lord about Jesus.
00:14:39I didn't even come to my side.
00:14:41It was sad.
00:14:45It had took a lot out of me.
00:14:47You got to just let it out.
00:14:53I remember calling my mom.
00:14:55I said, um, call the police.
00:14:58Now, mom knew before seven hours went by.
00:15:01Yeah.
00:15:02Okay, mom came over.
00:15:03Yes.
00:15:08I was in the detective division for approximately one month.
00:15:14When the Bradley girls disappeared in 2001, in my heart of hearts,
00:15:19I felt like it was going to be a challenge to locate Teanda and Diamond Bradley.
00:15:31We were all sent out to have the 7 p.m. on that same evening.
00:15:36According to their mom, the girls were not in the apartment when she returned home from work
00:15:42at 11 o'clock in the morning.
00:15:44That's an eight-hour jump that any bad guy has on us to be successful in locating these girls and
00:15:54and tracking where they could possibly be.
00:16:02One Chicago neighborhood is focused on two little girls who've been missing since Friday.
00:16:07A massive police investigation followed by air, water, and along the railroad tracks.
00:16:13Canine search teams went through empty lots and more than 5,000 abandoned buildings.
00:16:19The playground's on the south side of Chicago, empty.
00:16:23There's no kids out here.
00:16:24It's like this now every day since the children have been missing.
00:16:30That evening when people are getting home and in their business day,
00:16:33that's when the city started to find out that the girls were missing.
00:16:38So we sprang into action.
00:16:40We went to Bronzeville to the scene where they say they were missing from to find out
00:16:45who knew something.
00:16:47Any small thing could help with pieces of this puzzle.
00:16:56After having a briefing in our office, we went out and we were on the scene.
00:17:02We were in the apartment.
00:17:04I observed the apartment was in normal disarray, which means that tables weren't turned over.
00:17:11It didn't appear to be a fight, but it was just normal household items in the apartment.
00:17:17Family members were there.
00:17:19Other police officers were there.
00:17:22It sort of became a scene of concern for all of the police that were involved.
00:17:27I interviewed the mom, Tracy Bradley, for approximately an hour that morning.
00:17:36Tracy Bradley leaves her home knowing that Teonda and Diamond is in the house by themselves.
00:17:43And Tracy Bradley had with her, her friend, George Washington, at approximately six o'clock
00:17:51a.m. when Tracy usually left for work.
00:17:54They walked out of that apartment and closed that door.
00:17:59You know, in life, especially when you have your own family,
00:18:03any working family leave their children at home alone at that age.
00:18:08It was common.
00:18:10She, when she had stuff to do, yeah, she left us in the house by herself.
00:18:13You know, she did.
00:18:14Okay, but you were 12.
00:18:16Yeah, I was old enough.
00:18:22At the very beginning, in the deepest part of me,
00:18:25I felt that somebody had the girls.
00:18:30There was no signs of forced entry at the house.
00:18:35All types of things were being said.
00:18:37But in my heart of hearts, I felt like the girls were kidnapped by somebody that they knew.
00:18:46And George and Tracy were the only two people that we can look at to bring more clarity to what
00:18:57happened to Teonda and Diamond.
00:19:06When speaking to Tracy, her demeanor ranged from distraught to afraid to defensive.
00:19:16After a few hours of the investigation, Tracy Bradley explained to me that everybody in the entire Bradley family knew
00:19:24that there was this mad search going on.
00:19:28And George Washington, Tracy's boyfriend, never got involved.
00:19:36Did you start looking for the kids in the complex?
00:19:38Yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:19:40There's a lot of people searching, looking like all of us, we all went out.
00:19:45Everybody in your family, friends, people you know.
00:19:48Is George with you?
00:19:49Yes.
00:19:50I was looking, you know, he just stayed in the car.
00:19:53He stayed in the car.
00:19:54He told Tracy to call him.
00:19:59Later, let him know what's going on with Teonda and Diamond.
00:20:05That evening, he never returns.
00:20:09Tracy Bradley and her boyfriend, George Washington, were the only two people who knew that the girls were left.
00:20:19He left in that apartment on the morning of the 6 at approximately 6 o'clock a.m. when Tracy
00:20:26usually left for work.
00:20:28Tracy comes back to her home.
00:20:31The girls are not in the apartment.
00:20:34George comes up with her to the apartment.
00:20:40George decides to leave.
00:20:44Like everything else in this case, it's hard to point at any one thing as indicative of innocence or guilt.
00:20:52But the timing adds to the other suspicious activities and facts that have kind of been piling up in this
00:21:03case.
00:21:05But it's important to note that George told the press that he, quote, tried to help investigators find them at
00:21:10the beginning.
00:21:12According to their mom, she didn't report them missing until after 7 p.m.
00:21:18That's almost eight hours that those girls were gone.
00:21:24So I needed to find out what Tracy was doing during those eight hours before police got involved.
00:21:32This is the 31st Street Beach area.
00:21:34They're at 31st Street.
00:21:36They lived at 35th Street, so that's a five block radius.
00:21:39This is one of the first areas that Tracy Bradley came to, as she had again informed us that she
00:21:47was dropped off on the bridge by George Washington, and she walked over to the lakefront.
00:21:53This is the area that Tracy Bradley walked to.
00:21:56This is the area that the Chicago Police Department searched, and there were no signs of Tionden Diamond Bradley.
00:22:05Things kind of start kicking in for Tracy.
00:22:07So she starts calling around to various neighbors, various family members, asking if they've seen the girls.
00:22:15George Senor is the family friend who lived nearby, Tracy and the daughters, and he was a family friend.
00:22:25He was known.
00:22:26So he was also just part of the family, but not part of the family.
00:22:31Would Tionden know enough to go over to, like, George Senor's apartment?
00:22:36Yes.
00:22:36Yes, she know where he is.
00:22:38Right.
00:22:38She know, right.
00:22:38The kids used to call George Senor Porgy.
00:22:41Porgy, exactly, exactly.
00:22:42Did he babysit for you on occasion?
00:22:44A couple of times, yes.
00:22:46Did you happen to go to his house that day and ask him if he'd seen the kids?
00:22:50I think I went up there.
00:22:51Oh, yeah, I called.
00:22:52Oh, you called?
00:22:53Okay.
00:22:53And he told you he hadn't seen the kids?
00:22:54He said, yeah, I ain't seen them.
00:22:55He said, I haven't seen them.
00:23:00July 6, 2001, Tracy Bradley leaves her daughter's home alone while she goes to work.
00:23:06She returns to find a note saying they were headed for this school.
00:23:10They never made it.
00:23:11I remember my mom just kept saying she just left a letter and she just showed me the letter.
00:23:16And me and Diamond are going to the store and to the school.
00:23:18And I remember the exact words because I read the letter.
00:23:21The note said, me going to the store.
00:23:27What store?
00:23:28I was nervous and, you know, like, where are they, you know?
00:23:33Right, right, of course.
00:23:36After speaking more with the family, the note doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
00:23:42Tionda was 10, Diamond was only three, so it seems to me like a stretch that a three-year-old
00:23:49could walk very far.
00:23:51So I decide to retrace the route the girls could have taken to go to the store to determine the
00:23:57plausibility of that theory.
00:24:00This could have possibly been the store that Tionda and Diamond was going to, amongst other stores that's in the
00:24:09area.
00:24:10We are a few blocks away from the complex, not a great distance for adults and children to walk,
00:24:18but a great distance for children alone to walk, to get to the Jewel food store.
00:24:25It has not been stated that this is the store that was indicated in the note, but this is a
00:24:33store that's close by that could be the location that Tionda was speaking of.
00:24:39Another theory important to re-examine is that the girls went to the nearby school playground.
00:24:46This is the James Doolittle Elementary School that Tionda attended,
00:24:51and Tionda was also enrolled in summer school in 2001, but on July 6, Tionda did not attend school.
00:25:00We don't have any reliable information that they actually showed up there.
00:25:07At least a dozen FBI agents have been working the case.
00:25:11Diamond and Tionda's family found the note unusual because they said that the way the note was written
00:25:18didn't reflect how she would usually have written something.
00:25:23After the FBI got involved in the case fairly early on after the girl's disappearance,
00:25:30they did take the note that Tionda wrote for her handwriting analysis to confirm that it was Tionda's
00:25:39handwriting and not someone else's, the results of which had not returned yet.
00:25:47It wasn't going to come back for a little while, and it's a process. It takes time.
00:25:59The next morning, the morning of July 7, Faith, who is Tracy's sister, was there in the apartment,
00:26:08and Faith had recently set up all of the family's cell phones. She decided to listen to Tracy's voicemail,
00:26:16and the family was shocked to find there was a message from Tionda from the day of the disappearance.
00:26:23Tionda does anybody know what time that message was left? Does anybody recall?
00:26:29I remember it was either 8.02 or 8.20 a.m. I remembered that. How did you guys come
00:26:37about?
00:26:38Did she bring it to you? Did she say, hey, listen to this?
00:26:42We were all sitting in Tracy's home on the couch when we heard it. It was Faith, myself. It was
00:26:51my mom.
00:26:54Tracy was in the other room. And it was a few other people that was actually in the home during
00:27:00that
00:27:01time. Okay. It was the majority of the family, and then it was some of Tracy's closest friends.
00:27:06And you don't recall who actually played the message? I don't recall.
00:27:10Did you hear the message? I did. Tell me about it. It says, mommy, I'm going to the store with
00:27:17George.
00:27:18But would it be unusual for George to show up at the door, George Washington, to show up at this
00:27:23door,
00:27:25trying to get her to open that door? I would say yes, it is. Do you know where the message
00:27:31is?
00:27:31It is. Supposedly, it got into the wrong hands, and it was deleted. Whose hands?
00:27:42Tracy said there was the voicemail left by Tianda. The voicemail left so many questions unanswered,
00:27:52and it actually led to the speculation that they really were abducted. This was orchestrated. It was
00:28:02planned, and they were trying to find out who. Did you hear the message? Yeah, I heard it. I heard
00:28:08it.
00:28:09And tell me what you remember. She said, mom, after the phone, George is at the door. He said,
00:28:15something about Victoria cake. Okay. And did you hear it, Victoria? Yeah, I heard the voicemail.
00:28:22Yeah, that was about it. Was there anything mentioned about a cake?
00:28:26Yeah, her exact words were going to the store to pick up Vicki a cake with George.
00:28:33When's your birthday? July 7th. That'll be why they'll get her a cake or something.
00:28:39The thing that's strange about the voicemail is that it mentions George. So there's George Washington,
00:28:48who was Tracy's boyfriend at the time. There was also a neighbor named George. This has caused some
00:28:55confusion in the media because people say, you know, what if she was talking about the other George?
00:29:01Perhaps he should be a suspect. Look at these two Georges. Ask them to take polygraphs.
00:29:06Another thing, Nancy, just because the girls said, hey, George is at the door,
00:29:10doesn't necessarily mean that it was George at the door. Somebody may have presented themselves at George.
00:29:17George the neighbor went by a very distinctive nickname that the girls would have called him by.
00:29:23George Senor was also referred to by the family as Porgy.
00:29:29We never called Porgy George, never in our life. We never went by that name.
00:29:33So there's no misunderstanding. No misunderstanding. No. No misunderstanding.
00:29:38They found the note at 1150 or so, 1150 Tudor at George Senor's house.
00:29:43She tells George Senor that she's looking for the kids. George Senor used to babysit the kids, remember?
00:29:49Yes. There's a lot of speculation in my mind.
00:29:53Tionda had to be talking about George Washington, Tracy's boyfriend at the time.
00:30:00Would it have been normal for George to want to buy a cake for Vicky's birthday?
00:30:05No.
00:30:05Okay, so what do you think about the message?
00:30:10It was weird to me because, like, how are you supposed to go camping and you weren't about a cake?
00:30:15If they go to camping on the 6th or something, why would you buy a cake for my birthday if
00:30:18y'all gonna be gone?
00:30:20I always found it odd that it was Victoria's birthday, one of the days that they were supposed to go
00:30:27camping.
00:30:28Speaking with Rita and Victoria, I'm impressed by how much they remember.
00:30:35But I never stopped asking myself different questions as to, if you're going on a camping trip, why go to
00:30:42the grocery store for Victoria?
00:30:45Another thing that's strange about the voicemail is that outside of the family,
00:30:53no one has ever been able to confirm its existence. Some people say that it was accidentally deleted.
00:31:02Some people say it's in the possession of the FBI. But no one that I've spoken to in law enforcement
00:31:11has been able to confirm the existence of the voicemail. But multiple family members say that they did hear it.
00:31:21I recorded it from the speaker on there with my phone.
00:31:27Okay.
00:31:28And I took it and sent it to my email, my email address as an audio file.
00:31:37Okay. You sent the recording to your email?
00:31:40Email, yes.
00:31:41Do you still have it?
00:31:42I do.
00:31:44Can we hear it?
00:31:45I can't. I mean, I would love to be able to access it, but if I don't put the correct
00:31:51code in it to get it,
00:31:52because I had some technical help to protect my emails? If I could, I would, but I'm sure that it'll
00:32:00destroy it.
00:32:02Okay.
00:32:04While re-interviewing the family, their statements have me questioning some things.
00:32:10The note and the voicemail. In my opinion, it feels like everybody has a different story.
00:32:18I have to explore this more.
00:32:21Shalia Smith, Tracy's aunt, has a copy of the message.
00:32:28I begged her to give that to me. I told her I'd fly anywhere in the world on my own
00:32:32dime
00:32:32with a tech from Chicago to get that message. And we have never, to this day, heard that message.
00:32:39This whole situation is just, and like I told you, you know, this is really a messed up situation.
00:32:49She's holding on to it.
00:32:52Why would, why would any, that doesn't make sense. Why would anybody hold that message?
00:32:55What do you think about that message?
00:32:57Well, he's, is it real?
00:33:01It had to be if she left, if she left the message on the phone.
00:33:04There is really a message that Teanda left.
00:33:06Yeah, he said George is at the door.
00:33:10George Washington has also confirmed to the media that he quote,
00:33:13took Tracy to work that morning, but denied showing up at the apartment later when the
00:33:17girls allegedly called their mom to say someone was at the door.
00:33:21I asked George Washington about that message.
00:33:24What did he say?
00:33:25He said, I don't know why she would say I was at the door. I wasn't there.
00:33:29Did you ever speak with Tracy about what happened?
00:33:33Well, after I got there and she was still being questioned.
00:33:38Questioned by?
00:33:39The police department, Chicago police.
00:33:45Bradley, a single mother of four, she's had to withstand the subtle and not so subtle accusations
00:33:51that she somehow was to blame for the girl's disappearance.
00:33:56How were you feeling about the police when they took you in to question you and talk to you and
00:34:02more than one time? Am I right about it? How did you feel about that?
00:34:08I felt really kind of angry.
00:34:14Okay. You felt like you were being tortured.
00:34:16Yeah. They hit the table. You know where those damn kids at.
00:34:20My first conversation with Tracy about that is when they were questioning her and I had asked,
00:34:28damn, how long she been in there? And she came back to the house. And so I looked at Tracy
00:34:35and
00:34:35Tracy says, uh, why the is everybody looking at me like I did something to my kids?
00:34:42And at that point, I think I was so angry. Like, you're supposed to know what your kids are. You're
00:34:49supposed to know what the hell happened. Okay.
00:34:51So I jumped up to grab her because I was going to just push her up.
00:34:57It's okay. Take your time.
00:35:06I just wanted to push her up to window.
00:35:11Because I felt if you wouldn't have left them, they would be gone.
00:35:16And Tracy left.
00:35:20She waited till I went in the back and left out the door.
00:35:23She didn't want to have a confrontation with you?
00:35:26Nobody wanted to have a confrontation with me.
00:35:31Tracy couldn't deal with the questions for her.
00:35:34In a citywide manhunt, we're looking at everybody.
00:35:39Whether you're the mother, the brother, sister, father, it doesn't matter.
00:35:46We need some answers.
00:35:54Tracy shut down.
00:35:56We were trying to identify certain things that we were told, such as they were going on a camping trip.
00:36:03Later that evening, I expected to see something that would say,
00:36:09yes, we are really doing this.
00:36:11We're going on a camping trip.
00:36:13But I didn't see anything that told me they were going camping.
00:36:20I just wonder where the tent was at.
00:36:22Or were they just going to go for a picnic and come back?
00:36:24Maybe that's what they call a camping trip.
00:36:26It was Victoria's birthday, one of the days that they were supposed to go camping.
00:36:31So maybe mom was going to celebrate it when they got back.
00:36:34But I always thought that that was odd.
00:36:38I understand leaving Teanda with Diamond because Teanda and Diamond were very close.
00:36:43But how they made the determination to take Rita and Vicky to Grandma's house that night,
00:36:49usually when they would go over there, the four of them would go together.
00:36:52Or at least three of the four.
00:36:55How they determine that is, I don't know.
00:36:57I would love to find that out.
00:36:59It's definitely a question that needs to be asked.
00:37:02So Rita and Victoria were not going camping.
00:37:05No.
00:37:06And I get it that you say you don't really have an answer as to why all four girls were
00:37:11not going.
00:37:12Right.
00:37:15There was not enough to charge Tracy with anything.
00:37:19I suspected George Washington as being the offender of the two girls going missing.
00:37:29I felt that way because he and Tracy knew that Teanda and Diamond were alone in the apartment
00:37:37when Tracy Bradley left.
00:37:39And they were the only two people who knew.
00:37:43There were several things going on in Tracy Bradley's life with George Washington
00:37:48that I don't think has ever really come to light as to why George would hurt these girls.
00:37:56Also, it's since come out.
00:37:58Tracy had sued George for paternity, saying that, you know, Diamond was his.
00:38:03I don't get the impression that George wanted to pay for a child.
00:38:09So Tracy sued him for paternity.
00:38:12They took his DNA.
00:38:13The results of which had not returned yet.
00:38:16When George found out that you had Diamond, what was his reaction?
00:38:22He was upset because I think during that time he was married.
00:38:26He was married.
00:38:28I believe that he didn't want Diamond and that's why he wasn't claiming her.
00:38:33Mm-hmm.
00:38:33He didn't ever want Diamond.
00:38:35I don't know if it's because he had a wife or he had other women.
00:38:38I don't know what the case is, but I feel like he just didn't want to deal with that.
00:38:43So you were kind of going it on your own with Diamond?
00:38:46Yes, yes.
00:38:47Sometimes you don't know which way the anger this man is coming from.
00:38:50What threats did he make?
00:38:52He used to always say, if you leave me, I'll kill you.
00:38:55He always threw a lot of threats to me and my family.
00:38:58Do you think that he gave you the respect that you deserve?
00:39:03Not at all, no respect.
00:39:05But you still loved him?
00:39:06Yes.
00:39:07Why?
00:39:08Because I saw interest in him.
00:39:11Okay.
00:39:11You know, it's like, I mean, I just really loved this man.
00:39:16You know what I'm saying?
00:39:17Thought that he needed to be the right one for me and all and everything.
00:39:22He was the trickster in Tracy's life, but Tracy loved him. Tracy wanted him to be in her life,
00:39:32but Tracy wanted more from him. She wanted him to love her, something that he was never going to do.
00:39:42The investigation was starting to focus in on George Washington.
00:39:48Several days after the girls disappeared, George Washington's house and car were searched.
00:39:55Receipts that they found in his home indicate that on July 7th, so the day after the girls' disappearance,
00:40:02he went to a hardware store where he purchased a large package of industrial trash bags and two pairs of
00:40:11gloves.
00:40:12When the police came to his home, there were five trash bags missing from that roll and one of the
00:40:19pairs of gloves was never found.
00:40:21George Washington told the police that the trash bags had been used in a home renovation project
00:40:28and that he had filled them and disposed of them in a dumpster in a nearby park.
00:40:38This is the same location that George Washington claimed to have brought those garbage bags over to the Lagoon area.
00:40:49He rode with CPD detectives over here to give them the exact location as to where the garbage cans were
00:40:57and where the garbage was,
00:40:59but by the time they got here, it had been taken.
00:41:04When they spoke to George's neighbors, the neighbors said that they had seen
00:41:12George Washington burning something in a barrel in his garage.
00:41:18I actually found one of the young men sitting on the porch and he said George Washington was burning
00:41:25the barrels in his backyard and had taken the barrel after it cooled and threw the barrel in the trunk.
00:41:30George Washington denied that this ever happened and also denied even owning a barrel.
00:41:35However, when the FBI went to investigate, they found evidence of charring on the rafters of his garage
00:41:42and in the trunk of his car, they found striations that were consistent with the size and shape of an
00:41:51industrial barrel,
00:41:52the kind of industrial barrel that his neighbors said that they saw him burning something in.
00:42:11George Washington was really scrutinized, but again, nothing much led to him being a person of interest,
00:42:21just questions and no answers.
00:42:26George gave a statement to the media saying,
00:42:29I don't know who did anything. I just know that I had nothing to do with it.
00:42:35But I have had a lot of different scenarios go through my mind as to why George would hurt these
00:42:44girls.
00:42:44It has crossed my mind that it's the possibility George didn't want to pay Tracy child support,
00:42:54kill Diamond, and Tianda saw it.
00:42:59Therefore, he had to kill Tianda as well.
00:43:03Is that a possibility? Absolutely, it is.
00:43:17George Washington, we put him on a polygraph back in 2001. The brass of the police department just
00:43:23loved polygraphs. I think they just thought the sun rose and set on them, although they're not admissible.
00:43:30Polygraphs are a tool that we use. They're not the be-all, end-all. I've seen people that I've known
00:43:35were guilty pass them. I've seen people that were innocent fail them. But in George's defense, he passed a
00:43:42polygraph. The consensus was, wherever the girls are, they went with someone that they knew. And then
00:43:52all of the speculation at that time was around George Washington, where it led all of us to believe
00:43:59if he didn't do it, he knows something. And what is he hiding?
00:44:04George, we caught you for just a moment.
00:44:06No comment at all. There's no comment at all.
00:44:09There was not enough to charge George with anything, charge Tracy with anything. At this point,
00:44:17they're just two people that might have the answers to the last steps that Tianda and Diamond took
00:44:25inside of that apartment. After a few days of the investigation, Tracy shut down. Tracy stopped
00:44:35communicating with the police department when the questions for her got tough. I get it. I understand
00:44:42that. Not being able to deal and just the initial trauma of dealing with your two daughters that's
00:44:52missing. I understand that. But as a detective, I still need to do my due diligence and probe this further.
00:45:02At some point, you shut down and no longer wanted to communicate
00:45:07with the Chicago police department.
00:45:10I feel like they took, uh,
00:45:15like I was a criminal and I wasn't, you know. You took, uh,
00:45:24me being afraid, you know what I'm saying. Scared, you know. And...
00:45:29Tell me what you're afraid of. You didn't want what to happen.
00:45:35I go to jail.
00:45:48I took Rita and, uh, Victoria to school. Well, you know, they, they follow me everywhere,
00:45:55detectives and everything. And then detectives get out the car, threw me to the gate.
00:46:05Put me in the car, held me handcuffed and everything.
00:46:11Now they take me through a tunnel and stuff. They take me out through there.
00:46:17So this Sarge came in and he found out who I was. And, uh, he told them, uh,
00:46:23take them, take them, take them damn handcuffs off right now.
00:46:27Why did they arrest you? For no reason.
00:46:32No reason at all. I didn't talk to them. I didn't, you know, do anything to them. Actually,
00:46:40that's another reason why I kind of went back a little bit because I felt that, you know.
00:46:47You felt what? Disrespectful.
00:46:55It's, it's sad. It's sad. She shut the police department down when they were trying to help her.
00:47:02But it doesn't make sense. It just doesn't make sense.
00:47:05Well. She had, she had, I think, two arrests her entire life. I know that.
00:47:10Why would she shut us down? She didn't.
00:47:13This case has always been very complex. But one of the most solid leads we have to go on
00:47:18is the note that Tionda left in the apartment.
00:47:24After a certain amount of time, the note that Tionda left, um, it was examined by law enforcement,
00:47:31and it was confirmed that it was her handwriting.
00:47:38Would Tionda have left a note on her own?
00:47:41Reading it, I'm like, nah, that's not the way Tionda speaks.
00:47:46Well, Tionda did have a minor reading disability.
00:47:50Okay. Okay.
00:47:52That's why she was in summer school, because she had reading problems.
00:47:56Okay.
00:47:56For example, if you said need, write the word, I need to go, it'll be I need,
00:48:05but it might have been N-E-I-D versus N-E-E-D.
00:48:09Do you think Tionda wrote the note?
00:48:11Yeah.
00:48:12I think she wrote it.
00:48:13She was forced to write it, but it was her handwriting.
00:48:16Because we never had to write a note when we knew my mom's number.
00:48:19You know, if we was always in the hospital, we would call her.
00:48:22My sister, Faith, without another note that Tionda had wrote and compared the two.
00:48:30The grammar doesn't sound like it.
00:48:32It doesn't match.
00:48:33It doesn't match.
00:48:35I felt that it had to be somebody that they knew who forced Tionda.
00:48:42But who?
00:48:51Chicago hasn't given up on Diamond and Tionda.
00:48:55A private investigator even volunteered his services.
00:48:59I'm Foster. I'm a local private investigator in the Chicago Illinois area.
00:49:04Late August of 2001, I was asked to join the case to assist the local law enforcement agency,
00:49:12interviewing people that did not have a good relationship with the Chicago Police Department at the time.
00:49:17The investigator Foster, who's an excellent investigator, gave me a bridge to the family.
00:49:22When I did my due diligence on them, I found that they didn't have much contact with the police at
00:49:28all.
00:49:30Yeah, I talked to Foster, and we would sit up on the phone sometimes at 12, 1 o'clock in
00:49:36the morning,
00:49:36and I'd be crying.
00:49:37And he gives me the advisement, and then at the end of the day, he'd pray with me.
00:49:44I had got acquainted with Investigator Foster, and my mind was set that this would be the firm that helped
00:49:52look for Tionda and Diamond.
00:49:56These would be the private investigators.
00:50:05With Diamond, before her disappearance, Tracy had asked George to take a paternity test,
00:50:14and three weeks after the girls disappeared, but after George Washington's house and car were searched,
00:50:22the results of it came back.
00:50:23DNA testing was completed, and it's safe to say that the test came back positive,
00:50:31that George Washington is the father of Diamond.
00:50:35Yes.
00:50:37That right there, you know, makes, you know, the hairs kind of go up on my neck,
00:50:43because, you know, there could be several things that could have taken place,
00:50:48especially if George was so determined to not pay child support.
00:50:52It just brings to life, you know, so many other conclusions that we can come to about what happened
00:51:00to Tionda and Diamond.
00:51:02We're talking about a three-year-old and a ten-year-old.
00:51:05They just don't walk off the face of the earth.
00:51:07The first thing that popped into my mind was to do more of a serious investigation of George Washington.
00:51:17The paternity came back positive that George was the father of Diamond, so he went to Diamond and Tionda went
00:51:24missing.
00:51:25George got out from underneath paying paternity.
00:51:29George's first wife in Detroit was named Diamond.
00:51:31When Tracy told me that in the interview, you could have knocked me over with a feather.
00:51:35I'm like, oh boy, this is, this is getting interesting, you know, but he denied paternity,
00:51:41so George knew he was, he was going to end up paying.
00:51:46George has maintained that he is not Diamond's father.
00:51:50This has always perplexed me, so I feel that I need to dig deeper on this.
00:51:55He was married to a woman named Diamond.
00:51:58Yes, and I named my baby after her.
00:52:01Uh-huh, because?
00:52:06Mr. Norm, right?
00:52:08Yeah, I, um, he just didn't want, I don't think he really wanted me to have that baby.
00:52:14He was upset. He was just upset, you know.
00:52:19He was upset.
00:52:21He already lied, said he couldn't have any kids because he had a vasectomy, you know.
00:52:28Uh-huh.
00:52:29So, when Diamond came, I knew he lied about that.
00:52:33And then, when-
00:52:34He lied to you a lot, didn't he?
00:52:35Yeah, exactly.
00:52:37But all the time, the, um, I never saw the wife, but I think the wife, when the wife found
00:52:44out about
00:52:46Diamond, I think she completely loved.
00:52:52And you, you've been in a relationship with this man for, you know, at least, I mean,
00:52:57Diamond's three.
00:52:58Three, yes.
00:52:59Um, so at least three years.
00:53:01Mm-hmm.
00:53:02George Washington was the biological father of Diamond, and it seems like all the evidence
00:53:07seems to point to George Washington. But it's always been circumstantial evidence. Unfortunately,
00:53:11we live in a world where, uh, there has to be certain evidence to meet the burden of proof.
00:53:23A few months have passed. Um, leads had gone cold. And when leads start to go cold,
00:53:30you know, resources are diverted to other more pressing cases that are fresher.
00:53:35Without fresh leads, there's not much more that they can do.
00:53:49The unthinkable happened today. The World Trade Center, both towers gone, and we are all witnesses
00:53:55to it. And to some degrees, to a degree, we are all victims.
00:54:03The girls disappeared on July 6th of 2001, and two months later was the September 11th attacks.
00:54:16At the time, huge amounts of resources were suddenly being diverted to, you know,
00:54:23potential terror attacks and that sort of thing. And so, not only did the media attention on the
00:54:28case dry up, but, uh, I believe also some, some of the interest from law enforcement because
00:54:34of kind of the, the situation in the rest of the country.
00:54:44I don't even come outside. I'm staying in the house 24, 24. I don't even come outside no more.
00:54:49I even stopped that.
00:54:53I think the further that the Bradleys got from the day of the disappearance,
00:55:01the more difficult things became. They were left almost on their own.
00:55:12Whoever you are, your family knows what you did. Y'all need to break the silence.
00:55:19Every year, there's a vigil. Every year, you know, there's a little bit on the news,
00:55:24and every year, it becomes less and less.
00:55:32When my nieces were missing, I was 39 going on 40. 2001 was a, felt like a death sentence. 2002
00:55:41felt like an execution. 2003 felt like I was up on the chopping block. But they still had it in
00:55:47their mind that they would probably find her.
00:55:57Four difficult years later, Tracy Bradley's prayers have yet to be answered.
00:56:06Some leads were coming in that could just change the trajectory of an investigation,
00:56:13including a discovery of some bones. And when that came across, it was immediate. Like, you know,
00:56:21let's find out what's going on. Well, the missing person's case, that's a total game changer.
00:56:33Back in May 2005, there was a major discovery on the south side of Chicago. So I decide to drive
00:56:40out to
00:56:41that location about 20 minutes from the Bradley's home to see if anything new will come back to me.
00:56:50There were some, some workers working out here along these railroad tracks and some, some bones were
00:56:57discovered. And so, you know, of course, the police department came out immediately and they brought
00:57:03forensics with them. And they, they did gather the, the bones that were found.
00:57:10Human bones found at a far south side construction site are being sent to an FBI lab in Virginia for
00:57:17DNA
00:57:17testing. It's possible that the bones could have belonged to one of the missing Bradley sisters.
00:57:22News of the bones have been both good and unsettling at the south side church. Ten-year-old
00:57:28Tianda and three-year-old Diamond Bradley's family are members.
00:57:32Revere forensic scientist, Dr. Clyde Snow, best known for working with the John Wayne Gacy case,
00:57:39was called in to analyze and test the bones that were found. They were of a teenage girl.
00:57:46There was a reason for concern because of her age and they didn't quite have her ethnic background,
00:57:56profile worked up. And, you know, of course, I wanted to make sure that it wasn't Tianda,
00:58:02you know, because she would have been too old to be Diamond, according to the bone sizes.
00:58:09Friends at the church say the girl's family would like some closure, but at the same time,
00:58:14they still hold out that Tianda and Diamond are still alive.
00:58:20Of course, you know, the FBI came out, forensics came out, and the FBI did a DNA analysis
00:58:27on the remains that were found. And it turned out to not be any association with Tianda or Diamond Bradley.
00:58:40It was not them. There was a sigh of relief, because that still gives you hope that the girls are
00:58:47still alive.
00:59:03With a case that was this big, I mean, there's, I think, six file cabinets full of
00:59:10information on the case. I still forged forward.
00:59:14I would work leads when they came in. And, uh, a very good bit of advice that the lieutenant gave
00:59:20me
00:59:20was start from the beginning. So that's, that's where I started. And I came upon what I thought
00:59:25at the time was a tremendous piece of evidence. There was a hairs recovered from the trunk of George
00:59:33Washington's car in 2001, when detectives had gone to George's house a couple of days after the,
00:59:38uh, after the kids had gone missing. For some unknown reason, the hairs were
00:59:43never submitted to the crime lab. Investigators did find evidence, including a hair in the trunk of a car,
00:59:51but nothing conclusive enough to make an arrest. To know that there was evidence,
00:59:57or potential evidence, that was just sitting there knowingly, untested,
01:00:02that is disappointing. It's actually infuriating. You have two girls that are missing. Whatever evidence
01:00:12you come across, you make sure it's processed. You don't leave it out. You just don't.
01:00:20This is the first positive piece of evidence that we've recovered in years. And it was recovered from
01:00:27George's trunk. So I submitted these hairs to the FBI crime lab at Quantico to see if it was a
01:00:33match to
01:00:34Teanda and Diamond. I was sitting in the state's attorney's office with an assistant state's attorney
01:00:46that was, I was keeping up to date on the case. And we got a call that the hair came
01:00:51back, a mitochondrial
01:00:52match to Teanda and Tracy. And I was ecstatic. And the state's attorney's office kind of tempered my
01:01:01enthusiasm by saying it wasn't going to be enough to bring anybody in. And I'm not an expert on that
01:01:08kind of stuff. So kind of burst my balloon at that point. I still took it as a positive. I
01:01:15was, I was
01:01:17energized by it. That does sound a bit incriminating when you hear it on its face. But, you know,
01:01:25there are a variety of ways that may have happened. The little girl may have put her backpack
01:01:30back in Tracy's boyfriend's car on her way to school one day, or she may have placed an object
01:01:37in the trunk that may have had a piece of her hair on it. And so there just wasn't enough
01:01:42evidence.
01:01:47George had always denied that the hairs were in his trunk for any suspicious reasons. But I still have
01:01:55questions. In a prior interview, Washington had said he used to put the kids in the trunk
01:02:03and sneak them into the drive-in. Well, I couldn't find any drive-ins that were open in the Chicagoland
01:02:09area back in 2001. Most of them were closed. Did you and George and the girls ever go to a
01:02:17drive-in?
01:02:18A drive-in theater that you can recall? Or a movie theater, for that matter?
01:02:24Wow. I can't recall. I don't remember.
01:02:28All right. Do you ever recall George putting your girls in the trunk of his car
01:02:32to sneak them into a drive-in?
01:02:36No. No. Why would he say he took your girls and you to a drive-in? Why would he say
01:02:45that?
01:02:46I don't know. When you say that, he took me to a drive-in. I don't recall.
01:02:50You're taking me to no drive-in. He said that.
01:02:54Never happened. You never remember nothing like that.
01:03:00I talked to George about that. I said, George, why was Tiana Harry in your car?
01:03:07And he said that he snuck him into the movie theater. And I said, but Tracy said
01:03:12y'all never went to the drive-in. He said, that's a damn lie.
01:03:16He never put you in the trunk of his car. I never get in his trunk or nothing.
01:03:21Never. Never. Never went to a movie with him.
01:03:25Never went out to eat, not to Chuck E.T.
01:03:27Yeah.
01:03:27Nowhere.
01:03:28It was never like that.
01:03:29That's all I'm like. When people, no, never went to the movies with him.
01:03:32Never got in his trunk. Never went nowhere. Ever.
01:03:43In 2003, there was a very interesting development that piqued our interest.
01:03:49Tracy had another baby with George Washington.
01:03:53Now there's a little boy, George Jr. And so George took her to court in 2011 to get custody.
01:04:03I believe that George played mind games with Tracy. He would make her feel like, you know,
01:04:10she, he loved her at some, sometimes. And then at other times he would make her feel like,
01:04:15you know, she was the, the dirt under his feet.
01:04:24Eventually you had a second baby.
01:04:26Yes.
01:04:26Uh, which is George Jr.
01:04:28Yes.
01:04:29You lost custody of George Jr.
01:04:31Yes. I did. I fought the best fight I can. I could. And I didn't have a lawyer. I didn't
01:04:37have
01:04:37no money. You know what I'm saying?
01:04:41He disappointed you in your life. Yeah. And you feel like he stole your children out of your life.
01:04:48I feel like he snatched a lot of stuff from me. Okay.
01:04:51My dignity, my heart, my mom. I know she's passed away. She's turning over now.
01:05:00My children, me, knowing that they're not in the house with me, you know, can't sleep sometimes.
01:05:11To live in fear is no way to live.
01:05:18As time went on, despite the case remaining unsolved, occasionally the media would revisit
01:05:25the story, which has helped in keeping this case present in people's minds.
01:05:30And I do appreciate the national media outlets who did highlight this case all the time.
01:05:39TV One, they had a show called Find Our Missing. And one episode was dedicated to Diamond and Tianda.
01:05:46We reached out to George Washington via Facebook and he responded. He said he wouldn't agree to an
01:05:53interview, but he did say this. It's funny that the family points the finger at me,
01:05:59but the courts seem to feel differently.
01:06:05A woman in Indiana named Letitia Hicks commented on that piece on their website saying that she had
01:06:17information about where George Washington was the day that the girls disappeared and that that
01:06:26information implicated him in their disappearance.
01:06:31My next person that I'm going to bring up, Ed.
01:06:35Yes.
01:06:36Is Ms. Letitia Hicks.
01:06:39What do you know about this lady, Letitia Hicks?
01:06:44She received the message from her stating that she know what happened to the girls.
01:06:52She had to get it off her chest that George showed up at her house.
01:06:57He had been drinking. He was shaking.
01:07:02So received the message from her that she
01:07:05think George had something to do with it.
01:07:07So you text her back?
01:07:09Yeah, of course, because I wanted answers.
01:07:12Well, when I interviewed Letitia, she said that George had blood on him. He had
01:07:18a pair of oversized gym shorts underneath his pants.
01:07:24He took a shower at her house?
01:07:25He took a shower at her house, yes.
01:07:32When police followed up with her about that, however,
01:07:35the timeline did not match up at all with the facts of the case.
01:07:42So she first claimed that this incident had happened on the 4th of July,
01:07:50which is two days before the girls disappeared.
01:07:58In addition to that, even if she had gotten the date wrong,
01:08:03so even if this alleged incident had happened on July 6th, when the girls did disappear,
01:08:12Washington's cell phone records do not match up at all with her version of the story.
01:08:19So she lives in Indiana and his cell phone records show him to be definitively in the Chicago area
01:08:27for the entirety of the day.
01:08:34I'll be the first one to say I dismissed her too quickly.
01:08:38It wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. It won't be the last.
01:08:41But I just, again, I just wish I could find something that ties her to him.
01:08:48And that's, that's why the negative Nellie is coming out.
01:08:58Despite the fact that this case is 22 years old, every year brings new surprises.
01:09:04And in May of 2023, I learn of a new development.
01:09:09Good afternoon. We begin today with a possible break in a Chicago missing persons case that's
01:09:14more than 20 years old. A woman claims she is Diamond and she's gone to the FBI.
01:09:20Here with Diamond Bradley.
01:09:24This is Diamond Bradley. Can I see your scar?
01:09:29She still have the scar.
01:09:31Shalia Bradley-Smith said this young woman submitted a swab of DNA and fingerprints at
01:09:36an FBI office in Texas earlier this week.
01:09:40If what this woman in Texas is saying is true,
01:09:44this could be the biggest break in the case in 22 years.
01:09:50The Bradley family and I decide to fly to Texas,
01:09:53where this woman is located, to try to meet her and see if there's any truth to her story.
01:10:02So we're sitting here with Tracy Bradley and April Bradley and Investigator Foster.
01:10:08And we have traveled from Chicago to Houston, Texas, all because a young lady
01:10:18put on TikTok that she is Diamond Bradley.
01:10:24And Tracy's feeling was that you wanted to come here to meet the girl
01:10:32that could possibly be your daughter.
01:10:35Yes.
01:10:36Just to meet my daughter, this has been missing for 22 years.
01:10:41And you would know immediately that this is your daughter?
01:10:42And I would know immediately if, I mean, to know that that's my daughter. Yes.
01:10:46If she really are Diamond, I want to make sure that she gets the help that she needed
01:10:50to the right peoples.
01:10:52So I end up FaceTiming her while I was at work.
01:10:55And I just asked her, I said, what made you think that you're Diamond?
01:10:59And her response was the way that she grew up.
01:11:01And her parents are treating her wrong every time I ask a question about where I'm from.
01:11:07And I said, well, you know what?
01:11:08I have the right person for you to get in contact with.
01:11:10So that's when I contacted Detective Foster.
01:11:13Okay. So all of these conversations has led us to where we are right now,
01:11:19right here at this moment.
01:11:26Once in Texas, we set up a phone call with the young lady claiming to be Diamond.
01:11:31Our hope is that she will meet with us that afternoon to reunite her with Tracy
01:11:36and determine if she really is Diamond after all.
01:11:48Yes, yes, I'm here. I'm here.
01:11:59Yeah, because we're just trying to get the place we're working at is,
01:12:04if there's not no DNA came in, why did y'all fly all the way from Chicago to Houston?
01:12:09Like, what, what, like, what is, what was the point?
01:12:12Like, it's weird.
01:12:14Because, because the mother of Diamond wants to meet her daughter.
01:12:19That's all.
01:12:19Okay, that's fine. I know, I understand that.
01:12:22But why does she want to meet her without her DNA?
01:12:25Listen, we, we don't, we don't know when the DNA is going to come back.
01:12:29At the end of the day, we are here trying to unite a family.
01:12:33That's all we're here for.
01:12:41Yeah, I'm sorry. You said, you said you're not comfortable until you get the results back.
01:12:46And so, yes, to be honest. And I honestly feel like we should all meet at the FBI office
01:12:51if that's what it's given, because I don't feel comfortable meeting anybody, anywhere.
01:12:56Let me ask you this. Would you, would you be comfortable doing a Zoom right now or no?
01:13:01Why, why would I do Zoom and I haven't even got the DNA back?
01:13:05I don't keep getting stressed. I've had to deactivate all my social media.
01:13:08No, I don't want to do anything. I don't even want nobody to see me.
01:13:11I let my Archie see me and that was good enough.
01:13:14Until I get that DNA back, I don't want to see nobody. I don't want to talk to nobody.
01:13:18I don't even know if y'all, if you, who you stayed with.
01:13:20Oh my God, I'm done.
01:13:23Okay, no problem. All right, we, we just, we.
01:13:30Oh, damn.
01:13:34Now it makes me feel like it's just .
01:13:39She full of .
01:13:42Let's just say, let's just say these people are backing off for whatever reason.
01:13:46So we, we, they got all day, they got all night until we leave tomorrow to make a decision.
01:13:51I'm, I'm, I'm just, just, just getting back and forth. It's, it's crazy.
01:13:55If you don't make the same thing, we just wait for it again.
01:13:57Yeah, just.
01:13:58And if anything, whatever she want to meet again, we'll fly back down again.
01:14:01Yeah, if, if, if she ever want to meet again, you know, we're down for it.
01:14:05Father God, as we stand here as humble as we are,
01:14:10looking for a resolution.
01:14:12Yes.
01:14:12Father God guide us, give us understanding.
01:14:17Give this mother, Father God, your son's blood that the family is looking to reunite with this
01:14:25individual who claimed to be diamond.
01:14:28The DNA results did not come back while we were in Texas and have yet to be revealed.
01:14:34But back in Chicago, the family has not lost hope.
01:14:46It will be 22 years in July that the sisters have been missing.
01:14:52It's been a long, long journey and hopefully that this journey will be over.
01:14:57I don't know when, I can't promise you guys when, but just hopefully it'll be over.
01:15:01I just hope and hope that they return home and to me and my family.
01:15:07Another year has passed and still Diamond and Tionda Bradley are not home.
01:15:12I thank each and everyone for coming out.
01:15:15Again, it has been 22 years and next year it's going to continue, every year it's going to continue
01:15:23going on and on until we find Diamond and Tionda, okay?
01:15:27So we need, I need you guys support.
01:15:30I love you guys and continue supporting my family.
01:15:33What do you think happened?
01:15:38You're honest, the honest, truest, what's in your heart.
01:15:43Man.
01:15:49I'm crying.
01:15:50I think it's more so you really don't want to think the worst
01:15:55about a situation, I still be thinking it's a possibility, but I have my days.
01:16:04I feel like they're gone.
01:16:10That's my mama's seed.
01:16:12That's my mama's generation.
01:16:14That's my mama's blood.
01:16:20I can't let that go.
01:16:23I will do what I have to do to find my nieces.
01:16:29These are my nieces.
01:16:31Everybody in the family should be as adamant as I am about finding Tionda Diamond.
01:16:36Everybody.
01:16:42Thousands of man hours from the Chicago Police Department.
01:16:47People like us have been put into this.
01:16:49I'm going to ask you point blank.
01:16:51Do you know what happened to your kids?
01:16:52No, I would have told you.
01:16:57I want justice for her.
01:17:01For 21 years of suffering.
01:17:08Couldn't go outside without somebody saying,
01:17:11they're going to miss Bradley.
01:17:12She had something to do with them kids being missing.
01:17:16And I'm strong and I'm better.
01:17:44Even though I was just in Texas with Tracy, we've received some new information
01:17:49that sends our heads spinning about her phone records.
01:17:52So I'm on my way to meet Tracy for a follow-up interview
01:17:56to discuss an inconsistency in her story that has come to light.
01:18:00I have to know what Tracy doesn't want to say.
01:18:04What Tracy's afraid of.
01:18:09On the evening of the 5th, on the night, when he say the 6th,
01:18:14he's talking about any time after midnight.
01:18:16No, I was at home.
01:18:18You did not go to George Washington's house?
01:18:20No, because I had to go to work the next day.
01:18:22Okay.
01:18:22Just that day on that day, midnight.
01:18:24I mean, I have to be at work at 7 o'clock.
01:18:28Go ahead.
01:18:29So here's what's happening.
01:18:31Well, you had previously told me on the night of the 5th,
01:18:35after dropping off Victoria and Rita, that you were at your place.
01:18:40We have some information that calls were made to your home between the hours of 7 and 2 a.m.
01:18:53That's correct.
01:18:532.17 is the exact same thing.
01:18:55I don't remember.
01:18:56And you were not home.
01:18:59On the 5th?
01:19:00On, well, 2.17 a.m. is the 6th.
01:19:03Yeah.
01:19:04And so.
01:19:042 a.m.?
01:19:05Yes.
01:19:06Yes, yes.
01:19:06And it's going into the 6th?
01:19:08Yes.
01:19:09No, I was at home.
01:19:10Well.
01:19:11We get the facts.
01:19:12We just want to, we just lead you to a job and you were.
01:19:14Maybe I did.
01:19:15Maybe I did.
01:19:16And you did what?
01:19:17What's that job?
01:19:18Mr. Washington house.
01:19:19That night of the 6th.
01:19:22The night of the.
01:19:24Is it going to the 6th?
01:19:26That is correct.
01:19:27That is correct.
01:19:27It's a possibility that you left Tiana and Diamond.
01:19:31Wait a minute.
01:19:32Go ahead.
01:19:33I'm listening.
01:19:34Yeah.
01:19:36Yeah, boy.
01:19:37I was at Mr. Washington house.
01:19:39Tell me how you know.
01:19:41Because earlier the morning the sun was shining.
01:19:44Mm-hmm.
01:19:47And I remember us coming down State Street.
01:19:50We was coming down State Street early morning.
01:19:52We took, um, we never did get on, uh, uh, Expressway.
01:19:57Okay.
01:19:57I remember us coming down.
01:20:01You know, we took the Expressway.
01:20:04And we was coming up from 47 Ramp.
01:20:07And we got off.
01:20:09And he dropped me off right in front of the job.
01:20:14And you remember that now?
01:20:15Mm-hmm.
01:20:16Yeah.
01:20:18Okay.
01:20:18What time was that?
01:20:19Do you remember?
01:20:20Oh, I had to be in room at 7.
01:20:23Because I had to open up.
01:20:26I had to open up.
01:20:27And I had to, uh, because I was doing serving lunch.
01:20:29For the summer school, you know, for the summer school stuff.
01:20:32For the kids, um, for like this to be.
01:20:34Mm-hmm.
01:20:40I had to open up.
01:20:41Just bag him.
01:20:41I'm doing it.
01:20:42It's all right.
01:20:43It's all right.
01:20:45Come on, we got to be strong here.
01:20:47Yeah.
01:20:52So while you were at George's house that night, what did you guys do?
01:20:57I don't know.
01:20:58Probably my job.
01:20:59We probably get something to eat, you know, just go back, you know, to the house.
01:21:04Hey, Daryl, did you guys stop any place to get something to eat before you arrived at his house that
01:21:08night?
01:21:09Oh, we stopped there.
01:21:11Are we at Bird Camp?
01:21:12I don't even know.
01:21:13Bird Camp.
01:21:14Okay.
01:21:15So the question still hasn't been answered.
01:21:18The question is, why did you tell the police department that you last saw your children
01:21:24that morning before you went to work?
01:21:27I'm sorry?
01:21:28I'm scared.
01:21:29Then just say it, Tracy.
01:21:30It's okay to say it.
01:21:32It's all right to be afraid.
01:21:35It's okay.
01:21:36We're going to see you through this.
01:21:42Tracy has been so inconsistent in her behavior, in her interviews.
01:21:52She nonetheless is now stating, which is totally different from what has ever been reported to CPD,
01:22:01that she didn't leave her house at six in the morning and said,
01:22:06Tionda, don't open the door and don't go outside for anybody.
01:22:09She's telling me that she spent the night at George Washington's house.
01:22:16This means that the girls were on their own all night from the evening of July 5th
01:22:22all the way through July 6th with no supervision.
01:22:27I was shocked simply because that has been her story all along.
01:22:33Yes.
01:22:33Now, part of the problem is that we can't establish some sort of timeline
01:22:39of what time did all of this actually occur.
01:22:43We don't definitively know what time the kids are going missing.
01:22:48Now that the timeline for when the girls disappeared has changed, I've decided to form a task force
01:22:55to get to the bottom of what really happened to the girls.
01:22:58We can bring something to the table to try and find Tionda and Diamond.
01:23:05At this point, there's a lot of information that we're still seeking and we will bring a successful solution in
01:23:11prosecuting this case for the
01:23:13individuals that are responsible for Diamond and Tionda being missing.
01:23:17And we are going to crack this thing wide open and we're going to bring some peace to this family,
01:23:25some peace to this city, and some peace to ourselves because this is what we've been waiting for.
01:23:38We need to, you know, let the spiders out, you know, clear the webs.
01:23:42Let us get into your secrets.
01:23:48Everybody has secrets.
01:23:50Every family.
01:23:51That's what we are going to do here with working this investigation.
01:23:58I want to know what you don't want me to know.
01:24:02And somebody knows what happened to Tionda and Diamond.
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