Chicago, Illinois | July 6, 2001
Tionda Bradley was 10 years old.
Diamond Bradley was just 3.
They were sisters.
They were full of life.
More than two decades later, no one knows where they are.
Two Sisters Vanish
On the morning of July 6, 2001, their mother, Tracey Bradley, left the girls alone inside their apartment at Lake Grove Village near 35th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue.
When she returned home around 11:30 a.m., they were gone.
Left behind was a handwritten note, believed to have been written by Tionda, stating that she and Diamond had gone to the store and then to the park.
They never came home.
Later that day, Tracey reported the girls missing, launching one of the largest missing child investigations in Chicago Police Department history.
Despite countless searches, interviews, and national media attention, Tionda and Diamond have never been found.
New Attention Years Later
More than 20 years after the sisters disappeared, new information brought renewed public attention to the case.
In 2023, the Investigation Discovery documentary Disappeared: The Bradley Sisters revealed that Tracey Bradley acknowledged she had not gone directly to work the morning the girls disappeared.
Instead, she said she had spent the previous night at the home of her married boyfriend, George Washington, leaving 10-year-old Tionda and 3-year-old Diamond home alone overnight.
Family members have also said there was a message left on the apartment’s answering machine from Tionda stating that they had left with “George.”
According to the family, that recording was later stored in an email account that can no longer be accessed.
Over the years, investigators have publicly acknowledged inconsistencies in Tracey Bradley’s statements.
However, despite decades of investigation, no one has been charged in connection with the girls’ disappearance.
A Family That Never Gave Up
Tracey Bradley and George Washington later had a child together.
George eventually received custody of that child.
Life moved forward for many people connected to the case.
But Tionda and Diamond never came home.
At the time of her disappearance, Tionda was approximately 4 feet 2 inches tall and weighed about 70 pounds.
Diamond was approximately 3 feet 3 inches tall and weighed about 40 pounds.
In 2019, a woman living in Texas claimed she was Tionda Bradley.
The family traveled there, holding onto hope that the nightmare might finally be over.
DNA testing proved she was not.
It was another heartbreaking disappointment.
Their aunt, Sheliah Bradley-Smith, later wrote:
“We don’t jump at every podcast or interview anymore. We’re UNITED. We TALK. We share everything. When we’re ready, we’ll speak.”
The Bradley family has never stopped searching.
They have never stopped hoping.
And they have never stopped demanding answers.
Anyone with information regarding the disappearance of Tionda and Diamond Bradley is urged to contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the FBI, or the Chicago Police Department.
© The Vivid Faces of the Vanished
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