Tionda & Diamond Bradley /// Part 1 /// 672 | Forensic Files

thank you [Music] [Music] thank you welcome to True crab garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks for
listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who has nearly swallowed Alive by a Pac-Man machine
here is the captain it's gonna be seen and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend
[Music] this week in the garage we are drinking down time wheat from the good folks over
at Bulldog Brewing Company downtime is a refreshing lightly hopped American wheat
beer Bulldog is a micro Brewery and you can always find some very unique beers at the microbrew houses across this
great land downtime is light smooth and a little multi five percent ABV garage grade 4 and a quarter bottle caps out of
five and here's some thanks and praise to some of our good friends for helping us fill up the fridge this week first up
a shout out to Renee from aquabog Long Island and a big we like to jib to Teresa a yellow in Oakland California
that's right if you want to get a nice jib from the captain just go to truecrime garage.com click on the Pint
glass and leave a little donation for the beer run yeah BW the bar you win beer run and Colonel that is enough of
the beers then all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime
[Music] foreign [Music] [Music] recent analysis of missing children cases over the course of a two-year
period tells us that there is hope out there 3147 children were recovered after being
missing for six months or longer 151 children were recovered after having been missing for a decade or longer
while those numbers are delightfully surprising please keep in mind that 98 of these
cases involve children who either ran away from home or were abducted by a family member
but that still leaves two percent two percent of the missing kids who were abducted by a non-family member who were
recovered return to their home and to their families that's over 60 kids who got to come home
family abduction cases have the longest average time missing with an average time of 326 days
versus cases of runaways which average the shortest time missing at 61 days and then
there are the cases that we talk about here in the garage cases that don't exactly fit either of
those descriptions maybe a case like today's there is help out there for parents and
families of missing kids and equally important there is assistance and Educational Tools out there to help
parents and families prevent this sort of thing organizations that truly only exist due
to the effort to keep our kids safe one of the best organizations I know of is the national Center for missing and
exploited children or knick-knack every child deserves a safe childhood on the evening of July 6 2001 a 9-1-1
call came into the Chicago Police the caller was a woman and she was calling to report that her
two young daughters were missing Chicago PD Cedric Bailey Special Victims Unit detective was working the night
shift Cedric caught the call and was sent to the mother's apartment Bailey headed out to the 3500 block of
South Cottage Grove on the south side of Chicago once there he met with the female caller
the apartment was located in the Lake Grove Village complex the mother of the two girls Tracy Bradley
said that her daughters ages 10 and 3 were missing for several hours the last time she had seen them
according to her statement the two were at home safe in the apartment when Tracy returned she found the
apartment empty no girls just a note and this ignited one of the largest missing child cases in the windy City's
history two beautiful little girls Two Loving sisters tianda and Diamond Bradley are still
missing and this is true crime garage foreign [Music] this is from the Chicago Sun Times
article dated October 23 2007. Cedric Bailey Special Victims Unit detective got a call from downtown on
the night of July 6 2001. that's a call that he will never forget two little girls were missing but that's
not the only problem that Cedric had with the information that was coming to him that night
it was 9 p.m on that Friday night when he got the call at minimum the call came into Chicago PD two hours prior maybe
more depending on which report you choose to believe even more disturbingly the two girls
were missing for several hours before the call was even placed for detective Bailey right out of the gate there was
going to be a lot of horseshit to sift through the detective was angry and all of the time that had passed the search
for the two missing girls was going to be a battle the uphill kind and he was not sure who was trying to help the
search or who was trying to hide something the girls were missing and there was no
doubt about that their mother Tracy had been looking for them for several hours and even Enlisted the help of family
friends and neighbors the search was officially on according to the police a search of the apartment in the
surrounding areas proved that this was a legit call and there was a solid reason
for great concern one of the biggest problems Tiana age 10 and her little sister Diamond age three
were last seen at approximately 6 a.m that morning they were reportedly left alone by their
mother as she went off to work Tracy Bradley's initial call to police came in about 6 PM or 7 P.M again depending on
which report you listen to some of this time could be accounted for because Tracy along with some family and
friends were looking for the girls and for some of that time probably believed that they would find them
this in part due to a note left by the oldest girl tianda the note said that the two sisters went
to a nearby Elementary School playground and then to a nearby store however no one could find them at either location
well the detective knows as well as we know that no matter how small you are no matter what age you're at you don't just
disappear Into Thin Air police According to some treated Tracy the mother almost
like a suspect from the beginning she was questioned four times in the first few days of this investigation for
a total of 22 hours so that night that she is there to answer the detective's questions while they are searching for
the girls on that Friday night the detectives talk to Tracy Bradley for two hours that night the initial story
that Tracy told police well captain and we don't like to hear this it changed several times well
that's fishy Tracy does not hide from this fact in fact she admits this that she changed her story saying that she
was worried that she would lose her kids if she told the truth right out the gate
and the truth was that she left them home alone while she went to work that day well these investigations to me are
a double-edged sword because we know statistically the younger the victim the more likelihood that somebody in the
family or somebody close to them and we have to remind ourselves when we have a young victim we have a smaller Circle
they have a smaller Social Circle than what me or the colonel would have so it's not out of line to start
questioning people close to them especially their mother but it's the mother's job it's the parents job to
protect their child and so when you're being questioned by law enforcement you want to be
honest you want to be honest in a situation like this because it's an emergency situation so what are some of
the other stories that their mother was was telling law enforcement real quick Captain before we get into that I should
clear one thing up here that this apartment where Tracy and her children lived together there are
supposed to be five people living in this apartment so it's Tracy Bradley and her four daughters she actually has two
daughters that are older than Tiana and Diamond now on that Thursday night her two older daughters were staying at her
mother's apartment which is very nearby but Tracy tells police and this is her first
story that Tiana and Diamond they were at her house on that Thursday night they went to bed as usual on July 5th the
other two girls again staying at their Grandma's house she says that on that Friday she slept until 11 A.M and when
she got up diamond and Tiana were gone so she'd look for them and then called the police
Again part of the problem with that story is she's saying that she got up at 11 A.M this phone call is made at 6 PM
or 7 P.M according to different reports so that's a lot of time to go by if she wakes up
and they are gone yeah if I woke up in the morning and my children are not there and especially young children
you're calling police right away her revised story Tracy admitted that she got up and left for work at 6 00 a.m
and diamond and Tiana were asleep at this time Tiana was enrolled in a summer school
program at a nearby elementary school but she was not going to be going to that program that day because she had to
stay home to watch her little sister the three-year-old diamond Tracy says that she got home sometime
between 11 and 11 30 a.m and when she came home the girls were gone that leads us to Story number three in
her third story she said essentially the following and this is taken from an actual media interview quote I was at
home during the time when they were in this I'm going to struggle with this because these are her words quote I was
at home during the time when they was there I had to be at work at 6 30 or a quarter to seven so I left the house
about 6 30 to make it to work to a quarter to seven to meet The Troop that I have to put that I have to put out for
to feed the kids at the program that I worked at so my work schedule is from 7am to noon
so I get off at 12 o'clock and I'd say I made it home about 12 o'clock 12 30 something like in between that time so
when I got in come in from work I put my key in the door and I unlocked my door and I called for Tiana and diamond
so I didn't get no response so that was the story that story number three that she said to the media to
clear some things up here captain Tracy Bradley Works nearby in fact she works at the large apartment complex
where her mother lives and they run like a summer program because remember it's summertime the
kids are home from school they run a summer program where they have workers come in that oversee some
of these kids it's kind of like a summer camp one of her job duties is to get there a little early quarter to seven
and she prepares lunches and such for the kids that attend this summer program and she watches these children and stays
till noon so when you hear these times right she's saying a lot of times that are very
close in proximity you know I I left at 6 30 to be there at a quarter till seven
I get off work at noon so I got home at noon or 12 30. that's because this her work is very close by it's it's
practically walking distance from where her apartment is yeah but even if you take all three of her stories don't you
find it odd that it's taken her hours to contact law enforcement yes I do uh number one but number two that's a poop
you also have to keep in mind I'm sure some of those minutes were gobbled up by her and her family trying to locate her
girls and probably thinking that they might even be able to yeah that makes sense in the fourth story we get Story
number four she admitted that her boyfriend George Washington um and this was not the founder of our
country was there at her home her apartment that morning he came over between 3 and 4 30 a.m according to
Tracy and drove her to work after 6 A.M this raises all kinds of questions right
we have a bunch of questions and I'm sure that police have the same questions as we do first off why did she lie
I am part believe captain that we have a scenario where maybe she thought my kids are missing it's legit I've not
done anything wrong it doesn't necessarily matter exactly to the story of how they went missing where they may
be as to what I was up to prior to calling the police it doesn't look favorable to her that
she's telling different stories but we're going to get into that here in just a second but for law enforcement to
do a proper investigation they need to know the truth because if she is going to work
multiple times with leaving her children at home that is a schedule or that's a routine that other individuals would
know in the family so or people that were close to them so those individuals that know that scheduled know that
pattern become people of interest that law enforcement would want to talk to exactly and we have all all kinds of
questions here captain one why do we have two daughters staying at Grandma's and not the other two
the one girl the oldest one Tiana 10 years old is supposed to be going to a summer program or to a summer
school class that day so in that equation you really only need a sitter for one child the three-year-old
but it sounds like she made a decision to have the 10 year old watch the three-year-old leave them both home
alone I my head if if she's working this summer program at a nearby apartment complex that her grandmother lives at
My head goes to why not just bring the two kids with you or let Tiana go to her class or her summer school program that
day and take the little three-year-old with you I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time
that a mother or a father got stuck with a tiny little kid and had to bring him with them to work on a on a single day
let's introduce Sheila Bradley here's Sheila Bradley she's our champion here Captain she's the missing girl's
great aunt and she has been extremely vocal and a wonderful advocate for both of these girls since day one
Sheila went on Nancy Grace's TV show while there Nancy Grace asked Sheila why would Tracy lie to the police why did
she lie to the police and Sheila's answer quote well first of all Tracy was told by another family member who had
some previous run-ins with DCFS that's the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services this family member tells
Tracy that you should just look for the girls because if you called the police the Department of Child and Family
Services they are going to probably put you in jail and or take your kids totally
so that's the explanation that Sheila says that she got from her relative Tracy as to why she changed her stories
but not only had Tracy lied but as the captain points out and as we've already said she waited more than
five hours to call police about her missing daughters possibly more than six hours if the reports that she called
9-1-1 are closer to 7 PM if those reports are true right so Tracy was considered suspicious right
from Jump Street the police stated publicly that she was initially Cooperative but then had
stopped being cooperative with their investigation however multiple reliable sources have
reported that regardless of her inconsistent statements that Tracy Bradley passed a polygraph exam well
every time a polygraph test gets brought up I feel like we're a broken record can't use them in court but I I do feel
like it's a nice barometer for law enforcement well especially in this case where you're going she's told us
multiple stories we have to figure out some way of can we believe this woman or not
so let's bring in a air quotes expert to help us make an educated decision on that aspect of
our investigation now proof of her passing the polygraph comes from the Chicago Sun Times this is a July 12
2001 article that says quote the mother Tracy Bradley has been interviewed at least four times and submitted to a
polygraph test which she passed according to a police source after that Tracy obtained an attorney and police
contact with her was required to go through that attorney so let's talk about that for a second here captain
what we have here is exactly what you said earlier it's a double-edged sword for law enforcement yep I'm right again
they need to know all of the details they need to know who is responsible for the girls having gone missing and you
very quickly learn after talking to the mother that she's telling you multiple stories so what is she hiding then on
then let's take a look at across the table from that Detective across the table we have a mother who if she is
innocent if she has no knowledge as to where her children are or where they've gone or who has taken them or why they
are missing then we have across the table from us a victim who is sitting there going why
are you spending so much time on me you should be out looking for my kids she was questioned
for 22 hours total over the course of the first four days of this investigation two hours that Friday
night and then on one occasion on uh the following day six hours then eight hours
on Sunday and then another six hours on Monday so 22 hours that the detective talked to
her now keep in mind they are out actively looking for these girls on the streets in the Parks and
everywhere they can think of while they are talking to the mother now we should also point out too captain
that not only did Tracy pass the polygraph but what about an alibi Tracy was underlined that word was verified to be
at work on the morning in question but let's keep in mind that that alibi only covers Tracy for that morning when
she is working from a quarter to seven till noon her own words yeah because it's possible
that the girls were still at home and she comes home and an accident happens or she does something to the girls and
during that noon to 6 PM window she's responsible for them going missing not just that I think the problem that we
need to truly be looking at as well as the problem you just pointed out let's know let's open up the window a little
bit here Captain because the way I see it no one but Tracy and her so-called boyfriend George
had seen the girls since 10 pm the night before on Thursday has consistently maintained that she had
nothing to do with her girl's disappearance but her shifting stories and some other interesting behaviors
gave her a reputation as a non-cooperative parent and people in the neighborhood who initially rallied
around her started to turn we have roughly a timeline of the night before that they went missing like you said
the mother and the the boyfriend of the mother didn't see the children after 10 pm yes so police learned that friends of
Tracy's had come over to watch the Cubs game on Thursday night so this is very interesting to our
investigation now we have other people with not really a dog in the fight other other than to find the little girls and
to hope that the little girls are found safe and sound who are confirming to police and telling
police the following we went over to Tracy's home we watched the Cubs game that Thursday night and most of them are
saying we you know we left around 10 p.m so that gives us that solid time of the
girls are alive and well and everything's fine at 10 pm Thursday night the friends were questioned and
reported that they saw both diamond and Tiana there at the apartment and reporting that both were fine and acting
normal at that time now to further back that up the Cubs finished the 2001 season 88 and 74. not
terrible and on that Thursday night they beat the Mets 13-4 this according to back to baseball.com which is an amazing
website by the way the game lasted three hours and 10 minutes the game was played
at Shea Stadium in New York city so keep in mind the time change from New York to
Chicago that night it was a 7-10 pitch New York time so the game was over at 9 20
Chicago time which makes perfect sense that the friends would be ushering out of Tracy's apartment around the 10
o'clock hour [Music] [Music] all right we are back cheers mates to the windows to the walls to the people
in the front and to the people in the back cheers colonel cheers to you Captain cheers to all of our wonderful
listeners out there cheers to the people that have contributed to the Beer fund over the past couple of months and past
couple of weeks I do want to send a request to all of you wonderful beer fund donators
please check your spam box nobody puts True Crime Garage in their Spam box but I think that's where we are ending up
Captain because when you donate to the Beer fund you get a nice little email from the captain in the colonel
requesting your name and City and check that spam box let us know where you are so we can shout you out on a future show
now we're going to give a shout out in a minute to one of the captain's favorite
people uh a one miss Oprah Winfrey uh but before we get it we dated a little bit in high school well you should have
locked that up because I think that she's worth quite a good deal a coin my friend my grandma used to say you could
love a rich one as much as you can a poor one this next part Captain let's call it phone records but put a nice
bold question mark after the word records right Tracy told investigators that while she
was at work on that Friday the the morning in question that she called her own apartment three times in the early
morning hours but never got an answer so she's calling home she knows she left her girls alone at
home nobody's picking up the phone it's unknown whether police verified that these calls actually happened
but if they did verify that these calls happened it makes it even all the more alarming
that Tracy didn't go home to see what was going on or what was wrong with her girls that they're not answering the
phone now according to a 2021 article in Oprah daily police pulled the phone records at
Tracy's apartment and they indicated quote that several calls from other numbers to Tracy's
apartment went unanswered over the course of the morning and there were two Hang-Ups end quote
so Tracy Bradley has a cell phone we know that they pulled the records based off of this Oprah daily article
nowhere does it State 100 percent that they verified the three calls coming from Tracy's cell phone to her own
apartment but we know they were looking into the phone calls there was an incredibly huge and
extensive search a huge search effort for these two little girls was underway during the whole course of the early
parts of this investigation and in fact at first at the very first the Bradley girls were considered quote
missing by the police the police who felt with some evidence that they had walked off that the girls
had walked off and perhaps just gotten lost or distracted this again from Oprah daily which of
course is not usually one of our go-to sources but reporter Lee Kunkel did a very
informative and lengthy article in 2021 gangbusters work as we say here in the garage so we relied on that article
quite a bit well this was a huge story out of Chicago and where is my ex-girlfriend from
Chicago and look I try to lock it down but the problem was we were we were so uh there was too much passion
that we that we had to separate it so uh we had to separate so Oprah could go on
to have a good career according to Lee's article the Chicago Police responded immediately and again according to Lee's
article he says this statistically is unusual for a case involving missing black children the initial search for
the girls involved three police cars two supervisors and two K-9 units which combed the neighborhood
which included dumpsters yards vacant Lots businesses and the lakefront that is there
on July 10th this is with the girls now missing for four days and FBI spokesman this is Ross rice told
the Chicago Tribune quote we're still trying to find out what happened and we don't know
the family pushed back arguing that the girls had been abducted the FBI agent goes on to say
I didn't want the community to overlook it like oh it's two kids who ran away Sheila the aunt the great aunt told USA
Today no these kids were taken Sheila has become she went on to become the most present and vocal advocate for
the two girls keeping their case in the spotlight and successfully getting the Chicago PD and the FBI to reclassify the
investigation just after a few days as missing slash endangered and unfortunately that is the status
still the status of this case to this day by July 12th it was officially termed a
criminal missing person's investigation detective Ed Carroll who worked the case
for several years said to the Chicago Tribune State Police FBI Chicago they threw everything they had at it they set
up a hotline they set up a command post as far as I know there were entire tactical teams and detectives detailed
to this investigation at least for the first month if not longer but one of the things that we like to do and one of the
things I've learned from your expertise throughout these last seven years is trying to break down the timeline and
make it shorter make our Windows shorter and so but there's no signs of force entry there's no signs of breaking in
right are we to assume that when the the mother and the boyfriend wake up that they just didn't check on the
daughters or do they just not remember checking on them no according to the mom she spoke with
both of the girls especially the 10 year old before leaving for work that day so
then that would put our window about 6 30 a.m correct if again though we're sitting here yes she passed the
polygraph but it it Still Remains difficult to believe her every word or any word right and so
all we have is the window remains wide open and in a big window at this point because truly
the last confirmed sighting by somebody other than George or other than their mother is roughly 10 p.m the night
before and there's no 100 percent confirmed sightings other than George and Tracy
after that 10 p.m time after the Cubs game that night and here's look here's another thing that always aggravates us
right surveillance cameras at the apartment complex they're not working they're not work again it's the it's the
false sense of security that you give to your residents you have security cameras
you just choose to not use them but this is another reason why you might want to
look into the parents because they would have known that the cameras of the apartment complex are possibly would
have known that the cameras at the apartment complex didn't work it's it's aggravating as hell
there's a chance that we could have saved two little girls lives or at least know where they are bring them home had
you just bothered to make sure that your security cameras your surveillance cameras at your apartment complex were
working and guess what they don't do at the apartment complex Captain they don't
do it anywhere when the cameras stop working they leave them up false sense of security they don't go around to
every resident and say oh by the way those cameras stop working or we ain't changing the tapes no more we ain't
paying for digital recording no more they don't tell anybody that they leave you with feeling a false sense of
security investigators canvassed the playground so we mentioned this in at the top of the
show there was a note that was left when Tracy Bradley comes home and does not find her girls
she finds a note and this note is saying that the notes written from Tiana saying me and Diamond we are going to a
playground and then we're going to go to the store and they never come home they never
return and of course Tracy and her family and friends checked the playground the nearest playground or the
playground they believe that Tiana was talking about and the store that they believed that
she was talking about we get some conflicting reports when police start going around and canvassing the
neighborhood and talking to people they couldn't from my understand find anybody at the store that had ever said
that they had seen the girls they did find one or two people most of them children that said that they saw the
kids saw the girls at the playground but as we all know kids can be easily confused especially when you start
asking about dates and about times I can't say I can't sit here and say captain that the kids that were
interviewed were interviewed at 9 00 PM 10 p.m 11 p.m that Friday night they likely couldn't track down these
kids who were at this playground this local playground that is shared by everybody in the community they wouldn't
know who to ask that night so these children that are saying yeah we saw the girls at the playground this could be
the following day two days later three or four days later I'm sure they saw the girls at a
playground at the playground at one time I just can't say that they were actually
seen on the day in question and we know that adults can confuse dates and times as well in fact the neighbor of the
Bradleys this is Fred Ramsey told the press that Tiana knocked on his door around 10 a.m asking if his daughter
could come out and play and he told her it was too early another neighbor Sheila Adams no
relation different Sheila said that she saw both girls playing with other children in the in the complex between 2
30 and 3 o'clock on that Friday the girls had asked her if if she had any candy or juice
again none of these sightings including the two neighbors that we just discussed
have ever been confirmed so there is and there is not 100 verified sightings of the girls
since 10 p.m on Thursday night it was if they had completely evaporated what if we buy what the mother is
telling us that she saw her daughter she left for work if we buy maybe even the neighbor hey
one of the girls came by to see if my daughter could play now they're out into the world
at this complex would how many people are connected to this apartment complex it's a big apartment
complex and more importantly the apartment complex where Tracy's mother the girl's grandmother lives at is I
believe it's said to be one of the largest if not the largest complex in the United States so yeah then we get it
like you said Chicago is not a small City my friend it's a heavily populated area and this is the south side of
Chicago so yeah we have now one large apartment unit the space between that unit and the next
unit and then maybe the one of the largest apartment complexes in the world in the United States yeah and and now
you have to deal with all those people because of the proximity become people of Interest
well and what we do know Captain is that according to reports over 500 officers searched a massive area
and interviewed more than one thousand people this including 30 relatives of the two girls 100 detectives worked the
case around the clock 20 Agents from the FBI's violent crimes task force joined in the investigation and the FBI handled
all of the evidence so the FBI is in charge of all the physical evidence but one thing that's missing from these
reports speaking of evidence one thing that I have not seen not heard anything about is whether Tracy's
apartment was searched for any signs of blood or whether anything other than the
little girls were missing from the apartment well like I was saying before if she came home and there was some kind
of accident that maybe she's responsible for or the younger girls responsible for or the
boyfriend is responsible for does it become a cover-up situation they could have detected that if
they had searched the apartment from top to bottom 824 tips Captain came in the first week
in the first few weeks of this investigation and according to reports every one of those 824 tips were
followed up on the national Center for missing and exploited children published in circulated flyers for each of the
girls the girls were featured on America's Most Wanted on Saturday July 14 2001. so they go missing on the sixth
their story their images their faces are on America's Most Wanted on July 14th eight days later
and what we learn is fewer than one dozen tips actually come in after the Airing of that episode so where they
were hoping for this to lead to something good in the investigation it didn't pan out well it's so frustrating
too because you can see where the lies to law enforcement from the mother initially
make the case way more complex because like you said if you can believe what the mother says then you're
shortening that time period and you're shortening your suspects and and where to look there is a reward
that's still available in this case yeah very quickly Captain we have 17 500 that
was put up as reward money for information in the case and that money came from ten thousand dollars from the
FBI five thousand dollars from the Chicago public school system and twenty five hundred dollars from the apartment
building management company itself now we have the FBI very quickly in this investigation going on record this is
Late July saying our speculation is that someone out there knows something but perhaps they have not come forward
because they're afraid that their information will not be confidential what we are saying is the information
will be confidential we will offer money for it two little girls who have gone missing in this way didn't just walk
down the street and disappear someone saw something and the FBI believes that someone will know where they are located
this statement could not be more truthful could not be more honest because the way I see it if in fact if
the girls were left alone that day while Tracy Bradley went off to work then very
likely what we had happen if the girls left the apartment on their own somebody should have seen them
if they left with an abductor or were carried out of the apartment with an abductor or abductors
somebody should have seen them hell if you would have had surveillance cameras well oh wait you did but they weren't
working you would have had some footage of what actually happened that day so initially law enforcement is thinking uh
these girls ran away or they went outside to play but we're probably going to find them
but when you start talking and you start asking questions to the mother and she's
being untruthful this I mean this just starts sparking red flags all over the place there's a
lot of red flags here interesting though that the Chicago Police 20 days after the girls go missing they labeled the
case a kidnapping they do say publicly that they found nothing specifically pointing to Foul Play
but as far as their investigation went and along with the search and the searches for the girls turning up
nothing it's looking more and more to detectives and investigators like the girls were taken away by someone
possibly that they trusted that the two girls trusted and so at this point in your investigation if you are labeling
it a kidnapping you are hoping that the two are alive somewhere and in the care of someone who took them again someone
that they knew and if I'm law enforcement I am harping on the idea of was this a normal
action was this a normal part of your routine did you leave your daughter's home alone
before did was there a schedule where you left them home and if so who knew about this
because there's no sign of breaking and entering but if you know the girls and you know the schedule and you know
that they're going to be alone and you're a horrible pile of [ __ ] you might use this as an opportunity
to do something horrible well think about the phone records that we discussed Captain according to police
what they're saying about the phone records was that there were several hang-up calls that were reported on that
record and think about that for a minute if you see if you live in the apartment complex
and you see Mom going off to work well then you go all right well there could be four girls in that apartment
there could be three there could be two there could be one or zero um how about I call that number I know
them let's see if somebody picks up and if they do who picks up the phone and if
it ain't mom or a an adult I'm gonna make my move because here's my window of opportunity you're exactly
right if somebody was watching them when we say somebody that they trusted it doesn't have to be a family member
it doesn't have to be a family friend it could be a neighbor or somebody that lives there that they know that they've
talked to before yeah or somebody that they might know posing as somebody that they would be
comfortable opening up the door for before we continue to flesh out this timeline a little bit more
we should make clear that the Department of Child and Family Services had never been called to
Tracy's apartment before that doesn't we don't know what was going on inside of that apartment we don't know the
relationship or how the girls were treated all we know at this point is they were missing and there's not been
any speculation of any kind of abuse leading up to this point there's been no zero
zero reports of that leading up to the girls gone missing now we do know that Tracy said that her air quotes boyfriend
George picked her up from work on Friday and took her to get a cake this at a Jewel Osco
store uh-huh and investigators located a receipt from the store which was stamped
time stamped 12 21 pm Tracy had said earlier that she tried to call tianda at the apartment several
times and got no answer so it does seem a little weird to call home after leaving your girls
home alone getting no answer and then deciding that you know what rather than going directly home
rather than leaving work and going home sometime during my work day let's stop off at the pastry shop real
quick at the uh Jewel Osco and go pastry shopping before coming home to find the
apartment empty and she does say that when she arrived at the apartment George was with her so
George goes into the apartment with her she says that immediately she started searching for the girls when asked why
she didn't call police immediately she said that she assumed that they were playing somewhere in the complex
remember we do have that note saying that they might be playing somewhere in the complex
she and her sisters Tracy and her sisters and other family members searched all over
this including the Ida B Wells complex where the girls had friends this is a nearby complex they
also searched the shores of Lake Michigan which was just blocks away they searched there because the girls like to
go there and play sometimes in the water police found footage of a pair of girls
who actually looked like Tracy's daughters at the Jewel Osco store located at 35th and King Drive
the police said there's a resemblance it's close enough to Peak the interest of investigators
again though we don't have anybody saying that they saw the actual girls there at that store that day well like
you said this this case is getting attention and when you're getting attention but
there's not much information coming back to you there has to be a level of frustration
that's Rising for law enforcement and it would if and if I was a detective in this case now I'm not so worried about
looking outward I'm looking at at looking inward at family and friends that are connected to these two victims
well and it's been said that the investigation was complicated by the fact that each of Tracy's four daughters have
different fathers it's believed that Tracy at the time may have had multiple boyfriends herself we
know of George Washington who is referred to as her boyfriend per Tracy's words there is a man named
Daniel Torres who is a security guard or was a security guard at the time that the girls went missing he professed to
be Tiana's real father this in an interview but also said that he and Tracy had not been in contact and he had
not seen Tiana for seven years leading up to the girls disappearance she's 10 at the time that she goes missing he
told the Tribune he was I mean he's being honest he says quote I ain't been around
people look at me as a low life but I love my daughter he goes on to say her name is tattooed on my right arm
congratulations sir you got a tattoo of your daughter's name instead of spending
time with her or supporting her yeah or maybe take that money that you're going to spend on the tattoo and uh support
your dog yeah put it in an envelope drop it off at Mom's house that'd be a step in the right direction
according to the Tribune Tracy Bradley had filed two paternity suits against two different men trying to establish
who the father of diamond was the youngest girl this is according to court records the first lawsuit was dismissed
after DNA testing ruled one of the men out the second lawsuit was filed in June against the man whose home was searched
on the second lawsuit was filed in June so the month or weeks or days before the
girls go missing and was filed against a man who you've heard his name before Captain George
Washington his job at the time He's listed as a welder he's the man the boyfriend if you
want to call him that who drove Tracy to work that morning and picked her up this
on the day that the girls vanished but one thing I've learned about you my friend
is there any case that involves a note your ears perk up that's exactly right and that's one
thing that we've not really dissected yet it's the note because remember that Mom Tracy Bradley says that when she
came home from work that day that she found a note that was to her from her girls explaining why they were not in
the apartment and where they would be and here's the deal Captain if this note is legit then that proves that could be
proof that when Tracy Bradley left that morning for work that her girls were in fact alive and well after she left the
apartment that day and we know that Tracy Bradley was at work that day that was verified by law enforcement with
multiple other people and sources Tracy Bradley comes home she doesn't find her girls she simply
finds a note that says that Tiana and Diamond were leaving the apartment to go to a nearby School playground and to go
to the Jewel Osco store but does the Note actually exist and if so who actually wrote that noob
[Music] want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage so much more to get
to join us same bat Time same bat Channel and until tomorrow is it really the same
bat time no be good be kind and don't litter [Music] thank you

Tionda & Diamond Bradley /// Part 1 /// 672

Part 1 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com (http://www.truecrimegarage.com/)

Sisters Tionda and Diamond have been missing for over twenty years now. Their mother left the two little girls home alone on work day in the summer of 2001. When she returned home, the girls were gone and a note was left saying the two had gone to the playground. Tionda was ten years old and Diamond was just three. This week we go through the complicated timeline of events surrounding their disappearance. This case has been labeled missing and endangered. We believe the girls may have been abducted by someone they knew. The F.B.I. asks that anyone with information about the disappearance of Tionda and Diamond Bradley contact the Chicago Police Department detectives at 312-747-8380 OR your local F.B.I. office. The family’s private detective can be reached at 847-579-9771.

National Missing Children’s Day is Thursday, May 25th, 2023. True Crime Garage has worked with and continues to support The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). To help in the fundraising efforts to bring kids home and to make sure that every kid has a safe childhood please join us in our efforts by going to our giving page

Beer of the Week - DownTime Wheat Beer from Bulldog Brewing Company

Garage Grade - 4 and a quarter bottle caps out of 5

Thank you for your continued support of this independent podcast. Tell a friend to join you and us in the Garage next week. Cheers Nic & The Captain

Brief Summary

The episode discusses the 2001 case of missing sisters Tiana and Diamond Bradley in Chicago and the investigation's challenges.

Key points

Hope for Missing Children. Recent analysis shows over 3000 children were recovered after being missing for months.
The Case of Tiana and Diamond. Two sisters went missing, igniting a major investigation in Chicago.
Tracy's Inconsistent Stories. The mother of the missing girls changed her story multiple times during the investigation.
The Search for Missing Girls. A massive search effort for two missing girls begins, involving police and community support.
Conflicting Reports. Witnesses provide conflicting accounts of the last sightings of the girls, complicating the investigation.
The Role of Surveillance. The failure of surveillance cameras raises questions about the investigation's direction.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Every child deserves a safe childhood.

Discussing the importance of child safety organizations.

4:22WatchMay 25, 2023

Tension

60/ 100Some tension

More from True Crime Garage TV

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.