A Texas woman has claimed in a surfaced video that she is a missing Chicago toddler that disappeared over two decades ago.
Diamond Bradley was 3 years old when she and her 10-year-old sister, Tionda, were reported missing to the Chicago Police on July 6, 2001 while their mother was working.
When the girls’ mother, Tracey Bradley returned home, she was met with silence and a note apparently written by young Tionda, saying the two were going out to the store and a playground.
Chicago police held “an extensive search of the area and surrounding neighborhood met with negative results” after their mother reported the two children missing, according to the FBI.
In the social media video, a woman searches through photos of the missing Diamond and Tionda, before being asked to show a scar on her face — as the pair stand next to a Harris County Constable’s car in Texas.
“Here with Diamond Bradley, this is Diamond Bradley can I see your scar?” the person behind the camera asks the woman claiming to be Diamond. “She still has that scar.”
Diamond, who would be 25 years old in 2023, is said to have a scar on the left side of his scalp, according to the FBI.
Sheliah Bradley-Smith, the girl’s great-aunt, said the woman had reached out to her claiming she was her missing niece.
“She said she has information about Diamond Bradley, and I say what about…?,” Bradley-Smith recounted in an interview with NBC 5. “Well, she says, I am Diamond Bradley.”
Bradley-Smith, who runs multiple Facebook pages dedicated to finding the missing girls, says he told the woman to contact the police, not wanting to be involved with another scam.
“We’ve had about 12 – but easily dismissible,” Bradley-Smith recalled to CBS News about the numerous claims throughout the years people have made about the sisters but this claim was different.
Bradley Smith confirmed on a Facebook post that FBI agents collected DNA samples from the woman who claimed to be Diamond on May 17.
“Thank you to everyone who has sent messages, called, and texted regarding the TIKTOK video being circulated and know that we are fully aware of the video,” Bradley-Smith said. “Due to the sensitivity of the matter, please allow time for the DNA results to be completed. Continue praying and hoping for the best.”
In an interview with NBC Dateline in 2021, family members of the sisters had doubts about the note because the spelling and grammar were too good for a 10-year-old and that Tionda would’ve just called her mother.
Early Saturday morning Bradley-Smith shared a message saying all she can do is hope and pray.
“No matter what we hope, think, doubt, wish, or pray; only the DNA will confirm or deny if she’s my missing niece Diamond Bradley. Either way the search continues.
Both the Bradley family and the FBI haven’t given up the search
“I personally don’t believe that I’m living this nightmare,” Bradley-Smith told NBC5. “You have your hopes up, especially with this happening before. But at the same time you can’t ignore, I have to follow through on any tip that comes…”