All language subtitles for Disappeared.The.Bradley.Sisters.2023.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.BZ]

[dramatic music]

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My name is Pamela Childs.

♪

[Pamela] Most people when they
hear Special Victims Unit,

think of television drama.

For me, it's been my life.

♪

Since 2001,

people have known me

as someone who closes
missing persons cases.

♪

But there's one case
that has remained unsolved

for 22 years,

since my first year
as a detective

on the job until now.

♪

[reporter] July 6th, 2001.

Tracey Bradley leaves
her daughters

home alone
while she goes to work.

She returns to find a note

saying they were headed
for this school.

They never made it.

[Pamela] We were all
sent down.

Every able-body that's working

for the Chicago Police
Department.

[newswoman] A massive
police investigation

by air, water,
and along the railroad track.

[Pamela]
It was the biggest manhunt

that the City
of Chicago ever had.

♪

Twenty-two years,

five lead detectives.

Several of them have died
since these girls disappeared.

We've since seen 9/11,

a housing crisis,

and a major pandemic,

and yet Diamond
and Tionda Bradley

are still missing.

♪

From the very beginning,

there were elements
to this story

that just didn't sit right.

[newsman] Within the community
of the south side of Chicago,

from what I understand,

there's been
a great deal of suspicion

against the mother.

That's not to say
that she's guilty of anything.

♪

[Pamela] This case
has haunted me for 22 years.

At the heart of it,

the Bradley family
has changed forever.

♪

[Rita] I saw my mom
coming my way

and she was like, Rita, have
you seen Tionda and Diamond?

I'm, like, no.

And then she was like,
get up, they're missing.

[Tracey] I was feeling
like something...

something is wrong.

♪

[Pamela] The mystery remains

and the case is wide open,

[train passing]

and somebody knows

what happened
to Tionda and Diamond.

[dramatic opening music]

[music fades out]

[somber music]

[Pamela] When the Bradley
girls disappeared in 2001,

I was a new detective.

I gave all of my missing
persons' cases

the dedication,

everything I had to give

for 29 years with
the Chicago Police Department.

If a victim
has been missing for...

a year, or maybe nine months,

that is so unusual, but,

for Tionda and Diamond,

these girls have been
missing for 22 years.

[calm instrumental music]

My name is Ed Carroll.

I'm a retired
Chicago Police Detective.

I was a Chicago Police Officer
for 26 years.

I retired in 2013.

I was a detective
for 13 years.

I still miss the job.

♪

[Ed] I came upon
the Bradley case

when I got assigned to Bradley
in the Cold Case Department.

♪

[dramatic music]

[Leigh] This case did become

the largest missing
persons' investigation

in Chicago

that we had ever seen
in the city at the time.

For the Bradley family,

the summer of 2001
was like any other.

The 4th of July was two days
before the girls disappeared.

[calm instrumental music]

[Kathy] Our July 4th
celebrations in Chicago

are very robust,
very loud, very crowded.

No matter where you go,
you know,

you can ride down any street
in any neighborhood

and you can smell the barbecue
coming from the grills.

You can hear
the kids playing,

maybe you can see
the ice cream truck.

You hear the fireworks.

♪

[Pamela] The 4th of July 2001

was one of the last times

that the family
was all together.

For Tracey, the girls' mother,

it was a good day.

[Pamela] You guys
had a family outing,

is that correct,
on the 4th of July?

[Tracey] -Yes.
[Pamela] -Where was that?

Washington Park.

[Tracey] We had a little
thing out there,

and we had fun, you know?

Okay. Like a family barbecue?

Yes, something like that.

♪

[Rita] Me and my mom

and some of my cousins
and my aunts,

you know, we went
to Washington Park.

That was the 4th of July.

We was by the lake.

[Victoria] Water, yeah.

'Cause I remember
we had a ball

and Diamond kept hitting
the ball in the water.

[Rita] So I remember that.

[music gets tenser]

Tionda, the only one wearing
a different color that day.

We all had on purple,

[Rita] Tionda had on green.

And Diamond had purple.

[Victoria] And ponytails with
little twisties going down.

And how old were you in 2001?

[Rita] Twelve

[Pamela] And Victoria?

[Victoria] Eight, nine.

[Pamela] It's essential
with missing people

to retrace their steps

in the days leading up
to their disappearance.

You never know
what detail might emerge

that breaks the case open.

♪

[Pamela]
This is Washington Park.

This is the park that
Tracey Bradley and her family

spent 4th of July together.

It was the last place
that the family

spent time with
Tionda, Diamond,

Victoria and Rita
all together.

[dramatic music]

[Shelia] My niece, Tracey,
had four kids.

We've always just been
one big family.

Ooh, Lord, have mercy. Mmm...

♪

You know, I write them down
as each baby is born.

[April] At the time,
I was in my early 20s.

Tionda was ten,
and Diamond was three.

[tender music]

Tionda was very outspoken.

Very mature for her age.

She knew how to cook
during that time.

Umm, she was a little
mini adult, to be honest.

[laughs] So, she took the role
of having a big personality,

so that way you knew
who she were.

♪

Diamond had barrettes
and beads all the time.

She was a baby.

She can talk as much as,
I will say, at least 20 words.

♪

Diamond was more the shy one.

♪

[dramatic music]

[Pamela] At the time,
the girls' mom,

Tracey, was dating
a friend of hers

named George Washington.

♪

Re-examining the facts
of this case 22 years later,

I want to ask the family
more about him.

[Pamela]
Let's talk a little bit

about your relationship
with George.

You had been dating
him for how long?

[Tracey] For a while,
since '90...

'95, '96.
Somewhere about there.

[tender music]

[April]
She didn't like George.

She loves him.

She was in love with George,

and I've never seen her

as happy as I was with George.

[Pamela] What did he do?

It was just the attention.

♪

The attention.

He would show up at her house
and just spend time with her,

and talk with her.

♪

[Tracey] We would go out
for a little bit,

and at night time
he would come and get me

and we'd just go to his house.

♪

[Ed] My understanding
is that George was never

close to the girls.

[tense music]

[Rita] Only time we probably

may connect with George
if we were at my Grandma house

or he pick us up, 'cause mama
go pick us up from there.

She would pick us up
and take us home

so we get ready
and go to school.

I've never been to his house.

Never been to eat with him.
Never in life.

♪

[Pamela] Moving on
to the 5th of July.

[Tracey] Yes.

[Pamela] You were home with
all your daughters, correct?

[Tracey] Yes.

♪

July the 5th.
George Washington

asks if we we do wanna
go camping...

♪

[Ed] He asked you
on the 5th of July

if you wanted
to go camping? Okay.

[Tracey] I have to go back
to refresh my memory.

[Pamela] Okay.

[Tracey] It might have
probably been about a week...

a week ago or something
like that, so...

[Ed]
So a week prior to July 5th?

[Tracey] -Right, right.
[Ed] -Okay.

[Tracey] He was his, hmm...

He say so that he wanted
to go camping.

[Tracey] It was only
a weekend.

I did not know
where it was at, but,

I went to the store and bought
some camping stuff,

like a tent.

♪

[Shelia] George was planning
to go on a camping trip,

but I was surprised

that he cared enough
to take Tracey and her kids.

[Rita]
Probably up for months before

that he kept saying we was
all gonna go camping,

but then, down the line,
it was, like,

we're gonna take
Tionda and Diamond first

and then you and Victoria
the next week.

[Victoria] 'Cause my mama,
she wasn't struggling

but when you got
four kids so...

[dramatic music]

you know, it was a hard time,

and they felt like they could
not afford to take all four.

♪

[Pamela]
Victoria explained to me

that Rita and Victoria

were at their
Grandmother's house

the night before,

the evening
of the 5th of July,

and Tionda and Diamond
stayed home with Tracey.

♪

I didn't really
understand that,

but I guess, you know,

people have their reasoning
for doing things that they do.

There has to be
a logical reason

why the four girls
were separated.

[soft instrumental music]

[Tracey] We end up
dropping them off and...

I think I...
We went back to the house.

Diamond and Tionda were there,
they were sleeping on the bed.

[Pamela] What happened
the rest of that evening?

[Tracey]
I have to think back a little.

Okay, take your time.

[Tracey] We end up
dropping them off and...

♪

I think we went back
to the house,

or we either went
somewhere,

either to the house
or somewhere we went.

That was it.

I got on a couch
and laid down, went to sleep.

The next day I told Tionda

"I'm going to work.

After that, we'll go camping.

♪

Don't open the door
for nobody."

George took me to work.
He dropped me off.

[Pamela] So you get to work
at about seven in the morning?

[Tracey] Yes. Because I have
to open up, yes.

[Pamela]
Okay. So you two adults

are the only two people

that had knowledge
that Tionda and Diamond

- was in that apartment alone?
[Tracey] -Um-hum. Right.

[Pamela] When you left for
work that morning.

[Tracey] Yes. They was there.

[Pamela] -No one else knew.
[Tracey] -No.

[tense music]

[Shelia] Tracey was working
the lunch,

what they used to call
a lunch program.

[Pamela] Yes.

[Shelia] After work, she was
going on a camping trip.

[Pamela] Okay. And you started
checking in on the girls...

[Tracey] -Yes. Yes.
[Pamela] -By calling.

[Tracey] After that morning,

I had like
a little lunch break

so I called,
and I called, and I called,

but it wasn't no answer.

It just kept going
to voicemail, voicemail.

Then I call my mom.

My mom and...
She kept calling.

She kept calling
the house too.

[Pamela] Okay. At some point,

George Washington returns.

[Tracey] Yes, he picked me up.

♪

George picked me up from work

and I'm coming home
and the back door was open.

♪

[Tracey] We walked up
the stairs and everything

and I put my key in the door,

and I called
for Diamond and Tionda.

So I was nervous
and, you know, like,

where are they, you know?

[dramatic music]

[Pamela] When Tracey entered
her apartment from work,

on the morning of the 6th,
around noonish,

there was a note

that was discovered
in the house.

[Shelia] There was a note,
on the back of the couch,

that said that
they were going to school

and they were going up
to the store.

♪

I find it odd.

[Rita] And when we went up
the stairs,

my mom opened the door.

My mom just knocked
the TV over and got to crying,

and got to calling the family.

[Shelia] My sister, Marie,

told Tracey,
do not call the police.

Let's just look for the kids
'cause if you call the police,

they're gonna take
Vicky and Rita.

♪

[Tracey] I was scared.
I wanted to find 'em,

you know, like on my own

to see if I could find them,
you know,

you know, and see what,

who house they went to,
you know, and just look around

so we went
by the lake and all,

over there, and everything,

you know, searching. I asked,
have you seen two girls,

you know?
They're, like, no, no.

[Pamela] And in your mind
you're thinking,

[tense music]

you know, I left 'em alone,

I could get
in trouble for this.

[Tracey] Yes.

[somber music]

[Pamela] To really reacquaint
myself with this case,

I had to go back
to where it all began.

♪

[Pamela] I am here

at the Lake Grove Village
apartment complex.

This is the home
of Tracey Bradley

and her four children.

Around the side
of the building

was a door, a side door

that was easy access
from her apartment.

The side door
that was always held open

by a rock or something
that they stuck in it,

to get in and out.
Rarely did the kids

use the front entrance,

which would be right here.

Hmm, they always went
around to the side entrance.

[Pamela]
This is the back entrance

to Tracey's building

where, back in 2001,

this back door
was always open and now,

it's 2023 and the back door
is still open.

♪

[Victoria] I remember
just going home

and everybody
just being there,

♪

and everybody looking
so devastated,

because you really...
Something like this happening,

you really wouldn't think
it would happen to our family,

but it did.

And just seeing
my mama crying,

putting towels
around her forehead.

Just crying. Devastated.

[emotional piano music]

[Tracey] Since my kids
have being gone just put...

a totally stop on my life.

♪

Heartbreaking.

You know I just...

talk to my Lord God
and Jesus.

I never thought my side.

It was sad.

♪

It had took a lot out of me.

[Pamela]
You gotta just let it out.

♪

[Tracey]
I remember calling my mom,

she said, hmm,
"Call the police."

[Pamela] Now, mom knew
before seven hours went by.

Yeah.

[Pamela] Okay. mom came over.

Yes.

[dramatic music]

[Pamela] I was
in the detectives' division

for approximately one month.

When the Bradley girls
disappeared in 2001,

in my heart of hearts,

I felt like it was going
to be a challenge

to locate...

♪

Tionda and Diamond Bradley.

♪

[Pamela] We were all
sent out

after seven PM
on that same evening.

According to their mom,
the girls

were not in the apartment

when she returned
home from work

at 11 o'clock in the morning.

That's an eight hour jump

that any bad guy has on us

to be successful

in locating these girls,

and tracking where they
could possibly be.

♪

[newsman] One Chicago
neighborhood

is focused on two little girls

who have been missing
since Friday.

[newswoman] A massive
police investigation followed

by air, water,
and along the railroad tracks.

Canine search teams
went through empty lots

and more than 5,000
abandoned buildings.

[newsman] A playground
on the south side of Chicago,

empty.

[woman]
There's no kids out here.

It's like this now every day

since the children
been missing.

[soft dramatic music]

[Kathy] That evening,

when people were getting home
and end their business day,

that's when the City
started to find out

that the girls were missing.

So we sprang into action.
We went to Bronzeville,

to the scene where they say
they were missing from,

to find out
who knew something.

Any small thing

could help with pieces
of this puzzle.

♪

[Pamela] After having
a briefing in our office,

we went out,

and we were on the scene.
We were in the apartment.

♪

I observed the apartment
was in normal disarray,

which means that tables
weren't turned over.

It didn't appear
to be a fight,

but it was just
normal household items

in the apartment.

Family members were there.

Other police officers
were there.

It sort of became
a scene of concern

for all of the police
that were involved.

I interviewed the mom,
Tracey Bradley,

for approximately an hour.

♪

That morning, Tracey Bradley
leaves her home

knowing that Tionda
and Diamond

is in the house
by themselves

and Tracey Bradley
had with her

her friend, George Washington.

At approximately
six o'clock, am,

when Tracey usually left
for work.

They walked out
of that apartment

and closed that door.

♪

[April] You know, in life,

especially when you have
your own family,

any working family

leave their children
at home alone at that age.

It was common.

[Rita] When she had
stuff to do

she left us in the house
by ourselves,

you know, she did...

[Pamela]
Okay, but you were 12.

Yeah. I was old enough.

[train passing sound]

[Pamela] At the very
beginning,

in the deepest part of me,

I felt that somebody
had the girls.

There was no signs
of forced entry at the house.

[soft dramatic music]

All types of things
were being said,

but, in my heart of hearts,

I felt like the girls
were kidnapped

by somebody that they knew,

and George and Tracey
were the only two people

that we can look at to...

bring more clarity to...

what happened
to Tionda and Diamond.

♪

[dramatic music]

[Pamela] When speaking
to Tracey,

her demeanor ranged
from distraught to afraid,

to defensive.

♪

After a few hours
of the investigation,

Tracey Bradley explained to me

that everybody
in the entire Bradley family

knew that there was
this mad search going on,

and George Washington,

Tracey's boyfriend,

never got involved.

♪

[Ed] Did you start looking
for the kids in the complex?

[Tracey] -Yes.
[Ed] -Okay.

[Tracey] Ahh, there's a lot of
people searching and looking,

like all of us,
we all went out.

[Pamela] Everybody
in your family, friends?

[Tracey] Yes, yes.

[Pamela] People you know.
Is George with you?

[Tracey] Yes.

I was looking, you know,
he was just stayed in the car.

He stayed in the car.

[Pamela] He told Tracey
to call him...

later,

let him know what's going on

with Tionda and Diamond.
That evening,

he never returns.

♪

[Pamela] Tracey Bradley
and her boyfriend,

George Washington,
were the only two people

who knew that the girls
were left

in that apartment

on the morning of the 6th
at approximately six AM

when Tracey
usually left for work.

Tracey comes back
to her home,

the girls are not
in the apartment.

George comes up with her
to the apartment.

[soft dramatic music]

[Leigh]
George decides to leave.

Like everything else
in this case,

it's hard to point
at any one thing

as indicative
of innocence or guilt.

But the timing

adds to the other

suspicious activities
and facts

that have kind of been
piling up in this case.

But it's important to note
that George told the press

that he, quote,

"Tried to help investigators
find them at the beginning."

♪

[Pamela]
According to their mom,

she didn't report them missing

until after seven pm.

That's almost eight hours

that those girls were gone.

♪

So I needed to find out
what Tracey was doing

during those eight hours
before police got involved.

♪

[Pamela] This is the 31st
Street beach area.

They're at 31st Street.

They lived at 35th Street,
so that's a five block radius.

This is one of the first areas
that Tracey Bradley came to,

as she have again informed us

that she was dropped
off on the bridge

by George Washington,

and she walked over
to the lake front.

This is the area
that Tracey Bradley walked to.

This is the area that
the Chicago Police searched,

and there were no signs
of Tionda and Diamond Bradley.

[Leigh] Things kind of start
kicking in for Tracey.

So she starts calling around
to various neighbors,

various family members

asking if they've seen
the girls.

[music gets tenser]

[Kathy] George Senor
is the family friend

who lived nearby

Tracey and the daughters,

and he was a family friend.
He was known, so he was

also just part of the family
but not part of the family.

[Ed] Would Tionda know
enough to go over

to George Senor's apartment?

[Tracey] Yes. Yes, she know
where's he...

she know, right, yeah.

Did the kids used to call
George Senor "Porgie"?

[Tracey] Porgie,
exactly, exactly.

Did he babysit for you
on occasion?

Ahh, he... A couple of times.

[Ed] Did you happen to go
to his house that day

and ask him
if he had seen the kids?

[Tracey] I think
I went up there.

Oh, yeah, I called.

[Ed] Oh, you called? Okay.
And he...

- He told he hadn't seen...
[Tracey] -He hadn't seen them.

He said,
"I haven't seen 'em."

[Ed] Okay.

[music fades out]

[newsman] July 6th, 2001.

Tracey Bradley
leaves her daughters

home alone
while she goes to work.

She returns to find a note

saying they were headed
for this school.

They never made it.

[Rita] I remember
my mom kept saying

she just left a letter,

and she just showed me
the letter,

"Me and Diamond are going

to the store
and to the school."

And I remember the exact words
'cause I read the letter.

[dramatic music]

[Tracey] The note said

we're going to the store.

♪

What store? [laughs]

I was nervous and,
you know like,

where are they, you know?

[Ed] -Right, of course.
[Tracey] -You know?

♪

[Pamela] After speaking more
with the family,

the note doesn't make
a lot of sense to me.

♪

Tionda was ten,
Diamond was only three.

So it seems to me
like a stretch

that a three-year-old
could walk very far.

So I decide
to retrace the route

the girls could have taken
to go to the store

to determine the plausibility
of that theory.

[Pamela] This could have
possibly been

the store that Tionda
and Diamond was going to,

amongst other stores
that's in the area.

♪

We are a few blocks away
from the complex,

not a great distance

for adults
and children to walk,

but a great distance
for children alone

to walk to get to
the Jewel food store.

I... It has not been stated

that this is the store

that was indicated
in the note,

but this is a store
that's close by

that could be the location
that Tionda was speaking of.

[Pamela] Another theory
important to re-examine

is that the girls went to
the nearby school playground.

This is the James Doolittle
elementary school

that Tionda attended,

and Tionda was also enrolled
in summer school in 2001.

But on July 6th,
Tionda did not attend school.

[Pamela] We don't have
any reliable information

that they actually
showed up there.

[newsman] At least
a dozen FBI agents

have been working the case.

[Leigh]
Diamond and Tionda's family

found the note unusual.

Because they said that
the way the note was written

didn't reflect

how she would usually
have written something.

After the FBI
got involved in the case,

fairly early on after
the girls' disappearance,

they did take
the note that Tionda wrote

for handwriting
analysis to confirm

that it was
Tionda's hand writing

and not someone else's.

The results of which
had not returned yet.

[dramatic music]

[Pamela] It wasn't going
to come back

for a little while,

and it's a process.

It takes time.

[music fades out]

[tense music]

[Leigh] The next morning,
the morning of July 7th,

Faith, who is Tracey's sister,

was there in the apartment

and Faith had recently set up

all of the family's
cellphones.

She decided to listen
to Tracey's voicemail

and the family
was shocked to find

there was a message
from Tionda,

from the day
of the disappearance.

[Pamela] Does anybody know

what time
that message was left?

- Does anybody recall or...
[Shelia] -I remember

it was either eight O-two
or eight-twenty AM.

I remember that.

[Pamela] How did you guys
come about?

Did she bring it to you?
Did she say, "Hey,

listen to this?"

[April] We were all sitting
in Tracey's home

on the couch,

when we heard it.

It was Faith, myself.

It was my mom.

[soft dramatic music]

Tracey was in the other room

♪

and it was a few other peoples

that was actually in the home
during that time.

[Pamela] Okay.

[April]
It was majority of the family,

and then it was some
of Tracey's closest friends.

And you don't recall
who actually

- played the message?
[April] -I don't recall.

[Pamela]
Did you hear the message?

[April] I did.

[Pamela] Tell me about it.

[April] It says, "mommy,

I'm going to the store
with George."

[Pamela] Would it be unusual

for George to show
up at the door?

George Washington?
To show up at this door,

♪

trying to get her
to open that door?

[April]
I would say yes, it is.

[Pamela] Do you know
where the message is?

♪

[April] Supposedly,
it got into the wrong hands

and it was deleted.

[Pamela] Whose hands?

[dramatic music]

[Kathy] Tracey said there was
the voicemail left by Tionda,

the voicemail left
so many questions...

unanswered,

and it actually led to...

the speculation that they
really ere abducted.

This was orchestrated.
It was planned,

and they were trying
to find out who.

- Did you hear the message?
[Rita] -Yeah, I heard it.

I heard it. She said...

[April] Tell me what
you remember.

[Rita] She said,
"mom answer the phone,

George is at the door.

He said something
about Victoria cake.

[Pamela] Okay.

[Rita] Yeah.

[Pamela]
Did you hear it, Victoria?

[Victoria]
Yeah, I heard the voicemail.

Yeah, that was about it.

[Pamela] Was there anything
mentioned about a cake?

♪

[Apil] Yeah. Her exact words,
"We're going to the store

to pick up Vicky a cake
with George."

[Pamela] When's your birthday?

[Victoria] July 7th.

[Rita]
That'd be why they would

get her a cake
or something.

♪

[Leigh] The thing
that's strange

about the voicemail is that

it mentions George,

so, there's George Washington,

who was Tracey's boyfriend
at the time.

There was also
a neighbor named George.

This has caused
some confusion in the media

because people say,

what if she was talking
about the other George?

Perhaps he should
be a suspect.

[woman 1] Look
at these two Georges.

Ask them to take polygraphs.

[woman 2] Another thing Nancy,

just because the girls said,
"Hey, George is at that door",

doesn't necessarily mean that
it was George at the door.

Somebody may have presented
themselves as George.

♪

[Leigh] George, the neighbor,

went by a very
distinctive nickname

that the girls
would have called him by.

[Kathy] George Senor
was also referred to

by the family as "Porgie".

[Rita] We never call
Porgie George.

- never in our life.
[Victoria] -Never.

[Rita]
Never went by that name.

So there's
no misunderstanding?

[both] No misunderstanding.

[Victoria]
No misunderstanding.

[Rita] No

[Ed] They found the note
at 11:50 or so,

11:52 at George Senor's house.

She tells George Senor

that she's looking
for the kids.

George Senor used
to babysit the kids, remember?

[Pamela] Yes.

There's a lot
of speculation in my mind.

Tionda had to be talking
about George Washington,

Tracey's boyfriend
at the time.

[Pamela] Would it have been
normal for George

to want to buy a cake
for Vicky's birthday?

[Rita and Victoria] No.

[Pamela] Okay, so what do you
think about the message?

[tense music]

[Rita]
It was weird to me 'cause,

like, how you supposed
to go camping

if you're worried
about a cake?

[Victoria]
If they go to camping

on the 6th of something,

why would you buy a cake
for my birthday

if y'all gonna be gone?

[Ed] I always found it odd

that it was
Victoria's birthday

one of the days that they were
supposed to go camping.

[Pamela] Speaking with Rita
and Victoria,

I'm impressed

by how much they remember.

But I never stopped
asking myself

different questions as to

if you're going
on a camping trip,

why go to the grocery
store for Victoria?

[Leigh] Another thing
that's strange

about the voicemail is that

outside of the family,

no one has ever been able
to confirm its existence.

Some people say that it was
accidentally deleted.

Some people say it's
in the possession of the FBI.

But no one that I've spoken
to in law enforcement

has been able to confirm
the existence of the voicemail

but multiple family members
say that they did hear it.

[soft music]

[Shelia] I recorded it

from the speaker on there

with my phone.

[Pamela] -Okay.
[Shelia] -And I...

took it and sent
it to my email,

umm, my email address
as an audio file.

[Pamela] Okay. You sent
the recording to your email?

[Shelia] Email, yes.

[Pamela] Do you still have it?

[Shelia] I do.

- It's...
[Pamela] -Can we hear it?

[Shelia] I can't.

I mean I would love
to be able to access it,

but if I don't put
the correct code in it

to get it, because I had
some technical help

to protect my emails.

If I could I would,

but I'm sure
that it would destroy it.

[Pamela] Okay.

[music dramatically stops]

[Pamela] While re-interviewing
the family,

their statements have me
questioning some things.

The note

and the voicemail.

In my opinion,

it feels like everybody
has a different story.

I have to explore this more.

[Pamela] Shelia Smith,

Tracey's Aunt, has a copy

of the message.

[Ed] I've begged her
to give that to me.

I told her I'd fly anywhere
in the world on my own dime,

with a tech from Chicago
to get that message

and we have never to this day
heard that message.

[dramatic music]

[Pamela] This whole
situation is just...

And like I told you,

you know, this is really
a messed up situation.

She's holding on to it.

♪

[Ed] Why would any...
That doesn't make sense.

Why would anybody
hold that message?

[Pamela] What do you think
about that message?

[Tracey] -Well he's...
[Pamela] -Is it real?

♪

[Tracey] It had to be if she
left a message on the phone.

[Pamela] So there is really
a message that Tionda left?

[Pamela] That George
is at the door?

♪

[Leigh] George Washington
has also confirmed

to the media that he, quote,

"Took Tracey to work
that morning,

but denied showing up
at the apartment later

when the girls allegedly
called their mom

to say someone
was at the door."

[Shelia] I asked
George Washington

about that message.

[Pamela] What did he say?

[Shelia]
He said I don't know why

she would say
I was at the door,

I wasn't there.

[Pamela] Did you ever
speak with Tracey

about what happened?

[Shelia] Well after I got
there and she was...

still being questioned.

[Pamela] Questioned by?

[Shelia] The Police
Department, Chicago Police.

[soft dramatic music]

[Pamela] Bradley,
a single mother of four,

she's had
to withstand the subtle,

and not so subtle, accusations

that she somehow was to blame

for the girls' disappearance.

♪

[Pamela] How were you feeling
about the police

when they took you in

to question you
and talk to you, and...

More than one time.
Am I right about it?

[tense music]

How did you feel about that?

[Tracey] I felt, humph...

really...

♪

- kinda angry.
[Pamela] -Okay.

You felt like
you were being tortured?

[Tracey]
Yeah. They hit the table.

"You know where those
damn kids at."

[Shelia] In my first
conversation with Tracey

about that is,

when they
were questioning her,

and I had asked them
how long she been in there?

And she came back to the house

and so I looked at Tracey
and Tracey says,

♪

Hmm... "Why the [bleep]
is everybody looking at me

like I did something
to my kids?"

♪

[Shelia] And, at that point

I think I was so angry,

like, you supposed to know
where your kids are.

You're supposed to know
what the hell happened.

[Pamela] Okay.

[Shelia]
So I jumped up to grab her,

'cause I was gonna
just push her off...

♪

[Pamela]
It's okay. Take your time.

♪

[sobbing]

[humph]

[Shelia] I just wanted
to push her out the window.

♪

'Cause I felt if you
wouldn't have left 'em,

they wouldn't be gone.
[sobbing]

And Tracey left.

♪

She waited
till I went in the back

and left out the door.

[Pamela] She didn't want to
have a confrontation with you?

Nobody wanted to have
a confrontation with me.

[dramatic music]

[Pamela] Tracey couldn't deal
with the questions for her.

In a city-wide manhunt,

we're looking at everybody

whether you're the mother,

the brother, sister, father.

It doesn't matter.

We need some answers.

[instrumental music]

[Pamela] Tracey shut down.

We were trying to identify

certain things
that we were told,

such as they were going
on a camping trip

later that evening.

♪

I expected to see
something that would say,

"Yes, we are really
doing this.

We're going
on a camping trip."

But I didn't see anything
that told me

♪

they were going camping.

[Ed] I just wonder where
the tent was at,

or were they just gonna go
for a picnic and come back?

Maybe that's what they called
a camping trip.

[Ed]
It was Victoria's birthday

one of the days that they were
supposed to go camping.

So maybe mom was gonna
celebrate it

when they got back,

but I always thought that
that was odd.

[soft dramatic music]

[Ed] I understand leaving
Tionda with Diamond

because Tionda and Diamond
were very close,

but how they made
the determination

to take Rita and Vicky
to Grandma's house that night.

Usually when they
would go over there,

the four of them
would go together,

or at least three of the four.

Hmm

How they determined that,
I don't know.

I would love to find that out.

It's definitely a question
that needs to be asked.

[distant cars passing]

[Pamela] So Rita and Victoria
were not going camping.

[Tracey] No.

[Pamela]
And I get it that you say

you don't really
have an answer

as to why all four girls
were not going.

[Tracey] Right.

[dramatic music]

[Pamela] There was not enough

to charge Tracey
with anything.

I suspected George Washington

as being the offender

of the two girls
going missing.

I felt that way because
he and Tracey knew

that Tionda and Diamond
were alone in the apartment

when Tracey Bradley left,

♪

and they were the only
two people who knew.

There was several
things going on

in Tracey Bradley's life
with George Washington

that I don't think has ever
really come to light

as to why George
would hurt these girls.

[Ed] Also it's since come out,

Tracey had sued George
for paternity

saying that, you know,
Diamond was his.

I don't get the impression

that George
wanted to pay for a child,

so Tracey suing him
for paternity,

they took his DNA.

[Leigh] The results of which
had not returned yet.

[Ed] When George found out
that you had Diamond,

what was his reaction?

[Tracey] He he was upset

because I think during
that time he was married.

[Pamela] -Uh-huh.
[Ed] -He was married?

[Rita] I believe that he
didn't want Diamond,

and that's why he wasn't
claiming her.

He didn't ever want her,

I don't know if it's
'cause he had a wife

or he had other women.

I don't know what the case is,
but I feel like,

he just didn't wanna be...
He didn't wanna deal with it.

[Ed] So you were kind of going
it on your own with Diamond?

[Tracey] Yes. Sometimes you
don't know which way

the anger of this man
is coming from.

[Pamela]
What threats did he make?

[Tracey] He used
to always say,

if you leave
me, I kill you.

He always do a lot of threats
to me and my family.

[Pamela] Do you think that

he gave you the respect
that you deserve?

[Tracey]
Not at all. No respect.

[Pamela] But you still
loved him?

[Tracey] -Yes.
[Pamela] -Why?

[dramatic music]

Because I saw interest in him.

[Pamela] -Okay.
[Tracey] -You know?

It's like, I mean,
I just really...

loved this man, you know?

So I thought that he'd be
the right one

for me and all and everything.

♪

[Pamela] He was the trickster

in Tracey's life,
but Tracey loved him.

Tracey wanted him
to be in her life.

But Tracey
wanted more from him.

She wanted him to love her,

something that he was
never going to do.

[Leigh] The investigation
was starting to focus in

on George Washington.

Several days
after the girls disappeared,

George Washington's house
and car were searched.

Receipts that they found
in his home

indicate that, on July 7th,

so the day after
the girls' disappearance,

he went to a hardware store
where he purchased

a large package
of industrial trash bags

and two pairs of gloves.

When the police
came to his home,

there were five trash bags
missing from that roll

and one of the pairs of gloves
was never found.

George Washington
told the police

that the trash bags
had been used

in a home renovation project,

and that he had filled them
and disposed of them

in a dumpster
in a nearby park.

[soft dramatic music]

[Pamela]
This is the same location

that George Washington
claimed

to have brought
those garbage bags

over to the lagoon area.

He rode with CPD
detectives over here

to give them
the exact location

as to where
the garbage cans were

and where the garbage was,
but by the time they got here

it had been taken.

♪

[Leigh] When they spoke
to George's neighbors,

the neighbors said that they

had seen George Washington

burning something
in a barrel in his garage.

[Ed] I actually found

one of the young men
sitting on the porch,

and he said George Washington

was burning the barrels
in his back yard

and had taken the barrel
after it cooled

and threw it in the trunk.

[Leigh] George Washington
denied that this ever happened

and also denied
even owning a barrel.

However, when the FBI
went to investigate,

they found evidence
of charring

on the rafters of his garage

and in the trunk of his car
they found striations

that were consistent
with the size and shape

of an industrial barrel.

The kind of industrial barrel
that his neighbors said

that they saw him
burning something in.

[music intensifies]

[tense music]

♪

[Kathy] George Washington
was really scrutinized

but, again, nothing much

led to him being
a person of interest.

Just questions and no answers.

♪

[Pamela] George gave
a statement

to the media saying,

"I don't know
who did anything

I just know that I had
nothing to do with it."

But I have had a lot

of different scenarios
go through my mind

as to why George
would hurt these girls.

It has crossed my mind
that it's a possibility,

George didn't want to pay
Tracey child support,

♪

killed Diamond,

and Tionda saw it.

♪

Therefore, he had
to kill Tionda as well.

Is that a possibility?

Absolutely, it is.

♪

[dramatic music]

[Ed] George Washington.

We put him on a polygraph
back in 2001.

The brass
at the Police Department

just love polygraphs.

I think they just thought
the sun rose

and set on 'em, although
they're not admissible.

Polygraphs are a tool
that we use.

They're not the be all
and end off.

I've seen people that I've
known were guilty pass them.

I've seen people that were
innocent fail them.

♪

But, in George's defense,
he passed a polygraph.

♪

[Kathy] The consensus was...

wherever the girls are,

they went with someone
that they knew,

and all of the speculation
at that time

was around
George Washington where...

it led all of us to believe,

if he didn't do it,

he knows something
and what is he hiding?

♪

[reporter] George, can we talk
to you for just a moment?

[man] No comment at all.

He has no comment
at all, okay?

[Pamela] There was not enough

to charge George
with anything,

charge Tracey with anything.

At this point,
they're just two people

that might have the answers
to the last steps

that Tionda and Diamond took
inside of that apartment.

♪

[sad music]

[Pamela] After a few days
of the investigation,

Tracey shut down.

Tracey stopped communicating
with the Police Department

when the questions
for her got tough.

I get it.

I understand that.

Not being able to deal,

and just the initial trauma

of dealing
with your two daughters

that's missing.
I understand that.

But as a detective,

I still need to do
my due diligence

and probe this further.

♪

[Pamela] At some point,

you shut down and no longer
wanted to communicate

with the Chicago
Police Department.

[Tracey] I fell like
they took...

♪

like I was a criminal,
[laughs], and I wasn't.

You know?

You took a...

♪

Me being afraid,

you know what I'm saying,
scared, you know?

And...

Tell what you were afraid of.

[Pamela] You didn't want
what to happen?

♪

[Tracey] I go to jail.

♪

[dramatic music]

[Tracey] I took
Rita and Victoria to school.

You know, they followed
me everywhere,

detectives, and everything

and detectives
get out the car,

took me to the gate.
[chuckles]

♪

Put me in a car.

Had me handcuffed
and everything.

♪

Now they take me
through a tunnel and stuff.

They take me
all through there.

♪

So the Sarge came in

and he found out who I was
and he told them,

"Take them damn handcuffs
off of her now."

[Pamela] Why did they
arrest you?

[Tracey] For no reason.

♪

No reason at all. I didn't...

talk to them, I didn't,

you know,
do anything to them.

See, that's another reason

why I kind of went back
a little bit

'cause I felt that, you know?

♪

[Pamela]
You felt what?

[Tracey] Disrespectful.

[Pamela] It's sad.

It's sad she shut
the Police Department down

when they were trying
to help her.

[Ed] But it doesn't
make sense.

That may...
It just doesn't make sense.

She had, I think,
two arrests her entire life.

[Pamela] I know that.

Why would she shut us down?

[Pamela] This case has always
been very complex,

but one of the most solid
leads we have to go on

is the note that Tionda left
in the apartment.

[soft dramatic music]

[Kathy] After a certain
amount of time,

the note that Tionda left,

it was examined
by law enforcement

and it was confirmed
that it was her hand writing.

[tense music]

[Pamela] Would Tionda have
left a note on her own?

[Shelia] Reading it,
I'm, like, nah,

that's not the way
Tionda speaks.

♪

Well, Tionda did have
a minor reading disability.

[Pamela] Okay. Okay.

[Shelia] That's why she was
in summer school,

because she had
reading problems.

[Pamela] Okay.

[Shelia] For example,
if you said "need".

♪

Write the word,
"I need to go",

it'll be "I need",
but it might have been

NEID versus NEED.

[Pamela] Do you think Tionda
wrote the note?

[Rita] Yeah. I...

[Victoria] I think
she wrote it.

[Rita]
She was forced to write it,

but it was
her handwriting.

Because we never had
to write a note

when we knew my mom's number.

You know, we was always
in the house by ourselves

we would call her.

[April] My sister Faith
brought out another note

that Tionda had wrote
and compared the two.

♪

The grammar
doesn't sound like it.

[Pamela] It doesn't match?

[April] It doesn't match.

[Pamela] I felt that
it had to be

somebody that they knew,

who forced Tionda,

but who?

[soft dramatic music]

[newsman]
Chicago hasn't given up

on Diamond and Tionda.

A private investigator
even volunteered his services.

♪

I'm Foster. I'm a local
private investigator

in Chicago, Illinois area.

[Foster] Late August of 2001

I was asked to join the case

to assist the local law
enforcement agency,

interviewing people that did
not have a good relationship

with the Chicago Police
Department at the time.

[Ed] Investigator Foster
is an excellent investigator.

That gave me a bridge
to the family.

When I did
my due diligence on him,

I found that they didn't have

much contact
with the police at all.

[Tracey]
Yeah, I talked to Foster.

And we would sit up
on the phone

till ten to twelve,
one o'clock in the morning,

and I be crying.
He gives me...

advise me and then
at the end of the day we...

He help me pray, pray with me.

[Shelia] I had got...

♪

Acquainted with
the investigator Foster,

and my mind was set that this
would be the firm that help

♪

look for Tionda and Diamond.

These would be
the private investigators.

♪

[dramatic music]

[Leigh] With Diamond,
before her disappearance, umm,

Tracey had asked George
to take a paternity test

and three weeks
after the girls disappeared,

but after George Washington's
house and car were searched,

the results of it came back.

[Pamela] DNA testing
was completed.

[Shiela] -Uh huh.
[Pamela] -And,

it's safe to say

that the test
came back positive

that George Washington

is the father of Diamond.

[Shelia] Yes.

♪

[Pamela] That right there,
you know, makes, you know,

for the hairs kinda
go up on my neck

because, you know,
there could be

several things
that could have taken place,

especially if George
was so determined

to not pay child support.

It just brings to life,
you know,

so many other conclusions

that we can come to
about what happened

to Tionda and Diamond.

[Foster] We're talking about

a three-year-old
and a ten-year-old.

They just don't walk off
the face of the Earth.

The first thing
that popped in my mind

was to do more
of a serious investigation

of George Washington.

[dramatic music]

[Ed] The paternity came back

positive that George was
the father of Diamond,

so when Diamond and Tionda
went missing,

George got out from
underneath paying paternity.

♪

[Ed] George's first wife
in Detroit was named Diamond.

When Tracey told me that
in the interview,

you could've knocked
me over with a feather.

I'm, like,
"Oh, boy, this is...

this is getting interesting."
You know?

But he denied paternity.

So George knew he was,

he was gonna end up paying.

♪

[Pamela] George has maintained

that he is not
Diamond's father.

This has always
perplexed me,

so I feel that I need
to dig deeper on this.

[Pamela] He was married
to a woman named Diamond?

[Tracey] Yes and I named
my baby after her. [laughs]

[Pamela] Uh-hum. Because?

[soft instrumental music]

[Tracey]
Just normal, right? [laughs]

Yeah, he just didn't wanna...

I don't think he really wanted
me to have that baby.

[sad music]

He was upset.

He was just upset, you know.

♪

He was upset.

♪

He already lied, said he can't
have any kids

'cause he had a vasectomy,

♪

you know?

So, when Diamond came,
I knew he lied about that,

and then when...

[Pamela] He lied to you a lot?

[Tracey] Yeah.

Exactly.

♪

But all the time, the...

♪

I never saw the wife,

but I think the wife,
when the wife found out

about Diamond,
I think she completely left.

♪

Left.

[Pamela] And you've been
in a relationship

with this man for,
you know, at least,

I mean, Diamond's three.

[Tracey] Three, yes.

[Pamela]
Hmm, so at least three years.

[Tracey] Um-hum.

[Foster] George Washington

was the biological father
of Diamond,

and it seems like
all the evidence

seems to point
to George Washington,

but it's always been
circumstantial evidence.

Unfortunately, we live
in the world where

there has to be
certain evidence

to meet the burden of proof.

♪

♪

[Kathy] Two months
have passed,

leads had gone cold

and when leads
start to go cold,

you know,
resources are diverted

to other more pressing cases
that are fresher.

Without fresh leads,

there's not much more
that they can do.

♪

[newsman] The unthinkable
happened today.

The World Trade Center,
both towers,

gone and we are all
witnesses to it

and, to some degrees,
degree we are all victims.

[somber music]

[Leigh] The girls disappeared
on July 6th of 2001,

and two months later,

was the September
11th attacks.

♪

At the time,
huge amounts of resources

were suddenly being diverted
to, you know,

potential terror attacks
and that sort of thing

and, so, not only
did the media attention

on the case dry up,
but I believe

also some of the interest
from law enforcement

because of kind
of the situation

in the rest of the country.

♪

♪

[Tracey] I never go outside.

I would stay
in the house 24, 24.

Didn't come outside no more.

I even stopped that.

♪

[Leigh] I think the further

that the Bradleys got from
the day of the disappearance,

the more difficult
things became.

They were left

almost on their own.

♪

[Shelia] Whoever you are,

your family knows
what you did.

Y'all need
to break the silence.

[Pamela] Every year,
there's a vigil.

Every year, there's a little
bit on the news,

and every year,
it becomes less and less.

[crowd] We love you,
Tionda and Diamond.

[Shelia] When my nieces
went missing,

I was 39 going on 40.

2001 was a...

felt like a death sentence.

2002 felt like a execution.

2003 felt like I was
up on the chopping block,

but they still had
it in their mind

that they would
probably find them.

[soft dramatic music]

♪

[newsman]
Four difficult years later,

Tracey Bradley's prayers
have yet to be answered.

[music intensifies]

[Kathy] Some leads were
coming in that could just...

change the trajectory
of an investigation,

including a discovery
of some bones

and, when that came across,

it was immediate,

like, you know, let's find out
what's going on.

[tense music]

[Pamela] For the missing
person's case,

that's a total game changer.

[dramatic music]

[Pamela] Back in May, 2005

there was a major discovery
on the south side of Chicago.

So I decide to drive out
to that location,

about 20 minutes
from the Bradleys' home,

to see if anything new
will come back to me.

♪

[Pamela] There was some
workers working out here

along these railroad tracks

and some bones were discovered

and so, you know, of course,
the Police Department

came out immediately and they
brought forensics with them

and they did gather
the bones that were found.

♪

[newswoman 1]
Human bones found

at a former south-side
construction site

are being sent
to an FBI lab in Virginia

for DNA testing.

It's possible that the bones
could have belonged

to one of the missing
Bradley sisters.

[newswoman 2]
News of the bones

have been both good
and unsettling

at the South Side Church

ten-year-old Tionda
and three-year-old Diamond

Bradley's family are members.

[Kathy] Revered
forensic scientist,

Dr. Clyde Snow,

best known for working
with the John Wayne Cacy case

was called in to analyze

and test the bones
that were found.

They were of a teenage girl.

[Shelia] There was reason
for concern

because of her age
and they didn't

quite have her
ethnic background

profile worked up

and, you know,

of course I wanted to make
sure that it wasn't Tionda,

you know, 'cause she would've
been too old to be Diamond

according to the bone sizes.

[newswoman]
Friends at the church say

the girls' family
would like some closure,

but at the same time,
they still hold out

that Tionda and Diamond
are still alive.

[soft dramatic music]

[Pamela] Of course, you know,
the FBI came out,

forensics came out,
and the FBI did

a DNA analysis on the remains
that were found,

and it turned
out to not be

any association with Tionda
or Diamond Bradley.

♪

[Kathy] It was not them.

There was a sigh
of relief, umm,

'cause that still
gives you hope

that the girls
are still alive.

♪

[soft dramatic music]

[Ed] With a case
that was this big,

I mean there's, I think,
six file cabinets full

♪

of information on the case.
I still forage forward.

I would work leads
when they came in

and a very good
bit of advice

that the lieutenant
gave me was

start from the beginning,
so that's where I started,

and I came upon,
what I thought at the time,

was a tremendous
piece of evidence.

There was hairs
recovered from the trunk

of George Washington's
car in 2001

when detectives had gone
to George's house

a couple of days after
the kids had gone missing.

For some unknown reason,

the hairs were never
submitted to the crime lab.

[newswoman] Investigators did
find evidence,

including a hair
in the trunk of a car

but nothing conclusive enough
to make an arrest.

[Kathy] To know
that there was evidence,

or potential evidence
that was just sitting there,

knowingly, untested

[tense music]

is disappointing.
It's actually infuriating.

♪

You have two girls
that are missing.

Whatever evidence
you come across,

you make sure it's processed.

You don't leave it out,

you just don't.

♪

[Ed]
This is the first positive

piece of evidence
that we've recovered

in years, and it was recovered
from George's trunk,

so I submitted these hairs

to the FBI crime
lab at Quantico

to see if it was a match
to Tionda and Diamond.

♪

[soft dramatic music]

[Ed] I was sitting in
the State's Attorney's Office

with an Assistant
State's Attorney that was...

I was keeping up to date
on the case

and we got a call
that the hair

came back
a mitochondrial match

to Tionda and Tracey,

and I was ecstatic.

♪

And the State's
Attorney's Office

kind of tempered
my enthusiasm by saying

it wasn't gonna be enough
to bring anybody in,

and I'm not an expert
on that kind of stuff, so...

kinda burst my balloon
at that point.

♪

I still took it as a positive.

I was...
I was energized by it.

[newswoman] It does sound
a bit incriminating

when you hear it on its face

but, you know,
there are a variety of ways

that may have happened.

The little girl may have put
her backpack

in Tracey's boyfriend's car
on her way to school one day

or she may have placed
an object in the trunk

that may have had
a piece of her hair on it,

and so, there just wasn't
enough evidence.

[tense music]

[Pamela] George had
always denied

that the hairs
were in his trunk

for any suspicious reasons,

but I still have questions.

♪

[Ed] In a prior interview,
Washington had said

he used to put the kids
in the trunk

and sneak 'em
into the drive-in.

Well, I couldn't find
any drive-ins that were open

in the Chicago
land area back in 2001.

Most of them were closed.

♪

[Ed] Did you and George
and the girls

ever go to a drive-in?

♪

A drive-in theater
that you can recall,

or a movie theater,
for that matter?

♪

[Tracey] Wow. I can't recall
or remember.

[instrumental music]

[Ed] All right.

Do you ever recall
George putting your girls

in the trunk of his car
to sneak them into a drive-in?

♪

[Tracey] -No.
[Ed] -No?

[Pamela] Why would
he say he took

your girls and you
to a drive-in?

♪

Why would he say that?

I don't know. When you say
that he took me to a drive-in,

I don't recall him taking
me to no drive-in.

[Ed] He said that.

[Pamela] Never happened?

[Ed] You don't remember
nothing like that.

[music fades out]

[Shelia] I talked to George
about that, I said,

"George, why was Tionda hair
in your car?"

[sad music]

And he said that he snuck 'em
into the movie theater,

and I say,"But Tracey said
you never went to a drive in."

He said, "That's a damn lie."

[Pamela] He never put you
in the trunk of his car?

[Rita] I never got
in his trunk, nothing.

[Victoria] Never been
in the trunk of his car.

Never went
to a movie with him.

Never went out to eat.
Not to Chucky Cheese. Nowhere.

[Victoria] It was never
like that.

[Rita]
That's why I'm like, no,

never went
to the movies with him,

never got in his trunk,
never went nowhere.

Ever.

[Pamela] In 2003,

there was a very
interesting development

that piqued our interest.

Tracey had another baby
with George Washington.

[Pamela] Now there's
a little boy, George Junior,

[soft dramatic music]

and so George
took her to court

in 2011 to get custody.

I believe that George played
mind games with Tracey.

He would make her feel like,

you know, as he loved her
at some times,

and then at other times
he would make her feel like,

you know, she was
the dirt under his feet.

♪

[sad music]

[Pamela] Eventually,
you had a second baby.

[Tracey] Yes.

[Pamela]
Which is George Junior.

[Tracey] Yes.

[Pamela] You lost custody
of George Junior.

[Tracey] Yes, I did.

I fought the best fight
I can, I could.

I didn't have a lawyer,
I didn't have no money,

you know what I'm saying?

♪

[Pamela] He disappointed
you in your life?

[Tracey] Yeah.

And you feel like
he stole your children

out of your life.

[Tracey]
I feel like he snatched

a lot of stuff from me.

[Pamela] Okay.

[Tracey] My dignity, my heart,

my mom.

I know she's passed away,
she's turning over now.

♪

My children.

Me. Knowing that...

♪

They're not in the house
with me, you know,

they sleep sometimes.

[Ed] To live in fear
is no way to live.

♪

♪

[Pamela] As time went on,

despite the case
remaining unsolved,

occasionally, the media
would revisit the story

which has helped
in keeping this case present

in people's minds.

[Kathy] And I do appreciate

the national
media outlets who...

did highlight this case
all the time.

TVOne, they had a show called
"Find Our Missing",

and one episode was dedicated
to Diamond and Tionda.

[S. Epatha] We reached out
to George Washington

via Facebook and he responded.

He said he wouldn't agree
to an interview

but he did say this.

"It's funny that the family
points the finger at me,

but the courts seem
to feel differently."

[soft dramatic music]

[Leigh] A woman in Indiana
named Leticia Hicks

commented on

that piece on their website,

saying that she
had information

about where
George Washington was

the day that the girls
disappeared,

and that that information
implicated him

in their disappearance.

♪

[Pamela] My next person
that I'm gonna bring up, Ed.

[Ed] Yes.

Is Miss Leticia Hicks.

♪

[Pamela] What do you know
about this lady,

Leticia Hicks?

[April] So I received
the message from her

stating that...

she know what happened
to the girls.

♪

[Shelia] Have to get
it off her chest

that George showed
up at her house.

He had been drinking.

♪

He was shaken.

[April] So received the
message from her that she...

think George has something
to do with it.

[Pamela]
So do you text her back?

[April] Yeah, of course,
'cause I wanted answers.

[Ed] Well, when I
interviewed Leticia,

[tense music]

she said that George
had blood on him,

he had a pair

of over-sized gym shorts
underneath his pants.

[Pamela] He took a shower
at her house.

He took a shower
at her house, yes.

♪

[Leigh] When police followed
up with her about that,

however, the time line

did not match
up at all with...

♪

The facts of the case.

So she first claimed
that this incident

had happened
on the 4th of July.

♪

Which is two days
before the girls disappeared.

♪

In addition to that,

even if she had gotten
the date wrong,

so even if this
alleged incident

had happened on July 6th
when the girls did disappear,

Washington's cellphone records

do not match up at all
with her version of the story.

So, she lives in Indiana,

and his cellphone records

show him to be definitively
in the Chicago area

for the entirety of the day.

[soft music]

[Ed] I'll be the first one
to say I was...

I dismissed her too quickly.

It wouldn't be the first time
I was wrong,

it won't be the last

but I just...

the, again, I just wish
I could find something

that ties her to him.

And that's why
the negative Nellie

- is coming out.
[Pamela] -Okay.

[soft dramatic music]

[Pamela] Despite the fact that
this case is 22-years-old,

every year
brings new surprises,

and in May of 2023,

I learn of a new development.

[newswoman] Good afternoon.
We begin today

with a possible break

in a Chicago
missing persons' case

that's more than 20 years old.

[newsman] A woman claims
she is Diamond,

and she's gone to the FBI.

[woman 1] Here was
Diamond Bradley.

[woman 2] And that's you.

[woman 1]
This is Diamond Bradley.

Can I see you scar?

[dramatic music]

Do you have the scar?

[Liz] Shelia Bradley-Smith
said this young woman

submitted a swab of DNA
and fingerprints

at an FBI office in Texas
earlier this week.

♪

[Pamela] If what this woman
in Texas is saying is true,

this could be the biggest
break in the case

in 22 years.

[soft country music]

The Bradley family
and I decide to fly to Texas

where this woman is located,
to try to meet her,

and see if there's
any truth to her story.

♪

[Pamela] So, we're sitting
here with Tracey Bradley,

and April Bradley,

and investigator Foster,

and we have traveled
from Chicago

to Houston, Texas.

All because a young lady

♪

put on Tik Tok

that she is Diamond Bradley,

and Tracey's feeling
was that...

you wanted to come here

to meet the girl

that could possibly
be your daughter.

[Tracey] Yes.

Just to meet my daughter

that has been missing
for 22 years.

[Pamela] And you'd
know immediately

it's your daughter?

[Tracey]
I'd know immediately...

I need to know that
that's my daughter, yes.

[April] If she really
are Diamond,

I wanna make sure that she
get the help that she needing

to the right peoples.

So I end up Face-timing her
while I was at work

and I just asked her, I said,

"What made you think
that you're Diamond?"

And her response was
the way that she grew up

and her parents
are treating her wrong

every time I ask a question

about where I'm from.

And I said, well,
you know what,

I have the right person
for you to get in contact with

so that's when I contacted
Detective Foster.

[Pamela] Okay. So all
of these conversations has...

led us to where
we are right now,

right here at this moment.

[dramatic music]

[Pamela] Once in Texas,

we set up a phone call
with the young lady

claiming to be Diamond.

Our hope is that she
will meet with us

that afternoon to reunite her
with Tracey and determine

if she really
is Diamond after all.

♪

[phone dialing]

[music intensifies]

[Foster] Yes I'm here.
I'm here.

[dramatic music]

[Foster] I'm here.

[woman] Yeah, because we're
just trying to get the point

is we're working that is,

if it's not no DNA came in

why did y'all fly all the way
from Chicago to Houston?

Like what, like what
was the point? It's weird.

[Pamela] The mother
wants to see her.

[Foster] Because the mother
of Diamond

wants to meet
her daughter. That's all.

[woman] Okay, that's fine.
I know. I understand that.

But why does she wanna meet
her without a DNA?

[Foster] Listen we don't know

when the DNA
is gonna come back.

At the end of the day,

we are here trying
to unite a family.

That's all we're here for.

[woman] Nobody's going to have
the DNA test results back.

[Foster] Yeah, I'm sorry,
you said,

you said you're not
comfortable until

- you get the results back.
[woman] -And so...

Yes, to be honest.

And I honestly feel like
we should all meet

at the FBI office
if that's where it's given,

so I don't feel comfortable
meeting anybody anywhere.

Let me ask you this.

Would you be comfortable
doing a Zoom

right now or no?

[woman] Why would
I do a Zoom

and I haven't even got
the DNA back?

I keep getting threats.

I've had to deactivate
all my social medias.

No, I don't wanna do anything.

I don't even want
nobody to see me.

I let my auntie see me
and that was good enough.

Until I get that DNA back,
I don't wanna see nobody.

I don't wanna talk to nobody.

I don't even know if y'all,
if you who you say you is.

[Foster] My God, I'm done.

Okay. No problem.
All right. We just...

[woman] Y'all have a good one.

[dramatic chord]

[Pamela] Damn.

[tense music]

[Foster] None makes me feel
like it just [bleep].

♪

[Foster] She [bleep].

♪

[April] Let's just
settle down.

[Pamela] These people
are backing off

for whatever reason.

[Foster] So we...
They got all night

until we leave tomorrow
to make a decision.

I'm just going back
and forth.

It's crazy.

[Tracey] Le's get set,
accept what is given.

[Pamela] Yeah, just...

[Tracey] And if anything,
whenever she wanna meet again,

we fly back down here again.

[April] See, if she ever
wanna meet again,

you know we're down for it.

[Foster] Father God,
as we stand here

as humble as we are,

[soft music]

looking for resolution.

[Tracey] Yes.

Father God, guide us,

give us understanding,

give this mother, Father God,

♪

your son's blood that...

The family is looking
to reunite

with this individual
who claim to be Diamond.

[soft guitar music]

[Pamela] The DNA results
did not come back

while we were in Texas,

and have yet to be revealed.

But back in Chicago

the family has not lost hope.

♪

[distant city sounds]

[newswoman]
It will be 22 years in July

that the sisters
have been missing.

[Tracey] Been a long,
long journey

and hopefully
this journey will be over.

I don't know when,
I can't promise you guys when,

but just hopefully
it'll be over.

I just hope it's over,
that they return home and...

to the... to me and my family.

[newsman]
Another year has passed

and still Diamond and Tionda
Bradley are not home.

[Tracey] I thank each
and every one

for coming out again.

It has been 22 years and...

next year
it's gonna continue...

Every year's gonna continue
going on and on

until we find Diamond
and Tionda, okay?

[April] And Tionda.

We need,
I need you guys' support.

I love you guys

and continue y'all
supporting my family.

[Pamela] What do you
think happened?

[sad music]

Your honest, the honest true,
what's in your heart.

[Victoria] Man.

[sad music]

[Rita] You crying?

[Victoria]
I think it was so...

you really don't wanna
think the worst...

♪

About a situation.

I still be thinking...

it's a possibility, but I...
[sobs]

♪

I feel like they gone.

♪

[Shelia sobs]
That's my mama's seed.

That's my mama's generation.
That's my mama's blood.

[sobs]

♪

I can't let that go.

I will...

♪

Do what I have to do
to find my nieces.

These are my nieces.

Everybody in the family
should be

as adamant as I am about
finding Tionda and Diamond.

Everybody.

♪

[Ed] Thousands of man hours

from the Chicago
Police Department,

people like us
have been put into this,

I'm gonna ask you point blank.

Do you know what happened
to your kids?

[Tracey]
No, I would have told you.

[Tracey]
I want justice for it.

[sad music]

For 21 years of suffering.

♪

Couldn't go outside
without somebody saying,

"There go Miss Bradley,

she had something to do
with them kids being missing."

And I'm strong and I'm better.

♪

[suspenseful music]

[dramatic music]

[Pamela] Even though I was
just in Texas with Tracey,

we've received
some new information

that sends our heads spinning
about her phone records.

So I'm on my way
to meet Tracey

for a follow-up interview

to discuss an inconsistency
in her story

that has come to light.

I have to know

what Tracey
doesn't want to say.

What Tracey's afraid of.

♪

[Pamela] On the evening
of the 5th,

on the night, he...
when he say the 6th,

he's talking about any time
after midnight.

[Tracey] No, I was at home.

[Pamela] You did not go
to George Washington's house?

[Tracey] No. Because I had
to go to work the next day.

Just that day, on that date,
midnight, I mean,

I have to be at work
at seven o'clock.

♪

[Foster] Go ahead.

[Pamela]
So here's what's happening.

Well, you had
previously told me

on the night of the 5th,

after dropping off
Victoria and Rita,

that you were
at your place, is that...

We have some information

that calls were made
to your home

between the hours of seven

and two AM.

[Foster] That's correct.
2:17 to be exact.

I don't remember.

And you were not home.

On the 5th?

On... Well,
2:17 AM is the 6th.

- and so...
[Tracey] -Two AM?

[Pamela] Yes. Yes.

[Tracey]
And it's going into the 6th?

[Pamela] -Yes.
[Tracey] -No, I was at home.

[Pamela] Well...

[Foster] We got the facts,
we just want you...

We just need you to...

Maybe I did, maybe I did.

[Foster] Maybe you did what?

Was at Mr. Washington house.

[Foster] That night
of the 6th?

♪

[Pamela] The night
of the 5th...

Six, going to the 6th.

[Foster] That is correct.

[Pamela] It's a possibility
that you left

- Tionda and Diamond...
[Tracey] -Wait a minute.

[Pamela] Go ahead,
I'm listening.

[Tracey] Yeah.

[Pamela] Yeah, what?

I was at Mr. Washington
house. [sobs]

[Pamela] Tell me how you know.

[Tracey] 'Cause early in the
morning the sun was shining.

[Pamela] Uh-huh.

[soft music]

[Tracey] And I remember I was
coming down State Street,

we was coming down
State Street

early in the morning,
we took hmm,

we never did get on...

- the expressway...
[Pamela] -Okay.

[Tracey] Because I remember
us coming down.

♪

No, we took the expressway.

And we was coming
up from 47 ramp

and we got off,

and he dropped me
off right in front of my job.

♪

[Pamela] And you remember
that now?

[Tracey] Yeah.

[Pamela] Okay.

[Foster] What time
was that? Do you remember?

[Tracey] I had to be at work
at seven

'cause I had to open up.

♪

I had to open up
and I had to...

'Cause I was serving lunch
for the summer school,

you know, for the summer
school stuff for the kids.

So, for the Park district.

[Pamela] Uh-hum.

♪

[Tracey] Just begging.

[Pamela] It's all right,
it's all right.

[Tracey sighs]

[Pamela] Come on,
we gotta be strong here.

♪

[Tracey sobs]

[Foster] So when you were
at George's house that night,

what did you guys do?

[Tracey] I don't know.
We probably went out,

we probably
get something to eat

and you know,
just go back, you know,

to the house.

[Foster] Did you guys stop any
place to get something to eat

before you arrived
at his house that night?

[tense music]

No we stopped at...
I don't know,

we had Burger King
McDonald's, I don't even know.

[Foster] Burger King
or McDonald's?

So the question
still hasn't been answered.

The question is,

why did you tell
the police department

that you last saw
your children

that morning
before you went to work?

[Tracey] Scared.

[Foster]
The final... I'm sorry?

[Tracey] -Scared.
[Pamela] -Then just say it,

Tracey, it's okay to say it.

It's all right to be afraid.

♪

[Foster] It's okay. We gonna
see you through this.

♪

[dramatic music]

[Pamela] Tracey has been
so inconsistent

in her behavior,

in her interviews.
She nonetheless

umm, is now stating,
which is totally different

from what has ever
been reported to CPD,

that she didn't leave her
house at six in the morning,

and said,
"Tionda, don't open the door

and don't go outside
for anybody."

[Ed] Right.

[Pamela] She's telling
me that...

she spent the night
at George Washington's house.

[Pamela] This means that
the girls were on their own

all night from
the evening of July 5th,

all the way through July 6th

with no supervision.

[Ed] I was shocked
simply because...

that has been her
story all along.

[Pamela] Yes.

Now, part of the problem

is that we can't establish
some sort of time line

of what time did all of this
actually occur?

We don't definitively know

what time the kids
have gone missing.

[music dramatically fades out]

[Pamela]
Now that the time line

for when the girls
disappeared has changed,

I've decided
to form a task force

to get to the bottom of what
really happened to the girls.

We can bring something
to the table

to try and find
Tionda and Diamond.

[Foster] At this point,
there's a lot of information

that we're still seeking

and we will bring
a successful solution

in prosecuting this case

for the individuals
that are responsible

for Diamond and Tionda
being missing.

[soft dramatic music]

[Pamela] And we are going
to crack this thing wide open

and we're gonna bring
some peace to this family,

some peace to this city,

and some peace to ourselves,

because this is what
we've been waiting for.

♪

[Pamela] We need to, you know,
let the spiders out,

you know,
clear the webs. Let us...

♪

get into your secrets.

Everybody has secrets.

Every family.

That's what we
are going to do

here with working
this investigation.

I want to know

what you don't
want me to know,

and somebody knows

what happened
to Tionda and Diamond.

[music fades out]