The case of two girls missing for nearly 22 years has garnered renewed attention after a now-deleted TikTok video shows a Texas woman claiming to be Diamond Bradley, one of the missing girls.
Results of a DNA test administered to the woman purporting to be Diamond have yet to be released, with the family of Diamond and Tionda Bradley reliving much of the pain they experienced over 20 summers ago.
Diamond and Tionda Bradley were 3 and 10 years old when they disappeared from the family's Bronzeville home in the summer of 2001, beginning what may be the largest missing person's investigation in Chicago history. The girls' mother returned home from work to find a note allegedly written by Tionda, claiming she and Diamond had gone to the store and a school playground nearby. Relatives previously told Dateline NBC that the spelling and grammar seemed too perfect and advanced for a girl Tionda’s age.
Recently, a video surfaced on social media, beginning with a police car in a Texas parking lot as someone says "here with Diamond Bradley," while displaying a picture of Bradley's missing person's poster on a phone. The camera shifts to a woman standing beside a vehicle as the other person says, "This is Diamond Bradley, can I see your scar?," at which point the camera zooms in on what is supposedly a scar.
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Diamond's great aunt, Sheilah Bradley-Smith, told NBC Chicago last week that the case's revival has brought feelings of emptiness and confusion, nearly 22 years after Diamond and Tionda Bradley initially went missing.
Bradley-Smith recalled the day nearly 22 summers ago, telling NBC Chicago she was eating barbecue when she received a phone call to turn on the news on TV, where a picture of the missing girls was shown.
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She told NBC Chicago she was alerted to the video's presence on TikTok last Wednesday, and had gotten in contact with the woman claiming to be Diamond.
"She said she has information about Diamond Bradley, and I say what about...?," Bradley-Smith recounted in an interview with NBC Chicago. "Well, she says, I am Diamond Bradley."
After talking with Bradley-Smith, the woman purporting to be Diamond visited an FBI office where she underwent fingerprinting along with a DNA test. As of Saturday, it's unclear if the FBI received the results, though the agency did agree to expedite the test.
When asked if she believes the woman could be Diamond, Bradley-Smith told NBC Chicago that while she's hopeful, the return of trauma from over 20 years ago is difficult to process.
"I personally don't believe that I'm living this nightmare," she said. "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, and unfortunately, that's part of the territory."
In the meantime, all Bradley-Smith and other relatives can do is sit and wait.
"Well, my life has to keep going. But it's been, I mean, when I think about that 22 years if it had not happened, I wonder where I would have been, who I would have been, what vacation home I would be living in or you know, retire and go ahead on with your life," Bradley-Smith said.
