Store Tape Could Show Missing Girls

July 13, 2001 -- A convenience store surveillance tape from Tuesday shows two girls that Chicago investigators hope are the two sisters who have been missing since July 6.

The surveillance tape, from a store several blocks from the girls' South Side home, shows two girls of roughly the same ages as 10-year-old Tionda Bradley and her 3-year-old half sister Diamond, but until the girls' mother looks at the tape, officials say they can't be sure it is them.

"We're not sure who's on it and we want the mother to look at it and see if it's her daughters," FBI spokesman Ross Rice said.

FBI investigators contacted the girls' mother, Tracey Bradley, and expect her to come and look at the tape today, he said.

Bradley's agreeing to view the tape reportedly is quite a change from the reaction she had when she first learned it existed.

‘Wouldn’t Even Open Door’

The Chicago Sun-Times, citing high-level police sources, reported today that Bradley refused to look at the tape when FBI agents first went to her house with it on Wednesday evening.

"The family wouldn't even open the door," the paper quoted a source as saying. "We were stunned."

Police said Bradley showed up at a South Side precinct house on her own initiative Thursday evening, only to find out that the tape was in the hands of the FBI. She communicated with the FBI and a meeting was arranged for today.

The Sun-Times also reported today that sources say Bradley has refused to give writing samples investigators asked for to compare with a note believed to have been left by Tionda the day she and her sister disappeared.

The Sun-Times' sources say Bradley and other members of the family have refused to let investigators talk to the woman's other daughters, who are 12 and 9 years old and were staying with a relative the day Tionda and Diamond disappeared.

Stonewalling or Stone Tired?

Sources told the paper Bradley was following the advice of her lawyer, Andre Grant, who is also involved in a wrongful prosecution suit against the city of Chicago. Grant said Bradley was just worn out because police have been treating her like a suspect in the case.

Bradley was interviewed by investigators for eight hours on Saturday, six hours on Sunday, eight hours on Monday and another five hours on Tuesday, according to family members.

The last time Tionda and Diamond were known to have been seen was when their mother left to go to work at 6 a.m. When Bradley returned at 11 a.m., she says she found a note believed to have been written by Tionda saying the two were going to a nearby schoolyard to play.

Though police maintain there is no evidence of foul play, they are carrying on a "parallel criminal investigation" and have asked the FBI to assist in the case. Some 500 police officers, as well as Fire Department divers, sniffing dogs and numerous FBI agents are involved.

ABC affiliate WLS contributed to this report.