Missing Girls' Parents Questioned

July 12, 2001 -- Chicago police have questioned the father of one of two missing sisters and searched his home and garage, but say neither he nor anyone else is considered a suspect in the case.

A source close to the father of 3-year-old Diamond Bradley, who along with 10-year-old half sister Tionda has been missing since Friday, said police were interested in the man because he sometimes took care of the girl.

According to a report in the Chicago Tribune today, the man and the girls' mother, Tracey Bradley, have been in a court battle over child support for Diamond.

‘All We Can Do Is Just Talk to People’

Police said the man was with Bradley on Friday morning when she last saw the girls, and that he drove her to work.

The man was questioned Wednesday evening and though it appeared that FBI agents who searched his home removed evidence from his garage, Chicago police have not changed their characterization of the case as a missing-persons investigation.

A police spokesman said the questioning of the father was a routine part of the investigation.

"We've talked to a lot of people," Chicago Police Department spokesman Patrick Camden said. "At this point that's all we can do is just talk to people and keep trying."

However, there has been a change of tone in the way police spoke of their relations with the family of the missing girls.

Police Say Mother No Longer Cooperative

Earlier, officials said the girls' mother had been helpful to police, who interviewed her four times for a total of more than 22 hours.

But now, "I can't say that she's been cooperating with the detectives," First Deputy Superintendent John Thomas said.

Police have talked to the fathers of all four of Bradley's children, and to her boyfriends, and have been trying to locate anyone else who has a history of contact with the two girls, Thomas said.

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 found a note believed to have been written by Tionda saying the two were going to a nearby schoolyard to play.

Neighborhood Suspicions

Though most neighbors have expressed nothing but support for the plight of the family, some residents have questioned their behavior. Bradley has kept a very low profile since the disappearance, mostly remaining in her home.

One of her neighbors wondered why she waited until Friday night to notify police that her daughters seemed to be missing. Bradley has said she did not call police immediately because she thought the girls were just playing somewhere around the apartment complex.

"Something ain't quite right with this situation," Martin Logan, a resident of the same apartment complex, told The Associated Press. "The mother knows more than what she's saying. I'd be out here looking for my own children."

Other neighbors criticized Bradley for not making an appearance at a news conference on Tuesday, when people from the area who have tried to help the search and offer comfort to the family turned out.

"I think the mother should come down here," Tabina Gibson told the Chicago Tribune. "Why can't she come down here and thank us for our support?"

There is still no evidence of foul play, Camden said, but he added that police are still carrying on a "parallel criminal investigation."

ABC affiliate WLS contributed to this report.