Woman from Texas says she is Diamond Bradley, who disappeared from Chicago in 2001

A young woman in Texas has claimed in a new TikTok video that she thinks it is Diamond Bradley, who disappeared from Chicago’s South Side more than 20 years ago.

Diamond was just three years old when she and her 10-year-old sister Tionda went missing from their mother’s apartment in 2001, in what may be the largest missing persons investigation in Chicago history.

In the video that surfaced earlier this week, from a dark parking lot in Houston, someone was heard say “here with Diamond Bradley,” holding up a phone with a missing persons poster with Diamond’s photo on it, then to a woman standing next to her, the comparing the two, asking to see her scar — which Diamond had on the left side of her scalp when she disappeared.

The girls’ aunt, Sheliah Bradley-Smith, who has never given up on her search for her nieces, said she hopes this could be a breakthrough in the case, but added that the family has gone down this road before.

More than a dozen people have claimed to be the sisters over the years. But there’s one thing different about this time, she said. Unlike others, this woman submitted a DNA test to the FBI and took fingerprints from the agency.

Bradley-Smith told DailyMail.com she was told results were expected to be accelerated, but it could be a few more weeks before they have answers.

In the video that surfaced earlier this week from a dark parking lot in Houston, you can hear someone say ‘here with Diamond Bradley’

The new development unfolded this week when Bradley-Smith was contacted by the woman claiming to be Diamond, who is now said to be 25 years old.

She urged her to go to the police and prove her identity.

“She said she has information about Diamond Bradley, and I’m saying something about…?” Bradley-Smith told NBC 5. “Well, she says, I’m Diamond Bradley.”

Bradley-Smith told her to go to the police, which she said the woman was very willing to do to prove her identity.

“I’ve never known or seen anyone so eager to break down the doors of the FBI to prove who they are. So that gives me a different dynamic of hope,” Bradley-Smith said. “I can only hope it’s her.”

Diamond was just three years old when she went missing from her mother’s apartment in 2001, in what may be the largest missing persons investigation in Chicago history.

TikTok video shows someone holding a phone with a missing Diamond poster, then sliding it to the woman nearby

On July 6, 2001, Diamond and Tionda were reported missing after their mother Tracey Bradley returned home around 11 a.m. to find them missing.

Tracey Bradley had left the apartment at 35th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue for work around 6 a.m. and had given the girls strict instructions not to let anyone in, Dateline NBC previously reported.

Only a note supposedly written by Tionda remained, stating that they went to the store and to the schoolyard, according to an investigation conducted by the FBI and Chicago police.

Relatives have said that the note’s grammar and spelling seemed too perfect and advanced for someone of Tionda’s age.

Some have said they believe the girls were taken by someone they trusted.

“This is not a case of danger to strangers,” Bradley-Smith told Dateline in 2021. “They knew they were suspicious of strangers. It was someone they knew, someone they trusted.’

Several interested parties have been questioned over the years, but a specific suspect in the girls’ disappearance has not been named.

On July 6, 2001, Diamond and Tionda were reported missing after their mother Tracey Bradley returned home around 11 a.m. to find them missing.

After the video surfaced this week, many social media users and Chicago residents still reeling decades later asked about Tionda’s whereabouts

After the video surfaced this week, many social media users and Chicago residents still reeling decades later asked about Tionda’s whereabouts.

But their aunt told CBS that the young woman seemed to remember being in a car with older sister, but that was it.

She said, Well, I kind of remember her, but I remember we were in the car. Then one day I woke up when they took us to wherever we were or wherever we lived. I never saw her again,” said Bradley-Smith.

At the time of her disappearance, Diamond had an average complexion and wore her hair in braided ponytails. She was last seen wearing purple ponytail holders in her hair.

Diamond has a scar on the left side of her scalp, has deep-set eyes, and is described as shy but likes to talk. The woman claiming to be Diamond also has a scar in the same area.

Not only the family is anxiously awaiting the DNA results, so is Chicago.

“The world—Chicago especially—has embraced these girls and they haven’t forgotten them,” said Bradley-Smith, “and I thank them. I thank everyone.’

In 2021, to mark the 20th anniversary of the sisters’ disappearance, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has released new age-lapse photos of what they might look like. The FBI’s website lists a reward of up to $10,000 for information on the girls’ whereabouts.

If anyone has any information regarding the Bradley sisters’ disappearance, please contact the Chicago Police Department at (312) 747-5789, the Illinois FBI at (312) 421-6700, or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1 (800) THE -LOST.