(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- At first, the family of the two missing Bradley girls was encouraged when a young woman contacted them in May to say she believed she was Diamond, the younger of the two sisters missing for 22 years.
Now, hopes are fading.
"In my heart of hearts, no. I do not believe she's Diamond,” says Shelia Bradley-Smith.
She is the great aunt of Diamond and Tionda Bradley, missing from their South Side home since July 6, 2001.
The relative says at first she thought the young woman who contacted them in May might be Diamond. But over time, she says, she doesn't believe it.
The long wait for DNA test results hasn't been easy, and Bradley-Smith says her instinct was to be persistent with her contact at the FBI lab.
"My first thought was to wake this woman up like Folger's Coffee every morning. I felt like I should call her every single day. Call that department and just bug them."
But she says she knows there's a backlog, and she understands it may be another four months before she receives official confirmation of what she already suspects: that her search for her nieces has not ended.
"I just have to sit back and say, 'OK, Lord, I'm going to just wait a little longer. I've been waiting all this time, but I'm going to wait a little longer."
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