Chicago searches for missing sisters

CHICAGO (CNN) -- An extensive search is on in Chicago for two young sisters who have been missing since Friday from their South Side home.

Chicago police and the FBI are scouring surrounding neighborhoods for Tionda Bradley, 10, and her sister, Diamond, 3. Authorities regard the disappearance as a missing persons case and say they have no evidence that the children were abducted.

Police are interviewing relatives, friends and neighbors. Bloodhounds have been used to help find the girls and a police marine unit has searched Lake Michigan.

"It could be anything ranging from a missing persons case to abduction," said Frank Bochte, an FBI spokesman in Chicago.

Chicago Police Deputy Director Pat Camden said there does not appear to be a custody dispute angle in the case.

The sisters' disappearance has shocked the community, which held a vigil for the girls Monday night. Neighbors carried candles and prayed that the children be returned home safely. Yellow ribbons were tied around trees and apartment building railings.

The girls' mother, Tracey Bradley, last saw the children when she left for work Friday at 6 a.m.

When the mother returned home from her job at a summer lunch program around 10:45 a.m., the children were not there.

She found a note saying the children were going to a nearby school, Doolittle West Elementary. Police are trying to determine who wrote the note.

Tionda had been attending a summer class at Doolittle, but was absent from school Friday, according to a Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman. The class is held from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the spokeswoman said.

At 6 p.m. Friday, after vainly searching the apartment complex and neighborhood, the mother called police.

Neighbors have said they saw the girls playing near the complex Friday afternoon, not long before they were reported missing.

Police said Tionda is 4 feet, 2 inches tall, 70 pounds, with a medium build and light complexion, brown eyes and black hair in pigtails. Diamond is 3 feet tall, 35 pounds, with a slim build and medium complexion, brown eyes and black hair in ponytails.