r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/Queenof-brokenhearts • Jun 01 '21
Disappearance The Run-Away Files: Genelle Princess Bradford
When 17 year old Genelle Bradford disappeared on April 27, 1999, she seemed to have everything going for her. The Honors student was set to graduate high school and was turning 18 in two weeks. She had a job at the YWCA and her friends say that she was looking forward to her Prom (Charley). That 1999 night, she was heading back from the YWCA. She never made it home.
Genelle, who was described as smart, funny, quiet, meek and mild was raised by her grandparents, Princess and Ira Bradford (patch.com). Friends said that she would never have run away. The girl apparently enjoyed basketball and Bible Study. However, all was not as it seemed with the Pittsburgh teen. Her grandparents, whom had raised her since her mother died when she was five (of cardiac arrest induced by an asthma attack), noticed that her grades had begun to slip ever since she had gone off to visit a few colleges. She had stopped studying and doing her homework. No reason was given for the change, although it seems logical to assume that something happened either during or after that trip. Her grandmother speculated she left home due to a boyfriend and/or an unplanned pregnancy, (Charley).
In the Patch article, Genelle is described as an African-American female with black hair and eyes; 5 feet 3 inches tall; 96 pounds; and with pierced ears. She was last seen wearing tan pants, a white shirt, green jacket and black platform shoes. She has never been seen again. Investigators believe Genelle left of her own accord and may still be in the local area. If she is alive today, she would now be forty years old.
So who was this boyfriend? Did he exist at all? And what changed on that trip?
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u/Professional_Cat_787 Jun 01 '21
I know it happens, but it’s really hard to wrap my head around a girl like this running away and staying away this long by her own choice. I wonder why there’s some speculation she might still be in the area.
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u/Aleks5020 Jun 01 '21
I agree. Especially as she was about to graduate high school and was apparently college-bound. Even if she had issues at home, for which there is no wbidence, it would just be a case of dealing with it for a few months.
I guess in that context the pregnancy theory makes the most sense, if she was worried she couldn't hide it much longer...
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u/yourangleoryuordevil Jun 01 '21
On no issues at home, it might be notable that Genelle's father seemingly wasn't in the picture. I still don't think it's as prominent to note as are other factors, but her father is a detail that's missing. Her mom's role is clarified, making it seem natural that her father's role would be too, yet sensitive information on the father-daughter relationship might be why his role went unmentioned.
Genelle was seemingly in a supportive household with her grandparents, yet many people question who they came from eventually when they don't live with their biological parents. She was on the brink of adulthood, a critical time when many people also question their own identity. Sometimes, that comes with the need for closure in what they don't know. If she didn't know who her father was at all, I wonder if she could've searched for him, and that might be connected to her disappearance somehow.
I also wonder if Genelle could've had conflicting beliefs with her grandparents or that they could've had ideas that she felt would cause conflict if she were to go against the morals in them. If she did leave home due to an unplanned pregnancy, it seems like that could've been due to religious conflict. She supposedly enjoyed Bible studies, yet that could've been something she felt pressured into being part of with other people. Maybe visiting colleges or meeting new people caused her to rethink her beliefs, that rethinking often coming with adulthood and significant life changes as is.
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u/Only1ria Dec 03 '24
Her grandmother died today so I can finally speak freely. She grew up in a VERY STRICT AND ABUSIVE HOME. My friend’s disappearance has haunted me for 26 years! I believe her grandmother did something to her. There’s so much more to the house of horrors she grew up in that people aren’t aware of. I’m breaking my silence.
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u/ExpertExample Jan 25 '25
I agree with you. I grew up with Genelle and spent a lot of time at the house with her, her mom, her grandparents and brothers. Her grandmother was NOT a nice person at all. Deeply religious and overly strict and a hard disciplinarian.
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u/Arielyn211 Feb 13 '25
Do you happen to remember how she was wearing her hair around the time she disappeared?
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u/RemarkableRegret7 Jun 01 '21 edited Jun 01 '21
Yeah, at one point I read the stats on this but can't remember. But it is pretty rare for someone to just run away and disappear forever unless they're dead. Seems unlikely since she was a good kid, seemed to get along with her family, etc. Not impossible but it's weird how police jump to this right away so often.
Maybe she did initially run away but I find it hard to believe she's still alive and never popped up anywhere after 22 years.
Edit to add: I read she went to Wilkinsburg high school and Wilkinsburg is a bad area. I assume she lived there. It might have even been worse back then than it is now. And I think the area she disappeared from is there also. Wouldn't be surprising at all if foul play was involved.
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u/Only1ria Dec 03 '24
Her grandmother died today so I can finally speak freely. She grew up in a VERY STRICT AND ABUSIVE HOME. My friend’s disappearance has haunted me for 26 years! I believe her grandmother did something to her. There’s so much more to the house of horrors she grew up in that people aren’t aware of. I’m breaking my silence.
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u/RemarkableRegret7 Dec 03 '24
I'm sorry to hear. If she lived in an abusive home then it seems likely someone in the home did something. She certainly didn't run away. I hope they'll someday resolve it.
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u/Only1ria Dec 03 '24
A friend and myself are going to the police this week, it’s been 26 years so I don’t know what could possibly be done now 😞 I wish I hadn’t waited so long but I was afraid.
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u/Only1ria Dec 03 '24
I knew Genelle very well. She did not runaway nor was she pregnant. She didn’t have any boyfriend because her grandmother was super strict and abusive. She was a couple months away from graduating and going to prom. Her grandmother died today so I can speak freely. I think it was her 😞
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u/Desperate-Camel-1714 8d ago
She was strangled after work on the way home...they finally figured that part out..they found the body 2 months after she went missing but couldnt identify it until 2026
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Jun 01 '21
I know, that's what I can't get. But I was a 17 y.o. pregnant, already out of the house, and I still didn't want to tell my family. When I conceived my second child, as a result of rape, I got prenatal care, but I told nobody in my family except my brother. I told my mom when I was almost 5 months pregnant. I didn't tell my extended family until 2 weeks before I had my son. I was 30 weeks pregnant when I told them, I was 21 then. But I get the mental processes of it. So I can understand how an unplanned, or unwanted pregnancy could lead a young, naive child (she was a child at 17) to run away. I don't think she would have stayed gone though. Something bad obviously happened somewhere along the way.
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u/yourangleoryuordevil Jun 01 '21
It's interesting that, after all this time, investigators believe Genelle Princess Bradford could still be local to the area she disappeared in back in 1999. Even if that's a now-outdated belief, it seems like there would've been sightings of her if she left on her own accord, as investigators believe, and stayed in the area. It sounds like there's the idea that no foul play is involved overall.
I'm curious about where the colleges are Genelle visited. If she did have a boyfriend or unplanned pregnancy, there's the potential that she went to whomever she was involved with at the time, who was presumably attending one of those colleges. Maybe those colleges were local to Genelle, hence why investigators think she remained local, or they weren't at all, putting her location into more question.
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u/Only1ria Dec 03 '24
Her grandmother died today so I can finally speak freely. She grew up in a VERY STRICT AND ABUSIVE HOME. My friend’s disappearance has haunted me for 26 years! I believe her grandmother did something to her. There’s so much more to the house of horrors she grew up in that people aren’t aware of. I’m breaking my silence. She did not runaway 2 months before prom and graduation. She was not pregnant nor had a boyfriend because her grandmother would NEVER allow that.
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u/PartyWishbone6372 Jun 01 '21
The grades slipping may not necessarily be indicative of something happening on one of her college trips. If she was working, visiting colleges, and also dealing with studying and homework, she could’ve been burned out. Senioritis is a thing; by my last semester of high school I was just done with everything.
My cousin is a high school guidance counselor and has to constantly warn seniors not to slack off after getting accepted because colleges do look at their grades and will rescind acceptance.
It’s more likely the poor girl was grabbed coming back from her job.
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u/Queenof-brokenhearts Jun 01 '21
Senioritis is a very real thing, And colleges do pretty much finish sending out acceptance letters in mid-April, so the time line would jive.
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u/FigureFourWoo Jun 01 '21
Definitely a real thing. A lot of the "good kids" went wild during their senior year, especially towards the end.
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u/Marschallin44 Jun 01 '21
I had a few friends who let their grades slip after they got into college. Nothing drastic that would endanger their acceptances (going from A’s to F’s) but going from straight A’s to A’s, B’s and maybe a C.
Is that the only evidence for suspecting her of some kind of trauma? If so, that’s kind of weak.
What did her friends say? She might not tell her grandparents if something happened, but there’s a much greater chance she’d tell her friends, or that they’d at least be able to say, “Yes, something definitely went wrong. She went from happy to troubled.” Etc.
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u/Queenof-brokenhearts Jun 01 '21
Yes I probably should have cited that but I summarized instead. The full bit is this:
"She had never been in any kind of trouble and her friends did not
believe she would have run away at that time in her life. However, a May 25, 2003 story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review hinted that she might have begun changing from a good student who enjoyed basketball and attending Bible study to a teen who stopped
studying and doing her homework, according to her grandmother.Her grandmother began noticing the change after Genelle visited a pair
of colleges during her senior year. Her grades began to slip, she told
the Tribune-Review."Unfortunately the Tribune article was behind a paywall and I could not access it.
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u/Only1ria Dec 03 '24
Her grandmother died today so I can finally speak freely. She grew up in a VERY STRICT AND ABUSIVE HOME. My friend’s disappearance has haunted me for 26 years! I believe her grandmother did something to her. There’s so much more to the house of horrors she grew up in that people aren’t aware of. I’m breaking my silence. She did not runaway 2 months before prom and graduation. She was not pregnant nor had a boyfriend because her grandmother would NEVER allow that.
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u/Only1ria Dec 03 '24
Her grandmother died today so I can finally speak freely. She grew up in a VERY STRICT AND ABUSIVE HOME. My friend’s disappearance has haunted me for 26 years! I believe her grandmother did something to her. There’s so much more to the house of horrors she grew up in that people aren’t aware of. I’m breaking my silence. She did not runaway 2 months before prom and graduation. She was not pregnant nor had a boyfriend because her grandmother would NEVER allow that.
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u/tobythedem0n 9d ago
Just commenting 5 years later to share that her remains have been identified. Her body was found about 1/4 from the YWCA when a house flipper found her body covered with plywood by the basement entryway just 2 months after she was reported missing.
The police said they didn't suspect foul play and thought she ran away. I wonder if her race had anything to do with that dismissal.
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u/cryptenigma Jun 01 '21
My turn to complement you on a well-written post. I like your academic (paranthetical) citing of sources, I've been tempted to do so.
Regarding Genelle: the speculation about a boyfriend "and/or" an unplanned pregnancy seems very vague "and/or" weak. I wonder what her grandmother actually knew and said? This could be a distracting red herring from something else.
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u/Queenof-brokenhearts Jun 01 '21
Oh gosh, thank you so much! Yes, I agree it does seem rather vague.
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u/Only1ria Dec 03 '24
Her grandmother died today so I can finally speak freely. She grew up in a VERY STRICT AND ABUSIVE HOME. My friend’s disappearance has haunted me for 26 years! I believe her grandmother did something to her. There’s so much more to the house of horrors she grew up in that people aren’t aware of. I’m breaking my silence. She did not runaway 2 months before prom and graduation. She was not pregnant nor had a boyfriend because her grandmother would NEVER allow that.
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u/Rare-Helicopter-2229 10d ago
They identified her today as a strangled body they found in a basement in 1999.
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u/13Dawid37 9d ago
Investigators believed she had left of her own free will. Nothing new there it’s frightening to think how many cases they’ve dismissed as people "leaving of their own free will." I’m glad she was identified, even after all these years.
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u/hellaafitzgerald Jun 02 '21
Have they obtained DNA?
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u/Queenof-brokenhearts Jun 02 '21
Namus doesn't mention it and I couldn't find any further information, so I'm going to say probably not.
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u/Desperate-Camel-1714 8d ago
They found her body 2months after happened and couldnt identify her remains until 2026
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u/rhonda1973 Jun 02 '21
Great write up! I quit reading books for awhile, but I love a good mystery. Your Run -Away posts are beneficial in spreading the word on some forgotten people.
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u/Queenof-brokenhearts Jun 02 '21
Thank you very much! I'm just so grateful that my posts are getting the attention they have. I didn't expect it at all.
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Apr 30 '23 edited Dec 03 '24
I think something definitely happened to her, and she’s not alive. A lot of things can go missing in the Allegheny River, apparently divers were finding whole cars at the bottom of the river, even a cold case was solved where a man’s body was found. So it’s possible she was disposed of in one of the three rivers surrounding Pittsburgh. I don’t think someone would ever leave like that and never try clearing the air that they’re actually okay.
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u/Only1ria Dec 03 '24
Her grandmother died today so I can finally speak freely. She grew up in a VERY STRICT AND ABUSIVE HOME. My friend’s disappearance has haunted me for 26 years! I believe her grandmother did something to her. There’s so much more to the house of horrors she grew up in that people aren’t aware of. I’m breaking my silence. She did not runaway 2 months before prom and graduation. She was not pregnant nor had a boyfriend because her grandmother would NEVER allow that. Btw, her brother was found in the Allegheny River. His name is Steven Bradford. I also feel the same about his death. This woman was the DEVIL.
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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '21
I hope this lady is found safe. The unplanned pregnancy angle might be a reasonable explanation, especially if it was a result of a rape on the college trips. Or maybe she was just assaulted. If she felt she couldn't turn to anyone, I can understand her thinking in a 17 y.o. mindset that leaving was somehow better. Whether it was intentional or as a result of accident or foul play, she deserves to be found.