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in: California, 1991, Abduction,
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Nikki Campbell

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Real Name: Amanda Nicole Eileen Campbell
Nicknames: Nikki
Location: Fairfield, California
Date: December 27, 1991

Bio[]

Occupation: Minor
Date of Birth: May 7, 1987
Height: 3'5"
Weight: 59 lbs.
Marital Status: Single
Characteristics: White female with blonde hair and blue eyes. Nikki has pierced ears, a facial dimple, and moles on her forehead and near her nose. She had a rash around her mouth at the time. She was wearing a pink nylon jacket with short sleeves, purple corduroy pants, a dark purple short-sleeved shirt, white sneakers with pink trim, and Santa Claus earrings.

Case[]

Details: Four-year-old Nikki Campbell lived on Salisbury Drive in Fairfield, California, with her family. On the afternoon of December 27, 1991, she and her five-year-old brother, Matthew, went to play at a friend's house eight doors away. At around 4:30pm, she left on her bicycle to go to another friend's house around the corner, but she never arrived there.
When their mother, Ann, came home from work, she asked Matthew where Nikki was. He said that she was playing at her friend's house. But when she had not come home by 7pm, they went out and searched for her. They soon learned that she had never arrived at her friend's house. At 8pm, they reported her missing.
Later that evening, Nikki's bicycle was found on a small grassy area along Norwalk Place, a few blocks from her home. A pair of child-sized blue socks were found in the street. However, it is not known if the socks belonged to her. No other trace of her has ever been found.
Dogs tracked Nikki's scent from Larchmont Drive (which intersects with her street) to Oliver Road, to the drive-through at a nearby McDonald's restaurant on Travis Boulevard, then east on Travis Boulevard to the westbound Interstate 80 on-ramp. It was then lost. Authorities believe she was pulled into a vehicle, probably at the intersection of Larchmont Drive and Salisbury Drive (close to where she was last seen).
A few days after Nikki was last seen, a witness reported seeing a child matching her description in a passing car in eastern Fairfield. The child appeared to be screaming. Police searched the area where the sighting occurred, but no trace of her or the car was found.
Nikki was the fourth girl to vanish in the San Francisco Bay Area in the past four years. On June 3, 1988, seven-year-old Amber Swartz vanished while playing in her front yard in Pinole, California. Five months later, on November 19, 1988, nine-year-old Michaela Garecht was abducted from a Hayward market. Two months after that, on January 30, 1989, thirteen-year-old Ilene Misheloff vanished while walking home from school in Dublin.
Four days after Nikki's disappearance, her scent, like Amber's, was allegedly tracked by bloodhounds to the grave of five-year-old Angela Bugay. She had been abducted from her apartment complex in Antioch, California, in 1983. She was later found sexually assaulted and murdered.
A man named Tim Bindner was known to visit Angela's grave up to ninety times per year. He had also approached the missing girls' families and offered to help search for them. A week after Nikki's disappearance, authorities found him climbing from a ravine near Nikki's home. Her scent was then tracked to his car.
In early 1991, several months before Nikki's disappearance, Bindner sent strange letters to a twelve-year-old girl who lived just a few blocks from Nikki. He also sent a Christmas card to an FBI profiler, which showed a girl holding up four fingers; this was Nikki's age at the time of her disappearance.
In December 1992, a year after Nikki's disappearance, the Fairfield Police Department named Bindner their "prime suspect" and searched his home. During the search, he reportedly said nothing but was seen "violently shaking". The police found personal writings, logbooks on visits to cemeteries, and dog tags with the names of missing girls on them. However, nothing concrete was found in his home that could connect him to any of the disappearances.
Believing that his reputation had been unfairly tarnished by the Fairfield Police Department's handling of the investigation, Bindner brought a defamation lawsuit against the city of Fairfield in June 1993. The city settled out of court for $90,000. He maintains his innocence in these cases. Sadly, Nikki has never been found.
Suspects: Tim Bindner has been named a suspect in this case, but he maintains his innocence. Shortly before Nikki vanished, he sent strange letters to a girl in the Fairfield area. Bloodhounds later traced Nikki's scent to one of his vehicles and Angela's grave. He visited it up to ninety times in one year. His house was searched in December 1992, but no evidence was found. Before Nikki's disappearance, he sent a Christmas card of a girl holding up four fingers, matching her age. He also somewhat matched the psychological profile of Nikki's abductor.
A witness saw a girl matching Nikki's description screaming in a car in eastern Fairfield. The car was a late-1970s Datsun B-210 compact sedan that was faded yellow or beige. The car and girl were never found, and it is not known if the sighting was actually connected to this case.
In November 2000, authorities received a tip that Nikki may have been lured to a house on Salisbury Drive and murdered on the day of her disappearance. The house was just a block from where she was last seen. In January 2001, authorities searched the house's crawl space, where the tipster said Nikki was buried. Cadaver dogs were also brought in.
A woman who owned the house at the time of Nikki's disappearance said her young nephews had been living with her and had played with Nikki there the day before she vanished. She said nothing could have happened to Nikki there because she was home all day. In the end, no evidence was found in the crawl space.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired on the June 13, 2002 episode, which focused on Amber's disappearance.
  • Some sources say Nikki's bicycle was found a half-block from her home. However, it was noted in these sources that her brother may have found it in a different location and moved it.

Results: Unsolved - Bindner remains a suspect in this case. Angela's murder was later solved after DNA identified her killer as her mother's ex-boyfriend, Larry Graham. It is not known if he is a suspect in this case. In 2009, after missing child Jaycee Dugard was found alive, the Fairfield Police Department received a search warrant to look for evidence linking Jaycee's abductors, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, to Nikki. However, nothing was found.
Curtis Anderson, Amber's alleged killer, was also investigated for Nikki's disappearance and considered a possible suspect. Police searched his mother's house for evidence linking him to other missing child cases. However, nothing was found.
David Misch was charged with Michaela's murder in 2020 after his palm print was found on her scooter. However, he is not a suspect in Nikki's case because he was already in prison when she vanished.
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