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Where is Nikki? Pittsburgh Toddler still missing 38 years later
It's been nearly 40 years since Nicole Bryner disappeared from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1982. She remains missing and her case unsolved.
It’s been 38 years since a south side toddler named Nicole or “Nikki” Lynn Bryner disappeared without a trace from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 11th 1982. Her case remains unresolved and she has never been recovered.
A mystery begins
The mystery started on March 11th of 1982 when Melody Childs Thomas called the Pittsburgh Police Department to report her young 3 year old daughter, Nicole Bryner, as missing.
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Thomas claimed that she and her daughter went to the supermarket that day as they normally did. The first thing Nicole asked for was cookies, she was known to have loved cookies. Thomas said she told Nicole that she would get her the cookies once she finished the shopping.
Melody said she last her daughter as she sat at the bottom of the shopping cart. she turned around for a brief moment to scan the meat counter. When she looked back, Nicole was gone. Melody became nervous and started to search for her young daughter. She first went to the cookie racks to see if Nicole has wandered there but she was nowhere in sight. She called police after she was unable to find Nicole anywhere in the store.
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Information source: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 03/17/1982
The Milk Carton Girl: A nationwide search comes to life
Nicole’s presumed abduction attracted much National attention and her picture along with her vital information was pasted to the sides of milk cartons in the middle of the 1980s. Her case was a major factor in the establishment of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The center along with police investigators received various sightings of Nicole from all around the United States. Most of them turned out to be letdowns. In one of these sightings, a man thought he recognized the girl from a milk carton in California in 1985. She was allegedly spotted with a man who drove a green 1979 Chrysler with Texas license plates.
No sign of Nicole or her kidnappers was ever found and her disappearance became harder and harder to solve as the years passed on. Investigators were never sure of what actually happened to the missing toddler.
Information source: Lancaster New Era 03/23/1985
A confession
Melody Childs live in boyfriend at the time of Nicole’s disappearance would later confess that he accidentally killed Nikki two days before she was reported missing. He claimed that Nicole’s death occurred after he struck her with the back of his hand.
Widman stated he was on a drug binge and that Nicole had woken him by biting his toe which is why he struck her. He claimed that Nicole fell hit her head. She fell into a state of unconsciousness. He awoke Melody who took the child to bed.
They found that Nicole died from her injuries a few hours later. Widman claimed that they buried Nicole’s body in a wooded lot in Brookline, Pennsylvania and that Melody said they should report her missing to cover up the crime.
Both were originally charged with their alleged roles in the girls death based off the confession. No evidence was ever found in regards to the confession and Nicole’s body was never recovered. The charges against Melody and Widman were dropped.
There was a law present in Pennsylvania that required for a body to be found in order to prove murder or manslaughter. The law was changed in 1988.
In 2006, Widman was charged with killing Nicole again. He again admitted to causing her death and plead guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. He was to serve a sentence of 2-4 years in prison. He passed away in 2011.
Information Source: Unidentified Wiki
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 05/31/2007
A mothers adamancy
Melody always maintained her innocence on her daughters disappearance and stated that it was true that Nicole went missing from the supermarket even when Widman announced it was a lie. She never deviated from her original events of how her daughter disappeared.
Melody stated she wanted to get out of prison to get back with her husband in Texas and search for her long missing daughter whom she said she still believed to be alive.
A few months after her daughters disappearance, she said she was depressed and had hard times with getting a job. She said that work kept her sane and that most people whom she went to always knew who she was and asked why she wasn’t searching for her daughter.
Melody also announced that she wished to have another child but said she felt she could not because she did not want to replace Nikki.
Melody passed away in a Texas hospital in 2001 after a back surgery operation. She was never recharged with her daughters disappearance before she died.
Information source: Stories of the Unsolved
A plea for answers
Nicole’s disappearance remains unresolved and continues to be listed as a stranger abduction. Her whereabouts are a mystery and investigators have been unable to produce her or her remains.
If she’s alive today, Nicole would be 41 years old. She has brown hair and brown eyes and stood at 2 feet 6inches and weighed 35 pounds when she disappeared. Nicole was last known to be wearing a blue jacket, a gray turtleneck sweater, a green velour t-shirt, blue jeans with a distinctive star on the right rear pocket, and brown suede shoes.
Investigators believe that Nicole was the victim of foul play; whether it was an abduction or a murder.
Anyone having information about Nicole’s whereabouts is urged to call the Pittsburgh Police Department at 412-255-2888 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or 1-800-THE-LOST.
Information source: The Charley Project - Nicole Lynn Bryner
