Amanda “Nikki” Campbell was only 4-years-old when she vanished from Fairfield, California, on December 27, 1991. One minute the precious child with rosy cherub-like cheeks and Santa Claus earrings was playing happily at a neighbour’s home with her 5-year-old brother Matthew. The next, she was nowhere to be found.
Sometime between 4:30 and 5 pm, Amanda decided to ride her bicycle around the corner to another friend’s home just 8 doors away from her own. When she failed to return, her parents searched the neighbourhood and found her pink and purple bike dumped by a neighbour’s driveway near Salisbury and Larchmont Drive just a few blocks away.
Amanda was never seen again.
A wide-scale search continued through a sudden downpour and into the next morning yet Amanda was nowhere to be found. Police dogs tracked her scent from Salisbury and Larchmont Drive down Oliver Road through a nearby McDonald’s drive-through and onto Intestate 80 which goes through California to New Jersey and finally, into New York.
In 1992, authorities searched the home of waste management plant worker Timothy Bindner and ultimately named him the prime suspect in the case. According to SF Gate, he drove a light-blue Dodge van with the license plate “Lov You” and the inside was plastered with photos of young children and bible quotes.
A former crematorium worker, Timothy allegedly visited the graves of young children, taunted parents of missing ones and befriended young neighbourhood girls by giving them birthday cards, cash gifts and poems.
In 1988, Timothy reportedly sent an eerie letter to the police claiming the next girl to go missing would be 9-years-old. 9-year-old Michaela Garecht disappeared soon after. According to The Charley Project, Timothy was named a suspect in the case but in 2020, suspected serial killer David Misch was charged with her abduction and presumed murder. Michaela’s remains have never been found.
Timothy later sent the police a Christmas card with the image of a girl holding up four fingers. 4-year-old Amanda disappeared soon after.
According to the Disturbed Podcast, Timothy was named a suspect in at least 5 cases of missing children yet authorities were never able to conclusively link him to any of them. Despite Timothy's bizarre and highly questionable behaviour, he claimed he was simply a good samaritan and successfully sued the city for $90,000 citing defamation of character.
According to ABC News, Timothy has never been charged in connection to Amanda’s case or those of any other missing children and he continues to maintain his innocence.
Tragically, the case has since gone cold.
This month marks the 30-year anniversary of Amanda’s disappearance. According to The Charley Project, she was last seen wearing a short-sleeved pink jacket, a purple t-shirt, purple pants, white and pink sneakers and Santa Claus earrings. She was 3'5" and 59 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes. If alive, Amanda would be 34 today.
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Amanda Nicole Eileen Campbell, contact the Fairfield Police Department at 707-428-7355.
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