Her Mom Claimed She Was Kidnapped Out Of A Shopping Cart At A Supermarket: Where Is Nicole Lynn Bryner?
On March 11, 1982, Melody Thomas Childs, a mother from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, reported her 3-year-old daughter, Nicole Lynn Bryner, missing to the police.
She claimed that they’d been at the Giant Eagle Supermarket, located at 23rd Street and Jane Street, when she visited the meat counter; meanwhile, Nicole was supposedly sitting at the bottom of the shopping cart. Next, Melody alleged that when she turned back around, her daughter was gone.
From the start, the police were skeptical of Melody’s story. They interviewed witnesses at the supermarket, none of whom saw Nicole in the store.
So, initially, authorities suspected Nicole had been taken in a custody dispute between Melody and her ex-husband, Michael Bryner. However, Michael had been in Texas at the time Nicole vanished, and he flew up to Pittsburgh to assist in the search, so he was ruled out as a suspect.
Then, several days later, Melody supposedly received a letter from Nicole’s purported abductors. The correspondence claimed that “Nikki” was dead and had been buried.
Investigators analyzed the handwriting and determined it was possible Melody had actually penned the letter herself. She denied that and underwent a polygraph examination, the results of which were inconclusive.
It wasn’t until about four years later, in 1986, that a major break came in Nicole’s case. Timothy Wayne Widman, who’d been dating and living with Melody and Nicole in their Pittsburgh apartment leading up to her disappearance, confessed to killing the 3-year-old. At the time of his confession, he was in prison for burglary.
During an interview with the police, Timothy claimed he’d been sleeping on the couch following a drug binge when he woke up to Nicole biting his toe. In response, Timothy allegedly smacked Nicole, causing her to fall and hit her head on the radiator.
He supposedly didn’t realize that she was badly injured and woke up Melody, who took her daughter to bed with her. Timothy said they realized Nicole had died from her injuries a few hours later.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
Afterward, he alleged that he and Melody put Nicole’s body in a green plastic garbage bag and buried her remains in a shallow grave in a wooded region along Timberland Road in Brookline, Pennsylvania. Then, they contacted the police and reported that Nicole had been abducted to cover up what had really happened.
Those close to Melody and Timothy alleged that he’d regularly abused Melody and her daughter, saying that Melody was afraid of him.
Investigators searched for Nicole’s body in the Brookline area but turned up no evidence. Timothy was also charged with involuntary manslaughter, yet the charges were ultimately dropped in 1987. At the time, a law stated that a body needed to be discovered in order to prove intentional homicide or manslaughter, so without Nicole’s remains, the police hit a dead end.
They did arrest Melody, who’d moved to Garland, Texas, in June 1986, and charged her with felony counts of hindering prosecution and providing false information to authorities. However, Timothy refused to testify against her, so the charges were dropped, and Melody died in 2001 after undergoing back surgery.
Nevertheless, the law that previously prohibited Timothy from being prosecuted was actually changed in 1988. The new legislation asserted that an individual could be presumed dead after remaining missing for seven years. So, in September 2006, he was charged with criminal homicide in relation to Nicole’s case.
Timothy reportedly cooperated with authorities and confessed to her murder again in May 2007. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and received a sentence of two to four years behind bars.
The police claimed they never found any evidence proving the murder had been intentional, given they’d never been able to locate Nicole’s body. Still, Nicole’s loved ones were upset by his short prison sentence.
Timothy died on March 2, 2011, at 56 years old, and reportedly apologized to Nicole’s family prior to his death. But while the case is considered solved by the Pittsburgh Police Department, her body has never been found.
If Nicole were alive today, she would be 46 years old. Anyone with information regarding her case is urged to contact the Pittsburgh Police Department at (412) 255-2888.
More About:True Crime