Account
Sep 29, 2010
Jul 12, 2021
Nicole
Bryner
45
3
31 inches
35 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
In the late winter of 1982, the life of three-year-old Nicole Lynn Bryner of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, came to a heartbreaking end. Her mother, Melody Thomas Childs, reported her missing on March 11, 1982, claiming the toddler had been abducted from a shopping cart at a Giant Eagle supermarket on the city's south side. Childs told authorities that she had turned away for a moment, and when she looked back, Nicole was gone. At the time of her disappearance, Nicole was described as a white female with brown hair and brown eyes, standing at 2'6" tall and weighing 35 pounds. She was last seen wearing a blue jacket, a gray turtleneck sweater, a green velour t-shirt, blue jeans with a star on the right rear pocket, and brown suede shoes. From the beginning of the investigation, authorities were skeptical of Childs's account, as no other shoppers or store employees recalled seeing Nicole at the supermarket that day. Several days after the reported abduction, a letter was found in Childs's home, purportedly from the abductor, stating that "Nikky" was dead and buried. However, handwriting analysis suggested that Childs herself had likely written the letter. The investigation into Nicole's disappearance grew cold until May 1986, when Melody's former live-in boyfriend, Timothy Wayne Widman, confessed to killing the child. Widman, who was incarcerated on burglary charges at the time of his confession, revealed a grim story of what truly happened to Nicole. He stated that in March 1982, after a drug binge, he was awakened by Nicole biting his toe. In a fit of anger, he slapped her, causing her to fall and hit her head. Childs then put the injured child to bed, and she was found deceased the next morning. According to Widman's confession, he and Childs wrapped Nicole's body in a green plastic garbage bag and buried her in a shallow grave in a wooded area in Brookline, Pennsylvania, concocting the abduction story to cover up the death. Following the confession, Widman was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter, but the charges were dropped in 1987 due to a law at the time that generally required a body to prove a homicide. Childs, who had since moved to Texas and remarried, was charged with hindering prosecution and providing false reports to the authorities. These charges were also eventually dropped after Widman refused to testify against her. The case saw a significant development years later when, in 2006, the law having changed, Widman was again charged with criminal homicide in Nicole's presumed death. In May 2007, he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to two to four years in prison. Despite extensive searches, Nicole's remains have never been found, and her case is considered closed by the Pittsburgh Police Department. This case provides a tragic overview of a young life lost, a fabricated abduction, a years-long investigation, and an eventual, though perhaps unsatisfying, legal resolution.
Mar 11, 1982
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
Allegheny County
Pittsburgh
No
27182
Pittsburgh Police Department
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
Allegheny County
15233
1203 Western Avenue, Pennsylvania
4123237800
Local
Law Enforcement
82-46139
1982-03-11
Pittsburgh Police Department
Brown
Brown
Brown
No
05/26/2026
