At 19, Nikki Lyn Forrest had a tough life and did not have a permanent home address. She lived with various relatives and friends in Piqua, Ohio.
Nikki’s mother died when she was 12. Her stepmother, Tammy Weddington, persuaded Nikki’s father to seek custody, but he could not handle the preteen. Tammy became Nikki’s guardian through her teenage years.
Nikki was an exemplary student in school and was involved in a few extracurricular activities. At 18, she told Tammy she no longer wanted to live with her. By the fall of 2010, Nikki was living with her godmother, a friend of her late mother, on Young Street and four months pregnant. Her pregnancy was considered high-risk because she had suffered three previous miscarriages.
On September 25, 2010, Nikki disappeared without a trace. That day, she and her godmother argued over house rules, which the godmother expected Nikki to follow and respect. However, this angered Nikki, and she packed her bags and left.
That evening, Nikki traveled eight miles to Troy. Police do not know she got there. She briefly stopped by a girlfriend’s house on Trade Square West before walking three blocks to her ex-boyfriend’s residence. He might have been her unborn child’s father. He told the police that during their visit, they argued about Nikki’s plans for them to relocate from the area. As they stood in his driveway, a blue car drove up, and Nikki entered the vehicle and left.
Tammy told the police that she received a text from Nikki’s cell phone stating Nikki was okay and that she and a friend were possibly moving out of state.
No one has seen or heard from her since.
Nikki’s high-risk pregnancy required daily medication to prevent another miscarriage. A few days after Nikki vanished, an older couple discovered her purse on the Eldean Covered Bridge on Eldean Road about three miles north of Troy. The bag contained Nikki’s food stamp card, identification, medication, and other personal items.
The couple saw the medication had been filled at the pharmacy inside the Covington Avenue Kroger in Piqua and took it there. A staff member at the pharmacy called Nikki’s emergency contact listed in her file. That person notified the police.
Police never identified the couple who dropped off the purse, and they have never come forward. Authorities still want to speak with them.
Maybe the couple wanted to avoid getting involved or did not want people to know they were the ones who found Nikki’s purse. Or perhaps they knew more about her disappearance or were somehow involved. For example, they could have been the ex-boyfriend’s grandparents and helped him dispose of Nikki’s body and purse. However, the covered bridge, likely a tourist spot, spans the Great Miami River. So, it makes sense they found it when walking through the covered bridge. It also makes sense to drop a body in the river, but authorities searched the area after the purse discovery and found nothing.
Investigators searched the area off Eldean Road but found nothing else. They checked other states’ birth records and obtained Nikki’s cell phone records. She has not used her phone since her disappearance and never picked up her last paycheck from a Waffle House.
The ex-boyfriend stopped cooperating with authorities after his initial statement, Dayton Daily News reported.
In May 2017, officers from the Miami County Sheriff’s Office and the Piqua and Troy police departments, as well as Dayton cold case investigators, excavated a home’s backyard in the 1400 block of Croyden Road in Troy. When Nikki vanished, her ex-boyfriend owned the property. It has since changed ownership.
According to the Springfield News-Sun, police dug a 10-foot by 10-foot by 3-foot hole in an area where a shed had previously stood. Cadaver dogs had led them to that spot. Unfortunately, the police did not find Nikki’s remains. Police received the lead through new interviews and reinterviews in the case.
Nikki had three tattoos. One was of a scarecrow with the words “If only I had a brain” on her upper arm. She had a moth on her abdomen and a Celtic knot with bat wings in the middle of her lower back.
I could not find any info on the ex-boyfriend, but I think he lied to the police and harmed Nikki. I also believe he was the one who texted Tammy from Nikki’s cell phone, not Nikki herself. There is the possibility that Nikki voluntarily left to have her baby.
Anyone with information regarding Nikki’s disappearance may call the Piqua Police Department at (937) 778-2027.
Sources
Good, Meaghan. “Nikki Lyn Forrest.” The Charley Project. https://charleyproject.org/case/nikki-lyn-forrest
Grieco, Lou. “Cold Case Project: Still no Trace of Missing Pregnant Woman.” Dayton Daily News. March 26, 2013. https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/cold-case-project-still-trace-missing-pregnant-woman/VRYbGwA3lXo5l23cOXn4sM/
Steward, Chris. “Investigators Search Ohio Yard for Clues About Missing Woman.” Springfield News-Sun. May 24, 2017.
