For decades, Nikki’s case has been one of the most frustrating missing children investigations in modern Bay Area memory. Fairfield detectives were
fixated on an Oakland man, even publicly naming him as a suspect. But that man was later cleared and won a defamation suit against the city for $90,000.
New hope for resolution came earlier this year when Pennsylvania police
announced the arrest of David Zandstra. Zandstra, now 83, was working as a minister in Delaware County in 1975 when police say he abducted 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington on her way to Bible school. Gretchen's body was discovered by a jogger in the woods, but the case went cold for decades after.
In 2022, a Pennsylvania State Police trooper said he was contacted by someone alleging they were sexually abused by Zandstra as a child. The trooper claims when he interrogated Zandstra, the former minister admitted to killing Gretchen;
Zandstra's lawyer said in court in November that his client was "tricked" by detectives due to his age.
While probing Zandstra’s life and work history, detectives learned he worked at a Christian Reformed Church in Fairfield from 1990 to 2005. In July, Fairfield police confirmed they were looking for any ties between Zandstra and Nikki’s case.
“Our research has led us to believe the suspect, David Zandstra, did indeed live in the Fairfield area around the time Amanda Campbell went missing,” a spokesperson from the Fairfield Police Department told SFGATE at the time. “… Further details will be provided after detectives have had an opportunity to investigate.”
“We don’t have any evidence to suggest a link between Amanda’s disappearance and David Zandstra,” the spokesperson said.
Zandstra was charged with first-degree murder, criminal homicide and other felonies in Delaware County. His next court date is
set for Feb. 15, 2024.
Missing Bay Area girl Amanda “Nikki” Campbell disappeared from Fairfield, Calif., on Dec. 27, 1991.
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