Talk:Disappearance of Amanda Campbell/GA1: Difference between revisions

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Nominator: EF5 (talk · contribs) 21:17, 4 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Reviewer: Spintendo (talk · contribs) 22:20, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! I’m happy to begin this review and look forward to working with you. We’ll go section by section. Feel free to leave comments and counter suggestions below each entry.  Spintendo  22:20, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, thank you for picking this up so fast! Wasn’t expecting that given most of my noms are on the list for at least a month. ^EF⁵ 23:04, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

(Note: Y = Reviewer suggestions addressed by the nominator.)

• Y No issues here.

• Y“According to her mother, Amanda loved the holidays” This information is not pertinent to the article.

 Done, removed. ^EF⁵ 23:13, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• “On the afternoon of December 27, 1991, Campbell was riding her bicycle to a friend’s house near her own; earlier in the day she had been at another friend’s residence with her brother. “ The times of these occurrences should be given. “Earlier in the day” is not precise.

A time is never given in the sources provided, so that’s as specific as I’m able to get without going into WP:OR territory. “4:30” and “5:00” is mentioned in The Charley Project but that doesn’t compensate for the “earlier in the day” part. ^EF⁵ 23:23, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The San Francisco Chronicle gives a rough timeline starting at 4pm:

“On Friday afternoon, Amanda and her 5-year-old brother, Matthew, left their family’s home just after 4 p.m. and went to play with a boy a few houses away. After the two arrived, the boys began to tease Amanda, saying they did not want to play with any girls. Amanda got back on her bike and left, apparently to visit a friend.

Here is the citation for that:

• Lynch, April (December 30, 1991). “Missing Girl, 4, Still Sought”. San Francisco Chronicle.

• Y “Campbell never arrived at the home, however, and she has never been seen or heard from since. This reads in a difficult manner. “never arrived at the home” doesn’t specify which home, her home or the second friends home? Other contemporaneous news reports give the reason why she left her brother and the first friend’s home, but that reason isn’t given here.

 Done, added. ^EF⁵ 23:23, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• “During initial searches, authorities believed that the bicycle was not in its original position and that Campbell’s older brother may have moved it” I don’t see this fact confirmed in the SF Chronicle article. It would stand to reason that information in the Examiner would also be given in the Chronicle.

It is mentioned: Searchers found the bike a half block from Amanda’s house, but authorities now say they believe her 5-year-old brother, Matthews, may have moved it there after finding it at another location. ^EF⁵ 23:23, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, their description of it sounds better, I think because they elaborate that he moved it after first finding it at a different location.  Spintendo  03:04, 13 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• Y “The following day a motorist reportedly saw a girl matching Campbell’s description inside of a Datsun B-210 sedan in East Fairfield, around six miles from where Campbell was last seen” The motorist gave their account of this event two days after the abduction, not “the next day”. It’s not clear whether the motorist saw this on the Friday of the abduction, or the Sunday when they reported it—and if it were the Sunday, why the motorist waited 2 days to report it.

 Done, fixed. ^EF⁵ 23:23, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• ” The motorist also noted that it appeared like the girl was “tied up and screaming”, although the car was never located after authorities rushed to the location” I don’t know that I would describe this as “rushing to the location”. The responding officers searched the entire east side of Fairfield, checking any vehicle that was even close to that description, and found nothing.

The source given (SF Examiner) uses that wording, and per WP:SYNTH it’s best to report what sources say even if it’s not 100% accurate: Officers sped to the scene about six miles … ^EF⁵ 23:23, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

On this, if you need any help accessing these sources let me know, I’m aware that they aren’t traditional. ^EF⁵ 23:23, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Well then we have a problem here because the Chronicle tells it the other way. They presumably searched the entire East Fairfield section, so I don’t see how the cops could “speed” to the entire East Fairfield part of the city. Perhaps this is merely hyperbole on the part of the Examiner. Does the Examiner explain the time difference between the motorist’s reporting of the incident and the actual time it occurred? If there was a two day delay, that would make the likelihood of them speeding to the incident’s location less so. Spintendo  03:04, 13 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

No, it simply says “rushed to the scene”, and I highly doubt they rushed there two days after. The caller reported it at 10:00 pm, and authorities got there “earlier Monday”, but again saying that’s not rushing would be WP:OR. ^EF⁵ 12:03, 13 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• The title of this section unfairly spotlights Binder. The section should be renamed to Suspects or some other title.

 Done. ^EF⁵ 23:46, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• The main issue with this section is that it does not mention Binder’s lawsuit filed in 1993 against the city of Fairfield, claiming illegal search and seizure, invasion of privacy, defamation of character, libel and slander. That lawsuit was settled out of court in 1997 for a reported $90,000.

 Done. ^EF⁵ 23:46, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• “Bindner’s vehicle was also searched; posters of other kidnapped children including Amber Swartz-Garcia and Michaela Garecht, names of missing children written on the vehicle’s inner walls, children’s underwear and a small shirt in the rear portions of the van.” This is not grammatical.

Less a brain fart and more a brain shart; no idea how I wrote that and didn’t notice. Call it  Done. ^EF⁵ 23:46, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• The entries should not be stepped in that way, i.e., with one entry at level one and the next entry and a sublevel 2.

Personally I don’t think it’s an issue as I’ve done it on several GAs, but I’ve ( Done) fixed it for this one. ^EF⁵ 23:27, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• These should be placed into two different level 2 sections, one titled Notes and the other References.

That’s already been  Done. ^EF⁵ 23:25, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• The note is unreferenced.

Removed ( Done); while true it’s WP:SYNTH. ^EF⁵ 23:25, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• Any reference that is archivable should be archived.

• “The girl’s mother, Mary Ann Campbell, said Amanda had left home with her brother, Matthew, 5, to play at a boy’s house. But when the two boys didn’t want to play with her, she returned home and asked her father’s permission to visit her girlfriend. Her father told her to be home by dark, Mary Ann Campbell said. But Amanda never made it to her girlfriend’s home.” – Source: Her, Scott (December 30, 1991). “Search Continuing for Missing Girl, 4”. San Jose Mercury News.
• The second friend that Amanda was attempting to visit, named Beth Ann, was not at home at the time Amanda would have tried to visit her. Source: “Intense Hunt for Fairfield 4-Year-Old”. Sacramento Bee. December 30, 1991.
• “Nikki had asked her father for permission to visit her friend Beth Ann across the street. Her father, Jim Campbell, stood watching her through his living room window until she had crossed Larchmont Drive safely, then gone about his business.” Source: Goldston, Linda; Weiss, Mike (September 20, 1992). “The Worst Nightmare”. The Mercury News.
• The grandmother was the one to find the bicycle, reportedly a block and a half from her (Amanda’s) house – Various sources
• Sacramento Bee confirms that the motorist’s description of seeing the girl tied up in a car happened on Sunday evening, the same evening the motorist made the report. Source: “Intense Hunt for Fairfield 4-Year-Old”. Sacramento Bee. December 30, 1991. Note: This would seem to confirm the Examiner report that the police “rushed to the scene”.
• In 1992, a billboard went up on the corner of 19th and J street picturing Campbell, asking the public for information. Source: Sacramento Bee, July 8, 1992 title: The Search Goes On
• There are several articles discussing Bidner and the suspicions levelled against him, but in the wake of the lawsuit, I’m cautious about mentioning some of them. In particular, a San Jose Mercury News article discusses one critic as saying how the media was used to “smear kidnap suspect”, so I wouldn’t want to continue that. We can choose which of these to include:
  • Some of the info is already here and is perfectly fine to use (the information about the van)
  • but a lot of it is about the suspect discussing his own wishes to help “solve missing childrens” cases (this could be included, because it’s his own words)
  • another story is about the suspect actually going to the Campbell’s home. (this could be included)
  • A Chronicle article discusses each and every bizarre item found during the police search of Bidner’s home. (This could probably be left out as being potentially inflammatory and irrelevant)
  • I can provide you with copies of any of these article that you may wish to use.
• What definately needs to be mentioned is the incident where three missing children’s mothers, one of them including Mrs. Campbell, interrogate Bidner on a segment of The Jane Whitney Show:

  “The latest episode in the media attention surrounding Timothy Bindner was played out on national television yesterday as the mothers of three missing Bay Area girls tried to get Bindner to confess to the kidnapings despite his adamant denials. With Bindner participating via satellite, many accusations were leveled by the mothers of Amanda (Nikki) Campbell, Amber Swartz- Garcia and Michaela Garecht and by several members of the audience, including a new statement by Amber’s mother that police bloodhounds found her daughter’s scent in Bindner’s van. Bindner has spoken freely with the news media, hoping to convince the public that he has only been trying to help authorities find missing children. But those assertions were discounted yesterday as Amanda’s mother, Ann Campbell; Amber’s mother, Kim Swartz; and Michaela’s mother, Sharon Nemeth, accused Bindner of taking their children.”

  • Source: Wilson, Yumi L. (February 5, 1993). “Missing Girls’ Moms Quiz Kidnap Suspect – Oakland Man Denies Accusations on TV Show”. San Francisco Chronicle.

 Spintendo  21:54, 14 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

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