Ashley Flowers

I mean, they had nothing else telling them differently.

And so with the wedding just weeks away, this whole like runaway bride theory was a convenient narrative.

Oh, yeah.

They told police.

But there was no hint of a struggle at the laundromat.

No hard evidence left behind.

So they kind of waited it out a little to see if she turned back up.

But the more time that passed, the more concerning things got.

There was no activity on her bank accounts, no trace of the car that she'd been driving.

In those first days, it was up to Nikki's family to organize search parties.

They got dozens of volunteers to comb the wooded areas and the back roads around Richmond, Indiana, and they passed out as many flyers as they could.

And one of the people helping pass out flyers was, of course, Nikki's fiancé, Bobby Webster.

But outside of that, he wasn't really participating in any of the searches.

And probably because he was too busy doing some really eyebrow-raising things at a moment when optics mattered.

According to police accounts, within days of Nikki disappearing, Bobby contacted the community college that Nikki was attending to ask about her unused tuition.

Like, what would happen to it?

And he must be pretty sure they're not getting married either because he also went to a jeweler and returned Nikki's engagement ring.

Even canceled their reception venue for a refund within a week.

Now, at the time, his excuse was that he just really needed the money with Nikki being gone and her not working.

And his car was missing with her, I guess.