Key facts
- Name: Marilyn Renee Nicole “Niqui” McCown
- Age at disappearance: 28
- Last seen: July 22, 2001
- Location: A laundromat in the 1000 block of South E Street, Richmond, Indiana
- Height / build: 5’2″, 115 lbs, brown hair, brown eyes
- Status: Still missing — Richmond Police Department case open; foul play suspected
- Investigating agency: Richmond Police Department
The laundromat
Sunday, July 22, 2001, was supposed to be an ordinary day in Niqui McCown’s busy wedding season. The 28-year-old Richmond, Indiana woman was engaged to her fiancé, Bobby Webster, and their wedding was three weeks away. That morning she dropped Webster off at a local tuxedo shop for a fitting with his best man; the couple agreed to meet back at their apartment at 6:00 p.m. to finish addressing wedding invitations.
Instead, Niqui went to do her weekly laundry at the laundromat. She started her clothes, then walked to her mother’s house about a block away. During the visit she told her mother, Barbara, that two men had been harassing her at the laundromat — Barbara figured it was nothing serious and advised her to grab her clothes and come back. Before 3:00 p.m., Niqui left to return to the laundromat.
She never came home.
Surveillance footage from a nearby store — pulled by Richmond police — showed Niqui loading clothes into her 1990 GMC Jimmy and driving away from the laundromat. She did not appear to be under duress. Investigators were able to rule out an abduction from inside the laundromat based on that footage.
The Jimmy was registered in Bobby Webster’s name. It was later found in Dayton, Ohio — some 50 miles east of Richmond, across the state line.
The Richmond Police Department’s investigation quickly focused on Webster. In the days after Niqui’s disappearance, he canceled the wedding and demanded a full refund from the reception hall; he also tried to return his wedding band for cash, but the jeweler refused because Niqui had purchased it and her name was on the receipt. Webster told police he needed extra money to help look for Niqui. He took a polygraph test and was questioned. He was never charged. Webster is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and police found no evidence against him.
Another person of interest, coworker Tommy Swint, became a suspect when DNA evidence surfaced. During the investigation, detectives learned Swint was suspected in the 1991 murder of Tina Ivery. On February 3, 2010, as police approached to arrest him, Swint took his own life — dying with the answers he might have held.
Webster died in 2021, never charged in Niqui’s case.
Detective Mike Wright of the Richmond Police Department has been working the case for years, and the department has stated publicly that it continues to investigate. The case remains active and officially open.
Who Niqui was
Niqui was 28, a young mother — her daughter Payton was nine — engaged and three weeks from a wedding she was said to be excited about. She was described as beautiful and outgoing, and the details of her final day are unusually complete because of the surveillance tape, her mother’s account, and the wedding-season context: fitting, invitations, laundry.
It arrived in force in 2026. In January, Crime Junkie — one of the biggest true-crime podcasts in the world — aired “MISSING: Niqui McCown,” a reinvestigation of the case. In August, NBC’s Dateline aired “Missing in America: No Ordinary Sunday” on Niqui’s disappearance, reported by Josh Mankiewicz, with Detective Wright and her family. Twenty-five years after she vanished, Niqui McCown’s name was finally being said on national television.
Theories: what might have happened
Foul play by someone she knew. The two men in her orbit drew the most scrutiny — the fiancé, and the coworker with a possible second murder to his name. What supports it: intimate-partner and acquaintance violence is the statistical backdrop of cases like this, and the car ending up across the state line suggests someone moved it. What undercuts it as a named theory: both principal persons of interest are dead, no charges were ever filed, and both are presumed innocent.
Abducted by the men at the laundromat. The one fact that came straight from Niqui’s own mouth: two men were harassing her at the laundromat that day. She was nervous about going back. What undercuts it: surveillance showed her leaving the laundromat calmly, and investigators ruled out an abduction from inside the business.
A stranger. What undercuts it: the surveillance footage showed no duress at the laundromat, and nothing about the case has pointed investigators toward a random stranger.
Have information?
Contact the Richmond Police Department at (765) 983-7247. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- 1973 (approx.) — Marilyn Renee Nicole “Niqui” McCown is born.
- July 22, 2001 — Niqui is last seen in Richmond, Indiana: drops fiancé Bobby Webster at a tuxedo fitting, does laundry at the South E Street laundromat, visits her mother’s house, returns for her clothes and is never seen again.
- 2001 — Her 1990 GMC Jimmy, registered in Webster’s name, is found in Dayton, Ohio.
- 2001–present — Richmond PD investigates; fiancé Bobby Webster is a focus of suspicion but never charged; person of interest Tommy Swint dies by suicide on February 3, 2010, as police approach to arrest him in the 1991 murder of Tina Ivery.
- 2021 — Bobby Webster dies, never charged.
- January 26, 2026 — Crime Junkie airs “MISSING: Niqui McCown.”
- August 24, 2026 — Dateline‘s “Missing in America: No Ordinary Sunday” episode on Niqui airs, reported by Josh Mankiewicz.
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Niqui McCown still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Niqui McCown has been missing for more than 25 years. The Richmond Police Department’s case remains open.
Was Niqui McCown ever found?
No. Niqui herself has never been found.
How old would Niqui McCown be today?
She was 28 in July 2001, so she would be about 53 in 2026.
Was anyone charged in Niqui McCown’s disappearance?
No. Her fiancé Bobby Webster was a focus of police suspicion but was never charged; he died in 2021. He and all persons of interest are presumed innocent.
Was Niqui McCown featured on Dateline?
Yes. In August 2026, NBC’s Dateline aired a “Missing in America” episode (“No Ordinary Sunday”) on her case, and Crime Junkie aired a reinvestigation earlier the same year.
What happened to Niqui McCown’s car?
Her 1990 GMC Jimmy — registered in her fiancé’s name — was found in Dayton, Ohio, after her disappearance.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: Richmond Police Department (case open; Detective Mike Wright statements via Dateline, Aug 2026; contact (765) 983-7247); Community United Effort (CUE) case profile.
- News: Dateline NBC, “Missing in America: No Ordinary Sunday” (Aug 24, 2026, reported by Josh Mankiewicz); Dayton Daily News archival coverage of Tommy Swint.
- Reference: Uncovered, “Missing: Niqui McCown” (https://uncovered.com/cases/niqui-mccown); The Charley Project; BAMFI profile; The Cinemaholic, “Niqui McCown: Everything About Her Still-Unsolved Disappearance”; MovieDelic, “What Happened to Niqui McCown?” (March 24, 2026).
- Media: Crime Junkie, “MISSING: Niqui McCown” (Jan 26, 2026); Dateline NBC, “Missing in America” episode (Aug 2026); True Crime with Kendall Rae, “Vanished Weeks Before Her Dream Wedding” (episode transcript; confirms Bobby Webster’s 2021 death); Voices for Justice podcast, “Niqui McCown” (Aug 2022).
Corrections (October 2026 fact-check): Major rewrite of the case narrative. The file previously said Niqui owned the laundromat where she “worked” — she was doing her weekly laundry there, not an employee or owner (Dayton Daily News, BAMFI, Voices for Justice). Removed the unverified claim that her blood was found inside the laundromat — this could not be corroborated by law enforcement statements or press coverage. Tommy Swint’s death corrected from 2012 to February 3, 2010 (suicide as police approached to arrest him; AMW Fans/Charley Project, Cinemaholic). Height corrected from 5’5″ to 5’2″ and eyes from green to brown (BAMFI, Dateline, CUE). Added: surveillance footage showing her leaving under no apparent duress, the GMC Jimmy found in Dayton, Ohio, Webster’s canceled wedding and returned ring attempt (CUE), and the Crime Junkie/Dateline 2026 coverage.
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.