← All Cases / Episode #418
The Case of Nikki Zinger
📻 Episode #418
🎙️ Hosted by Maggie Freleng
📅 Jan 15, 2024
About This Episode
On March 8, 1991, 27-year-old Nikki Zinger and her boyfriend Daniel Risher returned home to find Nikki's mother brutally murdered. Despite there being no evidence that tied them to the crime, and a number of potential alternate suspects, both were convicted. Now sixty and in declining health, Nikki is still hopeful that DNA testing could…
Case status as carried in this site's original 2026 profiles. Independent record verification is rolling out episode by episode — statuses are being re-checked against court and registry sources and date-stamped as verified.
The Case
On March 8, 1991, 27-year-old Nikki Zinger and her boyfriend Daniel Risher returned home to find Nikki's mother brutally murdered. Despite there being no evidence that tied them to the crime, and a number of potential alternate suspects, both were convicted. Now sixty and in declining health, Nikki is still hopeful that DNA testing could exonerate her. And she's still grieving her mother's death. "She was my, she was my playmate. She was my everything," Nikki tells Maggie. "Why would I take my life away from me?"
https://www.freefunder.com/campaign/help-nikki-with-basics
https://apps.ark.org/inmate_info/search.php?dcnum=704283&token=74fd66594dc3ea95e65ede4a15dffe3fca2529a7fb7044fc85ede454170cb364&lastname=zinger&firstname=nikki&sex=b&agetype=1&disclaimer=1&PHPSESSID=c7b1c691a6208b755733675fe6f954b4
Or write her here: Nikki Zinger #704283 302 Corrections Drive Newport, AR 72112 freenikkizinger@gmail.com.
We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:05:22“Speaker 2: and everything. If we went to the sonic or went Speaker 2: to the drive whatever drive through, we sitd in the Speaker 2: park a lot sometime and just have a big bas Speaker 2: and just watch everybody. If me and my mother traveled, Speaker 2: it was just me and my mother. She did it.”
00:21:03“Speaker 1: there was anything missing from the house, mcdona, what was missing? Speaker 2: Her gun was missing, hammer was missing, money was missing, Speaker 2: jewelry was missing, and they did not one thing about Speaker 1: As it turns out, the detectives were concerned about something Speaker 3: They weren't looking for valuables that were missing or anything”
00:37:51“Speaker 1: twenty sixteen. Speaker 3: So when we first launched Proclaimed Justice, I got a Speaker 3: message from the cousin of Daniel Rischer, and she asked Speaker 3: us to look into it, and so I started looking Speaker 3: into it, really on Daniel's behalf, and that's what got”
Listen to the Episode
🎧 Listen on Omny / the podcast's platforms
Resources & links from the episode:
Share this case, follow the organisations working on it, and support the podcast's fight for the innocent at lavaforgood.com.