The abduction of Morgan Nick
Alma, Crawford County, Arkansas · June 9, 1995
Twenty-nine years after a six-year-old vanished while emptying sand from her shoes at a Little League game, a hair recovered from a red pickup that had changed hands several times let Alma police name a dead sex offender as her abductor, yet Morgan has still never been found.
Overview
On the night of June 9, 1995, six-year-old Morgan Nick went with her mother to a Little League baseball game at the Wofford ballfield in Alma, Arkansas, about half an hour from the family's home in Ozark. Near the end of the game she was allowed to run off with other children to catch fireflies in the parking lot. At about a quarter to eleven her friends turned back toward the bleachers while Morgan stopped near her mother's car to shake the sand out of her shoes. The other children saw a man standing near her. When the game ended she was gone, and witnesses said a red Ford pickup with a white camper shell had left the park at about the same time. Local, state and federal investigators worked more than ten thousand leads over the following decades and never found her. A Van Buren man named Billy Jack Lincks, who was arrested that August for soliciting a child from a red truck eight miles from the ballfield, was questioned, denied any involvement and was set aside. He died in prison in 2000. In 2019 Alma detectives went back to the beginning of the file, traced Lincks's old truck through several owners, and had hairs from its cab tested. On October 1, 2024, the Alma police chief announced that one of those hairs belonged to Morgan's immediate family and named Lincks the suspect in her abduction. The case remains open. Morgan has never been found.
Where it stands
The case is open and, in the words of Alma Police Chief Jeff Pointer, "ongoing and active." Its spine is a red pickup. In July 2019 an Alma lieutenant reviewing the earliest stages of the investigation spoke with someone whose information sent him back to Billy Jack Lincks, the Van Buren man arrested in August 1995 for sexual solicitation of a child, an offense he committed from his red truck. Detectives found the truck, which had been sold several times; its current owner had never heard of Lincks and let them search it. The FBI's Evidence Response Team processed the truck in 2020 and kept the evidence, including strands of hair. In 2023 an Alma detective learned of newer testing methods, retrieved the evidence, and, with funding from Arkansas State Police, sent it to Othram Laboratory in Texas that December. On September 27, 2024, Othram reported that a hair from the truck belonged to Morgan's mother or to one of her siblings or children. Over the following weekend police interviewed the family; none of them knew Lincks or had ever been in a truck like his. On October 1, 2024, Pointer said the physical evidence "strongly indicates that Morgan had been in this truck" and that for the first time police were calling Lincks a suspect. The FBI had already named him a person of interest in November 2021, noting that about two months after Morgan vanished he tried to abduct a young girl eight miles from the ballfield. Lincks died in prison in 2000, so he can never be charged, and the hair alone does not answer the questions Pointer listed: how Morgan was taken from the ballfield, what happened next, whether Lincks had help, and where she is now. His former Van Buren home has been searched without result. Alma keeps a part-time investigator assigned to this case alone, and Morgan's mother has said the DNA result took away the family's last hope that she is alive; what they now want is to find her and lay her to rest.
Persons of interest
The theories below are reported strictly as attributed to the cited sources. Naming a person here is not an accusation. Individuals are named only where they are deceased, were formally charged, were officially named by authorities, or have been publicly cleared.
- Billy Jack Lincks
Alma police said in October 2024 that Lincks, a Van Buren man arrested in August 1995 for soliciting a child from his red truck eight miles from the ballfield, is the suspect in Morgan's abduction: a hair recovered from the truck he owned in 1995 was found by Othram Laboratory to belong to Morgan's mother or one of her siblings or children, and the family told police none of them had ever been in the truck. The FBI had named him a person of interest in November 2021. Lincks died in prison in 2000 and was never charged.[1]
Sources
- New DNA evidence strongly links suspect to Morgan Nick's 1995 disappearance, Arkansas police say (October 1, 2024)
“Lincks, a Van Buren resident and an early person of interest, was arrested on Aug. 29, 1995, for sexual solicitation of a child. He used his red truck during the offense. Lincks denied any knowledge of Morgan’s abduction when questioned by police on Aug. 31, 1995, so investigators moved on, according to the press release.”
- DNA evidence found in truck leads to suspect in Arkansas girl's 1995 abduction (October 2, 2024)
“He was arrested several months after her disappearance for sexual solicitation of a child, but denied knowing anything about the abduction during questioning and "appeared to be truthful," police said. Although investigators back then turned their focus away from Lincks, Alma Police detectives returned to his name while conducting a review of the probe's preliminary stages during the summer of 2019.”
- Morgan Nick DNA found in truck driven by suspect Billy Jack Lincks (October 1, 2024)
“During the walk back, Morgan Nick, clad in a green Girl Scout shirt, blue denim shorts and white shoes, stopped to kick sand out of her shoes near her mother’s car. When her companions turned to look for Morgan they saw a man standing near her.”
- FBI Seeks Information About Billy Jack Lincks for Morgan Nick Investigation (November 9, 2021)
“Approximately two months after Morgan’s 1995 disappearance, Lincks attempted to abduct a young girl in Van Buren at a location eight miles from the Wofford baseball field where Morgan was last seen. Lincks died in prison in 2000.”
- FBI wants info on dead prisoner in search for Arkansas girl (November 9, 2021)
“FBI spokesman Connor Hagan said this is the first time the bureau has publicly identified someone as a person of interest in Morgan’s disappearance. Arkansas’ missing child-alert system is named for Morgan. Hagan declined to say if investigators have any evidence connecting him to Nicks’ disappearance.”
- Mother of missing Morgan Nick still fighting to bring her home as FBI seeks information on man believed to be connected to her 1995 disappearance (November 11, 2021)
“Morgan and her family drove about 30 minutes from their home in Ozark, Arkansas, to watch the game in Alma with friends that night. Morgan’s mother told Dateline in 2019 that toward the end of the game, Morgan went off to catch fireflies in the parking lot with other children.”
- Authorities Comb Area Earlier Examined In Morgan Nick Case (December 19, 2017)
“The search is taking place in Spiro, Oklahoma, about 25 miles southwest of the Arkansas town of Alma where Morgan was last seen at a baseball field. Investigators say Morgan was abducted from a Little League game as she chased fireflies with friends.”
- Morgan's Story
“The man was described as white, 6 feet tall, with a medium to solid build, a mustache and a 1-inch beard. At the time, he was believed to be 23-38 years old.”
- 30 Years Missing: Morgan Nick's Legacy Lives On (June 5, 2025)
““The DNA evidence was super heartbreaking. For my family, it took away that last bit of hope. But we still don’t know where Morgan is. We want to find her and lay her to rest where she belongs.””
- Disappearance of Morgan Nick
“She was last seen at 10:45 p.m. by her friends, emptying sand out of her shoes alone near her mother's car while her friends emptied their own shoes a few dozen feet away.”