Morgan Chauntel Nick (born September 12, 1988) disappeared on June 9, 1995, after being abducted at a Little League baseball game. Her mother later founded the Morgan Nick Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping families locate their missing children.
Disappearance
On June 9, 1995, Morgan Nick and her mother, Colleen Nick, attended a Little League baseball game in Alma, Arkansas. Around 10:30 p.m., Morgan asked her mother if she could catch fireflies with her friends. Initially hesitant, Colleen eventually allowed her to go. Morgan was last seen at 10:45 p.m. by her friends, emptying sand from her shoes near her mother’s car, while her friends did the same a short distance away. Morgan’s friends reported seeing a “creepy” man talking to her as she put her shoes back on.
When the game ended soon after, Morgan’s friends returned without her. They told Colleen that Morgan was at the car, but when Colleen went to check, Morgan was not there. She has been missing ever since.
Later developments
On January 15, 2002, police conducted a search on private property in Booneville, Arkansas, following a tip that Morgan Nick might be buried there. The tip was “so specific” that it prompted the dig, which included the use of a police dog. The investigation concluded at 9:30 p.m., and police announced they would not return to the site.
On November 15, 2010, federal investigators searched a vacant house in Spiro, Oklahoma, for DNA evidence that might indicate Nick had once been there. Investigators returned to the house on December 18, 2017, after receiving a new tip about the case. Cadaver dogs indicated interest in a well on the property, which became the “center of the investigation.” However, the search was called off on December 19 after no evidence was found. As of 2021, new leads in Nick’s disappearance continue to be received and investigated at local, state, and federal levels.
In November 2021, police named Billy Jack Lincks as a person of interest in the investigation. Lincks, who died in 2000, drove a red pickup truck that had been a focal point of the investigation since 1995. The FBI reported that fibers found in the truck closely matched those from Morgan’s t-shirt.
Aftermath
In 1996, Colleen Nick founded the Morgan Nick Foundation to help parents cope with the disappearances of their children and to prevent children from going missing. Morgan’s case has been featured on both Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted. In 2005, Morgan’s family and the foundation were highlighted on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition after the family’s house was damaged in a water heater explosion.
In Arkansas, the AMBER Alert service is named the Morgan Nick Amber Alert in her honor.
In August 2012, Tonya Smith and James Monhart, both previously convicted felons, were arrested for computer fraud after attempting to assume Morgan Nick’s identity.
In February 2023, a four-part docuseries titled Still Missing Morgan, executive produced by Ridley Scott, was released on Hulu by ABC News Studios.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Disappearance of Morgan Nick, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License