ALMA, Ark. — Six-year-old Morgan Nick was last seen on June 9, 1995, catching fireflies at an Alma little league game at the local ballpark.
Until today, a suspect in her disappearance has never been officially named.
For nearly three decades, the tight-knit Alma community struggled with not knowing what happened to Morgan, or who was behind her disappearance. That June night 30 years ago remained a mystery that has reshaped the town of Alma, where families kept their front doors unlocked and let their kids wander to chase fireflies.
There were no witnesses who saw anything happen to Morgan. One moment she was there, the next she wasn't. One detail however that did stick out to investigators was a red truck with a white camper shell seen in home video footage from a family filming the little league game.
Photos of the red truck were released by police during their investigation, hoping for the public to come forward with knowledge of the owner.
Back in November 2021, Billy Jack Lincks was named a person of interest. He was the first and only name given since 1995 after a lead catapulted the cold case forward.
Once investigators tracked down his truck after years of searching, the FBI collected evidence, including a small amount of blood, strands of hair, and cotton fiber. A detective with the Alma Police Department submitted that DNA to a lab out of state in June 2023.
On Oct. 1, 2024, Alma police announced that the lab report listed hair found in the evidence from Lincks's truck matched the DNA of Colleen Nick or somebody directly related to her, like a daughter.
Nobody in the Nick family knew Lincks or had been in his truck, which led investigators to officially name Lincks as a suspect who possibly kidnapped Morgan.
When the Alma Police Department (APD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced Lincks as a person of interest, it came in tandem with a request from the public for any information they may know about him and his connection to the Crawford County area.
Who was Billy Jack Lincks?
Billy Jack Lincks was born and raised in Crawford County, according to the FBI's website. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and worked at Braniff Airlines in Dallas from 1962 to 1974.
In the late 1970s, he made his way back to the River Valley.
Court documents show that Lincks was arrested in 1992 for sexually abusing a young girl. In August 1995, only two months after Morgan Nick was reported missing, he was arrested for attempting to abduct an 11-year-old girl at a Sonic in Van Buren—just eight miles from the Alma ballpark.
It wasn't until after his death while in prison in 2000 that he became a person of interest in the Morgan Nick investigation.
Stay with 5NEWS as we continue to look into this story. For more information on the Oct. 2024 press conference, check out our separate article here.