CRAWFORD COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — For nearly three decades, the tight-knit Alma community struggled with not knowing what happened to Morgan Nick, a six-year-old girl who disappeared from a ballpark in June 1995.
Morgan has remained missing since then, and her case has remained cold but is still an active case investigation at the Alma Police Department.
That investigation took a turn on Tuesday when Jeff Pointer, the Alma police chief, announced a suspect in Morgan's disappearance for the first time since officers were dispatched to the ballpark that night: Billy Jack Lincks.
So, why did investigators focus on Lincks? What brought the police to finally name him as a suspect?
It started with a look into his past. Billy Jack Lincks was born in 1924 and was raised in Crawford County. He later joined the army and served in World War II before making his way back to the River Valley.
In 1992, he was charged with sexual abuse before he was released. Three years later, court records show Lincks attempted to abduct an 11-year-old girl in a Sonic parking lot in Van Buren, eight miles away from the Alma ballpark. He was charged with sexual solicitation and sentenced to six years in prison.
That abduction attempt was just weeks after Morgan was reported missing.
Another detail flagging investigators was the red truck Lincks owned: A red 1986 Chevrolet pickup truck, which slightly matched the truck seen in a home video taken the night Morgan was reported missing and viewed by police as evidence.
The only hang-up for investigators was that Lincks didn't have a camper shell on his pickup when he was arrested in August 1995. Then, detectives found an interview of his neighbor during the attempted abduction investigation.
According to court documents, a neighbor told police they "think Lincks had a camper shell on his red pickup" and that they "believe it was two months ago when he saw the camper."
Lincks died in prison in 2000 while serving his sentence before investigators could name him as a person of interest.
Arrest in 1992 for rape, reduced to sexual abuse
5NEWS uncovered court documents from 1992 when Lincks was first charged with raping a child repeatedly over the course of nine months.
According to his arrest affidavit, an Arkansas State Police trooper investigating the case asked for rape charges to be brought against Lincks after he reportedly "engaged in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity with another person who is less than 14 years of age."
Beginning in March 1992, Lincks reportedly sexually abused and raped the victim until his arrest in Dec. 1992.
He was ordered to be held on a $10,000 bail.
When Lincks pleaded not guilty to the rape charge a month after his arrest in January 1993, he agreed to a no-contest plea (accepting punishment, not admitting fault) to first-degree sexual abuse, which was a Class C felony at the time. That charge doesn't exist in Arkansas law anymore.
A judge ordered Lincks to serve no jail or prison time. He was to complete a counseling program at the Veteran Affairs Hospital in Fayetteville and pay a $500 fine along with over $130 in court fees.
For context, the only Class C felony related to sexual assault/abuse of a minor in Arkansas is sexual indecency with a child, which carries a punishment of three to ten years in prison.
Attempted abduction 2 months after Morgan's disappearance
A major part of the case against Lincks is the fact he was convicted of trying to abduct an 11-year-old girl only two months after Morgan disappeared— and only eight miles away from the Alma ballpark.
In the original arrest affidavit filed in 1995, a detective with the Van Buren Police Department said that at around 6:45 p.m., an 11-year-old girl was walking in Van Buren with three of her brothers and another friend. "A white male in a red pickup pulled up to them and began talking about sexual matters," the detective said in his report.
The man began by asking the girl while still in his truck if "she wanted to talk money." She replied asking, "Why money?" According to police, he asked her to come closer. She did but asked her brothers and friend to get their bikes and come with her. "The male then handed four one dollar bills to the boys and told them to leave," to which they did, according to police.
While they were alone, the man asked the 11-year-old girl to come home with him for sex acts. She told him that she didn't do that. It was when he dropped a cigarette and asked her to pick it up that she screamed, running toward her brothers to call the police, the report said.
The man got in his truck and tried to flee but struck a wooden light pole beside the street. According to the police report, red paint was found on the pole.
In court documents, the man was described by the young witnesses as a white male with a black and gray beard, sandy brown hair, saggy cheeks, and wearing a red ball cap and brown uniform-type shirt.
A separate witness was able to get the red pickup truck's license plate number. Upon checking the license plate, police first identified Bill Lincks as the owner. They checked his criminal history, which uncovered the 1992 sexual abuse of a young girl.
Officers reported to Lincks's home and found a red 1986 Chevrolet pickup truck with noticeable damage. Police arrested him for the crime.
DNA results from his truck
On Oct. 1, 2024, Alma police announced Billy Jack Lincks as their lead suspect in the Morgan Nick case. What brought them to that conclusion was a DNA profile from Lincks's truck that was sent to an out-of-state lab in June 2023. On Sept. 27, the lab report came back.
Ultimately, it was found that the hair DNA in Lincks's truck matched the DNA of Colleen Nick or somebody directly related to her.
Pointer said nobody in the Nick family knew Lincks or had been in his truck, which led investigators to officially name Lincks as the suspect they believe is responsible for Morgan Nick's disappearance.
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