ALMA, Ark. — On Oct. 1, the Alma Police Department announced that new evidence in the disappearance of Morgan Nick had been found and tied to a suspect.
Billy Jack Lincks, a now-deceased resident of Van Buren, was first linked to Morgan's abduction in 2021. On Tuesday, police announced Lincks as an official suspect after DNA evidence connected his involvement with the six-year-old's disappearance.
A truck that Lincks owned at one point was tracked down and investigated by law enforcement. The FBI Evidence Response Team took over and vacuumed and tested the truck for DNA evidence in 2020.
The evidence vacuuming yielded hair, and in July 2023, Alma investigators discovered Othram, a company operating an advanced DNA system that could test hair with or without roots. The hair was sent off to the company's lab in Texas.
On Sept. 27, 2024, the lab's report came back, determining that the tested hair belonged to either Morgan's mother, Colleen Nick, or a member of Colleen's family. After further investigation, it was determined that Morgan was most likely the one in the truck and that the hair collected was hers.
Othram played a big role in helping the case move forward. On Tuesday, the company spoke to 5NEWS about its work and how it may inspire hope that other decades-old cold cases can still be solved.
Othram's Chief of Staff Colby Lasyone said that the company, based in The Woodlands, Texas, works with law enforcement across the country to test and analyze DNA, creating profiles that can be used in identification.
"Othram is always grateful to work a case," Lasyone said. "So it's important for us to remember that essentially, we exist to remove uncertainty in investigations, and so whatever that barrier is to certainty if there is available DNA, and we're able to build a DNA profile and provide answers, to have that opportunity, we're very grateful, and we're always honored to participate in these cases."
Lasyone explained that as technology advances, the company is able to "extract DNA even from the most difficult of sources," including DNA subjected to chemicals or heat.
The company said it has worked thousands of cases now — a growing list that now includes Morgan Nick.
"In this particular case, Othram worked with evidence that was provided by the local law enforcement, the Alma Police Department, and this particular evidence was collected from a pickup truck, I believe, around 2020, and that evidence included hairs, and we were able to extract DNA from that evidence and then subsequently build a DNA profile," Lasyone said.
Lasyone said that it usually takes Othram a few weeks to extract DNA and develop a profile, but it took a bit longer for the Morgan Nick case.
"In this particular case, took a little bit longer than weeks, just due to, you know, working to build the profile, and then doing the comparison testing with Morgan's mother's sample," Lasyone said.
Othram currently boasts more than 350 solved cases and works regularly with the National Missing and Unidentified Person system.
"In this particular case, looking at the DNA profile that it was developed from the evidence collected in this pickup truck versus the DNA profile that was developed for the mother, when you do a comparison, there's a significant amount of DNA shared between the two individuals. And so basically, the conclusion should be made that it's a close relative, or the mother herself that was in that truck," Lasyone said, noting that its likely how police came to the conclusion it was Morgan's hair.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.