Police have named a suspect in the case of a west Arkansas girl who went missing nearly three decades ago.
Morgan Nick was six years old when she was abducted from a baseball field in Alma in June 1995. In a news conference Tuesday, Alma Police Chief Jeff Horner said a former person of interest in the case, Billy Jack Lincks, is now the main suspect in Nick’s abduction.
“The most important thing here is Morgan is still missing, but we’ve reached a point where we can concentrate on one suspect to determine the circumstances surrounding Morgan’s abduction,” he said.
Lincks died in 2000 while serving a prison term for sexual indecency with a child. He attempted to abduct a child about 12 weeks after Nick’s disappearance, about eight miles away from where she was last seen.
Horner says new DNA evidence extracted from hair found in a truck once owned by Lincks proves someone with a familial relation to Nick’s mother was in the vehicle.
“They determined that the hair contained in the evidence that was submitted for analysis was that of Colleen Nick, one of her siblings, or one of her children,” Horner said. “We spent the next few days doing follow-up interviews with members of the Nick family, which revealed that none of them knew Billy Jack Lincks and that none of them had been in a truck that was similar to this one.”
Lincks was questioned shortly after Nick’s disappearance but denied any knowledge of it, and, according to police, “appeared to be truthful.” Police say the investigation will now focus on any known associates of Lincks and on new physical evidence proving Lincks’ involvement.
Morgan’s mother Colleen Nick commented on the update in Tuesday’s press conference.
“[Lincks] didn’t see that he could never win, because our love for Morgan, her memory and her voice, outlasted his life. And that love continues to shine. Morgan’s heart shines on,” she said.
Police are calling on anyone with information about Lincks to call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST or 1-800-843-5678.
