Obscure Occurrences : The Disappearance of Morgan Nick

 On the 12^th of September, 1988, Colleen and John Nick gave birth to their first daughter, Morgan Chantal Nick. She was soon followed by two younger siblings, Logan and Taryn. Morgan grew up in the town of Ozark, Arkansas, a picturesque area surrounded by enchanting views of mountains, rivers, forests and lakes. A cheerful girl scout, Morgan didn’t like outdoor endeavours, and instead, focused on the creation of arts and crafts. Although shy around strangers, she was a friendly girl with a good sense of humour.

 During the time of her disappearance, Morgan was a happy six-year-old, who was just starting to read and write. Her parents had gotten a divorce just six months back, but by all accounts, they had been on good terms.

(Source: NBC News)

Disappearance

 The day was the 9^th of June, 1995. Although hot and humid, the Friday was nothing extraordinary. Colleen was at home with her three children, making grilled cheese for dinner before heading to a Little League baseball game in Alma, Arkansas, with Morgan accompanying her. Soon after arriving at the stadium, Colleen and Morgan made their way through the bleachers to find Colleen's friends, who had invited them. Morgan soon grew bored with the game and started untying her mother’s shoes to keep herself entertained. Every time Colleen re-tied her laces, she undid them again with a devilish grin on her face.

 The cycle continued for the next ninety minutes before Morgan was approached by two of her friends, eight-year-old Jessica and ten-year-old Tye, who asked her to join them in their pursuit of catching fireflies. Although Colleen initially turned down Morgan’s pleas for permission, she eventually allowed her to go. Recalling this moment Colleen said;

 “She threw her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek. Then the kids all ran out to the parking lot. I could turn my head and see that she was right there in sight. I checked on them three or four times.”

-Colleen to KFSM 5 News

 Shortly afterwards the game ended, and the teams walked towards the bleachers, causing Colleen to focus her attention on the field. When she looked back a few moments later, she noticed two little figures walking back to the bleachers, but neither of them was Morgan. She paced towards the kids, Jessica and Tye, and asked them the whereabouts of her daughter. The kids told her that they had all stopped next to Colleen's Nissan in the parking lot to empty sand out of their shoes. Jessica and Tye had been leaning against the front of the car, while Morgan had been leaning against the back end. When Morgan failed to join them while walking away, they assumed that she was planning to wait by the car for her mother. From where this conversation took place, Colleen could see her vehicle, but Morgan seemed to be nowhere near it. 

 As the game attendees got into their cars and drove away, she thoroughly scanned the parking lot for her daughter, but the six-year-old was nowhere to be seen and the police were soon called to the scene.

Investigation

 While none of the adults at the little league game had seen anything abnormal that night, Jessica and Tye told Colleen that a man leaning against a red pickup truck had been watching them from time to time. Facing the field as if he was watching the game, he even spoke to them at one point in time. Unfortunately, the kids were not able to recount his words. The man was seen beside a red Ford pickup truck, which had a white camper shell on its back. Strangely, the camper seemed to be four inches short of the truck. Furthermore, the back of the camper shell had been damaged. The kids were not sure about the license plate of the truck.

(Source: Morgan Nick Foundation)

 The “creepy-looking” man was white, had a medium build and appeared to be in his mid-twenties. He stood six feet tall and sported salt and pepper hair, a dull moustache, and a short beard. He had been wearing a pair of cut-off jeans and he reportedly had a hairy chest.

 As the night matured, Colleen drove to the Alma police station before calling her ex-husband, John, and informing him about the state of affairs. She stayed in Alma for the next six weeks, taking up residence at the volunteer fire station, right across the street from the police station.

 Along with the three hundred who had been at the game that night, the detectives interviewed Morgan's family and friends. A few days later, investigators enlisted the help of the FBI and the Arkansas State Police. They, along with dozens of volunteers, began a massive search for Morgan Nick, but no sign of Morgan or her abductor was found. The town of Alma was transformed, with pink ribbons tied everywhere to remind people that Morgan was still missing. Along with posters featuring Morgan's face, a composite sketch of the possible perpetrator was publicized.

(Source: Fox 16)

 The police initially believed the case to be a one-off incident, but as reports of attempted child abductions flowed from Alma and surrounding areas, the situation began to seem more alarming. Earlier that same day, a mother had called the police, reporting that a man in a red truck had attempted to lure her four-year-old daughter into his vehicle, outside a laundromat in alma. Her descriptions of the man matched those given by Jessica and Tye.

 On the 10^th of June, 1995, the day after Morgan went missing, another report came in from Fort Smith, a city about 15 miles away from Alma. An eyewitness reported seeing a man attempting to kidnap a nine-year-old girl. He was apparently trying to lure her into a bathroom. The description of this man matched the description of Morgan's abductor yet again. These findings led the police and the FBI to believe that Morgan could have fallen victim to a professional kidnapper associated with a human trafficking ring. The way that Morgan had vanished with her abductor without a trace, suggested that the abductor had been watchful in his pursuit. This gave law enforcement the impression that the individual might have done this before.

 After Morgan’s disappearance, days passed by without producing any clues. Detectives thoroughly cleared the area where Morgan had gone missing, and they collected CCTV footage from nearby residents. Furthermore, they were collecting everything they could find from the site, even though they were uncertain about them belonging to the perpetrator. Chief Russell of Alma PD said;

“We have tons of DNA from those items, but we don't know if any of them are our suspects. We've had probably dozens of leads that we got excited about, but as we investigate them, we realized that those people couldn't have possibly done it. I can't tell you how many dogs we've deployed, wells that we've searched, holes that we've dug, but none of them have panned out. It's disappointing but pretty normal for a case like this.”

 Within the first few weeks, hundreds of people called in tips, claiming to have seen the suspect’s red truck. All of these reports were followed up on, but they led to nothing.

Albert's Tales

 Two weeks after Morgan’s disappearance, Albert Harvey, a man from Stuttgart, Arkansas, called the Alma Police, claiming that a man had attempted to break into his truck when he had been working in his garden on a Saturday morning. Upon confrontation, the man ran away through a field, dragging a little blonde girl behind him by her arm. Albert was brought in for questioning before being shown a composite sketch of the suspect and a picture of Morgan Nick. With certainty, Albert confirmed their identity, claiming that Morgan was the blonde girl in the man’s clutches.

 The Alma PD felt that this could be the break in the case.  An immediate law enforcement presence descended on Stuttgart, and a six square mile area was blocked off to facilitate the search for the man and his tiny blonde captive. Infrared light was used to search the fake underbrush, the thickets, the surrounding fields and the bayous. Law enforcement, volunteers from the area, and canine units searched the area for sixteen hours, but they found nothing.

 Local police began to grow suspicious of Albert's story, subjecting him to two polygraph tests, both of which he failed. Albert initially stuck to his story, before eventually breaking down and admitting that he had fabricated it. He was later arrested and charged with filing a false police report.

 After this failed search, a crew of seventeen additional Arkansas State Police officers were sent to Alma for a week. Lieutenant Best met with representatives from other counties in Arkansas, arranging a door-to-door search of all residents that had a red pickup truck listed as their vehicle. However, the investigation stalled as the weeks passed.

Developments

 In 1996, Colleen started the Morgan Nick Foundation. While it was mainly focused on unearthing Morgan’s whereabouts and keeping her memory alive, it was also focused on finding other missing children. It lobbied for changes in the manner in which missing children’s cases were handled, and it also worked to enact laws geared towards child safety. The foundation now works to educate children about the dangers of child abduction and to provide a support system for parents of other missing children.

(Source: Morgan Nick Foundation)

 In January of 2001, the police released an updated composite sketch of the man who is believed to have taken Morgan Nick. In the following February, the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children released an age progression photo of Morgan, showing what she would look like at the age of twelve. In August of the same year, Morgan's story was featured on the television program unsolved mysteries, and later that year, she was also featured on Nancy Grace's program.

Updated Composite Sketch of the Abductor (Left) and Age progressed photo of Morgan Nick (Right) (Source: Morgan Nick Foundation)

 In 2002, a tip brought police to Logan County, Arkansas, where they searched a property with canine units. They also dug around the property, but they found nothing. In 2010, the FBI searched a vacant home in Spiro, Oklahoma. The home had previously been occupied by a man, who at the time of the search was in jail for child molestation. Investigators collected objects from the house to see if they could find any DNA evidence that connected the resident to Morgan Nick, but they found nothing yet again. Law Enforcement returned to the same residence in December of 2017, but this time in an unrelated case. They focused on digging around the property and searching a well beside the house, but despite digging for a full day, they found nothing relevant.

Conclusion

 Law Enforcement claims that Morgan’s disappearance is an old case and not a cold case. They say that the case is still open, and they reportedly still have active people working on it. Because of the significance of this case, the AMBER alert has been renamed to Morgan Nick Amber Alert in Arkansas. As 2021 saw its closure, the FBI enlisted Billy Jack Lincks as a potential suspect, but the man had already met his demise in 2000, making it impossible to question him.

 There have been multiple alleged sightings of Morgan throughout the United States, but none of them has been officially verified. Despite a quarter of a century passing by, Colleen believes that her daughter is still alive and remains hopeful of finding her someday.

 “Our family is still as committed 26 years later to finding Morgan and bringing her home, as we were the very first day that she was missing.”

-Colleen to KFSM 5 News