(CNN) – Nearly 30 years after a six-year-old girl disappeared in western Arkansas, authorities have identified a suspect in her kidnapping through DNA testing.
According to the Alma Police Department, Morgan Nick was abducted in the parking lot of a Little League baseball field in the rural town of Alma on the afternoon of June 9, 1995.
Local police received a description of the suspect, along with details of a red truck with a white camper that the suspect was allegedly driving, according to a statement from the Alma Police Department.
Authorities identified a first person of interest in 1995 as Billy Jack Lincks, who was driving a red truck. Lincks was arrested a few months later for sexual solicitation of a minor, authorities said.
Police questioned Lincks about Nick’s disappearance, but released him after he “denied any knowledge of Morgan’s kidnapping and appeared to be sincere,” according to the statement.
Alma Police detectives, along with other law enforcement officials, spent “thousands of hours investigating more than 10,000 leads” without reaching any significant conclusions about the case, authorities said.
It was not until 2019 that Alma Police detectives began a review of the early stages of the investigation.
Authorities were able to locate the red pickup truck owned by Lincks at the time of Morgan’s disappearance, which had been sold several times over the years, the statement said.
The current owner of the vehicle allowed detectives to conduct an in-depth examination of the truck, and forensic test results indicated that hair evidence submitted for analysis belonged to Morgan Nick’s mother, Colleen Nick, or one of Colleen’s siblings or children, police said.
“Physical evidence collected from the truck Lincks owned when Morgan was kidnapped clearly indicates that Morgan had been in his truck,” the statement said.
Lincks died in 2000 and Nick remains missing, according to authorities.
“An army of supporters, advocates and heroes have come together to uncover the truth about his disappearance,” Colleen Nick says in the statement.
“He stole Morgan from me, his father, Logan and Taryn. “He didn’t see that he could never win,” he continued. “Because our love for Morgan – his memory, his voice – outlived his life.”
