ALMA, Ark. — What happened to Morgan Nick?
This is a question that countless people have asked for nearly three decades since the little girl from Ozark, Arkansas disappeared.
After all of the years that have passed, police released the first and only person of interest in the cold case last November-- revealing a new lead in the disappearance of Morgan Nick.
That person of interest was Billy Jack Lincks, who unfortunately died before he ever told what he knew about the case.
With unanswered questions still lingering about Lincks, THV11 decided to dig deeper into the man's past and his connection to this case.
Before we dig deeper, we will first start off with Morgan Nick's disappearance-- she was last seen nearly 27 years ago on June 9, 1995.
Her disappearance is a mystery that's not only shaped her family but the whole town of Alma.
Despite the time that's passed, Morgan's mother Colleen said they aren't giving up hope.
"Even though more time has continued to go by, our belief is that if we fight hard enough, we will find the truth and we'll bring her home," she said.
Flashback to June 9, 1995. It was a hot summer day in Alma, Arkansas.
Colleen Nick's family was invited to a little league baseball game and decided to make the short trip down from their home in Ozark.
"We'd never been to the baseball field. It was our first time there. It's one block away from the police department," she said.
As the game neared its end, Colleen said that Morgan wanted to go catch fireflies with the other kids in the parking lot near the field.
She never imagined that could be the last conversation she'd have with her little girl.
"She sat down to take sand out of her shoes and the other children, the older children walked off and left her. That was the last time that anybody saw her," Colleen said.
In a city of only about 3,000 people, word traveled fast about Morgan's disappearance.
Alma Police Chief Jeff Pointer wasn't with the department at the time but said that he remembers hearing about it instantly.
"As days went on, there's almost like that fear that this is not what's supposed to happen in a small town," he said.
Almost 27 years later, that thought still haunts Chief Pointer, but in a different way as he now leads the department.
"You look at it as we failed our job. We didn't and haven't brought Morgan home, so I mean, we failed at what we were supposed to do," he said.
Since then, the Alma Police Department has continuously worked on Morgan's case.
Chief Pointer said new leads have continued to come in since the day Morgan was taken.
"I can't say that we're focused on one lead. There's several good leads that we've gotten, that we're still working," he said.
As police continued their search for answers, the FBI announced a major development in the case last November.
Investigators named Billy Jack Lincks as a person of interest, asking the public for any information about him.
Taking a look into his past, Lincks was no stranger to law enforcement.
According to court documents from August 1995, he attempted to abduct an 11-year-old girl at a Sonic in Van Buren, Arkansas.
It happened just two months after Morgan's abduction, only eight miles away from the Wofford Baseball Field where Morgan was last seen.
Following the Sonic incident, Lincks was charged and later convicted for sexual solicitation of the Van Buren child.
The biggest detail about Lincks that stuck out from the investigation was not his track record, it was the vehicle he drove-- a red 1986 Chevrolet pickup.
For years now the Alma Police Department has connected a similar red truck, but one with a white camper shell, to Morgan's disappearance.
"We have it on video. The night of the ballgame that Morgan was taken, there's a home video from the ball field and that truck can be seen in it and the owner, or whoever was in the vehicle has never been identified," Chief Pointer said.
Court documents show that during witness interviews from Lincks' conviction, 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.'
Despite that, Chief Pointer said they've never been able to find and question who owned that truck.
"It may not be who took Morgan, but we've never been able to identify who the owner of that truck was," he said.
As for Billy Jack Lincks, records show he was charged with sexual abuse in 1992 prior to his Van Buren sexual solicitation conviction in 1995.
Lincks was sentenced to six years in prison but wouldn't serve the full time as he died behind bars in 2000 before the FBI would ever name him as a person of interest in Morgan Nick's case.
While the mystery still remains of who abducted Morgan as she was innocently catching fireflies, Chief Pointer said his department won't stop searching for answers.
"Until we can bring her home, then we haven't done our job and it's all about Morgan. I mean, we have to. We have to fight for her," he said.
As for the Nick family, they continue to hold onto hope for her return or at the very least, closure in knowing what happened to Morgan.
"Our belief is that somewhere, somebody knows the truth about Morgan and that someday we will know that truth, that we will find that," Colleen said.
Morgan's mother has now devoted her life to helping families like hers through the Morgan Nick Foundation.
The Morgan Nick case is still an ongoing investigation. If you know anything about her disappearance, you are asked to contact the Alma Police Department at (479) 632-3333 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.