Arkansas 6-Year-Old Morgan Nick Kidnapped While Catching Fireflies At A Ballfield

Could convicted pedophile Billy Jack Lincks be connected with the 1995 case and others?

Morgan Nick at 6 years old [left]; Morgan's photo is shown age-progressed to 31 years [right]

A 6-year-old girl was kidnapped in Arkansas nearly 30 years ago, and a man spotted at the scene as well as at other attempted abductions in the area is now considered a key person of interest in the case.

Photo by: NCMEC

NCMEC

By: Aaron Rasmussen

A 6-year-old girl was kidnapped in Arkansas nearly 30 years ago, and a man spotted at the scene as well as at other attempted abductions in the area is now considered a key person of interest in the case.

On the evening of June 9, 1995, Morgan Nick was at the Wofford baseball field in Alma with her mother and a family friend for a little league game.

Colleen Nick told Dateline in a 2018 interview that her daughter asked if she could go to the parking lot to catch fireflies with some older children.

“I originally told her no, but she really wanted to go,” Colleen recalled. “The other parents told me that it was a really safe area and the kids play in the parking lot all the time. I had been told I was always too overprotective, and that was one of the things that played in my decision-making that night.”

But when the game was ending, Colleen couldn’t find Morgan.

“[The other children] didn’t seem alarmed at all, and they said that Morgan was emptying sand out of her shoes at their car,” Colleen said. “Already, when I couldn’t see Morgan, my heart started to beat really fast. We were somewhere we hadn’t been before.”

According to the mother, Morgan wouldn’t just venture off on her own. Colleen explained to Dateline that “there wasn’t even anywhere to go” because “there was no concessions stand, no bathrooms.”

The mother said “major panic set in at that point” and a little league coach called 911.

Police never were able to identify or arrest a suspect in the case, but an investigation revealed some vital clues. Witnesses said they had seen a white man believed to be in his 20s or 30s. And, according to the Charley Project, a red pickup was spotted leaving the parking lot around the same time Morgan went missing.

The truck reportedly had curtain-covered windows, a dull paint job, a short wheel base, a white camper shell and possible damage to the camper’s right rear side.

The Charley Project reported that on June 9 and 10, 1995 — the day Morgan vanished and the following day — there were two attempted abductions.

The site details how in the first incident, a suspect resembling Morgan's suspected abductor “enticed a 4-year-old girl into his red truck” in Alma but “was interrupted and the girl saved when her mother saw them and screamed.”

The second incident, according to the Charley Project, occurred in Fort Smith, a town about 15 miles from Alma. In that case, a man attempted to get a 9-year-old girl into a convenience store men's restroom, but the child resisted.

Authorities reportedly believed the same man was involved in both incidents and could be connected with Morgan’s kidnapping.

In 2021, the FBI’s field office in Little Rock announced law enforcement now “may be closer than ever to identifying” who kidnapped Morgan Nick. The investigative agency identified Billy Jack Lincks as a person of interest in the case.

Lincks grew up in Crawford County, Arkansas, and he went on to serve with the U.S. Army in World War II. Between 1962 and 1974, he lived in Dallas, Texas, where he worked as an upholsterer at Braniff Airlines. After retiring, he returned to Van Buren, Arkansas.

When Morgan disappeared on June 9, 1995, Lincks drove a red 1986 Chevy pickup truck similar to the one seen at the baseball field parking lot as well as at the other attempted abduction the same day in the same town.

Additionally, the FBI said, approximately two months after Morgan disappeared, “Lincks attempted to abduct a young girl in Van Buren, at a location 8 miles from the Wofford baseball field where Morgan was last seen.”

Lincks was connected with the attempted kidnapping when an eyewitness was able to provide investigators with a license plate number on his red truck.

A search of the vehicle later turned up blood and blonde hair samples, but there wasn’t enough usable DNA to provide detectives with any matches at the time, KHBS reported.

The convicted pedophile was in prison serving time for sexual indecency with a child when he died in 2000 at age 75, but detectives continue to work the case.

Anyone with information about Lincks, including details about his social, professional or private activities during his lifetime, is requested to contact the FBI at (800) CALL-FBI or submit tips to fbi.gov/tips.

Have You Seen Missing Child Vivian Trout?

Vivian Trout was allegedly abducted by her mother, Marina Trout, in Miami Beach, FL in 1997.

Michigan Teen Ciara Stacho Disappeared In 2015, Remains Missing Today

Ciara Stacho went missing from Michigan in August 2015. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) produced an age-enhanced photo of what Ciara Stacho may look like as an 18-year-old.

Next Up

Where Is Amanda Nicole Eileen Campbell? The 4-Year-Old’s Bike Was Found But She Never Was

Authorities still don’t know what happened to a 4-year-old California girl who disappeared in 1991.

Mother Will Never Give Up Searching For Toddler Abducted From Washington Bowling Alley

Two age progressions were recently released to help find Teekah Lewis, who is now in her 20s. If you have any information on this case, please contact The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) directly: 1-800-THE-LOST.

Where Is Sabrina Aisenberg? Infant Vanished From Florida More Than 25 Years Ago

If you have any information about this mysterious case involving Sabrina Aisenberg, who was only five months old in 1997, please consider reaching out to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children directly: 1-800-THE-LOST.

‘I'm Still Searching For My Baby’: Georgia Mother Hopes For Answers In Daughter’s Disappearance

Shy’Kemmia “Shy Shy” Pate vanished without a trace at age 8 while playing outside her family’s home.

Ilene Rebecca Scott Disappeared The Day After Her Sixth Birthday In 1980

The 6-year-old California girl was last seen roller skating through her neighborhood on Dec. 20, 1980.

Search Continues For Mother And Daughter Kidnapped From Their Home

An ‘unknown substance’ rendered the missing woman’s husband unconscious when he answered a knock at the family’s apartment door, police say.

Child Who Went Missing From A Washington Mall In 2018 Found Safe In Mexico

8-year-old Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez, who had been missing since 2018, was found alive and well in Mexico and returned to the United States.

Michigan Teen Ciara Stacho Disappeared In 2015, Remains Missing Today

Ciara Stacho went missing from Michigan in August 2015. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) produced an age-enhanced photo of what Ciara Stacho may look like as an 18-year-old.

What Happened To Tonetta Carlisle? Authorities Say Teen Was Abducted From Tennessee

Tonetta Carlisle was last seen being forced into a vehicle in Chattanooga on March 16, 1989. If you know anything about Tonetta's case, please contact the Chattanooga Police directly: 423-698-2525.

In February 2001, Steven Kraft, Jr. Took His Dogs Outside And Disappeared

Over two decades ago, a 12-year-old boy went missing from outside his home in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The two dogs he was playing with have since been found but he remains missing.