Alma police give update on Morgan Nick case, say DNA found in truck links Billy Jack Lincks as suspect

ALMA, Ark. – A breakthrough in DNA evidence gathering allowed police in the small northwest Arkansas town of Alma to officially name a suspect in the 29-year-old disappearance of 6-year-old Morgan Nick.

Alma Police Chief Jeff Pointer said Tuesday that Billy Jack Lincks of Van Buren is now a named suspect in the case.

The then 6-year-old Morgan Nick was at a Little League baseball game at the Alma Baseball Complex with her mother on the night of June 9, 1995, when she went to catch fireflies with two friends in a parking lot next to the ballpark. The two friends Morgan was seen with later returned, but she was not with them.

Lincks had been questioned in the 1995 disappearance. According to Pointer, Lincks became a suspect after he attempted to abduct an 11-year-old girl 12 weeks after Nick’s disappearance. Lincks died in 2000 at 72 years old, Pointer said. Department of Corrections officials confirmed that Lincks was in state prison when he died.

Pointer explained that the department reopened the case in 2020 and began searching for Lincks’ truck he owned at the time, a red pickup. Police were able to find it with a new owner, who allowed them to search it.

Police vacuumed the truck and shipped the evidence to the FBI for safekeeping, Pointer said.

Pointer continued that in 2023, police found that a new development in DNA analysis by lab in Texas that did not require the hair root. With the cooperation of the FBI and funding provided by the Arkansas State Police, the vacuumed evidence was sent to the Texas lab.

On Sept. 27, 2024, the lab informed Alma police that a hair found in the truck belonged to Colleen Nick, Morgan Nick’s mother, or a child of Colleen Nick.

Pointer said that the lab report “strongly indicates that Morgan had been in the truck.”

“An army of supporters, advocates and heroes have rallied to uncover the truth about her disappearance,” Colleen Nick said. “He stole Morgan from me, her dad, Logan and Taryn. He didn’t see that he could never win. Because our love for Morgan – her memory, her voice – outlasted his life. And that love continues to shine. Morgan’s heart shines on.”

Paula Higgins, board president of the Morgan Nick Foundation, which was created to help families with missing loved ones, hopes this new evidence shows other families anything is possible.

Higgins says the that fact police can “ take evidence that is very old and receive it, can give these families hope, and hope is everything. Hope is so powerful.”

Pointer said a red pickup truck had been reported in the area at the time of Morgan Nick’s disappearance while playing in a city park.

Pointer stressed that Morgan Nick is still missing and the police investigation continues. He hoped someone may have spoken with Lincks and had some information to help the department.

Pointer said the tipline number is 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

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