Morgan Chauntel Nick (September 12, 1988 – disappeared June 9, 1995) is an American girl who was abducted at a

Little League Baseball Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Little League baseball Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Alma, Arkansas Alma is a city in Crawford County, Arkansas, United States. It is located within the Arkansas River Valley at the edge of the Ozark Mountains; the city is the sixth largest in the Fort Smith metropolitan area. The population was 5,419 at the 201 ...

. At around 10:30 p.m., Morgan asked her mother if she could catch

fireflies The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

with her friends. At first, her mother was uncertain, but eventually let her go. She was last seen at 10:45 p.m. by her friends, emptying sand out of her shoes alone near her mother's car while her group of friends emptied their shoes a few dozen feet away. Morgan's friends reported seeing a "creepy" man talking to Morgan as she was putting her shoes back on. When the game ended shortly thereafter, Morgan's friends returned without her. They told Colleen that Morgan was at her car, but when Colleen returned to the car, Morgan was not there. She has not been seen or heard from since.

Later developments

On January 15, 2002, police conducted a dig on a private piece of land in

Booneville, Arkansas Booneville is a city in Logan County, Arkansas, United States and the county seat of its southern district. Located in the Arkansas River Valley between the Ouachita and Ozark Mountains, the city is one of the oldest in western Arkansas. The cit ...

, after they received a tip that claimed Nick might have been buried there. The tip was "so specific" that police decided to dig; a police dog was also used in the search. Police ended the investigation at 9:30 pm and said they did not intend to return to the property. On November 15, 2010, federal investigators searched a vacant house in

Spiro, Oklahoma Spiro is a town in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,164 at the 2010 census, a 2.8 percent decline from the figure of 2,227 recorded in 20 ...

for DNA evidence that could show Nick had once been in the house. On December 18, 2017, investigators returned to the house to conduct another search after they received a tip about the case.

Cadaver dogs A search-and-rescue dog is one trained to find missing people after a natural or man-made disaster. The dogs detect human scent and have been known to find people under water, under snow, and under collapsed buildings. Applications A dog w ...

alerted investigators to a well on the property, which they said was the "center of the investigation". The search was called off on December 19, after no evidence was found. As of 2021, new leads in Nick's disappearance continue to be received and "investigated at the local state and federal level".

Aftermath

In 1996, Colleen Nick started the Morgan Nick Foundation, which helps parents cope with the disappearances of children, and helps prevent children from going missing. Her case was shown on both ''

Unsolved Mysteries ''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Karl ...

'' and ''

America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American Television show, television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Entertainment#Fox Alternative Entertainment, Fox Alter ...

'', while Morgan's family and the foundation were featured in 2005 on '' Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' after the family's house was damaged in a water heater explosion. The

AMBER Alert An Amber Alert (alternatively styled AMBER alert) or a child abduction emergency alert ( SAME code: CAE) is a message distributed by a child abduction alert system to ask the public for help in finding abducted children. The system originated i ...

service is named the Morgan Nick Amber Alert in the state of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage la ...

. In August 2012, Tonya Smith and James Monhart, two previously convicted felons, were arrested for computer fraud after attempting to assume the identity of Morgan Nick.

References

External links

Morgan Nick Foundation
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nick, Morgan 1988 births 1990s missing person cases 1995 in Arkansas Kidnapped American children Missing American children People from Crawford County, Arkansas Possibly living people Missing person cases in Arkansas June 1995 events in the United States Incidents of violence against girls

Later developments

Aftermath

See also

References

External links