Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - MORGAN NICK, 6, VANISHES FROM LITTLE LEAGUE GAME, NEVER SEEN AGAIN

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A beautiful little six-year-old girl vanishes from a little league game, never seen again. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. A six-year-old girl catching lightning bugs with friends goes missing from a baseball game just yards away from her mother. Morgan Nick, six, is a loving big sister to siblings Logan and Taryn. After her parents' divorce, Morgan becomes much more reserved. She seems to settle into their new home in Alma, Arkansas, after adopting a young kitten.

Starting point is 00:00:46 Mom Colleen Nick is grateful to see Morgan coming back out of her shell after her Girl Scout meetings. She's a very dedicated Daisy. Morgan also has big dreams for the future, but can't decide if she would rather be a circus artist or a doctor. What a beautiful, beautiful girl. Sugar and spice and everything nice, torn between being a doctor, a medical doctor, and a circus artist. Just adopted a pet kitty cat. She seemingly vanished into thin air. Her mother just yards away at a little league game full of children and families screaming and yelling, supporting their kid out there on the field.

Starting point is 00:01:37 What could be a more wholesome environment? A little league game. Morgan goes to try and catch fireflies, lightning bugs, with her little friends. Mom is watching. And then shortly after that, it's time to go, but no Morgan. Joining me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. But first, listen to investigative reporter CrimeOnline.com's Sydney Sumner. Colleen Nick is invited to join a friend for a minor league baseball game in Alma, Arkansas. Colleen is hesitant to accept it's a half-hour drive to Wofford Field and the game starts fairly late. Colleen eventually agrees, bringing Morgan along with her. At the field, two other children ask Morgan if she wants to catch fireflies with them in a green space off the parking lot. Colleen is again hesitant, but agrees when the children's parents assure her the kids do it all

Starting point is 00:02:35 the time. This is a parent's worst nightmare. And the mom was just yards away and watching Morgan, watching her play with the other little girls her age. It's not like mom wasn't nearby. But then just a few moments later, the games begin to wrap up. Everyone's getting up out of the stands, getting ready to leave. And this happens. Colleen keeps an eye on the children from her spot in the stands, but gets distracted around 1030 when the game is wrapping up. The children Morgan was playing with return to their parents in the stands, but Morgan isn't with them. They tell Colleen Morgan had sand in her shoes and she's cleaning them out by the car in the parking lot. Colleen says her goodbyes and goes to get Morgan around 1045.

Starting point is 00:03:22 But the six-year-old is nowhere to be found. Joining me in All-Star panel, straight out to Alexis Tereszczuk, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Again, every parent's worst nightmare. You watch your child, you watch your child, you watch your child. You turn around to pick up your bags and your stadium seat and the stuff you brought with.

Starting point is 00:03:42 You turn back. Morgan's gone. Just like that. Tell me what happened, Alexis. So it was summer, June, in Arkansas, in western Arkansas, a town called Alma. And it's a small town, 5,000 people. They're out there for the Little League game. It's nighttime.

Starting point is 00:03:59 She's playing with the other kids. The parking lot is right next to the baseball field. It's not like you have to walk any distance at all. lot is right next to the baseball field. It's not like you have to walk any distance at all. It is steps away from the baseball field. There are stands, there are metal stands, just what you would sit on in a, you know, your little league game, park field. Anyway, she is playing with these kids. They're catching fireflies. They're having a good time. It's a warm summer night and the game is over. So the kids come back, but Morgan doesn't come with the kids.

Starting point is 00:04:26 There are other children. They come back. Morgan's mom says, where is Morgan? She says, the children say, oh, she had sand in her shoes because the parking lot can be sandy, dirty, and she's just dumping it out. So mom goes out to the parking lot to get Morgan so they can go home and cannot find her anywhere. She is gone. She's missing. This is at the foot of the beautiful Ozark Mountains. Very, very rural. Alexis, what did you say the population is? It's really, it's about 5,000 people. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Okay. To Robin Dreek joining me, formerly with the FBI, I'm going to give all Robin's creds in just a moment. But Robin Drake, in an area this small, you don't expect an unknown assailant to kidnap your child with the mom a few yards away, staring at the child.

Starting point is 00:05:20 Yeah, you don't. Unless that person that assails the child has a repetition of doing this in the past, which I think he probably did. To Dr. Judy Ho, renowned clinical and forensic neuropsychologist, author of The New Rules of Attachment and a second book, Stop Self-Sabotage. You can find her at Dr. Judy Ho, H-O.com. Dr. Judy, thank you for being with us. You know, if I thought the mom was at fault, I would be roasting her alive right now. I don't care. And I have to the chagrin of many, many viewers. But from what I have learned, in this case, mom was doing everything right. She didn't leave the premises.

Starting point is 00:06:08 She didn't go to the hot dog stand. She wasn't involved in conversations with another group of little league moms. She was there in the stands watching her daughter who was trying to catch fireflies in a rural area at the foot of the Ozark mountains. Crime rate practically zero. They do have crime. It's not like she's in downtown Manhattan, right? Where, you know, you're constantly on your guard and she was watching the child. I resent people attacking the mother in this case absolutely Nancy as you said at the top this is something that every vigilant parent has to do eventually turn around pick up the bags gather your belongings it could have been just mere moments and all of a sudden she's not there

Starting point is 00:06:57 this is not about the mom abdicating her responsibility this is a vigilant attentive mom and it's just an absolute nightmare. And I don't think that anybody should be attacking this parent because she was doing exactly what she should have been doing, even in a town where the crime rates were so low, as you just pointed out. You know, Dr. Judy Ho, I think people attack mom because they want to blame someone. It makes me feel better to go, oh, if mom hadn't been sleeping with a sex offender, her daughter wouldn't have gotten murdered. Things like that. And you know why I think I and many other people do that. Now you're the shrink, not me, because it makes us

Starting point is 00:07:36 feel safer. Um, here's a great example. Molly Tibbetts, gorgeous young girl out jogging. Okay. She gets attacked and murdered. People say, well, why was she out jogging alone? Why did she, why was she wearing shorts? That's crazy, right? I just recently Lakin Riley, uh, over at UGA broad daylight out jogging. She is attacked and murdered people again. Why was she in a secluded area? Why, out jogging. She is attacked and murdered. People again, why was she in a secluded area? Why was she jogging alone? Well, it's easier to blame something rather than to accept that could happen to me. That could happen to my child. They were doing nothing wrong. I think people put on blinders so they can continue feeling safe. You're right.

Starting point is 00:08:27 And I think that people want to feel like they have a sense of control in the world. So when something so unjust happens, you want to grapple at an explanation, even if that explanation is blaming the victim. Somehow, in a weird way, it actually makes you feel better about the world that I can explain this so that I can protect myself and my family and all the people around me because I would never do this. And there's a good explanation for what happened. But guess what? Sometimes the victims are not to blame and most oftentimes they're not. And yet we still do it. Alexis Tereshchuk said the mom is gathering

Starting point is 00:09:00 up her stuff. She turns around. She can't see Morgan anywhere. What happens then? The game's over. Morgan's mom cannot find her. She's searching everywhere. She's having adults help. She's at, she asked the kids. They're in the parking lot. She says, did you see anything? Where was Morgan? The children say we saw a red pickup truck. To Matt Mangino, high profile lawyer and former district attorney, author of The Executioner's Toll, Crimes, Arrests, Trials, Appeals, Last Meals, Final Words of 46 people in the U.S. Matt, almost immediately, Alma PD calls in help from the state police and the FBI. They immediately put Morgan's picture out. And that's part of my book, Don't be a victim. How important it is. You have a recent photo of your child with you, like on your phone at all times, and that you know what they are wearing the last

Starting point is 00:09:54 time you see them. Like I can tell you right now what my children were to school today. Okay. Right down to the socks. Cause I laid it out for them, but you have to have that. The mom did have that. And it went out immediately to the media, all over the news. Immediately, officers set up a call center in the courthouse and tips start pouring in. They even get a mobile command center up within an hour and a half. Everything's going right. Would you agree with that, Matthew Mangino? You know, it sounds like everything's going exactly as it should. But in this situation, you have an opportunity that you don't have in a lot of abductions. Sometimes children are by themselves. They're in an isolated place and an abduction occurs. Here you have it at a ballpark.

Starting point is 00:10:42 The first thing that you need to do is canvas those people there and make sure that everybody who's at that ballpark at that time, you get their name, you get their numbers, you can follow up with them. So you can get as much information that you can about the circumstances around that ballpark during that game, what they saw, what they observed. You know, did they tell anybody anything that they saw? All that information is so important and is unique in a lot of circumstances compared with other child abductions. Straight back out to Alexis Torres, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Tell me the part about the mom getting information for the little friends that Morgan had gone to the car. Is that correct?

Starting point is 00:11:27 Were the little friends are the ones that told mommy? Yes. She'd been playing with, I think, two little friends in the parking lot. It's summer. They're going to catch fireflies. Super fun for little kids to do. And they're literally steps away from where the mom is on the stands. They say, oh, you know what?

Starting point is 00:11:44 She got sand in her shoes. You know, it's grassy. There's sand around there, dirt, even if you want. And so she's emptying out her shoes by the car. And we came over here to y'all, but she's just right over there. No concern, nothing. And then this. Listen. One of the baseball team's coaches notices Colleen frantically searching the parking lot and calls Alma Police to report six-year-old Morgan missing. Alma PD and Crawford County sheriffs perform intense grid searches, assuming Morgan had just wandered off. But adult witnesses stop officers to say they saw a man trying to talk to a little blonde girl while she was playing, and his red truck left the parking lot shortly after they lost sight of her. There is no coincidence in criminal law. I can assure you of that. To Robin Dreat joining us,

Starting point is 00:12:31 a behavior expert, former FBI special agent, chief of the FBI counterintelligence behavioral analysis program, author of Sizing People Up, a veteran FBI agent's manual for behavior prediction and so much more. You can find him at peopleformula.com. Robin, thank you for being with us. So the coaches see mom going crazy looking for her six-year-old little girl and they start a grid search. What is that? They're just methodically going through the entire area, getting everyone online because it sounds like they think she's just wandered off and not actually been abducted. So they're doing a grid search as if she got lost, not abducted. Again, to Dr. Judy Ho joining us, renowned clinical forensic neuropsychologist and author of The New Rules of Attachment. Dr. Judy, again, in my world,

Starting point is 00:13:27 at the very beginning, I think something horrible has happened. Okay. But that's me. Most people look for an innocent answer because usually there is an innocent answer. But also, Dr. Judy, I think we want to believe that. We want to insulate ourselves such as, okay, she's just wandered off. We're going to do a grid search. She's here in the parking lot somewhere. How do you analyze that behavior, Dr. Judy? Well, we all want to believe in the inherent goodness of people because we want to believe that we live in a world where good people prevail, where innocent people prevail, where good things happen. And the police were doing exactly what I think they should have been doing, which is

Starting point is 00:14:11 the Ocam razor rule. Like, hey, this is the most easy explanation and probably the most likely explanation. She's a six-year-old, easy for them to wander off, get distracted. Hopefully we'll do a quick grid search and we're going to locate her and everybody's going to go home happy. Everything's going to be fine. Dr. Judy Ho, I really believe that the initial focus on the mom impedes a lot of the investigation. Because again, it's so easy to throw a stone at mom here, instead of realizing mom didn't do anything wrong. I find that that slows down investigation sometimes. I agree with you. Of course, family members are oftentimes a person of interest for obvious reasons. They have the most intel on the person that is missing. However, because of blaming mom or this idea that maybe she did something wrong, there probably was a slower response to activate other units that could have focused on the perpetrator.

Starting point is 00:15:12 And of course, later on, they did find out that observers saw this suspicious man. But again, I think even the observers, when they saw that, they may not have thought of something nefarious right away until of course the police investigation started and they're now racking their brains saying you know what there was somebody there and it just seemed off but again in this community where a lot of people may have known each other people just don't go to that as the first explanation and so as you mentioned sometimes when law enforcement may be well intended but perhaps they've seen certain things and they're thinking well maybe this is the most likely explanation that the parent is at fault. They lost that valuable time to save a life. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Starting point is 00:16:03 Witnesses describe seeing a creepy man talking to a little blonde girl. Soon after, six-year-old Morgan Nick is gone. One of the baseball team's coaches notices Colleen frantically searching the parking lot and calls Alma Police to report six-year-old Morgan missing. Alma PD and Crawford County sheriffs perform intense grid searches, assuming Morgan had just wandered off. But adult witnesses stop officers to say they saw a man trying to talk to a little blonde girl

Starting point is 00:16:32 while she was playing, and his red truck left the parking lot shortly after they lost sight of her. We even have a photo of the red truck. As I was saying earlier, there is no coincidence in criminal law. Six-year-old Morgan goes missing from this little league game. Just about the time mommy realizes she's not in

Starting point is 00:16:52 the parking lot getting sand out of her shoes, witnesses see a red truck leaving the area. Joining me in All-Star panel to make sense of what we know right now, but straight out to Robin Drake, you and I, Matt Mangino, everyone on the panel has dealt with nothing but crime for the big part of our careers. In this case, the fact that a red truck would scratch off while everybody else is helping to look for this child, I've got a problem with that. Yeah, me too, Nancy. So every time someone uses that word creepy or creepy man or unusual truck, the first thing that strikes me is that's where we need to be looking because what that's saying is that we have a deviation in what parents are normally seeing. So all the parents on

Starting point is 00:17:35 one side of the team should have said, what looks different for you? Then law enforcement should have gone to the other side of the other team and said, what looks different to you all? That truck stands out. These things, when they stand out, they generally lead to where we need to go. When somebody says that dude's creepy, it's not always just a hunch. It's not always just judging a book by the cover. I think we have instincts that are born of thousands of years of creation, of development from the time a human was first emerged to now. It's what you hear. It's what you see. It's what you smell. It's your past experiences. It's someone else's body language. It's a million things go into a hunch. So when these people say, I saw a creepy guy, that can mean a lot of things. But very often those hunches are based, in fact, hunches born of

Starting point is 00:18:36 thousands of years of evolution. 100%. The first thing we're looking for as human beings from that evolution standpoint is we're looking for an environment and behaviors and people around us that allow us to feel safe things that don't allow us to feel safe are when we're seeing incongruencies between people's actions words and deeds that stand out from what we normally expect to allow us to feel safe and that's what makes us feel creepy is when we don't feel safe and in this situation this man this truck did not allow those people to feel safe with their children. So it makes you feel creepy. And they were right on with it.

Starting point is 00:19:10 To Matthew Mangino, a veteran trial lawyer. Matt, you've prosecuted so many cases as a former district attorney. The coincidence of, and of course, this is nothing we can really use at trial. I could argue it in closing statements, but it's not probative on its own. It doesn't prove anything. But the fact that everybody else is running around frantically looking for this little girl

Starting point is 00:19:36 and he coincidentally at that moment, when you hear the mom start screaming, my daughter's gone, my daughter's gone. And he scratches off, puts the pedal to the metal. I find that very odd. Of course, he could always argue, I didn't hear any of that. I had my windows up and the air conditioning on and the radio playing. Now, he could argue any of that. But the fact remains that that is a very strong coincidence. Well, you know, Nancy, at the outset of this, as soon as police get there, you know, it's not so much about investigating a crime.

Starting point is 00:20:11 It's about maybe saving this child's life. You know, you know, sort of bypass you and say, well, let's do a grid shirt. She might be around here somewhere. I mean, I think at that point, because time is so important, you know, focus has to be directed there. Jumping off what Matthew Mangino just said, Robin Drake, they also say he was talking to, trying to talk to a little blonde girl. Morgan is little. Morgan is blonde. Now,

Starting point is 00:20:53 what is a grown man doing talking to a six-year-old little girl other than going, hey, you're a cute little girl. Bye. Where's your mommy? And leaving. Why is he having a conversation with a six-year-old little girl? i have never once in life seen my husband walk up to a little child in target or walmart and strike up a conversation 100 right again more deviations from what normal healthy safe things are it's that's why it stood out to all the parents and so that's where the focus should be and everyone there had had a correct confirmation bias in that moment they're looking for a girl. They weren't looking for a perpetrator of a crime. So their focus was a little too narrow. You know, that brings to mind something. Joining me now, Dr. Jory Croson, faculty, St. Leo University and psychologist, consultant, Blue Wall Institute and author of

Starting point is 00:21:41 Operation SOS. Dr. Jory, thank you for joining us today. Dr. Jory, I always wonder, why didn't anyone say anything? They see a guy that they think is creepy talking to a six-year-old little girl. I mean, does anybody have a problem with that? I mean, maybe, maybe the witnesses thought that was her dad. I'm not sure.

Starting point is 00:22:09 But why are we so loathe to get involved? That's just the way that our society has become. You know, we kind of isolate ourselves and we kind of keep to ourselves that we don't get involved when we see things that don't look appropriate, that look out of sorts. People are seeing it, but they're just refusing to interact or to intercede and to question the behavior. Everyone is so busy being politically correct. They wouldn't dream of going, hey, is that your daughter? But then the case becomes more murky. We can't get a good description. Listen. Witnesses couldn't discern the man's age in the dark, but say he was mid-20s to 40 years old. They describe him as 6 foot tall and 180 pounds, wearing only denim shorts. His hair was combed

Starting point is 00:22:58 back. He had at least three to four days of facial hair growth and a hairy chest. They picked up on his hillbilly accent. He was driving a red truck with a white camper shell that was too short for the bed. Someone shooting a home video manages to catch the truck for a few moments, but does not get the license plate or the driver. Authorities investigate the possibility other recent kidnapping attempts are connected to the same suspect. Earlier in the afternoon, the day Morgan disappeared, a man matching the description given by the witnesses at the field tried to entice a four-year-old girl into his red truck in downtown Alma,

Starting point is 00:23:34 but was interrupted when the girl screamed and her mother grabbed her. The next day, 15 miles away in Fort Smith, the same suspect tries to entice a nine-year-old girl into the men's room in a convenience store, but flees when she resists. Alexis for us at crimeonline.com investigative reporter. What? They said, there's this man that people keep reporting in this area. And Alma is like, then I said, this is a small town, 5,000 people within the area, three different incidents the day before a little girl, or I'm sorry, hours before, a four-year-old little girl tries to get her. Then Morgan goes missing. The next day, there's a man at a convenience store and he's trying to get a girl to go into the men's room with him. All of these things are reported to

Starting point is 00:24:15 the police in the area right as Morgan has disappeared and has gone missing. You know, this truck is very distinctive. A red pickup with a white cab that's too short for the bed. You know, this truck is very distinctive, a red pickup with a white cab that's too short for the bed. You know, Robin Dreek, former FBI, you can find him at peopleformula.com. We hear of spree crimes, but this is three attempted victims, little girl victims in the space of 72 hours that we know of. Yeah. And I guarantee you, it's probably not going to be the only ones as well. You know, he's got a pattern of behavior. Someone does at this point that they should be looking at,

Starting point is 00:24:48 especially since you now have a missing child and you now have someone who's creeping the hell out of people and approaching other little girls. So yeah, that's exactly where all the focus should be. This brings to mind the case of a beautiful little five-year-old, Dulce Alvarez. Listen. Fiveyear-old, Dulce Alvarez?

Starting point is 00:25:06 Listen. Five-year-old Dulce Alvarez is playing in the park with her three-year-old brother while her mother sits in her car 30 yards away talking to her sister on the phone. Noema Alvarez Perez says she thought her daughter Dulce was hiding, but when she went to look for her, the five-year-old was gone. New Jersey State Police issue an Amber Alert believing Dulce has been abducted. Police are looking for a Hispanic male, 5'6 to 5'8, thin build, no facial hair, acne on his face. The man led Dulce from the playground to a red van with a sliding door and tinted windows.

Starting point is 00:25:38 Again, in Dulce's case, like Morgan Nix's case, all we have to go on is a vehicle. Listen to this. Three months with no sign of Morgan, Alma PD get another report of an attempted kidnapping. A man approaches an 11-year-old girl eating at a restaurant with her brothers and a friend. He initiates a conversation with the girl that has clear sexual undertones and offers money if she'll leave with him. Terrified, the girl screams and the man flees in a red truck. In his hurry, the man crashes into a pole and a bystander manages to write down his license plate number before he drives off. The driver is identified as Billy Jack Links. The case, even so, seemingly goes cold.

Starting point is 00:26:24 But then this. With no new leads on Morgan Nick, investigators review the early stages of the investigation. Everything points to Billy Jack Links, so investigators decide to track down his red truck. The truck has been sold several times, but the latest owner agrees to let authorities examine it for evidence one more time. Investigators carefully comb the interior for evidence with a high-powered vacuum. They discover several blonde hairs in one of the vacuum canisters and send it off for DNA testing. Joining me now is the esteemed director of Forensic DNA Experts, specialist in sex assaults and murder, former forensic scientist for the

Starting point is 00:27:02 Texas Department of Public Safety. You can find him at forensicsdnaexperts.com. It's Dr. Monty Miller. Dr. Miller, thank you for being with us. Explain to me, I need to understand this. How is it that even though this red truck has been sold a couple of times that DNA experts, forensics experts are able to get several strands of blonde hair out of that truck. Well, first of all, they have some really good vacuums and, you know, they'll vacuum and they'll do tape lifts in all kinds of areas. And, you know, even if someone cleans their car, there's a really good chance that they're not going to clean all the nooks and crannies.

Starting point is 00:27:46 So that's one thing. The other thing is, if this had been a work truck and someone had been putting stuff in and getting a lot of stuff out and getting in and out, it's more likely that the hair would have been lost. But being that it transferred hands a few times, it might just not have been used much and the hair might have just been left there. Explain to everyone that's not familiar with an HVAC what it means that several blonde hairs are found in the vacuum canister. You know, I mean, it's like any vacuum. It has a canister only. This is a pretty high speed one that gives you a lot of suction. And so it pulls up just about everything. And hair can kind of get stuck to fabrics and things. And so it's a really good vacuum, has a really good filter, and it tries to collect just about everything that's in that car.

Starting point is 00:28:47 Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To Robin Drake joining us for FBI. Is it significant to you? Because it is to me. If these hairs, which are traced back, they do belong to Morgan Nix. If they had a root attached or they had just shed in the truck. So it depends on what period of time in history. Right now, we can get a DNA match just with the hair itself without a root. Back then, most likely not. And so our ability to really analyze DNA samples has advanced a lot since she initially went missing. Okay. Everything you just said was correct, but I'm looking for something different

Starting point is 00:29:31 because I already know that the DNA matches Morgan. Okay. The fact that the hair was torn from her head last night, I picked up my cat and I walked around with it, even though I say I'm not a cat person. And the front of my shirt was covered in cat hair. OK, I didn't pull the hair out of the cat. It transferred to me. When you find the roots of the hair still attached to all the hair, that tells me that in some form, the hair was yanked out of the head. Yeah. So there's violence involved when you have the root there as well. So yeah, I'm still just going on the probability that the hair was there at all to begin with. So

Starting point is 00:30:16 regardless of whether it's yanked and you have the root or not, I'm still, this is just really pointing right at him. A red pickup truck spotted at the scene of Morgan Nick's abduction is tracked down. Will DNA found lead to answers? Who is this guy? Lynx. What's so amazing is the only way he was really tracked down is that three months after Morgan disappears and she has never been found, he approaches another little girl with her family at a restaurant. I mean, again, to Robin Drake, the MO is startlingly similar. He doesn't care if the family is nearby.

Starting point is 00:31:06 They're within eye shot. Remember the little brothers? The girl screams. The man takes off in a red truck. And that is at a restaurant with the brothers. And he still goes up to the little girl. Yeah, his abhorrent behavior and intensity of moving in on little children is escalating dramatically. And so he's definitely on a behavior arc and collision with even worse things that are to come.

Starting point is 00:31:33 Okay, I don't know what you just said. Behavior arc, collision, what? Yeah, so he has a pattern of behavior of constantly going after little children. His brazenness of it is getting more and more escalated. For whatever reason that's going sideways in his life, it's getting worse. And so it's going to continue to get worse before it gets better. Are you actually trying to blame something in his life for what he's doing? Oh, no, this is all a choice.

Starting point is 00:32:01 100%. There's, as you've said numerous times on all your shows, Nancy, there's evil afoot inside of him, and he's making a choice to target little girls. Dr. Jory Croson, I hear what Dreek is saying. What is he talking about the arc, the arc of the defendant's behavior? Pedophiles, people that have sexual attraction to children or anybody, there's this anticipation that builds. Part of it is the stalking behavior. That's part of the drive and the choice. Okay. They start to get the sexual arousal and excitement from spotting a little girl, like the one at the restaurant with her brother. I could imagine that would create a lot of excitement. The way he approached her, he was so brazen.

Starting point is 00:32:47 Look at the freedom that he felt in talking with her and actually taking it to a sexual level and offering money. All of that is building this sexual excitement in him. That's the drive. And again, that is choice. You don't have to consider something that happened in his life or anything like that. That is a predatorial choice of the stalking behavior. Let me tell you what we know about Billy Jack Lynx, born and raised there in Crawford County, Arkansas in the army, worked for Braniff Airlines in Dallas over 10 years before coming back to Arkansas, settling in Van Buren. But he's charged with child sex abuse, pleads no contest, and gets a suspended sentence.

Starting point is 00:33:34 Two years later, three months after Morgan disappears, he's charged with sex solicitation of a minor. Okay, do you see the problem here? Matthew Mangino, he had already taken a quote, no contest a couple of years before on child sex abuse. No contest means I don't say I did it. I don't plead guilty or not guilty. I just take a reduced sentence and go on my way. Somebody let him off. And then he goes and rapes and kills Morgan Nix. Her body has never been found. But he was let off early on with a no, no low contendere, a no contest. Well, we don't know what the circumstances of that case are. You know, sometimes in these types of cases where you have young victims, they're reluctant to testify.

Starting point is 00:34:33 You know, they don't want to sit in a courtroom in front of a group of people and talk about how they were victimized. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, wait. It would be a cold day in H-E-L-L before I let a guy charged with child molestation walk free. There's other ways to prove a child molestation other than just the child victim. There's circumstantial evidence surrounding it. There's outcry witnesses. There's potential medical and physical evidence. Somebody dropped the ball. That's what happened. A child molestation charge was pled out cheap to a NOLO, a no contest, a NOLO contender.

Starting point is 00:35:13 And then he goes right back out and starts molesting. Well, there's no question that this young child would be alive today if there was, you know, more vigorous prosecution in that case. But we don't know the circumstances. We don't know why he was allowed to enter a no contest plea.

Starting point is 00:35:33 And a lot of times it is because there's a lack of evidence. There's a lack of the victim wanting to be to relive this victimization in a courtroom full of people. So those are factors, you know, whether we like them or not, they have an impact on the prosecution of cases. And what about mom? Listen, from our friends at KATV. Emotionally, I wasn't in real good shape then, but if I said it once, I've said it a hundred times, if we sit around and we're so upset and we cry all the time and nobody can get anything done, then we're not doing the best job that we can for Morgan. Still fighting for justice for her daughter.

Starting point is 00:36:16 Take a listen to what she had to say to our friend, Oprah. I am the only person who can fight hard enough to bring Morgan home. I'm the only person who cares enough. And if I give up hope, then I become a victim as well as she, and I will not let her abductor win. I will find her and she will come home. That from our friends at Five News. Dr. Monty Miller, you know, eyewitnesses can be confused. They may not have a good vantage point, or there may be bad lighting, or they didn't have on their glasses or they were distracted. You know what doesn't lie? DNA. And there's no reason for Morgan Nix, just six years old, hair to be torn out by the roots and in this guy's truck. No reason at all.

Starting point is 00:36:59 Yeah, that's real clear. I mean, if they have hair that's been pulled out, that suggests if there's skin on the hair, that suggests some violence and that it wasn't just hair that fell out like it normally does. In this case, it looks like the DNA that they ran was mitochondrial DNA, which would have been from the hair shaft rather than the skin tag. And I don't really understand why they would have been from the hair shaft rather than the skin tag. And I don't really understand why they would have done that. But, you know, they got a good DNA profile and it identifies that family. It identifies Morgan's family and as somebody who's related to her mother, either one of the mother's siblings or one of the mother's children or someone or the mother's mother. But they got a good DNA profile.

Starting point is 00:37:50 Hold on, Dr. Monty Miller, you're absolutely right. But I'd like to point out a differentiation here. For instance, in the case of Kelly Anthony, hair belonging to Kelly or someone that could be identified mitochondrially in that hair. It had to be either Kelly, mitochondrial means on the mother's side of the family, Kelly, the mother, top mom, Casey Anthony, or the grandmother, Cindy Anthony. Now, how do I know it wasn't either of the two elder? Because the hair was untreated. In other words, Cindy Anthony at the time had frosted hair. Top mom, Casey Anthony had her hair highlighted. This hair was pristine.

Starting point is 00:38:36 That means it could only belong to one person, that being two year old Kelly. In this case, we know that the hair belonged to either Morgan Nix or someone on the mitochondrial side. Her mother's hair, as you saw, was treated. The sibling had short hair. This hair was a long blonde hair. Ergo, it belonged to Morgan Nix. It's not rocket science. And you said, uh, correctly that the hair being torn from the roots suggests violence. But I pose to you another query,

Starting point is 00:39:15 Dr. Monty Miller. And that query is even if the hair was not attached to the nucleus, the root, why would her hair have transferred into this guy's pickup? No good reason. He's not a relative. He's not a family friend. He didn't give her a ride. Why would she be in his car? Yeah, I think the fact that the hair was in the car is important. And it clearly is hers based on the things that you've said and the fact that there's nobody else from her family that could have possibly been in that truck. If you know or think you know anything, anything more about the disappearance of this beautiful girl, Morgan Nix,

Starting point is 00:39:55 please dial Alma, Arkansas PD, 479-632-3333. Repeat, 479-632-3333. Repeat, 479-632-3333. There is a $60,000 reward. We wait as justice unfolds. And now we stop to remember an American hero, Sergeant Alan David Brandt, Fairbanks PD, just 34, shot and killed in the line of duty. Brandt served Fairbanks PD 11 years, survived by grieving wife, now widow, Natasha, children Fritz, Kate, Claire, and Belle, four children sentenced to life without dad.

Starting point is 00:40:47 American hero, Sergeant Alan David Brandt. Thank you to all of our guests for being with us. Nancy Grace, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.

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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - MORGAN NICK, 6, VANISHES FROM LITTLE LEAGUE GAME, NEVER SEEN AGAIN

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