On June 9, 1995, Morgan Nick and her mother, Colleen Nick, went to a Little League baseball game in the town of Alma, Arkansas. At around 10:30 p.m., Morgan asked her mother if she could catch lightning bugs 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, 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 search 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 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 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.
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 and America's Most Wanted, while Morgan's family and the foundation were featured in 2005 on after the family's house was damaged in a water heater explosion. The AMBER Alert service is named the Morgan Nick Amber Alert in the state of Arkansas. 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.
