(Editor's note: This is the ninth installment in this series. The tenth installment, to be published later this week, will close out the series.)
As I wrap up this series on the disappearance of Morgan Chauntel Nick, I am encouraged by the amount of people who have read this story and have provided feedback.
Thank you. Your feedback has confirmed my belief that the community has a continued and vested interest in uncovering the truth about what happened to Morgan.
If you read part eight of this series, you know that I am quite passionate in my belief that the community has a right to know what could have happened on the evening of June 9, 1995.
It’s been almost a quarter of a century; it’s time that the misinformation is addressed and corrected in this case. I truly believe that if the correct information is disseminated, it’s possible that someone will remember critical information that might have earlier been dismissed as unimportant.
According to a 2002 interview with Chief Russell White of the Alma Police Department, he states: “I think there is a real possibility that we know the person (that took Morgan Nick). I could probably give you 10 or 20 names of people we can’t eliminate (as suspects). It’s not a complicated case. That’s what makes it so damn tough.”
Chief White goes on to say, “It won’t be an Investigator doing some bang-up job. It will be someone picking up the phone and saying, ‘I’ve been married to (insert name) for 40 years and….’ That’s the only thing that’s keeping this case from being solved.”
I believe that Chief White is absolutely right. I believe this case could be solved by someone simply picking up the phone. However, in order for that to happen, it’s imperative that the misinformation surrounding Morgan’s disappearance be addressed once and for all.
The community deserves to be told what could have happened and we deserve to be given the information that could cause someone to say, “Wait, I think I remember something important.”
In the same article, the tips that come in about the Morgan Nick abduction are broken down into these categories:
-Somebody sees someone who resembles one of the two composite sketches of the would-be-abductor.
-Someone sees someone who resembles Morgan Nick.
-Someone sees the red pickup truck believed to have been drive by the abductor.
-Someone knows someone they think is capable of committing this type of a crime.
-Someone, bent on revenge, turns in someone they know, usually a husband, ex-husband or a family member.
These categories are important, especially when you consider that every lead that has been called in regarding the man in the first composite sketch should be discounted. Remember, the first composite sketch, was incorrect.
In fact, the Times Record ran a story on January 5, 2001 entitled: Sketch Offers New Suspect. The article, written by John Lyon, notes: “The sketch is markedly different from a sketch that investigators released previously. In fact, the person in the first sketch IS NO LONGER CONSIDERED A SUSPECT.”
Chief White is further quoted in that same article as saying, “We don’t think that the first sketch is valid. This is a totally different sketch and from different people than the first one came from.”
Do you know what is even more disturbing?
The article goes on to quote Chief White as saying, “No clothing description was released with this new sketch because accounts of the man’s clothes were conflicting.”
Here, the public is told NOT to rely on the information that was previously released about the would-be-abductors clothing -- because that description, just like the first composite sketch is WRONG.
I can’t shake the heaviness that comes with this realization: For 1,825 days - that’s 43,800 hours, we had it all wrong. Law enforcement, media, and the general public -- everyone -- was looking for the wrong man. And if we were looking for the wrong man, how did we ever think we could find Morgan Nick?
According to the FBI website, “the sooner we investigate (a child abduction), the better. Time is critical when a child is taken.”
If time is critical when a child is taken, every last one of us failed Morgan Chauntel Nick. We didn’t just fail her in the days and months after her disappearance -- we failed her for years. FIVE years, to be exact.
The same article goes on to describe the following interaction with Chief White: When asked where the information for the original composite sketch came from, White said “it was given by a lady that witnessed an event at a laundromat the night before Morgan’s disappearance. The person in that sketch was not seen at the ballpark where Morgan Nick disappeared…. the information from that sketch was not taken from witnesses at the ballpark.”
Still not convinced the community should be demanding answers?
Let me leave you with this quote by Chief White: “Honestly, we didn’t have a unanimous decision on that (using the incorrect composite sketch). There was some mixed feelings about whether to do that…. in hindsight, it probably wasn’t a good idea. At the time it seemed like the right way to go.”
He’s absolutely right. It wasn’t a good idea.
