NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR – The 20th anniversary of Morgan Nick’s disappearance is dominating local headlines this week.
It’s just one of more than 400 unsolved missing persons cases in Arkansas.
That’s why the state attorney general is pledging to crack down on missing and exploited children, statewide.
“We are wanting to shrink that number considerably and help these families find their loved ones,” said Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge during a Wednesday conference.
The AG’s office held the 4th annual “Never Forgotten — Arkansas Takes Action” conference at Camp Robinson.
The event serves two functions: to train law enforcement on how to handle missing and exploited persons cases and to connect victims’ loved ones with resources.
“Realistically, we hope to have enough families come in, provide DNA samples, provide information,” Rutledge adds.
For State Representative Bill Gossage (R-District 82), this cause is both political and personal. His son John went to school with Morgan Nick.
“My son’s birthday is June the 9th, and we were celebrating his 7th birthday on June 9th 1995 when Morgan was abducted,” Gossage said. “It certainly affected my son and I think it affected all the children in our community.
Gossage says it was Morgan’s disappearance that inspired him to run for office. It’s why he’s excited to announce that starting this summer, state troopers will begin specific training for child abduction response.
“If you can have an organized response already in place where everybody shows up and knows exactly what their job is, exactly the details they’re supposed to focus on, you have a greater opportunity of recovering that child safely,” Gossage added.
It’s all an effort to make sure no other families have to see their loved ones on the list.
Arkansas will be the first state to allocate funds specifically to teach law enforcement proper response for a child abduction. That training for state troopers is expected to start in August.
