Have You Seen Me?

ALMA, Arkansas - Colleen Nick is not giving up hope that her daughter Morgan will come home.

In Morgan's room on her dresser still sits her kindergarten graduation picture.

Morgan would have graduated from high school this year.

Colleen said, "One of the coach's wives made the initial 911 call to police and that began our search 11 ½ years ago ago to find Morgan and bring her home. It's a search that goes forward today."

Morgan was abducted from a ballpark in Alma, Arkansas on June 9, 1995.

She was six years old.

Morgan and her mother were watching a little league baseball game, when Morgan went to play with some friends and vanished.

"I went over to my car, thinking she had gotten in, and she wasn't, and it became very obvious that Morgan wasn't at the ball field," Colleen said.

Investigators believe a man kidnapped Morgan. They have a sketch of what they think he looks like. Morgan is now 18, and an age-progressed picture shows what she is believed to look like today.

"Essentially everything from the date that she was abducted, leads and everything, are compiled in this room," said Det. Brett Hartley.

Hartley with the Alma police department is the lead investigator.

"I believe Morgan is alive," he said. "There have actually been numerous cases lately where the child had been gone ten to 12 years, and they've brought him back, and it's no different for Morgan. I share that hope."

Increasing the number of missing children brought home is one of the goals of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The organization's President Ernie Allen says new technology has made a big difference. He said, "Our recovery rate as an organization in 1990 was 60 percent and we were proud of that, but today it's 96 percent."

The artists take features from the missing child and family members -- in Morgan's case, her biological parents -- to put together an updated picture of the child.

"It's not just one area. It's the entire face. We have to stretch it to a point to approximate growth. That's where the family pictures are very important," said Forensic Imaging Specialist Glenn Miller.

Many of these age-progressed images have been the sole reason a child was found.

The age progression technique has helped law enforcement recover more than 700 children. Take for instance, Aric Austin. He was abducted when he was just six weeks old and recovered at the age of 21, thanks in part to his age-progressed picture.

Other age-progression success stories include Rebekah Harwood, abducted at age six and recovered 15 years later when she was 21.

Joseph Carson was abducted at age two. An age progression image showing him at age seven helped lead to his recovery that same year.

New technology has allowed the images to be produced much faster. What used to take three to four days, now takes just three to four hours -- a huge improvement when you think about trying to quickly recover a missing child.

Another example of an advance in technology is the Amber Alert or America's Missing Broadcast Emergency Response.

It also works to greatly speed up the recovery process. Alerts are broadcast on radio and television and on highway signs.

"Instead of hours and hours, we have literally minutes when a child is missing and we can get their information up, and we've seen almost 300 recoveries across the United States because we're able to get a child's information out quickly," Colleen said.

Other resources include high-tech computer databases to keep information organized and accessible.

Hartley said, "They give us a database to be able to go in and research suspects whether or not they've been called in before. If we get a lead today, we can actually go back and look from 1995 to see whether or not we've ever received a lead on them before."

"DNA is better, age progressions are better; all the technology that surrounds the work that law enforcement do, and that families have the option for, it's all better than it was 10 years ago," Colleen said.

Colleen is using those resources to help in her search for Morgan and other missing children, even starting the Morgan Nick Foundation to get the word out.

Ultimately, it's her faith in Jesus Christ that keeps her going.

"I think it's a good philosophy to live by that when life is trying to put you down. Let it take you down to your knees and find Jesus, and His strength will be your joy," Colleen said. "It absolutely, truly will be your joy."

Hartley said, "We need every bit of it that we can get. We need all the prayer and support that people will put into this case. God definitely knows where Morgan is, and that prayer. It's an everyday prayer that she'll be brought home."

Until then, here's a message for Morgan: "Morgan, always keep your eyes locked on God because he has your best interest at heart and know that He's protecting you right now while we can't."