Morgan Violi was enjoying a hot summer day with one of her friends on Wednesday, July 24, 1996. Morgan, who was 7 years old, was playing outside her Bowling Green, Kentucky apartment building with 6-year-old Destiny Miller. The two girls were walking across the parking lot when a man in a burgundy van suddenly drove up to them. Destiny froze in horror as the man jumped out of the van and tried to grab her. She managed to wrench free of his grasp and started to run, then stopped when she realized he had grabbed Morgan. He threw her into the passenger seat of the van, climbed over her into the driver’s seat, and then raced out of the parking lot.
Witnesses quickly called police and gave them a description of the van and its driver, but no one had seen where he went after he left the Colony Apartments and officers were unable to find him. Several police officers gathered at the apartment complex to interview witnesses and relay information to their colleagues who were on the road, but despite the detailed descriptions provided, Morgan and her abd*uctor could not be found.
Witnesses recalled seeing the van sitting in the parking lot before Morgan was ab*ducted, and one teenager believed she had seen the same van in the area for one or two days leading up to the abd*uction. The driver was a white man in his twenties who didn’t look as if he had shaved for several days. The van, which was either burgundy or dark red, was believed to be a late 1970s or early 1980s Chevrolet, possibly with gold trim and a Kentucky license plate. Some witnesses thought there was a second person in the van with the ab*ductor. Police released a composite sketch of the driver and asked everyone in the area to keep an eye out for him and his van. They received dozens of calls but none led to Morgan or her kidnapper.
Within hours of Morgan’s abduction, multiple law enforcement agencies were searching for her. The Bowling Green Police Department, the Warren County Sheriff’s Department, the Kentucky State Police, and the FBI joined forces to hunt for the missing girl and the man who kidnapped her. At first, everyone was optimistic that they would soon find her since they had such a detailed description of both the man and his van, but as the afternoon faded into evening, their worries for Morgan’s safety increased. The apartment complex was located close to Interstate 65; if the abd*uctor got onto the highway, he could have been out of the state before the search for him was fully underway.
Morgan’s parents, Glen and Stacey Violi, were in the process of obtaining a divorce but put their differences aside so they could search for their daughter. The FBI advised Stacey to stay near her telephone in case the abd*uctor called to demand a ransom. She nervously sat and waited for the phone to ring, but all she received were calls from friends and family members wanting to offer their help.
Glen and Stacey had been scheduled to be in court for a custody hearing just hours before Morgan was abd*ucted; during the hearing, Stacey had been awarded custody of Morgan and her two sisters. Glen missed the hearing because he had to work; he had to be at a construction site early that morning. Stacey said that the custody details had already been worked out and there was no ongoing dispute, so it wasn’t a big deal that Glen wasn’t at the hearing.
When investigators learned there had been custody issues, they looked closely at Glen. Although co-workers confirmed that he hadn’t left work until he had gotten a call to say Morgan had been ab*ducted, police asked him to take a polygraph examination. Investigators wouldn’t discuss his results, but Glen said he failed the first polygraph they gave him but passed the second one.
Stacey told reporters she was certain Glen wasn’t involved in Morgan’s disappearance. “If he was going to take one daughter, he would have taken all three. He loves the other two just as much as he does Morgan.” Glen, however, was only the biological father of Morgan, though he had raised Stacey’s other two daughters like his own as their father was deceased. He had originally wanted primary custody of all three girls, but eventually reached an agreement with Stacey that gave him weekend visitation with them, and he had been satisfied with this outcome. Stacey also pointed out that the kidnapper had tried to grab Destiny first, and had only grabbed Morgan after Destiny ran away.
Morgan, who had recently finished first grade at Warren Elementary School, was an outgoing little girl who had a lot of friends. She had been the only student in her grade who performed in the school’s talent show the previous year; she had done a gymnastics routine. She got along well with all of her classmates but occasionally got in trouble with teachers for talking too much. She loved spending time with her older sisters and riding her pink dirt bike. According to Glen, “She’s real sassy…she thinks she’s 15. She’s very, very grown up for her age. I’m hoping that’s going to get her out of this.”
Investigators continued their hunt for the van driven by Morgan’s ab*ductor. They compiled a list of all vans fitting the description that were registered in the state of Kentucky and started methodically checking out each one. They also contacted law enforcement agencies in neighboring states to get lists of vans registered there.
Detectives visited dozens of motels, rest stops, toy stores, and restaurants in areas where they thought the abd*uctor might have stopped after kidnapping Morgan. They distributed flyers with Morgan’s photograph and a composite sketch of the kidnapper, but none of the clerks they spoke with had seen the pair.
On Thursday, with no suspects and no confirmed sightings of Morgan, police announced that they were offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the kidnapper. All police resources were being dedicated to the hunt for Morgan and her ab*ductor; the Bowling Green Police Department put more than 200 felony investigations on hold to free up manpower for the search.
Thursday night, more than 400 people gathered in the parking lot of the Colony Apartments to hold a candlelight vigil for Morgan. While they prayed for Morgan’s safe return, the FBI announced that they had created an updated sketch of her abd*uctor. The man they were looking for had collar-length brown hair and had been wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans when he grabbed Morgan.
Police stopped every red, maroon, burgundy, and brown van they saw but weren’t able to connect any of them to Morgan’s abd*uction. Two search dogs combed through a large field behind the apartment complex but also came up empty.
By Saturday morning, the reward for information leading to an arrest in Morgan’s abd*uction was up to $11,500. More than 100 tips had come in during the first two days of the investigation, and each one was checked out by a team consisting of a police officer and an FBI agent. Officials estimated that one new tip was being called in every 10 to 15 minutes.
The case got some national exposure on Saturday night, when it was featured on an episode of “America’s Most Wanted.” Dozens of tips flooded in after the episode aired, but none of them brought detectives any closer to finding Morgan.
The case took a bizarre turn on Sunday, when Glen said a man in a blue van pulled a gun on him as he and some friends were talking outside of his apartment. The man had pulled up to them, and when Glen asked what he wanted he pulled a gun, pointed it at Glen, then told him he didn’t have time to mess with him and drove off. Detectives said they had no idea if the incident was connected to Morgan’s ab*duction or not.
A week after Morgan was last seen, detectives returned to her apartment complex, where they knocked on doors and interviewed residents, hoping to learn something that might have been missed during the initial investigation. Kentucky State Trooper Tommy Smith noted, “We spoke with one little boy who gave us some information we didn’t have before.” He refused to elaborate but was hopeful it would aid investigators in the hunt for Morgan’s abd*uctor.
By August 7, 1996, the reward in Morgan’s case was up to $20,000 but detectives hadn’t made any progress in finding the little girl or her ab*ductor. They had followed up on more than 750 tips, many of them reports of men matching the description of the composite sketch, but detectives were unable to connect any of them to Morgan’s ab*duction. FBI Special Agent Dave Kohl told reporters, “We believe that there may be someone out there with relevant information who has been reluctant, for some reason, to call. Our hope is that a reward may encourage that person to come forward.”
Over the next couple of weeks, detectives followed up on tips that Morgan had been seen in Arkansas, Georgia, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas. More than 1,000 tips had been called in but none of them brought investigators any closer to the missing girl. Her parents remained optimistic that she would be found alive and made several public appeals for help finding her.
In early September 1996, billboards with Morgan’s photograph went up in Kentucky as well as Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Morgan had been missing for more than six weeks but investigators admitted they had no new leads to report. Glen said that as time went by, it got harder for the family to deal with the situation. “It does get a little bit worse every day.”
Glen told reporters that he expected to be arrested for Morgan’s ab*duction although he insisted he had nothing to do with it. He believed that he had already been convicted by detectives and the news media because of the fact that he had failed his first polygraph examination and had been in a custody dispute with Morgan’s mother.
Detectives hadn’t publicly named Glen as a suspect in the case, but Glen said in private they told him they were certain he was involved and urged him to confess. “I broke out laughing at the guy because it’s so absurd…I’ve got nothing to hide. My life’s hell anyway.” He noted that he had tried to keep his family together and hadn’t wanted a divorce; he claimed his nerves had been shot since he and Stacey separated.
On October 20, 1996, a woman was walking on her property in Robertson County, Tennessee when she made a gruesome find: the skeletal remains of a young child. The location was 40 miles away from where Morgan was last seen, but police there immediately notified Bowling Green police and the FBI as they believed the remains belonged to the missing 7-year-old. Although it would take several days for the identity to be confirmed, FBI agents said they were certain Morgan had been found.
Special Agent Kohl told reporters that investigators would do everything possible to make sure Morgan’s murd*erer was found. “This is indeed a tragic turn of events…[we] are not going to stop, are not going to cease until the person is found.”
When found, the body was unclothed and had been there for three or four months. A yellow hair clasp — identical to the one Morgan had been wearing when she was kidnapped — was found near the remains. It was this detail that led investigators to believe the remains belonged to Morgan, and forensic testing soon confirmed their hunch.
Although everyone was devastated that Morgan had been found dead, investigators were optimistic that the find would help lead them to Morgan’s ki*ller. They scoured the area where her body was found for anything that might help identify the person responsible but found little. Witnesses recalled seeing both a burgundy van and a white van parked about 100 feet from the site on July 25, 1996; the white van was believed to be a Ford, 1979 or older, with a slatted trailer-door type window on the passenger side. It had been parked there for about four hours.
Morgan’s parents initially didn’t want to believe that her body had been found. They prayed that it belonged to someone else and were heartbroken when DNA confirmed that their daughter had been ki*lled. Glen’s fears of being arrested, however, proved to be unfounded. Ed Evans, a spokesman for the FBI, told reporters that Glen was not considered a suspect in his daughter’s de*ath. “We never named him as a suspect in the case, and we still aren’t.”
Due to the amount of time Morgan’s remains had been exposed to the elements, investigators admitted that they might never know her true cause of de*ath. A forensic examination of the skeletal remains hadn’t been able to determine how she died, but given the circumstances surrounding her disappearance detectives were confident they were dealing with a homicide.
Morgan’s funeral was held on Friday, November 15, 1996. Her classmates took down all the yellow ribbons they had hung when they were hoping for her safe return and replaced them with purple ribbons, Morgan’s favorite color. At the church, more than 500 mourners filed solemnly by Morgan’s bright purple casket, which was surrounded with pictures of her. They were urged not to grieve Morgan but to celebrate her life.
In March 1997, investigators went public with the fact that they had found the van used in Morgan’s abd*uction. The van had actually been found just two days after Morgan was abd*ucted; it had been abandoned at a truck stop in Franklin, Tennessee. Detectives learned it had been stolen from a home in Dayton, Ohio the day before Morgan was kidnapped, and though they were certain it was the van they were looking for, they decided not to release this information to the public until they received the results of forensic tests.
Although they had found the burgundy van, detectives were still trying to locate the white van that had also been seen near where Morgan’s body was found. They released a sketch of the white van, as well as a revised sketch of Morgan’s kidnapper, and asked anyone who thought they had seen the man or the vehicle to contact detectives. There was still a $20,000 reward offered for information leading to the arrest of Morgan’s ki*ller.
On the first anniversary of Morgan’s ab*duction and mur*der, detectives were still struggling to find her ki*ller. While they said they had a handful of potential suspects, they didn’t have enough evidence to charge anyone. They were still hoping to find the white van that had been seen near the site where Morgan’s body had been found, but despite dozens of tips, the vehicle remained elusive.
Stacey remained optimistic that the k*iller would be found. “This person is going to have to look at me when they find him and to know what he has done, not only to me…but to a little girl. A little girl who will never grow up, who will never get the chances this person had.”
In July 1998, investigators confirmed that Glen Violi was not considered a suspect in his daughter’s mur*der. FBI Special Agent Charles Riley told reporters, “We have developed some potential suspects, at least three that we are looking at methodically and in great depth.” None of the three had any connection to Morgan’s family. Special Agent Riley admitted that they didn’t have much physical evidence to work with but were still hoping they would eventually be able to obtain a conviction.
Years went by and the case remained unsolved. In July 2001, the reward for information leading to the arrest of Morgan’s k*iller was increased to $67,000. Detectives were convinced that the ki*ller had told at least one person about what he did, and they hoped that the increased reward would be enough to compel this person to come forward and tell investigators what they knew.
By July 2006, Morgan had been gone for a decade and her kil*ler’s trail had long since grown cold. While her loved ones continued to hope that Morgan’s ab*ductor would finally feel guilty enough to confess, Stacey admitted that she doubted it would bring her any closure. Ten years hadn’t done anything to ease the pain of losing Morgan. Stacey said the day Morgan was ab*ducted was still fresh in her mind. “That’s the day I lost my faith in the human race. I never realized there was anyone that evil who could just take her and do that.”
In June 2022, Stacey told reporters she was just waiting for Morgan’s ki*ller to be arrested. “I want that person found. There’s not anything on God’s green earth that the justice system or anyone could do to this person that will equal up to what they’ve done to Morgan, to me, to my daughters, and my family.” As of August 2023, Stacey is still waiting. Although Morgan’s case remains open and active, no suspects have been named and no one has ever been arrested in connection with Morgan’s de*ath.
Morgan Jade Violi was just 7 years old when she was ab*ducted and mu*dered in Bowling Green, Kentucky in July 1996. She was a sweet and outgoing little girl who was always smiling, but her life was cut short by a kil*ler who has never been identified. If you have any information about Morgan’s mu*rder, please contact the FBI’s Louisville office at 502–263–6000.
