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Please do not suffer in silence.

Good morning. Thank you for being here on such short notice. Today we announced a significant

development in a case that has haunted my hometown of Bolling Green, Kentucky for 30 years.

Morgan Jade Violi was seven years old in the summer of 1996.

She was a first grader at Warren Elementary School in Bowling Green, Kentucky,

a little girl who loved to do cartwheels in the grass, sing Maria Carey songs, and who aspired to be an artist and a writer when she grew up.

She was sassy, outgoing, and had energy to burn. By all accounts,

she was just a kid, one who happened to be the light of her family's life. On July 24th,

1996, a blisteringly hot day in southern Kentucky, Morgan slipped outside to play with

her friend Destiny while her mother, Stacey, napped on the couch.

At around 1235 p.m., a man driving an older model maroon van pulled into the parking lot

of the colony apartments, where Morgan lived along Shive Lane, less than a mile from

Interstate 65.

The man got out first tried to grab Morgan's friend, 6-year-old Destiny, who broke free

and ran, and then turned his attention to Morgan. He grabbed her, threw her into the passenger

side of the van, and sped off. Just like that, within seconds, Morgan was gone. What followed was one of

the largest searches in southern Kentucky history.

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