The news came like a proverbial thunderbolt.

All anyone knew late last week was that law enforcement officials had called a press conference for Friday morning at Bowling Green Police Department headquarters. The subject was unknown, but there was the notation that this was a major announcement.

Even then, the expectation was that this was to announce an arrest (or arrests) related to a drug trafficking ring, maybe domestic terrorism, or something along those lines. While not common, press conferences with that sort of information come along usually once or twice a year.

But when our police and courts reporter Justin Story came back from the press conference, he relayed the surprising news: charges were being filed against a suspect in the abduction and murder of Morgan Violi, taken from her Bowling Green apartment complex in broad daylight in 1996 when she was 7 years old.

I was not living in Bowling Green when it happened, but became immersed in the case in 2022, when I wrote a lengthy article about Morgan and the search for her abductor with the cooperation of the FBI, local law enforcement and, of course, the Violi family.

Even as a parent, there is no way to describe, or fully imagine, what Morgan’s family has been through. Yet they found the strength to discuss the tragedy in hopes of some sort of resolution, and the concern that the perpetrator may be still out there, hurting other people.

Despite the passage of years and what I am sure was the frustration from a lack of a resolution, many in law enforcement continued to actively investigate the case.

With the help of DNA technology, we finally have a name to go with the widely shared artist’s rendering of the face of the suspect. The legal machinations are yet to come, but thankfully may not be prolonged as the suspect has reportedly confessed.

In a 2022 interview, Morgan’s mother, Stacy Violi, told me she was still hoping Morgan’s abductor will be 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, my family,” she said. But finding the person, Stacey Violi said, “would give me somebody else to hate besides myself.”

We can only hope that this news can bring some peace to the Violi family and others who were deeply impacted by Morgan’s abduction.

—Wes Swietek is the Daily News Managing Editor. He can be reached at wes.swietek@bgdailynews.com.