Who needed Nicki Lenway lifeless? That was the query police have been asking on the night of April 20, 2022. Round 7:30 p.m., Lenway had pulled into the car parking zone of FamilyWise parenting heart to choose up her 5-year-old son, Callahan. She was midway between her automobile and the door when she was ambushed from behind and shot a number of instances at point-blank vary.
Miraculously, Lenway survived, telling “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty, “I fell to the bottom. … And the shooter stands over me and continues to attempt to shoot.” The thriller of who tried to kill Lenway is unraveled in “Who Needed Nicki Lenway Useless?” A 30-minute encore airs Saturday, Nov. 22, at a particular time — 10:30/9:30c — following the NWSL Championship on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
After firing at Lenway — hitting her within the arm and neck — the shooter fled. Left bleeding and struggling to breathe, Lenway known as 911, however when the operator answered Nicki realized she was unable to talk.
Nicki Lenway was no stranger to violence. The 33-year-old labored crime scenes for the Minneapolis Police. However she by no means imagined she’d discover herself on the opposite facet of an investigation. “I knew that this might occur … however I did not need to imagine it might,” she tells Moriarty.
Throughout the road from the place Lenway was gunned down, Emilie Clancy was in her automobile at a purple gentle and had witnessed the entire thing. “There was, um, an individual who ran as much as one other individual. … I heard two bangs and that different individual collapsed,” she stated. When the sunshine turned inexperienced, Clancy pulled up subsequent to Lenway. Clancy took over the 911 name and had Lenway get into the entrance seat of her automobile. She took off her jacket and positioned it over Lenway’s neck to try to assist cease the bleeding.
As the 2 ladies waited for assist to reach, they shared a strong second Clancy will always remember. “I simply appeared her within the eyes. … And I stated, ‘Nikki, we have got this. We have got this. Simply stick with me…’ I simply needed her to know that she wasn’t alone on this … And if that was the one factor I may give to this poor woman, like that — that might imply one thing to me.” Inside minutes, first responders arrived, and Lenway was rushed to a neighborhood hospital in essential situation.
Police started their investigation into who dedicated the brazen assault by scouring the realm for clues. They realized Lenway had been at FamilyWise to choose up her son who had a scheduled go to together with his father, her ex-boyfriend, Tim Amacher. Officers spoke to Amacher within the foyer of FamilyWise and discovered he had been contained in the constructing together with his son when the taking pictures happened.
Hennepin County District Court docket 
The primary large break within the case got here when officers found there was safety footage from FamilyWise and two surrounding buildings. The primary photos confirmed Nicki arriving to choose up her son and somebody wearing all black with a masks over their face operating her down from behind. One other digital camera, from a financial institution throughout the road, captured the dramatic second the pictures have been fired. The shooter might then be seen fleeing on foot and driving off in a black Dodge Ram truck. However the truck had no license plates, and police could not inform who was behind the wheel.
The subsequent day, police have been in a position to interview Lenway within the hospital. They requested if she had any concept who would need to kill her. With out a second thought, she instructed them she was satisfied Amacher was concerned. Amacher was a popular native taekwondo teacher. For police, it did not make sense that Amacher might have been the shooter. They knew Amacher was inside Household Sensible on the time of the taking pictures and could not have pulled the set off.
Nonetheless, Lenway instructed police she and Amacher had an extended and rocky historical past that included allegations of abuse — “One evening he threw me towards the wall holding my neck” — and a bitter custody battle over their son that ultimately went to trial within the fall of 2020. When it was over, the choose awarded Lenway sole authorized and bodily custody. Tim was allowed only one supervised go to per week. For police, it was a transparent motive.
However what about Amacher’s alibi? Might police join him with the taking pictures? One of many detectives on the crime scene had requested Amacher what vehicles he owned. Amacher instructed him he owned the Jeep he was driving and a Dodge Challenger sedan. However the detective did not simply take his phrase for it, and when he checked with Driver and Car Companies, he made a surprising discovery. Tim Amacher owned one other automobile: a Black Dodge Ram truck, similar to the one the shooter was seen driving off in.
If it was Amacher’s truck, who was driving it? Police appeared to the FBI for assist, and agent Richard Fennern, a expertise specialist, was assigned to the case. Amacher’s truck was a more recent mannequin and Fennern realized it had Wi-Fi, which, similar to a cellphone, creates a digital path. “We might observe it very like we might a cellphone,” stated Fennern.
Utilizing knowledge from Tim’s truck and his cellphone information from earlier within the day earlier than the taking pictures, Fennern concluded the black Dodge Ram truck the shooter drove off in was the truth is the identical truck Tim Amacher had been driving earlier. It was an enormous break. However it nonetheless left police with the identical query — who was the masked individual driving it away from the scene after taking pictures Nicki?
Police would query Amacher, and he instructed them the one different one that had entry to his truck was Colleen Larson. Larson was youthful than Amacher — she had been his taekwondo scholar since she was an adolescent. When she was 18 years outdated, she moved in with the taekwondo grasp and their relationship would ultimately change into romantic. Neighbor Charlie Dettloff instructed Moriarty, “She would name him Grasp … and in the end kinda grew to become, you already know, like a maid or a servant to him.”
Police questioned Larson twice. The primary time she denied any involvement, however throughout the second interview, which was recorded, she broke down and confessed: “I took the truck and I drove over there … after which I shot her.” Regardless that Larson admitted to pulling the set off, she stated the entire thing was Amacher’s concept.
INVESTIGATOR: So, he requested you, for those who felt snug would you shoot Nicole for me?
COLLEEN LARSON: Yeah.
INVESTIGATOR: Sure.
Larson instructed police that after the taking pictures she removed the black garments she wore to disguise her id, however Amacher had disposed of the gun.
COLLEEN LARSON: He simply stated he would care for it.
INVESTIGATOR: He simply stated he would care for it. … So, you haven’t any concept what he did with the gun?
COLLEEN LARSON : Not precisely, no.
Regardless of what Larson instructed police, Amacher denied any involvement earlier than or after the taking pictures. Tim Amacher went on trial on Nov. 3, 2022. He was discovered responsible of premeditated tried homicide and aiding his confederate, Colleen Larson, and was sentenced to 18 years in jail. A number of days later, Larson pleaded responsible to first-degree premeditated tried homicide. She was sentenced to 16-and-a-half years.
