Caught on tape: Nicki Lenway, female crime scene investigator, targeted for execution

Who wanted Nicki Lenway dead? That was the question the police were asking on the evening of April 20, 2022. Around 7:30 p.m., Lenway stopped in the parking lot of the FamilyWise parenting center to pick up her 5-year-old son, Callahan. She was halfway between her car and the door when she was ambushed from behind and shot several times at close range.

Miraculously, Lenway survived and told “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty, “I fell to the ground. … And the shooter is standing over me and keeps trying to shoot.” The mystery of who tried to kill Lenway is revealed in “Who Wanted Nicki Lenway Dead?” A 30-minute encore will air on Saturday, November 22 at a special time – 10:30/9:30 – after the NWSL Championship on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

After shooting Lenway – hitting her in the arm and neck – the shooter fled. Bleeding and struggling to breathe, Lenway called 911, but when the operator answered, Nicki found she was unable to speak.

Nicki Lenway was no stranger to violence. The 33-year-old worked crime scenes for Minneapolis police. But she never imagined she would find herself on the other side of an investigation. “I knew it could happen…but I didn’t want to believe it,” she told Moriarty.

Across the street from where Lenway was shot, Emilie Clancy was in her car at a red light and had witnessed it all. “There was, uh, one person running towards another person. … I heard two bangs and this other person collapsed,” she said. When the light turned green, Clancy pulled up next to Lenway. Clancy took the 911 call and asked Lenway to sit in the front seat of his car. She took off her jacket and placed it around Lenway’s neck to try to stop the bleeding.

As the two women waited for help to arrive, they shared a powerful moment that Clancy will never forget. “I just looked into her eyes. … And I said, ‘Nikki, we have this. We have this. Stay with me…’ I just wanted her to know that she wasn’t alone in this… And if that was the only thing I could give to this poor girl, like that, it would mean something to me. ” Minutes later, first responders arrived and Lenway was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition.

Police began their investigation to determine who carried out the brazen attack by scouring the area for clues. They learned that Lenway had gone to FamilyWise to pick up her son who had a planned visit with his father, her ex-boyfriend, Tim Amacher. Officers spoke to Amacher in the FamilyWise lobby and discovered he was inside the building with his son when the shooting occurred.

The first big breakthrough in the case came when officers discovered there was security footage of FamilyWise and two surrounding buildings. The first images showed Nicki arriving to pick up her son and someone dressed in black with a mask on their face knocking her down from behind. Another camera, set up at a bank across the street, captured the dramatic moment the shots were fired. The shooter was then seen fleeing on foot and leaving in a black Dodge Ram truck. But the truck had no license plate and police couldn’t tell who was behind the wheel.

The next day, police were able to interview Lenway at the hospital. They asked her if she had any idea who would want to kill her. Without thinking, she told them she was convinced Amacher was involved. Amacher was a popular local taekwondo instructor. To the police, it made no sense that Amacher could have been the shooter. They knew Amacher was inside Family Wise at the time of the shooting and could not have pulled the trigger.

Still, Lenway told police that she and Amacher had a long and checkered history that included allegations of abuse — “One night he threw me against the wall holding my neck” — and a bitter custody battle over their son that ultimately went to trial in fall 2020. After the trial concluded, the judge awarded Lenway sole legal and physical custody. Tim was only allowed one supervised visit per week. For the police, this was a clear motive.

But what about Amacher’s alibi? Could the police link him to the shooting? One of the detectives at the crime scene asked Amacher what cars he owned. Amacher told him he owned the Jeep he was driving and a Dodge Challenger sedan. But the detective didn’t just take his word for it, and when he checked with the driver and vehicle departments, he made a shocking discovery. Tim Amacher owned another vehicle: a black Dodge Ram truck, just like the one the shooter was seen driving in.

If it was Amacher’s truck, who was driving it? Police turned to the FBI for help and Agent Richard Fennern, a technology specialist, was assigned to the case. Amacher’s truck was a newer model, and Fennern learned that it had Wi-Fi, which, just like a cell phone, creates a digital trace. “We could track it much like we could with a cell phone,” Fennern said.

Using data from Tim’s truck and cell phone records from the day before the shooting, Fennern concluded that the black Dodge Ram truck the shooter drove off in was actually the same truck Tim Amacher was driving earlier. It was a huge break. But that still left police with the same question: Who was the masked person who chased him from the scene after shooting Nicki?

Police would question Amacher and he would tell them that the only other person with access to his truck was Colleen Larson. Larson was younger than Amacher – she had been his taekwondo student since she was a teenager. At the age of 18, she moved in with the taekwondo master and their relationship would eventually become romantic. Neighbor Charlie Dettloff told Moriarty, “She called him Master…and eventually she became, you know, like a servant or servant to him.”

Police questioned Larson twice. The first time, she denied any involvement, but during the second interview, which was recorded, she broke down and confessed: “I took the truck and I went there… and then I shot him.” Although Larson admitted to pulling the trigger, she said it was all Amacher’s idea.

INTERVIEWER: So he asked you, if you felt comfortable, could you shoot Nicole for me?

COLLEEN LARSON: Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: Yes.

Larson told police that after the shooting, she got rid of the black clothing she wore to conceal her identity, but that Amacher got rid of the gun.

COLLEEN LARSON: He just said he would take care of it.

INTERVIEWER: He just said he would take care of it. …So you have no idea what he did with the gun?

COLLEEN LARSON: Not exactly, no.

Despite what Larson told police, Amacher denied any involvement before or after the shooting. Tim Amacher went to trial on November 3, 2022. He was convicted of attempted premeditated murder and aiding his accomplice, Colleen Larson, and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Days later, Larson pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree premeditated murder. She was sentenced to 16 and a half years.