48 Hours - Post Mortem | Who Wanted Nicki Lenway Dead?

Episode Date: October 10, 2023

What would you do if you saw someone shoot a stranger in broad daylight? Longtime correspondent Erin Moriarty and host Anne-Marie Green discuss the case of the crime scene investigator, Nicki Lenway, who found herself in the center of her own attempted murder plot. Erin and Anne-Marie talk about Colleen Larson, the young woman who pulled the trigger, and Tim Amacher, the taekwondo instructor in the middle of it all. Erin shares what it was like to see Nicki reunite with the woman she believes saved her life, and recounts Nicki and her new husband Donovan’s not so average “meet cute” on the scene of another crime.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours Postmortem. I'm joined today by longtime correspondent Erin Moriarty to discuss her latest episode, Who Wanted Nikki Lenway Dead? Hi, Erin. Thank you so much for joining us again. Oh, I wanted to be here.

This is a particularly great case. And there are always things that we can't include in the hour, so we can talk about it here. Well, I always have questions. What about this case stood out to you? What drew you to it? Well, first thing, we have a 33-year-old victim and she survives. I mean, we don't have that very often in at 48 hours, but in many ways she was an unusual victim. She was actually a member of the Minneapolis police department. And because of that, that raised all kinds of possibilities. This is a woman who was shot point blank. And the big question was, was this a robbery that went wrong or was this connected to work? I mean, there were so many possibilities. Oh, and, you know, the legal issues were great.

So that's what made this show special. Yeah. You don't often get an opportunity, quite frankly, to talk to the victim. I mean, she survived this, which is remarkable. I want to get to, you know, who investigators initially thought was behind this. But first, I want to play a quick recap of the episode. On April 20th, 2022, Emily Clancy was driving home from dinner with friends when something across the street caught her attention. I saw a person run up to another person and then I heard two bangs and that other person collapsed. Emily sped through the intersection and pulled up next to the victim.

I opened the door I said are you okay and she said no I've been shot. The victim was 33 year old Nicole Nikki Lenway, a crime scene investigator for the Minneapolis police. She was on her way to pick up her five-year-old son when she was shot. She was in a lot of pain. She was having a hard time breathing. Where's the victim? Who's shot?

Emily did her best to help Nikki until first responders arrived. So we've got EMS coming right now. Emily told police what she thought had happened. It maybe looked like a robbery or something. There was so fast. Taken to the hospital, Nikki lost consciousness, but she recovered. You do work for the police department. Did you think it might have something to do with work? You know, I know a lot of people asked me that. I

knew that this could happen, but I didn't want to believe it would. So those first critical moments after Nikki was shot, Emily Clancy, she's a total stranger. She not only she happens to be driving by at the moment this happens, but then she jumps into action. She puts herself in danger. A lot of people would not have stopped. When I watched this, I thought to myself, would I have stopped or would I have kept on going? It's remarkable. It is. People sometimes ask me, how can you do these shows? And I often tell them, for the heroic people that we meet, and we often do. And Emily Clancy was one of those heroic people. You know, it's so interesting. I rode in the car with her. She showed me how it

all happened. And she didn't hesitate at all. She just pulled up without any thought of her own safety. She then told Nikki to get in the car because Nikki was standing there bleeding. And at that moment, again, just automatically, she didn't think about maybe the shooter is still out there. She helps Nikki apply pressure on her neck. Nikki, of course, was hit in the neck and her vocal cords were damaged. So she couldn't talk to the 911 operator. So Emily stepped in and did that. I was struck by how emotional Emily was.

She was almost more emotional than Nikki retelling this. Well, you know, and you are so right, Emery. I talked to Nikki a long time and she had been through hell and she was so calm. But when you bring it up with Emily, the idea that that Nikki could have died and it was because Emily stepped up. Emily keeps thinking about how close Nikki came to dying. So she gets very emotional. Emily was actually given a Good Citizen Award following the shooting. And that's where Emily and Nikki initially first met after, you know, after the first meeting. That was kind of their second meeting.

But in the hour, you include their next reunion. It's really, really touching. What was that like? Well, you know, if you look in the background, you'll see me and you can see that I'm really moved. It was very, very teary because Nikki also believes she only survived because of Emily's efforts. So they have this very strange bond that connects them. And Nikki wanted to see her because she had very big news to tell her and tells us at the same time that she's pregnant. So you guys didn't know before?

No, no, no, no. And so that's always, again, Amber, you know that you work on these shows that, you know, you always get surprises when you're in the field and spend as much time as we do with the people that we interview. It really was very exciting. Nikki, she actually works in a crime lab. How does she find herself being the victim of an attempted murder? Well, that was the whole question at the outset. And it really was, she was an unusual victim. So of course, there were so many possibilities. Was this shooting connected to something, some investigation she worked on. She's a forensic scientist. You know, she works primarily with fingerprints. But was there something connected to her job? And then, of course, as it is with any case, you have to look at someone close to her. Was this a personal attack? And the early evidence in this case did seem to indicate that it was very personal.

So one thing that comes up over and over again for me when I watch these episodes is, you know, you need like the old school investigative know-how, but technology plays a huge role too. I don't think you can have one without the other. But in this case, surveillance video really made a big difference. Incredibly, this is a shooting that was caught on, there was bank surveillance video that made a big difference. Incredibly, this is a shooting that was caught on, there was bank surveillance video that picked up on the shooting. There were school cameras that show the shooter actually getting out of this black truck and then driving away. We also got to see body camera footage of Nikki right after she was shot, which I was stunned by

because I couldn't even tell she was shot or that she was injured. The surveillance video, even though you couldn't tell who it was, did it help investigators sort of narrow things down? Oh, it did. And don't you sometimes, Anne-Marie, when you work on these stories, you think, why would anybody commit a crime in this day and age knowing that everything is getting caught on video. Now, I think the shooter thought that this person would be able to outsmart investigators because the shooter is all in black and hair is covered and there's a mask. But in fact, the surveillance video was crucial because you see that person run up. That person is targeting Nikki.

That person shoots Nikki once. And when Nikki starts getting up, shoots again. Clearly, this was a personal attack. And so that's what investigators know. Then they see the shooter run to a truck. You can tell what kind of truck. It's a Dodge Ram truck. It does happen to be a very popular vehicle,

but that certainly narrows down. The shooter takes off. But the limitations of video is also apparent in this case because you couldn't tell the gender. You could not. You could not tell how tall this person is. But it certainly did give investigators a lot of evidence to start off with. Yeah. And then it's not just the surveillance video, but our own devices are tracking us in ways that, you know, I think it becomes kind of the fabric of how we move. So we forget that we are being tracked all the time.

You think if you turn your phone off, that's good enough. In this case, it didn't turn out to be good enough for Tim. So most vehicles that are made after 2022 have Wi-Fi capabilities. What that really means is go ahead, leave your phone at home thinking you won't be tracked. But as soon as you get in the car, you are driving a cell phone. That is essentially what you are doing. And in fact, Tim Omaker's Dodge Ram truck was a 2022 and it had Wi-Fi capabilities. And because of that, he left this digital trail. Even when he wasn't driving the truck, they could identify that black Dodge Ram truck as his, track the route of that truck that led to someone who knew him very well. And that is how they made their arrest.

So in our last postmortem, you and I talked about Tim Bleethnick, who was convicted of murdering his wife, Becky. You know, I mean, that's what the allegation was, too, for him that he had turned off his phone. And so he believed that he had turned off his phone. And so he believed that he couldn't be tracked. Just a couple of similarities between the two cases. But, you know, there was they were separated. Nikki had started dating somebody new, much like Becky had started to date somebody new. And there was this really like contentious custody battle going on over their son. No question. And, you know, you had

asked me at the beginning, what was it that drew me to this case? And the biggest thing was the issue of domestic violence. And this case was the scariest domestic violence case I have ever covered. Let's listen to a clip. How would you describe the last six years? It has been chaos. Nicole claims Tim tried to destroy her. Like, I'm going to take everything from you. Did you believe him? I did. The black belt's new weapon of choice was the legal system. It was the relentless number of motions before the court. He reported Nicole to Child Protection Services multiple times, accusing her and Donovan of physical and sexual abuse. Children's services show up at your house.

Yes. I had them in and out of my home for three years. Tim filed for custody of Cal, and Nicole filed for an order of protection from Tim. Not a single one of the allegations against Nicole or Donovan was found to have substance. So I have to tell you, I would, the more I read about it, it gave me chills. It scared me. You know, the whole time you're wondering, how does she end up with a guy like that? But Tim seemed to have this power over a lot of people in his life. So next, I want to dig into Tim and Colleen's relationship. Was she manipulated by him to commit cold blooded murder? It's it's such a leap, but we're going to dig into that.

We'll be right back. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of them. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn.

When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror.

But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. welcome back uh let's get right into it erin do you believe colleen larson acted on her own or do you think tim manipulated her let's listen to a clip from the hour when the once young taekwondo student turned 18 her relationship with tim Omaker quietly changed, according to Charlie. Did you get the sense he was in love with Colleen? No, not at all. I think she was very much in love with him.

Charlie says Tim called the relationship easy. She would call him master, call him the house. Yep, Master Omaker. And ultimately kind of became, you know, like a maid or a servant to him. I know the prosecutors believe that she was completely manipulated by Tim and all of Tim's friends told me the same thing. It's hard for me to believe that he could actually have so much power over somebody that he could have her shoot someone in his place. But in fact, when you look at Colleen Larson's background, she didn't know Nikki very well,

so there'd be no reason to want her dead. She had no criminal history. But according to the prosecutors, Tim, you know, she did call a master at home. That's still I can't get over that. Yeah, that's bonkers. Because, you know, Colleen had started as a student when she was like preteen almost and and called a master when she was learning Taekwondo and continued to call a master even when she started dating him. So that kind of if you look up to someone and he's telling you that Nikki is abusing their son, maybe, maybe. But certainly here's this woman with no criminal history and she not just she doesn't just shoot Nikki once. She shoots her twice. So something was going on there. And of course, you know, Colleen didn't want to talk to 48 Hours. Her family didn't want to talk either.

So we don't necessarily know what drew her to him. But you did get an interview with a woman he had previously dated. I want to play some of that sound. This woman who once dated Amaker doesn't want to be named or have her face shown. A woman who once dated Omaker doesn't want to be named or have her face shown. But she says she knows firsthand the hold Omaker can have on the women in his life. Yes, it was a high when I was around him. And that you wanted to do whatever you could to hang on to that high? Yes.

She says she was once under Omaker's spell, but is certain she would never kill for him. Still, she sees some of herself in Colleen Larson. And I feel like that was me. Yeah, I definitely feel like I was willing to do whatever I could to make him approve of me and want to be with me. me and want to be with me. That was so illuminating, listening to her talk. And, you know, you also were able to talk to a neighbor. And the way he's describing him, the way, you know, Tim's got women coming in and out. Well, everyone, you know, that was pretty standard. Men and women both told me that Tim had this amazing charisma and power over people. Now, I've got to be honest, I didn't get to see it. He didn't testify. But my favorite detail, Amory, I'm sorry, was the purple light. Do you remember the purple light?

Yeah. The neighbor. If the purple light was on, he's busy. You could come on over. No, I wasn't busy. I thought you could come over if the purple light was on. I thought you could come over if the purple light was on. But Charlie Detloff is the neighbor next door who I just I think he was living vicariously through Tim because Tim had this, you know, this line of women coming and going. And let's be honest, Nikki was drawn to him, too.

So the line that really struck me was the young woman who dated him who said it was a high to be around him and she didn't want to get rid of that high. That just stays in my head. So, clearly, he has some kind of power that comes across to people. Tell us what Tim was like at his sentencing. He was talking about how he really couldn't be judged in a court of law, that only God could judge him, and no remorse, never talked about, never accepting any responsibility, never accepting any responsibility for poor Colleen getting in the middle of this. getting in the middle of this. It's as Nikki had said to me afterwards, it was a bit of blaming other people for the situation he was in. What's interesting, Anne-Marie, is he told everybody that after he was arrested, there was new evidence that was going to come up and it was going to save him. But, you know, it hasn't happened yet. Wow. Colleen did confess to shooting Nikki, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the first degree attempted murder of Nikki. Tim was charged with attempted first degree premeditated murder and aiding an accomplice after the fact says she was a shooter. But the prosecutors have charged him with the exact same charge. And we know he wasn't there. We know he was inside the Family Wise Center.

So basically, what prosecutors had to convince the jurors is that Tim had so much power over Colleen that he was kind of using her as a weapon, that she was his weapon for shooting. Now, the way the law is written, if you do enough to help this happening, then you're just as responsible. But as we point out in the hour, there was no direct evidence that showed him. Doesn't show him buying the gun. Doesn't show him putting the gun in her hand. Yes, there were spent shell casings inside his home, but the shooter lived inside his home. So the idea of getting the jury to believe that he was involved and that he used Colleen to do his dirty work, that was tough. That was really tough. The thing about this saga is it's likely

not over for Nikki. Tim was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Colleen was sentenced to 16 and a half years. I don't even know if that means that they're going to serve the full term, but for sure they're going to be out. It doesn't seem like they got a lot of time. Is this typical? Yeah, it is, unfortunately, because it's attempted murder. It would have been very different. Yeah, they got the max, you know. So what's scary is, you know, I've done so many stories on stalkers, and that's what this is, you know, domestic violence.

Will he, you know, see the light of day while he's in prison and feel remorse? Or will he just kind of stew in prison? Because he'll get out, he could get out in 12 years, you know, it's possible. And so Nikki's aware of that. Her boyfriend, now her husband, Donovan Ford, is aware of it. But no, the legal system can only go so far to protect people. That's the problem. And we see it all the time. Yeah. You know, sort of the lucky thing for both Nikki and her son is that they both have Donovan.

And it's sort of remarkable. is that they both have Donovan. And it's sort of remarkable. They meet at another crime scene, a burglary, and he seems just perfect for her. Oh, my God. So, you know, I asked him, you know, no offense, Donovan, but, like, you just start dating this woman, and all of a sudden her ex starts making your life hell.

So I finally said to him, like, why did you stay with her? And he just looked at me. He didn't even hesitate. And he goes, because I love her. I was so touched, so touched. So out of this awful, awful situation, this nightmare relationship, Nikki did find true love and a wonderful man. How is Nikki's son doing? They say he's doing great. They say he is

that he's Nikki did tell him that his father tried to kill her. They they had to along with counseling. But she says he's doing well right now and they are having another child. So, you know, hopefully he'll be focused more on school and family and get lots of counseling to deal with what is really a very, very tragic situation. It really is. But the fact that she survived and is flourishing, it's a 148 hours that was inspiring to see her rebuild her life in this way. There's just one other detail I want to share. When you look at Nikki, she looks fine, barely a scar. But what you don't realize is that she was a singer and she was shot in her neck. She had terrible vocal cord damage and she could no longer sing. So, you know, she still carries scars with her.

It's a really good reminder. Erin, another great postmortem. Thank you so much. It's always great being here. And I'll be back with another show, I promise. I know you will. So, for everyone, be sure to join us next Tuesday then for another Postmortem. And if you're liking the show, please rate and review 48 Hours on Apple Podcasts.

You can watch 48 Hours on Saturdays, 10, 9 central on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus. And be sure to follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcasts. You can also listen ad-free on the Amazon Music and Wondery app. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals.

However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop.

Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly?

Introducing the best idea yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bolder risk-takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala?

From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans, discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet.