Nicole Sanchez: A Sister's Fight for Justice

A Life Full of Promise

Nicole Sanchez, known to her loved ones as "Coco," was a 17-year-old from Saginaw, Michigan, with a radiant personality and a future full of dreams. A talented singer who frequently won local talent shows, she had a contagious laugh and a deep love for animals. She was taking night classes to earn her high school diploma with plans to become a veterinary assistant. But on September 26, 1999, her bright future was violently extinguished.

A Controlling Relationship and a Tragic End

Nicole had been in a four-month relationship with 23-year-old Lionel Villarreal. Her family noticed red flags from the start, as he began to isolate her from friends and control what she wore. Recognizing the signs of a toxic relationship, Nicole decided to end it. The night she was killed, she had told her sister she was done with him. Later that night, after a gathering at his family's home, Nicole was shot at point-blank range. Lionel, the only other person in the room, initially claimed she had shot herself—a story her family, including her homicide detective father, knew was impossible.

A Flawed Justice System

The evidence revealed a horrifying truth: Nicole had been shot in a deliberate and humiliating act of aggression. Lionel Villarreal was charged with murder. After a hung jury in the first trial, he was convicted of second-degree murder in the second and sentenced to what the court called "life." However, in Michigan, this sentence meant he could be eligible for parole in as little as 20 years. For Nicole's family, this was a devastating blow. The man who had so brutally taken their daughter's life could one day walk free.

A Sister's Unrelenting Fight

For over two decades, Nicole's sister has led a relentless campaign for justice. When Lionel's first parole hearing approached in 2022, she launched a Change.org petition that garnered national and international attention. The overwhelming public outcry and support from advocacy groups resulted in the parole board denying his release and extending his sentence for another five years—a rare decision. Now, with his next hearing set for 2027, her fight continues. This is the story of a family's enduring grief and a sister's powerful mission to ensure a dangerous man remains behind bars and to honor the memory of the vibrant young woman he murdered.

Nicole Sanchez

Mandy: [00:00:00] Hey guys, and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries podcast, a True Crime podcast featuring myself, Mandy, and my dear friend Melissa. Hi, Melissa.

Hi

Mandy. How are you

I am doing well. How are you doing, Melissa?

Melissa: Mandy? I am doing pretty good. I had surgery a week and a half ago on my hip. I had basically everything you could have done to your hip

without having it replaced. 

And um, so I'm sitting today recording in a giant brace and just living

life to 

Mandy: Absolute fullest.

Melissa: yes, I'm, I'm living my life Max. And by that I mean I'm walking around on crutches and having other people help me pull my pants up.

But besides that, things are

going well. 

Mandy: Yeah, I, I was able to see you earlier this past week, so, um, I got to see you with your brace and you were actually impressing me with how you were getting around very well. I was, I don't know why I always hear hip surgery, which is very serious, and it sounds serious and it is, but like I always am [00:01:00] so impressed with people.

Who have hip things, hip surgeries, and you guys are like up and moving around like so. Well, 

Melissa: They make you, they make you. It wasn't because of choice. I was on the exercise bike with like, no, um, resistance less than a week after. So it's been. It's crazy. It's just like certain movements you can't do, which is why you have a brace. But yeah, I'm so glad to have that behind me. Cannot wait to do things like walk, just walk my neighborhood, which has been my goal the whole freaking time. And uh, yeah, so I am doing really good. I'm on the other side of it, and that is

a wonderful feeling. 

Mandy: Yeah. So yeah, so we're here recording. It's been a while since we've recorded, we took a little break so you could just focus on healing up. But, uh, yes. So this episode is going to be coming out on Thanksgiving Day. Um, of course, as you guys know, if you listen to this show for a while, you know. We don't normally release an episode the week of Thanksgiving.

it's always such a busy time. but we have been releasing [00:02:00] episodes on Thursdays all year this year. So we did want to share, a special story The family really just wants to get the story out there and, to share what happened to their loved one.

So today we'll be telling the story of Nicole Sanchez. She's a young woman whose life was filled with light creativity and plans for the future, but a single act of violence took all of it away. Nicole was born on April 22nd, 1982 in Saginaw, Michigan, and from the moment she arrived, she was the center of her family's world.

To the people who loved her most, she was called Coco. Her sister remembers her as a jokester with this really contagious laugh that could pull anyone out of a bad mood. She was one of those people who just radiated warmth, and she was the kind of girl who would take care of everyone else before even thinking about herself.

She was also ridiculously talented. Nicole could really sing and she was constantly winning Local talent shows. [00:03:00] She loved to draw. She loved animals and she had big dreams. She was taking night classes to finish her high school diploma at Swan Valley District's adult education program, and she was planning on becoming a veterinary assistant.

She even already had her future baby names picked out. She couldn't wait to be a mom, and she really wanted a daughter named Charlotte and she would call her Charlie for short. Nicole's parents were divorced, but her home life was still steady and loving. She and her siblings were especially close to their dad, who was a homicide detective with the Saginaw Police Department.

Her sister said that they were raised so gently and carefully with no exposure to violence or chaos. Sundays were for church, and the house was full of normal, happy noise. By 17, Nicole had a clear sense of who she was and what she wanted, and maybe just as importantly, she knew what she didn't want as well.

The night before she was killed, she told her sister [00:04:00] that she was done with her boyfriend. That weekend would be the last one that she spent with him. She was just ready to move on with her life.

Melissa: Nicole had met Lionel via Real when she was just 17 years old. He was 23 though her family believed he was 20 at the time, and even with that supposed three year age gap, They noticed immediately that something fell off. Her sister would later say he was from the wrong side of the tracks, but this wasn't something she said about class. It was really about energy. He just carried himself in a way that clashed with how Nicole had been raised. Their relationship only lasted four months, but that was long enough for there to already be plenty of red flags showing. Nicole's sister believes that Lionel groomed her and pulled her into his world and began isolating her. A woman's crime journalist, John Parrish later reviewed the case and said that this was a classic pattern. It's an older man, younger girl. There's emotional manipulation being disguised as love. [00:05:00] About a week before the murder, Nicole had a long emotional phone call and was found crying in a room. When her sister came in, Nicole admitted that Lionel had been lying and cheating, but she said that she was trying to be loyal. She told her sister quote. I stopped seeing the friends. He wanted me to stop seeing. I wear the clothes he wants me to wear. I'm always changing my plans to meet up with him. And of course we know that's not love, that's control. But as a teenager, if you don't know any better, and this is like your first experience with love, it's very confusing. Her sister though, recognizes exactly for what it was, and she told Nicole that she needed to end this relationship. And Nicole agreed. On the night of September 26th, 1999, Nicole was doing her sister's hair and makeup for a dance and told her flat out that she was done. She said she wasn't going to see Lionel anymore after that weekend. Later though, she went to his family's home to watch a pay-per-view boxing match, and [00:06:00] afterwards they went out for food. When Nicole's order was forgotten, she and Lionel left together to go get it, and that's when things started to turn really sour between them.

Mandy: After everyone got back and ate their food, the house eventually quieted down. It was supposed to just be another night, but in the early morning hours, a single gunshot tore through the silence. The people sleeping in the other rooms bolted, awake and ran into the living room. That's where they saw Nicole on the floor.

She had been shot, and Lionel was the only one in the room with her. There wasn't even a phone in the house. Someone actually had to run down the street to use a payphone just to call for help. And those precious moments spent looking for a phone were minutes that Nicole sadly didn't have. Emergency responders finally did arrive.

They found that 17-year-old Nicole Sanchez had been shot at point blank range between the legs. The wound was so catastrophic that medical [00:07:00] professionals later couldn't even determine if she had been sexually assaulted or not. Nicole died there at the scene. Lionel was immediately taken into custody.

His story changed more than once, but the first version he told the police was almost unthinkable. He said that Nicole had shot herself. Nicole's family knew immediately that was impossible. Their father, as we said before, was a homicide detective and a firearms instructor.

From the time the girls were really little, he had taught them to handle and respect weapons safely. So the idea that Nicole of all people would accidentally or intentionally shoot herself that way was completely absurd. Lionel kept altering his story, but the chaos of those early morning hours had already left a trail of trauma.

Police quickly realized who the victim was. It was the daughter of one of their own, and the investigation became Heartbreakingly personal.

Melissa: Nicole's sister wasn't home when it happened. She was [00:08:00] staying with her boyfriend Emilio. The news reached them through a horrifying phone call. The caller didn't even ask for Nicole's sister. They actually asked to speak to Emilio. She remembers watching Emilio's face go white.

As he listened, he hung up, said nothing, and started driving fast. They were blowing through, stop signs, red lights, everything, and she still had no idea what was happening. Her mind though, went straight to their dad. He was a homicide detective who worked nights. She thought that kind of a late night call had to mean that something terrible had happened to him, which makes sense. She panicked and thought of all the possibilities, but Emilio knew he'd been told that Nicole was shot. He just hadn't told her sister yet. When they reached your father's house, it looked like a scene out of a nightmare. Police cars line the driveway. There's officers everywhere. Her stepmom's outside sobbing, clutching their 2-year-old sister who was supposed to be baptized that day. [00:09:00] The family all rushed to St. Mary's Hospital, and the second the car slowed down, Nicole's sister jumped out and ran inside. She said everyone's faces told her something was terribly wrong, but she still at this point doesn't know who. Then she sees her dad, he's sitting broken in the waiting room. And for a moment she felt relief and thought, oh my, you know, this isn't him. Okay. You know, not even processing who it could be, but that's the person that you would think. And so there has to be that kind of a relief and not wanting to think of what could happen next, you know? But then he looks at her and said the words that stopped her world, he said, it's coco. Nicole's sister screamed hard enough that she actually passed out, and when she came to her grandmother, her cousin and best friends were gathered around her. She didn't even know what happened until someone told her outright, your sister is gone. She said She'll never forget how her dad looked. His eyes were bloodshot from crying and his [00:10:00] whole demeanor shattered. The man who had delivered so many death notifications as part of his job now had to deliver one to his own child.

Mandy: The details of Nicole's death were almost too horrifying to even comprehend. The medical examiner confirmed what the family would not learn until much later, which was that Nicole had been shot between the legs in her most private area at pointblank range. Prosecutors would go on to describe the act as the ultimate expression of domination, calling it an ultimate act of aggression against a woman.

It was violence meant to humiliate and destroy her. At first, even the detectives and hospital staff couldn't bring themselves to tell her family exactly where she'd been shot. They simply said the bullet had entered her body and exited through her back. It wasn't until more than 24 hours later that another detective quietly told Nicole's father the truth.

He was the one who then had to tell the rest of the family what happened. [00:11:00] Nicole's sister has said that the realization of what really happened made her physically sick. She couldn't stop imagining what Nicole's last moments must have been like. The fear, the pain, and the helplessness. She said quote. She just lied there dying with no one. Nicole's sister thought that kind of cruelty couldn't come from a momentary loss of control. It was very deliberate, and it was meant to send the message that if I can't have her, no one else will. The case was later classified as dating violence, which is legally considered a form of domestic violence.

There had been no visible bruises or prior police reports, but the manipulation, control, and emotional abuse were all there. It's the kind of violence that really hides in plain sight until it boils over or explodes. UK crime journalist John Parrish later wrote about Nicole's case, calling it catastrophic for its time.

He compared it to the kinds of terroristic acts he'd seen reported in the Middle East. You know, extreme [00:12:00] violence rooted in control and possession. Parish said people today, quote can barely comprehend how horrific it truly was.

Melissa: And you're exactly right because when I read it through the first time, I actually had to text Mandy and say, is this saying what I think it's saying? Because it truly is like your brain

can't even comprehend that 

somebody would. Do this. 

Mandy: for sure. 

Melissa: But sadly, John Parrish was right because this horror doesn't end with Nicole's death now.

It just shifts to her family. Lionel was initially charged with first degree murder, but the case didn't play out the way anyone expected. The first trial ended in a hung jury because prosecutors couldn't prove premeditation. In the second trial, they went for second degree murder, and on March 30th, 2000, the jury found him guilty, both of the charge and of possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony. In June of that same year, he was sentenced to what the court called life [00:13:00] imprisonment plus two years for the firearm charge. But in Michigan, a life sentence for second degree murder doesn't mean life, it often means just 20 years. 

So basically if you just decide to kill someone, you're good. Any planning, you're in trouble.

But if you just go off and do this, that is a wild, and especially for the violence, I, I, I,

can't bring my 

Mandy: No, it's hard to, yeah, it's hard to comprehend and, and as Nicole's family to even know this, like, it's just such a slap in the face to victims' families like that

the person who did this could walk free in 20 years. 20 years is nothing. Whenever you're a young person.

Melissa: Yeah, for sure. So the man who murdered 17-year-old Nicole Sanchez, who. You know, shoots her in this act of intimate violence, so grotesque that we couldn't even comprehend it. He's suddenly looking at the possibility of freedom before he is middle age. And so Nicole's sister said that realization hits her like a second death.

She said, [00:14:00] quote, he'll be young enough to get out, start other relationships and do this to other women. He can live a life after taking one so brutally. It's sickening. She's right because despite what the Senate said, the system that locked him up didn't really hold him accountable. There was no mandatory counseling, no therapy, no treatment for violent behavior, nothing. Nicole's sister believes he's not just un rehabilitated. He's incredibly dangerous. She said he's like a time bomb to let loose again, and his behavior behind bars seemed to prove her right too, Despite technically being eligible for parole, after 10 years of good behavior, Lionel kept getting in trouble making spud juice, which is really just prison alcohol. He also fought with inmates and even assaulted a guard, so none of that sounds like rehabilitation. It sounds like the same violent man who killed Nicole just older

and angrier, I'm 

Mandy: For sure. 

Yeah. So even after everything Lionel [00:15:00] had done, he still found the nerve to stand in front of the parole board and talk about his future. During his hearing, he didn't express any remorse, not even once, there was no apology, No acknowledgement of what he'd done, but instead he talked about how prison had given him time to think about his future and how he couldn't wait to get out, get married, find a job, and start a family.

This is absolutely nauseating and just the most horrific thing that you could possibly hear this person saying.

Melissa: Right.

Mandy: He also made it clear that he wanted to move right back to Saginaw, the same town where he murdered Nicole. And he said he wanted to do this so he could take care of his parents so that he could meet his nieces and nephews and go to work in his brother's food truck business and.

It might sound harmless on paper, but Nicole's sister sees that for what it really means. It's a violent man out in public serving food at [00:16:00] family events surrounded by young girls and women. And you know, she said that the justice system isn't just at all. She said, you know, look where I have to go to see my sister, which is the cemetery.

And yet now he wants to return to the very town where we live and start a family. and because you know, for the Sanchez family, the sentence isn't just a quick 20 years, this is a lifetime sentence. You know, we say that a lot in cases where the families don't ever have real relief. They have to live the rest of their lives without the person that they love.

And so, yeah, it's very hard to imagine the person who did this to your daughter, your sister getting out and starting a family. Like it just. No, I can't. 

Melissa: Almost in a, it feels like a bragging thing almost, that he's like, yeah, no, I can't wait to do all these things. This has been a little roadblock, but you know, I'm, I'm gonna go out, I'll be amongst all of you. It's totally fine. Don't worry. Not even, don't worry. He doesn't care if you're worried. He's

[00:17:00] just ready to get

out.

Mandy: Yeah, and Nicole's sister talked about all the things that never got to happen because of him. She said, I'm not an aunt to her children. She wasn't in my wedding. She didn't graduate, didn't become the veterinary assistant she wanted to be. She's the one doing time and we are doing it right along with her.

Melissa: That's a powerful statement.

Mandy: Nicole's mom never recovered. She fell into deep depression and for the first 10 years after Nicole's death, she went to visit her grave every single day. Now she goes to visit weekly. Their dad, detective Vince Sanchez carried a different kind of burden He took a full year off work afterward and later transferred to a less intense position as a sheriff's deputy in the courthouse, and he actually retired two years ago, but tragedy didn't stop there. Around that same time, Vince had brain surgery for a tumor, and when he woke up he didn't remember that Nicole had died.

For a while, the family had to relive [00:18:00] their grief all over again. This time with him, as those memories slowly started coming back, I can't imagine how just earth shattering that experience would be.

Melissa: Yeah, I think it was The yogurt shop Murders. There's a documentary. They just solved it really. But, um, in that, one of the girls who was a sister of somebody that was killed said, it's not just the person who dies that day When your parent loses a child, you kind of lose them too. Like it's, it's a death, so you're, it's just so much bigger than just this one thing. And, um, yeah, that's, it just breaks my heart for their whole family. So by the time Lionel's parole hearing rolled around in June, 2022, The family knew they couldn't just quietly submit a letter and hope for the best. Nicole's sister was the first to get the notice. It was a letter in the mail. Her parents hadn't seen theirs yet, and she said she could feel this heavy sick weight in her stomach. The very second she opened it and she learned that she only has six weeks to prepare, and she decided [00:19:00] right then I'm not just sending a statement, she said, quote, I cannot just show up to this meeting and hand over a letter like that.

My sister deserves more, so she got to work. She asked her family to write their own letters, and then on the advice of a friend, she created a change.org petition. It was a way to take her sister's story beyond Saginaw To make sure the parole board couldn't ignore the human cost of what Lionel had done, and the response was explosive. The petition spread across the country and then even internationally, survivors of domestic violence, families of other victims, and even total strangers signed and shared it. People also wrote letters to the judge and the support was overwhelming. Nicole's sister said the petition did way more than she thought it would. It reached advocacy groups, journalists, and organizations that had never even heard of the case before. She even contacted a domestic violence advocacy center in Grand Rapids, and they told her they'd never seen any kind of [00:20:00] petition be used like that, but that it was a very brilliant idea. And they told her, make as much noise as you can, and she did. And she believes that public outcry this global attention was exactly what influenced the parole board's decision. In November, 2022, The board denied Lionel extending his sentence for another five years, and this kind of extension is actually extremely rare. and her family believes it only happened because of the community support and the sheer amount of pressure Nicole's sister

brought to the case. 

Mandy: Nicole's sister has never stopped fighting because for her, this isn't just about justice. It's about making sure the man who killed her sister never gets the chance to destroy another life. Even after the 2022 parole denial, she knows the clock is still ticking. Lionel's next hearing is set for 2027 and she's already preparing for it.

She understands exactly how the system works, how parole boards are bound, you know, by budget cuts in space, and how they sometimes feel that their hands are [00:21:00] tied When it comes to releasing violent offenders who've served their minimum term. She refuses to let that be the reason Lionel walks out and she's not just tackling this alone.

The movement that started as one petition has grown into a coalition of voices. Her campaign inspired others, letters and signatures poured in from lawyers, business owners, advocacy center staff, survivors of abuse, and even organizations like Parents of Murdered Children, Her local fraternal order of police chapter created their own petition to submit to the judge echoing her plea to keep Lionel behind bars. Nicole's story struck a nerve in her community because it could have been anyone's sister or anyone's daughter. Through all of this, her sister has stayed humble.

She's always quick to say, I didn't do this alone. She believes it was the collective outrage and all the people who just refuse to look away. That really made the parole board listen. But her advocacy didn't just keep one dangerous man locked up. It showed [00:22:00] other victims' families. What's possible when you do make noise and you refuse to let the system quietly move on.

Melissa: Nicole Sanchez was only 17 years old when her life was taken, just 17. A girl with dreams of working with animals who sang her heart out at local talent shows and who loved her family and wanted to name her future daughter Charlie, it's been more than 20 years since her murder and her family still lives with that loss every day. But Nicole's sister keeps fighting, and she's the one who turned this grief into purpose Because unfortunately, the truth is that Nicole's story isn't rare.

It's just one example of a much bigger epidemic According to the domestic abuse shelter, about 75% of domestic violence related homicides happen when the victim tries to leave or have just left an abusive partner. And that's the exact spot that Nicole found herself in. She was trying to leave her sister's mission now is to make sure no one forgets that, to remind all of us [00:23:00] that this so-called life sentence can really mean just 20 years behind bars for a killer. But it's forever for the family that's left behind. and this episode comes out on Thanksgiving.

We know this isn't a Thanksgiving related story, but it's just such an important story that truly, as our kids get older, they're teenagers. This is your biggest fear, right? This is something that you have to think about because it does happen And unfortunately also, this is a time of year when the rates of intimate partner violence actually spike. If you or someone you love is in danger, please reach out for help. There are people that are waiting to listen and ready to help. You can call the National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline at 8 6 6 3 1 1 9 4 7 4 or visit the hotline.org. When people talk about true crime and sharing true crime and the ethics around it and stuff like this. It reminds me so much of stories. I think of stories like this where I've learned so much doing this podcast and listening [00:24:00] to other podcasts about what domestic violence can look like in other people.

Things that you wouldn't necessarily know, like the love bombing we've talked about. Um, if you didn't hear our episode with Gabby Petito mom, Nicole Schmidt, she went over a lot of red flags. And that meant so much to me and like, There's something so important about sharing that sort of thing where people, people know what to look for if you don't know what to look for and somebody's like spending all their time with their boyfriend and blah, blah, blah, and you don't realize how much that influence is on them, that's terrifying. You only know what you know, right? So if you don't have research, if you don't have stuff like that, you won't know. So parents of teenagers, this might be a good, I don't know if this is a good episode to share with your kid, but it's a good conversation to have with your kid. It's one I've had with my daughter many times. She has a friend who's kind of in a relationship that I keep saying, just keep the door open Don't push her away. Don't allow him to. Keep you away. And, um, I've [00:25:00] had conversations with the person's mom and stuff, but it's just so important because you can see that line and how it doesn't really seem that scary at first it seems like, oh, they just really like each other, it can turn dangerous in a, in a heartbeat.

So I'm very passionate

about this story

just 

Mandy: I agree. Yeah, I agree with you and I totally agree that it's really important to share stories, I think it's very courageous and a very loving thing to do, to wanna share what happened to.

Someone that you care about very deeply. And this is like a very intimate thing that has happened to someone's family that they want to share to prevent from happening to others.

And you know, even in the eight years that we've been doing this podcast, you know, kind of the general attitude around true crime, um, you know, as a genre of podcasting and everything, you know, some people they don't like it. Some people do like it. But at the end of the day. For, for us, you know, um, obviously we can't speak for everybody who creates this type of content, but I feel like [00:26:00] for me that's the most important part is so that we can share these stories and prevent things like this from happening to other people.

People need to hear how these things happened, what events led to this so we can see the signs and it can become a more, a normalized thing that we talk about with our kids and, uh, with each other so that nobody finds themself in a situation like this. 

Melissa: Absolutely. 

Mandy: All right guys. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode.

We will be back next week. Same time, same place. News story. 

Melissa: Have a great week. 

Mandy: Bye