‘Thank you, God’: Friend of Raymond murder victim after suspect’s arrest
MADERA, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – 60-year-old Lenny Sciacca was arrested Friday, as a suspect in the homicide of his on-and-off girlfriend, 40-year-old Nicole Kunz, whose body was found in a remote home in the rural town on Raymond on Feb. 15, according to the Madera County Sheriff’s Office.
60-year-old Visalia man arrested after woman found dead in Madera County
For Nicole’s best friend Heidi Cox, the news was bittersweet. Her loyal friend for over 10 years was gone. But she was more than thankful the man accused of killing Nicole was off the streets.
“I was just like, ‘Thank you, God’, Because I had prayed every day for this to happen and so that he won’t be able to do this to anybody else,” said an emotional Cox in a one-on-one interview with me.
The arrest came after a search warrant, conducted at Sciacca’s Visalia home Friday morning, right around 9:30 a.m.
It was the second search warrant served at the address after it was discovered that Sciacca owned the home where Nicole’s body was discovered. On Friday, deputies say the evidence found forced their hand to make an arrest.
“They discovered evidence that Mr. Sciacca was planning to flee the area. He was ultimately arrested for the murder of Nicole Kunz,” said Lt. Robert Blehm with Investigations for the Madera County Sheriff’s Office.
Lt. Blehm could not go into the specifics of how or why Lenny Sciacca might have killed Nicole Kunz, but provided more details about how the woman was found back in February.
“While I won’t go into the particulars of the cause of death, I can confirm Ms. Kunz was shot multiple times,” Lt. Blehm said.
In addition to sharing her reaction to Sciacca’s arrest, Cox also provided us with a tragic look inside the couple’s relationship leading up to her best friend’s death. She says it was a relationship Nicole wanted nothing more than to get out of.
“I know that he had threatened her a lot. She had actually just recently, a few months ago, had told me she wanted to move out of his home,” said Cox. “I just wish we would have been able to pull her out of that.”
And while Cox was emotional talking about Nicole following her death, she says she won’t be defined by her death. Rather, she says by her personality, her selfless nature, and how she was “full of life”.
“Any time I was having a hard time she was always there. She was the first person I called when my father had passed away. The first person I called when I found out I was pregnant,” Cox told me as she fought through tears. “She was just like a sister to me.”
At this time, Lenny Sciacca is being held at the Madera County Jail.
His bail is set at $1.5 million.
