In the early hours of a Saturday morning in Denver, Colorado, the life of 26-year-old Jamal Zachary Thompson was tragically cut short. On April 25, 2020, police responded to calls of a vehicle crash and possible shots fired at the intersection of 54th Avenue and Yampa Street. Upon arrival just after midnight, officers discovered a white Ford Fusion that had rolled into a field.
Inside the vehicle, they found Jamal Thompson, who had sustained a gunshot wound to his neck and had been thrown about the car's interior. He was rushed to Denver Health Medical Center, where he ultimately succumbed to his injuries.
The investigation into the death of the young man, a father to a 4-year-old son and an employee of the U.S. Postal Service, quickly led investigators to a suspect. Found on the passenger seat of Thompson's wrecked car was the driver's license of 27-year-old Jenny Nguyen. A homeowner in the area reported having seen an angry woman driving a white car about half an hour before the incident and later identified Nguyen from her driver's license photo. The victim's mother informed police that her son and Nguyen, who was also a postal worker, though at a different location, had been in an on-again, off-again relationship.
A search warrant was executed at Nguyen's residence near 54th Avenue and Tower Road later that Saturday morning. During the search, investigators discovered a disassembled 9mm handgun hidden in a bedroom heater vent, though the barrel was missing. They also found that recordings from the home's surveillance system around the time of the shooting had been deleted. When questioned by police about her involvement, Nguyen reportedly became emotional, hung her head, and refused to answer. Jenny Nguyen was subsequently arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Jamal Thompson.
