Sunday, May 19, 2024
The road where the incident occurred.
The memorial erected in Linehan’s honor.
Friends and Family of Amber Linehan.
Loved ones of Amber Linehan held small ceremony near the Well Burnett Road site of the accident.
On Friday, May 19 there was a memorial held for Amber Linehan-Lemke outside a Timberlake Estates home. Linehan-Lemke passed away after being struck by a drunk driver one year prior on a stretch road between the Timberlake Estates and Castle Hill neighborhoods. Linehan-Lemke had been walking down Wells Burnett Rd. on her 40th birthday when the accident occurred. The suspect, Ryan Collier, a 47-year-old Azle resident fled the scene without checking if Linehan-Lemke was okay. Heather Davey, who called the authorities during the initial incident allowed the friends and family of Linehan-Lemke to gather in and just outside her backyard for the memorial ceremony.
The road where Linehan-Lemke was killed has a long history of accidents. The Linehan family and friends made a point not to spend too much time in the space. The hum of passing traffic was present throughout the memorial.
“This is really dangerous, there was a wreck here the other day,” Brandy Morrow said.
Morrow had been a lifelong friend of Linehan-Lemke.
“I’ve known her for very very long. She’s a very special person to me… It would be nice to have some beauty after a tragedy like that,” Morrow said of the memorial.
Cousin Kim VanKirk, Aunt Donna VanKirk, Father Curtis Linehan, Brother Josh Linehan, and Youngest Daughter Skye Strowd were also present.
“She taught me to be tougher that’s for sure, at times,” Kim said. “She had a little bit of the don’t care what other people think thing… We’d always tell her we loved her when we saw her…No matter what happened, I know my grandma’s spirit was there with her in the end.”
Collier was arrested on July 20, 2022, and was released on a $5,000 bond not long after. Collier has multiple felony convictions in Parker County and has been booked on multiple other incidents in Tarrant County. Collier was on parole during the time of the accident. On March 17, 2023, Collier was indicted by jury for accident involving death, a second-degree felony. On May 23, 2023, Collier was booked in Parker County for warrants involving two stolen weapons charges and engaging in organized crime.
