Relatives describe a nurturing nurse and devoted mother while awaiting the next hearing for the man charged in her death.
COLLINSVILLE, Okla. — To her family, Amber Rena Lee was not defined by the QuikTrip parking lot where she was fatally injured. She was a nurse, an artist, a loyal friend and the mother of seven children. Her relatives are now working to preserve that fuller picture as a criminal case proceeds against the boyfriend accused of causing her death.
Lee, who was also known as Amber Pippin, died July 3 after being struck by a pickup truck during an argument in Collinsville, according to police. Tyler Dale Kendrick, 39, has been charged in Cherokee Nation court with first-degree manslaughter by automobile and leaving the scene of a fatality collision. He pleaded not guilty at a July court appearance, and a later hearing was scheduled for Aug. 20, according to KTUL’s review of tribal court records.
Lee’s mother, Dena Schnorrenberg, has asked people to remember what came before the parking lot confrontation. She described her 37-year-old daughter as fun, creative, nurturing and deeply loyal. Lee worked as a nurse and built much of her life around her children, Schnorrenberg said. Her oldest daughter had become one of her closest companions, while her youngest children were still years away from adulthood. The seven children ranged in age from 3 to 18, according to police and family accounts. That span meant Lee was parenting a young adult, teenagers and small children at the same time. Her death left each child at a different stage of understanding and grief. Public reports have not identified all of the children, and their privacy has largely been maintained as the family prepares for a court process that could continue for months.
Schnorrenberg said Lee had been trying to leave a relationship that the family considered abusive. She said her daughter had moved out, had told relatives about her experiences and had people willing to help. The family’s description has not been adjudicated, and Kendrick has not been convicted of a crime. Still, those statements provide the family’s account of why Lee and a friend were exchanging property with him on the day she died.
According to Collinsville Police Chief Matt Burke, Lee and Kendrick had been in a dating relationship and were dividing their belongings. A friend drove Lee to Kendrick’s home so she could return some of his property. The friend then took her back to a QuikTrip near U.S. 75 and Oklahoma Highway 20, where Lee’s vehicle had been left. Kendrick was at the store when they arrived, Burke said.
An argument began over an item Kendrick allegedly believed Lee had not returned, according to the chief. The friend attempted to step between the two as the dispute grew more intense. Police allege Kendrick then moved his dual-rear-wheel pickup truck and struck Lee while backing away. Burke said investigators believed the truck hit her and pulled her beneath the rear tires.
Lee was taken to a hospital, where she died. Burke said investigators were waiting for the medical examiner to determine the official cause of death. He told People that a severe wound to Lee’s leg may have damaged an artery, but he presented that as an early investigative belief rather than a completed medical finding. Authorities have not publicly released the final report in the sources reviewed for this article.
Police initially described the incident as domestic-related and said a suspect was in custody. Later accounts identified Kendrick and provided more detail about the argument and the pickup truck. Burke said investigators did not believe Kendrick necessarily intended to harm Lee. Instead, police alleged that negligent actions taken during the dispute caused her fatal injuries.
That early assessment is reflected in the manslaughter charge, though prosecutors will still have to prove the elements of the offense in court. Kendrick’s not-guilty plea preserves his right to challenge the government’s evidence, question witnesses and present a defense. The charge of leaving the scene concerns his alleged conduct after the collision, but the public reports do not include his explanation for leaving or establish what he understood about Lee’s condition at that moment.
Investigators said Kendrick drove away from the parking lot. Police later located him in Owasso by using traffic-camera information and a drone, according to reports based on statements from authorities. He was arrested the same day. Early jail information showed that he was being held under the authority of the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, and the prosecution later appeared in Cherokee Nation court.
Public attention initially settled on the physical details of the collision and the language police used to describe it. Lee’s family has tried to redirect that attention. Schnorrenberg said her daughter should be known for the way she cared for people, the work she did and the relationships she built. She described Lee not as a figure in a crime headline but as the first child she raised and the best friend she later came to rely upon. That distinction matters to families whose loved ones become publicly known because of a violent or sudden death. The final event can overtake everything that came before it, especially when arrest records and police descriptions circulate more widely than personal memories. Lee’s relatives have responded by offering details that place her back at the center of her own story: her nursing career, artistic nature, humor, friendships and devotion to seven children.
Their account also shows why the case has consequences far beyond the defendant and the courtroom. Lee’s children must continue their lives without their mother. Her relatives must divide the work of caring for them while managing their own grief. Friends who helped Lee during the separation must live with the knowledge that an effort to return property ended in a fatal confrontation.
The friend who accompanied Lee is also a significant witness in the police account. Burke said the friend drove Lee during the exchange and tried to interrupt the argument. Authorities have not released that person’s name or complete statement. No report reviewed for this article provides the full sequence from the witness’s point of view, including where each person was standing when the truck began to move. Other evidence may include store surveillance footage, traffic-camera records, police drone video, vehicle evidence and medical findings. Investigators have not made that material publicly available in full. The lack of a complete evidentiary record means some early details could be refined as the case proceeds. Statements made at the beginning of an investigation are not the same as findings made after testimony, cross-examination and judicial review.
Schnorrenberg’s account of her daughter’s attempt to leave the relationship may become part of the broader factual background, but the existing charges focus on the vehicle collision and the alleged departure from the scene. The reviewed reports do not say whether prosecutors intend to introduce evidence about the history of the relationship or whether the defense will dispute the family’s description.
Burke said the death showed how quickly an emotional confrontation could produce permanent consequences. His comments emphasized the need for awareness around a moving vehicle and the danger of acting while angry. For Lee’s family, however, the consequences are not an abstract warning. They are present in seven children, an empty place in the family and a court calendar that requires them to revisit the circumstances of her death.
Kendrick remains legally innocent unless the prosecution proves the charges. His next reported hearing was set for Aug. 20 in Cherokee Nation court, though court schedules can change. Lee’s relatives have said they plan to follow the proceedings while continuing to speak about the woman they knew before her name entered police reports.
The family’s message is that the case should not end with the description of a truck moving through a parking lot. Lee had spent 37 years building a life before those final minutes. As the legal process considers how she died and whether Kendrick is criminally responsible, her relatives are asking the public to also remember how she lived.
Author note: Last updated August 2, 2026.