Hanska store robbed

Suspect arrested

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM--For Jeanne Willis, manager at the Ampride Convenience Store, Friday morning had its usual rush of customers.

And then, for a few brief minutes, it was quiet.

At 9:30 a.m., Willis was behind the counter in the store, at 21 Broadway in Hanska, waiting for her daughter to finish writing a check, when the store was held up briefly by a young man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and holding a red bandanna over his face.

The young man reportedly brandished a small knife and ordered Willis to give him all the money in the register.

The robber allegedly the station in a black 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix, a car Willis' daughter bought two weeks ago that had a new CD player, several CDs, some new clothes and a cellular phone inside.

Willis said she actually didn't mind handing over the money. She was more concerned about her daughter's safety.

"It was a scary thing because I didn't know what the guy was capable of, with my daughter standing right next to him," remembered Willis.

Although the store has a security camera, Willis said it was virtually useless because the robber was wearing a disguise. She wasn't able to see his eye or hair color.

The robber fled south in the Grand Prix. A Watonwan County sheriff's deputy stopped a different vehicle with two people inside about an hour later.

That car was heading south on State Highway 15 toward the Watonwan-Brown county border. The two people inside it were arrested and taken to New Ulm. They reportedly offered no resistance.

One, which investigators originally thought was involved with the robbery, was released after questioning.

The other, Jesse Lee Nundahl, 23, of Madelia, is currently being held in the Brown County Jail pending charges of aggravated first-degree robbery, said Brown County Investigator Bob Christensen.

Christensen said about $250 in cash and about $250 in checks was found inside the car when it was pulled over. The 1997 Grand Prix was found in the southeastern part of Brown County later that afternoon. Christensen would not say what kind of car Nundahl was in at the time of his arrest, as the case is still under investigation.

"This is something that doesn't happen too frequently in Hanska," Christensen said. "It's a pretty serious thing when someone threatens you with a weapon."

Said Willis, "It's a scary thing. You don't see it happen a lot. At least not in Hanska anyway."

Christensen said he expects charges to be filed against Nundahl early this coming week.

Nundahl is expected to appear in Brown County District Court on Monday.