Man remembered for love of family

Shane B. Niesen was remembered Saturday as an outdoorsman who loved being around his family.

“He loved spending time with his kids,” said his younger brother, Justin Niesen, 29, of Howard Lake, Minn. “He was a great man.”

Police are trying to determine whether Shane Niesen, 31, jumped or fell from a sixth-floor apartment window at the Jackson Tower on Friday. They also want to know what was happening inside the apartment near St. Mary's Avenue and 28th Street before they were summoned.

Niesen's uncle, Dana Weigert of Howard Lake, said Niesen was a loving person with a great sense of humor. “He was always joking around with his brother,” Weigert said.

Niesen grew up in Howard Lake and enjoyed fishing and hunting.

But Shane Niesen also dealt with difficult times in his life, including losing his mother to cancer in 2002.

“He really looked up to his mom,” Justin Niesen said. “That was hard on him and everyone involved.”

Shane Niesen moved to the Omaha-area with his wife in 1999. The couple had married in 1997 and later had two children. Niesen worked for several years as an iron worker.

Although he was a “wonderful father and a loving man,” he battled a drug addiction that ultimately led to the couple's divorce, his former wife said.

“He was a great person, but his addiction completely took over him,” she said.

Niesen had recently served two years in prison in Clarinda, Iowa. He had been participating in a work-release program at a residential corrections facility in Council Bluffs, but he didn't return as scheduled on Wednesday night, said Bob Schroder, the facility's manager.

“His whereabouts were unknown until we saw him on the news,” Schroder said. “He was out job-seeking when he decided not to return. A warrant had been issued for his arrest.”

Shane Niesen also is survived by his father, Gary Niesen of Texas, and a sister, Wendy Stoll.

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