OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – Ally Brueger was shot and killed along a dirt road near her home in Rose Township on July 30, 2016. Since then, her parents have never stopped working to find her killer.
This year, Nikki and Franz Brueger marked five years since their daughter was killed. Franz Brueger still takes walks along the road almost every day.
“You know, what went through her mind when she got to that spot?” Franz Brueger said.
Ally Brueger was a nurse at Providence Park in Novi. She was out for her daily run on a dirt road near her parents home in Holly when someone opened fire.
She collapsed 50 feet from the road she was jogging on. She died by the time she got to the hospital.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about her. It’s everyday. We don’t have any closure. And then we have to deal with the circumstances that took our daughter away,” Nikki Brueger said.
Investigators combed the area looking for clues. They believed Ally Brueger was shot from behind and the killer used a shotgun.
“The first time they asked me what I thought might have happened, my first reaction was, ‘Somebody tried to abduct our daughter by gunpoint.’ She was 4 foot 9 inches, 98 pounds and if you looked at it from behind she looked like a child running,” Nikki Brueger said.
At the time, police had very little to go on. At one point, detectives said they thought the shooting wasn’t random. Her parents are now sharing a different story.
“It was a stranger that killed our daughter. It was a stranger that pulled the trigger,” Nikki Brueger said. “Just the very fact that I can say this to the public. That it’s a stranger that pulled the trigger. I hope encourages someone that has a tip, that has some information that has been quiet to now free themselves of that information.”
State police will only say their investigation into what really happened that day continues.
The reward for information leading to an arrest in the cases is up to $20,000. Ally Brueger’s parents said for the first time in a long time, they feel hopeful someone will come forward with information that could help police track down her killer.
Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-Speak Up. All tips to Crime Stoppers are anonymous. Click here to submit a tip online.
Read: 2 years later, Oakland County jogger’s shooting death remains unsolved