Who murdered Ally Brueger? The young nurse was gunned down in broad daylight on a rural road near Holly. Her parents call her murder an “assassination.”
Ally Brueger’s parents can’t understand why anyone would want to murder her. For the first time, they’re raising questions publicly about someone in Ally’s life. And now we’re learning new information about her ex-boyfriend, and a failed lie detector test.
Please call 1-855-MICH-TIP if you have information about this case.
It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, when suddenly gunshots shattered the peace of tiny Rose Township. Those shots ripped apart the lives of Nikki and Franz Brueger.
“What’s going to take the place of your daughter, your only child? Nothing,” Nikki Brueger told 7 Investigator Heather Catallo.
On July 30, 2016, Alexandra “Ally” Brueger was in the middle of her daily ten mile run when someone murdered her. It’s happened on Fish Lake Road near Holly, which was part of Ally’s regular running route.
“Why there,” asked Franz Brueger “It’s impossible that something like this could happen.”
Michigan State Police say they found four shotgun casings at the scene. Only one of those shots hit Ally. She was shot in the back, presumably as she was trying to run away from her killer.
“We’re both heartbroken, that never stops. It’s unrelenting: the circumstances surrounding her murder are unrelenting because there’s no answers, said Nikki.
Nikki and Franz say Ally had no enemies. She loved animals and planned to get her PhD in poetry. To fund her dream of becoming a writer, the 31-year-old worked long hours as a nurse at Providence Park Hospital in Novi. That’s where she met her ex-boyfriend Wes Sutherland, who also works there.
“We have spoken with Wes. We’ve interviewed him a couple of times now. He’s a suspect in this incident,” said Michigan State Police First Lt. Michael Shaw. But F/Lt. Shaw says Sutherland is not the only suspect.
“Unfortunately, unless you rule people out or have a very solid alibi, everybody’s a suspect. Including mom and dad right now,” said F/Lt. Shaw
Lt. Shaw says detectives are looking at 3 possible scenarios:
- The murder was totally random
- or possibly Ally got into a road rage situation, and the driver fired shots – perhaps only intending to scare her
- or the killer was someone she knew.
Sources tell the 7 Investigators that Sutherland took two lie detector tests for police. The 31-year-old from Wixom spoke to Crime Watch Daily’s Chris Hansen about those polygraphs.
“What were the results,” asked Hansen.
“They said that the first one was inconclusive. And then they said I failed the second one,” said Sutherland.
“And they specifically asked you – did you kill Ally. How do you explain the fact that you failed the polygraph test when you’re asked did you kill [her],” asked Hansen.
“I don’t believe I failed. I believe it was an intimidation tactic,” said Sutherland, who says he was home alone at the time of Ally’s murder.
“It hurts to love someone as much as I loved Ally and to have people look at you that way is extremely painful,” said Sutherland.
“Did you kill Ally,” asked Hansen.
"Absolutely not,” said Sutherland.
Nikki Brueger says she and her husband only met Sutherland one time during Ally’s 2-year relationship with him. Sutherland is now trying to suggest Ally’s father is the killer.
“You think that her parents are capable of killing her,” asked Hansen.
“I think that her father could be, yeah. The relationship that she had with her father was not good,” said Sutherland.
The Bruegers deny that, and call that allegation absurd and painful.
“I am her mother - whether she’s here in the flesh or in the spirit. That never goes away and I have a huge hole that will never be filled without her. And he doesn’t know this, his loss is not the same,” said Nikki.
They also question why Sutherland is so quick to blame them.
"He acts almost like OJ Simpson, [saying] I'm going to spend my money, I'm going to look for the killer myself," said Franz. "I honestly, I'm hoping not, that he's involved. But you never know."
A year and a half after the murder, police and Ally’s family are asking anyone who saw anything to please speak up.
“The criminal always tells somebody,” said F/Lt. Shaw. “So if the killer told somebody and they knew about it, you don’t even have to give us your name. You just have to give us that last little tiny piece that will put this whole puzzle together and we’ll take care of the rest.”
“What if it was your child? What if it was your grandchild? What if it was your sibling? What if it was your parent? If this can happen to us, it can happen to anyone,” said Nikki.
"Do some soul searching, and [ask] did I miss something? Did I hear something,"said Franz. "Just say something that you noticed. That's the only thing, the only hope we have."
On Tuesday March 6, 2018 Crime Watch Daily will have much more from Wes Sutherland and new information about this case. That show airs at 4pm on TV 20 Detroit.
Crime Stoppers and the ATF are still offering a reward of $13,500.
Please call 1-855 MICH TIP if you have any information.
If you have a story for Heather, please email her at hcatallo@wxyz.com or call 248-827-4473.