LITTLE FALLS, Minn. - One year ago, Terry Brisk was deer hunting alone on his family's land when he was found dead of a gunshot wound.
Soon after, the Morrison County Sheriff's Office declared it a homicide case. Months crawled by with little evident progress in finding Brisk's killer until last Friday, when Sheriff Shawn Larsen announced that the hunter's missing rifle has been found. It's a piece of evidence that could prove key in solving the murder because investigators believe Terry's own gun was used to kill him.
Throughout the past year Brisk's family has been mourning his death and struggling to get past it. His parents Virgil and Frances "Babe" Brisk say life is "heartbreaking" and "lonesome" without one of their sons. Virgil says he misses working with Terry in the yard or on other projects and worries his son's killer will never be found.
"Nights are bad, you don't sleep. I don't know if I'll ever get over it," said Babe Brisk.
In a way, Babe says this ordeal has torn the family apart.
"It hurts feelings. You get mad at other family members because you want them to think more about him than they do. I guess it's because I'm his mom I just feel like that," said Babe Brisk.
Babe Brisk says she now believes that whoever killed her son may have known him.
This case has stumped the community as well. Babe Brisk says she gets calls often from people wanting an update on the case. Brisk says she speaks frequently with Sheriff Larsen, hoping to one day learn that an arrest has been made. For now, she holds out hope that someday her family will get an answer.
"I think somebody knows what happened and I wish they would come forward because it's hard on his family," said Babe Brisk.
Sheriff Larsen says there are persons of interest in this case, but he could not name any names or say if any of them knew Brisk. He is waiting on evidence test results on Terry's rifle from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.