INDIANAPOLIS — The story of a woman who disappeared without a trace in Indianapolis in 2021 will be told in the season 10 premiere episode of "Disappeared," a series on discovery+ that shines a light on missing persons cases.
The episode, titled, “Vanished in the Night,” chronicles the disappearance of 26-year-old Kirsten Brueggeman, who disappeared Jan. 2, 2021.
On the night she went missing, security camera footage showed her fighting with friends and, two hours later, the cameras catch her walking by herself in a parking lot before disappearing into the night.
Police cataloged where cameras saw her throughout the night. First, she was seen walking south away from the Irish Mutt at 7041 E. 10th St., near Shadeland Avenue, around 12:20 a.m. Then, Brueggeman walked toward a closed bowling alley and headed east past the Winner Woodworking Company on North Shortridge Road.
Cameras last saw her walking south on Shortridge Road toward East Washington Street, but it was not known if she made it all the way to Washington Street.
She hasn't been seen since.
"We have no idea how she got out of there. If she was taken out of there. If she walked out of there. We don't know. It's just nothing and that really bothers me that there's no hint at all of how she was taken from that area," Kirsten's father, Rex, told 13News.
Desperate for answers, her family is sharing her story on "Disappeared" and their plight to find her with hopes that more people will be able to come forward with new information.
"There's no closure, to use a phrase, because you don't know what happened, and that's the worst part of it, is not knowing what has happened to our daughter," Rex said.
The episode is the first of eight to be released in the series' reboot.
The series, which aired on Investigation Discovery from 2009 to 2018, helped bring missing people home, uncover new leads to missing persons cases and — in some episodes — ended in heartbreaking discoveries, a news release said.
“With the proliferation of new surveillance techniques in recent years and the audience more determined than ever to participate in solving true crime mysteries, we knew this was the right time to bring 'Disappeared' back in a way that could really make a difference,” said Jason Sarlanis, president of crime and investigative content, linear and streaming.
"You just have to believe that somebody out there knows something and that, over time, whether they hear about it over and over or they see it once, whether it's from an interview or this show, that maybe somebody will finally come forward with some information that can help us locate her," Kirsten's mother, Lisa, said. "It breaks my heart for my own daughter that there's these questions that may never be answered for us."
The reboot, described in the release as a "reinvention" of the franchise, aims to facilitate answers about the missing in order to bring closure to their loved ones.
Each episode begins immediately before the individual vanished and chronicles the search for clues hidden beneath seemingly everyday behavior that may indicate what happened to them.
"Presenting timely stories with urgency for the public to act, the families of the missing hope the series will elevate their loved one’s story and help decipher the truth of what really happened to them," the release said.
At the end of each episode, information for the local police departments is shared in the event that a viewer has fresh leads or new information to share.
The series returns with eight new episodes beginning Wednesday, Sept. 7. It will air on Investigation Discovery and stream the same day on discovery+.
Episodes for the previous nine seasons can also be streamed on discovery+.