The murder of a woman and her unborn child in Idaho is making a huge impact in Austin.
39-year-old Jennifer Nalley was one of the founders of a history-making roller derby group in Texas, a teacher, friend and daughter who changed hundreds of people's lives.
Nalley graduated from Texas State with a degree in Physics and it was in college where she would begin her legacy as one of the founding members of the Texas Rollergirls “Hotrod Honeys.”
They were the first flat track league in the nation to play a version of roller derby using new standardized rules and a track design based on the dimensions of the old banked tracks.
In the rink, Nalley was known as “Pixie Tourette” and was a force to be reckoned with, according to her father Jack Nalley.
“She loved that, she liked to fight, she liked to wrestle, she liked to climb rock walls, hike up mountains,” said Nalley.
“I’ve never met anyone like her,” he said with tears in his eyes. “She was bigger than life. I was proud to be her dad.”
After working as a physics and math teacher and playing in a band in Austin, Nalley moved to Idaho last year to help take care of her grandparents.
It was in Idaho where she learned she was pregnant.
According to her parents, Nalley was excited at the idea of becoming a mother.
On July 4, she was out celebrating the holiday with her family. Her parents tell KVUE that when she came home to her cabin, her ex-boyfriend was there waiting for her. When she asked him to leave, she turned around and he shot her multiple times in the back.
Nalley and her 12-week-old unborn baby were killed.
“It’s just hard to comprehend how somebody could do such a thing,” her father said, two days after learning her body was discovered by family members in their Idaho cabin.
“I just wonder if the guy knows how much he’s hurt people, and what a terrible thing he did.”
Police arrested 39-year-old Erik Martin Ohlson in connection with her death. Ohlson is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. One for Nalley and one for her unborn child.
For now, members of Nalley’s roller derby community are surrounding their family and trying to help in every way they can.
The Texas Roller Girls are now raising money in Nalley’s name to start a math and science scholarship for girls.