Investigator: Suspect said Bruck died after sex in car

Monroe — A man was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on a murder charge in the death of a woman whose body was found months after she disappeared from a huge Halloween party in 2014 in southeast Michigan.

A Monroe County investigator testified that Daniel Clay confessed to killing Chelsea Bruck during rough consensual sex in his car. The body of the 22-year-old was found in a wooded area in April 2015, six months after she dressed as comic villain Poison Ivy and attended a party with hundreds of people in Frenchtown Township.

“He pulled up next to her, asked if she wanted a ride. She said she did. She got in the vehicle,” sheriff’s Detective Brian Sroka told a judge, summarizing an interview with Clay after his arrest in July.

Clay told police that he tried to revive Bruck, although he never called 911. An autopsy found multiple facial fractures and two chipped teeth. The defense tried to show the death could have been an accident.

Judge Jack Vitale ordered Clay to trial on a charge of open murder, which means it could be first-degree murder or second-degree murder.

Jessica Pridyl, who had a child with Clay, said he called her and left messages on the day of his arrest.

He said he was “extremely sorry” and would be “gone for a really long time,” Pridyl testified.