Erik McAllister (Aug 2019) - RESOLVED

1/22/2021: A suspect is in custody in Erik McAllister’s killing. Michael Bettale has been charged with first-degree murder.

STORY BY DEBORAH TAKAHARA - KDVR/KWGN (7:24 PM, NOVEMBER 13, 2019)

DENVER – The family of a man killed in the West Highland neighborhood three months ago is adding to the Metro Denver Crime Stoppers reward fund to help find his killer.

Erik McAllister, 41, was shot and killed on Aug. 3 just before 2 a.m. outside The Beer Depot near West 38th Avenue and Tennyson Street.

His widow, Tiffaney Boening, says the sudden loss is even harder because she does not know who killed him or why.

“He was amazing, my best friend, best dad, best everything to everybody. It’s horrible, there’s no why. There is no closure. Can you get closure? Is that even the right word? But you just want to know what happened and why," Boening said.

McAllister was shot just outside the bar where he had gone for a date with Boening.

“I was paying the bill, he went outside to smoke. He never came back in, so I went outside to look for him and that's when I found him," Boening said.

Detectives say bars in the area were letting out and there were a lot of people in the area at the time of the shooting. They are hoping someone saw something that they have not yet reported.

“We just got to find that one piece. Sometimes it’s just one person, sometimes it's more than one person that can provide that information to close the case and help this family," Denver Police Det. Bruce Gibbs said.

McAllister’s family has added $1,000 to the reward fund, bringing it now to $3,000. They hope someone will come forward with information that can help solve the case.

“Somebody has to know something, even if they feel it is insignificant or something small, we want to know. We want them to call Crime Stoppers," said Racheal Dowd, McAllister's aunt. "There’s that big, dark cloud hanging over it and we need that to go away so we can start to heal and grieve and come to terms with the fact Erik is no longer here."

Boening said it would mean the world to her and their sons to know who killed McAllister and why.

“He would give you the shirt off his back. That's why I don't understand how someone could walk up to him and not even known the kind of person he was because if they did, they would've never taken him like this," Boening said.

To watch Deborah Takahara’s story on this case, please visit our partners at Fox31-Denver/KDVR