SAN ANTONIO — Runner safety is top of mind after a 63-year-old woman vanished from an east-side trail on Sunday.
Stacey Dramiga was found the next day by park police along the Salado Creek Greenway Trail, according to the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office. Dramiga’s cause of death reveals she was brutally attacked and suffered severe injuries to her head.
Maisha Dramiga confirmed her mother was the director of the Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Clinic at the Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC).
"It makes you scared,” said Sara Elliot. “I have this false sense of security a lot when I am out there running and I don't think, 'Hey, today is the day someone is going to attack me.'"
Elliott has been running for the past decade. Right now, she is training for her third marathon.
“If you’re a runner, you understand what it’s like to be out there and to get that ‘runner’s high’ from the endorphins,” she said. “It feels amazing outside. I would rather be outside than on a treadmill. Some people run to lose weight and some people run just because they love it; like me and my husband who is also a marathoner.”
The long-distance runner said she was competing in a race on the Salado Creek Greenway Trail just one week before Dramiga’s disappearance.
“There were people patrolling and making sure everyone was okay,” she said. “It was a night race and there was a five-minute moment in the dark when I was alone. I just felt creeped out because I was running through a tunnel in pitch black with my little light. You do get that sense of uneasiness like, 'What if someone is watching you?'”
Now, Elliott is sharing some safety tips with the community.
“Always let someone know where you’re going and when you’re going,” she said. “Another layer of protection is a running watch because you can have your location on it and you can press a button and it will send [an alert] to a loved one that will say, ‘This is where she is and this is an emergency.'”
Elliott also recommends switching up your routes frequently so strangers can't track your habits.
“I am honestly starting to think twice about running on this trail,” Elliott said.
She wears bright clothes, a light and headphones that don’t block her ear canal. She also stores pepper spray in her hydration vest.
“I would definitely carry my phone and turn on my location tracker,” said Elliott. “There are so many running groups. So, we will typically organize a run within a group. This weekend on Saturday, a few of us will meet up at the Rim Trailhead. So, it’s good because it gives you that sense of community, but also gives that sense of safety. I know women that will not run alone because it's scary. It’s not anything new and it’s something we need to be aware of.”