Let us remember Brianna Denison who was
murdered on January 20, 2008 and do not forget her on her birthday on March 29.
We will endorse the Bring Bri Justice Foundation.
Brianna Denison
(March 29, 1988 to January 20, 2008)
|
INTERNET
SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Brianna_Denison
Brianna
Zunino Denison
|
|
Born
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March
29, 1988
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Died
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January
20, 2008 (aged 19)
Reno, Nevada |
Residence
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Santa
Barbara, California
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Nationality
|
American
|
Education
|
Santa
Barbara City College
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Brianna Zunino Denison (March 29, 1988 – January
20, 2008) was a college student from Santa Barbara, California, who was
abducted on January 20, 2008 from a friend's house in Reno, Nevada. Her body
was discovered on February 15, 2008 in a field near a Reno business park after
being raped and murdered. A man named James Biela was convicted of the murder.
Background
Denison was at home for winter break
from Santa Barbara
City College, where she studied psychology. She and her friends had
attended events tied to a Summer Winter Action Tours LLC,(a travel agency that
caters to students), Martin Luther
King Jr. weekend in Reno; Denison had reportedly attended this event
in the past. Brianna was last seen on January 20, 2008 at approximately 4:00 am
Pacific Time
at a friend's house in MacKay Court, Reno where she was staying after attending
a party at the Sands Hotel and
Casino on North Arlington Avenue. Her friend, K.T. Hunter, woke up
at around 9:00 am and could not find Denison. A small blood stain was found on
the pillow she used to sleep with that night, which led her friend to alert
Brianna's parents and subsequently local authorities. Denison left the house
without her shoes, cell phone, or purse. Authorities believe she was barefoot,
wearing only sweats and a white tank top.
In the following days, the Reno Police
Department conducted a forensic investigation of the residence where Brianna
was staying when she was abducted and found touch DNA belonging to an unidentified male
on the doorknob They also discovered that the blood on the pillow was
Denison's. Investigators began focusing on a kidnapping scenario.
Search
On January 21, 2008 investigators
began sweeping the University of
Nevada, Reno area in search of Denison. The Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also joined in the search efforts.
Investigators later learned that the male DNA found on the couch where Denison
was sleeping the night when she disappeared was linked with at least 2 previous
sexually motivated attacks in the same area on November 13 and December 16,
2007. An earlier attack on October 22 at the University of
Nevada, Reno campus was also related. In that incident, the attacker
brazenly raped Amanda Collins at gunpoint in a garage where campus police park their cruisers. Police
began interviewing nearly 100 registered sex offenders who live within a mile
of the MacKay Court home.
Around 1700 volunteers helped with the
search of a 100-square-mile (260 km2) area during the time
Denison was missing, including Nevada's First Lady Dawn Gibbons
(wife of Governor Jim
Gibbons).
On February 15, 2008, Albert Jimenez
was returning from his lunchbreak at Subway.
As he was walking he saw a bright colored fabric standing out among a pile of
discarded tree laying in a ditch. While he approached he discovered the neon
orange socks were attached to feet. What he had thought was a mannequin at
first turned out to be a deceased woman. He had heard of Brianna Denison's
kidnapping but didn't think the victim resembled her picture he'd seen on
billboards. Since he didn't have a cell phone Jimanez quickly returned to his
place of employment, EE Technologies, to call police. When police arrived to
the South Reno lot, Jimanez was told that the victim was in fact Denison. On
February 16, 2008, an autopsy report
confirmed that the body found in a field near a Reno business park was that of
Brianna Denison.
Suspect
On January 29, 2008, Reno Police
released a description of the unknown perpetrator. The person in question was
also linked to at least two attempted sexual assaults in November and December
2007, and the rape of Amanda Collins in October in the Whalen Parking Garage
only a short distance from the university police station. Previous victims also
gave enough detailed information for police to draw up a sketch of the suspect.
A pair of thong underwear was found near Denison's body along with the DNA of
the perpetrator and the DNA of an unknown female. Police said that the clothing
item did not belong to Denison and that it may have been left near her body to
taunt the investigators. Police asked that anyone who may recognize the
clothing item as theirs come forward as they may know the identity of the
perpetrator.
Arrest
On Tuesday, November 25, 2008, James
Michael Biela, 27, of Sparks, Nevada, was arrested and booked at the
Washoe County Jail on charges of murder, first-degree kidnapping, and sexual
assault. The arrest occurred while he was dropping his son off at the Stepping
Stones Children's Center in Reno. A DNA sample was collected from Biela. He had
previously been arrested in 2001 for threatening his former girlfriend's
neighbor with a knife.
In a press conference held by the Reno
Police Department on Wednesday, November 26, 2008, it was confirmed that the
DNA collected from Biela matched the DNA found at the crime scene, positively
linking him to both the murder of Brianna Denison and a previous sexual assault.
At this same press conference, it was
said that Biela had been turned in by a friend of Biela's girlfriend via Secret
Witness on November 1, 2008. Biela's girlfriend had confided to this friend
that she had found underwear unknown to her in Biela's truck as they were
coming back from Washington state, where Biela had taken a job in March.
Widespread media reports began circulating that included a police sketch of a
suspect and a description of a vehicle used in a rape the month before
Brianna's abduction. According to Reno Police Department Chief Michael
Poehlman, Biela was questioned by Reno Police Detectives after the Secret
Witness tip came in. He denied involvement and declined to provide a DNA
sample. Biela's girlfriend was also questioned and gave police permission to
obtain DNA from her four-year-old son, whom Biela had fathered. That test
indicated that a direct relative of his had left DNA at the home Brianna
Denison was abducted from, and from another rape that had taken place the month
before Brianna's abduction. With this evidence, police obtained an arrest
warrant and a warrant for Biela's DNA. Chief Poehlman announced at the press
conference that the Washoe County Sheriff's Department crime lab
had tested Biela's DNA and found it did match DNA from the Denison case and
another rape. Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick told reporters at
the press conference that he would be prosecuting the case with one of his lead
criminal deputies, Elliot Sattler, and his office would be seeking the
"maximum penalty" for Biela, up to and including the death penalty.
It was also announced that Biela, on
his way to Washington, had sold his truck in Idaho, one which matched the
description of the vehicle used in the previous sexual assault. At the press
conference, officials said the vehicle was being returned to Reno to be
searched and used as evidence in the case against Biela.
Trial and
sentencing
On Thursday, May 27, 2010, Biela was
found guilty. The jury returned a guilty verdict for all counts against Biela
which included kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder. The Reno Gazette-Journal
reported on Wednesday, June 2, 2010, that the jury sentenced Biela to death
after deliberating for about nine hours. Defense attorneys argued against the
death penalty, stating that Biela suffered an abusive childhood due to an alcoholic
father, that he had been a productive member of society prior to his crimes,
and that he had been a model prisoner. Jurors did not accept the mitigating
factors and handed down the death sentence for the murder of Brianna Denison.
On July 30, 2010, Judge Robert Perry sentenced Biela to four additional life
sentences for multiple counts of rape and kidnapping associated with attacks on
two victims prior to Denison's abduction and murder.
Aftermath
The sale of handguns, stunguns and pepper
spray increased dramatically in the University of Nevada, Reno area after
Denison's body was found. Denison's mother founded the Bring Bri Justice
Foundation to try to implement changes after Denison's body was found.
On February 23, 2008, hundreds of
people attended a vigil held in Reno for Denison.
Media
attention
The case received prominent national
media attention, including coverage by national news services Fox News Channel, CNN,
ABC News, MSNBC,
and CBS News. It was televised in 2008 on an
episode of Dr. Phil
and was featured as Case #7 in the 2009 E!
Entertainment special, Young Beautiful & Vanished: 15
Unthinkable Crimes.
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