WARNING: YouTube Tried to Ban This Story of Brutality! True Crime Documentary
19-year-old Brianna Dennison was last seen early Sunday morning. Friends are worried. Police think she was abducted by a serial rapist linked to a string of attacks near the University of Nevada. The cases are all linked by DNA. This is the field where they found that body and was on the edge of the campus of the University of Nevada.
That’s less than 10 miles from the house where Dennison was last seen. Thousands have turned out to pay tribute to this beautiful teenager whose life was taken too soon. Before we get started, drop a comment and tell me what the weather’s like where you are right now and what city you’re watching from.
It honestly helps the channel grow so much and really motivates me to keep making even more content for you guys. Today’s case takes us to Reno, Nevada. For 19-year-old Briana Dennison, Reno was home. Briana’s father suddenly passed away when she was just 6 years old. And even though it was a huge tragedy, her mom, Bridget, said it actually brought them closer and made their family bond even stronger.
We had to come together as a team. She became very protective of me, and for a good reason, because I was the only one she had left, she said. The connection between Briana and her mom was really special. One of Briana’s friends, Danielle, had known her since kindergarten. She said the mother and daughter were basically best friends.
They did everything together. She also mentioned that Briana was the sweetest person she had ever met. Throughout my whole life, she taught me so much about kindness. She never missed a single birthday. Not friends, not close friends, not relatives, nobody. She would call everyone on their birthday. Two years after graduating high school, she decided she wanted to go to college, and California kind of felt like it was calling her.
For her mom, it was hard, but a new chapter in Briana’s life was ready to begin. She loved studying psychology at Santa Barbara City College and wanted to work with kids after she graduated. She had a boyfriend and an amazing group of friends. Briana’s life was good. Even though she wasn’t in Reno anymore, she always kept her mom updated on everything exciting going on in her life.
She sent photos and messages all the time. Still, for her mom, it was stressful. If she had a bad feeling or dream something was wrong, she would immediately call Briana just to make sure she was okay. Before long, winter break came around, which meant Briana was coming back home to Reno. That January, Briana and her friends were really looking forward to a packed weekend snowboarding during the day and parties all the way until the sun went down in the evening.
Briana headed over to her friend Katie’s place. They had been friends since high school and were really excited for an adventurous weekend just to take a break from work and school. Katie lived in a house close to the University of Nevada Reno campus and that’s where the whole group planned to hang out all weekend.
According to another friend, Jessica, Friday night was amazing. They danced all night long, and when they finally got back to Katie’s place, everyone squeezed into Katie’s bed, getting ready to do it all over again the next day. When Saturday morning came January 19th, Briana stopped by her mom’s house to do some laundry.
And then the two of them went to the movies together to see the new film 27 Dresses. Briana was supposed to go out again that evening for a concert, but she was unsure about it. She had caught a cold and wasn’t feeling that great. Her mom later remembered that Briana was thinking about staying in.
“You might feel worse tomorrow, and you really love this band,” I told her. And at 9 that night, Briana hugged her mom goodbye. Later on, she texted her mom and asked if she should message her when she got back. Her mom replied that she didn’t need to worry since she knew Briana would be at Katie’s house.
After the concert, Briana and Katie met up with Jessica and the three of them got on a shuttle bus and headed out. They were dropped off near Sam’s Regency Casino Hotel, where the next party was supposed to happen. A few hours later, Jessica decided it was time to head home and went to try and catch a ride. She approached a man she didn’t know who was driving his SUV in the parking lot and asked if he could give her a lift.
He agreed. Jessica said, “I probably could have just walked home, but it was really cold, so I ended up getting into a car in the parking lot. Someone was already pulling out. Looking back, it was a bad idea.” Around 3:30 in the morning, Katie and Briana got back to the house with a friend.
Briana didn’t want to squeeze into Katie’s bed again, so she decided to sleep on the couch instead. The couch was right next to the glass sliding doors, the same doors that were basically never locked. The house was kind of known as a hangout spot, almost like a hotel where people were always coming and going. Briana and Katie said good night to each other around 4:00 in the morning.
Then at 4:23, Briana sent a text to her boyfriend in Oregon, and after that, everything went quiet. Katie and Jessica woke up around 9:00 in the morning. Jessica later described what happened next. We walked into the kitchen and started making breakfast. The kitchen was right across from the couch, but Briana was no longer there. Katie pointed at the couch and said, “Where’s Briana?” At first, they thought maybe she had gone upstairs to sleep in one of the empty roommates rooms.
They didn’t really think much of it at first. Katie knocked on the door of the room where she thought Briana was sleeping and said it was time to wake up. At 9:45, she tried again, but there was no response. She started pounding on the door, getting more and more frantic, but still nothing.
That’s when it hit her that Briana wasn’t in the house. Katie said her phone was there, her shoes were there. I knew she went to sleep in just a t-shirt and her bag was there, too. Like everything that mattered to her was right there, and I just couldn’t wrap my head around where she could have gone. It was winter in Reno, and with the freezing cold and snow outside, it seemed extremely unlikely that she would have just walked off on her own.
When Katie realized that all of Briana’s belongings were still in the house, she called her mom. While she was waiting for Bridget to arrive, she noticed something terrifying. The pillow she had given Briana was stained with blood, two small spots, and a little smear. She immediately called Bridget again, hysterical and crying, and told her there was blood on Brianna’s pillow.
She asked if she should call the police. Bridget said yes and that she was on her way as fast as she could. Not long after, Brianna’s mom, her aunt, and the police arrived at the house. There were no signs of a struggle, but the blanket Brianna had gone to sleep with was found in the kitchen.
The brown stuffed teddy bear she used as an extra pillow was gone. For everyone there, it felt like a living nightmare. Is one of the nicest girls. And if whoever did this is watching, just she’s so nice. Just please, please. She wasn’t there. and I noticed blood on the pillow. So, we called the cops and from there it’s just been [snorts] a nightmare.
Dennis goes to college in Santa Barbara, California, but she was in Reno visiting friends and family for the weekend. Brianna’s friend says the front door was not locked that night. Her aunt says Briana had also gotten a text message from her boyfriend that night. Just awful.
They were breaking up kind of stuff, you know, and he just was saying awful things to her, you know, calling her all kinds of names and stuff like that. He was just jealous and young. Authorities say Briana left behind her purse, cell phone, and some clothing. Dennison’s family is not giving up hope, but said they are confused by the events of the night.
Lieutenant Robert Macdonald, who was in charge of the detective division at the Reno Police Department, was actually off that day, but a call from his co-workers changed everything. He said that right from the start, the situation sounded really bad. Local emergency services were quickly brought in to help with the search and officers began going doortodoor asking questions.
Police interviewed everyone who lived in the house, but each of them was eventually ruled out as a suspect. For the officers, the blood on the pillow was a huge red flag. Based on the evidence, this didn’t look like someone just leaving on their own. This was an abduction. There were three blood stains ranging from about 1 to 3 in in size mixed with spit, mucus, or saliva.
There were also traces of mascara. Testing later confirmed that the blood belonged to Briana. One report stated that forensic experts believed Miss Dennison suffered an actively bleeding injury around her mouth, throat, or nose. At the moment her face was being forcefully pressed into the pillow. Since the blanket was found in the kitchen, investigators tested the back door handle for DNA.
The results came back with an unknown male profile. At the sheriff’s office, there were already around 3,000 DNA samples that still hadn’t been processed. Local authorities are appealing for money to help clear a crime lab backlog. They have almost 3,000 DNA samples to process. One could match Dennis’s kidnapper. This community has come together in so many ways to look for everyone’s daughter.
And I think the Brianna Demickson case has emerged as everyone’s daughter. For Brianna’s family, hope remains for clues. I’m confident in every lead, everything that comes her way every day that it’s it’s going to be the, you know, the key to open this wide up. In just a few days, the community came together and raised $150,000 to speed up the DNA testing, but none of the samples led to a match.
The suspect’s DNA was also run through the national database. Still no hits. Bridget’s house suddenly filled with people, friends, neighbors, and even strangers who were desperate to help in any way they could. She knew they needed as much attention on Brianna’s case as possible, so she reached out to the media. Before long, the story was all over the news and making headlines across the country.
People started wearing blue ribbons to show support for the family. Blue had always been Briana’s favorite color. Instead of advertising the performers, electronic billboards around Reno, Nevada now show the face of a missing college student. 19-year-old Brianna Dennison was last seen early Sunday morning. Friends are worried.
Every day we start out first thing in the day and we organize the media. We organize what we can do, what resources we have. We check in with the police. Dennis’s cousin spoke with her nearly every day. We said like, “We love you. I I said I love you.” And she’s like, “I love you, too.” And we were going to talk soon.
A makeshift memorial is growing where Dennison was last seen. If Brianna is watching, I would I want her to know that I love her, that I miss her, and that we will bring her home. Since it was now believed to be an abduction, the FBI stepped in along with two investigators from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Officers along with K9 units searched the surrounding areas and a reward was announced for any information that could help find Briana. Police also said they wanted to speak with the man who had given Jessica a ride home that night. Not long after, the man came forward on his own. He was questioned and eventually cleared as a suspect.
Lieutenant Ron Holiday said, “At this point, we don’t have any other leads, items, or information that would lead us to Briana. All signs indicate that Briana was abducted. We truly hope that she will walk through the door at any moment, but the more time passes, the lower the chances become.” Sergeant Gerald Rodus, who headed the regional sex offender notification unit, said detectives were interviewing every registered offender who lived within about a onem radius of the house where Briana had been staying that
night. They also checked the neighboring house. The man who lived there shared something really unsettling. In the early morning hours, somewhere around 4:30 to 5:00, he was sitting in his living room with the lights off. At one point, he noticed a shadow near his house. Then someone tried to force the door open.
I could hear someone pushing on the handle and shoving the door, he said, but I didn’t get up to see who it was. I just didn’t think much of it. I figured it was probably some drunk guy trying to find his way home and went to the wrong house. By Monday, January 21st, police dogs and helicopters were already out searching.
People from the community were showing up in huge numbers to help. Hundreds of volunteers walked through the snow, scanning the area for any signs or clues. They checked storm drains, lifted manhole covers, searched fields, rivers, ditches, pretty much everything. And for investigators, something else became clear.
It looked like this wasn’t the attacker’s first crime. They believed he had done this before and that he was likely responsible for two sexual assaults that had previously happened on campus. A 21-year-old college student was in a parking lot when someone grabbed her from behind, shoved her to the ground at gunpoint, and then attacked her.
He told her not to scream, but she did anyway. That clearly scared him off, and he ran away, apparently dropping a pack of condoms as he fled. In the early morning hours, a 22-year-old exchange student was grabbed from behind right outside her home. He covered her nose and mouth and because she couldn’t breathe, she passed out.
When she came too, she was already inside a truck. The vehicle didn’t go very far before she was assaulted inside. He told her not to look at him, and when he dropped her back off, he ordered her to get out of the truck and not turn around. She told police he was a white man with facial hair on his chin and tanned arms.
She was also able to describe the truck. According to her, the radio was distinctive with red and blue lights, and there was a small child’s shoe on the floor. Police were also able to collect a sample of his DNA. Both this victim and the previous one reported that he took their underwear. Later, investigators confirmed that the DNA from both earlier attacks matched the DNA found on the door handle at the house.
This was a serial sexual offender, and his crimes were quickly becoming more and more violent. Police think she was abducted by a serial rapist linked to a string of attacks near the University of Nevada. The cases are all linked by DNA. Investigators also believe that the attempted break-in at the exchange students house was done by the same man.
She had woken up to the sound of someone trying to force their way in through the back door. So much force was used that the door actually bent outward. All of these attacks happened within just a fourb block area. And now everyone knew the description of the man they were looking for.
A white male between about 28 and 40 years old, roughly 5’6 to 6 feet tall, driving either an SUV or an extended cab pickup truck. People were terrified and gun sales shot up almost overnight. Evidence is linking the suspected abduction of a missing college student to two attacks on women near the University of Nevada Reno last year.
19-year-old Brianna Dennison disappeared on January 20th from a friend’s home. Police say that her case is linked to a sexual assault in December and an attack in November. Now, police have released this sketch of the suspect and a separate attack near the university back in October.
Investigators believe that this person could be tied to the other three cases. Adding to the description, police said this was a low profile guy who quietly stalked his victims, but with each new attack, the level of violence kept escalating. Investigators strongly believed there would be more victims, so they urged the public to report any information at all.
As the search went on, everyone was getting more and more exhausted, but the volunteers refused to give up. One of them said, “Every day, we come back to headquarters with heavy hearts, but we’re still ready to head out again the next morning and stay as positive as we can for as long as possible.
” One student mentioned that a lot of people on campus felt like he was definitely going to strike again. The hunt for him was unlike anything Reno had ever seen. More than 300 volunteers searched near the Truckucky River alongside Nevada’s first lady, Dawn Gibbons. She said no one was going to give up until Briana was found and brought home.
She also shared that her son had gone to the same school as Briana. For a lot of people, this case felt deeply personal. Police received over 5,000 tips and more than 700 men voluntarily gave DNA samples to be tested. Welcome back. It’s been nearly now a month since California college student Brianna Dennison disappeared in Reno.
And joining us now from Reno is Brianna Dennis’s mother, Bridget, and uh Brianna’s uncle, John Zenino. Bridget, let’s start with you. Where is this investigation right now? Uh Bridget, do you believe that investigators have told you everything that they know? Are you comfortable with how this is all being investigated? I’m extremely comfortable with how it’s being investigated.
Um, I doubt that they’ve told me everything. I’m sure there’s, you know, plenty that they’re looking into. You know, I’d like to, um, speak to my daughter’s abductor that it’s time to give her back. We miss her and we love her. We know she’s hurt and it’s time to give her back to us. We need her. About 8 miles from where Briana was taken, Alberto Jimenez was cutting across an empty lot at work, heading to grab something to eat.
Suddenly, something caught his eye. Down in a shallow ditch, hidden among some bushes, there was something that looked strange. It was a Christmas tree lying on its side. Then he noticed a pair of socks. As he stepped closer, he thought there was a mannequin lying underneath the tree.
He figured it couldn’t be anything worse than that. But then he saw a wound on the shoulder and that’s when it hit him. He ran back to the office and told his supervisor. Together they went back to the ditch and called 911. Not long after, police arrived near a drainage pipe about 40 ft from Sand Hill Road. There is a possibility that it could be missing college student Brianna Dennis.
This is the field where they found that body and was on the edge of the campus of the University of Nevada. That’s less than 10 miles from the house where Dennis was last seen. The next day, February 16th, a press conference was held. Deputy Chief Jim John said, “We just see her face and we see someone we love.
” It’s a small memorial to a young woman some say was like family. I remember her mom saying, “She became America’s daughter.” And in see, in reality, she did. She’s everyone’s daughter. She’s everyone’s sister. And now residents are left coping with the loss. I cried. I sat in my living room.
I was home by myself and just cried. As some tried to bring closure to a case that’s captured the hearts and minds of many here. The autopsy today confirmed that the remains of the woman found in the field are those of Briana Dennison. The official cause and manner of death is strangulation. This was a sexually motivated crime.
Police now believe that she had been strangled inside the house and then her body was taken and dumped outside. She was naked except for a pair of socks and beneath her right knee were two pairs of underwear, one pink and one black. Katie said the pink pair belonged to her and she hadn’t even realized they were missing.
The owner of the second pair was never identified. DNA samples taken from Brianna’s body matched the DNA from the door handle and the earlier attacks. The spot where she was found quickly turned into a memorial with people leaving flowers, candles, and notes. We’ve got to take on some urgent business in Reno, Nevada.
Cops need your help to hunt down the killer of 19-year-old Briana Dennison. It seems as if everyone in Reno, Nevada is in a state of mourning. It’s just been unbelievable as how Reno has come together to help one family. Thousands have turned out to pay tribute to this beautiful teenager whose life was taken too soon.
She was always an angel on earth that protected us. Now she’s with her father watching over us. There have been a series of vigils and memorials as people continued to struggle with their grief. On March 6th, police revealed another disturbing detail. The attacker had been taking his victim’s underwear as trophies, then leaving them at the crime scene as a kind of signature.
Both pairs had been deliberately placed there so officers would find them. One officer said the killer was basically mocking them. The FBI and more than 40 detectives were working around the clock, putting in hundreds and hundreds of hours trying to track him down. The signs around the neighborhood that once read, “Bring Bri back were now changed to bring Bri justice.
” Reno, Nevada police say they have arrested a suspect in the kidnapping and killing of a 19-year-old college student. Police issued a statement overnight announcing a news conference Wednesday morning on the arrest of a suspect in the slaying of Briana Denison. Investigators said DNA evidence gathered from the scene linked Dennison’s killer to three other sexual assaults on women at or near the campus from October to December 2007.
fBut the weeks kept dragging on. People in Reno were still living in fear, and it felt like the killer was nowhere close to being caught. Thousands of tips were pouring in, but police only needed one, and eventually they got it. On November 1st, investigators received a lead that stood out.
One woman told her friend that she had found women’s underwear in her ex-boyfriend’s car, and the way he reacted when she asked about it was really strange. Her ex had also suddenly moved out of the area after Briana was found, even though he had lived there since 2002. He had also sold his truck.
He had a history of animal cruelty and domestic violence. He had once broken a puppy’s leg, tried to attack someone with a knife, and had been aggressive toward his ex-girlfriend. He had previously been arrested for serious domestic violence, but no DNA sample had been taken at the time.
That man was 27-year-old James Michael Beer. James worked in construction, had previously served in the Marines, and was trained in martial arts. He also knew the campus well since he had worked on a construction project there the year before. Once he was identified, police decided to put him under surveillance. One thing that seemed strange was that when officers first spoke to him on the phone, James didn’t even ask what the investigation was about.
The next day, he met with police and refused to voluntarily give a DNA sample. He claimed that on the day Briana disappeared, he had been with his girlfriend. Police spoke with the woman and she said that wasn’t true. She allowed officers to take a DNA sample from their young son. Using that, experts were able to determine that the child’s biological father, James Beer, was almost certainly the same person who left DNA on the door handle at the house.
When James showed up to pick up his son from daycare, he was taken into custody. After that, he was required to provide a DNA sample. It was a match. So, who is James Vila? We’re learning a whole lot about the man charged with Briana’s murder. Brandon Ridman talked with Bea’s father today and with his neighbors.
Brandon, give us an idea of Jane Bea’s background. Well, Wendy, neighbors say they rarely if ever saw Bea, and it’s really the same story from his father who says it’s been a year or so since he saw his son Jimmy. Be warned, you may find some of the father’s language offensive. Joe Bea had a handful of family photos to share with us.
And after learning of the arrest, he gets pretty heated when he sees his son, James. Kimmy. Kimmy, that’s a little ass fight that killed that girl. Too bad, but he did. Joe suffers from mental and physical disabilities. Hurt, describes how Joe Bea felt when he saw his son Jimmy’s picture on TV arrested for murdering Briana Dennison.
Bila says he and his son were not close. Joe knows that James was a plumber, but not much else about his son’s life. Is that his kid? He’s holding a hell of no. Father and son are both ex-marines. Joe has his honorable discharge on the wall, but says his son, seen here in uniform, was kicked out. Yeah. For doing drugs, too. I do drugs, too.
You name it, I done it. But I don’t get caught. And one neighbor did notice Bea was away for a few months. That was during the time police say he was up in Washington State. The neighbor didn’t think anything of it. Thought Bea may have possibly been away for military duty. covering the big story live in the newsroom, Brandon Ritman, Channel 2 News.
Prosecutors decided to move forward with charges against him. He maintained that he was innocent. The news was met with a heavy, somber sense of relief. But first, let’s go out to the courthouse for the latest from the trial. Brandon, what did we learn about the two rapes Bea is accused of being part of? Well, first and foremost, we got some information on how police linked Mr.
Bea to the December 2007 rape. We show you some pictures here from court earlier. Bila watching is the chief investigator testified about flying to Taiwan to interview the 22-year-old victim of that December rape who testified yesterday. She felt a moral obligation to cooperate in the hopes that this person could be caught and not hurt anyone else.
Detective Jenkins is talking about the rape victim who was the first person to testify in this case. Because she’s the victim of an alleged rape, we’ve concealed her identity. There is another rape prosecutors charged with committing. We have not yet heard from that victim, though the detective did describe her as much more reluctant to come forward.
During the preliminary hearing on the charges of murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault in Briana’s case, along with two other sexual attacks, more than a dozen witnesses took the stand. One of them was forensic pathologist Dr. Ellen Clark. The county coroner testified that the marks on Briana’s neck were consistent with one of the two pairs of underwear found with her body and that it could have been used to strangle her.
The two other women who had been attacked also testified. One of them said she was assaulted in a parking lot near the campus police station. She identified the man who attacked her as James Beer. The other woman said she never saw his face, but she was able to describe his truck. Gray fibers found on the victim’s clothing matched fibers from inside his vehicle.
James was held without bail, and the district attorney said it was still undecided whether they would seek the death penalty in the case. James Beer initially said he wanted to testify, but after speaking with his lawyers, he changed his mind. The defense argued that prosecutors were ignoring key differences between the three attacks, suggesting they may have been committed by different people.
When photos of her body were shown in court, Dr. Alan Clark said he couldn’t determine how long she had been dead or how long her body had been there. Prosecutors called Bea’s former supervisor, John Laam. Laam said on February 15th, 2008, after Briana Dennison’s body was found that same morning, Bila quit his job, took his last paycheck, and moved to Washington State.
Also that same day, Laam talked with Bila about the discovery of the body. I asked him if how he felt about uh her being found, and his comment was is that she and I know there was some colorful language. Say exactly what he said. The probably had it coming. Then he says Bea cracked a smile. The defense asked Laam whether he reported it to police.
No, I did not. He He always had that sense of humor and a lot of guys have that kind of humor. And we’ve heard testimony that the defendant kind of fancied himself a bit of a comedian. He was a funny guy. So the probably had it coming. might be a very poor attempt at humor from anybody other than the person who strangled the life out of Briana Dennis.
You could probably apply that to all three victims in this case. He probably figures that all three of them had it come. The tense 3-week trial was finally coming to an end. After about 6 hours of deliberation, the jury reached a verdict. Once again, the jury was made up of seven women and five men. They selected a fourperson to read the decision aloud.
More than six hours had passed before they returned to the courtroom. And now, at last, the verdict was about to be announced. And again, a jury of seven women and five men. They’ve selected a foreman to hand down the verdict. It took them more than six hours. Apparently, they [clears throat] are walking in right now and then we should hear the verdict momentarily.
We the jury in above entitled matters find the defendant James Michael Ba guilty of count one sexual assault. We the jury in above entitled matter find the defendant James Michael VA guilty of count two kidnapping in the first degree. We the jury in the above entitled matter find the defendant James Michael VA guilty of count three sexual assault.
We the jury in the above entitled matter find the defendant James Michael Vila guilty of count four murder in the first degree of Rihanna Zunino Denison. We the jury intent entitled matter find the defendant James Michaela guilty of count five sexual assault on Rihanna Zunino Denison. The next phase was deciding the punishment either life in prison or the death penalty.
During the sentencing phase, James’ brothers and sisters testified that they had grown up in an extremely abusive and violent household where their father terrorized the entire family. His attorneys pushed for life in prison without the possibility of parole, pointing to his traumatic childhood and the fact that he had no prior criminal record, but it didn’t change the jury’s decision.
James Beer was sentenced to death. This is a fair sentence and one that’s fully deserved. The district attorney said, “Cases like this only strengthened my faith in the jury system.” On August 18th, 2010, the judge signed the death warrant. By law, the case was automatically sent to the Nevada Supreme Court for review.
For Bridget, it felt like a victory. When James Michael Beer touched my little girl, he picked the wrong family. He picked the wrong women, the wrong city, and the wrong state. But he still had to face consequences for the other attacks. Two months after the death sentence was handed down, Judge Robert Perry sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole on three counts of rape and one count of kidnapping.
The judge explained that even though the defendant had already been sentenced to death, he felt it was important to add this punishment to honor the victims who survived, prosecutor Elliot Satler said it was also important in case any of the convictions were overturned on appeal. If the death sentence were ever thrown out, James would still have to serve at least 36 years for those crimes.
James’ first victim, who was pregnant at the time, spoke in court. She said that even though there was now joy in her life, it was still overshadowed by the violence he had inflicted on her. The woman he attacked at gunpoint in November addressed him directly. Mr. Beer, I want you to look at me right now. He refused.
Even though you didn’t kill me, you killed the trusting, joyful woman I was just moments before you turned my life upside down. Brianna’s family was there to support the survivors. Even some of the jurors from Brianna’s trial showed up, even though they weren’t required to. Being part of a case this serious and important, we felt it was right to see it through to the end, one of them said.
In 2016, James appeared in court again. His lawyers argued that he had received ineffective legal representation during the original trial. The Nevada Supreme Court rejected the appeal that sought a new sentencing phase. His attorneys claimed the original defense should have objected to certain evidence about James’s past.
They argued that if the jury hadn’t heard the aggravating testimony, including the animal abuse and domestic violence, they wouldn’t have imposed the death penalty. But the justices ruled that even without that evidence, the outcome wouldn’t have changed. There was no reasonable probability the decision would have been different.
The jury had seen a clear pattern of violent behavior that ultimately led to murder. Trying to turn tragedy into something positive, Bridget began campaigning for what became known as Briana’s Law. It allowed police to collect DNA from anyone arrested for serious felonies and compare it to DNA from other cases. I truly believe this law will save lives.
My daughter could very well still be alive today if this law had already been in place. In May 2013, Brianna’s law was signed into effect. Since then, anyone arrested for a felony in Nevada is required to give a DNA sample and pay for its processing. But tragedy didn’t end there for the Dennis family. Exactly 10 years after Briana was taken, her 19-year-old cousin Caitlyn disappeared.
She had told her family she was flying to Midland, Texas with a man she had recently met. Her sister Rachel said, “This is so unlike her. We never go this long without talking. That’s how I know something’s wrong.” She added that during their last conversation, Caitlyn admitted the man had scared her to death. According to news reports, Caitlyn was about 5t tall, weighed around 120 lbs, had blue eyes and blonde hair.
She had a tattoo on her left knuckle with the word alien and the letter M, a tattoo of Libra scales on her right forearm and scars on her arms and legs. 7 years later, Caitlyn Dennison is still considered missing. Anyone with information about her whereabouts is asked to contact DPS at 512-424-5074 or 1 800 3463243. Brianna Dennison was a bright, happy young woman just 19 years old with her whole life ahead of her.
But in one night, all of that was taken away. Yet out of this unimaginable loss came something powerful. A case that changed the law and a city of Reno that came together. Strangers became search teams, neighbors became advocates, and an entire community rallied around Briana’s loved ones with unwavering support.
That strength, unity, and drive for justice still remain today. And when we remember Brianna Denison, it’s not the brutality of what happened that should define her, but the light she brought into the world. On behalf of the family, Bridget said, on March 29th, 1988, Bridget and Jeffrey Dennison were given an incredible gift, their daughter, Briana.
On January 20th, 2008, she became the daughter of our entire community. We want to say how grateful we are for so many things. for the gift of Briana in our lives.
