Thursday, October 7, 2010

Brianna Denison

The case I decided to look at is the Brianna Denison Case. Brianna Denison 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 murdered by a serial rapist.
Here are the facts.
  • Brianna was last seen on January 20, 2008 at approximately 4 am at a friend's house
  •  At 9 in the morning a friend decided to check on her and found a bloodstain on a pillow she used
  • The Reno Police Department conducted a forensic investigation on the room where Brianna was sleeping and found DNA belonging to an unidentified male
  • A massive search for Brianna began which involved over 1700 volunteers and searched within a 100 square mile area around the University of Nevada
  • On February 15, 2008 a worker discovered a body in a field, partially covered in the snow, and later determined that it was Brianna's
  • On January 29, 2008 a description was released to the public about the suspect.
    • The person in question is also linked to at least 2 attempted sexual assault in November and December 2007, and the rape of a woman in October in the Whalen Parking Garage
  • On Tuesday, November 25, 2008, James Michael Biela was arrested and charged of murder, 1st-degree kidnapping, and sexual assault
  • On Thursday, May 27, 2010 James Michael Biela was found guilty and was sentence of death for the murder of Brianna Denison
The case received prominent national media attention, including coverage by national news services FOXNews, CNN, ABC News, MSNBC,and CBS News.

 The articles I found seem to play more on the emotions of people but was not in the form of entertainment but rather letting us know what happened. I didn't get the feeling that the story was being sensationalized too much but was rather letting us know what types of things have been happening and really happens.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/02/nevada.biela.sentenced/index.html?iref=allsearch



1 comment:

  1. Since this case is 2 years old, it is odd that they did a follow-up since most cases aren't discussed too much post-verdict.

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