Dead of Night (9 page)

“If it hadn’t been for DNA, we would go to the grave wondering,” she said.

“It was great to be able to play a role in letting the family know who did this terrible thing to their beautiful little girl,” Jenkins said about his call to Doris Bonham. “They could finally have a face to put to the person who did this.”

According to Jenkins’s partner on the Smith case, Detective Jim Duncan, now retired, Smith was a predator who hunted for his victims by placing himself at locations where he would be close at hand to his victim type.

“I don’t think he picked his victims,” Duncan said. “He picked his places.”

One of those places was, of course, Idlewild Park, and Smith’s method of operation was similar to how Brianna’s killer had lurked around the neighborhoods near UNR.

“This guy [Brianna’s killer] was actively hunting for an opportunity, not an individual,” Jenkins said. “He has a predator mentality, like Smith.”

Jenkins stressed that crimes such as the ones that had involved Lisa and Brianna are proof that any female could become a victim. Although the much-needed DNA match in Brianna’s case had not occurred yet, and despite the fact that leads were gradually beginning to slow down, Jenkins remained confident that they would find their suspect in Brianna’s case and bring him to justice, too, when they got the right lead and combined it with the right evidence.

“The big break in the case will be an innocuous, garden-variety lead,” Jenkins said. “I don’t think it’s going to be an, ‘Oh, my God, this is the break we’re looking for,’ but a low priority tip we work that turns out to be the guy. I would love very much, if I’m retired or not, and I’m still kicking and drawing breath, to be there when someone tells Brianna’s family who he is.... If it takes twenty-three years—God, I hope not—eventually we will get him.”

 

 

As with the fewer leads, by midsummer there were also noticeably fewer blue ribbons around town. Earlier the ribbons could easily be spotted on car antennas, pinned to people’s clothing, and attached to trees and fences in the city. There were fewer sales of guns, Tasers, and pepper spray, too; area women seemed less interested in taking self-defense classes. However, Lauren Denison, among others, was concerned that women were beginning to let their guard down while the killer still remained at large somewhere out there, possibly in Reno.

“Every time some weirdo is arrested, I hope against hope that it’s him, and that he wasn’t arrested for murder,” Lauren said. “My biggest fear is waking up and he will have murdered someone else. This is why we still have to be on top of our game. Brianna was one of the most cautious girls, and safety was always in the front of her mind. If it can happen to a girl who was knowledgeable and well-versed in safety, it can happen to anyone.”

“It’s easy for people to grow tired and bored with the story when it doesn’t involve someone you love,” Jenkins said. “He may not murder again, but he will offend again.”

It was possible, everyone conceded, that Brianna’s killer had already offended again—but in a different locale. If he had committed sexual assaults elsewhere, the link to his DNA would eventually show up—it was just too bad that his DNA had not already given the detectives a name. Everyone associated with the case, with the likely exception of the killer, was a supporter of DNA technology.

John Walsh had talked about it often, and he was one of the main leaders on the bandwagon when many in law enforcement were trying to establish a national DNA database years before CODIS became a reality. Even with CODIS in place—which was intended, initially, to be used to index sex offenders, but was later expanded to include all felony offenders—there was still much work that remained to be done. Walsh, along with countless others, believed that DNA processing needed to be a major law enforcement priority.

“Wouldn’t you want to know if the person who raped you was a serial rapist or criminal on the loose?” Walsh asked rhetorically. “We need to enter evidence from rape kits into the national database.... We are also working so that every person accused of a felony would have to submit their DNA. It’s something that should have been done years ago.... We are . . . finding that due to staffing shortages or lack of funding, that parolees are out there committing murders and no one made the link because their DNA was not yet in the system. It really needs to be a state and federal priority.”

When Walsh’s son, Adam, was murdered in 1981, “there was no DNA [technology],” he said. Walsh said that the main suspect was in prison, and the FBI had said that they would gladly test a piece of bloody carpeting found in his car. However, the Hollywood, Florida, police had lost the evidence, according to Walsh.

“It was a terrible travesty,” he said. The suspect in the Adam Walsh case recanted his confession at one point, but Walsh and the authorities would have known if he was actually the person who had murdered Adam if DNA technology could have been used at that time.

“We’ve never gotten justice,” Walsh said. “We had worked to get all states to collect the DNA of every felon. When we first did it in Florida, within six months, eighty cases were solved and eleven people were freed. DNA convicts the guilty and frees the innocent.”

Brianna’s family agreed; and although they did not know it yet, they would later find themselves working with legislators to change and broaden DNA legislation nationally in order to create a more consistent and complete database that could better serve the needs of law enforcement.

Chapter 12

Once again, time began to pass quickly for many people in the community, but not for Brianna’s family or for the investigators who were trying to identify her killer and bring him to justice. The remainder of July and most of August 2008 passed uneventfully as the citizens of Reno, Nevada, went about their business and tried to move on without constantly looking over their shoulders. They no longer cowered in fear that the serial-rapist-turned-murderer was lurking somewhere nearby, waiting for his next victim of opportunity. A new school year had begun at UNR a week before Labor Day, and many of the returning students were reminded of the Reno attacker and Brianna’s murderer. However, many of the incoming new students, particularly those from out of town, did not have the same sense of trepidation as the returning students, who had been enrolled at the time Brianna had been kidnapped.

After everything that had occurred during the previous school year, UNR officials decided to approve a nearly twenty-one-minute video, “Take Back the Night,” which demonstrated self-defense for females and showed them that they had the power to defend themselves and avoid becoming a victim. Produced by Jack Sutton, a Reno optometrist and Emmy-winning producer, the video was filmed on the UNR campus and in local apartments. It featured students and members of student government, many of whom demonstrated safety tips. The student actors also showed how they could easily become involved in a dangerous situation and be attacked simply because they were not paying attention to their surroundings. University police and self-defense instructors also played a large part in the making of the DVD, demonstrating how being prepared can often serve as the best defense against an attacker. Such preparations, they said, included carrying a whistle, staying alert, and looking around often. Eliminating or limiting the use of distracting elements, such as iPods and cell phones, while out and about, was also recommended. The video served to remind nearly everyone in Reno of the potential danger that existed from the still-at-large perpetrator and others like him—criminals who might be out there, waiting for an opportunity to attack. It was received well by the UNR students. They and the other residents in the UNR neighborhoods tried to remain cautious while they did their best to make it business as usual as the new academic year began.

 

 

On Labor Day, September 1, 2008, Brianna’s family launched another blue ribbon campaign, “Tie a Ribbon for Bri Day.” The effort was, of course, aimed at keeping Brianna’s murder in the forefront of the minds of area citizens, and served as a reminder that her killer was still out there. Two months later, on Saturday, November 1, 2008, Brianna’s mother, family, and friends opened the Bring Bri Justice Foundation, bringing Bridgette Denison’s goal to support crime victims to realization. The plan was to use their energy to help others avoid facing the same sort of horrifying tragedy they had experienced.

Barbara Zunino, Brianna’s maternal grandmother, said that the family was very outgoing, and that was what had kept them motivated and made them stronger.

“You just have to do it,” she said. “You can cry the whole time or you can get mad. I got mad.”

“We’ll be working hard to save other people,” Lauren Denison said.

The mission statement of the foundation read:
The Bring Bri Justice Foundation will use all available resources to help our community and their families by raising awareness about violent crimes, personal safety, and ensuring justice is served.

The foundation’s new website stated that the organization’s current focus was on DNA legislation by assisting in finding funding for the currently
un
funded DNA laws in Nevada, to aid in broadening the sampling of DNA to include all those
arrested
for felonies—not just those who were convicted—and to assist in funding the backlog of samples already taken in the state of Nevada. Also listed was the foundation’s strong interest in changing and broadening DNA legislation nationally in order to create a consistent database to aid law enforcement.

Valerie Van Antwerp said that the foundation wanted to “do everything in our power to make sure this doesn’t happen to another family, and one really good way to stop that from happening is to have as much DNA in the database as possible.”

Another project of the foundation were their Brianna Guides, which were kits designed to help people who were faced with the tragedy of having to search for missing loved ones. The packages of material included directions for setting up a recovery center, a media guide, instructions for the most effective law enforcement communication, and community contacts for both volunteers and aid. Thanks to the Brianna Guides, the experience garnered by the foundation members would be an invaluable aid to others who found themselves in the same position as Brianna’s family and friends.

The foundation also had a strong commitment to community personal safety. It planned to produce safety-awareness kits, to hold community-safety events, and to promote campus-escort services and the use of student-courtesy vans.

Board members of the foundation included Brianna’s mother, Bridgette, who served as president, and her aunt Lauren Denison, center coordinator, plus five other friends and family members, all dedicated to creating a meaningful and lasting memorial to Brianna through the work of the foundation. The outpouring of love from the community would be in their hearts forever, Lauren Denison said, quoting from a Maya Angelou poem, “‘If you find it in your heart to care for someone else, you will have succeeded.’

“The community has succeeded,” Lauren said.

A touching statement from the Zunino-Denison family was included on the website that was set up for the foundation. Saying that on January 20, 2008, she had become not only their own beloved daughter, but the daughter of the entire community, the statement read:

When the foundation held its grand opening and appreciation celebration, it was planned as both an introduction of the organization to the community and a demonstration of the family’s thanks to the people of northern Nevada for all that so many had done in the search for Brianna. The celebration was an all-out, family-friendly event, which included games and giveaways, raffles, face painting, balloons, a bounce house, live music, food, and drink. Neatly tucked away among the activities that were strictly for fun was a fingerprinting stand. Scores of parents took advantage of the opportunity to have their children fingerprinted as an identification aid. The focus of the day was on safety awareness, and it was free and open to the public. The friends and family who made up the foundation were determined to remain highly positive and proactive about preventing other cases like Brianna’s. Because of their attitude, and also because of the enormous community support the case had generated, the day was hailed as a great success.

 

 

It would seem later that the foundation’s well-received grand opening was not the only thing that would be instrumental in getting justice for Brianna Denison. As fate would have it, on that very same day when the BBJF was holding its grand opening, the Reno Police Department received a tip on their Secret Witness line from an anonymous caller who claimed to have information that might prove useful to the investigation into Brianna’s murder. The caller said that a man named James Michael Biela had been exhibiting some strange behavior. The caller claimed that Biela fit some of the suspect criteria that police had developed in the various cases over the past year and had made public about the man they were looking for. According to information that was later made public, the Secret Witness caller was a friend of the woman who was Biela’s girlfriend at the time, Carleen Harmon.

Carleen, the caller said, had supposedly mentioned to her friend that she had found women’s thong underwear in Biela’s truck sometime in the past year during the time frame in which the detectives were interested. After all, they believed that their suspect harbored a fetish for women’s underwear, and anyone matching such a profile would naturally become a primary suspect, “a number one priority,” in their investigation.

The investigators, of course, had no idea at this point whether the tipster had become somehow emotionally moved to call the tip line because of publicity surrounding the opening of the Bring Bri Justice Foundation, or whether the tipster had been planning the call for some time and that the timing had merely been a coincidence. In retrospect, however, the cops were very grateful for the tip because it turned out to be their big break in the case. Finally here was the break that they had long been waiting and hoping for—and might have still been a long time coming if it had not been for the Secret Witness Program call.

 

 

On beginning to check out the tip, Detective Adam Wygnanski learned that James Biela had received training in plumbing and pipe fitting and was employed by J.W. McClenahan Co., a commercial-plumbing company. In February 2008, he had been working on a project at Charles River Laboratories. On February 15, the day Brianna’s body was found, he asked for a voluntary layoff from that employment, allegedly so that he could move up to Washington for employment on a project known as the Moses Lake Power Plant. His friend and coworker, John Latham, said Biela seemed frustrated and antsy. Around ten or eleven that morning, John said, Biela had demanded a layoff.

Because the news, at that time, had just begun reporting that Brianna’s body had been found, the two men talked about it for a bit. At that time, Biela said, “The bitch probably had it coming.”

John Latham, who was the company’s foreman, said he didn’t think much about the odd comment; he said he thought it was probably a joke. He gave Biela his check and didn’t see or hear from him for several months. In the fall, Biela returned to the area and began to work again for J.W. McClenahan at the Ritz-Carlton at Northstar ski resort.

Detective Wygnanski went to Biela’s home in Sparks and found no one there, so he left a business card asking Biela to contact him. Biela did call him a short time later.

“My suspicion began with that phone call,” Wygnanski later told a reporter. “I told him we were conducting an investigation and I needed a few minutes of his time.” They agreed to get together after Biela left work, arranging to meet at a Wendy’s parking lot, since Biela didn’t want to have the meeting at his home. “I didn’t tell him what it was about, and he hung up. I thought it was strange that he never asked me what the investigation was about. If the police come to your house and leave a card that says they’re from the Robbery/Homicide Unit, wouldn’t you want to know what it was about?”

When they met, Wygnanski explained to Biela that he was working the Brianna Denison case, and Biela’s name had come up, along with a number of other male subjects. They talked about the Secret Witness tip and Wygnanski confirmed that Biela was white, twenty-seven years old, and matched the general physical characteristics of the suspect who had been described by Virgie Chin. It was almost uncanny how much Biela resembled the sketch drawn by Detective Villa in January, shortly after Brianna disappeared. At one point, Wygnanski asked Biela for a voluntary saliva swab that could be used as a DNA reference sample to be compared to the suspect DNA profile developed during the investigation so that he could eliminate him as a suspect. Not surprisingly, Biela refused to provide the swab, saying that he had no faith in the accuracy of DNA testing.

“He said he had no involvement and refused to give me a DNA sample,” Wygnanski said. “He said he didn’t trust it. I told him it was a quick way to eliminate himself, and that we had a lot to do and would like to move on with the investigation.”

Wygnanski wrote in his report that Biela had appeared to be very nervous during their meeting. Biela would not make eye contact with him. He also noted that the suspect was sweating and was fidgety. Before concluding the preliminary interview with his subject, Wygnanski confronted him with the fact that he had learned that Biela had worked as a pipe fitter on a construction project on the UNR campus, which Biela had promptly denied.

Wygnanski also had learned that Biela was the registered owner and frequent driver of a 2006 four-wheel-drive Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, with an extended cab, with a gray interior, during the time frame of the sexual assaults and Brianna’s disappearance. Biela, however, continued to deny that he had anything to do with Brianna’s murder. Wygnanski had no choice at that time but to let him go. Biela also told the detective that his girlfriend, Carleen, could provide him with an alibi for his whereabouts on the day that Brianna had disappeared.

“After my meeting with him, I was convinced he was the guy,” Wygnanski said.