Teen missing after rap concert
RENO, Nev. — The family of a 19-year-old college student who mysteriously vanished from a Reno, Nev., home early Sunday morning is appealing to the public for information leading to her return, while police continue a nationwide search for her.
Brianna Denison, a student at Santa Barbara City College, was staying with friends near the University of Nevada, Reno. She was last seen at about 4 a.m. Sunday, when she returned home from a party and went to sleep on the couch wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt.
A spot of what appeared to be blood was found on her pillow. Police have sent it to the lab for testing. The couch where Denison was sleeping was in front of an unlocked glass door. Investigators believe she may have been abducted.
Denison is a psychology student at Santa Barbara City College in Santa Barbara, Calif., and was back in her hometown of Reno for winter break.
In the hours before her disappearance, Denison had been party-hopping at venues associated with a weekend snowboarding event, including attending a rap concert at the Sands Hotel and Casino.
Police were searching for a 45-year-old man who gave a resident of the house where Denison was staying a ride home after one of the parties. The young woman had been trying to hail a cab when she approached the man at the casino and asked if he could drop her off. He was driving a tan-colored Chevy or GMC Suburban, but he did not come into the house.
Denison’s family is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to her safe return.
“From day one, it was love at first sight,” her grandfather Bob Zunino told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “This little girl didn’t forget birthdays, or a little note or anniversaries. … If she’s with someone now, we want her back. We want her back.”
Police are hoping the media attention brought to the case will encourage anyone who may have seen something to report it, according to the newspaper.
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