Dateline: Secrets Uncovered- What happened to Brianna Denison?

Brianna Denison was a college student from The University of Nevada, Reno who mysteriously disappeared from her friend's couch. She was found almost a month later in a field, brutally r*ped and murdered.

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered is a series that explores such chilling cases of murder in detail. Brianna Denison's story is revised in episode 40 of season 10 of the series. The episode, titled The Night Brianna Vanished, first aired on January 12, 2022. It is slated to re-air on Oxygen on November 2, 2023, at 10 PM EST.

The official synopsis of the episode reads:

"When a college student vanishes, investigators launch a massive manhunt and quickly discover she is not the kidnapper's first victim; police are inundated with leads before an anonymous tipster divulges a secret that helps crack the case."

Let us take a look into what actually happened in this mysterious and brutal incident surrounding the young girl from the University of Nevada.

Trigger Warning: The article has mentioned violence and r*pe.

---

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered - Uncovering Brianna Denison's murder

Brianna Denison with her brother Brighton (image via AP)

During her break from Santa Barbara City College, 19-year-old Brianna Denison traveled back to her hometown of Reno, Nevada, to visit with old friends.

Before retiring for the night at one of their houses in the wee hours of January 20, 2008, the gang attended a performance and made their way to a late-night hot spot. Brianna dozed off on the living room couch, but she was gone when her friend K.T. Hunter woke up later that morning.

The only sign of Brianna's presence was a bloodstain on the pillow she was lying on. The fact that Brianna had left behind every item she owned, including her shoes, clothes, pocketbook, and cell phone, added to the mystery.

Hunter dialed 911 while in a panic and spoke with Brianna's mother, Bridgette Zunino-Denison, who said she recognized her rule-abiding daughter's abduction was "not good" right away.

As per the Reno Gazette-Journal, tests verified that blood on the pillow was Brianna's, and detectives found what seemed to be bite marks on the pillow, indicating that Brianna had been roughly pushed into the pillow before she vanished. Investigators also discovered touch DNA from an unidentified person on the rear doorknob.

---

Brianna Denison was found s*xually assaulted and murdered almost a month after she went missing

The location where Brianna Denison's body was found (Image via Murderpedia)

According to reports from CBS news, detectives started searching the University of Nevada, Reno region on January 21, 2008, in an attempt to find Denison. The search operations were also aided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Subsequently, investigators discovered that the other DNA discovered on the night Briianna vanished was connected to at least two prior s*xual assaults in the same vicinity, which occurred on November 13 and December 16, 2007.

Later in February, a guy who was taking a quick detour across a field in a south Reno industrial park came across Brianna's body. It was discovered that Brianna was killed by strangulation with a pair of underwear after being s*xually assaulted.

November 25, 2008, saw the arrest of 27-year-old James Michael Biela, a former marine and Sparks construction worker. He was arrested following a tip from a secret witness.

In 2010, he was convicted guilty of s*xually abusing two other college students and r*ping and killing Denison. He received four consecutive life sentences for the r*pe of the other two women and the death penalty for the murder of Denison.