Reno Family Pleads for Help in Search

[January 24, 2008]  RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Frustration was building Thursday in the search for a 19-year-old college student who mysteriously vanished five days ago.

Authorities say they have few leads and little evidence as to the whereabouts of Brianna Denison, last seen sleeping on a couch at a friend's house.

Denison's mother and aunt asked for people to keep their eyes open, saying Brianna was responsible and serious about her college career.

"We know that someone will see her and that they will get her back to us," said Lauren Denison, the teen's aunt, on NBC's "Today" show Thursday.

Police questioned a man who gave a ride home to Denison's friend the night Denison disappeared from the home near the UNR campus, but investigators said he is not a suspect.

"Basically, Brianna has disappeared. She has fallen off the face of the Earth," said Adam Garcia, campus police chief at the University of Nevada, Reno.

"From our perspective, we don't have any credible leads in which to follow up at this point," he told a Reno radio station Wednesday night.

Denison was last seen at 4 a.m. Sunday. Police said she was sleeping near an unlocked glass door after a night of partying. When her friends awoke later that morning, she was gone -- but her clothes, purse and cell phone were left behind.

Police with search dogs have canvassed the neighborhood a half-mile north of the downtown casino district since Monday but have found no sign of the young woman.

"All the indicators are that Brianna has been abducted. It is our sincere hope that she'll come walking in the door any minute, but the longer it goes, the less the chances are of that occurring," said Ron Holladay, a Reno police commander.

Two of her friends, Jessica Deal and K.T. Hunter, said they started making breakfast Sunday morning when they saw Denison's personal items.

"We started piecing together later that hour that everything was still there," Deal said. "There is no way she left voluntarily."

Detectives were awaiting test results on whether a silver dollar-sized stain on the pillow Denison was using is blood.

Denison, who grew up in Reno, is a student at Santa Barbara City College in Santa Barbara, Calif. Friends and family say she was at home over the winter break and had planned to return to school this week.

[Associated Press; By SANDRA CHEREB]

Associated Press Writer Sandra Chereb contributed to this report.

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