Denison killer’s DNA not found in backlog of samples

RENO -- Police continued to search Friday for a suspect in the slaying of 19-year-old Brianna Denison, a day after authorities announced that her killer's DNA was not among a backlog of nearly 3,000 samples that was recently processed.

In February, Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley asked for public donations to eliminate the county's backlog of unprocessed DNA samples, saying it might contain a sample of the killer's DNA.

After receiving nearly $300,000 in donations, authorities were finally able to process the samples.

While the Denison killer's DNA was not detected, the other samples linked 30 unsolved cases to known offenders, crime laboratory officials said at a news conference Thursday.

They included one case of sexual assault and one case of a weapons violation. The rest were for burglaries and robberies.