19-year-old vanishes from friend’s home

RENO -- Investigators searched door-to-door Tuesday for clues into what happened to 19-year-old Brianna Denison, who vanished from a friend's home on the edge of the University of Nevada, Reno, campus.

The FBI joined the investigation Tuesday as search and rescue teams, along with helicopters and police K9 units, combed the area near the home where Denison last was seen around 4 a.m. Sunday.

Detectives were awaiting test results on whether a silver dollar-sized stain on the pillow she was using is blood. They also were searching for a man who gave a ride early Sunday morning to a friend of Denison who lived in the home where she was staying. They said the driver was not a suspect in the possible kidnapping.

"We've established a 24-hour tip line and we are receiving info on that tip line," Reno police spokesman Steve Frady said Tuesday.

Frady said Denison, 5 feet tall and weighing 100 pounds, "has an extremely good relationship with her family, so this is really quite out of the ordinary for her."

Denison, a student at Santa Barbara City College who grew up in Reno, was home for the winter break.

Friends and family said she was planning to return to college this week in Santa Barbara, Calif., where she is studying psychology.

Police believe she was kidnapped while she slept on a couch at her friend's home a half-mile north of the downtown casino district and two blocks west of the UNR campus.

After a night of attending a rap concert and venues associated with a weekend snowboarding event, police said, Denison fell asleep on a couch near an unlocked glass door, using a 2-foot tall teddy bear as an extra pillow. The brown bear had white and multicolored balloons on its belly.

When the friend awoke, Denison and the teddy bear were gone. Her purse, cell phone and clothes, including two pairs of shoes, were undisturbed.

"We have not come up with any other clues, any of the items or anything that would lead us to Brianna at this time," Reno police Lt. Ron Holladay said.

Her friend, K.T. Hunter, said the couch is against the wall of her own bedroom, where she was sleeping with her dog.

Hunter said she didn't hear any noise, and the dog never barked.

Hunter said Denison was sober the night she vanished, and had planned to pack Monday to go back to school.