Denison searchers hopeful

RENO -- As the search for her enters a fourth week, family and friends are still clinging to hope for the safe return of a 19-year-old college student.

More than 100 volunteers on Sunday combed areas around Reno for any sign of Brianna Denison, who police say was abducted Jan. 20 by a serial rapist linked by DNA to a string of attacks near the University of Nevada, Reno campus.

Claudette Springmeyer, a spokeswoman for the volunteer search center based at Circus Circus Hotel & Casino, estimated 1,700 volunteers have searched a 100-square-mile area around Reno over the past three weeks.

"We just hope that instead of going out and looking for her, the volunteers will be able to join the family at a celebration when she comes home," Springmeyer said Sunday. "The family is holding onto hope and appreciates everybody's efforts."

A group of students from Sierra Nevada College in nearby Incline Village had planned to join the search, which will continue on a daily basis as long as interest remains high, organizers said.

"A lot of students are just really excited they can do something to help the situation," Liz Hernandez, an administrative assistant for the college's student affairs office, told the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.

Denison, a student at Santa Barbara (Calif.) City College who was visiting her hometown over winter break, was last seen sleeping on a couch at a friend's off-campus rental house after she attended a party that was held at a Reno casino.

Police have said DNA evidence links the suspected kidnapping to two other attacks on women near the university late last year, and that an earlier on-campus attack also could be related.