Police urge patience in missing woman case
RENO -- With no suspects and little evidence, police asked the public for patience as they investigate the suspected kidnapping of a young Reno woman and appealed to friends and neighbors again Friday to offer up even the most "inconsequential" information they might have about her mysterious disappearance six days ago.
Crime lab technicians have yet to determine whether a stain on a pillow at the suspected crime scene is the blood of Brianna Denison, Reno police spokesman Steve Frady said.
The 19-year-old college student hasn't been seen since about 4 a.m. on Sunday when she went to sleep on a couch at the home of a friend a few blocks from the University of Nevada, Reno campus, about a half-mile from the downtown casino district.
"We suspect it is blood," Reno police commander Ron Holladay said. "We are in the process of determining if it is Brianna's blood. It could be somebody else's blood. ... We're hopeful that will help us a little bit."
Denison, a freshman at Santa Barbara City College who graduated from Reno High School in the spring, was staying with friends who reported her missing about 9 a.m. because her cell phone, purse, shoes and other personal items were left behind.
"At this point in time we do not have anything that points to a specific suspect," Holladay said. He told a crowd of about 150 people who gathered for an update on the probe at the UNR student union Thursday night that people must be wondering why they haven't made the kind of progress fictitious detectives do on the "CSI" television series.
"Everything gets solved in 60 minutes or less on 'CSI.' That is not reality for us," Holladay said. "We have obtained some evidence from the house. But forensic testing ... is something that takes a while, so you have to be a little patient with us."
About 300 people attended a candlelight vigil at her old school Thursday night in support of her family and law officers trying to find her.
