lived, and she just had it together more than other kids.”
Now that Brianna was never coming home again, she said, the only choice she had was to take things as they came, one day at a time. Bridgette also said that she planned to keep herself busy with her efforts to find Brianna’s killer, and to bring into being her idea about a Bring Bri Justice Foundation (BBJF), designed to provide support and assistance to other families of crime victims.
Bridgette said that she intended to make something positive come from her daughter’s murder by fighting for tougher laws to keep repeat sex offenders behind bars, and also to work for changes so that crime labs would receive adequate funding for processing DNA from offenders. Some of that work would be accomplished through the BBJF, of which she would become president. The foundation was a goal that she needed to keep alive.
Bridgette’s top priority, however, was catching the perpetrator who murdered Brianna.
“We are limited in what we can do to catch this guy,” she said. “But I am not going to stop until I find him. I can’t imagine one more family going through this situation. I am putting my heart and soul into finding and catching him. . . . If he’s not here near our campus, I can tell you he’s at another one.... He is a really twisted, crazy man, who is still out there. I . . . do not believe he is in control of himself and won’t do this again. I am amazed he hasn’t done this again already.... We are going to bring Bri justice, so maybe she can rest.”
Bridgette expressed her appreciation to the community for their support during such a difficult time, but she admitted that it was often difficult for her every time she saw someone wearing a blue ribbon. Despite that emotional difficulty, she said, she hoped that the community would keep remembering Brianna and would continue to support law enforcement until the killer was identified and apprehended.
“It feels really good,” she said of the community support. “I feel like I’m not alone. It really feels like she became Reno’s daughter. At least ninety percent of the people in this town have children and probably feel like it could have happened to them. And it could happen to another girl, if he’s not caught soon.”
For the moment, however, Bridgette was making plans to bury Brianna next to her father on March 29, Brianna’s birthday. She would have been twenty.
Chapter 10
By the third week in April 2008, investigators returned to the subject of the pair of black Pink Panther thong underwear that had been found with Brianna’s body, containing the DNA of an unknown man and an unknown woman. The authorities again made a public appeal during a press conference for the owner of the thongs to come forward and help them with their case.
Lieutenant Robert McDonald said that the investigators believed that the intertwined panties had not been “posed” by the suspect, which would likely have been the case if he had wanted investigators to find them. Instead, McDonald said, the detectives believed that he might have dropped them out of his pocket accidentally as he moved Brianna’s body. This theory would fit with the police contention that their man was a panty fetishist, who liked to collect his victims’ underwear. If he had left them there on purpose, the authorities believed, he would have used them to leave the investigators a message—if for no other reason than to taunt them.
“Those panties came from somewhere,” the lieutenant said. “They obviously belong to someone. Some woman is missing those. We’ve been hoping the person would come forward.... Did they come from another of the man’s victims of an unreported assault? Did he steal them in a burglary or from someone at a Laundromat? Did the owner once date this guy? Somehow, this woman came into contact with the killer. If she comes forward, it may be the break we need.”
McDonald said that there were a number of
Now that Brianna was never coming home again, she said, the only choice she had was to take things as they came, one day at a time. Bridgette also said that she planned to keep herself busy with her efforts to find Brianna’s killer, and to bring into being her idea about a Bring Bri Justice Foundation (BBJF), designed to provide support and assistance to other families of crime victims.
Bridgette said that she intended to make something positive come from her daughter’s murder by fighting for tougher laws to keep repeat sex offenders behind bars, and also to work for changes so that crime labs would receive adequate funding for processing DNA from offenders. Some of that work would be accomplished through the BBJF, of which she would become president. The foundation was a goal that she needed to keep alive.
Bridgette’s top priority, however, was catching the perpetrator who murdered Brianna.
“We are limited in what we can do to catch this guy,” she said. “But I am not going to stop until I find him. I can’t imagine one more family going through this situation. I am putting my heart and soul into finding and catching him. . . . If he’s not here near our campus, I can tell you he’s at another one.... He is a really twisted, crazy man, who is still out there. I . . . do not believe he is in control of himself and won’t do this again. I am amazed he hasn’t done this again already.... We are going to bring Bri justice, so maybe she can rest.”
Bridgette expressed her appreciation to the community for their support during such a difficult time, but she admitted that it was often difficult for her every time she saw someone wearing a blue ribbon. Despite that emotional difficulty, she said, she hoped that the community would keep remembering Brianna and would continue to support law enforcement until the killer was identified and apprehended.
“It feels really good,” she said of the community support. “I feel like I’m not alone. It really feels like she became Reno’s daughter. At least ninety percent of the people in this town have children and probably feel like it could have happened to them. And it could happen to another girl, if he’s not caught soon.”
For the moment, however, Bridgette was making plans to bury Brianna next to her father on March 29, Brianna’s birthday. She would have been twenty.
Chapter 10
By the third week in April 2008, investigators returned to the subject of the pair of black Pink Panther thong underwear that had been found with Brianna’s body, containing the DNA of an unknown man and an unknown woman. The authorities again made a public appeal during a press conference for the owner of the thongs to come forward and help them with their case.
Lieutenant Robert McDonald said that the investigators believed that the intertwined panties had not been “posed” by the suspect, which would likely have been the case if he had wanted investigators to find them. Instead, McDonald said, the detectives believed that he might have dropped them out of his pocket accidentally as he moved Brianna’s body. This theory would fit with the police contention that their man was a panty fetishist, who liked to collect his victims’ underwear. If he had left them there on purpose, the authorities believed, he would have used them to leave the investigators a message—if for no other reason than to taunt them.
“Those panties came from somewhere,” the lieutenant said. “They obviously belong to someone. Some woman is missing those. We’ve been hoping the person would come forward.... Did they come from another of the man’s victims of an unreported assault? Did he steal them in a burglary or from someone at a Laundromat? Did the owner once date this guy? Somehow, this woman came into contact with the killer. If she comes forward, it may be the break we need.”
McDonald said that there were a number of
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