Police canvass neighborhoods for missing Reno teen

RENO " Investigators canvassed neighborhoods door-to-door Tuesday, searching for clues into the whereabouts of a young woman who vanished with little trace from a couch she was sleeping on at a friend's home on the edge of a university campus.

The FBI joined the investigation today as search and rescue teams, along with helicopters and police K9 units, combed the area near the home where 19-year-old Brianna Denison last was seen early 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 " a woman who lived in the home where she was staying. They said he was a person of interest, not a suspect.

"We've established a 24-hour tip line and we are receiving info on that tip line," Reno police spokesman Steve Frady said Tuesday. "Detectives are following up on those leads and police are continuing to canvas the neighborhood, speaking to the neighbors and developing other information."

Police believe Denison, a student at Santa Barbara City College who grew up in Reno and was visiting home over the winter break, 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 campus of the University of Nevada, Reno. She last was seen around 4 a.m. Sunday.

In addition to an FBI agent, two investigators from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children joined in the search. Frady said they would concentrate on Rancho San Rafael Park near the home this afternoon before a snowstorm was expected to hit the area this night.

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

After a night of attending a rap concert and venues associated with a weekend snowboarding event, police said Denison stayed at the home shared by friends and other students.

She slept 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.

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.

Family and friends described the 5-foot tall, 100 pound woman as caring and responsible.

"It gives us a little bit of fear because that is the type of person Brianna is, she would be contacting us if she could," her aunt, Lauren Denison, told reporters Monday night.

Police said they want to talk to a man who gave another woman and a friend a ride that night from the Sands Hotel and Casino downtown to the home Denison was staying at.

The man is described as white, possibly of Latin descent and about 45 years old. Police said he was well dressed and of medium build.

Security surveillance tapes from the Sands showed him driving a large beige or light brown Chevrolet or GMC sport utility vehicle.

The man is not considered a suspect, but investigators said they want to talk to him about whether he saw anything that night.