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Death penalty sought in killing of Brianna Denison
Last Modified: Friday, January 9, 2009 at 7:39 a.m.
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against James Biela, a construction worker charged with raping two women and killing a Reno coed who disappeared from a friend's couch about a year ago.
Biela, 27, is scheduled to stand trial next year for the death of Brianna Denison, formerly of Mendocino, who vanished a Jan. 20, 2008 from a friend's rented house near the University of Nevada, Reno.
Her body was found 26 days later hidden beneath a discarded Christmas tree in a vacant lot in a southeast Reno business district.
An autopsy showed she was raped and strangled.
Biela also is charged with raping a woman in a parking garage in October 2007, and kidnapping and sexually assaulting another woman two months later.
All the attacks occurred on or near the UNR campus.
Biela, who studied martial arts and served briefly in the Marines, is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and three counts of sexual assault.
-- Associated Press
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