More than 3,000
mourners gathered Saturday night to remember a
19-year-old college student believed killed by a serial
rapist as a loving, caring woman with many friends and
a winning personality.
Brianna Denison's
body was found in a Reno field on February 15. Police
said she was abducted January 20 and strangled by a man
linked to two earlier attacks on the edge of the
University of Nevada, Reno.
Her cousin,
Spencer Terry, said Denison's spirit would continue to live
in the hearts of friends and family.
''Could anybody
have asked for a prettier face and a more beautiful soul?
I don't think so,'' Terry said.
Friend Danielle
DeTomaso said Denison embraced all kinds of people.
''She knew people
from all walks of life,'' DeTomaso said. ''She was the
glue that held all of us together.''
Denison's aunt,
Lauren Denison, reminded the crowd at the Reno-Sparks
Convention Center that ''we still have a job to do: bring
Brianna's killer to justice.''
The sophomore at
Santa Barbara City College in California was visiting
her hometown over winter break when she was abducted while
she slept on a couch in a friend's home just off the
Reno campus.
Outside the
memorial service several members of a fundamentalist Kansas
church faced off against more than 150 counterdemonstrators.
The standoff,
which occurred during a fierce snowstorm, ended peacefully
when police escorted the three protesters associated with
the Westboro Baptist Church away from the convention
center, Sgt. Chris Lange said.
''There were a
couple of eggs thrown at them and that's about it,'' Lange
said.
Members of the
Topeka, Kan., church also picket military funerals out of
a belief that the Iraq war is a punishment for the nation's
tolerance of homosexuality. Last month the church
announced it would protest the service for Denison
because it believes God hates Reno.
Church officials
said they targeted the city because local law
enforcement officers failed to protect church members who
picketed a January 26 memorial service there for a
soldier who was killed in Iraq.
On Saturday the
three protesters waved placards reading ''Pray for More
Dead Kids,'' ''Don't Worship the Dead,'' and ''God Sent the
Killer.''
Counterdemonstrators said they strongly disapprove of the
church's message and tactic of picketing outside
memorial services.
''For them to
come out and target tragedies like this, I don't think it's
right,'' Greg Bailor Jr. said. ''There's enough emotions as
it is.'' (AP)
