RENO, Nev., Jan. 25, 2008

Cops Widen Search For Missing Reno Teen

Area Sex Offenders To Be Questioned, But Police Still Have No Solid Leads On Kidnapper

  • Play CBS Video Video Search For Missing Nevada Teen

    Police suspect foul play in a female college student's disappearance while visiting friends at the University of Nevada. A kidnapping investigation is underway. Julie Chen reports.

  • Video No New Clues For Missing Teen

    With no new clues in the case, police will be contacting nearly 100 sex offenders living in the area where Nevada teen Brianna Denison went missing. Julie Chen speaks to Brianna's brother and cousin.

  • This undated picture made available via The Reno Gazette-Journal shows Brianna Denison. Reno police said Monday, Jan. 21, 2008 they believe the young woman, who disappeared from a friend's home early Sunday morning, was kidnapped. Denison, 19, was last seen around 4 a.m. Sunday when she went to sleep on a couch at a friend's home near the University of Nevada, Reno.

    This undated picture made available via The Reno Gazette-Journal shows Brianna Denison. Reno police said Monday, Jan. 21, 2008 they believe the young woman, who disappeared from a friend's home early Sunday morning, was kidnapped. Denison, 19, was last seen around 4 a.m. Sunday when she went to sleep on a couch at a friend's home near the University of Nevada, Reno.  (AP Photo/The Reno Gazette-Journal)

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(CBS/AP)  With no suspects and little evidence, police investigating the suspected kidnapping of a young Reno woman appealed again to friends and neighbors to offer up even the most "inconsequential" information they may have about her mysterious disappearance six days ago.

Police said earlier Thursday they planned to interview 93 registered sex offenders who live within a mile of the Reno home where Denison last was seen. Holladay said only one of those was a "Tier 1" offender - the most likely to be a threat - and that he had been contacted and ruled out as a suspect.

Police say they will contact all 1,700 sex offenders in the county, hoping for any lead to help find Brianna, reports CBS' The Early Show.

"At this point in time we do not have anything that points to a specific suspect," Reno police commander Ron Holladay told about 150 people who gathered for an update Thursday night at the student union of the University of Nevada, Reno.

Brianna Denison, 19, 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 UNR campus, about a half-mile from the downtown casino district.

Denison, a freshman at Santa Barbara City College who graduated from Reno High School last 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.

"She doesn't just disappear," her cousin Ashley Zunino told The Early Show. "Someone always knows where she is."

Police with search dogs have canvassed the neighborhood daily since then. They expanded the effort Thursday to nearby foothills of the Sierra where they'd not looked before and encouraged local residents at the evening forum to continue to come forward with any information that might help find her.

"It is very important," Holladay said. "It is really the little things that may seem inconsequential to you at the time - a person walking in the neighborhood who doesn't belong. A person who hangs out that doesn't go into a residence. A person watching you when you go out."

Police have ruled out as suspects Denison's boyfriend, who reportedly sent her text messages from Oregon in the hours before her disappearance, as well as a man who gave her friend a ride to the home from a Reno casino that early morning.

Holladay said they still were awaiting results of tests on a stain on a pillow on the couch to see if it was blood - as investigators suspect - and whether it matched Denison's type. He said there did not appear to be "any similarities" between the facts surrounding her disappearance and two unsolved cases of sexual attacks on women in the neighborhood in November and December.

© MVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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by complexities January 25, 2008 3:54 PM EST
The concerns of those here are what words can be typed in the comments section and someone commenting something about things staying in Nevada (was that supposed to make any kind of sense?)?

A girl has just vanished. No word from her. Foul play is suspected. This is very much out of character for her. Her parents, friends, and other loved ones must be beside themselves with worry.

I hope so much they find her safe and sound. I realize the odds dwindle with each passing day, but I cannot give up on hope for Brianna Denison or her loved ones. I really feel for the nightmare they all must be going through.
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by truthspeake2 January 25, 2008 2:50 PM EST
Whatever happens in Nevada, should STAY in Nevada!
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by yoopermom January 25, 2008 2:00 PM EST
But they can use it in thier story!
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by xounds January 25, 2008 1:12 PM EST
and what prudes CBS turns out to be, blanking out the word s_e_x while putting trashy shows glorifying the same all over the network.
Reply to this comment
by xounds January 25, 2008 1:11 PM EST
93 registered *** offenders just within a mile of teen housing.

What a sick place.
Reply to this comment

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