01x03 - RIP Bianca

[bunniefuu]

[keyboard clacking]

[mouse clicks]

[woman 1] Bianca Devins,
the influencer,

spread the message
of self-love.

[Young Shim] Bianca was
a beautiful, kind,
amazing soul.

[woman 2] She knew
she had a purpose,

and that was to help people.

But as an influencer
there will be people
who love you

and people who hate you
for no reason.

[Elizabeth]
It's the Wild West still.

There's no controlling it.

It's only going to get worse.

I'm sad.

[officer 1]
Bianca Michele Devins.

-[knocking on door]
-[Elizabeth] When the hate
steps off cyberspace...

-[officer 2]
Is your name Bianca?
-...into the real world,

[officer 3]
What are you doing, man?

[Elizabeth] ...it just becomes
ten times scarier.

[siren blaring]

[police chatter on radio]

[officer 2 speaking]

[officer 1 speaking]

[knocking at door]

[officer 2 speaking]
Is your name Bianca?

-[girl speaking]
-[officer 2 speaking]

[cell phone ringing]

[Kim Devins]
We were always together.

Bianca and I
were extremely close.

She always referred to me
as her best friend,

I mean, since the time
she could talk.

As a child, she was just
very easygoing, always happy.

I got pregnant with Bianca
very young. I was 17.

Always knew I wanted kids.

So to me it just happened
a little earlier
than expected.

Her father was a senior.

I don't think
that he was ready.

When he lived with us
he was a pretty good father.

When we split up
he was just nonexistent.

Growing up everyone said
how much she looked like
her father.

This picture she says,

"I finally look like you."

She always loved music,

and art.

Tried just about every sport.

-Bianca, there you go.
-[Frank Williams]
Yeah, good kick.

I remember taking her
to soccer games

and watching her play soccer.

Kick it to grandpa.

The whole team
following the ball.

I kicked it!

[Frank laughing]

Well, home was
in Utica, New York.

They came back
and lived with me

for a few years
after I was divorced,

and then they moved
a block and a half
down the road from me.

It was... It was just
a great time.

[Kim] Bianca referred
to my dad,

who she called Frankie,
as Superman.

He was always the one
to the rescue.

If, you know,
they needed anything
Frankie was there.

His cheeks were like roses.

His nose like a cherry.

She just had the most radiant,
beaming smile.

Beacon of light
that came from that smile.

We've been friends ever since
I can remember.

I was supposed to be born
on her birthday,

and she was supposed
o be born on my birthday.

Like, our due dates
were swapped.

We would always
combine our birthdays
'cause it was just easier.

We were always out,
like, playing in the backyard,

or we would pretend
that we were wizards.

And her little sister Liv
would just go along with it
and believe it all.

That's me, Liv, and Bianca.

[Kim] As a young child
she was very social.

She had a lot of friends.

When she got to about
7th grade

she kind of started
to self-isolate.

Something changed in her
where she had this really low
sense of self.

[Frank] As she got older
you could see the difficulties
that were coming about,

coping with other people.

Start of her
mental health issues.

Started to become noticeable.

I've often said jokingly
that 14 is not an age,

it's a diagnosis.

[Gianna Rosa] She didn't have
very many friends.

She didn't "fit in."

[Kim] Bianca started
in online communities
through Minecraft.

She would just have
group chats with people

she was playing
video games with.

And then as she got older,

she left
the video gaming behind

and just connected with people
on social media.

[Gianna] I didn't have
anything really to do with her
online presence.

I tried to, like,
bring my friends around

maybe to see
if that would help,

but she was just
always online.

Her social life
was her online life.

[Elizabeth]
When I was 15 or 16,

connected with Bianca
for the first time
on Instagram.

We both kind of had the same,

like, struggles
with being antisocial,

I guess, having trouble
making friends in real life...

...while still wanting
to express ourselves
as teenage girls.

She would express herself
through fashion, and art,

different ways that she
was too afraid to do
in real life.

She was a very kind person
who wanted to believe

in the best of everyone.

[Young Shim] I met Bianca
on Discord.

Just kind of, like,
a messaging platform.

It's target demographic
is anyone who's not cool
enough to be on Instagram.

It's the only reason
she was there was just to talk
and make friends.

We were still both kids when,
you know, we knew each other,

so it was kind of difficult
to go hang out,

especially with her being
in New York,

me being in Chicago.

So we'd FaceTime a whole bunch

and stay up real late.

I'd get in trouble.
She'd get in trouble
for doing so.

There was a lot to talk about.

But social media's definitely
the Wild West still.

Sometimes it would get
a little bit more serious.

More aggressive.

Like, a lot of emotional,
verbal abuse

among other, like,
gross tactics

to try to get attention.

Her way of dealing
with people in general,

she would always try to take
an approach of compassion.

Sometimes it did work,

and I was surprised
every time. [chuckles]

But sometimes
they felt threatened,

and they would
do something drastic.

[Kim] Bianca normally
slept in late.

For her not to be up
and moving at,

you know, 11:00 am
on a Sunday was normal.

Didn't expect her
to be awake yet.

Her little stepsister,

I think she was just looking
for something
in Bianca's room.

And she came back to us
and said, "I think BB's gone.

Kim had called my mom,

and then me and my mom
went over to the house.

There was a note on her bed
that said,

"Don't worry, Mom,
I will be back."

I think she left
her phone too,

so we couldn't even call her,
or track her.

I think I just went into shock
because nothing made sense.

It didn't make sense,
you know.

I mean, no one heard her
leave the house.

We started going through
her Instagram

and calling her friends.

Olivia got in contact
with Young.

[Young] Her sister and her mom
reached out to me

asking if she knew
where she went.

If her parents didn't know
where she was

then I don't... I wouldn't
have known either.

Bianca had just disappeared.

I felt it was one
of Bianca's orbiters

that obsessively
had stalked her.

[Kelly Ruhl] Orbiter is a term
that is used to describe
typically men

who find a profile online
of a woman that they might
find to be attractive,

and over time they engage
with that profile.

And just like a planet
around the sun,

they keep this safe distance.

They might comment
on some of their posts,

and interact online,

but the relationship hardly
ever goes beyond that.

But some orbiters take things
one step further.

They're seeking out
this individual,

and they want
to make it personal

in real life.

[Frank] I felt mainly fear,
fear of the unknown.

Who was she with?
Why did he take her?

What's going to be
happening to her?

And you just want
her home safe.

[police chatter on radio]

I'd been a volunteer

for the National Center
for Missing
and Exploited Children.

So we, uh, called in
as many resources as we could.

[police chatter on radio]

[Frank] And law enforcement
were able to track her.

[police chatter on radio]

[Frank] They've got
their technology

and their ways of doing
their investigations.

[police chatter on radio]

[Kim] We find out
she was with John.

[police chatter] State Police
Mobile Operation Center.

[Kim] When Bianca met John,

it was right around
her 16th birthday.

He had just graduated
high school.

And she talked about starting
to meet some of her

online friends in real life.

One of my biggest rules

was anyone that she
was going to be dating
in real life

I had to meet first.

I met John, uh, several times.

He would be driving up
from where he lived

which was
four-to-six-hour drive.

[Kim] Bianca was drawn to John
because he was a wild card.

I never thought Bianca
would run away.

I never would have imagined
that she went all the way
to Long Island.

We got in contact
with John's father,

and the father said,
"Oh, yeah,
Bianca was just here.

I thought she was just a kid
from the neighborhood."

When I finally got down
to Long island I said,

"Bianca, what
are you thinking?"

She told me she ran away
with him

because he threatened
to overdose.

So for me
it was very frustrating, like,

"Come on, Bianca,
you know better.

This is not someone
you want to be friends with."

The relationship
was on and off until

maybe, like, June of 2019.

He was either all good,
and everything was great,

or all bad, and she wasn't
talking to him at all.

Then all of a sudden
she ran away with him again.

Bianca did not have
any impulse control.

Just had a thought,
and went with it,

and didn't really think about
the consequences.

She was in the middle
of a mental health breakdown.

It was too much chaos.

They were making
really poor decisions.

[Young] Towards the end
she wanted nothing
to do with him.

He was not respecting her,
like, privacy boundaries,

harassing her.

He was someone who was
chronically online,

and that was just the type
of person he was.

[Kim] John released
some intimate video of them

that she wasn't aware
that even existed

onto a Discord server.

Bianca ended up
reporting that to the police,

and I did end up getting
a restraining order

against John at that point.

Yeah. [verbalizes]

Over my [bleep].
I'm over [bleep].

So we're good. We're...

...living life.

We took her to a facility,

St Anne's in Albany
in New York.

She was determined
to get better.

She wanted her
mental health back,

and she fought for it.

[Kim] She was there
for about five months,

and she would have
turned 17 in the fall.

She was diagnosed and got
some really, really good

dialectical behavior therapy,

which is the ideal treatment
for borderline
personality disorder.

When she came home, I mean,
she was the old Bianca.

She was happy.

Everybody kept repeating,
"Bianca's back."

♪ Puff the magic dragon
lived by the sea ♪

[Frank] The girl
that was so caring.

So easy to get along with.

[Kim] She was stable.

She had plans for the future.

She was working with a mentor,

and doing some modeling.

Her mentor was going
to build her a portfolio,

and stop at around
to different agencies
in New York.

This one's my favorite.

Bianca drew upon
her own struggles...

...and put out a positive
message into the world.

She had her community.

She, um, [chuckles] referred
to them lovingly

as her weirdos...

...'cause she felt like
they were all kind of weird
like her.

She tried to uplift people
that, you know,

"You're going to get
through this

and it's going to be okay."

[Natalie Michaud] I think
a lot of influencers stumble
into that line of work.

They may not realize
what they're doing

when they share
a post every day
is building a community.

Her followers saw someone
who knew what they
were going through

because she had been
through it herself.

[Elizabeth]
I was, like, convinced,

"There's something
wrong with me." [chuckles]

She knew a lot
about borderline
personality disorder.

She, like, went through
the diagnostic criteria
with me...

...and really helped
talk me through it.

It was really kind of her
to, like, do that

'cause I just didn't have
any other kind of support.

She had the kindness in her
that I... I can't, like,

hope to ever [chuckles]
achieve sometimes, I, yeah.

This is not a phone.

This is...

[laughs] This is Connect 4.

Bianca was a champion
for girls who were suffering
from mental health issues.

She gave them a voice.

But it made her a target.

An incel
is an abbreviated term

to describe
an involuntary celibate.

The man who is lacking
a sex life

for reasons that they claim
are out of their control.

[Natalie] Incels have
this circular
relationship with women.

They hate women
because they won't give them
the time of day,

but women aren't giving them
the time of day

because they don't
respect them.

You know,
this line of thinking
is very dangerous

because it turns
that feeling of kind of, like,

loneliness into, like,
feelings of, like, anger
and hatred.

Incels are on Discord,

and they definitely
came out in droves
to attack Bianca.

[Kelly] One of the dangers
of social media

is not knowing
who's behind these accounts,

or what they're truly
capable of.

How many do you ever know
when one of those people

is really going to act out
what they're saying?

[Elizabeth] When you're online
it's not reality.

You can still escape it,

but when you lose
that control...

...when it steps
off cyberspace...

...into, like, the real world,

that is a very scary thing.

[man] Bianca!

Bianca was very excited
to graduate high school.

-[announcer] Bianca Devins.
-[cheering]

[Kim] Her whole family
was so proud
of what she had accomplished

in the face of such adversity.

I ended up leaving my school
and going to her school.

So we graduated together.

Think that she was, like,
at her best self.

Breath of fresh air.

[Frank] She wanted to be
a psychologist so she could

help other teens
and adolescents

with their
mental health issues.

She knew she had potential,
and she was going to use it.

He loves this book.

Now she was going out
and hanging out with friends
in real life.

She, like, had friends
off the internet.

I was looking forward to meet
Bianca and our friends,

like, in person.

[singing]

[Kim] That summer,
she had met,

you know,
a couple of new friends.

Bianca met Brandon
on Instagram.

He lived in Syracuse
which is about 45 minutes
from Utica.

He seemed like your average,

you know, 20-year-old kid.

A bit nerdy,
which kind of was, like,
Bianca's type.

He started
coming around regularly,

and Bianca would be
on the phone with him
quite a few times a week.

He would play Minecraft
with Bianca's
younger siblings.

Olivia always said,
"He's goofy and nerdy,

but he makes us laugh."

He just seems like
a really good friend for her.

Brandon was at
Bianca's graduation party.

[Frank] He was polite.
He shook hands.

Introduced himself
as her boyfriend.

Bianca, her eyes rolled back,

and she looked at me and said,
"We're just friends."

It was definitely
a friend thing.

I could feel that from her.

The fact that he was just
driving her everywhere,

I could see that he maybe
wanted it to turn
into something more.

[Kim] She was going
off to college.

She did not want to be
in a relationship,

and she would just say,

"He understands.
Like, he knows my boundaries,

and he's okay with it."

She met another friend, Alex,
through her Discord community.

Alex was very shy.

They had been trying
to meet up,

but their schedules
had just never worked out.

She wanted to go
to a concert in Queens.

Brandon seemed
very trustworthy.

So, yeah, I trusted him
to take Bianca to a concert
four hours away,

and bring Bianca back
that night.

And then Bianca said that Alex
was going to meet them there.

Her and Brandon
were going to meet Alex
at the concert,

and she was really excited.

This was finally a date
that they were both available
and able to meet up.

[Frank] Before she left,
I stopped by the house,

went into her bedroom
to say hi.

She was in kind of a tizzy

deciding what she
was going to wear. [chuckling]

So, uh, I told her I loved her

and I sang her song
as I always do.

When I saw Bianca...

...or any of my grandchildren,
they all had songs.

♪ She's a little bean pod,
teedle just one ♪

♪ She'll come up the third
like we'll have a lot of fun ♪

♪ Playing with the furble
all day long ♪

♪ And Tyler's going to sing
your bean pod song ♪

♪ Ba-doo-bee-doop ♪

And, uh, then I left.

And it was the last time
I saw her.

She came up, um, upstairs,

gave me a hug and said,
"I love you, goodbye."

And I said, "I love you.
Be safe."

And that was it, she was off.

[siren blaring]

On the evening
of July 13th, 2019,

Brandon and Bianca
went to a concert together.

Alex was an online friend
that Bianca had met
sometime before,

and they had really
hit it off.

During the concert
Bianca and Alex held hands
and grew close.

We know this because Bianca
shared with some
of her online friends

what had happened.

[cell phone ringing]

[operator speaking]

[male speaking]

[police chatter on radio]

[officer 1 speaking]

[officer 2 speaking]

[knocking on door]

[Olivia speaking]

[officer 2 speaking]

[Kim] July 14th,
a little after 7:00 am

Olivia woke me up and said,
"Mom, there's police here.

It's something about Bianca."

[officer 2 speaking]

She was supposed to come home.
Okay. All right.

Okay.

I remember getting a call...

...shortly after 7 o'clock
from Kim,

that she said, uh,
"Bianca's not here.

Uh, something might have
happened to her."

I started thinking,
"She was doing so good.

Why is she
running away again?"

[officer 2 speaking]

[Frank] Uh-huh.

There were two
police officers outside.

The way they were talking...

...I got the sense that

this was not going to have
a good outcome.

I think I immediately
went into shock.

Nothing seemed real.

Go on and stay here.

We were frantic to find her.

So we were going
through our cell phones,

Bianca's Instagram.

As I was speaking
to the police

my friend Kayley, she was my
roommate at the time...

...came across a very graphic
post on the internet.

And she did not
say anything to me.

She brought it outside
to my father who was speaking
to police.

[Frank] She got a picture
on her phone

which she showed to me.

So we took that out
and showed it
to the police officers.

[Natalie]
In the early morning hours
of July 14th, 2019,

someone posted
a graphic photo.

The photo depicted Bianca

with what appeared
to be her neck slashed.

[cell phone beeping]

I'd wake up with my phone
absolutely blowing up.

We're, like,
"This can't be real, right?"

Like, it just did not
feel real.

We knew that someone
had called the local police
at that point,

but we also didn't have
any word back from them.

So I just felt fear.

[police chatter on radio]

[Natalie] Other officers
are dispatched
to where they believe

this photograph
that was posted online
came from.

[door slams]

[officer speaking] Hi.

What are you doing, man?

[Natalie] There's a phrase
spraypainted on the ground.

And then he sees...

...Brandon Clark.

[man groans]

[Natalie] And in that instant

he slashes his own throat.

[officer] Oh, we definitely
got a scene here.

A gentleman just
sliced his throat.

EMS right away.

And somehow he's able
to post an image to Snapchat

of his self-inflicted wound.

More officers arrive on scene.

[officer] And the male's still
breathing here.

[Natalie] And then
he's taken away to be treated

for his
self-inflicted injuries

before he's
eventually arrested.

[officer on radio]
Copy, 93, 746.

Police confirm that Bianca
is in fact deceased,

and as a result
they're able to confirm
that the image is real.

[officer speaking]

When they described
that she had on black Vans...

...I didn't want to accept it,
but I knew it was her.

Then it was her.

And then it struck me
that someone

actually took a photograph...

...of her dead body.

[officer speaking]

[sniffles] And I was sitting
next to Kim,

and she yelled out, "My baby."

[Kim] I think I'm still
in disbelief,

but, I mean, it just...
Nothing made sense

because the Brandon
that I knew would not have
done that to her.

Was completely in shock.

And I told myself
at that time, I said...

..."You're going to be strong.

You're going
to get your family...

...through this."

I was sleeping,

and my mom just,

she's not great with...

...relaying, you know.

She just opened the door
and said, "Bianca's dead."

And I just, like,
fell to the floor.

I kind of felt like
I was still sleeping,

maybe having a nightmare.

Um, and then I checked
my phone,

and Liv had messaged me

that something happened
to Bianca.

And then I knew it was...
it was real.

[sniffles]

I... I broke down.

I broke down and I cried.

When I was done crying
I just cried some more.

The feeling of grief
I felt was, you know,

very similar to fear

where it just kind of, like,

grabs a hold of you and...

...drags you down
to darker and darker thoughts.

[Kelly] The image of Bianca
circulated through
the internet.

It began to go viral.

And as if that wasn't
horrific enough,

things were about
to get so much worse.

[Natalie]
Brandon wanted the notoriety.

He wanted people to know
what he did,

and he wanted to see
the reactions to it.

He knew that they
were going to spread it.

It was like another layer
of, like, terror because

not only are you
completely out of control
of your life...

...the incels, they control
what happens afterward too.

[reporter]
At around 7:20 this morning

police sped to a dead-end road
in Utica

to discover a suicidal man

and the dead body
of 17-year-old resident
Bianca Devins.

[Kelly] At first, people who
saw the post were
incredibly disturbed.

But Brandon survived
that suicide attempt,

and the incel community
reared forward
and presented themselves

in a way that was
celebrating Brandon.

And her family had to read
those comments.

[Natalie] In the aftermath
of Bianca's m*rder,

her social media accounts
became a spectacle.

And to this day people
are still on her accounts
leaving comments.

[Young]
You had a lot of people

reposting the image
over and over.

They just shared it because
it would garner clicks.

I felt disgust, anger, hatred.

I carried a lot.

I still carry a lot
of resentment and negativity.

Thousands of people online
thought it was...

...something to laugh
or joke about.

I can still see it in my head.

Like, she was just exposed.

All these sick people
can just, like,

look at it whenever they want.

I don't want to think about
how it would make
the family feel. [sniffles]

[Kim]
People posted the picture

under my Facebook
profile picture.

They would send it
to Olivia and I.

Constantly they would
tag us in it.

It felt like as soon
as we got one picture removed

another one was posted.

As a mother
it was very devastating

'cause I feel, like,
I couldn't protect her
from that.

Um, I couldn't protect her
from her m*rder,

and then I couldn't
protect her from being
exploited on the internet.

[Natalie] Brandon supporters
weren't the only ones who

took up arms
after Bianca's death.

Bianca supporters
started to redirect
what people saw

when they looked up
Bianca's name.

[Kelly] I feel like
it's a really
unfortunate truth

that it wasn't until
her horrific ending

that people realized
what she had to offer
the world in masses.

[Gianna] There's still people,
like, spamming the comments

with hearts, and butterflies,
and stuff because

there's still people, like,

um, posting, like,
negative comments on there.

Like, if we were to go
on there right now

in say, like, two hours ago,

would be, like,
the most recent comment.

And that just to me is insane.

[Natalie] At the trial
there was speculation

about whether or not
Brandon k*lled Bianca

as a response to her
kissing Alex at the concert.

But we know
that's not true because

evidence shows
he had planning it for days
before it actually happened.

[Kelly] After the concert,
Brandon drove Alex back home,

and then it was just him
and Bianca left in the car

for the three-to-four-hour
car ride home.

He drove to a dead-end road.

He parked.

He pulled the knife
he had hidden

under one of the seats
and attacked her.

He had been
making searches online

for how to find
the carotid artery
within a neck.

He had a tarp that he had also
stored in his vehicle.

Incels typically have
that pack mentality.

It's what gives them
the courage to post
such heinous things.

But I believe
Brandon's biggest motivation

was the tale as old as time,

if I can't have you,
nobody can.

I am haunted every day
by the images...

This is someone
that I trusted,

and so to know
that he came into my house

and was having conversations
with us,

playing video games
with the kids,

and at the same time
planning to m*rder
my daughter.

I know it means nothing.

Apologies. I know that it
doesn't bring her back

and it doesn't undo
what I did...

[Frank] In his statement
to the court

he did somewhat
express remorse.

I feel so terrible
about what I did.

It was shallow

and fake.

It took a certain amount
of strength...

...to m*rder Bianca...

...because I learned...

...she fought him.

She did not die willingly,
or easily.

She fought him.

[Kelly] Brandon pleaded guilty
to second-degree m*rder.

He was sentenced
on March 16th of 2021

to 25 years to life in prison.

[Gianna] He's not sorry.

The fact that he'll be out
when I'm 40 is, like, insane.

I was so shocked when I seen
the amount of people
at that funeral.

There was a lot
of people there
that I have never seen before.

To know that they traveled
to come out and show
their support.

[Young] Yeah, this is, um,
a page from a sketchbook

that, um, a friend of hers
gave to me.

I, uh, you know,
treasure it deeply.

Bianca's really, um,
talented when it come
to her art,

and I think just having
a piece of that with me
means a lot.

[Elizabeth]
I've taken to heart her, like,

ambitions to help
other young girls
who are like us.

The world is worse off
without her, for sure.

[Kim] It's exhausting
to constantly
have to worry about

seeing that picture
on the internet,

and it also makes me
very angry because...

...the pictures are most often
posted on big-tech platforms,

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

I knew I had to do something
about social media.

No other family
should have to suffer
the way that we have suffered.

New York State recently
passed Bianca's Law.

Bianca's Law makes it ill*gal
to post or disseminate

with the intent to harm
or harass

any crime scene,
or graphic photos.

[Anthony Brindisi]
An image like this

that was shared
time and time again,

would never have been allowed
on the local media stations

that are represented
in this room.

[Frank] We're hoping
that will be the foundation
of more laws

that will hold
social media accountable.

You have the resources.

You have the funding

to prevent these type
of images from being used

to harass, demean,

embarrass, and hurt
the victims...

...or in Bianca's case...

...her family.

Bianca leaves
a wonderful legacy.

People that love her

because of her caring,
her compassion...

...and her great smile.

Gives us all hope.

[Kim] She was my best friend.
She was my daughter.

It's hard without her
every day.

Every day I wish I,

when I hugged her,

that I didn't let her go,

and kept her home.

And I wish I was able
to keep her safe.

♪♪

♪♪

He was one of the first
influencers.

He was a geek.

He was into the same things
as us.

Being the target
of hateful comments

would be upsetting
for anybody.

Nobody wants to believe people
they know could be a monster.

♪♪