A photograph is posted online. It would set off an investigation into a brutal homicide, photographs of which were being broadcast online. View source material and photos for this episode at: anatomyofmurder.com/postedCan’t get enough AoM? Find us on social media!Instagram: @aom_podcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @AOM_podcast | @audiochuckFacebook: /listenAOMpod | /audiochuckllc
Chapter 1: What happened to Bianca Devins?
He picked her up at about 2.30 p.m. in our house, and that's when I last saw her. She gave me a hug and said she was going, and I told her, I love you, be safe, and she said, I love you, too. And she left.
I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff.
I'm Anna Siga-Nicolazzi, former New York City homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction.
And this is Anatomy of Murder. Most of us think of the internet as a place to connect, create, and find community. But for Bianca Devins, a 17-year-old girl from Utica, New York, it was a sanctuary, a space where she could express herself, share her art, and build friendships.
But that same digital world that made her feel seen would also turn against her, exploiting her in ways no one should ever have to endure.
Bianca was my firstborn, and I was young. I was just a few weeks away from turning 18. She was just always happy and easygoing.
That's Bianca's mother, Kim Devins, who told us that even as a young child, her daughter was full of life, curious, and creative.
Bianca showed natural talent as an artist and loved to express herself through the visual arts. But as she entered her teenage years, she also faced challenges that would shape much of her adolescence.
She was struggling with some mental health issues, some severe depression. She was eventually diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. So that, I think that her mental health struggles and the fight to find the correct and appropriate treatment for her kind of like defined her teenage years.
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Chapter 2: Who was Bianca Devins and what was her online presence like?
As investigators pulled back the tarp, the horrific reality of her fate came into focus. The young woman had suffered multiple stab wounds, including a deep gash across her throat.
And while they suspected that the victim was Bianca Devins, her injuries were actually so severe that investigators struggled to visually identify her from her photos.
We couldn't confirm it, her identity. So you're just going to have to tell them that we have a deceased female here that fits the age range of her daughter. We're going to have to confirm it at a later time. But we're pretty confident, pretty sure that it probably is. But we can't 100% it.
As you can hear from the officer's body cam audio, police wanted to confirm the victim's identity before they relayed any news to Bianca's family. In these situations, it's important to be sensitive and sure before making any notifications to a victim's family.
but the internet would show none of that sensitivity or compassion. Shockingly, the first confirmation of Bianca's murder would come not from law enforcement, but from a graphic photo shared on Instagram and seen by a family friend.
All of a sudden, Kaylee got up and went outside to my father and showed him her phone, which I later found out Kaylee saw one of the Instagram pictures of Bianca's body. He had uploaded that picture and it was going viral before we even knew and had anything confirmed of what happened to her.
The idea of learning about your child's murder from a photo posted online seems unfathomable. And given the unreliability of the so-called facts online, it also cruelly left Bianca's family a sliver of hope that this could all be a terrible mistake or an online hoax. But sadly, a visit from the police extinguished that hope.
Law enforcement came in and said that they found Brandon on Poe Street and there was a deceased woman there that they believed to be Bianca. I just started screaming. I think I just got up and ran away, went upstairs. I remember stomping up the stairs saying, it's not her. It's not my daughter. It's not her.
But the reality was inescapable, especially after investigators shared the personal items found at the crime scene, details only those close to Bianca would recognize.
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