On July 13, 2019, Kimberly Devins got the call no parent ever wants to take. Her 17-year-old daughter, Bianca, was in danger, she was told by police who had been alerted to some disturbing footage proliferating on social media. Not long afterwards, on a dirt road near where Bianca lived with her mother and sister in the town of Utica, New York, her lifeless and bloodied body was found. Her killer, 21-year-old Brandon Clark, had filmed the murder using his cellphone, and had distributed the video as well as imagery of Bianca’s body across Snapchat, Instagram, and Discord. Unwitting viewers of the graphic imagery had contacted police.
When authorities found Clark, he was still using his phone to generate live-streamed footage. His was a heavily staged crime: he had spray-painted the words “MAY YOU NEVER FORGET ME” on the ground, and set an indie song to play on repeat from speakers. The knife he used to kill Bianca had been hidden in his car the entire time he, Bianca, and another friend had been out at a concert. After killing her, he moved her body onto the ground, covered her with a green tarp, and spoke to family members on the phone in a way that convinced them he was suicidal. He then called police to alert them to his whereabouts and told them what he’d done. “I’m not going to stay on the phone long,” he added, “because I need to do the suicide part of the murder-suicide.”
