Murder of Bianca Devins

Bianca Devins was a teen from New Hartford, New York, who was stabbed to death in Utica, New York on July 14, 2019, after attending a Nicole Dollanganger concert. The case gained international interest as images of Devins' mutilated corpse were shared on the Internet. Initial reports focused on depictions of Devins as a "social media star," though later details suggested media coverage may have exaggerated the teen's notoriety, and follower counts prior to the virality of images of her death indicate a modest following. Though early online discussion claimed Devins was killed by an online stalker, Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara revealed that prosecutors believe Devins was murdered by an individual she had met online, who to some degree had a real world relationship with her. Utica Police and prosecutors suspected the murderer acted out of jealousy over Devins showing romantic interest in another man. Immediately following the murder, images of Devins' corpse were posted on social media, primarily on messaging boards, as well as via Instagram, with the hashtag #RIPBianca. The alleged murderer and his victim had become acquainted via Discord, a chat app, and had apparently became friends before the stabbing. On July 29, 2019, Brandon Clark, the murder suspect, who was 21 years old at the time of the murder, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. The same day, Facebook terminated Clark's social media accounts and added images of the murder to a digital fingerprint database to prevent further distribution. The hashtag #yesjuliet was also blacklisted, while the Discord server that shared the corpse photo was terminated. Devins, a recent high school graduate, was an aspiring student at Mohawk Valley Community College with the goal of getting a degree in psychology in order to help adolescents with mental illness.