Bianca Devins

Case background and investigation

Bianca Michelle Devins was 17 and lived in Utica, New York. According to BBC News, she had recently graduated from high school and planned to begin a psychology course at a community college. Her mother, Kim Devins, told CBS News that social media was a large part of her daughter's life and that Bianca had received mental health treatment from a young age.

Police told the BBC they believed Devins met Brandon Andrew Clark, then 21, through Instagram about two months before her death and that the two had since spent time together in person. On Saturday, July 13, 2019, Clark drove her from Utica to New York City to see the singer Nicole Dollanganger perform. Kim Devins told CBS News that her daughter texted after the show to say she was heading home.

According to police statements reported by the BBC, the two argued on the way back, possibly about Devins having kissed another person, and Clark attacked her with a knife. She died in the early hours of July 14. Clark posted photographs of her body on Discord and Instagram. The BBC reported that by about 7:20 a.m. Utica police had received numerous calls about the posts, some from other states, and that Clark also called 911 himself. Officers found him at the end of a dead-end road near a wooded area, where he stabbed himself in the neck. He was arrested, treated in hospital and charged with murder the following day.

The photographs circulated across several platforms for days, and CBS News reported that strangers sent them directly to members of the Devins family. Users told the BBC that their early reports to Instagram were rejected, and the company's handling of the images drew criticism.

According to Wikipedia's summary of court coverage, Clark pleaded not guilty on July 29, 2019, then changed his plea to guilty of second-degree murder on February 10, 2020. Sentencing was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and a later request to withdraw the plea was denied. On March 16, 2021, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison; CNY Central reported that Devins's mother, sister and grandfather addressed the court and that Clark apologized to the family.

The case led to legislation. According to Wikipedia, a New York state measure known as Bianca's Law, creating penalties for spreading images of a crime victim with intent to glorify or harass, was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in late December 2022. The same source says the family sued the Oneida County District Attorney's Office in July 2021 over the release of case material to documentary producers, and that the suit was dismissed in 2022.