Murder Gone Viral

Bianca Devins and Brandon Clark: A Tragic Story of Manipulation and Violence

17-year-old Bianca Devins and 21-year-old Brandon Clark viewed their relationship very differently. In early 2019, the two of them first connected on Instagram when Brandon saw Bianca’s profile and sent her a follow request. Despite their age gap, the two started talking, and before long, they’d started spending time together in person. Brandon met Bianca’s family, who later described him as a “trusted family friend”.

How a Social Media Friendship Turned into a Deadly Obsession

From early on, Brandon made it clear that he was sexually and romantically interested in Bianca - however, she didn’t feel the same way about him. During a conversation with her mother, Bianca confessed that she had turned Brandon down and told him that she didn’t want to be in a romantic relationship. Despite this, when Bianca’s mother looked at the way Brandon interacted with her daughter, she believed that he hadn’t gotten the message.

Some of Bianca’s friends were deeply concerned by Brandon’s behavior. They believed that Brandon would give Bianca drugs and, when she was under the influence, he would take advantage of her. He also allegedly offered her drugs as a way of convincing her to hang out with him more often.

Warning Signs: The Toxic Relationship Between Bianca Devins and Brandon Clark

Bianca had her share of mental health struggles, which might have made her an easy target for this kind of manipulation. For most of her teenage years, she had been receiving treatment for anxiety and depression, and she was also diagnosed with PTSD and borderline personality disorder. On multiple occasions, her symptoms had been so severe that she had spent time in hospital. 

Bianca’s Mental Health Struggles and the Online Harassment She Faced

Bianca found a lot of comfort in spending time on the internet, but she received a lot of online harassment, mostly by men who identified as being incels, a term that is short for “involuntary celibate”. The incel community are bonded together by the belief that they are “unable to get a romantic or sexual partner”, often leading to a deep hatred for the women who they believe are rejecting them. For incels, a conventionally attractive teenage girl such as Bianca was the perfect target.

The Night of the Murder: What Happened to Bianca Devins?

On the 13th of July 2019, Bianca and Brandon went into New York City to attend a Nicole Dollanganger concert along with one of their other friends, a young man named Alex. At some point during the night, Alex and Bianca allegedly kissed - and Brandon saw the whole thing. He didn’t say anything about it at the time, but when he and Bianca were alone in his car, he brought it up, and they started fighting. Brandon reached down beside his seat, where he’d hidden a knife earlier. He then used the knife to repeatedly cut Bianca’s neck, severing her carotid artery and slicing so deeply that he almost completely removed her head.

Bianca Devins died at the age of seventeen in the early hours of July 14th. Brandon left her corpse sitting in the passenger seat while he got out, played some music, and started to build a fire. Shortly afterward, he placed several calls to members of his family, implying that he was about to take his own life. Immediately, his family called the police.

Meanwhile, Brandon got busy taking pictures of Bianca’s nearly decapitated body and posting them online. He posted photos from multiple different angles in one of the Discord servers that Bianca had spent time in, captioning the photos, “Sorry fuckers, you’re going to have to find someone else to orbit.” He also had a video of him murdering Bianca, but decided not to post it. Some of the Discord users initially believed that the photos were a bad joke or some kind of prank, but eventually, they came to the conclusion that they were real, and several of them also called the police.

Brandon Clark’s Actions: From Murder to Online Infamy

By now, the local police were well aware that a situation was unfolding - and Brandon decided to call them himself. He had a brief conversation with the dispatcher where he stated, “My name is Brandon. The victim is Bianca Michelle Devins. I’m not going to stay on the phone for long, because I still need to do the suicide part of the murder suicide.” Brandon used a piece of tarp to cover Bianca’s body, and then attempted to follow through with his plan. He had written out a suicide note as well as a shorter message that simply said, “May you never forget me.” And, as soon as the police arrived at the scene of the crime, he used the knife to stab himself in the throat, lying down on top of Bianca’s body.

On the 15th of July, law enforcement confirmed that Bianca was the victim. Brandon had survived his suicide attempt, and he was charged with second-degree murder - implying that there hadn’t been any kind of planning or premeditation. This might have been true if Bianca had been killed in a crime of passion, but several investigators believed that Brandon had planned out the crime. Several pieces of evidence supported this theory - in particular, the fact that he had thought to hide a knife in the car, and that he had brought the equipment that he needed to take a video of the murder. Before the crime, Brandon had also made several incriminating google searches, including looking up how to kill someone and where to find the carotid artery.

The same day that Brandon was charged with the murder, a community vigil was held in Bianca’s memory. But while Bianca’s family and friends were mourning her sudden, violent death, the photos that Brandon had posted of her corpse were going viral online. Within hours of the murder, the photos had been reshared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and 4chan. Some of the Incel communities that had harassed Bianca when she was alive praised Brandon for killing her, believing that she had deserved it for rejecting him.

Unfortunately, Bianca’s family also saw the pictures. Her sister stated that when she tried to fall asleep at night, she couldn’t stop thinking about them. Bianca’s stepfather also started experiencing traumatic flashbacks, and her mother became increasingly concerned about the effect that the pictures would have on random internet users who had never even known Bianca. “So many people have been affected by the pictures,” she said. “[They’re] scarred for life and suffering from PTSD, unable to erase the images from their mind.”

The Aftermath: How Bianca’s Family Fought for Justice

Facebook and Instagram both deleted Brandon’s account from their platforms in an attempt to stop the photos from circulating further. Facebook went a step further, placing the images in a digital fingerprint database and banning hashtags that were being used to share the photos. Meanwhile, Instagram had a much more casual response. On multiple occasions, Instagram users who found the photos claimed that they had tried to report them - however, they received responses from Instagram claiming that the images didn’t violate any of the app’s guidelines. For at least four days after Bianca’s death, pictures of her body could still be easily found on Instagram.

On the 29th of April, Brandon Clark made the decision to plead not guilty to the second-degree murder charges. At around the same time, he allegedly wrote a letter to a friend where he boasted about what it felt like to take a life. In the same letter, he also finally stated his motive for the murder - “he couldn’t handle the thought of [Bianca] walking out of his life.”

Shortly before his trial was set to begin, Brandon changed his mind, and pleaded guilty. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the start date of his sentencing, and when it was rescheduled, he claimed that his lawyer “had failed him” and asked to take back the guilty plea. However, at this point, he’d already admitted that he was guilty, so the request was denied. Finally, in March 2021, Brandon received his sentence: 25 years to life.

The Fight Against Violent Content: The Legacy of Bianca’s Law

In late 2020, Bianca’s family attempted to introduce “Bianca’s Law” which would require all high-earning social media platforms to have a dedicated office for locating and taking down violent content that had been posted. An additional law was introduced that would make it illegal for people to circulate pictures of people who had been the victim of violent crimes in an attempt to gain popularity or harass others. Two years later, a version of Bianca’s Law was passed, making it illegal to share or post images with the intent to abuse or degrade other people.

The Internet’s Role in Exploiting Bianca Devins’ Death

However, the fight to make sure that Bianca was respected in death wasn’t over. Bianca’s family had learned that the Oneida County District Attorney’s Office had been sharing footage of Bianca’s murder, as well as video footage of her engaging in sexual activity. Multiple documentary makers who had covered the case had allegedly been shown or sent the footage, and Bianca’s family ended up suing the District Attorney’s office, claiming that they were guilty of distributing child pornography by sharing these images of 17-year-old Bianca.

Thousands of people have seen the pictures of Bianca’s body - and, in some online communities, there are still people who argue that Brandon Clark did nothing wrong.