Mum's 'indescribable pain' as teen Instagram star's killer jailed
A man who admitted to murdering a teenage girl he met on Instagram before plastering images of her dead body online has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Brandon Clark, 22, killed Bianca Devins, 17, on July 14, 2019, in Utica, in the US state of New York, after returning from a concert in Manhattan, according to WKTV.
Online users who saw the horrific images alerted police the following morning.
Officers were trying to find the teen when Clark called 911 himself to report what he’d done, Utica’s public safety department said in a statement.
The recording of the call was played to the court during his trial, with Clark heard saying: “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."
When officers traced Clark’s phone, they found him with neck injuries and Devin’s body under a tarp nearby, police said.
Clark was charged with second-degree murder the following day and underwent surgery for his cuts.
The 22-year-old pleaded guilty in February 2020, but tried to withdraw his plea five months later, according to WKTV.
His trial was postponed from November to this week because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mum details heartbreak after daughter’s murder
Bianca’s mum Kim Devins addressed the court after Clark was sentenced, speaking of the close bond she shared with her daughter.
She said she has felt “indescribable pain” after the 17-year-old’s death, according to WKTV.
Ms Devins also detailed how her daughter’s bright future had been taken away from her.
Pair met just months before murder
Devins and Clark met on Instagram about two months before her death, police said.
The teen had 170,000 Instagram followers, and posted about emo fashion and video games.
Initially, they were online acquaintances only, but the “relationship progressed into a personally intimate one”, police said.
“They had spent time together, and were acquainted with each other’s families.”
After attending the concert, they got into an argument and headed home to Utica.
There, they argued until Clark used a large knife to kill the teenager, police said.
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