Life Without Brianna: Murder Victim's Father Speaks

(DAPHNE, Ala.) Nov. 3 - Bruce Parish calls a guest bedroom in his Daphne home the Bri room. It's filled with pictures and mementos of his murdered daughter Brianna. He comes in here often because he also has clothes in the closet, but it's not easy. Most of the time I just come in looking at the floor, get my stuff and leave, says Parish. It's been hard, it's really been hard. You keep thinking that it will get better but it never does. It's been a challenging year. Parish and Brianna's mother were living in Texas at the time of Brianna's murder. Since her death, he was laid off and they've moved back to Daphne. There's so much support here, but also so many memories. I don't really know what's going to happen come the anniversary date itself, says Parish. I'm sure it's going to be difficult. Brianna disappeared from outside the Bay House Pub on November 11th of last year. Three days later her partially nude body was found near where a memorial now sits, at the Daphne Sewage Treatment Plant. I just want people to remember her, says Parish. She was such a bright, shining light even more so than we even knew. Afterwards, many people came to us with stories of things that she had done for them. And Parish believes it was her openness to others that allowed Troy MacDonald to make contact with her. Authorities say McDonald, who had met Brianna at another bar, later abducted the 21-year-old, raped her and murdered her. MacDonald is currently awaiting trial. Our thoughts on that are at least he's behind bars. He can't hurt anybody else, he can't destroy anybody else's lives and as long as he stays behind bars, we really don't care when he comes to trial, says the father. The Parish family is planning to install a bench near the sight where Brianna's body was found as a permanent memorial. The Baldwin County District Attorney says she hopes to bring the case to trial in the spring.

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