RENO, Nev. (AP) - A Dec. 31 arraignment has been set in Reno for
a man accused by authorities of being a killer and serial rapist.

Twenty-seven-year-old James Biela, a former Marine and Sparks construction worker, is scheduled to appear New Year's Eve before
Washoe District Judge Robert Perry.

After a two-day preliminary hearing last week, Biela was bound over for trial on charges of murder, kidnapping and three counts of sexual assault.

Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek a death penalty.

Biela is charged with killing 19-year-old Brianna Denison, who disappeared Jan. 20 while sleeping on a friend's couch at a rented
home near the University of Nevada, Reno.

Denison's body was discovered Feb. 15, partially hidden under a discarded Christmas tree in a vacant lot in a southeast Reno business district.

Biela also is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in October 2007, and kidnapping and sexually assaulting another woman in December 2007. Both attacks occurred near the UNR campus.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)