Bionca Rogers's Jury Doesn't Believe She Killed Man Because She Feared Rape

Last year, we told you about the search for Colorado Springs' Bionca Rogers, then 21, after she'd been named in arrest warrant related to the death of Grant Frazier, 61.

Frazier's body was found in the trunk of a car in Iowa, the state from which Rogers hailed.

Rogers subsequently surrendered to Iowa authorities — although she fought extradition to Colorado.

Now, a jury in the Springs has found her guilty of murdering Frazier despite her claims that she stabbed him to death because she feared he would rape her — an account that included vivid descriptions of masturbation and a slaying committed while her four-year-old daughter slept in the backseat of the car in which his corpse was stashed.

As we reported in February 2014, Rogers's now-offline Facebook page was filled with happy photos co-starring friends, family and her adorable little girl, identified in court as DeVariana — nicknamed Vari.

Here's one portrait of Rogers from the page....


...and another:


However, it was the following driver's license pic....


...that the Colorado Springs Police Department circulated when she was named a person of interest in Frazier's disappearance.

He had been missing for several days when the CSPD ID'd Rogers. The department also circulated this photograph of a 2009 Mitsubishi Galant.....


...that resembled the vehicle in which Rogers was thought to be traveling.

Turns out Rogers and Frazier had driven in the vehicle to Iowa.

KCCI-TV, based in the state, subsequently reported that Frazier's body was found inside its trunk early on Tuesday, February 25.

The car, still sporting its original Colorado license plates, was found outside an apartment complex in the town of Newton, population 15,000 or so.


Shortly after an autopsy determined that Frazier had died from blunt force trauma and multiple stab wounds, Rogers turned herself in.

Here's the booking photo that resulted:


But PressCitizen.com reported that Rogers refused extradition to Colorado Springs to face charges even more serious than the ones that had been made against her in previous instances.

The list included "assault causing bodily injury, disorderly conduct charges, domestic abuse assault and interference with official acts causing bodily injury after allegedly fleeing from police escorting her to jail," according to 7News.

Eventually, however, Rogers wound up back in Colorado, and in recent days, she took the stand at her trial to claim she acted against Frazier out of self-defense.

As recounted by the Colorado Springs Gazette, Rogers said she had gone back to Iowa to give her family custody of Vari. But while her daughter was sleeping in the backseat of the car, he'd started masturbating — and she feared this sexual act would lead to others.

"I didn't want to freak," the paper quoted her as testifying. "I didn't want him to rape me. I didn't want him to touch me."


This vivid defense didn't convince a jury. Rogers was found guilty of first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and murder after deliberation.

Her sentence: life without the possibility of parole.
Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.