More than 3,000 mourners gathered Saturday night to remember a 19-year-old college student believed killed by a serial rapist as a loving, caring woman with many friends and a winning personality.

Brianna Denison's body was found in a Reno field on Feb. 15. Police said she was abducted Jan. 20 and strangled by a man linked to two earlier attacks on the edge of the University of Nevada, Reno.

Her cousin, Spencer Terry, said Denison's spirit would continue to live in the hearts of friends and family.

"Could anybody have asked for a prettier face and a more beautiful soul? I don't think so," Terry said.

Friend Danielle DeTomaso said Denison embraced all kinds of people.

"She knew people from all walks of life," DeTomaso said. "She was the glue that held all of us together."

Denison's aunt, Lauren Denison, reminded the crowd at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center that "we still have a job to do: bring Brianna's killer to justice."

The sophomore at Santa Barbara City College in California was visiting her hometown over winter break when she was abducted while she slept on a couch in a friend's home just off the Reno campus.

Outside the memorial service, several members of a fundamentalist Kansas church faced off against more than 150 counter-demonstrators.

The standoff, which occurred during a fierce snowstorm, ended peacefully when police escorted the three protesters associated with the Westboro Baptist Church away from the convention center, Sgt. Chris Lange said.

"There were a couple of eggs thrown at them and that's about it," Lange said.

Members of the Topeka, Kan., church picket military funerals out of a belief that the Iraq war is a punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality. Last month, the church announced it would protest the service for Denison because it believes God hates Reno.

Church officials said they targeted the city because local law enforcement officers failed to protect church members who picketed a Jan. 26 memorial service there for a soldier who was killed in Iraq.

On Saturday, the three protesters waved placards reading "Pray for More Dead Kids," "Don't Worship the Dead" and "God Sent the Killer."

Counter-demonstrators said they strongly disapprove of the church's message and tactic of picketing outside memorial services.

"For them to come out and target tragedies like this, I don't think it's right," Greg Bailor Jr. said. "There's enough emotions as it is."