Phoenix police: Man arrested in 1990s canal murders

To his landlady, Bryan Patrick Miller was the indigent tenant. In his own depiction to courts, he was the comparatively responsible parent. To his neighbors, he was the shy man who some knew as "Zombie Hunter."

And now, to Phoenix police, Miller is the answer to the two-decades-old mystery that horrified the public and haunted seasoned detectives.

More than 22 years after the grisly crimes took place, Phoenix police on Tuesday arrested Miller, 42, as a suspect in the murders of two young women whose bodies were found in the Arizona Canal about 10 months apart.

Angela Brosso, 22, had failed to return from a bike ride in November 1992 and police were just beginning to search for her when someone discovered the headless body of a woman near 25th Avenue and Cactus Road in Phoenix.

Police would confirm it was Brosso by the end of the week. Her head was found in the Arizona Canal 11 days later.

Brosso's murderer went on to kill again, police said.

The next victim was Melanie Bernas, a 17-year-old Arcadia High School student who was also on a bike ride near the Arizona Canal when she was murdered in September 1993.

Bernas' corpse was discovered floating in the water near where the canal goes under Interstate 17, about a half-mile north of Dunlap Avenue.

A turquoise bodysuit was found nearby.

The cases were later connected through forensic evidence.

Miller has denied involvement with the murders but could not explain to police how his DNA was a match to the DNA profile found on the victims, according to court documents.

Miller told police that he lived near the bike path that was believed to be both victims' last known whereabouts and said he also biked on the path.

He is not eligible for bail, according to court records.

Police are recommending that he be charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of sexual assault.

Piecing past together

In 1994, the name Bryan Patrick Miller was just one among hundreds tied to tips that poured into Phoenix police for examination as possible suspects in the case.

Phoenix police Sgt. Trent Crump said Miller was vetted to an unknown degree at the time, but there was no physical evidence to link him to the scene.

Police revisited the case repeatedly over the years, amassing enough files for the investigation to warrant its own cabinet.

Investigators enlisted the help of the Vidocq Society, an organization of forensic experts of all stripes who dedicate their time to solving cold cases.

Vidocq provided police with a profile of the man who would likely be their killer, Crump said.

Contrary to what some believed, the man would probably still be living in the general area, the experts said. He would have exhibited precursor crimes, perhaps set fires or acted out fantasies.

And, Vidocq experts said, it was likely that detectives had in some way crossed paths with this individual earlier in the investigation.

Investigators circled back to the old case files and flagged Miller, a local man who, as a juvenile in 1990, had been arrested in the stabbing of a woman at Paradise Valley Mall.

"What appeared to be a random act of violence prior to the homicides, it was one of the precursor events," Crump said.

Miller told police he stabbed the woman because she reminded him of his mother, Crump said.

But he had avoided any serious contact with law enforcement since then, meaning his DNA profile would not be included in CODIS, a national databank that stores the DNA of convicted felons.

Crump said police set up surveillance on Miller for the past few weeks and, through a ruse, were able to collect his DNA for testing.

Crump would not specify exactly how the ruse was carried out but acknowledged that it is simple to obtain someone's DNA from discarded items.

Miller didn't know police were tailing him until Tuesday.

Police said they are not ruling out the possibility that Miller could be connected to other unsolved murders. Crump said that Miller had also lived for stints in Washington and Hawaii, and that authorities will work with investigators there to see if there are connections.

Crump said it would be "very unusual" if Brosso was Miller's first victim and Bernas his last.

The victims

Both victims police linked to Miller had gone missing while riding their bikes.

Brosso had just graduated with honors from college in Los Angeles when she accepted a job with Syntellect Inc., a Phoenix electronics company, and lived with her boyfriend.

Brosso's mother Linda spoke extensively with Arizona Republic columnist EJ Montini throughout the months and years after her daughter's death, describing Brosso as an animal lover and adventurist.

"She was a force," Linda said in 1992. "One of the things her father said about her was that she changed the nature of a room when she entered it. And it's true, you know? She really did."

Friends called Bernas the "girl next door," a high achiever who dreamed of becoming a doctor, with visits to University of California-Berkeley and Pepperdine University scheduled for weeks after her death.

Childhood friend Daphne Marcus grew up down the street from Melanie and said the girls would ride bikes together, swim, jump on Melanie's trampoline and have sleepovers.

Marcus on Wednesday recalled sitting in the pew behind the Bernas family at Melanie's service at Grace Community Church in Tempe. She said it was "standing room only," with easily 300 people who came out to remember her.

Marcus recalls how it felt wrong because no one knew what happened to her, and there was no justice at the time of her burial.

"I want people to know what an amazing person she was," she said. "She was cut down so early. I hope that the evidence proves what happened so that there may be swift justice. This has been going on too long."

After Bernas' body was found, it took six months for investigators to connect the murder to Brosso's using forensic evidence. The killer remained elusive.

In 2012, as the 20th anniversary of Brosso's murder approached, Phoenix police investigators with the Cold Case Homicide Unit tried to renew interest in the case and asked the public for help, hoping someone who lived in the area would recall a neighbor with a unique set of characteristics.

Investigators believed, given the brutal nature of the murders and the speed with which the victims were executed, that the killer had specialized training in the military and that he collected "trophies" from the victims. Neither Brosso's purple, 21-speed Diamondback mountain bike nor Bernas' green SPC Hardrock Sport mountain bike had been found.

On Tuesday night, police were seen carrying an old bicycle from a rusted tin shed from Miller's backyard. Crump said Wednesday it was still unclear if the bike belonged to either victim.

When reached by The Arizona Republic, Bernas' father, Michael, said he was not ready to talk, adding, "I'm very happy that the police were able to catch the person."

What they found

At about 6 p.m. Tuesday evening, police picked up Miller at his job, while other officers knocked on the door of his homenear Ninth Street and Mountain View Road, where they found his teenage daughter.

Police at the scene described the living quarters of a prototypical hoarder.

"Floor to ceiling, it was packed with all sorts of junk — boxes to paper to furniture — I can't even tell you what wasn't in there," Crump said.

Agnes Reynolds, Miller's landlady, described him as a shoddy tenant who had failed to pay full rent in probably years. Reynolds said she asked Miller to supplement the payment by cutting lawns on her properties, but he hardly did that, either.

It was Miller's teenage daughter who prevented his eviction, Reynolds said. The landlady said she had a close relationship with her and wanted her to have a place to live.

Court records filed in 2008 show Miller had petitioned for full custody of his daughter after she suffered from health problems from time with her mother, whom Miller claimed was homeless and unemployed.

Reynolds' other renters, Elmer and Katie Bontrager, currently winter in a nearby home where Miller lived at the time of the murders. The renters met Miller and described him as not "quite normal."

The Bontragers and another neighbor said Miller drove what appeared to be an old police car with lights on top. A prominent bumper sticker reading "Zombie Hunter" served as the inspiration for the nickname they dubbed Miller.

The Zombie Hunter car played a prominent role in Miller's online presence. Miller marketed the vehicle on a Facebook page of its own, offering it up for appearances at "your comic store, zombie walk, (or) apocalypse themed film and photo shoot."

Miller's social-media pages depict a man with a diverse assortment of passions, with hobbies ranging from every man's to the fantasy subculture of zombies, steampunk and Comic Con.

His Facebook photos of car collections, hiking and zombie walks are punctuated by the more macabre. Miller posted what appeared to be screen shots of low-budget horror movies and, eerily now, bicycles.

Searching for closure

By Wednesday morning, some familiar faces had gathered around Miller's home: now-retired officers who hoped they'd live to see an arrest in the case.

Leo Speliopoulos, 67, retired as a Phoenix police detective and spokesman in April 1994. He recalled the grueling three-day investigation in the dirt lot where police initially found Brosso's torso. It was a crime scene roughly half the size of a football field, he said.

"The only time the homicide detectives left that scene in those three days was to go home, take a shower, change their clothes and come back to the crime scene," he said.

Speliopoulos said he visited Miller's home Wednesday in hopes to gain some semblance of closure.

"I'm looking forward to doing that, and seeing how this is all playing out at the end," he said. "Angela's mom and dad and the young lady Melanie — their families are going to see that there's some justice here."

Republic reporters Kody Acevedo, Yihyun Jeong and Garrett Mitchell contributed to this article.