Bryan Miller

Not long after the Halloween horrors have ended, a cyclist's gruesome murder leaves her community in shock. Her head was missing and had been cut off. This was brutal beyond brutality. To know that a woman was murdered like that was terrifying for everybody. Before investigators can identify a suspect, another victim is found. You have two bicyclists who are killed about ten months apart in a brutal fashion. Despite grisly public displays, the killer evades capture for years. They're looking at pages and pages of potential suspects. The general theory was our perpetrator was either dead or he'd moved on. But was the killer merely hiding in plain sight? He had created this persona, this character that he played in public, called the zombie hunter. He's right there. He's taunting us. This was truly over the top evil. See how that's possible. If I didn't kill anyone. This is our version of Jack the Ripper. November 8, 1992. The week after Halloween in Phoenix, Arizona. For one resident, the season of horror continues. The Phoenix Police Department received a call from Joe Krakowicki. And Joe indicated that Angela Brasso had gone out for a bike ride that night and she hadn't returned. And this was unlike her. According to Joe, he and his girlfriend frequently ride the nearby Arizona Canal bike trail. But when she didn't return after more than an hour, he became worried. Fearing she might be injured and stranded on the trail, dispatchers send out officers. They find some alarming evidence near the canal. You had a certain amount of blood on that bike trail. And then there was a trail that went kind of in a north direction towards a tree. And the blood trail continues on up about 100 feet or so. Some officers walked up a berm area, which was very close to where Angela's apartment and where Joe had made the phone call. At the end of the trail, they find something even more disturbing. They discover a headless body. Her head was missing and had been cut off. We had never had a crime like this. This was brutal beyond brutality. The responding officer immediately calls for backup. She's in the nude. The only thing she's wearing is her shoes and socks were left on. There was a deep incision that almost looked like a cross that went from her sternum area all the way down. It looked like the perpetrator tried to actually cut her in half, but was unsuccessful. The stabbing was brutal in terms of the amount of force rendered onto her body with this blade. There were also two wounds that were some type of instrument were driven into the area where typically the female reproductive organs are. It was a vicious murder, like nothing we had ever seen before. Although fingerprint confirmation could take several days, investigators suspect they've found their missing person. Everything indicated that that was Ms. Brasso. We look at who was around, who was related, since this was a very savage close-up murder. Typically, sometimes that's done by a perpetrator that knows the victim. But late at night on a canal bank when no one around, a lone female is vulnerable. And that could very well have been a crime of opportunity, opposed to somebody targeted. Nobody seemed to know what happened to her. The race was on to try to figure out who did this. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Angela Brasso recently moved to Phoenix with her boyfriend Joe Krakowicki after graduating from college. Angela Brasso was beloved. She was a great student. She was extremely friendly. People described her as lively. They stayed together even though they were separated by entire state during their college years. She had graduated. She moved here with her boyfriend and they lived together and they were really excited about their life together. Angela is a very hard-working, very family-oriented woman. She has this new job. She had flown out to Los Angeles that prior week and put on extensive IT information technology training. After spending so much time apart, Joe and Angela were putting down roots and making the most of their life together, enjoying Phoenix's outdoor lifestyle. The night Angela disappeared, she and Joe were getting ready to celebrate her 22nd birthday. The sun was starting to set and this was in November so it was crisp and cool out. One of the most ideal times to be outside doing activities in Phoenix. She told him I'll be right back, you know, typical bike ride and then I'll be home. Angela Brasso never made it home that night. Just a few hours later, the media has been alerted to a large police presence at the Arizona Canal where officers have found Angela's decapitated body. The word got out quickly and there was a lot of media attention on this particular case. All of this was extremely grisly. The Arizona Canal was a really popular place to bike, to run, to roller-blade, walk your dog. There was just this sense of fear as if everybody in Phoenix was petrified for what's going to happen next. Officers search the area for any sign of the killer but whoever it was seems to have fled the scene without detection. We have so many cameras nowadays but back then on the canal there were no cameras. They didn't have witnesses either. Homicide detectives are called to the scene and they begin piecing together the evidence to explain what happened. The stab wound to the back, it penetrated along an aorta and then it caused extensive bleeding. They didn't find defensive wounds which would indicate that it was swift, a blitz style attack. She was startled on her bike or got off her bike and the perpetrator immediately rushed in and drove that knife into her back. It definitely would have rendered her unable to fight. There was definitely injuries that were consistent with being dragged for a considerable distance. It appeared that the victim had been sexually assaulted. There was a lot of clothing strewn about the body that had been cut and torn. That was packaged and sent to the Department of Public Safety Crime Lab for processing, looking for semen, perpetrator's blood, any kind of hairs, that kind of thing. Given the level of violence, investigators suspect the perpetrator may have a record. Investigators looked to see if there were any other cases that were at all related and they weren't able to find anything that matched that level of the heading in the city of Phoenix and or the state of Arizona. It was the most horrendous, horrific murder that Phoenix had seen. Coming up, detectives take a closer look at Angela's boyfriend. That's when the alarm bells went off with him and say something's wrong. And a major break in the case rises up from the murky waters. Police get a call from the police and they're told that the victim is in a state of emergency. A head that was found in the canal. After discovering the decapitated body of Angela Brasso at a violent scene, investigators immediately turn to her friends and loved ones for potential leads. Investigators learned that Angela was very easy to get along with. There were really no issues with any particular person being an enemy or wanting to cause her harm. According to her inner circle, the only recent source of conflict in Angela's life was the relationship with her boyfriend, Joe Krekowicki. There was some suspicion surrounding Joe and a lot of times they look at a partner first. There was indication that Angela was not particularly happy with Joe at the time. There were problems and the relationship was not going forward and maybe she was going to look for another apartment and move out. When detectives reach out to Joe, he immediately agrees to give a statement. Joe was as shaken as any person that cared about another person would be. Joe was extremely cooperative, sincere. There was a little bit maybe that the relationship was a little bit better than on his side than what Angela had told her friends. But other than that, Joe was very cooperative. Joe told investigators that he stayed home that night. He'd sometimes gone riding with Angela, but he decided not to because he wanted to make a cake for her birthday. And while she was bike riding, he was making the cake. When Angela didn't return after an hour, Joe began to worry. They always watched a show back in the 90s called Living Color. Every single Sunday night at 8 p.m. they watched that show together. So that's when the alarm bells went off with him. Hey, something's wrong. She's always back by this time. At about 9 o'clock that night, he called the police department to file a missing person to check for Angela. And then a friend of his came over. When detectives find out who Joe called, alarm bells ring. Joe had invited a female friend over to assist him in looking for Angela. Strange that of all people you would invite another female that really wasn't known to other family and friends. So while Joe was maintained as a strong person of interest, investigators extensively canvassed the canal, stopped people, tried to get as much information, went to the apartment complex, went to neighbors. Did you see anything? Did you hear anything? And that was largely negative. Searching for any leads, investigators turned back to the crime lab. So investigators were able to extract a DNA profile from the clothing that was found at the scene, as well as a sexual assault kit. In 1992, when this crime occurred, CODIS was in its infancy. CODIS is the computerized DNA index system. It's basically a database for DNA. They knew they had somebody's DNA, who was not Angela, on Angela's clothes, but they couldn't make a match to whose that was. But they are able to eliminate a person of interest. Joe's DNA sample was ruled out compared to the perpetrator's sample, and he was ruled out. Lacking leads from the physical evidence, police hope something missing from the crime scene might bring in a tip. The bike that Angela was riding when she went missing was a higher end mountain bike, and it was specific. This is a very unique bike. It was a diamond back, purple, but it wasn't just purple. It had shades of purple. It's really kind of fluorescent looking and brilliant in color, and it stood out. Investigators provide a description to patrol officers in the area. If the bike is still out there, it should be easy to spot. I would be happy to know that the bike is still out there, but I'm not sure if it's still out there. It should be easy to spot. I would be driving around my beat specifically looking at every apartment complex, every school, every shopping center. No matter how small or how big, I would be hitting those bike racks, hoping I get to find this bike and be part of solving this crime. I remember thinking, if you can do this type of crime to the savage nature that he did it, and it's sexually motivated, you're going to be a weird puppy. You're going to have a twisted thoughts, and this individual isn't going to go unnoticed. I'd ask, is there some weird guy in the neighborhood that freaks you out? Sometimes there would be a name. I would take that name and I would forward it to a homicide unit. Phoenix Police also opened a tip line for the public to assist the investigation. So about 10 days after Angel was murdered, police get a call of a head that was found in the canal. This was about two miles south of where Angel had been murdered. It was in a highly populated area next to a mall called Metro Center Mall. Investigators then are dispatched. And it was in fact determined to be Angel's head. At first glance, it seems the killer discarded her head downriver to make identification more difficult. But closer inspection reveals something peculiar. Angel's head. It didn't match up. The level of decomposition of the head was not consistent with how long the head could have potentially been in the water. Because of that, detectives thought possibly whoever did this actually had stored her head in a freezer to preserve it. It was bizarre. Investigators believe that the perpetrator may have put the head in the canal for a shock value. More shock and awe to the citizens of Phoenix of, you know, look what I've done. That added a whole new level of fear to the entire community. It is not at all uncommon in the context of serial offenders to take something with them, some sort of trophy, so that they can go and relive that perverse gratification that he was experiencing. When the head is found and then that hits the news, that's when you saw the canal bank become a ghost town. People were talking about this crime as if it was already a serial killer. The entire unit was working this case. You've got to find this guy before he does this again. Unfortunately, investigators are unable to come up with any further leads. As a patrol officer, every call I go on, I'm looking at my clipboard. Every prowler call, I'm looking to see if the person might have been on a bicycle. So for 10 months I'm doing that and I'm not finding any really strong suspect. Nothing that stood out like, oh my god, this is the guy. None. And then sadly, 10 months later, he hit again. A body was found floating in the canal. In September 1993, 10 months after Angela Brasso was found decapitated in Phoenix, Arizona, investigators are called to the scene of another gruesome murder. A cyclist called in another young woman who was found floating in the canal, which happened to be directly across from where Angela's head had been found. Our dive team went into the waters, recovered the females body, brought her to the shore. It looked like a late teen victim dressed in a turquoise body suit, meant for a 8 to 10 year old. Detectives note several similarities to Angela's case. There were drag marks. There were definitely abrasions caused from dragging. They also found a stab wound to her left rear side, which is similar to Angela's wound. There was a considerable pulling of blood along the bike path where it looked like the perpetrator had attacked her there. There was also clothing found that was cut, bloodstained. There was a drag trail in blood all the way up towards the tunnel into some vegetation. That was the area where she'd been potentially sexually assaulted, redressed, and then drugged back and dumped in the canal. This victim wasn't decapitated, but police do find another calling card left by the killer. There was also carvings in her body that the investigators could see, including a cross. It was very eerie, and I'm sure the perpetrator was trying to send a message. Good detectives never jumped to conclusions. Now with that said, you have two females who are killed about 10 months apart in a brutal fashion. The head was found floating close to where this victim was found. So you definitely have something circumstantially pointing you towards, hey, this is the same guy. Cross-checking police reports, the victim matches the description of 17-year-old Melanie Bernus, who was reported missing by her mother the night before. Once we had determined for sure that it was Melanie Bernus and talked to her mother, the family was destroyed by the news. Melanie was extremely bright. She was, I believe, a junior in high school, had the world in front of her. Melanie and I worked together all summer long at the ice cream shop at the Galleria Mall, and we hung out daily. Melanie was pretty reserved and quiet, but then once you got to know her, she was very spontaneous and adventurous. She'd come up with some creative ideas like, let's go to Sedona or let's drive here. While she did know a lot of people and had multiple friends, I would say her circle of trust, her close group, was probably much smaller. Melanie had been with her mother the night prior. They had been at their home, and Melanie's mother had gone out for a dinner. And when Melanie's mother returned, she noticed that Melanie was not at the home. She discovered that Melanie's bike was missing, and she figured that Melanie possibly took her bike out. She had really no idea where she went riding. I knew she loved to bike, and that was a passion of hers. She would bike, you know, miles upon miles, but Melanie would usually ride her bike with her girlfriends, or at least one or two friends. It wasn't common of her to go by herself that often. The family was asked about the bodysuit, and they said it was way too small. There's no way she would have been wearing that underneath her clothing. The family was able to give a pretty good description of what she typically wears when she rides, and that was the clothing that was found, that was cut off and kind of strewn about the crime scene. Detectives question why the killer put Melanie in a piece of child's clothing. The answer might prove to be the key to finding a suspect. A DNA profile was developed from Melanie's clothing and sexual assault kit, and that went into the national database, and there were no hits on that. Technology isn't advanced enough to definitively confirm a match to the sample from Angela's case. So they focused on the bodysuit, and they put that out to the media, and they said, does anybody know about this bodysuit? Has anybody seen anybody with this bodysuit? Because it meant something to our perpetrator. So the bodysuit goes out and it generates even more tips and calls coming in that have to be triaged and vetted out to see, hey, which ones are viable, do we need to work? Local media brands the unknown perpetrator as the canal killer, further intensifying the community's fear. Unfortunately, none of the incoming tips provide a viable suspect. I think the department did its best and worked. The investigators were top notch, and they brought in tons of manpower to work these cases. Unfortunately, as time marches on, other things start to happen to where, sadly, even though investigators work diligently to try to solve these crimes and find the perpetrator, these cases kind of faded as you went through the 90s. Although the cases remain unsolved, they are not forgotten. Six years after the initial investigations, developing technology allows detectives to retest their DNA evidence. In 1999, the DNA system had really blossomed. The experts had really figured things out. This time, with more detailed testing capabilities, there is a match. Not with any known criminals, but with the DNA sample collected from Angela Brasso. We knew at that point that Melanie's killer and Angela's killer were one and the same. That was a major moment because finally, with science, we were able to link those cases. Unfortunately, the discovery doesn't bring investigators any closer to finding their killer. Another decade goes by with no further movement in the cases. It would be the 10-year anniversary, 15-year anniversary. There would be different attempts to highlight the cases in the media, to draw attention. Really, nothing substantially developed. And I think that the general theory was our perpetrator was either dead or he'd moved on. But in 2011, interest in the murder investigations is rekindled. In 2008, I had the opportunity to become the cold case homicide sergeant. We were solving about 12 to 15 cold cases per year. In 2011, I get a public records request. A local media station is doing a follow-up about the canal killer and wants to know if there are any updates. Detective Hillman takes the opportunity to reopen the cases. There were files and files in the basement and there were 800 to 1,000 names on this canal list. And at that point, I knew I needed to assemble a team and give those girls justice. Coming up, the search for Angela and Melanie's killer gains traction. So for the first time, using DNA, we could connect with long-lost relatives. And investigators finally come face to face with a deranged predator. There's just silence in the room. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. 19 years after the murders of Angela Brasso and Melanie Bernus sent fear rippling through their Arizona community, the haunting tale that began shortly after Halloween 1992 has become a local urban legend. In 2011, a cold case unit led by Detective Troy Hillman reopens the cases and their search for the canal killer. They're looking at pages and pages of potential suspects or people of interest. So the first goal is let's narrow this list down. There are certain types of patterns to blood through DNA. You could look at that sequence and then compare those. We over the course of the next three and a half years working this case probably ruled out 25 or more leads. Unfortunately, they are still unable to come up with any suspects that match the DNA profile. In 2014, a genealogist suggests a different approach. I went to Phoenix to talk to the police department about applying genealogy to forensic cases, to cold cases. For the first time using DNA, we could connect with long-lost relatives in the absence of documentation. The canal killer might not be in the database, but perhaps a member of his family is. We use the Y DNA because it goes along the male line of the family. If the DNA matched, then you'd know that that was somebody related to you along the male line of your family. It was worth a shot. So we decided to use her. The DNA sequence was sent over to her in late December of 2014. I typed those string of numbers into our software, ran the software and then came up with matches. I got the call from her and I was excited, pulled myself away from my Christmas and went in and into the office. The family name that matches the DNA profile is Miller, with five potential suspects. The first couple really didn't catch my attention, but when I came across Brian Patrick Miller, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Anonymous caller called back in 1994 and said that they knew something about the body suit, that he believed would be the same body suit put on Melanie in the possession of Brian. It seems police had been so inundated with tips during the original investigation, they'd overlooked this one. When detectives check Miller's background, they discover a criminal record that fits the profile of their killer. In 1989, Brian Patrick Miller was a teenager and he was heading towards an area near Paradise Valley Mall. And according to police reports, he saw a woman who he believed looked like his mom. And Brian and his mom had had a history of abuse. He ran up and stabbed the woman in the back. He was later apprehended for that. The victim escaped and since Miller was underage, he was sent to juvenile detention. Miller was scheduled to be released on his 18th birthday, but his mother argued against it. On the day he was supposed to get out, she drops off a letter and says, I found this in Brian's bedroom. That letter was called the plan and in this piece of paper, Brian had outlined step by step what he wanted to do to a woman that included vicious sexual acts against her. Graphic descriptions of the kind of sexual things he wanted to do, ultimately killing her. Well, it was horrific. So I called an emergency team meeting. I said, hey, guys, everybody in the conference room, we need to talk about this Miller guy. We handed out the file and they all got to digest the file. And it was just silence in the room of, whoa, we've been looking for this guy and this may be him. Police records show that after his release in 1990, Miller's violent acts weren't limited to Arizona. Brian had married a woman in the mid 1990s after our murders and they had subsequently moved up to the state of Washington. They had a daughter together. In Washington, there was a woman named Melissa Ruiz Ramirez who was stabbed by Brian Patrick Miller. He had picked up Melissa, brought her back to his place of work. She asked to use a phone. She picks up the phone and then he comes up behind her and stabs her multiple times. She is very scrappy. She fights back and survives. He ends up getting arrested for that. His defense was that she was trying to rob him. Brian was acquitted in self-defense. So we know he did it. We know it happened. But he was acquitted in a trial. Because Brian was not convicted of that, there was no DNA of his entered into the system. An internet search reveals Miller got divorced in 2006 and returned to Phoenix with his now-teenage daughter. And it seems he's picked up some rather unusual interests. We began to look at social media, get a timeline. Where's he been? Where does he work? Who are his friends? Family? We found he was heavily into steampunk and cosplay. The easiest way to explain steampunk would be, it's almost like a fantasy historical re-enactment of the 1800s or Victorian dress. I met Brian about 2012. He had just come on the steampunk scene and was looking to do something fun and different. He had created this persona, this character that he played in public, called the zombie hunter. He had all of these pictures on his Facebook and a Tumblr page that showed him in this trench coat with these goggles and a helmet and this giant gatling gun. And he had bought an old police car and tricked it out to say the zombie hunter. And he would take the car and his costume and go to parades, to festivals, to community events as this kind of fantastical character he created. The zombie hunter vehicle by itself was quite telling, almost like he enjoyed being law enforcement. He would take pictures with police officers, sheriff's deputies, almost like he was the good guy fighting the bad guys. I just remember looking at that photo and I'm like, he's hiding in plain sight. He's right there. He's taunting us. After two decades, investigators in Phoenix, Arizona believe they've finally identified the elusive canal killer. 42-year-old cosplayer and self-styled zombie hunter, Brian Patrick Miller. Our team was excited. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. It's going to be with his DNA. To obtain a sample of Miller's DNA, one of Hillman's detectives comes up with a clever ruse. He worked at a distribution facility on the west side of town. The plan was for him to go introduce himself to Brian in the distribution facility parking lot. Say, hey, I work next door. There's been a lot of retail theft going on. I noticed you like law enforcement. Can I hire you to be kind of eyes and ears security out here to watch this place? Brian took the bait. They arranged a meeting at a restaurant in the north side of town. We had it all set up. Brian shows up, though, with his daughter. Huge curveball because now we had to watch who's DNA is which and who eats what and that kind of thing. I think he drank just a couple sips and leaves and we were wondering, did we get the DNA? The glass is sent to the lab for analysis. About two weeks later and my phone starts to ring and it's the DNA supervisor. She said, you did it. Brian Miller's your guy. I can remember that day. I think people, you know, they got up, they hugged, they just pure raw emotion in the room. On January 13th, 2015, Miller is arrested. So in that early 90s area, you were in the Phoenix area. You know what spike trails I'm talking about? I didn't like taking the trails along the canal. Joe's always scared me. That's why I didn't take them. You live in the Phoenix area? Yeah, no. Do you remember hearing news articles about any ladies being killed? Probably soft. There's some DNA evidence that kind of links you to those girls. There any way you can explain that to them. Yeah, that's possible. I didn't kill anyone. When investigators talk to Miller's family, his daughter isn't able to tell them much. But his ex-wife drops a bombshell. She told us some troubling stuff about their sex life, particularly they would bring a knife and carve on her and lick the blood. He began to engage in violent role play that disturbed her and led to the end of their marriage. Miller's ex-wife agrees to testify against him when his murder trial begins in 2022. She basically told us that she was frightened of Brian, that she was just so afraid that she just kind of walked away and checked out. With a DNA evidence and supporting testimony, prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to convict Miller. Instead of arguing that Miller did not kill Angela Brasso and Melanie Bernus, the defense insists he was not responsible for his actions. In psychology they say, you know, genetics loads the gun and environment pulls the trigger. Brian faced a difficult childhood. He was abused by his mother. There were awful things that were described, including her threatening to cut off his penis and hitting him with the belt buckle part of a belt and forcing him to watch violent movies. The defense attorney basically laid out this idea that there were two different brayans, almost like he had an evil twin and he couldn't control what the other Brian did. The prosecution's experts don't agree. Eroticized violence could be linked somehow to a misunderstanding of how to express affection as somebody matures or progresses throughout adolescence. But that in no way explains the violent acts committed by Brian Patrick Miller. On April 11, 2023, the court returns its verdict. Brian was found guilty of a count of murder each for each of the girls, kidnapping and attempt sexual assault for both girls. Miller's attorneys ask for life imprisonment. Instead, the judge sentences him to death. I've seen a lot of murder in my days as a police officer, but this was truly over the top evil. This is our version of Jack the Ripper. You had victims who were horribly murdered and nobody knew who had done it. He instilled a lot of fear in a lot of people. There is the Brian that I know and then there is the Brian that did these heinous things. And you can't put them together. They're two very different personas. They're two different people. Like a light switched off in his brain somewhere and now he's this serial killer. Angela and Melanie both had bright futures ahead of them. Angela had a great job. Melanie was soon to graduate high school. I think we have to remember that they were important people in our community that were taken far too soon. We want her to be remembered as just a loving friend, an adventurous, caring soul. To me there's no excuse. I mean to me he's an evil man, a monster. Brian Patrick Miller is on death row awaiting execution. He is expected to appeal his conviction.