Going West: True Crime - Adrienne Salinas // 243

Episode Date: October 12, 2022

In 2013, a 19-year-old Arizona college student went missing after being involved in a single-car accident. When it was discovered that she took a ride from a suspicious cab driver and her whereabouts were unknown, police began investigating her disappearance with numerous persons of interest. Months later, her remains were found in a nearby desert, and theories spread of a “Zombie Hunter” and potential serial killer being involved. This is the story of Adrienne Salinas. BONUS EPISODE patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. FBI: https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/adrienne-celeste-salinas 2. People: https://people.com/crime/people-magazine-investigates-who-killed-arizadrienne-salinas/ 3. Adrienne's Memorial Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/Adrienne-Salinas-Memorial-547265498680713/?ref=page_internal 4. Uncovered: https://uncovered.com/cases/adrienne-salinas/sources 5. AZ Family: https://www.azfamily.com/2022/09/29/former-friend-says-zombie-hunter-felt-uncomfortable-around-women/ 6. 12 News: https://www.12news.com/article/news/investigations/adrienne-salinass-phone-might-provide-clues-about-her-murder-but-its-missing/75-e239e3f4-3f29-4d70-aa71-15f18eba6562 7. Keen's article on his friendship with Bryan in Soapboxie: https://soapboxie.com/government/Gone-by-Dawn-The-Disappearance-of-Adrienne-Salinas 8. Phoenix New Times: https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/sunshine-and-sadness-6430545 9. AZ Central: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2020/06/28/angela-brosso-died-1992-trial-her-murder-postponed/3260296001/ 10. Arizona Republic: https://www.newspapers.com/image/123654093/?terms=melanie%20bernas&match=1 11. AZ Central: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2015/01/23/phoenix-bryan-patrick-miller-canal-murders-juvenile-records/22230819/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans, I'm your host Teez. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody, hope you're having a great start to your week. Hello, hello. Thank you for tuning in to yet another episode of Going West and thank you so much to everybody who has already been checking out the two new episodes of The Dark Parts. Yes, we released two episodes, one is called In The Walls, which is basically just a very spooky episode about humans and other things

living inside your walls. And then also we released the haunted black forest of Colorado. It is a crazy ghost story. So go check those out. Also we're gonna have a new episode for you guys on Thursday. Yes, every Thursday. So thank you guys in advance for checking out if you're into spooky stories and you know kind of paranormal stuff. We make it really fun, so it's scary, but it's also very lighthearted. Yes, and hosted by Heath andhearted. Yes, it is. And hosted by Heath and I.

Yes, there's a little bit of humor to it, so it's less sensitive content than this. Yes, absolutely. So thank you guys so much. It is everywhere you listen to podcasts. And again, thank you for listening to this episode, shall we? Yeah, let's get it. Alright guys, this is episode 243 of Going West, so let's get into it. In 2013, a 19-year-old Arizona college student went missing after being involved in a single car accident.

When it was discovered that she took a ride from a suspicious cab driver and her whereabouts were unknown, police began investigating her disappearance with numerous persons of interest. Months later, her remains were found in a nearby desert, and theories spread of a zombie hunter and potential serial killer being involved. This is the story of Adrian Salinas. Adrian Celeste Salinas was born on November 5, 1993 in Phoenix, Arizona, and two years later, she was joined by a brother named Nathaniel. Adrian was very close with her family, especially her dad Rick, and was a self-proclaimed

daddy's girl. When Adrian was about six years old, her parents split up, and while she still saw both of them, she and her dad remained extremely close. Adrian grew up among a tight-knit group of girlfriends, including Alex, Rebecca, and Shanie. They described her as down to earth, but always smiling, optimistic, and upbeat. Adrian also had a childhood love named Francisco or Fran, Arteaga, who we're going to be talking about a quite a bit in this episode, with whom she had been inseparable since they were about 12 years old. He described his relationship with Adrian as on-again off-again, but said that they loved each other and that they remained best friends no matter what, so even if they weren't together, they were still very close to each other.

Adrian loved watching movies and reading and was described by her dad as intelligent, motivated, and responsible. After graduating high school in 2012, Adrienne went on to attend Gateway Community College right there in her city of Phoenix, planning to get her prerequisites out of the way. But ultimately, her dream was to attend nearby Arizona State University, in Tempe to study journalism because she wanted to become a writer. When Adrian was 19, she and her longtime friends, who I told you about a second ago, decided to get an apartment together in Tempe, which is in the Phoenix Metro area for those who

don't know. It is right next to Tempe, so she and her father Rick still talked every single day and saw each other frequently. And Adrian's roommates and best friends remember him being a father figure to all of them, just making sure that they always locked their doors and had enough food in the kitchen. On Friday, June 14, 2013, the girls hosted a birthday party for another friend at their apartment that reportedly started around 10 pm and hosted around 40 people.

Which is quite a lot for, I mean, we can guess this apartment was up to, I don't know, maybe three bedrooms since we know that she shared a room. Yeah. So like 40 people is a lot in a small apartment. Yeah, definitely. So Adrian's friend, Shanie, who shared not only her apartment, but her bedroom, remembers Adrian feeling anxious that night and not really wanting to participate. Sheyney later told People magazine quote, Adrian was sitting on her bed alone in the room, all dressed up and ready for the party, but not wanting to join what was going on downstairs. She said that she really wasn't in the

party mood that night. Adrian's intuition turned out to be right, however, because the party got a little too wild. Sheney remembers that someone had broke their TV and took their ottoman into the front yard and set it on fire. That's insane. Yeah, like I would be fucking pissed, too. So according to other party goers, Adrian spent most of the night hanging out with her boyfriend, Fran.

But Fran's also noted that the two had been fighting that night. As Shini remembered it, Fran had been crushing on or talking to another girl, and Adrian of course was hurt by this. When the girls woke up the next morning, which was Saturday June 15th, Adrian was gone. Assuming she had left to spend the night with Fran, they didn't really think too much about it. But the following day, Sunday June 16, 2013, was Father's Day, so when Rick didn't hear from his daughter, he knew that something was wrong. Rick had called Adrian on Saturday to solidify their plans for the next day, but she hadn't answered the phone, nor had she called him back, which was very rare for her.

Any attempts to reach her by Rick or anyone else had gone straight to voicemail, meaning that her phone was either dead or it was turned off. So around 10 a.m. on Sunday on Father's Day, when Rick still hadn't heard from her, he called her roommates and they all agreed that something just was not right. And this was confirmed when Rick called Fran looking for his daughter and Fran said that he hadn't seen her since Friday night either. And this is particularly alarming because everyone had just, you know, like you just said Heath, figured that she was with Fran.

So to learn that he supposedly hadn't seen her was really surprising. Yeah, because it's like where else would she be if she wasn't, you know, with her friends, her dad, or Fran? Exactly. So at this point, Rick called 911. Police came to Adrian's apartment to meet with her roommates and her dad Rick to go over details and just put a timeline together. According to her roommates, Adrienne left briefly with Fran at some point during the party, but then returned a short while later.

One of her friends remembers talking with her for a bit, and then Adrienne apparently retrieved some of her belongings, got into her car, and left. And that was the last time her roommates had seen her. While driving around Adrian's neighborhood looking for her that day, Rick spotted his daughter's white 2002 Mercury sable parked on the street in her neighborhood. A search of Adrian's car confirmed this account. Her wallet, ID, and credit cards were found inside.

But this discovery brought about more questions because two of the wheels were completely destroyed. Yeah, Adrian's driver's side tires had been shredded, almost as if they had been chewed through. Neither her friends nor her family nor friend had any way of explaining this, but the police might. After checking their reports, police verified that they received a 911 call around 3 a.m. on Saturday morning, so five hours after the party began. The caller complained that a white sedan had passed them at a high rate of speed and then hit the curb.

When the caller attempted to check on the driver, the car sped off in spite of its severely damaged tires, and of course we will post pictures of this. According to a detective assigned to the case, he said, quote, We get a call for service from a Starbucks employee who said, Hey, there's this car that is driving arratically on first street, and it just passed me. It hit the curb at first in ash, and the tires blew out and the driver took off. They were going on the curb and hit something,

and just had two flat tires. So please turn to the party goers. Most didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but a few people remembered her getting into her car, parked near her apartment on West 5th Street in Tempe, and headed west towards Hardy Drive. So a search of the interior of the car did also turn up a journal of Adrian's and a Blackberry phone, but weirdly to this day it has not been made public whether the phone belonged to Adrian or not.

The car was supposed to be impounded for testing as well as an in-depth search, but over a day later, a detective noticed that it still had not been. And when it finally was towed, suspiciously, the journal and phone were missing. This does partially have an explanation, so Adrienne's mom said that she had taken the journal, but no one knew what happened to the phone, so that's really weird. Yeah, and they couldn't like connect the phone to anybody at first, so it was very strange. Right, because they didn't, you know, because it hadn't been taken in for testing, so they probably just noted, oh, there is a blackberry here, but that's why it hasn't been confirmed whose phone

that was because it was missing when they went to take it in to search it. Yeah, but that's why it hasn't been confirmed whose phone that was because it was missing when they went to take it in to search it. Yeah, and that would have been a huge thing for this investigation. But that's really weird because you wonder if it went missing. If somebody took it and they just didn't say anything not for sketchy reasons or if somebody took it because they were worried about what police would find it and that something would point to them. You know what I mean? Like, which one is it?

But speaking of her phone, her phone had last paying at 5.07am near her boyfriend's apartment before being shut off. Aside from the two flat tires and a damaged fender, everything appeared normal on the inside. Like there was no blood or any sign of forced entry. Nothing at all indicated that it may have been the scene of a crime. The only key to the car that was in Adrian's possession at the time was in her bedroom back at the apartment, along with the clothes that she had been wearing at the party that night.

So this led investigators to believe that she must have come home after the accident, dropped off her keys and changed, and then left again. And according to her phone records, Adrienne made over 40 calls to Fran after 3am that went unanswered. And then in our in 43 minutes later, at 4am, she texted him, I'm coming over. And I mean, 40 calls is a lot. Yes, at 4.43am, she texted him, I'm coming over. And I mean, 4.0 calls is a lot. Yes, it is. But we have to remember that the witness had seen her,

or at least her car, driving erratically and then hit a curb around 3am. So was she calling Fran for help? And then, you know, after somehow finding a way home, she changed and decided to go to his house despite their fight. I mean, it kind of seems like that was the situation. We know that she, her and her boyfriend were fighting that night. So it's possible that she was very upset.

Left the party, accidentally crashed her car, then said, whoops, that was a big mistake, went back to the house and left her key. Because like you said, that was the only key that she had to the car. Yeah. So it seems likely that she changed and then she left again. And then to give you guys some more perspective. So again, this text that said she was coming over

was at 4.43 a.m. And as we're gonna talk about in a minute, Fran lived about 15 minutes away from her. So she probably would have gotten to his place around five o'clock, and then at 507, her phone either shuts off or goes dead and pangs for the last time in the area of his apartment, which was 24 minutes after she sent that text message.

So it's all pretty weird. So police approached Fran for questioning, of course, while he was hanging up missing posters for Adrian in a nearby park. Inside note, you know, this is a good sign because we've seen so many people who had something to do with the death or disappearance of their partner become completely unhelpful in the search, and it appears that Fran is trying to be helpful here. So Fran told detectives that they had been on and off again since

8th grade, but remained friends whether they were together or not. The last time he remembered seeing her was early that Saturday morning. Now according to his account, Adrian thought that he hadn't been paying enough attention to her at the party, and she also accused him of whispering flirtatiously and a girl's ear. But Fran argued that they weren't technically together at the time, they were not exclusively boyfriend and girlfriend, so he didn't think he did anything wrong. But Adrian apparently thought otherwise. Fran explained that when Adrian had left the party the first time, it was to head back

to his house together to talk it over around 2.40am. After making the 15-minute drive north from Tempe to Scottsdale where Fran lived, they argued in his apartment for a bit. Fran remembers walking out onto his patio by himself for a moment alone from the heated exchange, but when he did, Adrian stormed out. Now, fearing for her safety, because it was so late, he drove out after her and found her walking in the street alone, back towards her apartment. He convinced her to get into the car with him, but as they continued to discuss and presumably argue about the situation, Adrian grew frustrated and once again stormed out.

Around 3.15 am, so a little bit after this all happened. She hopped out of the car on Mill Avenue in Tempe and ran away from him. Fransermised that they would make amends in the morning, and he went home and went to bed. Adrian then called him dozens of times, like I said, before texting him that she was coming over at 4.43 a.m. Then called him dozens of times, like I said, before texting him that she was coming over at 4.43am. And that was the last time, supposedly, that he had heard from her.

And then obviously, at some point, before that happened, she had gotten into the single-car accident that she was involved in. But when asked if he had anything to do with her disappearance, he said no, and he wouldn't," stating quote, she's been the main person in my life since 8th grade. With none of her friends or the attendants at the party able to account for her whereabouts after she left Fran's car, investigators once again turned to her phone records. Immediately after texting Fran that she was coming over at 4.43am, she placed a call to a local cab company called the Scottsdale Cab Guys. The now-defunct cab

company was owned by a man named Thomas Simon Sr. and Thomas Simon Sr. Sun. Thomas Simon Sr. Sun. That is a hard one. So his son is Thomas Simon Jr. or Tom. And this guy, Tom remembers getting the call from Adrian. And he recalled that she was supposed to have been waiting for him at a local AMPM gas station, but according to Tom was no longer there when he arrived. So he's claiming that he did not pick her up. Right.

She had made the call, but that she didn't end up getting in the car. And security camera footage from the ampium did show his car pulling up, but did not show Adrian. So it's entirely possible that something happened to her while she was waiting for his car, but some speculate that Tom was actually to blame. And shortly after Adrian's disappearance, a woman called and submitted a tip to police with incriminating information against Tom.

So this particular passenger had been on her way to the Grand Canyon, about 230 miles or 370 kilometers away. It's a long cab. Yes, it is. So the customer claimed that she had been the one in the cab when police called Tom to question him about Adrian's disappearance and that he had been extremely uncomfortable while he was being questioned. The customer said that Tom seemed spooked and was acting strangely after concluding the

call with police. The next time they pulled over to make a pit stop on their journey, she said that she saw him pull out a hacksaw from the trunk of his car and discard of it. Now based on this account, they did search both his car and his apartment, but nothing was found indicating that he may have been involved in Adrian's disappearance. Police also brought him in for questioning, and they were met with hostility. Well, I feel like, you know, obviously, this is just her account,

so we don't know if what she's saying is accurate or true, but if it is true that he discarded of a hacksaw that came from his trunk, and this happened at the pit stop that happened directly after or closest to when he got off the call with police is very suspicious. And this Tom man seems like a colorful character because surveillance footage from inside the

room in which he was being questioned revealed that Tom was resting his head on the table, very frustrated saying quote, you guys are fucking disgusting creatures. He was also very rude and uncooperative, yelling at a detective quote, you're a fucking creature, I fucking hate you. A creature? Yeah, that's a very interesting word to use to describe a police officer.

It really is. And when it has to take a polygraph test, Tom refused saying quote, I don't wanna a fucking do it man okay fair enough yeah so when i asked by the investigators why not he responded quote because i don't trust those things i don't know the lawyer said not to

which is understandable i mean a lot of lawyers will will tell you not to take a polygraph test yeah because you know i did it police can be tricky sometimes police can be tricky. Sometimes police can get you to confess to something that you did not do, totally understandable. But of course, it just makes us wonder.

Yeah, and also Tom is just being very hostile. So, which never looks good, because if you're so angry, why so angry? You know, are you innocent? And that's why you're mad or you did something in your mad that you're getting caught. True. I mean you could just deny the polygraph test without Calling police officers creatures. Yeah

Again, it's a really weird thing to say so The company has one and a half stars the the cab company One and a half star rating on Yelp and one reviewer wrote never again one and a half star rating on Yelp and one reviewer wrote, never again, rude, smelly, weirdo that was trying to ask me out. Yuck! Oh my god. And then she adds, to make matters worse,

he went the longest way possible and ripped me off. So weeks had passed since anyone had seen or heard from Adrian. Her family and friends held car washes and a concert to fundraise money for the investigation and a larger reward, all while continuing to distribute missing posters around the city. Adrian's friends, Shanie, Rebecca, and Alex even went door-to-door spreading information and asking questions about Adrian's disappearance. Sheyney said, quote, we tried every avenue that we could think of as 19-year-olds. Adrienne had been missing for 52 days when after flooding occurred in the foothills

of the nearby Arizona desert, a body was found in a nearby desert. The body was found in a stream called Weeks Wash, outside of a town called Apache Junction, and right next to a landfill. Now, Apache Junction sits 30 minutes directly east of Tempe where Adrian was last seen. In July of 2013, landmark rainfall had caused some flash flooding in the area, causing the normally dry desert wash basin to overflow.

When human remains were discovered on August 6, 2013, the Apache Junction Police contacted the Tempe Police with their findings, cross-referencing their missing persons list, and one person who fit the profile was 19-year-old Adrian Salinas. And DNA evidence confirmed that it was her. Her father Rick remembers quote, it was the worst day of my life. Her body was partially mummified, likely due to being encased in sand, and was found half uncovered by water runoff in the sand and brush in week's wash.

Alarmingly, the autopsy revealed that not all of her body parts were there. Whether animals consumed parts of her remains during the time that she was left outside, or she was mutilated before her body was left there remains unknown. And unfortunately, her autopsy was inconclusive. A cause of death could not be determined. In fact, it revealed that not all of her body was even recovered. Whether that is due to decay or animal interference or how she was killed is not really known, or at least is not been released to the public.

It's also not known whether alcohol played a role or not. Not that that would make her any less of a victim, but her friends don't remember her drinking much if at all that evening. Because the circumstances remain so mysterious, it's still classified by the FBI as a suspicious death instead of a homicide. While there is a slim possibility that it was an accident, the general consensus is that it was murder. Especially considering the fact that she was in a desert, like why would she willingly

go out there by herself in the middle of the night? And you might argue that due to the fight with her boyfriend or on an off again boyfriend, she wanted to maybe get away or go somewhere quiet. But then how did she die and also how did she get there without a car? And considering the cab driver won't really speak, this whole situation is just unknown because did he take her there or did somebody else or did somebody just put her there? Right. And then I also think another important piece of this is the fact that her phone either went

dead or was turned off at 507, which to me is just not a good sign. Police collected clothing scraps found near where her body was recovered, but couldn't confirm or deny if they were connected to Adrian. They also could not confirm where her body was originally dumped if it had been because it had traveled with the water. And because there had been so much decomposition, it was difficult to glean any evidence at all. And due to all of these complications, two years passed before any movement came in the

case. But then, in 2015, police received a wild tip from a man who speculated that his friend may be involved, a friend who caused played as a zombie hunter and turned out to be a serial killer. The man who called in the tip was a writer and artist local to, named Keen Aziraya. According to Keen, he met this friend 42-year-old Brian Patrick Miller at a steampunk convention in 2010. I'm sure a lot of you guys know what that is, but steampunk, if you're unfamiliar, is a genre of science fiction characterized by simultaneously futuristic and 19th century-inspired trends.

And steampunk conventions take place all over the world and are known for their very unique fashion Yeah, I mean like the first thing that comes to mind for me is like burning man like there's a lot of people who kind of have that like steampunk Like fashionable style. Oh my god really. I never affiliated the two like I feel like see that. Like the goggles and stuff from the sand. Yeah, so Brian also enjoyed attending horror and sci-fi conventions. So he often attended these types of events. But Keen and Brian are both very into the steampunk scene and love dressing up, meeting other enthusiasts and attending festivals and conventions.

I just got to say real quick, there's nothing wrong with attending horror and sci-fi conventions, but this guy was one of the bad people, and there are bad people in every sort of genre or into every sort of different thing. Absolutely. So, Keen remembered Brian as quiet and reserved, saying that he didn't have any friends, but that he loved this kind of alternate persona of his, the one that he got to be at these conventions. Right, the zombie hunter.

Yes. And speaking of the zombie hunter persona, he had, Brian had a decommissioned police car that he had redesigned as a zombie hunting car car complete with a zombie trapped in the backseat. So attendees at these festivals and conventions really loved taking pictures with Brian, you know, and he had like goggles and a gas mask on and he and Keen became good friends. And for anybody who wants to see this kind of zombie hunter get up that he has on, we did post photos on our socials. So when Brian wasn't attending these conventions, he led a seemingly normal life. He was divorced and had a young daughter whom he had custody of and worked at an Amazon fulfillment center.

But on January 13th of 2015, But on January 13th of 2015, Keen was shocked to hear that Brian was arrested and charged with the brutal murders of two young women in Phoenix in the 1990s. But another friend, Eric Braverman, wasn't as shocked, remembering Brian being particularly uncomfortable around women. Eric said said quote, he just had like a distance to him, where if you were talking to him, looking him in the eye, he was like, he was somewhere else. There was something with women. You didn't see him using the car to go, hey ladies, take a picture of me. He's doing that with like police. So there was something with ladies that he didn't like, or not comfortable with and to explain that a little bit There is a photo of Brian in his whole zombie hunter get up with the gas mask and goggles and a like a metal hard hat

And he's standing outside of his you know Zombie cop car with a police officer. So that's what he means is like he was taking photos with all these people But he wasn't using it to get women and he had this weird thing against women right which is always like a huge red flag Yeah, I mean just look at photos of the guy. I mean he really does Like if there's anybody's face that I'm like that guy is probably a serial killer. It's Brian Patrick Miller's face So DNA found at a crime scene where two murders sat as cold cases for over two decades, finally matched Brian to the crimes.

When the Phoenix Police Department themselves approached a nuclear physicist, turned genetic genealogist about two of their more disturbing unsolved cases. On November 8th, 1992, the day before her 22nd birthday, Angela Broso went on a bike ride while her boyfriend baked a birthday cake for her back at their apartment. But she never returned. Angela was found the next day mutilated and dismembered. Her torso was found near an intersection in North Phoenix, and her head was found in the

Arizona canal that runs through Phoenix. The gruesome murder was a shock to the community, but even more shocking, they had no leads and no suspects. The following year, it happened again. On September 22, 1993, 17-year-old Melanie Bernas was found just south of where Angela Broso was found and was also found in the canal. Melanie had also been out for a bike ride by herself at the time of her murder. And so, you know, obviously with this, the area was just gripped in fear and one local

publication printed quote. The slaying of bicyclists Angela Broso and Melanie Bernice were so savage that police knew that publicly linking them could terrify the valley. The valley now can be terrified. Police are now nearly certain the same murderer claimed the lives of both women ten months apart in the same area of the Northwest Valley. But even with this evidence, police had no way of connecting the crimes with the murderer. And because they didn't know who the killer was, they actually tagged these the canal murders.

And these canal murders put the city on edge with no answers for over two decades until 2015, two years after Adrian Salinas was killed, or was found dead. Colleen Fitzpatrick, the genealogist credited with connecting these crimes to their perpetrator said quote, They sent me the Y DNA profile for the crime scene from the Phoenix canal murders, and creator said quote, It's amazing to me that after so many years, exactly one word cracked that case, and that word was Miller. So how does this relate to Adrienne? Keen submitted a tip regarding his friend after he was arrested, connecting Brian's

ammo to the disappearance and death of Adrienne. There were some similarities between Adrienne and Brian's known victims. They were all young women in a vulnerable position, alone and outside at the time, and were then recovered outside as well. Where Angela and Melanie were found in North Phoenix was about a 30 minute drive from where Adrian disappeared, and before Brian was linked to these murders, he had already had a violent criminal record. Because in 1989, when Brian was just 16 years old, he stabbed a woman in her back as she walked to work.

And I don't know if this is just a random attack, like if you just didn't even know this person, couldn't find that information, but he did stab someone in the back. So he had actually just been released from a juvenile detention center two months before the attack, having served time for criminal damage. Brian's file described him as having, quote, superior intelligence, but that he had a history of running away from home, violent behavior, especially against women, and also said that he was emotionally immature, frustrated, angry, destructive, impulsive, and depressed. Now the judge ruled that he had major issues dealing with sexuality and recommended that

Brian C. Counseling from a juvenile sex offenders program, but he never did. Investigators believe that in 1992, at the age of 20 years old, he approached Angela Broso on her bike, attempted to sexually assault her, and then violently killed and dismembered her. The following year, when he was 21, he did the same thing to Melanie Bernice. Now, according to Keane on the night that Adrian disappeared, Brian was at a pig roast just 1.1 miles, or 1.7 kilometers, away from her home in Tempe. While Brian was detained for the murders of Angela and Melanie, police searched his

home. And while they didn't find anything directly connecting him to Adrian, they did discover that he was a massive hoarder. According to police, he was initially cooperative with investigators, but on the advice of counsel, quickly stopped talking. Brian continued to deny involvement in any of the cases, but also couldn't explain his DNA being present at the scene of where Angela's and Melanie's bodies were recovered. One of the detectives assigned to his case said, quote,

I would not be surprised if Brian Patrick Miller was responsible for other similar crimes. One local woman is convinced that Brian killed her little sister who has never been found, because a few months before Melanie was killed, a 13-year-old girl named Brandi Myers, who also lived in Phoenix, disappeared without a trace. On May 26, 1992, Brandi was walking around her neighborhood of sunny slope in North Phoenix, the same area where both Angela and Melanie disappeared from. And Brandi was last seen around 8 p.m. that evening on the corner of 10th Street and Hatcher Street,

going door to door for a readathon fundraiser for her school. Now Brandy had sustained brain damage when she was younger, which slowed her development a little bit, and her mom described her as naive and too trusting. And she believes that someone took advantage of that. Brandy's sister Kristen has led the crusade for decades to get answers for her sister, and believes that Brian Miller is responsible for her disappearance and probable murder. At the time, Brian was living just blocks from where Brandy lived. After Brian was arrested, his ex-wife, with whom he lived with at the time, came forward

and said she remembered him killing a young girl with special needs, stabbing her repeatedly, cutting her up, putting her into trash bags, and throwing her away. And his ex-wife claimed that she was scared of him retaliating against her, and that's why she never came forward. It's really interesting to me that with all of this Brian Miller stuff, that most of his crimes occurred in the early 90s, so did he just stop killing people for a long period of time, or did he have other victims victims and should Phoenix police be looking into this guy more because could he be connected to more unsolved cases in the area.

Right, like Adrian. Exactly. So it's definitely possible and that's probably why, you know, police are saying that they wouldn't be surprised if he was responsible for other murders because you're right, like to commit to in the span of 10 months, and then probably have something to do with Brandy's probable murder. Yeah. Why stop there, right?

Exactly. It doesn't. Exactly. You should, but. Yeah, it doesn't seem like that was something that he was going to do, though. Yeah. So, according to Keen, at the time of Adrian's disappearance, Brian was going through a serious depressive episode.

Now, Brian had been spending a lot of time venting and complaining to virtual friends on online forums, specifically about women and his struggles with them. On the morning of June 15, 2013, the last day Adrian was seen alive, Brian was trying to get a group together for an early morning hike or bike ride. Five days earlier on Monday, June 10, 2013, 40-year-old Brian posted on Facebook, quote, Okay guys and gals, I'm giving you several days notice. Someone get out of bed early and off their lazy butts and join me for a hike, a walk, or a bike ride on Friday or Saturday morning. Talking somewhere between 6-7am start time. No thank you, Brian, you murderer. So the time that he would be leaving for this outing would have been consistent with when

Adrian was last heard from, around 5am, placing the call to the cab company. Keen claimed that Brian also would have known the area where her body was found well. As it used to work for the Arizona Renaissance Festival, which is staged just a 14-minute drive from Weeks Wash, where Adrian's body was found, and is apparently also where Brian likes to go hiking and bike riding. He remains a person of interest in this case, but his lawyer never allowed him to speak with detectives regarding his possible involvement in Adrian's murder. Brian Patrick Miller initially tried to plead insanity, but was found mentally fit to stand trial.

His trial for the murders of Angela Broso and Melanie Bernis began on October 3rd of this year, 2022. So just about a week before this episode comes out. 49-year-old Brian Patrick Miller was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping and attempted sexual assault, and his trial began six and a half years after his arrest, with him pleading not guilty. It's being called the Canal Murder's Trial, and it's a bench trial, meaning that there aren't jurors, but instead a judge will decide his fate. But as far as we know, Adrian Salinas has not been mentioned in the trial, nor is he facing

any charges relating to her death, but it's certainly possible that he is involved. And no one has ever been charged in the abduction or the death of Adrian Salinas. Adrian's boyfriend Fran, cab driver Tom Simon Jr. and Brian Patrick Miller are all still persons of interest. But for now, it seems that we are no closer to finding who did this to Adrian. What do you think happened, Heath?

I mean, I think it's really interesting because the cab driver sketches me out, obviously due to the fact that he was very hostile with police didn't want to answer questions and also the witness saying that he threw out a hacksaw from his trunk. Yeah. But on top of that, it is also strange

that her phone last pinged around her boyfriend, Fran's apartment, like considering all these things, and then you go into Brian Patrick Miller who was just flat out a murderer, a serial killer, I could see it being any number of people. Yeah, the difficult thing here is it seems like everybody that is a person of interest has a well, but this kind of thing with them. Like, Fran, you know, I hate to go straight to the boyfriend of,

oh, they got in a fight, but it is a thing that happens, of course. Boyfriends can kill their girlfriend twice, Versa. But with Fran, he is saying that he did not see her, you know, around 5am that the last time he saw her was when she got out not see her around 5am. That the last time he saw her was when she got out of his car after 3am, right? Sure, yeah. Before her single car accident. And then there's the fact that like you just said,

her phone last panged in the vicinity of his apartment. So did she end up getting a cab with somebody else or a ride some other way or did she walk? And he did something to her then. That's definitely possible because this was 24 minutes later. So, I mean, you have to think it's a 15 minute drive. It's probably not a 24 minute walk, right? So she would have had to have gotten a ride there

and maybe that person just has not come forward for whatever reason. But then we think about the cab driver and how he is being really suspicious, but there is that surveillance footage that shows him pulling into AMPM and she's not there. And she's not there. But is he lying and saying they were supposed to meet there,

knowing that he would be on surveillance footage there and then he left and picked her up somewhere else. That's definitely possible, too. Yeah, it could be. And just because you've known a person since the eighth grade, doesn't mean... I mean... Talking about Fran.

Yeah, I'm talking about Fran. Like, people are married for decades, and then a husband kills a wife or a wife kills a husband. So just because you know somebody, or you have known somebody for a very, very long time doesn't mean that something like this isn't possible. So I understand the sentiment, like, I would never do anything like that. I've known her forever. She's like my one person in life. But hey, things do happen and that's, I don't know. I mean, so I can't really take him out of the suspect list and I don't think police can to either. Oh yeah, no, I neither can know. I mean, so I can't really take him out of the suspect list.

And I don't think police can either. Oh, yeah. No, I knew the can I. And that's because of the fact that they were in an argument. They, you know, we're arguing all night. She left and then she wanted to come back and he's saying he didn't see her then. So it's like, where did she go? Who did she come into contact with?

We don't know. Was it Fran and did one thing lead to another? Maybe he killed her by mistake and then turned her phone off at 507, right? Yeah, and obviously she was pissed off enough to get out of his car in the middle of the night and just start walking down the street. Right, but where was her phone? Where did her phone last ping at 507 in the area of his apartment? So that is really suspicious to me.

Right, and we know that that was what, 15 minutes away from her apartment? Or did Tom actually pick her up from somewhere and have intentions to drive her over there, but something happened in the car and before she actually could make it to France, something else happened to her via Tom, right? Yeah, I mean, there's just like an infinite amount of scenarios that I could put out there

and things that we could speculate on, but it does seem like these three men are the main suspects and I just, I don't know, it could be somebody else, but it doesn't seem likely. Yeah, it feels like it's most likely one of these three people. So her father remembers her as such a beautiful person and he actually got her name tattooed on his arm and he got an angel tattooed on his back in her memory. And Rick said sadly quote, "'As years go by, she's not talked about as much.

I just don't want her to be forgotten. But he manages to focus on the good that came out of her short life, stating quote, I think of good times, I think of the privilege of being a father. Not everyone gets to do that. I would encourage everyone to do that. Go hug your kids. Anyone with information regarding this case is urged to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or the Tempe Arizona Police Department at 480-350-8311. And the FBI is still offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading them to the person responsible for the

death of 19-year-old Adrian Salinas. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and on Friday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. What a complicated story I would love to hear what you guys think what your theories are and what feels like it makes the most sense. I really just want to get people talking about this story more so please don't forget to share because her family is desperate for answers

and they deserve to know what actually happened to her. And there are people, you know, unlike a lot of cases we cover where it's kind of like, nobody has any idea what happened. Like there are a few people here that could hold the answer. So please, please, please share Adrian's story. Also, hopefully we'll get some updates soon

on Brian Patrick Miller's trial. It really seems like this guy was so detached from reality, and really did actually take on that persona of this zombie hunter, and you know, it's strange because I know a lot of people who are into horror and other sorts of things like that sci-fi, but it really seems like he was just on the fringes of society, and maybe he was just trying to hide from people because he was doing all these horrible things. Yeah, well, we will keep you guys updated on what happens with him, but we should be finding out any day now because the trial has, I mean, that started a week ago, so we will probably

be posting on social media, so if you're not following us, following us, please do so on Instagram. We are at Going West Podcast, Twitter at Going West Pod, and we're also on Facebook. All right, guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

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