True Crime All The Time - Bryan Patrick Miller

Episode Date: May 26, 2025

In the early ‘90s, two young women were stabbed to death on a bike trail in Phoenix, Arizona. The Phoenix Canal Murders remained unsolved until 2014, when the police identified Bryan Patrick Miller, a local celebrity known for his “Zombie Hunter” persona, as a suspect. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Bryan Patrick Miller. His crimes began as a juvenile and escalated through the years. It seemed as though everywhere he lived, women disappeared. The police believe he is responsible for a large number of sexual assaults and murders. You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at trucrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 436 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime, Mike Gibson. Givie, how are you? Hey, I'm doing good. How about you? Doing great. Talked about it on Patreon, but my wife and I had a great time this past weekend in Chicago for our 29th anniversary. So that was fun. Cool. But I was happy to get home. Oh, it's always nice to get back home. It is. I like going place. I like doing things. But at a certain point, and everybody knows that point in the trip, you're like, okay, I'm ready to go home.

Yeah. I miss my home. I miss my dogs. Time to go. Yep. So we were happy. We were both happy to get home. Good.

Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Daryl the girl. Daryl and her other girl, Daryl. Other sister Daryl. Yeah. Elizabeth Katz. There's the cats. Emily Doran.

Hey, Doran. Trista Campbell jumped out to our highest level. Oh, thanks, Trista. Sharon McCall. Hey, Sharon. Ann Anderson. Well, hi, Ann. Alexander Jewer.

Good old Alexandra. Angie Villa. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And last but not least, Marissa Franco jumped out at a higher than our highest level. Well, hey, how's James doing? Yeah, James Franco. Yeah.

I just watched a movie the other night with him as a bad guy. Really? Yeah, it's a Statham, Jason Statham movie called Homefront. Have you seen that one? I haven't seen it yet. It's a good one. Is it? Yeah, you should check it out.

Yeah. And then if we go back into the vault, this week we selected Kelly Skinner. Hey, thanks, Kelly. Yeah, we appreciate the new Patreon support and the continued support. We also had a great PayPal donation from Erica Del Rio. Del Rio. I like that. Yeah.

So thank you, Eric. Thanks. So Gibbs, we have an episode out right now on True Crime All Time Unsolved, where we're talking about 14-year-old Jeremy Bright, who disappeared in August 1986 while attending a fair in work. I hate those type of cases because it makes me think back in the day when I would take my kids to the county fairs, festivals, and all that stuff. I was always so paranoid that maybe if I take my eyes off for a second and they wander

off and they would. Yeah. And then I'd be like, shit, where are they? Kids wander off. There's no doubt about it. So then I'd have to go find them and make sure. like, you know. And, and you know, some of the county fairs, uh, or state fairs, they're, they're huge. Yeah. It wouldn't take. I mean, I hate to say it for a kid to get lost,

it wouldn't take a lot. No. No, it's, it's a scary thought. I'm with you on that. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am ready. In the early 1990s, two young women were stabbed the death on a bike trail in Phoenix, Arizona. What became known as the Phoenix Canal murders remained unsolved until 2014, when the police identified a suspect who turned out to be a local celebrity known as the zombie hunter. Zombie hunter. You ever hunt zombies?

You know, I have not hunted any zombies as of yet. On your bucket list? I do have the appropriate zombie. warfare material. Okay. So you're prepared to hunt zombies. I am. I'm ready for it.

You just haven't done it. Yeah. I can hunt zombies and also those mushroom head looking things in that one series. Are we, are we there yet? Are we whatever that? Are we there yet? It was like a comedy with Ice Cube or something. Or Last of Us.

Oh, yeah. Those are two very similar titles. Are we there yet? The last of us. But I'm prepared for either direction. That's good. That's good to know. Yeah.

Angela Brasso, a tech worker who recently moved to Phoenix, went out for a bike ride on the evening of November 8th, 1992. It was the night before her 22nd birthday. So I did want to ask you, have you ever been to Phoenix? I have. It's a really nice place. Yeah, I loved it when I was out there. Can get super hot.

Well, that's part of being out in Phoenix. Yeah. I know a lot of people retire out there. Yeah. It's kind of like the Florida of the West. Just a little drier. Yeah. That's what they always say. A little drier.

It's not so human out here. It's dry. And I went out there and I said, it's hot. It's just hot. She laughed around 7 p.m. Angela's boyfriend Joe stayed behind to bake her cake and expected her home within an hour. When Angela didn't come back, Joe got on his bike and rode around looking for her. He went out three times at night and couldn't fly.

and couldn't find Angela. Joe called Angela's friends and even her mother in Pennsylvania before eventually reporting her missing. So Joe sounds like a pretty good boyfriend. You know, he's baking a cake. But obviously Gibbs, he gets very worried about her. You know, when you say, I'm going out for a bike ride, I'll be home in an hour. And it gets past that point.

And people will become worked. And this is 1992, right? There's no find my friend or find, locate my iPhone app thing, whatever. You know, I'm trying to come up with the names of these things. Whatever would be called. Yeah. There's none of that. Now, there were cell phones in 1992, but I don't know how many people had them.

Right. I know for a fact, I didn't have a cell phone in 1992. I mean, I had mine because of the work I was in. Mm-hmm. That you can't talk about? Yes. That you're sworn to secrecy. Forever. On November 9th, officers found Angela's body.

In the field next to her apartment, Angela had been stabbed in the back, sexually assaulted, and decapitated. It appeared that the killer trying to cut her torso in half per NBC. Wow. You know, we talk about a lot of vicious murders, brutal.

But you think about decapitated. and trying to cut someone's torso in half. I mean, that is really grisly stuff. Sick individual all the way around, but like extra to go to that extent. Well, because you think about you've murdered someone. Yeah. You've committed the ultimate sin and you've done the worst thing that you could do.

Now what are you thinking? Why are you going to cut someone's head off? Are you going to try to make it harder? To identify that person? Well, if so, you're probably not leaving the body next to that person's apartment. And then to try to cut that torso. In half. Yeah.

Angela was found wearing only her socks and tennis shoes. Her bloody clothing was scattered at the scene. Angela's bike and her head were gone. The guy drive off on her bike with her head? You know, that's what you're thinking, if you're at the scene, right? Well, that's what I'm thinking now. But it's also pretty strange to visualize. It is.

A guy riding a bike down the street with a head. Retired detective Robert Wamsley later testified about finding Angela's body. As quoted by AZ family, he said, I thought it was a mannequin. It was very white. I was inching my way up to see the head, to see her eyes. Then I could determine if it. it was a mannequin, somebody playing a sick joke, or if it was a body, and I found the head missing. And you hear that so often from people that, oh, you know, I thought it was a mannequin at first.

Yeah, I think that would be natural, right? I mean, why would you just assume automatically it's going to be a real body? Yeah, I get that. But here's a detective thinking, I didn't even think that this was a body. I thought this was a mannequin. Eleven days later, Angela's head was found in the Arizona Canal. almost two miles away from her body due to the lack of decomposition. Investigators believe the killer kept her head in a refrigerator before dumping it. You know, I don't like certain things in my refrigerator, period, let alone, uh, body parts. But I'm really struggling with, with the, the why of all of this. Yeah. You know, the killer sexually assaults the victim, murders the victim, and then, you know,

you know, decapitates her, tries to cut up, you know, the rest of her body, possibly refrigerates the head and then two days later dumps it in a body of water. Yeah. You know, we've had other cases where we had the killer keep the head, keep the feet, you know, for certain reasons. And then maybe eventually they dispose of them, but I remember them holding on to them where this individual, I only had it for a few days and said, all right, I better get rid of it and tossed it into the, you know, the canal.

And again, was that to try to throw the authorities off track? You wouldn't think it would be too hard for them to figure out who this person was. It'd be different if she was found 30 miles away from where she lived. Right. Or 50 or, you know, something like that. 10 months later on September 21st, 1993, 17-year-old Melanie Bernice went out for a bike ride while her mother was out at dinner. biking was one of Melanie's favorite pastimes, as well as spending time with her friends. That evening, Melanie rode along the Arizona Canal to a restaurant near the mall where her friend was working.

They planned to meet up for a nighttime ride. When her friend Jessica finished work, Melanie rode off, and that was the last time Jessica saw her. Melanie wasn't home when her mother returned from dinner on the morning of September 22nd. Phoenix resident Charlotte Pottle was out biking with her daughter when she rode through a puddle. She told 48 hours. I could tell that it was a puddle of red. It was a puddle of blood. What a sight.

Charlotte then noticed drag marks that went towards a tree in the canal. She went home to call the police. Officers found Melanie's body in the canal. She had been stabbed in the back and sexually assaulted, according to Dateline letters. were carved into Melanie's body. She was dressed in a teal body suit. And one of her friends said, Melanie didn't own a teal bodysuit,

leading police to believe the killer took off her clothes and redressed her in the body suit. Melanie's bike was also missing. Okay. I mean, in both of these murders, number one, they're tragic. You know, two young women lost their lives. but there are some very strange facets to both of them.

In this one, there's a theory that the killer undressed and then redressed Melanie in something different, something that he would have had to have brought with him. And why did he want her in that? And why carve letters? Why do these things which presumably are post-mortem? Why do them in both instances? The same DNA profile was found at both crime scenes, meaning the same individual, killed Melanie Bernice and Angela Brasso.

Additionally, Melanie and Angela were stabbed in the same spot on their backs. The precision of the wounds caused investigators to look into the possibility that the killer was a surgeon or special forces operative. I'm guessing because they knew exactly in the back were to stab somebody to kill them. And or incapacitate them. Yeah. Very, very quickly, like with one blow. Right. But there was no match for the DNA and any databases. And the Phoenix Canal murder's case eventually went cold. In 1994, the police received a tip suggesting a man named Brian Patrick Miller might have had a distinctive teal body suit similar to the one Melanie was found in. According to 48 hours,

It seems like investigators didn't pursue this leap at the time. It seems like that would have been one you would want to pursue, though. You would think. I don't know that teal is the most common color of body suits and especially with men. Exactly. So why would this guy have a teal body suit? I think you'd want to know. The canal murder's case was reopened in 2011.

Phoenix Detective Clark Schwartzcoff had to work through a list of more than 600 persons of interest. So obviously they had worked this case, right, for a number of years. But 600 persons of interest, that's a lot of people to go through. That really is a lot. In late 2014, investigators spoke to forensic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick at a conference. Her company Identifinders International developed software that could utilize. public genealogy databases to find matches to crime scene DNA. The Phoenix police sent her the DNA from the crime scenes.

And I think we've talked about Colleen Fitzpatrick before. She is highly intelligent. Morph and I had her on an episode of criminology many years back, and I was blown away by her knowledge. I think she would probably be somebody that I could finally have a real conversation on on the same intellectual level yeah yeah probably yeah so they have the DNA her company does and they found the last name miller there were six individuals on the person of interest list with this last name one of them was 42 year old brian patrick miller who had a juvenile conviction for stabbing a woman

by 2014 miller was a divorced father raising his teen daughter he worked at an Amazon warehouse. I think all the red flags should be going off. This is the guy that somebody said had a till body suit. This guy had a conviction when he was younger for stabbing a woman. Yeah, and we know both victims were stabbed in the back. Yeah, I get what you're saying. According to 48 hours, Brian spent a few years in Hawaii with his parents. His father died in a motorcycle accident. Several years later, Brian and his mom moved to Phoenix. Growing up, Brian had violent outbursts in school and had difficulty relating to other children. And I know you experienced some of the same things.

Violent outbursts is a youngster in school. You just had trouble relating to the other children because, like you said, they were not on your intellectual level. You couldn't find anyone to have a deep conversation with. There was a difference. At just 16 years old, Brian committed a serious violent crime. In May 1989, a woman. named Celeste Bentley got off at the same bus stop as Brian. Celeste told 48 hours, well, when he had

ran by me, I thought he had just hit me. But then I reached back to my back and I pulled my hand up and I saw the blow. Celeste managed to get to her workplace and her co-worker called for help 30 minutes later when she was still in the ambulance. The police informed her they found the suspect and wanted to show him to her. Celeste identified him as her attorney. Celeste identified him as her attacker. Brian pled guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to juvenile detention until he turned 18. Why would he do something like that? Well, you know, the why, right, is a question that we ask a lot. Why do these people do what they do? Yeah. Why do people kill? But I understand where you're, where you're going, why would you just run by somebody at a bus stop and stab them in the back and keep

running just for kicks to find out what it feels like the rush i i don't know yeah you just like you said trying to gauge how it feels while brian was in juvie his mother ellen found the disturbing note in his room the note was titled plan videotaped and detailed a plot to kidnap rape murder and dismember a woman now anybody finding this would be disturbed by But your mom, the mom finding this, it couldn't have been a good moment for her. No, because, you know, as a mom, you're like, this is my little boy. You know, this is not the person I raised. Who did I raise here?

Yeah, I mean, you'd be so upset just over rape, and then you see murder, and then dismember? What the heck? Ellen gave the note to the police and refused to let Brian move back in with her. He moved into a halfway house after he was released. So obviously, she kind of abandoned him. She was that worried. I think you should be somewhat worried, especially if he's living in the same house with you. Brian got married in 1997.

He and his wife, Amy, moved to Everett, Washington, and had a daughter. Brian stabbed another woman on May 23, 2002. That night, he picked up Melissa Ruiz, Ramirez, who was walking down the street, Melissa recognized Brian because she had seen him talking to one of her friends. She got in his car and said she needed to make a call. Brian drove her to his workplace to use the phone. Out of nowhere, Brian ran her with a knife and stabbed her in the back.

They struggled over the weapon. Melissa was able to escape and call the police. I'm just trying to imagine how this all went down if you were Melissa, you know, I mean, you're thinking, okay, I'm going to use this phone. Next thing you know, you look up and this guy's running at you with a knife and stabbing you in the back. And also not a stranger, right? Somebody that you know, at least on some level, Brian was arrested and claimed he stabbed Melissa in self-defense. He said she walked in off the street and asked to make a call and then tried to rob him at knife point.

Okay. He's got a story. and in December 2002, a jury acquitted Brian, a first jury assault with a deadly weapon. So clearly they bought his story. Or at the very least, they were conflicted. Brian's criminal history stood out to Detective Clark Schwartzcoff. Schwartzcoff noticed that Brian's note detailing his plot to murderer woman had similarities to the Angela Brasso case. In the note, Brian described how he wanted to decapitate a woman,

and preserved the head. Well, it sounds like very similar to what had happened. Well, and we talked about, you know, what was the reason to remove the head? And what would be the reason to put it in the refrigerator if that's what happened, the way police suspected. Well, we might be learning what? Detective Schwarzkopf looked into Brian's social media and discovered his online persona as the zombie hunter.

Brian dressed in a costume, wore a mask, and carried a fake gun. He drove around in an old police cruiser with zombie hunter written on the back. The car was decorated with fake blood and he often put a mannequin in the back seat. Well, it's hard not to laugh at that, right? We're talking about very serious stuff here and then all of a sudden we've got this guy dressing up like a, like a junior Gibby and driving around town in a, you know, a police model car with zombie hunter and fake blood on it. Now, I know you often put a mannequin in your car, but it's only so that you can use the lane on the highway that's reserved for more than one person.

Well, it's important to use that commuter lane, you know. But it was said that, you know, this guy participated in what we're called zombie walks. and other events in Phoenix. And it was kind of like a local celebrity. Fans and even police officers like to take photos with him. Okay. See, you just got to get a old police car

and call yourself Fergie the zombie killer. And you'll be very famous locally. I think I'm good. Yeah? I think I'm good. Although he was a public figure, friend said Brian could be shy and awkward.

His friend Eric Braverman told AZ family. He was just like a totally regular guy. I never had a conversation with him that led me to think anything other than he's just a goofy guy. Braverman said about Brian's zombie hunter persona. He liked the adulation. It brought in the attention without having to say anything. And for someone who's kind of shy and awkward, that might be very appealing. Yeah, I think it probably would have been.

You don't have to talk, which might not be the easiest thing for you to do, right, to other people. But you have people wanting to take pictures with you just because you're wearing this mask and, you know, you're calling yourself the zombie hunter. That's some cool get up you're wearing. Yeah. Braverman said that Brian was always polite, but there was something different about him. He said he just had like a distance to him where if you were talking. to him, looking him in the eye. He was just 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

the police. So there was something with ladies that he didn't like or that he was not comfortable with. That's interesting. Yeah, that, you know, his friend would say that. In December 2014, detective Schwarzkopf began surveilling Brian. He knew he needed to obtain his DNA to compare to the sample on file. During one of Brian's breaks at the Amazon warehouse, Schwarzkopf approached his car and offered him a job. He told Brian that he had been hired as a security consultant for a nearby store and offered him a position as a security officer.

They scheduled a meeting to fill out a job application and met at a Chili's restaurant. restaurant on January 2nd, 2015. Wait, I'm just trying to picture this. It was like, hey, I know you're the zombie hunter. And if you can hunt zombies, I'm pretty sure you can be a security consultant over here for me. So let's get together and talk about this because I need a zombie hunter on my team. Yeah, I don't know how the conversation went, but it does seem strange that if you're

on break from your job, somebody just comes. comes up and offers you another job? Yeah, it doesn't really happen, does it? Not to, it's never happened to me. Brian drove his zombie hunter car to the restaurant and brought his daughter with him. Despite his criminal history, Schwarzkopf was not fully convinced. Brian was the killer, especially when he saw how Brian interacted with his daughter in a loving manner.

Still, he was a potential suspect. Because of the genetic genealogy results, Schwartzcoff figured, Brian would be eliminated and then he would move on to a new suspect on the list. And I get that, right? You've got this guy, he's the zombie hunter. He's known locally. Would you think this guy's going to be a killer? Then you see him interacting with his daughter.

Okay. It's not screaming out cold-blooded killer, right? No. But we know some people are like that. Sure. As soon as Brian left the restaurant, undercover detectives. collected his water glass on January 13, 2015. Investigators learned Brian's DNA matched the DNA from the canal murders.

Brian was arrested that day in charge with two counts of first-degree murder. He denied killing anyone. And when he was told that his DNA was at the crime scene, he responded, I don't see how that's possible. What are you going to say, Gibbs? Well, okay, you got me. Yeah, yeah. The jig is up.

Yeah, no, deny, deny, deny. Of course. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence, people just, you know, continue to deny. I mean, the problem was he met somebody at a restaurant and used their glass and serviceware probably. You know, I always bring my own glass and serviceware wherever I go. Yeah, I always think it's strange when you have that, that classable cup that you pop up and you ask the waitress or whoever the server to pour. the Coke and that, you have your K-bar sport that you, you know, pull out of your pocket. It's a strange scene.

But it's moments like this. It shows you that pays off. It does. It does. Especially for someone like you. Investigators obtained a warrant for Brian's home. They were surprised to find that the house was full of garbage to the point that it was difficult to walk anywhere.

There was only a narrow path to get to the bathroom, kitchen, and TV. Okay. That does not sound like, you know, the way that, that I want to live. It sounds like an episode of hoarders. Exactly what it sounds like. Neither the murder weapon nor the missing bicycles were found. And that doesn't surprise me at all. I mean, you know, we are talking about decades later. Now, okay, this guy is a hoarder. There's a chance that he would keep some of that stuff. But after the arrest, Detective Schwartz-Coff, wanted to talk to Brian's ex-wife, Amy. Amy said she was only 19. When she met Brian in 1996, they got married less than a year later and moved to Everett, Washington.

They were separated by 2005. During their marriage, Brian confessed to attacking two girls, one in Phoenix and one in Everett. He told Amy that he stabbed a teen girl with an intellectual disability. It happened after he was released from Juvie, while he was living in an apartment

operated by a Mennonite outreach program north of Central Phoenix. According to Brian, the girl knocked on his door, trying to sell Girl Scout cookies or something similar. He grabbed her, pulled her inside, and cut her throat. Wow. This is a reason why you should not go to door to door. No, especially by yourself.

It should never happen. He said that he put her body in the bathtub. He intended to preserve the body with cold water, but he accidentally ran hot water, which sped up decomposition. Brian dismembered the body and put the remains in a trash can, which he left in his apartment until trash day. When neighbors complained about the smell, Brian told them it was rotten meat. So that's that, honey. You know, I just wanted to clear the air and let you know what I did. You know, so what's for dinner when we eating?

I'm shocked. I get it. You know, you don't want to start out the relationship with anything hidden, but I didn't know that would apply to something like this. Yeah, that's a lot to take in right there. And what do you do if you're on the other end receiving this information? I think you should run first. Well, obviously she didn't. I mean, they were together for nine years. Now, Amy said she never reported Brian because she wasn't sure he was telling the truth. She thought he might be trying to intimidate her. She was also afraid of him and wanted to be a good wife.

Well, she's in a tough situation because, one, she's not sure if he's really being honest. Maybe inside she felt maybe he was being honest, but you don't want to believe it. I don't think he would ever want to believe somebody you're in love with could do something like that. But she also said she was afraid of him. Yeah. And that could have played a big pardon as well. They were still married in 2002 when Brian spent months in jail for stabbing Melissa Ruiz Ramirez.

Brian sent Amy multiple letters. At first, the letters professed his innocence, but then they became sexually deviant with Brian describing what he was going to do to her when he got back. Amy told Detective Clark Schwartzcoff that Brian displayed a sexually violent side of himself that she had never seen before. And there were instances where he held a knife to her throat during sex. Because who wouldn't find that arousing? I mean, if you're on the receiving end of that, having a knife held to your throat

during a sexy time. Well, I mean, if it is a K bar. This is, that is a sexy knife. But this is obviously in the case of Brian Miller. all for him. Oh, for sure. I mean, that couldn't have been a good experience for her at all. But to him, I'm sure it was sexually arousing.

Because, you know, violence and sex to some people go together. Yeah, I'm sure it got him off. Or go hand in hand. But I'm thinking Gibbs by now, she's maybe thinking that what he told her is probably more likely true than not. right about killing a woman. Well, how could she feel anything else at this point? Investigators felt confident that there were other unsolved cases that could be linked to Brian Miller. Phoenix Sergeant Trent Krook told AZ family to think that someone who was killed in that fashion

that there weren't other crimes related to this is unlikely. In September 2015, the police submitted first-degree murder charges against Brian Miller for the presumed death of 13-year-old Brandy Myers. Authorities believed Brian killed Brandy based on the details of his confession shared by Amy. Brandy went missing on May 26, 1992. She was out

collecting pledges for a school reading project and needed six more dollars. She was last seen at 7 p.m. at Smitty's store near Cave Creek and Hatcher Roads about two doors down from Brian's home and heading in that direction. authorities learned that Brian lived just two blocks away from Brandy. Now, she wasn't a Girl Scout.

She was seeking donations for a fundraiser. Brandy was developmentally delayed. She was 13, but mentally was closer to age 9 or 10. This also lined up with details from Brian's confession. Yeah, sure does. So there's two things I want to talk about here. The first is, you know, what this Sergeant Crump said. to think that a person like this hasn't committed other crimes is unlikely.

And I think that's true. We talk about it quite a lot. In my mind, the people that we talk about, many of them, especially serial predators, probably have a lot more victims than we ever know about. The second is, you remember, when we were young, it was not that uncommon for young kids to go door to door. It seemed like every year the school had multiple fundraiser things. You were supposed to sell candy, chocolates.

Now, obviously, if you were a Girl Scout or a Boy Scout, you were supposed to go door to door selling things. And often back then, I think a lot of parents just let their kids go by themselves. For sure. Yeah. I mean, I know my parents did. Well, you better get out there before the other kids hit those houses. okay, you want to come with me? No, they just sent you out and get the names. And I'm sure some

kids do go out today by themselves, but more often than not, when a child comes to the front door at my house, their parent or even both parents are standing backaways. Yeah. But they're with them the whole time they're out. And then you have the parents that say, you know what, I'm not even going to send you. I'm going to take it to the office. I'll get my coworker. to do it and then you don't have to worry about that's what i used to do you did as a manager there was a little extra pressure right when your manager gives you the the thing you're like oh shit i got to buy something yeah well watch her face just went in there and bought something so i got to buy something because if i don't she's going to look better than me well it was tied to your

raises so you know it felt like it sure was it performance driven the people from the Mennonite Outreach Program recalled that the odor coming from Brian's apartment was so bad, they cleaned it. While he was gone, they didn't examine the trash they threw in the dumpster, and it wasn't clear what was causing the odor. A forensic search of the apartment in 2015 yielded few clues. There was blood in the bathroom, but it didn't match Brian or anyone else connected to the case. And I think it's hard, right, to search a little bit. To search a an apartment so many years later because how many people have lived in that apartment since. Yeah, I mean, and if you did find something, how could you really use it during a trial?

Yeah, it would be much easier to poke holes in it. Yeah. Authorities also think Brian might be connected to another 1992 case. The day after Brandy went missing, the decomposed remains of a slightly older girl were found in the desert of northeast Phoenix. It wasn't until 2011 that those remains were identified as 16-year-old runaway Shannon Amok. Shannon was in the foster care system. The police received 40 reports of her running away. These reports stopped in late 1991, and no one reported her missing when she ran away for the last time.

A very chronic runaway. Yeah, which I do think, you know, does that make it tougher for police? right, they've received 40 reports. But when she actually does go missing missing, no one reports her missing. Authorities have not ruled out Brian's involvement in Shannon's death. Authorities brought Brandy Myers case to prosecutors in late 2015, but the county attorney declined to press charges due to a lack of evidence. Kristen Dennis, Brandy's sister said in an interview,

with AZ family. Her case is considered solved, but not resolved. We know who killed her. We know every detail. We know why we didn't get her body back. We know the color of the trash back. I do think it would be hard to prosecute a case, you know, 23 some odd years later. Not impossible, but obviously harder. Challenging for sure. Yeah. Brian told 48 hours, he had no. involvement in Brandy's disappearance and never confessed to his wife that he killed a young girl. Based on his confession, Brian was linked to a third attack. Shortly after his arrest, on October 9, 2000, 14-year-old Victoria Mickelson was stabbed while walking on a popular bike path in Everett before school. Victoria was taking a new route because a girl at her normal

stop was bullying her. She left her house after 6 a.m. and saw a few years. joggers so she wasn't concerned. When she saw a man enter the trail from the woods, she did think he was creepy and he was disheveled, as if he'd been sleeping outside. Victoria noticed that when she sped up, the man increased his pace. She looked back at him about ten times, and each time he was closer to her. This lasted for about five minutes until she turned around again. Victoria told the Arizona Republic, I turned around to the right and he wasn't there. And I turned around to the left and he put his arm around my neck. The man stabbed her in the neck and stomach. Fueled by adrenaline, Victoria felt no pain

and was able to break free and kick the knife out of the man's hands. They both went for the knife, but Victoria got it first. She held it tight and curled up in the fetal position. After a brief struggle. The man said he wouldn't hurt her if she gave the knife back. Victoria complied. That would be tough to do. Give the knife back. Yeah. Yeah, it would be, because you're putting a lot of trust in this person, but also how much of a badass is this 14-year-old girl? I mean, this man attacks her with the knife, grabs her from behind, and she does a Jean-Claude Van Damme and kicks the knife. I mean, this man attacks her with the knife, out of his hands and then is able to get to it before he can get to it.

Very impressed. Victoria recalled, I couldn't process anything. I just kept thinking I wanted to get to my best friend's house and tell her and be able to get to school today. If I miss school today, I'm screwed. The man stabbed her two more times in the back and strangled her until she lost consciousness. She remembers watching him walk away. This is why you don't give the knife back.

Victoria was saved by a bystander who she believes interrupted the attack. In total, she was stabbed 17 times. One wound was an eighth of an inch from her aorta. And doctors had to remove over a foot of her intestine. Oh, wow. Yeah, I mean, very horrific. It's a wonder she survived. But, you know, I go back to what she said, that she couldn't process anything.

In her mind, she was thinking about getting to school. Absolutely. And she even said it. If I miss school today, I'm screwed. I got to do whatever I can to get there. But meanwhile, she's in a fight for her life. But she's thinking about school. And again, how would we all react? How would we all think in kind of that type of situation? And nobody really knows until they're in it, especially if you're 14 years old. Well, she reacted and did what she had to do. Victoria's case went unresolved for years. After Brian was arrested, the Phoenix police contacted her and told her they believed Brian was the man who attacked her.

Brian Miller lived in the same apartment complex as Victoria, less than half a mile from the side of the attack. He was never interviewed or suspected and the statute of limitations had expired for him to face charges in this case. still Victoria feels certain Brian is the man who attacked her And you know the other thing that's jumping out at me Is you know attacking Someone who lives in the same Complex that you do

I'm not trying to tell people how to attack people and get away with it But that does not seem like The smartest thing to do Now they never even interviewed him No they did not or suspected him at all but and I wonder how much of that had to do with his juvenile record, maybe not being available, probably being sealed or,

you know, or whatever. Brian's trial started on October 3rd, 2002. It wasn't until early 2022 that he was found competent to stand trial. He waived his right to a jury trial and left his fade up to a judge. The defense conceded that Brian committed the canal murder, but argued he was not guilty by reason of insanity.

Okay. So they're coming right out and saying, we're not disputing the fact that, you know, he killed these two females. What we're saying is he should be found not guilty by reason of insanity. His attorneys noted that Brian was diagnosed with autism and dissociative disorders. He was abused by his mother Ellen, who died in 2010,

which contributed to his violent. behavior. Maybe they have a good defense there. Well, at least, you know, they're going to mount something. After he was arrested, Brian told the police that Ellen started physically abusing him. When he was just five, Ellen was a detention officer and used her security belt to beat him. Brian claimed that Ellen also exposed him to violent pornography in violent movies as a child. That was mom's eye here to defend herself. Well, and that's what I was thinking, right? She died in 2010. He can pretty much say whatever he wants, and there's no way for her, at least, to argue it. Psychologist Dr. Bethany Brand testified that Brian developed dissociative amnesia and could not remember certain traumatic events.

Because of this diagnosis, he had no memory of the murders. Dr. Brand testified that, Brian described his mind in an unusual way. Per AZ family, she said, he feels like different TVs are playing in his head. The state asked Dr. Brand if it was her opinion that someone with dissociative amnesia could commit murder. She answered yes and explained there could be a part of them, a self-state that has very violent, revengeful feelings,

fantasies and wishes, and another part that, doesn't know about that. And so in that case, it could contribute. But in other cases, there's plenty of dissociative amnesic patients out there that don't commit murders. Dr. Brand also said Brian never confessed to the murders. She said, I think the most important thing is he doesn't remember these murders. To not remember doing something so egregious as murders, that's incredibly dysfunctional. So Gibbs, you know, to me, the not guilty by reason of insanity defense is a real tricky one that to my knowledge is not successful very often. I think more often than not it fails. But here you have a psychologist testifying that,

you know, he has no memories of the murders. And what's that based on? Him saying that he doesn't remember the murders? Yeah. How do you know? I get. it you're a trained psychologist but you're not a mind reader and maybe he's a master manipulator as many criminals are also do you think he has a really big incentive to say something or say a number of things that are in his favor now i'm not saying he didn't go through trauma i don't know what i am saying is that to me a lot of this stuff is very tricky especially when it comes to an insanity defense. Yeah, and if he didn't go through all that,

this is going to be his biggest performance that it'll ever have to play out. Dr. Mark Cunningham, a forensic psychologist, testified that Miller's autism disorder likely compounded the impact of his mother's psychological abuse. Ellen deprived Brian of food, isolated him from friends, beat him, and abused his pets.

Dr. Cunningham testified is quoted by 12 news. His mother told him, there were strangers out there who would kidnap him, rape him, and kill him. The threat to genitally mutilate a child while holding a knife or scissors is among the most grievous psychological terrorism that can be directed to a child or any other human being. That would be very horrifying. But is it true? That's the big question.

If that really happened to him, that would be horrified. And like we said earlier, Ellen's not here to deny or to agree to what he's saying. Dr. Cunningham said that this abuse damaged Brian's ability to relate to others in the world. His zombie hunter persona was a coping mechanism to avoid personal interaction. The prosecution argued that Brian's autism diagnosis was invalid and disputed his disassociative amnesia defense. prosecutors pointed out that Brian remembered details of other stabbings, such as the 1989 stabbing and the 2002 stabbing. Prosecutors also called on his ex-wife Amy to testify.

She testified that she never asked Brian to stop when he was violent during sex because, as she said, I was avoiding any confrontation with him at all at that point and wanted to be as compliant as possible so that I would say, will he love me enough not to kill me? I'm sure she felt nervous having a knife up against her neck, thinking, I'm going to tell him to stop it right now, knowing that he could maybe take it too far. But just think about that statement.

Will he love me enough not to kill me? That's not something that most significant others need to worry about on a daily basis. Nobody should ever have to worry about that. No. No. It just tells you the state of the relationship. On April 11, 2023, the judge found Brian guilty of two counts of first degree murder, kidnapping, and two counts of attempted sexual assault. During his sentencing phase, Brian spoke in court for the first time, saying, I'm not looking for sympathy today. This time is for the family and the friends of the victims. I cannot imagine what pain they have endured for all these years. I accept the court's decision, and I'm hoping this trial and my convictions have provided some measure of relief for the families. I know this has been a long and painful process for everyone. I wish I could provide answers for the questions you have.

I know I'm different. I didn't understand completely why. I thought it might have to do with what my mother did to me. Growing up, I was scared. I was lost. I was confused. I was not allowed to express myself. I want to get help and try to open up the parts of me I know I have shut out.

I want to do whatever I can to help my daughter. She means the world to me. And if there's anything I can do to make this part of her life easier, I will do it. I was not a perfect father, but I tried my best. And I'm sorry for the damage this experience has caused her. I miss her. He ended by saying, I hope everyone can find some measure of peace going forward. And listen, you know, we dissect a lot of times what these killers say, you know, especially after they've been convicted.

Now, he's saying a lot of the right thing. Sure. But you just, you never know. Is this heartfelt? Or is this what he knows he needs to say to play the part? It could be a combination, you know. I think he wants to apologize to his daughter. I don't know if all the other stuff matters,

but I think his daughter was important to him. Oh, yeah. I'm sure that part was true. But, you know, all of all the other stuff. You know, he is talking about his mom again. Was all of that stuff true? Was he really abused? Does he really want to get help?

And why does he want to get help now after he's been convicted? Was it because he. really didn't know that he murdered these two women? It seems very convenient for him. Yeah, it could be. I don't know. You know, that's the thing. There's no way to know for sure.

Now, obviously, the judge did not buy the not guilty by Insanity Plea. On June 7, 2023, Brian Miller received two death sentences and 24 years for kidnapping and sexual assault. after the trial, 48 hours reached out to Brian, and he denied murdering Angela Brasso and Melanie Bernice. When asked to explain how his DNA was found on both bodies, he wrote, that's the million dollar question. If I had a provable answer for that, I wouldn't be in this situation. Now would I. It is a question that I would like answered, and everyone is so convinced that I did. So it will go unanswered. And to me, this is a little

strange because he's not saying, well, I must have done it. I just don't remember it. He is saying, I didn't do it. Wasn't me. He was asked about life on death row. Brian wrote, it's better than county jail, but it's obvious that isolation has taken its toll on many people here. From what I saw of people in county jail compared to here, the majority of people here are by far, not what I would consider the worst of the worst. It's by far safer than anywhere else in prison, even though they have nothing really to lose anymore. It's far from great is I'm even more isolated from those I care about

and also my legal team. The food is still not great and the cells are getting very cold now. The temps are falling. Do we really care? No, if you murdered multiple people, stabbed others, sexually assaulted, no, I don't think anyone cares how good your food is or that you're a little bit chilly. Yeah. Think about those victims that never got to have another taste of food.

Or their families who never got to share another meal with them ever again. True. Brian also disagreed with the experts, called by his defense, who claimed he had dissociative amnesia, writing, I maintain I did not do the murders. So he's coming out and saying it. It's not that I don't remember doing them. I didn't do them. In 2024, CBS 5 reporter Breanna Whitney reached out to Brian and asked him why he felt his defense team did not properly represent his condition.

Brian responded, I will keep this brief and limited. My attorney stated before and during trial that I do not agree with expert opinion and defense counsel's position. regarding issues around dissociative amnesia and guilt innocence, as I stated to state experts who asked the same question regarding DNA. I refused to speculate and make statements accusing another party without sufficient proof. It's the state's job to make statements like that or so it seems. I got to be honest with you, Gibbs. I didn't really understand what he's trying to say there. I was trying to figure that out myself. I mean, for a statement he was going to keep limited in brief, he really was long-winded and said very little.

In further correspondence with the reporter, Brian discussed the unsolved cases, linked to him, including the 2013 death of a young Arizona woman. On June 14, 2013, 19-year-old Adrian Salinas, went to a party in Tempe. She left the party in the early hours of June 15, then returned to speak briefly with a roommate. She left again at 4 a.m.

A few minutes later, her car was involved in a single vehicle accident near her residence. A witness said she was driving erratically and hit the curb, which blew out two of her tires. Adrian returned to her apartment, changed clothes, and called a cab. Around 5 a.m., she texted her boyfriend that she was coming over in a cab. Minutes after sending the text, her phone was shut off. The cab driver arrived and couldn't find Adrian or get in contact with her. On August 6, 2013, Adrian's body was found in the desert, in Apache Junction. Her remains were badly decomposed, and her cause of death was not immediately determined.

And actually, in the research, I never did find where they reported what her cause of death was. But it almost seems Gibbs as though maybe somebody did something to her that caused her to hit the car. Herb was lying in wait for her. Kind of set this old thing in motion. I'm thinking that maybe that's a possibility and then got to her while she was outside waiting for the cab, but before it got there, Brian wrote to reporter Brianna Whitney regarding Brandy Myers. I am only aware of Myers because it was something that happened in my neighborhood that

turned it upside down for a few days. I came home from work one evening to find the Maiden Road blocked off and a bunch of of people milling about. At first, I thought it was a street party, and I had not been aware of, but when I went to see what was going on, I saw they were handing out flyers about a missing child. A day or two later, a church member who lived next to me notified me that my landlords allowed police access to the property with canine units in the search. This was done without tenant knowledge or search warrant. The police went door to door, asking people and looking in trash bins, I was at work when they did all this, so the information came from someone else.

Later, when I was married to Amy, we were watching the news, and there was a missing child case being reported on, and I related the Myers case and how it affected the neighborhood. I had been under the impression that Myers had been found, because once the police left the neighborhood, I heard nothing else about her until my arrest. Amy has made statements that have been meant to hurt me and give reason for her to get full custody of our daughter. Each time she changes tactics and story to up the ante. As everyone who truly paid attention to trial testimony, Amy was proven to be lying about many things and she got angry when she was caught in her life.

Regarding Adrian Salinas, I had no knowledge of the case and still don't know much about it other than someone suggested I could have been involved. because I was at a house party nearby that day. If that person had been paying attention, he would have also noted that I was with people we both knew all night. And there was no time that I was not alone and unaccounted for that day. The person suggesting that has been looking to insert themselves because they have an obsession with murder cases and is looking for attention.

He also doesn't use his real name, even with people he is known for years. and is in possession of an item stolen from me since my arrest. I had no involvement in these or any other cases and have never confessed any crimes that I have not already been punished for. Okay. So, you know, he's denying involvement in all these missing persons cases, these murder cases. He is either a fairly prolific serial killer and serial killer.

and serial rapist, or he just happens to live right next to a large number of people who either go missing and or are later found murdered. Somebody with some really bad luck. Yeah. Yeah. He's really portraying to people that he didn't do this. Wasn't me. Well, what's the alternative?

Confessed to a bunch of murders to which he's not been convicted? No, he's not going to do that. I mean, he won't even cop to the two murders he was convicted. Yeah. He continues to deny those. He's certainly not going to admit to murders, you know, for which he's not been convicted. Brian also wrote about his childhood and said the state's claim that he didn't report his mother's abuse was false. He said, I did speak up.

I did tell people what was going on. People knew what was going on. Back then, no one wanted to get involved. people wouldn't believe that a mother would treat their child like that. No one believed an officer with the sheriff's department would treat someone abusively. The school nurse didn't report it when she had me roll up my sleeves when I was wearing long sleeves during the Arizona summer and could see welts and bruising shaped like a belt. My old roommate and my ex-wife thought I was exaggerating until they were around my mother a couple of times.

People assume that because I'm so laid back and quiet that I had a good childhood. I just choose not to treat others as my mother did. Because he was sentenced to death, Brian's case is being automatically appealed. Although it took 22 years, authorities are confident. They have solved the Canal murders case and have gotten justice for the families of Angela Brasso and Melanie Bernice. I mean, if he was abused by his mom. Tragic, of course. Yeah, it would be horrible.

But it doesn't give him permission to do what he did. No, because as we've talked about a lot of times, right, there have been a lot of people who experienced trauma, abuse during their childhood. Not all of those individuals grow up to be killers. Now, can it have an influence on people? It seems like it possibly can because a lot of killers do. have that in their their background as we've seen in many, many episodes. But I don't know, as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, this disassociative amnesia and, you know, all of that. I'm just not sure about that. And obviously, the judge wasn't sure about it either, wasn't buying it. And I think

it's so telling that, you know, he later comes out and says, no, it's not that I forgot the murders. I didn't do the murder. So he doesn't even agree with the psychologists who were trying to give his defense some credibility. But then he has to be able to explain his DNA. That's a tough one. Yeah. I think that's really tough. Look at his background, his record.

Let's not forget about the murder tape. Right. that essentially kind of laid out what he would later do, you know, stabbing a woman in the back, sexually assaulting her, decapitating her. Those were his wishes. And it does seem as though, you know, he later carried that stuff out.

I would you like to be Amy and thinking back about what he told her that day and everything to happen after that. I mean, do you sit there and think, Thank goodness I'm out of that relationship. And thank goodness I got my daughter away from her father. Yeah, I, you know, I'm sure that marriage was not great. You know, from some of the things that she's described, if she's telling the truth. And, you know, I'm not sure why she would lie.

But, you know, having a knife held to your neck during sex does not seem like the recipe for a great relationship. It also seems to me Gibbs like a person who really ties sexual gratification and violence together. For sure. That was his thing. So is it, you know, all that hard to believe that this guy was a serial rapist. He was a serial killer. He derived satisfaction from, from not only the sexual assault, but the stabbing and the killing and the mutilation as well. As sick as that is. But that's it for our episode on Brian Patrick Miller.

No doubt a very nasty individual. We got some voicemails. You want to check those out? Yeah, let's hear them. Hi, Givian Mike. It's Josh Targerson from Austin Sexy. First time I called it. I was calling out there.

I love to talk to ask that. also just the other day introduced I thought you always find that interesting um this prayer of watching up listening to the podcast a couple months ago

probably on safe to catch up with you all around episode 500 so congratulations um love the podcast uh stay safe thank you grow to turn of signal

did he say his last name was Ferguson I wasn't really sure I wasn't either I thought he did but but we appreciate the the kudos thank you very much Absolutely. Hi, this is Wendy from Southwest Ontario.

I took a six and a half hour drive to Quebec yesterday, and I was listening to your episode 400 on Albert Fish. I have a strong stomach. I have no problems listening to a lot of things, but I'm telling you, I must have been gagging in that car for 10 minutes. I almost turned it off, but I pushed my way through it, and I listened to the first and second episode. So needless to say, I drove back a while.

today so I had TCAT with me for 13 hours and I'm sorry but I am team Gippy thank you what's a good stuff to listen to when you're on that 401 going back and forth from southwest Ontario and all all the all the way over to Ottawa with a nice Kianti and some fava beans but yeah we appreciate the voice mail. Yeah. That, you know,

you had an issue with those episodes. Stomach-wise. Those were tough for you as well. They were. Yeah. Albert Fish was,

who, he was a rough one. He was. No doubt about it. All right, buddy, that is it for another episode of true crime

all the time. So for Mike and Gibby. Stay safe and keep your own time ticking.