A convicted killer known as the ‘Zombie Hunter’ has opened up about life on death row and doubled down on his claims that he was not involved in two brutal murders.
Bryan Patrick Miller, 42, was found guilty of murder of 22-year-old Angela Brosso and 17-year-old Melanie Bernas and was sentenced to death in June 2023.
Under Arizona law, the case is automatically appealed.
The women disappeared 11 months apart while cycling through Phoenix. Brosso was decapitated and her head was found in the canal where Bernas’ body was later discovered.
“That’s the million dollar question,” Miller wrote in an email to a 48 Hours producer when asked to explain how his DNA ended up on both women’s bodies.
Bryan Patrick Miller, 42, was convicted nearly three decades later of the 1992 murders of two young women
Angela Brosso, 22, and Melanie Bernas, 17, disappeared 11 months apart. Brosso’s head was later found in the canal where Bernas’ body was discovered
Miller, who is considered the ‘Zombie Hunter Killer’, drove a tricked out police car through Phoenix, Arizona prior to his arrest
“If I had a demonstrable answer to that, I wouldn’t be in this situation right now, right?”
He added: ‘It’s a question I would like answered and everyone is so convinced I have that it will remain unanswered.’
Miller will serve his sentence in a special management unit at the Eyman Prison Complex in Florence, Arizona.
“It’s better than the county jail, but obviously the isolation has taken its toll on a lot of people here,” he said.
“From what I’ve seen of the people in prison compared to here, the majority of people here are by far not what I would consider the worst of the worst.”
He described the unit as “much safer than anywhere else in prison,” even though the death row inmates have “nothing left to lose.”
However, Miller had plenty to complain about when it came to the conditions.
“I am even more isolated from those I care about and also from my legal team. The food is still not great and the cells are getting very cold as temperatures drop,” he wrote.
The horror-obsessed killer complained about the conditions in the prison where he is currently on death row
Miller (right) claims ‘the food is still not great and the cells are getting very cold as the temperature drops’
The convicted murderer’s trial took place nearly thirty years after the first murder, and since then he has expressed his frustration with the justice system, asking: “How is anyone supposed to defend themselves… for a crime committed decades ago ?’
The 42-year-old was arrested in 2015 in connection with the murders, at the time a divorced father with a teenage daughter
The 42-year-old also expressed frustration at his trial, which took place almost three decades after the 1992 murders.
“How is someone supposed to defend themselves and prove anything for a crime committed decades ago?” He wrote.
Miller’s lawyers claimed he suffered from dissociative amnesia and could not remember his role in the murders.
They also said his mother, who died in 2010, had abused him as a child, leading to mental health problems – something the trial judge agreed to after hearing evidence.
“My mother was not a very good person in many ways, but what helped was that, when I was an adult, she acknowledged that she had done terrible things to me and apologized,” Miller wrote. However, he insisted: “I continue to maintain that I did not commit the murders.”
Miller said his biggest regret was not seeing his daughter, who was only a teenager at the time of his arrest.
“What I miss most is spending time with my daughter and friends,” he said.
He says his biggest regret is not being able to spend time with his daughter and friends
It took investigators six months to link Brosso and Bernas’ deaths to Miller through forensic evidence
Until his arrest in 2015, they failed to achieve a breakthrough. In the photo: police tape around his house
Miller was found to have a sordid history of violent crimes and stabbed another woman in 2002 after offering her a ride. He was acquitted of these charges when he claimed she had tried to rob him
It took investigators six months to link the deaths of Brosso and Bernas to Miller and were not able to make a breakthrough until his arrest in January 2015.
The horror-obsessed killer had acquired a decommissioned police car in Washington and drove it around Phoenix, calling himself “the Arizona Zombie Hunter.”
On a Facebook page dedicated to his hobby, Miller wrote, “Keeping Arizona safe from the things that happen at night. Also available for your event.’
It later emerged that the former Amazon delivery driver had a checkered past, including the 2002 stabbing death of another woman in Everett, Washington.
The woman, Melissa Ruiz-Ramirez, accepted a ride from Miller, who took her to his workplace and stabbed her in the back with a 12-inch serrated knife.
The charges were dropped after Miller argued that Ruiz-Ramirez had tried to rob him, claiming self-defense.