"I Didn't Kill Anyone": The Zombie Hunter's Police Interrogation, 2015

Name: "I Didn't Kill Anyone": The Zombie Hunter's Police Interrogation, 2015
Uploaded: 2022-11-04
Duration: 4 min 43 s
Description: Told that his DNA had been found at both Phoenix canal murder scenes, Bryan Patrick Miller said he could not explain it, did not know the women's names and had not killed anyone.

Told that his DNA had been found at both Phoenix canal murder scenes, Bryan Patrick Miller said he could not explain it, did not know the women's names and had not killed anyone.

Subject: Bryan Patrick Miller
Recorded: about January 2015
Runtime: 4:43

Content warning: Concerns the murders of a young woman and a 17-year-old girl, with evidence of sexual assault, and a stabbing.

The Interview

In January 2015 Phoenix police arrested Bryan Patrick Miller, then in his early forties, for two murders committed more than twenty years earlier along the Arizona Canal in north Phoenix. In an interview room that day a detective told him that his DNA had been found at both crime scenes and asked him to explain it. "I can't," Miller said. He denied killing anyone, said he did not know the victims' names, and talked about the "Zombie Hunter" costume he wore around town. The interrogation lasted about two hours. Excerpts were made public for the first time when they were played at his trial in November 2022; this Arizona's Family report includes several of them.

Historical Context

Angela Brosso was attacked and killed on November 8, 1992, the eve of her 22nd birthday, while riding her bicycle along the Arizona Canal. Melanie Bernas, 17, was killed in September 1993; she was found in the canal about a mile and a half from where Brosso died. Both cases went unsolved for more than two decades. In 2015 investigators covertly collected Miller's DNA and matched it to evidence from both scenes. Miller had stabbed a woman near Paradise Valley Mall in 1989, when he was a teenager. In later years he was known locally for dressing as a "Zombie Hunter" in costume.

Circumstances of the Interview

Miller's defense did not dispute that he committed the killings. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and waived a jury, so Judge Suzanne Cohen of Maricopa County Superior Court decided the case alone. Prosecutors played about 40 minutes of the interrogation during the trial. The defense asked for a mistrial because some of the video that was meant to be redacted was not; the judge refused.

What the Interview Covers

The detective presses Miller on the DNA evidence. Miller says he cannot explain it and did not kill anyone, but volunteers that as a teenager he stabbed a woman. Asked whether he could have blacked out and killed without remembering, he says no, because he knew at the time when he had done something. He says he does not know the victims' names, describes the gas mask, Nerf gun and trench coat of his Zombie Hunter costume, and explains what he understands DNA to be. The reporter adds that the detective put to him information from his ex-wife and a diary his mother provided; Miller said the sexual activity described was consensual.

What Makes the Recording Significant

Miller did not testify at his trial. Arizona's Family reported that the tapes let the public hear his voice for the first time. They show the gap between his denials in 2015 and his defense in 2022, which conceded the killings and argued only that he was insane.

Archival Importance

The judge found Miller guilty in April 2023 of two counts of first-degree murder, two of kidnapping and two of attempted sexual assault, and sentenced him to death on June 7, 2023. The recording preserves the moment the long-unsolved canal murders were put to the man convicted of them.

Important Caveats

Miller's denials are his own statements; the court rejected them, and his own defense conceded the killings. The video is a news package containing only short excerpts of the interrogation; the upload title's "hours of interrogation tapes" describes what was played in court, not what is in the video. The woman Miller stabbed in 1989 is not named in the recording and is not named here.

Anchor: For the first time, we're hearing the voice of the man known as the Zombie Hunter. Bryan Patrick Miller is on trial for the Phoenix canal murders of two women in the 1990s, and in court today they played hours of his interrogation tape from 2015, after he was arrested for those crimes. True Crime Arizona's Briana Whitney has been reporting on this case for more than a year now, and this is never-before-heard video.

Briana Whitney: Yeah, that's right. It definitely stands out. And what really stands out here is Miller's flat-out denial of killing these girls during this interrogation, yet his defense team has already conceded that he committed these crimes; he was just insane at the time. This video is something the judge will likely take into major consideration when it comes to deciding a verdict.

Detective: How can you explain to me that your DNA is there?

Bryan Patrick Miller: I can't. [unclear: "I can't remember. It's my exact mistake." / "I don't remember everything, but"] no, I didn't kill anyone.

Briana Whitney: Intense moments just after Bryan Patrick Miller was arrested for the murders of Angela Brosso and Melanie Bernas in '92 and '93. Decades later, officials matched his DNA to DNA at both crime scenes, and evidence of sexual assault with both girls.

Bryan Patrick Miller: I've never killed anyone. But I was a teenager, and I stabbed that woman.

Detective: Right.

Bryan Patrick Miller: You know, that [unclear: "haunted" / "prompted"] me for years.

Briana Whitney: He's referring to an incident when he stabbed a woman near the Paradise Valley Mall years before Angela and Melanie were killed. He told the officer in this video he blacked out when he did that. The officer asked about that possibility with Angela and Melanie.

Detective: Is it possible that you could have blacked out and done something like that to somebody and not recall?

Bryan Patrick Miller: No, because I knew I had done something when that happened. I used to remember her name.

Briana Whitney: Miller refers to not knowing Angela Brosso or Melanie Bernas's names. The officer says knowing their names doesn't matter, but Miller leans further into that.

Detective: I think the hard part for me to believe is [unclear: "if I see this with someone"], two people that are dead. That's pretty strong evidence. It places you with these women, and you can't explain that.

Bryan Patrick Miller: And I don't even recall. I don't know their names.

Briana Whitney: The officer says Miller's ex-wife told them sex involving bondage would get out of hand, and that Miller's mom provided them with a sexual diary Miller wrote, both of which show a tendency toward violence. But Miller says it was all consensual. He does talk about his Zombie Hunter character that many saw around town.

Bryan Patrick Miller: And I wore a gas mask, and I had a Nerf gun, and I think I wore a trench coat. And, you know, [unclear: "if you've been cyber-socking"], you've seen a costume.

Briana Whitney: The officer kept bringing the conversation back to his DNA at the crime scenes, though, and asked Miller if he understood what DNA was.

Bryan Patrick Miller: DNA could be in semen, blood, saliva. It makes up [unclear: "for, you know, it's R.I.D., it's our" / "her balance, our ideas are"], it tells our body, you know, what hair color we have, what eye color we have.

Bryan Patrick Miller: I don't know what happened.

Detective: You have to know what happened. No, your [unclear: "semen" / "statement"] is there. It's the only, the only person that does know is you.

Briana Whitney: Now, at one point today the defense attorney tried to call for a mistrial, because some of that interrogation video was supposed to be redacted and it wasn't, in court. But since there is no jury and it's only a judge that decides Miller's fate, she said that was declined, and this trial will continue. It is a death penalty case.

Anchor: So, Briana, we've heard quite a bit of testimony already in this case. Who else are we expecting to testify?

Briana Whitney: So the defense is expected to start their case next week. They haven't begun their side of the case yet, so we do have a lot more to go. But there's a high likelihood Bryan Miller's ex-wife, Amy, testifies, and there's even a small chance Miller himself may testify. Small chance, but it's not off the table. We also expect to hear from more mental health experts, as the defense will try to build their case to the judge that Miller was insane at the time of the crimes, so he is not guilty by reason of insanity. And Morgan Loew and I will have a new podcast episode coming out in just a few days on this latest week of trial. You can listen on the True Crime Arizona podcast and catch up on what's happened up until this point, too, guys.

Second Anchor: Yeah, we've heard the story, obviously, but it's just interesting to see him go back and forth with him, and hear him, hear him talking. We've seen the Zombie Hunter, we know he's accused of these horrible crimes, we've never been able to put a voice or a demeanor with that, and we [unclear: "see all her sin" / "see all persons"].

Anchor: Yeah, so it's definitely interesting. Very interesting. Thank you, Briana Whitney, reporting for us on this. ---