Unveiling the Zombie Hunter

Summary

48 Hours – “Unveiling the Zombie Hunter” (August 18, 2025)

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode of 48 Hours explores the chilling story of the Phoenix Canal murders—a string of violent killings that haunted Phoenix, Arizona, for over two decades. It details the eventual identification and capture of Brian Patrick Miller, a seemingly harmless local celebrity dubbed “The Zombie Hunter,” whose double life masked his identity as a serial killer. By dissecting police work, forensics, genealogy, interviews with those closest to the victims, and confronting the darkness beneath suburban normalcy, the episode delivers both a riveting crime procedural and a cautionary tale about evil hiding in plain sight.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Phoenix Canal Murders: Setting the Scene

• Phoenix’s canal trails were popular recreational areas, not typically associated with violent crime. (01:00)
• In November 1992, 22-year-old Angela Brasso was brutally murdered, decapitated, and dismembered while biking.
• Ten months later, 17-year-old Melanie Burnas was similarly attacked and found dead in the canal. (02:11)
• Widespread fear gripped the city: "These murders became widely known as the Phoenix Canal murders." —Rachel Shepmaker (02:55)

2. Victims’ Stories and Initial Details

• Angela's boyfriend noticed her unusual absence and notified police after a night of searching. Her torso was found near her bike trail, her head was discovered later in a canal grate. (06:32-07:27)
• Melanie’s body was found following a “puddle of blood and drag marks” next to the canal—the investigation quickly linked the cases through DNA and similarities in the attacks: "Both the knife wounds were the exact same position." —Clark Schwarzkopf (11:19)

3. Early Investigation Hurdles

• Police collected matching male DNA from both murder scenes, but the technology of the era couldn’t yield a suspect. (11:54)
• The case remained cold for over 20 years, with local anxiety and frustration growing. (14:01)

4. Breakthrough via Forensic Genealogy

• In 2014, Phoenix detectives met Colleen Fitzpatrick, who offered genealogical DNA analysis: "I can take Y chromosomes and create these DNA profiles and try to match with genealogy." —Colleen Fitzpatrick, paraphrased by Rachel Shepmaker (14:36)
• The Y-DNA search narrowed the suspect list to those with the surname “Miller.”
• Detective Schwarzkopf identified Brian Patrick Miller—“The Zombie Hunter”—on his master list. (15:35)

5. Brian Patrick Miller: Double Life

• Miller had a juvenile record: at 16, he stabbed a woman on a bus route and had written disturbing plans detailing abduction and dismemberment. (16:22-18:16)
• He became a local pop culture figure as "The Zombie Hunter," joining parades in costume, taking photos with police, and driving a “zombie mobile” decked with fake blood and a mannequin. (19:50–21:05)
• "It was almost like a slap in the face, like, I'm here, but you don't know it. It was like he was hiding in plain sight." —Rachel Shepmaker (04:24)

6. Surveillance and DNA Confirmation

• Schwarzkopf orchestrated a covert operation to collect Miller’s DNA by inviting him to a fake job interview at a Chili’s restaurant. (21:41–23:49)
• After Miller finally took a drink, detectives retrieved his glass. Eleven days later, DNA confirmed he was the killer: “She leans down to me, she goes, it’s him… bI go, what? She goes, Brian Miller. It’s him.” —Clark Schwarzkopf (24:21)

7. Confrontation and Arrest

• Police searched Miller’s filthy, hoarder-like house for evidence and spoke to his ex-wife, Amy, who revealed he had confessed to other killings.
• Miller denied involvement in police interrogation: “I didn’t kill anyone.” —Brian Patrick Miller (25:15)

8. Suspicions of Other Crimes

• Amy recounted Miller’s confession regarding the murder of a young girl—likely Brandy Myers, who vanished near Miller's home in 1992. (30:28)
• No charges were brought due to the lack of physical evidence.

9. Pattern of Violence

• In 2002, Miller attacked Melissa Ruiz Ramirez in Washington, claiming self-defense—he was acquitted after a "he said, she said" trial. (33:31–33:49)
• Afterward, Amy described a deepening of Miller’s sexual violence and deviance.

10. Trial and Legal Strategies

• At trial in 2022, Miller’s attorneys admitted he was the killer but argued not guilty by reason of insanity, citing childhood abuse and exposure to violence by his mother. (35:31–36:46)
• Clinical testimony described dissociative amnesia. The prosecution emphasized Miller’s detailed memory of other stabbings, undermining the amnesia claim. (37:27)
• Amy’s testimony depicted escalating and non-consensual violence in their marriage, including knife play and bondage. (38:28)

11. Verdict and Sentencing

• After a six-month trial, Judge Suzanne Cohen found Miller guilty on both counts of first-degree murder. (39:45–40:01)
• Both victims’ families provided emotional impact statements.
• Miller addressed the court: “I am 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.” —Brian Patrick Miller (41:04)
• Despite the abuse he suffered as a child, the judge sentenced Miller to death: “There is no question that what the defendant did deserves the death penalty.” —Judge Cohen (41:59)

12. Aftermath and Reflection

• Detective Schwarzkopf expressed hope for closure: “Justice was carried out in this case.” (42:22)
• Rachel Shepmaker acknowledged lingering pain: “Justice was served, it doesn’t make anything easier.” (42:41)
• Remembering Melanie Bernis: “She’s changed us all for the better. She was a gift.” —Rachel Shepmaker (42:53)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "You can't unsee what happened to those girls. You just can't." —Clark Schwarzkopf (04:58)
• “[He] seemed like a harmless marshmallow that was immersed in this goofy lifestyle…just that unassuming guy.” —Clark Schwarzkopf (21:14)
• “Words cannot even begin to describe the level of excruciating pain we experienced with the news of her horrific death.” —Jill Burnas (40:43)
• “Just that she’s the all-American good kid. I want her family to know that we haven’t forgotten her.” —Rachel Shepmaker (42:53)
• "It was almost like a slap in the face...I’m here, but you don’t know it." —Rachel Shepmaker (04:24)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:00 – Introduction: Phoenix’s canal system and the first attack
• 02:11 – Discovery of Melanie Burnas’ body and the public’s fear
• 04:58 – Emotional impact on investigators
• 05:57 – Timeline and details of Angela Brasso’s disappearance
• 07:18 – Discovery of Angela Brasso’s remains
• 11:19 – Forensic similarities between the two murders
• 14:17 – Genealogy breakthrough at a DNA conference
• 15:35 – The suspect: Brian Patrick Miller emerges
• 19:50 – Miller’s alter ego, ‘The Zombie Hunter,’ revealed
• 21:41 – Surveillance and DNA sample collection operation
• 24:21 – Lab confirms Miller’s DNA match
• 28:33 – Miller arrested for double murder
• 30:28 – Third suspected victim: Brandy Myers
• 33:31 – Prior assault: the case of Melissa Ruiz Ramirez
• 35:31 – Trial and the insanity defense
• 39:45 – Verdict: Guilty on both counts of first-degree murder
• 41:59 – Sentencing: Death penalty imposed
• 42:53 – Remembering the victims and the lingering impact

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Conclusion

Unveiling the Zombie Hunter is a powerful, thorough look into the decades-long investigation into the Phoenix Canal murders. It highlights the evolution of forensic science, the perseverance of cold case detectives, the pain endured by the victims’ families, and the chilling duality of a killer living undetected for years. Through its focus on evidence, personal testimonies, and systemic failures, this 48 Hours episode stands as a testament both to the horrors that linger in the shadows and to justice’s eventual, hard-won daylight.

Transcript

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[Rachel Shepmaker]

When you think of the Phoenix desert, you definitely aren't thinking of a waterfront. The canal system goes right through the center of Phoenix. The more people that were moving to the area, the more that the trails along there were being used for walking, running, biking. There are not many crimes that are like this one. You had women riding bicycles along the canal on a typical Phoenix evening. Ambushed, stabbed multiple times. Police are looking for whoever killed 22 year old Angela Brasso. Angela Brasso dismembered, decapitated. Police are looking at this scene and thinking what on earth happened and who did this?

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Ten months later, a 17 year old junior at Arcadia High School, Melanie Burnas. This is the high school that Steven Spielberg attended. Melanie Bernis mother goes out to dinner and Melanie decides to go on a bike ride. And the following morning, a woman is riding her bike right here.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

There was just a big puddle. It looked different as I rode through it. And all of a sudden I'm like, that is blood.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

So she called the police. The police saw a blood trail and they see Melanie Bernis body at the bottom of the canal.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

My time in my life froze at that very moment. The day we found out, I made a promise to myself. I just never stopped talking about her. These murders became widely known as the Phoenix Canal murders.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

My name is Clark Schwarzkopf and I was assigned to the cold case unit investigating the canal murders. I think there was over 600 persons of interest. I said, okay, give me the list. In this mound of information of all these people and all these possible suspects, I believed our killer was listed.

[Morgan Lowe]

Eventually, Detective Schwarzkopf found his prime suspect on that list and discovered that the alleged canal killer had a second identity. A man who dressed up like a comic book superhero and cruised the valley in a decorated car dripping with fake blood. The public knew this man as the zombie hunter. What was his life as the Zombie hunter. Like, what did he do?

[Rachel Shepmaker]

He would go to, like, parades and festivals and show off this car and kind of be a part of the excitement, if you will.

[Morgan Lowe]

Your assignment was to find this guy, and you have found him.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Yeah, he is accused of being a killer, but here he is posing with police officers before they discovered what he'd done. It was almost like a slap in the face, like, I'm here, but you don't know it. It was like he was hiding in plain sight.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

It's one of those cases that you just don't forget. You can't unsee what happened to those girls. You just can't.

[Morgan Lowe]

Long before the man known as the zombie hunter became the prime suspect in the canal murders, Clark Schwarzkopf was a detective with the Phoenix Police Department's cold case squad. His mission was simple but pointed. Find the killer responsible for those vicious murders of two young women from the early 1990s.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

To this day, I'm still not exactly sure about what happened on those bike paths.

[Morgan Lowe]

The case began on November 8, 1992. Angela Brasso, a tech worker who had recently moved to Phoenix, was taking advantage of beautiful weather to get in a little exercise, says Brianna Whitney, the true crime reporter for the CBS affiliate KPHO in Phoenix.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Each night, she would go out for her evening bike ride just at golden hour at sunset, the best time to be riding out here.

[Morgan Lowe]

Angela was only hours away from turning 22 years old, and like a lot of locals, she liked to bike on the paths that ran alongside the city's distinctive canals, says Schwarzkopf, a 48 Hours consultant. Are there places that are sort of natural ambush sites if somebody wants to attack someone?

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Yeah, they are. There's a lot of tunnels that go underneath the interstate.

[Morgan Lowe]

That November evening in 1992, Angela left her apartment around 7pm her boyfriend Joe later told police. He said he stayed home to bake Angela a birthday cake and didn't expect her to be gone.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Long hours go by, and Joe grows concerned. Angela hasn't come home, and that's not like her.

[Morgan Lowe]

Joe told police he took his bike out three times that night, frantically searching for Angela on the canal paths. He spoke to her friends, even her mother back in Pennsylvania. Finally, he reported Angela missing to police. The next morning, searchers came upon a horrific scene.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Angela Brazos torso was found in a field next to the trail that she had been riding her bike on.

[Morgan Lowe]

Angela had been stabbed to death. Some 10 days after Angela's headless body was discovered, a man fishing along this section of the canal spotted her Head stuck on a grate.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

And from what we have heard from witnesses, the head was in amazingly good condition, especially considering this was days after the murder. I'm Morgan Lowe and I'll take you.

[Morgan Lowe]

Morgan Lowe, an investigative reporter who also works at KPH CHO and is a consultant for 48 hours, has been working on the canal Killer case for more than a decade.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

We've heard that the head looked like it had been preserved, like it was a memento for the killer.

[Morgan Lowe]

Angela's purple mountain bike was also missing. There were no solid leads and the case went quiet until September of 1993, some 10 months after Angela's murder, when the mother of 17 year old Melanie Burnas returned from a dinner date to find her daughter had broken her curfew and was not home. She then noticed that Melanie's bicycle was missing.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Melanie decides to go on a bike ride. By around 10:30. When Melanie did not return, her mother started calling her friends. Is Melanie there?

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Well, my mom took the phone call, said that Melanie's mom was frantic and, like, nervous.

[Morgan Lowe]

Rachel Shepmaker was one of Melanie's close friends in high school. So initially, when you hear that her mother's looking for her, you're not thinking something terrible has happened to your friend?

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Definitely not. I thought she was with a friend and just forgot to communicate with her mom where she was.

[Morgan Lowe]

Early the next morning, Charlotte Pottle, a local resident, happened to be riding along the canal with her young daughter in a bicycle seat. Just as they came out of one of those tunnels that ran under the interstate, she spotted a puddle.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

There was just a big puddle of something. Ended up riding right through it and having it splash over me.

[Morgan Lowe]

Charlotte says something about the puddle bothered her, so a few minutes later she doubled back. That's when she made that horrible realization.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

I could tell that it was a puddle of red, that it was a puddle of blood. And all of a sudden, as I'm looking at it, I notice that there are some drag marks that went along over here.

[Morgan Lowe]

Toward that tree.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Towards that tree, yes. And then went around the tree and was drugged back. You could see the drag marks right here to the canal.

[Morgan Lowe]

Charlotte went home and called police. Later that night, the local news reported that a woman's body had been found in the canal close to where Angela Brasso's head had been located.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

They found the body in a teal bodysuit. I was told by some other friends that Melanie did not own that it can't be her.

[Morgan Lowe]

Rachel went to sleep convinced the body in the canal was not Melanie. But the next day, I'm at school.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

My friends just come up to me crying and saying it was Melanie.

[Morgan Lowe]

Detectives strongly suspected Melanie had been targeted and stabbed in the back by the same person who had killed Angela.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Police believe that somehow the killer got her off of her bike. Whether he knocked her off of her bike or whether he asked her a question.

[Morgan Lowe]

Clark says the evidence indicates the killer approached the women from behind.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Both the knife wounds were the exact same position.

[Morgan Lowe]

Investigators say the killer dragged Melanie's body off the canal path, removed her clothes, and dressed her in that teal bodysuit similar to this one obtained by police. Along with the stabbing and the dismemberment, there was another component to these murders, wasn't there?

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Yeah. Both women were sexually assaulted.

[Morgan Lowe]

And that meant investigators had a crucial piece of evidence. DNA.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

When the DNA from Melanie's scene was finally tested later, it matched to Angela scene. So we knew for sure that we were dealing with the same perpetrator.

[Morgan Lowe]

Investigators noted that the initial stab wounds to the backs of each woman were fatal and so precise that detectives suspected the killer might be a surgeon.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

The details about what happened were the kinds of things that kept parents from letting their kids out when the sun went down.

[Morgan Lowe]

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[Rachel Shepmaker]

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[Morgan Lowe]

The murders of Angela Brasso and Melanie Burnas in the early 1990s created fear in Phoenix that lasted for a generation.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

You know, there's some guy out there.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

And you don't know where he is. They watched the news and read the newspaper every day, hoping that police would make an arrest. And it just kept going on. And nothing. And nothing and nothing.

[Morgan Lowe]

Investigators had collected matching male DNA from both the victims. But more than two decades passed, and the Canal murder cases went cold. Then science finally caught up with the calendar.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Within 2014, Phoenix Police detectives are at a DNA conference, and a forensic genealogist from California is also at the conference.

[Morgan Lowe]

Colleen Fitzpatrick, founder of identifinders International was there to meet with law enforcement.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

And she goes up to these detectives and says, hey, I can take Y chromosomes and create these DNA profiles and try to match with genealogy. To help solve criminal cases, Fitzpatrick's company.

[Morgan Lowe]

Had developed software that could mine public genealogy databases, searching for matches to crime scene DNA. The detectives heard her out, and then.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Several weeks later, they sent me the Y DNA profile from the crime scene for the Phoenix Canal murders.

[Morgan Lowe]

Fitzpatrick's company started crunching the data, hoping to provide Phoenix detectives with a name.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

We entered the numbers from the forensic profile into our software, and that's where I came up with six matches to the name Miller.

[Morgan Lowe]

While the genetic genealogy search produced the name Miller, it is also one of the most common last names. Detective Schwarzkopf started digging. You check your files and what do you find?

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

I think there were a total of 6 millers that were on what I called my master list. And I went down through the list, got to Brian Patrick Miller.

[Morgan Lowe]

But who was Brian Patrick Miller? Records Show he was 42 years old with a Phoenix address. That name was just one of more than 600 persons of interest who had lived in those case files for years. Police at the time seemingly never pursued Miller.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

We discovered his file downstairs.

[Morgan Lowe]

Police learned Brian Miller had a record dating back to before the canal murders. In May of 1989, when he was just 16 years old, Miller crossed paths with Celeste Bentley.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

I was 24, and I was going to work. I had just noticed a young boy on the bus.

[Morgan Lowe]

Celeste says she and the boy got off at the same stop. Moments later, she felt something in her back.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

He had ran by me. I thought he had just hit me. I just yelled at him. I was like, why'd you do that? You know? And then I reached back and. And touched my back and realized that it was blood.

[Morgan Lowe]

I had been stabbed with a single knife wound to her upper back. Celeste screamed and managed to make it to the store where she worked. A co worker called for help. About 30 minutes later, when Celeste was in the back of an ambulance, the.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Police came and said they found him and they wanted to bring him to the ambulance to show him to me.

[Morgan Lowe]

Celeste identified her assailant. Brian Miller was charged with aggravated assault.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

They said that if he had held the blade the other way, he would have gone straight through my ribs and I could have died.

[Morgan Lowe]

Miller pleaded guilty and was sentenced to juvenile detention until he turned 18. It was a far cry from where Miller's life had begun.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

He was living in Hawaii for while a. As a kid with his mom and his dad. But his dad died early on in a motorcycle accident.

[Morgan Lowe]

Years later, Miller and his mother Ellen moved to Phoenix.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

So for most of his life and early years, it was Brian Miller and his mom.

[Morgan Lowe]

While Miller was in juvie, his mother made a disturbing discovery.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Brian Miller's mom was looking through his stuff, and she found a note that he wrote.

[Morgan Lowe]

The pages detailed a sinister plan. Kidnap the girl, tie her up in the truck, and cut her clothes off.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

This note spelled out how he wanted to find, abduct, rape, murder, and dismember a young woman. And Brian's mom was so disturbed by this piece of paper that she took it to Phoenix police.

[Morgan Lowe]

It was Miller's 18th birthday, and he had just been released as an adult.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

She fret out, told police at the time that she was really scared for her safety and that she was not going to allow him to come home.

[Morgan Lowe]

So after his release, Miller ended up at this Phoenix halfway house. When Schwarzkopf read that note in 2014, he was struck by something.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

There was a lot of things in there that were close or similar to what happened specifically to Angela, including a.

[Morgan Lowe]

Description of decapitating a victim and preserving the head. Phoenix police wanted to locate Miller. Luckily, he was very easy to find. In December 2014, Phoenix police continued digging into potential suspect Brian Miller, who they discovered was actually a local celebrity.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Everybody at the time in the Phoenix area knew Brian Patrick Miller as this character called the zombie hunter.

[Morgan Lowe]

The Zombie Hunter, like a comic book character?

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Yeah, like a comic book character. Like a good guy fighting the bad guys.

[Morgan Lowe]

Miller's alter ego was a costume figure who participated in parades and festivals around town.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Thousands of zombies taking over the streets of downtown Phoenix. He wore this long trench coat with these goggles and helmet and had this large Gatling gun.

[Morgan Lowe]

And if you're going to hunt zombies, you need a way to get around.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

He bought an old police car and tricked it out, wrote the zombie hunter.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

On it, and it had a full size zombie mannequin in the back and blood on the side.

[Morgan Lowe]

Friend Eric Braverman says Miller's zombie hunter Persona attracted a big fan base, including law enforcement officers who lined up to pose with him, collected pictures of himself with the cops like trophies.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

They're all smiling big with him leaning on the car.

[Morgan Lowe]

Eric says Miller's superhero character was the opposite of what Brian was like when he wasn't in costume.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

He seemed like a harmless marshmallow that was immersed in this goofy lifestyle. He's just that unassuming guy.

[Morgan Lowe]

But could Miller be the Canal Killer? The only way to Find out was to get his DNA. Investigators began to surveil Miller, who worked at an Amazon warehouse. Every day when he got there, Miller parked the zombie mobile in the same spot.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

He would come out for a 15 minute break, blast his music really loud lunchtime, came out to the car, same thing, blast this God awful music.

[Morgan Lowe]

Schwarzkopf came up with an elaborate plan to get his DNA.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

I went up and introduced myself to Miller. He was in his car. Why did you introduce yourself? I introduced myself as a security consultant.

[Morgan Lowe]

Schwarzkopf told Miller that thieves had been stealing goods from a warehouse across the way.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

I said, would you be interested in working, working for me as a security officer watching the building while you're outside?

[Morgan Lowe]

Did his eyes light up?

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Yeah, because it was a good paying job. I said, look, I'll pay you 20 bucks an hour.

[Morgan Lowe]

On January 2, 2015, Schwarzkopf met Miller at this Chili's restaurant to fill out a job application. The cold case unit was behind the scenes ready to bag anything that had Miller's DNA on it, such as utensils or a glass.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

They set a table for me and Mr. Miller away from everybody else in a part of the restaurant where nobody else is at.

[Morgan Lowe]

Miller arrived with a surprise guest. His 15 year old daughter, Sarah. Miller was a divorced single dad.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

He was very gentle and caring about his daughter. He often brought his daughter where he would be going.

[Morgan Lowe]

The trio sat down and ordered hamburgers. When the food arrived, he swallows his.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Hamburger in like five bites, won't take a drink of his water. And I'm sitting there going, you sure you want something else to drink? You just got water. No, no, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good.

[Morgan Lowe]

Schwarzkopf started to worry this operation would be a bust. What does he finally do that makes this mission accomplished?

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

We finally took a drink from the water glass. That's when I knew that, okay, now we've at least got his DNA.

[Morgan Lowe]

Despite knowing about Miller's juvenile record, as their meal ended, the veteran detectives told him Miller was not their man.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Seeing him with his daughter, I just don't see this guy as being the monster in 1992 and 93 that would do this to these women.

[Morgan Lowe]

Miller gave Schwarzkopf a quick tour of his Zombie hunter mobile and the two parted ways, with a detective saying he'd be in touch. The cold case unit sent Miller's water glass off to the crime lab.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Eleven days later, we got a call from the lab. And we're sitting there and we're like, what is this all about?

[Rachel Shepmaker]

And in this meeting, these Phoenix detectives say, as a joke, they must have solved the canal murders.

[Morgan Lowe]

But Detective Schwarzkopf says it was no joke. When the head of the lab arrived.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

She leans down to me, she goes, it's him. I go, what? She goes, brian Miller. It's him. Well, the blood rushed from my head. I kind of sat back and I went, you've got to be kidding.

[Morgan Lowe]

Brian Miller's DNA from that water glass matched the DNA recovered from Angela Brasso and Melanie burnas more than 20 years before. Miller was arrested within hours during a police interview. Shortly after, Miller was told why he'd been taken into custody and in connection with the canal murders.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

We have DNA that links you to those two ladies.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

See how that's possible?

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

He just kind of went through it in his dopey kind of. I don't know what you're kind of talking about.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Would help you get it off your.

[Morgan Lowe]

Chest if you did something like that.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

I didn't kill anyone.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

You didn't kill anybody?

[Rachel Shepmaker]

No.

[Morgan Lowe]

Investigators got a search warrant for Miller's house, the home he shared with his teenage daughter, and just about everything he'd ever collected in his life.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

I can remember like it was yesterday, walking up to the front door and everybody going, you can't get in that way. It's full of crap. Brian Miller's house was like it came from the show Hoarders. There was a little path where you could get to a bathroom in the kitchen and where the TV was, and that's it. Everything else is just stacked up to the roof with garbage.

[Morgan Lowe]

Did you look around and go, this is madness?

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Not only madness. I go, this is a nightmare.

[Morgan Lowe]

Schwarzkopf and his investigators would have to sift through all of it, looking for other possible evidence. Detective Schwarzkopf also focused on a new source, someone Miller himself had ominously singled out in his interview.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

It's the one person on face of the earth I could probably honestly say I hate.

[Morgan Lowe]

Miller's ex wife, Amy, who would end up revealing gruesome details from Miller's violent past.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

He had told her about the murder of a young girl who had come to his door accidentally. What do you think motivated Brian Miller to dress up as the zombie hunter? See more of the case on Facebook at 48 Hours.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

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[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Edu. Now Streaming hi again, TV's quirkiest crime solver.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

I'm Elspeth Tasioni. I work with the police is on the case. I like my outlandish theories with a.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Heavy dose of evidence and ready to go toe to toe with a cavalcade of guest stars.

[Morgan Lowe]

Are you saying that this is now a murder investigation?

[Rachel Shepmaker]

It's starting to look that don't miss.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

A moment of the critically acclaimed hit Elsbeth. All episodes now streaming on Paramount and return CBS Fall.

[Morgan Lowe]

That sounds like fun.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Obviously, murder's not fun.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

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[Morgan Lowe]

In January 2015, more than 21 years after the Canal murders, Brian Miller was charged with first degree murder in both Angela Brasso and Melanie Bernis deaths. Melanie's friend Rachel Shepmaker says she felt a wave of relief, a very joyous.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Moment of oh my gosh, this is what we've been waiting for.

[Morgan Lowe]

For decades upon decades, Detective Schwarzkopf wanted to talk to the one person who probably knew Miller best, his ex wife, Amy.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

They had been married for eight years. There was a divorce.

[Morgan Lowe]

Amy told Schwarzkopf that she was just 19 when she met Miller in 1996. They married less than a year later and moved to Everett, Washington. Amy had a shocking revelation for the detective. She told Schwarzkopf Miller had revealed a gruesome secret to her, that he had killed a young girl in Phoenix years earlier, before he'd ever met Amy. Schwarzkopf says Amy never reported it to police before for a number of reasons. She didn't know if it was true. She was afraid of Miller and she said she wanted to be a good wife.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

You support your man no matter what.

[Morgan Lowe]

Detective Schwarzkopf says Amy told him what Miller had said, that a young girl.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Had come to his door, that he had grabbed this young female, pulled her in, killed her immediately.

[Morgan Lowe]

Amy said Miller told her he dismembered the girl and disposed of her remains in trash left on the curb. Although Amy claimed Miller never told her the child's name, investigators used the information Amy provided to Piece together who Miller may have been talking about.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

13 year old Brandi Myers was a little girl collecting money for a school bookathon in her north Phoenix neighborhood. Going door to door, I was a.

[Morgan Lowe]

Tomboy and she was a girly girl. Brandi's sister, Kristen Dennis.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

So she would try to learn how to climb trees or jump fences because she wanted to play with me. She was my best friend.

[Morgan Lowe]

It was May 26, 1992, six months prior to the murder of Angela Brasso. Miller was living in the halfway house following his time in juvenile detention for the aggravated assault of Celeste Bentley.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

This is one block from our school, his home, and then three blocks is our house. So every single day we walked right back by here.

[Morgan Lowe]

Kristen says Brandi left home alone that evening, never to return.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

She was last seen two doors down from Brian's walking in the direction of his house.

[Morgan Lowe]

Despite an extensive search, Brandy's body was never found. Schwarzkopf says even though Amy couldn't provide a name, the clues in her account add up to just one conclusion.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

I believe that person is in fact Brandy Myers.

[Morgan Lowe]

Her sister believes that as well.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Brandy went to the landfill, like something of no importance.

[Morgan Lowe]

Even with Amy's account, investigators did not have enough evidence to charge Miller in Brandy's disappearance.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

So the fact that she was disposed of, there's just nothing physical, nothing forensically to grab onto.

[Morgan Lowe]

48 Hours contacted Miller, who said he had no involvement in Brandi's disappearance and never confessed to Amy that he had killed a young girl. But there is another case in Miller's past.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

In 2002, a woman named Melissa Ruiz Ramirez is walking down the street in Everett at night. Somebody pulls over.

[Morgan Lowe]

It was Brian Miller. Melissa would later tell police she'd seen him before talking to a friend of hers. Melissa said she got in Miller's car and told him she needed to make a call and he drove her to his workplace so she could use the phone.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

She tells police she's on the phone and from out of the clear blue, Brian Miller comes running out with a 12 inch serrated kitchen knife and stabs her in the back. They fight over the weapon.

[Morgan Lowe]

Melissa said she escaped and contacted police. They picked up Miller shortly after. He didn't deny stabbing Melissa, but claimed it was self defense. He said he was at work when Melissa walked in off the street street and asked to make a call.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

He said she goes to use a phone and then all of a sudden, out of the clear blue, she tries to rob him with a knife.

[Morgan Lowe]

Miller was arrested and charged with first degree assault with a deadly weapon. He was jailed from May 2002 until his December trial.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

The jury just didn't buy Melissa's story. It was a he said, she said, and they acquitted him of the charge.

[Morgan Lowe]

Amy says a chilling change followed Miller's return home. She said it began with the letters she'd received from her jailed husband while he awaited trial.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

It first started out as professing his innocence, and then it would turn into sexual deviance, like, here's what I'm going to do when I get out to you.

[Morgan Lowe]

Amy told Schwarzkopf that Miller followed up his words with action.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

She said he came back with an unbelievable, ugly, dark, sexual deviant side that she'd never seen before. There were times where there was sex between them where he held a knife to her throat.

[Morgan Lowe]

Amy told Schwarzkopf that Miller claimed something happened to him as a child, something that would become the cornerstone of his defense for murdering Angela Brasso and Melanie Burnas. His unique defense.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Called her first witness.

[Morgan Lowe]

His mother had created a monster. At the start of Brian Miller's trial for the murders of Angela Brasso and Melanie Burnas In October 2022, his attorneys opened with a startling defense. They admitted their client was the Canal Killer.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

They had to concede right off the bat that he is the actual killer, but that he was not guilty by reason of insanity.

[Morgan Lowe]

His defense attorneys say Miller was tortured by his mother, Ellen, as a child, and that led to his violent sexual behavior. She died in 2010.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

If you imagine the making of a monster, this is kind of the household that story begins in.

[Morgan Lowe]

Miller told investigators after his arrest that the beatings began when he was just five years old.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

She was a detention officer. Discipline in their house was mental as well as physical. She used her security belt, so like a law enforcement belt.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

And usually I hit by the buckle.

[Morgan Lowe]

The defense opted for a bench trial, which meant there would be no jury. His lawyers told Judge Suzanne Cohen that Miller's mother also exposed her young son to violent sexual content.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

He was exposed to her interests in pornography and extremely violent films.

[Morgan Lowe]

Miller's lawyer said his mother's abuse caused Miller to develop severe mental health problems.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

He feels like there are different TVs playing in his head.

[Morgan Lowe]

Psychologist Bethany Brand testified that Miller developed a condition known as dissociative amnesia, an inability to remember some traumatic events. Morgan Lowe summed up the defense argument.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

There were two Bryans. There's the one you see over there at the defense table, who's a fairly normal person who has friends, who had a job, who was a dad who was a husband. And then there's the killer. There's bad Brian.

[Morgan Lowe]

And Miller claimed his attorneys had no memory none of the two murders he was charged with. Prosecutors undermine the defense claim that Miller has no memory of the killings. They point out that he does remember details related to other stabbings. Remember, Miller admitted stabbing Celeste Bentley when he was 16 years old. And in 2002, he had also testified about the stabbing of Melissa Ruiz Ramirez in Washington. To show Miller's deviant side, prosecutors called the only person in the world Miller said he despised his ex wife, Amy. The judge did not allow cameras to record her face. Under questioning by prosecutor Elizabeth Reamer, Amy testified that later in their marriage, Miller grew increasingly violent during sex.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Did you ever say anything to him about wanting it to stop because it was scary? No. Why not? I was avoiding any confrontation with him at all at that point. And I wanted to be as compliant as possible so that I would say, will he love me enough not to kill me? Did he ask permission prior to using needles on you? No. Did he ask permission prior to tying you up? No. What percentage of your sex life after he got out of jail in Washington included bondage, the pins, or other things that were not the normal sex you'd been having early in your marriage? Probably at least 95%.

[Morgan Lowe]

The trial continued, and after six months and 36 witnesses, the judge delivered her verdict.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

As to count one, first degree murder, Angela Brasso, as follows. Guilty. As to count to first degree murder, victim Melanie Burnas, as follows. Guilty.

[Morgan Lowe]

How did Brian Miller react to the guilty verdict?

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

He didn't react. He didn't give any real emotion.

[Morgan Lowe]

But Angela's mother, who addressed the court remotely, was emotional. The defendant broke my heart, took all.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Hope and light from me and my family.

[Morgan Lowe]

The hole in my heart is so big and empty. Melanie's older sister Jill also spoke remotely about how painful it was that Melanie's life ended violently at the age of 17.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

For 30 years now, we've had to live without Melanie because the defendant murdered her. Words cannot even begin to describe the level of excruciating pain we experienced with the news of her horrific death.

[Morgan Lowe]

Miller, who didn't take the stand during his trial, was allowed to give a special statement before he was sentenced.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

I am 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 know I am different.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

I thought it had to do with.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

What my mother did to me.

[Morgan Lowe]

Defense counsel R.J. parker urged Judge Cohen to show mercy before she delivered her her judgment on Miller's sentence Life in prison or death.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

You do not have to kill Brian in order to see justice done.

[Morgan Lowe]

Judge Cohen agreed with the centerpiece of the defense case.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

The defendant's abuse as a child was proven.

[Morgan Lowe]

But eight months after the trial began, Miller's abuse at the hands of his mother did not dissuade Judge Cohen from handing down the ultimate sentence.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

There is no question that what the defendant did deserves the death penalty. Mr. Miller, anything you wish to say to the court? I guess.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Thanks for listening to everything that was said and giving us at least the.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Opportunity to try and convince you otherwise.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Justice was carried out in this case.

[Morgan Lowe]

Detective Schwarzkopf hopes family and friends of Angela and Melanie might finally find some peace. People like Rachel Shepmaker Just knowing that.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Justice was served, it doesn't make anything easier.

[Morgan Lowe]

How do you want your good friend be remembered?

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Just that she's the all American good kid. I want her family to know that we haven't forgotten her. She's changed us all for the better. She was a gift. Join me Tuesday for postmortem from 48 hours, where we'll dive even deeper into today's episode and answer your questions about the case.

[Morgan Lowe]

Support for this podcast and the following message comes from America's Navy the Navy.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Offers new graduates hands on training and experience in careers like computer science, aviation and medicine.

[Morgan Lowe]

Plus education and sign on bonuses. Parents help your grads start their career [e-mail] September 4th on Paramount.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Someone is trying to frame us.

[Rachel Shepmaker]

Until our names are cleared, we're fugitives.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

From interpolation like Bonnie and Clyde with better snacks.

[Morgan Lowe]

NCIS Tony and Ziva streaming September 4th on Paramount.

[Clark Schwarzkopf]

Plus.