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Unmasking the Zombie Hunter | Full Episode + Post Mortem

June 07, 2024 / 01:04:37

This episode covers the Phoenix Canal murders, focusing on victims Angela Braso and Melanie Bernus, and the investigation into their killer, Brian Patrick Miller, known as the "Zombie Hunter." The episode discusses the timeline of the murders, the discovery of the victims, and the eventual arrest of Miller through DNA evidence.

Angela Braso, 21, was murdered in November 1992 while biking along the canal. Her dismembered body was discovered days later, with her head found ten days post-murder. Melanie Bernus, 17, was killed ten months later under similar circumstances, leading police to suspect a serial killer.

Detective Clark Schwarzkoff, who investigated the case, identified over 600 persons of interest before focusing on Miller, who had a history of violence and a disturbing childhood. The investigation took a turn when forensic genealogist Coling Fitzpatrick helped link DNA from the crime scenes to Miller.

Miller's persona as the "Zombie Hunter" allowed him to blend into the community, posing for photos with police. His arrest in 2015 was based on DNA evidence collected from a glass he drank from during a meeting with Schwarzkoff.

Ultimately, Miller was convicted of the murders, with his defense claiming insanity due to childhood abuse. The episode highlights the lasting impact of the murders on the victims' families and the community.

TLDR

The episode details the Phoenix Canal murders and the capture of killer Brian Patrick Miller, known as the "Zombie Hunter."

Episode

1:04:37
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[Music] when you think of the Phoenix Desert you definitely aren't thinking of a
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[Music] waterfront the canal system goes right through the center of Phoenix the more people that were moving to the
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area the more that the trails along there were being used for walking running biking there are not many crimes that
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are like this one you had women riding bicycles along the canal on a typical Phoenix evening
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ambushed stabbed multiple times police are looking for whoever killed 22-year-old Angela braso Angela braso
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dismembered decapitated police are looking at the scene and thinking what on Earth
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happened and who did this 10 months later a 17-year-old Junior at arcade tadia High School
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Melanie bernes this is the high school that Steven Spielberg attended Melanie Bernice's mother goes
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out to dinner and Melanie decides to go on a bike ride and the following morning a woman
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is riding her bike right here there was just a big puddle it looked different as
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I rode through it and all of a sudden I'm like that is blood so she called the police the
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police a a blood trail and they see Melanie Bernice's body at the bottom of the canal my time in my life froze at that
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very moment the day we found out I made a promise to myself I just never stopped talking
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about her these murders became widely known as the Phoenix Canal murders my name is Clark schwarzkoff and I was
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assigned to the C case unit investigating the canal murders I think there was over 600
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Persons of Interest I said okay give me the list in this mound of information of all
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these people and all these possible suspects I believed our killer was listed eventually detective schwarzkoff
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found his prime suspect on that list and discovered that the alleged Canal killer
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had a second identity a man who dressed up like a comic book superhero and Cruis
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The Valley in a decorated car dripping with fake blood the public knew this man as the zombie
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hunter what was his life as the zombie hunter like what did he do he would go to like parades and festivals and and
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show off this car and kind of be a part of the excitement if you will your assignment was to find this
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guy and you have found him yeah he is accused of being a killer but here he is posing with police officers before they
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discovered what he' [Music] done it was almost like a slap in the face like I'm here but you don't know it
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it was like he was hiding in playing sight [Music] [Music] it's one of those cases that you just
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don't forget you can't unsee what happened to those girls you just can't long before the Man known as
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the zombie hunter became the prime suspect in the canal murders Clark Schwarz cof was a detective with the
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Phoenix Police Department's cold Cas Squad his mission was simple but pointed find the killer responsible for those
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vicious murders of two young women from the early 1990s to this day I'm still not exactly
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sure about what happened on those bike paths the case began on November 8th 1992 Angela braso a tech worker who had
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recently moved to Phoenix was taking advantage of beautiful weather to get in a little exercise says
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Brianna Whitney the True Crime reporter for the CBS affiliate kph in Phoenix each night she would go out for
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her evening bike ride just at Golden hour at Sunset the best time to be riding out here Angela was only hours
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away from turning 22 years old and like a lot of locals she liked to bike on the
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paths that ran alongside the city's distinctive canals says schwarzkoff a 48 Hours
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consultant are there places that are sort of natural Ambush sites if somebody wants to attack someone yeah they are
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there's a lot of tunnels they go underneath the interstate that November evening in 1992
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Angela left her apartment around 7 pm. her boyfriend Joe later told police he said he stayed home to bake Angela
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birthday cake and didn't expect her to be gone long hours go by and Joe grows concerned
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Angela hasn't come home and that's not like her Joe told police he took his bike out three times that night
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frantically searching for Angela on the canal paths he spoke to her friends even
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her mother back in Pennsylvania finally he reported Angela missing to police the next morning
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Searchers Came Upon a horrific scene Angela bro's torso was found in a field next to the trail that she had been
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riding her bike on Angela had been stabbed to death some 10 days after Angela's headless body was discovered a man
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fishing along this section of the canal spotted her head stuck on a grate and from what we have heard from
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Witnesses the head was in amazingly good condition especially considering this was days after the murder I'm Morgan low
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and I'll take you Morgan low an investigative reporter who also works at kph and is a consultant for 48 hours has
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been working on the canal killer case for more than a decade we've heard that the head looked
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like it had been preserved like it was a momento for the killer Angela's purple mountain bike was also
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missing there were no solid leads and the case went quiet until September of 1993 some 10 months after Angela's
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murder when the mother of 17-year-old Melanie bernus returned from a dinner date to find her daughter had broken her
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curfew and was not home she then noticed that Melanie's bicycle was missing Melanie decides to go on a bike ride by
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around 10:30 when Melanie did not return her mother started calling her friends is Melanie there well my mom took the
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phone call said that Melanie's mom was frantic and like nervous Rachel Shep maker was one of
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Melanie's close friends in high school so initially when you hear that her mother's looking for her you're not
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thinking something terrible has happened to your friend definitely not I thought
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she was with a friend and just forgot to communicate with her mom where she was early the next morning Charlotte
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pole a local resident happened to be riding along the canal with her young daughter in a bicycle seat just as they
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came out of one of those tunnels that ran under the interstate she spotted a puddle there was just a big puddle of of
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something ended up riding right through it and having it Splash over me Charlotte says something about the
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puddle bothered her so a few minutes later she doubled back that's when she made that horrible realization I could
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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 noticed
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that there are some drag marks that went along over here toward that tree towards
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that tree yes and then went around the tree and was drugged back you could see the drag marks right here to the canal
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Charlotte went home and called police later that night the local news reported that a woman's body had been found in
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the Canal close to where Angela bro's head had been located they found the body in a
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teal bodysuit I was told by um some other friends that Melanie did not own that it
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can't be her Rachel went to sleep convinced the body in the canal was not Melanie but the next day I'm at school
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my friends just come up to me crying and saying it was [Music] Melanie detective strongly suspected
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Melanie had been targeted and stabbed in the back by the same person who had killed
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Angela police believe that somehow the killer got her off of her bike whether he knocked her off of her bike or
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whether he asked her a question Clark says the evidence indicates the killer approached the women from behind
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both the KN WS were the exact same position investigators say the killer dragged Melanie's body off the canal
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path removed her clothes and dressed her in that teal bodysuit similar to this one obtained by
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police along with the stabbing and the dismemberment there was another component to these murders wasn't there
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yeah both women were sexually assaulted and that meant investigators had a crucial piece of evidence
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DNA when the DNA from melany scene was finally tested later it matched to Angela scene so we knew for sure that we
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were dealing with the same perpetrator investigators noted that the initial stab wounds to the backs of each woman
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were fatal and so precise that detectives suspected the killer might be a surgeon the details about what
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happened were the kinds of things that kept parents from letting their kids out when the sun went down
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[Music] the murders of Angela braso and Melanie bernus in the early 1990s created fear
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in Phoenix that lasted for a generation you know there's some guy out there and you don't know where he
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is they watched the news and read the newspaper every day hoping that police would make an arrest and it just kept
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going on and nothing and nothing and nothing investigators had collected matching male DNA from both the
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victims but more than two decades passed and the canal murder cases went cold then science finally caught up with the
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calendar it's in 2014 Phoenix police detectives are at a DNA conference and a forensic genealogist from California is
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also also at the conference coling Fitzpatrick founder of identif finders International was there to meet with law
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enforcement and she goes up to these detectives and says hey I can take Y chromosomes and create these DNA
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profiles and try to match with genealogy to help solve criminal cases Fitzpatrick's company had developed
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software that could mine public genealogy databases searching for matches to Crime Scene DNA the
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detectives heard her out and then several weeks later they sent me the y d profile from the crime scene for the
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Phoenix Canal murders Fitzpatrick's company started crunching the data hoping to provide Phoenix detectives
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with a name we entered the numbers from the forensic profile into our software and
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that's where I came up with six matches to the name Miller while the genetic genealogy search produced the name
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Miller it is is also one of the most common last names detective schwarzkoff started digging you check your files and
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what do you find I think there were a total of six Millers that were on what I called my master list and I went down
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through the list got to Brian Patrick Miller but who was Brian Patrick Miller records show he was 42 years old with a
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Phoenix address that name was just one of more than 600 Persons of Interest Who had lived in those case files for
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years police at the time seemingly never pursued Miller we discovered his file downstairs police learned Brian Miller
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had a record dating Back to Before the canal murders in May of 1989 when he was just 16 years old Miller crossed paths
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with Celeste Bentley I was 24 and I was going to work I had just noticed a young boy on the
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bus Celeste says she and the boy got off at the same stop moments later she felt
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something in her back he had ran by me I thought he had just hit me I just yelled
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at him I was like why'd you do that you know and then I reached back and touched
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my back and realized that it was blood I had been stabbed with a single knife wound to her upper back Celeste screamed
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and managed to make it to the store where she worked a coworker called for help a about 30 minutes later when
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Celeste was in the back of an ambulance the police came and said they found him and they wanted to bring him to the
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ambulance to show him to me Celeste identified her as salent Brian Miller was charged with aggravated assault they
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said that if he had held the blade the other way he would have gone straight through my ribs and I could have died
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Miller pleaded guilty and was sentenced to juvenile detention until he turned 18
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it was a far cry from where Miller's life had [Music] begun he was living in Hawaii for a
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while as a kid with his mom and his dad but his dad died early on in a motorcycle
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accident years later Miller and his mother Ellen moved to Phoenix so for most of his life and early years it was
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Brian Miller and his mom while Miller was in juvie his mother made a disturbing Discovery Brian Miller's mom
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was looking through his stuff and she found a note that he wrote the pages detailed a Sinister plan kidnap the girl
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tie her up in the truck and cut her clothes off this note spelled out how he wanted to find abduct rape murder and
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dismember a young woman and Brian's mom was so disturbed by this piece of paper that she took it
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to Phoenix police it was Miller's 18th birthday and he had just been released as an adult Chief fed out told police at
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the time that she was really scared for her safety and that she was not going to
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allow him to come home so after his release Miller ended up at this Phoenix halfway house when schwarzkoff read that
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note in 2014 he was struck by something there was a lot of things in there that were close or similar to what
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happened specifically to Angela including a description of decapitating a victim and preserving the
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head Phoenix police wanted to locate Miller luckily he was very easy to find [Music]
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in December 2014 Phoenix police continued digging into potential suspect Brian Miller who they discovered was
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actually a local celebrity everybody at the time in the Phoenix area knew Brian Patrick Miller as this character called
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the zombie hunter zombie hunter like a comic book character yeah like a comic book character like a good guy fighting
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the bad guys Miller's Alter Ego was a costume figure who participated in parades and festivals around town
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thousands of zombies taking over the streets of Downtown Phoenix he wore this long trench coat with these goggles and
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helmet and had this large Gatling gun and if you're going to hunt zombies you need a way to get
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around he bought an old police car and tricked it out wrote The Zombie Hunter on it and it had a full-size zombie
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mannequin in the back and blood on the side friend Eric Braverman says Miller's zombie hunter Persona attracted a big
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fan base including law enforcement officers who lined up to pose with him collected pictures of himself with the
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cops like trophies they're all smiling big with him leaning on the car Eric says Miller's superhero
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character was the opposite of what Brian was like when he wasn't in costume he seemed like a harmless marshmallow that
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was immersed in this goofy lifestyle he's just that unassuming guy but could Miller be the canal
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killer the only way to find out was to get his DNA investigators began to surveil Miller who worked at an Amazon
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Ware housee every day when he got there Miller parked the zombie Mobile in the same spot he would come out for his
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15-minute break blast his music really loud lunchtime came out to the car same thing blast this god- awful music
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Schwarz cough came up with an elaborate plan to get his DNA I went up and introduced myself to mil in his car why
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did you introduce yourself I introduce myself as a security consultant schwarzkoff told Miller that thieves had
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been stealing goods from a warehouse across the way I said would you be interested in working for me as a
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security officer watching the building while you're outside did his eyes light up yeah cuz it was a good paying job I
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said look I I'll pay you 20 bucks an hour on January 2nd 2015 Schwarz cof met Miller at this Chili restaurant to fill
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out a job application the Cold Case unit was behind the scenes ready to bag anything that had Miller's
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DNA on it such as utensils or a glass they set a table for me and Mr Miller away from everybody else in a part of
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the restaurant where nobody else is at Miller arrived with a surprised guest his 15-year-old daughter Sarah Miller
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was a divorced single dad he was very gentle and caring about his daughter he often brought his daughter where he
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would be going the trio sat down and ordered hamburgers when the food arrived he swallows his hamburger in like five
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bites won't take a drink of his water and I'm sitting there going you sure you want something else to drink cuz you
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just got water no no I'm good I'm good I'm good Schwarz started to worry this operation would be a
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bust what does he finally do that makes this mission accomplished we finally took a drink from the water glass that's
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when I knew that okay now we've least got his DNA despite knowing about Miller's juvenile record as their meal
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ended the veteran detective's gut told him Miller was not their man seeing him with his daughter I just don't see this
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guy as being the monster in 1992 and 93 that would do this to these women Miller gave schwarzkoff a quick
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tour of his Zombie Hunter mobile and the two parted ways with a detective saying
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he'd be in touch the Cold Case unit sent Miller's water glass off to the crime lab 11 days later we got a call from the
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lab and we're sitting there and like what is this all about and in this meeting these Phoenix detectives say as
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a joke H they must have solved the canal murders but detective schwarzkoff says it was no joke when the head of the lab
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arrived she leans down to me she goes it's him and I go what she goes Brian Miller it's
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him well the blood rushed from my head I kind of sat back and I went you've got to be kidding Brian Miller's DNA from
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that water glass matched the DNA recovered from Angela braso and Melanie bernes more than 20 years
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before Miller was arrested within hours during a police interview shortly after Miller was told why he'd been taken into
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into custody in connection with the canal murders we have DNA that links you to those two
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ladies see how that's possible he just kind of went through it in his Dopey kind of I don't know what you're kind of
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talking about would help you get it off your chest you did something like that I
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didn't kill anyone you didn't kill anybody no investigators got a search warrant for Miller's house the home he
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shared with his teenage daughter and just about everything thing he'd ever collected in his life I can remember
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like it was yesterday walking up to the front door and everybody going you can't
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get in that way it's full of crap Brian Miller's house was like it came from the show hoarders there was a
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little path where you could get to a bathroom in the kitchen and where the TV was and that's it everything else is
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just stacked to the roof with garbage did you look around and go this is madness not only man it's like go this
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is a nightmare Schwarz and his investigators would have to sift through all of it looking for other possible
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evidence detective schwarzkoff also focused on a new source someone Miller himself had ominously singled out in his
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interview it's the one person on face of the earth I could probably honestly say
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I hate Miller's ex-wife Amy who would end up revealing gruesome details from Miller's violent past he had told her
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about the murder of a young girl who' come to his door [Music] accidentally what do you think motivated
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Brian Miller to dress up as the zombie hunter see more of the case on Facebook at 48 hours
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in January 2015 more than 21 years after the canal murders Brian Miller was charged with first-degree murder in both
00:26:13
Angela braso and Melanie Bernice's deaths Melanie's friend Rachel Shep maker says she felt a wave of relief a
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very joyous moment of oh my gosh this is what we've been waiting for for decades
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upon decades detective schwarzkoff wanted to talk to the one person who probably knew
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Miller best his ex-wife Amy they had been married for eight years there was a divorce Amy told schwarzkoff that she
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was just 19 when she met Miller in 1996 they married less than a year later and moved to Everett
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Washington Amy had a shocking Revelation for the detective she told Schwarz Miller had revealed a gruesome secret to
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her that he had killed a young girl in Phoenix years earlier before he'd ever met Amy Schwarz says Amy never reported
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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
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she wanted to be a good wife you support your man no matter what detective schwarzkoff says Amy told him
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what Miller had said that a young girl had come to his door that he had grabbed this young
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female pulled her in killed her immediately Amy said Miller told her he dismembered the girl and disposed of her
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remains in trash left on the curb although Amy claimed Miller never told her the child's name investigators
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Ed the information Amy provided to piece together who Miller may have been talking
00:27:58
about 13-year-old Brandy Meyers was a little girl collecting money for a school book ofon in her North Phoenix
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neighborhood going door too I was a tomboy and she was a girly girl bry's sister Kristen Dennis so she
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would try to learn how to climb trees or jump fences because she wanted to play with me she was my best friend it was
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May 26th 1992 6 months prior to the murder of Andre Le braso Miller was living in the
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halfway house following his time in juvenile detention for the aggravated assault of Celeste
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Bentley this is one block from our school his home and then three blocks is our house so every single day we walked
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right by here Kristen says Brandy left home alone that evening never to return she was last seen two doors down from
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Brian's walking in the direction of his house despite an extensive search bry's body was never found schwarzkoff says
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even though Amy couldn't provide a name the clues in her account add up to just one conclusion I believe that person is
00:29:17
in fact Brandy Myers her sister believes that as well Brandy went to the landfill like some thing of no
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importance even with Amy's account investigators did not have enough evidence to charge Miller in bry's
00:29:38
disappearance so the fact that she was disposed of there's just nothing physical nothing forensically to grab on
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to 48 Hours contacted Miller who said he had no involvement in bry's disappearance and never confessed to Amy
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that he had killed a young girl but there is another case in Miller's past in 2002 a woman named Melissa Ruiz
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Ramirez is walking down the street in Everett at night somebody pulls over it was Brian Miller Melissa would later
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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
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needed to make a call and he drove her to his workplace so she could use the phone
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she tells police she's on the phone and from out of the clear blue Brian Miller comes running out with a 12in serrated
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kitchen knife and stabs her in the back they fight over the weapon Melissa said she escaped and
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contacted police they picked up Miller shortly after he didn't deny stabbing Melissa but claimed it was
00:30:55
self-defense he said he was at work when Melissa walked in off the street and asked to make a
00:31:02
call he said she goes to use a phone and then all of a sudden now they clear blue
00:31:06
she tries to rob him with a knife Miller was arrested and charged with first-degree assault with a deadly
00:31:13
weapon he was jailed from May 2002 until his December trial the jury just didn't buy Melissa's
00:31:22
story it was a he said she said and they acquitted him of the charge Amy Says a chilling change followed
00:31:30
Miller's return home she said it began with the letters she'd received from her jailed husband
00:31:38
while he awaited trial they first started out as professing his innocence and then it
00:31:43
would turn into sexual deviance like here's what I'm going to do when I get out to you Amy told Schwarz coff that
00:31:52
Miller followed up his words with action she said he came back with an unbel unable ugly dark sexual deviant side
00:32:01
that she'd never seen before there were times where there was sex between him where he held a knife to
00:32:08
her throat Amy told schwarzkoff that Miller claimed something happened to him as a
00:32:14
child something that would become the Cornerstone of his defense for murdering Angela braso and Melanie
00:32:22
bernes his unique defense call her first witness his mother had created a [Music]
00:32:46
monster at the start of Brian Miller's trial for the murders of Angela braso and Melanie bernes in October
00:32:54
2022 his attorneys opened with a start in defense they admitted their client was the canal killer they had to concede
00:33:05
right off the bat that he is the actual killer but that he was not guilty by reason of insanity his defense attorneys
00:33:13
say Miller was tortured by his mother Ellen as a child and that led to his violent sexual behavior she died in
00:33:23
2010 if you imagine the making of a monster this is kind of the household that Story begins in Miller told
00:33:33
investigators after his arrest that the beatings began when he was just 5 years old she was a detention officer
00:33:42
discipline in their house was mental as well as physical she used her security belt so it was like a law
00:33:50
enforcement belt and usually I hit got hit by the buckles the defense opted for a bench trial which meant there would be
00:33:59
no jury his lawyers told judge Suzanne Cohen that Miller's mother also exposed her young son to violent sexual
00:34:08
content he was exposed to her interests in pornography and extremely violent films Miller's lawyers said his mother's
00:34:19
abuse caused Miller to develop severe mental health problems he feels like there are different TVs playing in his
00:34:28
head psychologist Bethany bran testified that Miller developed a condition known
00:34:34
as dissociative Amnesia an inability to remember some traumatic events Morgan low summed up the defense argument there
00:34:44
were two Brians there's the one you see over there at the defense table who's a fairly normal person who has friends who
00:34:52
had a job who was a dad who was a a husband and then there's the Killer there's bad Brian and Miller claimed his
00:35:00
attorneys had no memory none of the two murders he was charged with prosecutors undermine the defense claim that Miller
00:35:10
has no memory of the killings they point out that he does remember details related to other
00:35:18
stabbings remember Miller admitted stabbing celest Bentley when he was 16 years old and in 2002 he had also
00:35:27
testified about the stabbing of Melissa Ruiz Ramirez in Washington to show Miller's deviant side
00:35:36
prosecutors called the only person in the world Miller said he despised his ex-wife Amy the judge did not allow
00:35:45
cameras to record her face under questioning by prosecutor Elizabeth reamer Amy testified that
00:35:53
later in their marriage Miller grew increasingly viol ENT during sex did you ever say anything to him
00:36:03
about wanting it to stop because it was scary no why not I was avoiding any confrontation
00:36:14
with him at all at that point and wanted to be as compliant as possible so that I
00:36:25
would stay will he love me enough not to kill me did he ask permission prior to using
00:36:36
needles on you no did he ask permission prior to tying you up no what percentage
00:36:45
of your sex life after he got out of jail in Washington included bondage the pins or
00:36:58
other uh things that were not the normal sex you'd been having early in your marriage probably at least
00:37:08
95% the trial continued and after 6 months and 36 Witnesses the judge delivered her verdict as to count one
00:37:19
first-degree murder Angela braso as follows guilty as to count to First Dee murder
00:37:28
victim Melanie bernes as follows guilty how did Brian Miller react to the guilty verdict he didn't react he didn't
00:37:41
give any real emotion but Angela's mother who addressed the court remotely was emotional the defendant broke my
00:37:50
heart took all hope and light from me and my family the whole in my heart is so big
00:37:59
and empty Melanie's older sister Jill also spoke remotely about how painful it was
00:38:08
that Melanie's life ended violently at the age of 17 for 30 years now we've had to live
00:38:17
without Melanie because the defendant murdered her words cannot even begin to describe the level of excruciating pain
00:38:24
we experienced with the news of her horrific death Miller who didn't take the stand during
00:38:30
his trial was allowed to give a statement before he was sentenced I not looking for sympathy today this time is
00:38:39
for the family and the friends of the victims I cannot imagine what pain they have endured for all these
00:38:47
years I know I am different I thought it had to do with what my mother did to me
00:38:53
defense counsel RJ Parker urged judge Cohen to show Mercy before she delivered her judgment on Miller's sentence life
00:39:02
in prison or death you do not have to kill Brian in order to see Justice Done judge Cohen agreed with the centerpiece
00:39:12
of the defense case the defendant's abuse as a child was proven but 8 months after the trial
00:39:21
began Miller's abuse at the hands of his mother did not dissuade judge Cohen from
00:39:27
handing down the ultimate sentence there is no question that what the defendant did deserves the death
00:39:36
penalty Mr Miller anything you wish to say to the court I just thanks for listening to
00:39:43
everything that was said and giving us at least the opportunity to try and convince you
00:39:52
otherwise Justice was carried out in this case Det itive schwarzkoff hopes family
00:39:59
and friends of Angela and Melanie might finally find some [Music] peace people like Rachel ship maker just
00:40:12
knowing that Justice was served it doesn't make anything easier how do you want your good friend
00:40:24
be remembered she's the All-American good kid I want her family to know that we haven't forgotten
00:40:37
her she's changed us all for the better she was a gift [Music] [Music] a knock at the door by a clown an evil
00:41:03
clown the evil clowns you see in the movies well it came to life who comes calling with balloons flowers and a gun
00:41:09
I heard bang I saw her fall this was an assassination who isn't afraid of a killer clown 48 hours Saturday on CDs
00:41:17
and screening on Paramount Plus [Music] welcome to 48 Hours postmortem I'm CBS News correspondent and Marie green and
00:41:43
today we are talking about an episode that truly sent shivers down my spine unmasking the zombie hunter so joining
00:41:52
me now are 48 Hours correspondent Peter vanent and producer Paula Rosa who reported on and produced this episode
00:42:00
welcome gentlemen hi thanks for having us hey and Marie happy Halloween it's a perfect episode for
00:42:06
Halloween it says it in the name right the zomie hunter but before we get into the episode Let's Play a clip from the
00:42:14
show there are not many crimes that are like this one you had women riding bicycles along the canal on a typical
00:42:22
Phoenix evening ambushed stabbed multiple times Brianna Whitney the True Crime reporter
00:42:30
for the CBS affiliate kph in Phoenix says the first victim was 21-year-old Angela braso whose body was found in
00:42:39
November 1992 police are looking at this scene and thinking what on Earth happened and
00:42:47
who did this 10 months later the body of 17-year-old Melanie bernus was found in
00:42:54
one of the city's canals investig ators found the same DNA at both scenes says detective Clark schwarzkoff I think
00:43:03
there was over 600 Persons of Interest after some 20 years investigators zeroed in on 42-year-old Brian Patrick Miller a
00:43:13
divorced father raising his teenage daughter as schwarzkoff soon learned Miller had a unique Alter Ego everybody
00:43:23
in the Phoenix area knew Brian Patrick Miller as this char character called the zombie hunter schwarzkoff secured
00:43:30
Miller's DNA days later the head of the forensic lab had some news she leans down to me she goes it's him and I go
00:43:41
what she goes Brian Miller it's him um Peter what stood out to you about this case that made you want to do it uh
00:43:53
well first the zombie killer I I looked it up you know a zombie is relentlessly aggressive reanimated human corpse right
00:44:01
so you have that component uh which I found fascinating and then for me personally I lived in Phoenix for four
00:44:08
years I worked in local news there this was just before these Canal murders I left but my home was about 3 miles from
00:44:16
where these murders occurred I used to jog along the Arizona canal and back then it was a hub of people on the canal
00:44:24
when we went and shot this it's amazing there's no one on there anymore that's how how Lifestyles were changed in this
00:44:30
I also have this NeverEnding curiosity about why do people kill it's one of the reasons why I do this job it's one of
00:44:37
the reasons why I love to try to talk to the accused to get inside their head and
00:44:43
look at the head of this man was in this costume like a comic book character instead of going off and hiding under a
00:44:50
rock somewhere this alleged killer uh was was out in the public posing with photograph s with police officers for
00:44:58
goodness sakes going to these sci-fi conventions and he sounds like such a psychologically complicated person where
00:45:07
you hear these stories of him being a sweet loving father to his daughter friends who thought he was engaging they
00:45:15
never sense danger with this man sometimes he was a bit odd but he had this jeck and hide personality like
00:45:22
Peter said that's what's fascinating about murder it's these two sides and in this case
00:45:27
you know Brian's lawyers said he had two sides that he had a trauma side and he had a normal side he was not the zombie
00:45:34
hunter when he committed the murders of Angela and Melanie back in the early 9s and they were vicious I mean these
00:45:40
aren't these women are women who went out for nighttime bike rides um along this busy Canal path in Phoenix in good
00:45:49
weather and um you know Angela was the first victim and her head was cut off she was beheaded and head was not found
00:45:58
until 10 days later so and she was eviscerated I mean these are horrible horrible crimes and um Melanie you know
00:46:08
she was found stabed to death so um so because of the nature of the crimes the cops always felt that it had to be a
00:46:18
surgeon who did them or someone with special forces training and uh there's a military base in Phoenix and they just
00:46:26
didn't believe it could be Brian Patrick Miller who was around 21 or 22 years old
00:46:30
at the time of these murders and when you meet him he's like a marshmallow people describe him as a marshmallow he
00:46:36
couldn't do one push-up his friend said um he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who could commit these horrible crimes
00:46:45
can we talk about how Melanie was discovered this was a story that um Paul managed to find a Woman by the name of
00:46:51
Charlotte pottle and this was literally as we were finishing up our hour we'd already written in the show and most of
00:46:58
our editing was done but Charlotte pole was worth the the effort back in in 1993
00:47:04
she was riding along the canal when she drove through a a dark puddle she instantly felt like something's not
00:47:12
quite right here that was really bizarre she rode for just a few minutes and decided to double back and realize that
00:47:18
it was a pool of blood and she got off of her bicycle and Charlotte noticed that there were drag marks in the dirt
00:47:27
the first drag marks went off away from the canal to a single tree she said the body had been moved around that little
00:47:34
tree and there was a small pool of blood there the body is then dragged back across the path to the edge of the canal
00:47:42
where it apparently was was thrown in and so Charlotte pole she later called police and she called them on an
00:47:50
emergency tip line that was not supposed to reveal the identity of the caller and
00:47:56
she described her experience and told cops you should go out there and check it out for yourself well sometime later
00:48:02
she gets an unexpected call from a homicide detective and the homicide detective said in a very demanding way
00:48:09
where are you right now and she goes well I'm I'm at my house stay put I'm on my way over to talk to you do not move
00:48:17
so she waits at home she said the detective uh shows up and he immediately accuses her Charlotte pole of being the
00:48:24
Killer and why because her Footprints were on both sides now of these drag marks out at the canal and he says I
00:48:34
know you did this she said I had nothing I just discovered it she thought she was
00:48:38
going to be arrested he leaves and she's convinced any moment she's going to be arrested as the canal killer she said
00:48:47
they never call again and they never showed up and she lived with this fear for months um but Charlotte did the
00:48:56
right thing yeah and um and luckily she wasn't charged that's an incredible story Peter you know you talked about um
00:49:05
the surgical Precision almost her head was pretty well preserved what do police believe happened with you can talk about
00:49:12
that so when this head is discovered according to detective Clark schwarzkoff he believed that that um the killer had
00:49:22
kept the head in a refrigerator it was a head that he may have considered a trophy and in the plan this
00:49:33
handwritten document that Brian Miller had had produced that his mother had discovered and turned over to
00:49:39
authorities one of the items on his list was to decapitate a victim and to keep the head and detective Clark schwarzkoff
00:49:48
believes that's exactly what happened here and that he wanted it discovered um because detective schwarzkoff believes
00:49:55
he wanted to get some Shock value from these murders so Paul how did you get to know him well I started writing him
00:50:03
emails and you know I couldn't reach him during the trial because his lawyers are
00:50:08
in the way and they obviously won't let him speak to a journalist during the trial but after the trial I took a
00:50:14
chance and there even when he's on death row but even on death row inmates have access to email which a lot of people
00:50:22
out there may not know and I didn't know if he'd write back or not and he WR the
00:50:26
first time wrote back he said he didn't like CBS News I said well I've been doing this a long time I have I've
00:50:32
worked at the show for 30 years so I've been doing this a long time and you can Google me and you can check me out and
00:50:37
you know I I I I'm I think I'm an upstanding journalist and I'm not going to lie to you or anything and he started
00:50:43
writing so we went back and forth and I started asking him simple questions at first like what do you miss you know do
00:50:50
you miss being the zombie hunter and he said you asked me simple questions so I'm going to answer you and I and we
00:50:57
just kept going on and on till eventually he started talking about the case more and more and I he said he
00:51:04
didn't commit these murders and I said well Brian that leads to the big question how is it that your DNA was
00:51:11
found on both women and he said that's the million-dollar question if I knew I wouldn't be sitting here would I wow so
00:51:20
let's talk about that because then there's these two murders there was a stabbing earlier but two murders and
00:51:24
then nothing Brian seemed to have cleaned up a little bit in the late 90s he married Amy he got married and she by
00:51:34
the way described as the perfect gentleman on their first date which was at an amusement park uh by the side of
00:51:40
the canal where they found one body and Angela's head so he married her and uh in Phoenix and then they um they moved
00:51:47
to Washington State where his mother lived they had a child and uh you know there's some video of them from the time
00:51:53
on a whale watching trip and they look like any young family you know and so we don't think Brian
00:52:00
really changed his ways he stabbed a woman up there he said it was self-defense and that case went to trial
00:52:08
and and Brian Patrick Miller was acquitted the jury believed him over the woman wow so the murders of Angela braso
00:52:18
and Melanie bernes went unsolved for decades and like so many of these cases that are only now getting solved the
00:52:26
real Smoking Gun in this one is the DNA evidence that pinned Brian to these murders but police almost didn't get it
00:52:34
let's take a listen to investigator Clark schwarzkoff describing just how they got the crucial
00:52:41
evidence at a Chili's of all places the Cold Case unit was behind the scenes ready to bag anything that had Miller's
00:52:48
DNA on it such as utensils or a glass they set a table for me and Mr Miller away from everybody else in a part of
00:52:58
the restaurant where nobody else is at Miller arrived with a surprise guest his 15-year-old daughter Sarah Miller
00:53:08
was a divorced single dad he was very gentle and caring about his daughter he often brought his daughter where he
00:53:15
would be going the trio sat down and ordered hamburgers when the food arrived he swallows his hamburger in like five
00:53:23
bites won't take a drink of his water and I'm sitting there go you sure you want something else to drink cuz he just
00:53:28
got water no no I'm good I'm good I'm good so good news is he's really hungry bad news is he's not thirsty that's
00:53:35
right and it was it went on and on and by the way the other people that were in that section of the restaurant were
00:53:41
undercover agents I wondered about that watching and the the manager of the Chili's uh a great citizen this woman
00:53:49
said I'll be the waitress so she played the waitress in in this scenario and finally finally he takes a sip from his
00:53:57
water glass and that's when schwarzkoff knew this was mission accomplished as we
00:54:02
said in the story uh that he got the DNA sample so Clark schwarzkoff you know was
00:54:07
a was a seasoned detective right this goes back to to The Duality of Brian Miller he had approached him at his
00:54:16
place of work reposed as a uh security guy he said would you like to work for us keeping an eye on the back part of
00:54:23
the factory here because there's been some theft I'll pay you $20 an hour well anyway he got to talking with him back
00:54:28
and forth right got a sense of the man then they have this lunch together brings in his daughter he seemed like a
00:54:34
loving uh father he seemed normal and despite what what schwarzkoff knew of his past he felt as though this guy this
00:54:45
nerdy softspoken man he couldn't possibly be the canal killer and so he gets the DNA sample and they send it off
00:54:55
but in his mind he goes he it's going to come back it's not going to be a match cuz there's no way based on my
00:55:00
experience that this guy is a killer he's just too nice a guy it's kind of extraordinary but it shows you the power
00:55:06
of His personality wow um so they get all the evidence they need they've got this DNA match and so they get a search
00:55:14
warrant for his house and it's like this guy has never thrown anything out he's basically a hoarder let's listen to a
00:55:21
clip from the show I can remember like it was yesterday walking up to the front door and everybody going you can't get
00:55:26
in that way it's full of crap Brian Miller's house was like it came from the show hoarders there was a
00:55:37
little path where you could get to a bathroom in the kitchen and where the TV was and that's it other else is just
00:55:43
stacked to the roof with garbage did you look around and go this is madness not only Madness I go this is a nightmare
00:55:51
yeah this was a nightmare they have to look through this stuff you know it's a house filled completely filled to the
00:55:57
ceiling with stuff and they looking for the women's bikes from back then he had he had a lot of bikes when they arrested
00:56:03
him but none were Melanie or Angela bikes they're looking for a murder weapon a knife they found a lot of
00:56:08
knives but not the murder weapon but they have but they did find a lot of pornography um some of it violent um
00:56:16
yeah so that was it's just a nightmare so still a lot more to talk about when we get back I want to talk
00:56:23
about Brian's ex-wife and his daughter Brian's juvenile record and of course the trial what will the zombie hunter
00:56:31
with his Larger than Life Persona what will he use as his defense strategy we're going to get into that after the
00:56:39
[Music] [Music] break welcome back uh when I look at this case I cannot help but to think
00:56:52
about the people in Brian's life can you tell me anything more about the ex wife
00:56:56
I was shocked that a man like this had custody of his teenage daughter how did that happen well um at the time I would
00:57:06
say that his ex-wife Amy was had lived a troubled life as far as I've learned she
00:57:12
did not come to the final custody hearing and the judge awarded Brian custody of his daughter um Brian always
00:57:20
treated his daughter Sarah with respect and kindness from what we learned she had an a fairly normal upbringing
00:57:27
although she did live with him in the house which was described as a hoarder house so you know that comes with its
00:57:34
own psychological underpinnings but um other than that living in a hoarder house they seem to have a really good
00:57:41
loving relationship in a way that brings me back to the ex-wife too because you know
00:57:46
he was a good husband until he wasn't according to her she must have told the court about her experience I mean she
00:57:54
was terrified of him one thing about Amy is that and she testified to this is that she felt um intense Duty as a wife
00:58:02
to do whatever her husband wanted her to do she said that at trial um you know it
00:58:08
was her duty to do what he wanted coupled with that is that she was really afraid of him and it's heartbreaking but
00:58:16
at one point in the trial the prosecutor says why didn't you object to all this stuff in the bedroom and she said well I
00:58:25
wanted to do it it because it's my duty as a wife and I wanted to be sure that he loved me enough not to kill me jeez
00:58:32
that's heavy and heartbreaking it is so that sort of sums up where she's coming from you got to feel great sympathy for
00:58:39
her completely um I want to ask about the juvenile record too how much access do investigators have to a juvenile
00:58:46
record typically well these juvenile records usually are kept under seal but these investigators were able to to get
00:58:54
that information about him um he had stabbed a woman in the back and been arrested for that and served time in
00:59:01
juvenile uh detention so Celeste Bentley worked at a mall and she took a public transportation uh to get to her job
00:59:09
she's on this bus and she notices this young man behind her a few rows she turned she noticed he was he was looking
00:59:16
at her and when she got off the bus uh she noticed that the young man got off as well and this was very early in the
00:59:24
morning and she's walking across an empty the parking lot headed toward the department store where she works and um
00:59:31
then all of a sudden he Sprints by and she feels this punch she thought on on her back and it hurt and she called out
00:59:39
to him why'd you do that and uh she put her hand back and discovered it was blood then she runs to uh the department
00:59:48
store there was a single door it was locked she's pounding on it luckily one of her colleagues is there lets her
00:59:53
inside and they call the police but she said the police told her that if he had turned the knife just a little bit one
01:00:01
way it would have gone right through and hit our a order also it could have been
01:00:04
a murder yeah could have been a murder so um the police found him found Brian dressed in different clothing so he had
01:00:12
planned this uh he changed his clothes they brought him over to that brought him over to the Celeste and she
01:00:19
identified him and um he eventually pled and he admitted to the cops that he had
01:00:25
stabbed her um you know there's various stories about why he did one was he said
01:00:31
he just wanted to see what it felt like and it's in chills down his spine there were other reports later that he stabbed
01:00:37
Celeste because she reminded him of his mother the thing about Celeste Bentley uh you know I interviewed her this is a
01:00:45
woman that has lived with this trauma obviously for her entire life it's so impacted her life she was afraid to be
01:00:54
in crowd she's always had her head on a swivel always looking around her and still does yeah um part of his
01:01:02
defense was to talk about his childhood um so looking at his childhood the abuse that he Alle alleges what
01:01:10
proof was provided well it began the fact that when he was 16 years old and he committed that attack it turned out
01:01:20
that he had told social workers back during the juvenile uh detention that he had he told these details of his
01:01:27
mother's abuse um and and so the fact that he had told with such detail and very uh specific about the kinds of
01:01:35
things exposing him to pornography uh exposing him to violent movies beating him he tells this story of being beaten
01:01:43
with a belt um experiencing violence psychological trauma physical trauma and then exposed to these horrible images um
01:01:55
is something that that he he he kept with the rest of his life um so that becomes kind of part of
01:02:03
the defense right let's just listen psychologist Bethany bran testified that Miller developed a
01:02:10
condition known as dissociative Amnesia an inability to remember some traumatic events Morgan low summed up the defense
01:02:21
argument there were two Brian there's the one you see over there at the defense table who's a fairly normal
01:02:28
person who has friends who had a job who was a dad who was a a husband and then there's the killer there's bad Brian and
01:02:37
Miller claimed his attorneys had no memory none of the two murders he was charged with keep in mind the
01:02:45
prosecutors disagreed they believe that that he he seemed to have memory of other traumatic events that he could
01:02:53
recall and say I didn't do that events in which people were stabbed but survived somehow he still remembered
01:03:01
that so I mean does the skeptical part of me uh still wonder about that of course it seemed um it seemed just too
01:03:12
convenient um Brian decided not to take the stand uh during the trial but he gave a statement let's just hear a
01:03:19
little what he had to say I'm not looking for sympathy today this time is for the family and the friends of the
01:03:27
victims I cannot imagine what pain they have endured for all these years I know I am different I thought it
01:03:35
had to do with what my mother did to me these kinds of cases the families involved uh This Man created um you know
01:03:44
torturous lies for so many people caused such profound harm yeah uh the horrors that
01:03:51
he did yeah to lose your child and to lose it under these circumstances where there was mutilation in things a family
01:03:59
never gets over that can't get past it another fascinating uh case another just in incredibly baffling character uh Paul
01:04:08
Peter thank you so much thank you and you're welcome thank you so be sure to join us next Tuesday
01:04:16
for another postmortem watch 48 hours Saturdays at 109 Central on CBS and streaming on Paramount plus and be sure
01:04:24
to follow 48 hours wherever you get your podcasts you can also listen at free on
01:04:29
the Amazon music or wry app

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  • 85
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  • 80
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Episode Highlights

  • The Phoenix Canal Murders
    The brutal murders of Angela Braso and Melanie Bernus shocked the Phoenix community.
    “These murders became widely known as the Phoenix Canal murders.”
    @ 02m 26s
    June 07, 2024
  • The Zombie Hunter
    Brian Miller, known as the Zombie Hunter, became a prime suspect in the canal murders.
    “He was hiding in plain sight.”
    @ 03m 50s
    June 07, 2024
  • DNA Breakthrough
    In 2014, DNA technology finally linked Brian Miller to the canal murders after decades.
    “It's him, Brian Miller.”
    @ 23m 32s
    June 07, 2024
  • A Gruesome Revelation
    Amy reveals to Detective Schwarzkoff that Miller confessed to killing a young girl.
    “Miller had revealed a gruesome secret to her.”
    @ 26m 55s
    June 07, 2024
  • Trial Verdict
    Brian Miller is found guilty of the murders of Angela Braso and Melanie Bernes.
    “Guilty as to count one first-degree murder Angela Braso.”
    @ 37m 24s
    June 07, 2024
  • Emotional Impact
    Victims' families express their pain and loss during the trial's conclusion.
    “Words cannot even begin to describe the level of excruciating pain.”
    @ 38m 22s
    June 07, 2024
  • DNA Evidence Breakthrough
    Crucial DNA evidence linked Brian Miller to the unsolved murders after decades.
    “The real Smoking Gun in this one is the DNA evidence that pinned Brian to these murders.”
    @ 52m 26s
    June 07, 2024
  • The Duality of Brian Miller
    Brian Miller seemed like a loving father, but his past was dark and violent.
    “He seemed like a loving father... despite what Schwarzkoff knew of his past.”
    @ 54m 45s
    June 07, 2024
  • A Troubled Childhood
    Brian's defense included claims of childhood abuse and trauma, impacting his actions.
    “He told social workers about his mother's abuse.”
    @ 01h 01m 22s
    June 07, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • You can't unsee what happened to those girls.
    Unmasking the Zombie Hunter | Full Episode + Post Mortem
  • You support your man no matter what.
    Unmasking the Zombie Hunter | Full Episode + Post Mortem
  • The whole in my heart is so big and empty.
    Unmasking the Zombie Hunter | Full Episode + Post Mortem
  • Justice was carried out in this case.
    Unmasking the Zombie Hunter | Full Episode + Post Mortem
  • This was a nightmare.
    Unmasking the Zombie Hunter | Full Episode + Post Mortem
  • I wanted to be sure that he loved me enough not to kill me.
    Unmasking the Zombie Hunter | Full Episode + Post Mortem

Key Moments

  • Discovery of Bodies02:05
  • Canal Murders02:26
  • DNA Match23:32
  • Murder Investigation51:21
  • Family Life51:57
  • Hoarder House55:31
  • Heartbreaking Testimony58:16
  • Trial and Defense1:03:12

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown