Phoenix man dubbed ‘The Zombie Hunter’ sentenced to death for grisly murders

An Arizona man who dubbed himself “The Zombie Hunter” was sentenced to death this week for a pair of grisly 30-year-old murders, including one in which the young victim was found naked and decapitated.

Bryan Patrick Miller, 50, learned his fate at the Maricopa County Superior Court in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday afternoon, 3TV/CBS 5 reported.

After a six-month bench trial, Miller was convicted in April of the murder, kidnapping, and attempted sexual assaults of Angela Brosso and Melanie Bernas.

Brosso, 21, vanished while riding her bicycle along the Arizona Canal in Phoenix on Nov. 8, 1992, the night before her 22nd birthday.

Police now believe that Miller knocked Brosso off her bike, stabbed her, and dragged her away, CBS News said. 

Her decapitated naked body was later found near the bike trail.

Ten months later, in Sept. 1993, investigators found Bernas, 17, floating in the canal.

She was not decapitated, but her bike was missing.

Brosso and Bernas’ killings remained unsolved for over two decades, until police linked Miller to both crimes through DNA evidence in Jan. 2015, 3TV/CBS 5 explained.

At the time of his arrest, Miller was known in Phoenix’s sci-fi and horror convention community as “The Zombie Hunter.”

Miller pleaded not guilty to both offenses. He was finally found mentally competent to stand trial last year, and waived his right to a jury trial in favor of bench proceedings.

During the sentencing phase, Miller’s defense attorney RJ Parker implored Judge Suzanne Cohen to consider his client’s mental illness and the abuse he allegedly suffered as a child.

Miller himself spoke for the first time on May 22.

“I am not looking for sympathy today,” he told the court.

“This time is for the family and the friends of the victims. I cannot imagine what pain they have endured for all these years.”

The prosecution argued that the brutality of the murders warranted capital punishment, 3TV/CBS 5 said.

“The brutality of what he did, the impact this had on the family of these young women, what he stole from these young women deserves execution,” prosecutor Vince Imbordino said on May 25.

“And this will sound harsh. Angela and Melanie didn’t get to choose when they died. They didn’t get to choose the day, the hour, the moment. This defendant deserves to know the day, the hour of his death.”

In the end, Cohen sided with the state’s attorney.

“The defendant did not just murder them. He brutalized them and he evaded capture for over 20 years,” she said Wednesday.

The victims’ family members were also on-hand to share their grief.

“The defendant stole my angel from the Earth. Angela was my one and only. I will never be able to plan her wedding. I will never have grandchildren,” said Linda Brosso, Angela’s mother.

“With his actions on that night, he murdered my angel, he ripped my heart, and I will never, ever be the same.”

Burnas’ sister, Jill Canetta, noted that September will mark 30 years since the killing.

“Words cannot begin to explain the level of excruciating pain we experience every single day since her murder. We live without her smile, her hugs, her companionship. We live without her love,” she said.

In addition to two death sentences for the murders, Miller also received an additional 24 years behind bars for the two counts of kidnapping and two of attempted sexual assault.