5 key details about The Zombie Hunter ahead of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered

The case of the Zombie Hunter, whose real name is Bryan Patrick Miller, is explored in the upcoming episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, titled On the Hunt for the Zombie Hunter. The episode airs tomorrow, Wednesday, August 27, 2025, at 8 PM on Oxygen.

The episode revisits the brutal canal murders of Angela Brosso and Melanie Bernas. Their cases remained unsolved for two decades before advances in genetic genealogy in 2014 finally led the police to Miller, who was identified as the prime suspect in the case. He was found guilty and given a death sentence.

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About the Zombie Hunter: 5 key details explored

1) Early signs of violence

Bryan Patrick Miller reportedly had a long history of violent tendencies. Before becoming famous as the Zombie Hunter, in May 1989, when he was 16 years old, Miller attacked a woman named Celeste Bentley. He was arrested, charged with aggravated assault, and sentenced to juvenile detention until he turned eighteen, as reported by CBS on August 17, 2025.

While he was detained, Miller's mother discovered a note, titled "Plan," in which her son had written about abducting, r*ping, murdering, and dismembering a young woman. Alarmed, she handed the note over to the police and refused to let him return home after his release.

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2. The Phoenix Canal Murders

On November 8, 1992, 21-year-old Angela Brosso went on a solo bike ride and never returned. Her body was found the next morning near a canal path close to her apartment. She had been stabbed, s*xually assaulted, and decapitated. Her head was missing and was only found eleven days later in the Arizona Canal.

Ten months later, on September 21, 1993, 17-year-old high school junior Melanie Bernas went for a bike ride and disappeared. The following morning, a local cyclist spotted blood and drag marks along the canal. It was then that Bernas's body was discovered floating in the water. She had been s*xually assaulted and stabbed to death.

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3. DNA testing led to a match

According to CBS, DNA testing confirmed that both women were killed by the same man, but investigators had no suspect to match the genetic evidence. It was not until 2014 that some progress could be made in the case, when forensic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick of Identifinders International analyzed genealogy databases and identified the surname "Miller" as a likely match.

Phoenix cold-case detective Clark Schwartzkopf then took up the case once again and compared the name to his list of suspects. Bryan Patrick Miller's name stood out immediately because of his violent juvenile history, and he set up a stint to collect Miller's DNA to compare and match.

The case of the Zombie Hunter is explored on Dateline (Image via Getty)

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4. The Emergence of the “Zombie Hunter”

At that time, Miller was living in Phoenix and working at an Amazon warehouse. He was then a 42-year-old divorced father raising his daughter. He was also known as the "Zombie Hunter," as he drove a former police cruiser decorated with fake blood and would dress in a trench coat and mask, often carrying a mock Gatling gun.

According to CBS, Schwartzkopf met him at a Chili's restaurant, pretending to offer a job. Investigators then collected the glass Miller drank from to match the DNA, and eleven days later, it was confirmed that Miller's DNA matched the crime scene DNA.

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5. Trial, Conviction, and Death Sentence

On January 13, 2015, the police charged Bryan Patrick Miller, aka the Zombie Hunter, with the murders of Angela Brosso and Melanie Bernas. His trial began in October 2022, and his attorneys claimed that while Miller was the killer, he was not guilty by reason of insanity, as reported by CBS.

Judge Suzanne Cohen found him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, along with kidnapping and attempted s*xual assault, in April 2023, and in June, Miller was sentenced to death. He now sits on death row at the Eyman Prison Complex in Florence, Arizona, continuing to insist on his innocence and claiming he did not receive a fair trial. As per the Arizona law, his case will be automatically appealed.

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Catch more about the Zombie Hunter on Dateline: Secrets Uncovered.