A detailed case overview of The Zombie Hunter ahead of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered

The upcoming episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, titled On the Hunt for the Zombie Hunter, will cover one of Arizona’s most chilling cold cases. The episode is scheduled to air this Wednesday, August 27, 2025, at 8 pm on Oxygen.

The Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode revisits the brutal murders of two young women in Phoenix: 21-year-old Angela Brosso and 17-year-old Melanie Bernas. Both were found stabbed and s*xually assaulted, and their case haunted investigators and the community for decades.

It wasn’t until 2014, 20 years after the murders, that advances in genetic genealogy reignited the investigation. The case led investigators to Bryan Patrick Miller, who was also known as the “Zombie Hunter.” Early this year, Miller was convicted of both murders, and in June 2025, he was sentenced to death. Dateline: Secrets Uncovered explores his case in detail.

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Bryan Patrick Miller's case on Dateline: Secrets Uncovered

In May 1989, 16-year-old Bryan Patrick Miller attacked a woman named Celeste Bentley as she was getting off a bus. He was charged with aggravated assault and was placed in juvenile detention until he turned 18.

While Miller was imprisoned, his mother made a disturbing discovery. She found a note with the heading “Plan” in which her son had written about abducting, r*ping, murdering, and dismembering a young woman. She handed the note to the police and refused to let him back into her home, as per CBS.

A few years later, on November 8, 1992, Phoenix was rocked by the murder of 21-year-old Angela Brosso. She had gone on a solo bike ride the night before her birthday and never came back. The next morning, her body was found near a bike path close to her apartment.

She had been stabbed in the back, s*xually assaulted, and decapitated, with her head missing. As per CBS, 11 days later, her dismembered head was discovered in the Arizona Canal.

Ten months later, on September 21, 1993, another young woman, 17-year-old high school junior Melanie Bernas, vanished while riding her bike near the same canal. The next morning, when a local cyclist noticed blood along the canal, Bernas’s body was found floating in the water. She had also been fatally stabbed and s*xually assaulted.

DNA testing confirmed that the same man killed both women. But police failed to identify any suspect. For decades, the “canal murders” remained one of Phoenix’s most haunting cold cases.

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Dateline: Secrets Uncovered: Advances in genetic genealogy led to Miller

It was only in 2014, with advances in genetic testing, that some progress could be made in the cases. At that time, Miller was living in the city under a new identity. Many residents knew him as the “Zombie Hunter" as he drove a former police cruiser decorated with fake blood. He would dress in a mask and trench coat, and carry a mock Gatling gun.

The case of the Zombie Hunter explored on Dateline: Secrets Uncovered (Image via Getty)

Forensic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick and her company, Identifinders International, analyzed the crime scene DNA using public genealogy databases and identified the surname “Miller.” Phoenix cold-case detective Clark Schwartzkopf compared this name to his suspect list.

It was then that Bryan Patrick Miller’s name stood out. He was in the database due to a history of violence as a teenager. In December 2014, while Miller was working at an Amazon warehouse, Schwartzkopf organized a sting to collect his DNA.

He invited Miller to a Chili’s restaurant under the pretense of discussing a security job. Investigators collected the glass he drank water from to match the DNA. Eleven days later, the lab confirmed the DNA matched the DNA from the canal murder scenes.

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Dateline: Secrets Uncovered explores Miller's trial and sentencing

On January 13, 2015, Bryan Patrick Miller was arrested and charged with the murders of Angela Brosso and Melanie Bernas. However, his trial did not begin until October 2022.

Miller's attorneys admitted that he had committed the murders but argued that he was not guilty by reason of insanity. Judge Suzanne Cohen, presiding over a bench trial, rejected that defense, and in April 2023, Miller was found guilty of murder, kidnapping, and attempted s*xual assault.

Two months later, he was sentenced to death. Bryan Patrick Miller is on death row at the Eyman Prison Complex in Florence, Arizona. He maintains his innocence and insists he did not receive a fair trial.

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Catch Dateline: Secrets Uncovered tomorrow for more about the case.