PHOENIX (Scripps News Phoenix) — Bryan Patrick Miller has been sentenced to death after being found guilty of killing two women along canals in Arizona in the 1990s.
FILE – This undated booking photo provided by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office shows Bryan Patrick Miller, who faces murder and other charges in the stabbing deaths of two young women in northwest Phoenix in the early 1990s. On Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, a judge found Miller is now competent to stand trial, though the court hasn’t yet ruled on ruled on a request by prosecutors to bar Miller from claiming that he was insane at the time the crimes were committed. Miller has maintained that he’s innocent and has pleaded not guilty to the charges. (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office via AP,File)
His sentence was announced Wednesday in a Maricopa County Court.
Miller had been found guilty of killing Angela Brosso in November 1992, on the eve of her 22nd birthday, and 17-year-old Melanie Bernas in September 1993.
The verdict had been years in the making due to Miller and his attorneys pleading an insanity defense.
Brosso and Bernas both disappeared while riding their bicycles along the Arizona Canal in north Phoenix, according to authorities.
Police believe Miller knocked Brasso off her bicycle, stabbed her, and dragged her off the trail. Her body was found near a bike trail.
Ten months later, police said Bernas’ body was discovered floating in the canal. Her bicycle was missing.
Authorities said DNA evidence collected in the aftermath of both crimes showed the attacks were linked to the same suspect, and Miller was arrested for the murders in January 2015.
According to police, Miller denied any involvement, although he acknowledged living in the vicinity of the killings at the time and said he rode his bike on paths in the area.
Jill Canetta, Melanie Bernas’ older sister, told the court Wednesday, “September of this year will mark the 30-year anniversary of the gruesome murder of our beloved little sister, Melanie. 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.”
Linda Brosso, Angela Brosso’s mother, added, “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. With his actions on that night, he murdered my angel, he ripped my heart, and I will never, ever be the same.”
This story was originally reported on June 7, 2023, by KNXV in Phoenix, an E.W. Scripps Company.
