Ex-Phoenix detective reveals shocking details unheard in the Zombie Hunter trial

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- A retired Phoenix PD lead detective is revealing what you didn’t hear in the Zombie Hunter trial. Currently, Bryan Patrick Miller, known as The Zombie Hunter, is awaiting sentencing for two murders in the 1990s.

The Phoenix Police Department has long believed that 13-year-old Brandy Myers was another victim of Miller. She disappeared in 1992 and was last seen two doors down from his house collecting money for a school book-a-thon.

The lead detective on that case, Stuart Somershoe, sat down with True Crime Arizona’s Briana Whitney to talk about everything he learned about Miller that has never publicly been revealed before including other possible victims and why he believes Miller transformed himself into ‘The Zombie Hunter.’

“What more do you know about Bryan?” Whitney asked. “Um, Bryan Miller is a very disturbed person,” said Somershoe.

When Miller was arrested in 2015 for the Canal Murders, his ex-wife told police about another teen he told her he stabbed to death in 1992 — a girl who knocked on his door collecting money.

Somershoe was the lead detective on the Myers disappearance. “I spent a year of my life working on Brandy’s case,” said Somershoe. “I feel that Brandy was probably one of his victims, and she’s kind of been forgotten in all of this.”

Somershoe is now ready to divulge what he learned about Miller throughout a robust investigation. He said Miller had a “Deviant art” social media account and Amazon wishlist, with incredibly telling and disturbing content. “There were dozens of images of homicide scenes, of women being decapitated and tortured. Within his home, he had lots of images of sadism, cannibalism, necrophilia,” said Somershoe.

“Do you believe that that was just a concerning thing he was into, or do you believe that he may have carried something like that out at some point?” asked Whitney. “I don’t know. I mean, cannibalism was an aspect of things he was into that he was looking at online and all that,” said Somershoe. “One of my personal theories is the Zombie Hunter. Zombies…people are into zombies, ‘Walking Dead’ and all that. But Bryan was really into it, and it’s almost that it was a socially acceptable way to talk about eating people, cannibalism, because that’s what zombies do.”

Somershoe said Miller would refer to himself as “The Duck” or “Lucky Duck” on social media. That’s when they noticed something strange about a movie on his Amazon wishlist, the 80s thrasher film, The New York Ripper. “The killer in that movie calls himself ‘The Duck,’ and he calls the police making a duck voice quacking like a duck, and when he attacks victims, he will quack. It’s a very strange movie. One of the victims in that movie is a female who’s riding a bicycle, so there are some parallels,” said Somershoe.

That’s exactly what happened to Angela Brosso and Melanie Bernas, who were both riding their bikes along the canal when Miller brutally stabbed them to death.

Somershoe is concerned about the time periods Miller is seemingly unaccounted for between his Canal Murders in the 90s, including attacks in Washington while he lived there in the early 2000s, and his arrest in Phoenix in 2015. “As young as he was and as depraved as he was, I find it hard to believe he was able to stop,” said Somershoe. “Knowing what I know about him, there’s probably more victims that we don’t know about, or we haven’t identified.”

“Do you consider him a serial killer?” asked Whitney. “I do,” said Somershoe.

Myers was never seen again. Somershoe and Phoenix PD recommended murder charges against Miller for the death of Myers, but the county attorney’s office decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

Somereshoe now hopes Miller will come forward with new information about Myers or other victims since he’ll never see life outside incarceration again. The judge in the Canal Murders trial will decide next month whether he’ll be sentenced to life in prison or sentenced to death.

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