A man from Phoenix has been found guilty of sexually assaulting and murdering two women in separate incidents, one of whom was decapitated, over 30 years ago.
Bryan Patrick Miller chose not to have a jury trial, and his fate was determined by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Suzanne Cohen. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said that the trial would now move into the aggravation phase, where prosecutors will seek the death penalty.
Miller faced two counts each of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and attempted sexual assault, and he never testified during the trial. He was accused of killing Angela Brosso in November 1992 and Melanie Bernas in September 1993. Both victims disappeared while cycling along the Arizona Canal in north Phoenix, and Miller was arrested in January 2015 after a genealogist who used ancestry databases in her research linked him to the DNA evidence gathered in the investigations.
Prosecutors say Miller threw Brosso off her bike, repeatedly stabbed her and pulled her off the trail. Her nude body was found beheaded near the trail.
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. The trial began in October, and it took years for Miller to be found mentally competent to stand trial. The defense attorneys accepted the verdict and are now focused on keeping Miller off death row.
Amanda Martin, an attorney supervisor in the capital unit of the Maricopa County Office of the Public Defender, said they would provide the court with all information that supports a life sentence.
