PHOENIX — DNA evidence led to the arrest of a man in the 20-year-old killings of two young women who vanished 10 months apart on bike rides near Phoenix's canal system, authorities said Wednesday.
Police arrested Bryan Patrick Miller, 42, late Tuesday in the stabbing deaths of 22-year-old Angela Brosso and 17-year-old Melanie Bernas.
Brosso was killed in November 1992, and Bernas died in September 1993. Both disappeared while bicycling near the Arizona Canal. Brosso's decapitated body was found near an apartment complex, while Bernas' body was discovered about 1.5 miles away floating in the water.
The killings gripped area residents, particularly after Bernas' death, but the case faded from public attention as no arrest was made.
Forensic evidence connected the killings within years, but investigators couldn't identify a suspect. However, DNA evidence recently collected by undercover officers linked Miller to the killings, police said.
"Within literally hours we had a hit from those two murders, scientifically linking him by DNA, linking him to those two murders over 20 years ago," said Sgt. Trent Crump, a police spokesman.
Officers searched his rental home overnight, and the search was expected to continue for several days because the home was full of unspecified material. Details were not immediately available, and police did not immediately return a call.
Miller was being held without bond on two counts of first-degree murder and of kidnapping and one count of sexual assault.
