December 2, 2024 • 22 mins
Brandy Lynn Myers was 13 years old when she disappeared in 1992 after going door-to-door fundraising for a read-a-thon. Her older sister, Kristin, has dedicated over 30 years to advocating for her younger sister. Despite strong suspicions towards two persons of interest, the case remains unresolved with insufficient evidence. Kristin, who tragically passed away in October 2024, tirelessly worked to keep Brandy's memory alive.
We are sharing Brandy's story to help keep Kristin's legacy going.
If you are interested in donating towards Kristin's go fund me: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-lay-kristin-dennis-to-rest
We are sharing Brandy's story to help keep Kristin's legacy going.
If you are interested in donating towards Kristin's go fund me: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-lay-kristin-dennis-to-rest
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
This episode is different from our typical season six episodes.
We don't have the family member's insights or thoughts because
the sole advocate for this week's case recently passed away.
Kristin was Brandy's younger sister, and she was a fierce
advocate for her sister's disappearance for over thirty years. This week,
(00:40):
we are honoring Kristin and her fight for justice for
her sister. Kristin, we never had the pleasure of meeting you,
but so many people close to us spoke of you highly,
told us how fierce you were and said that Brandy
would have been proud of you. Welcome to Navigat Advocacy,
(01:01):
the podcast where we shine a light on unsolved cases,
amplify the voices of victims, and explore the relentless fight
for justice. I'm Melissa and I'm Whitney.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Today we're sharing the story of Brandy lan Myers, a
thirteen year old girl from Phoenix, Arizona, whose disappearance in
nineteen ninety two remains unsolved. We'll talk about Brandy's life,
her disappearance, the investigation, and the devastating impact on her
family before we dive in. I want to remind our
(01:35):
listeners that while these stories can be heartbreaking, there are
also calls to action. Every time we share them, we
keep the memory of these victims alive and push for justice.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Let's start by getting to know Brandy, the friendly, kind
hearted girl at the center of today's episode. Brandy Lynn
Myers was born on March thirteenth, nineteen seventy nine, in Phoenix, Arizona.
At just four foot nine inches and seventy five pounds,
she was small for her age, but her presence lit
(02:17):
up a room. She had blonde hair, piercing blue eyes,
and a distinctive strawberry shaped birth bark. She wore pink
and yellow glasses, which really just added to her sweet
and gentle demeanor. Brandy had been diagnosed with some form
(02:38):
of brain damage, and her mental and emotional age was
closer to that of a nine to ten year old.
Despite this, she was curious, loving, and full of life.
Her family described her as trusting, perhaps too trusting.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Her younger sister, Kristen, was her best friend. The two
girls spent most of their time outdoors, exploring their apartment
complex after school until their parents would come home from work.
Brandy loved animals and her family believed that she might
have pursued a career in the veterinary field. At Sunny
Slope Elementary, where she was in sixth grade, she was
(03:17):
participating in the Ritathon fundraiser, which is an activity that
would tragically lead to her disappearance. This event was a
way for students to raise money for an upcoming field trip,
one that Brandy was very excited about. She was determined
to raise the money on her own. Her stepfather, Lester,
stated that after she went missing that they would have
(03:39):
just given her the money, but Brandy was set on
raising it all on her own. I believe she only
needed six or seven more dollars to reach her goal.
May twenty sixth, nineteen ninety two, was just a normal
day for the Meyers family. Brandy and a friend. Now,
there are some reports that Brandy wasn't really friends with
this girl that she went on with that afternoon, and
(04:01):
that this girl was a bit of a bully to Brandy,
but take that as you will. Anyways, the two were
going door to door in their neighborhood raising money for
the school fundraiser.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Around six pm, Brandy's mom, Cheryl, came home from work
and noticed Brandy wasn't there. Cheryl immediately knew.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Something was wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Brandy was not the type of child to lose track
of time and miss dinner. Her younger sister, Kristin, later
shared the regret she carried from that day because Brandy
had actually asked Kristin to come with her door to
door getting money for this fundraiser, but Kristin declined. See,
(04:45):
Kristin was eleven years old and she had a crush
on a boy and she wanted to stay near the
apartments because this boy was apparently hanging out outside of
the apartments and so she thought she could possibly get
some one on one time with him. And Kristen told
Brandy that she was being a nerd and she didn't
(05:07):
even want to hang out with her, and that decision
not to go with Brandy really haunted her for the
rest of her life. Because the last confirmed sighting of
Brandy was around eight PM near Tenth Street and Hatcher
Street in that area of Phoenix. She was seen standing
(05:29):
in a grocery store parking lot when her friend went inside.
There are reports that Brandy had stayed outside and when
the friend returned, Brandy was gone. Now, I do want
to make a note. There are reports that this friend
went inside the store to buy candy with the money
(05:50):
she collected from the fundraiser. Yes, Brandy was a very
straight lace did not like to not follow the rules,
so her mom and her family were like, this is
not something Brandy would do on her own. She was
very much a rule follower. So if this is true,
(06:11):
that could be why Brandy was standing outside because she
didn't want any part of it. And if the girl
that she was with was like, oh, I'm going to
go in here and do this, she might have kind
of backed away from it and been like, Okay, go
do what you gotta do, but I'm not going to
be a part of it. But yeah, this is the
last real confirmed sighting of Brandy. Brandy's mom, Cheryl, was
(06:36):
desperate to find her. She drove through the neighborhood searching
for Brandy before calling the police. Now, this is nineteen
ninety two. It was common for kids to stay out
until the street lights turned on. It was they you
didn't always know where your kid was one hundred percent
of the time in the early nineties, and that's actually
why at ten o'clock the news stations would say parents
(06:59):
do you know where your child's at. And I believe
that's because of the is that because of the Atlanta
monster situation.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I feel like I don't remember the exact case that
it's from, but I very distinctly remember that that commercial
of parents, it's ten o'clock, do you know where your
children are?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
That wait be re minded to look for their kids,
which is entirely crazy, absolutely nuts. Technology has come so
far and since we were children, that is for sure.
But yeah, I could have been dead in a ditch
one hundred times that my parents wouldn't have a clue.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So I don't fall to Cheryl for driving through the
neighborhood first before calling the police, because she could have
just been a few doors down. She was supposed to
go door to door of fundraising, and I remember as
a kid going door to door selling wrapping paper and
chocolate bars and all of the million fundraisers Girl Scout
cookie or I didn't do Girl Scouts. I did can't
fire candy and with my door to door all the time,
(07:57):
so I'm not surprised that Cheryl struck out on her
own before calling in reinforcements.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Kristin and Brandy were I don't want to say Pharaoh Lord.
But they were literally just would just run around the
apartment complex waiting for their parents to get home. Because
their parents had their mom and their stepdad had the
same schedule, so there was no after school program.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Or babysitter for these two.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
It was just like, hang out outside until we get home.
You're fine. They would go down to friends' houses, they
would go to the store. I'm sure it was such
a different time. I'm jealous of that time, but also
I'm too neurotic to ever think that I could be
a parent in that time.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
But it's probably because the childhoods we led that we
are neurotic now, because we would never let our children
do the things.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
We'd oh most definitely not.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Volunteers and law enforcement searched the area tirelessly, but Brandy
was nowhere to be found. The search for her was immediate,
and through volunteers scoured the area on foot, on horseback.
They even hired a private plane to look, but despite
these efforts, no solid leads emerged. One early clue was
(09:12):
the discovery of another teenage girl's body in the Central
Arizona Project Canal just two days after Brandy disappeared. This
girl sixteen year old Shannon almuck Bore, a striking resemblance
to Brandy. Shannon had been missing for eight weeks and
her body had been found strangled. When Brandy disappeared, police
(09:35):
initially considered several suspects, but her case has remained unsolved.
But there were several leads that were vital in shaping
the investigation, it just stalled. One suspect was Scott Layer,
a man with a disturbing history of violence. In nineteen
ninety one and ninety two, Layer was linked to a
(09:57):
year long spree of at least five rates and one murder.
His victims also had a wide range of ages. We're
talking ten years old to forty seven years old. Brandy's
age obviously falls within that range, and all of these
victims were Britite, just like Brandy.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
This man happened to live less than half a mile
from Brandy's apartment complex and just south of the grocery
store where she was last seen. His proximity to the
area in his history for targeting young girls made him
a person of interest right away. However, there was no
evidence that connected him to Brandy's disappearance. Because I really
(10:42):
feel like there was no evidence. There was no evidence
of a struggle, no witnesses, no, there was nothing to
prove that she went anywhere besides just vanishing, which I'm like,
where do you even begin If you don't have a
crime scene, you don't have a body, you don't have anything.
(11:03):
It's absolutely insane.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
It's amazing that no one else saw something happen to
her outside of what I'm going to assume is a
fairly busy grocery store. There's is there ever a time
that there is no one outside of a grocery store ever,
And they may have had closed circuit TV cameras back then,
but in the early nineties, it's iffy on that. I
just feel like someone should have seen something.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Of course, yeah, there's nothing great. Mom really believed that
this Scott guy could be the person responsible for her
daughter's disappearance. That was for a while, until another person
of interest was made known. Investigators also looked into reports
of all of the unhoused individuals in that area and
(11:53):
other residents of the Sunny Slope neighborhood who had criminal
histories of course, offenders, anything like that. They're looking into
those people first. Though numerous tips were received, none led
to a break in the case until one man by
(12:13):
the name of Brian Patrick Miller stood out amongst the rest. Okay,
this Brian guy is even worse than the Scott guy.
I feel like Miller would later be convicted of two
brutal murders in the same area that Brandy lived in
(12:34):
during the early nineteen nineties. Okay, this is what he
was convicted of, and based on everything that I researched,
I feel like it could be a lot more. His
ex wife revealed chilling details two investigators claiming that Miller
had confessed to killing a young girl who fit Brandy's
(12:57):
description around the time that Brandy went missing.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
According to this confession, Miller said that a girl came
to his door selling items, and he either lured her
or forced her into his home, where he killed her.
He described dismembering her body and disposing of it in
the trash to end up in the landfill eventually. So
it's awfully specific for a confession. There's a lot of
(13:25):
detail there, for which I don't understand what people wrongfully
confess all the time anyway, but for them for him
to describe something so graphic and brutal is interesting.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I can understand how they confess once they're in interrogation
with trained police for hours upon the hours, because you
could probably convince me I killed JFK, no doubt about it. However,
for him to tell his ex wife and she goes
back and forth, Oh she thought he was joking or
was it real? She was scared a lot of kind
(14:02):
of like why didn't you come forward earlier? But obviously
they were in a relationship type of things.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So I agree in those trained interrogation, with those tactics, absolutely,
I see why that happens, But not over your steak
dinner just being willy nilly, Hey, guess what I did
a few years ago. That's where I'm like, who you?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
How does your conversation get here? Yeah, and all those
details with it. So she came to police and fully
set all of that, and the case is unsolved, so
you can surmise what happened.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
While these details matched Brandy's case, no evidence ever conclusively
tied Miller to her disappearance. The two murders that Miller
was charged with were Angela Brasso, who was twenty two
years old, and Melanie Bernas, who was seventeen. These two
cases were eerily similar They were both young women who
(14:56):
were riding their bikes near the Arizona Canal when they
were abducted and brutally killed. He wasn't charged or convicted
until two thousand and fifteen. Angelo's body had been found
in November of nineteen ninety two and Melanie's in September
of nineteen ninety three, so ten months apart, but years earlier.
(15:18):
DNA evidence linked Miller to both crimes decades later, finally
providing answers for those families.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, it's wild what DNA has done for a lot
of cases. And we always say it like it's not
as easy to commit a murderer crime nowadays as it
was back then. But that's a very long time to
go without answers. Obviously, Brandy's family has been going even longer,
and it's just absolutely insane.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
It also makes me wonder how many other victims of
his are out there, because if he did that twice
in the early nineties and wasn't apprehended until twenty fifteen,
the availability to potential victims is like, you can't count
how many people he probably came across in those years.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Astronomical. That's why I believe there are other victims of his. Now,
if he killed Brandy, that's a different story. Yeah, I
don't know, but I do believe there could be other victims, definitely,
because those were in quick succession ten months. That's pretty
quick if there was no other ones in between there.
And we're talking Arizona where there's so much desert and
(16:33):
so much land that's uninhabited. Uh. But still, even after
these two murders were solved, there was nothing about Brandy
or what happened to her. They still hadn't even found
Brandy's body after all this time. For Brandy's family, her
disappearance was a life altering tragedy. Cheryl, her mother, struggled
(16:56):
to maintain just plain normalcy for Kristin while she's trying
to cope with the loss of her eldest daughter. Kristin's
life was deeply shaped by that day that her older
sister went out to do a fundraiser. In her adult years,
she talked about her struggles with addiction. She admitted that
(17:19):
much of the pain that she had came from all
this unresolved grief and the guilt that she had for
not being with Brandy that day. But despite her challenges,
Kristin became this amazing advocate for her sister. She dedicated
herself and her life to keeping Brandy's story alive. Kristin
(17:45):
stated in an interview, and I quote, I understand that
I have survivor's guilt and remorse, and I definitely blame
myself for Brandy's disappearance. Now that I've worked through those things,
I'm stronger, but it hurts every day.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I'm so glad that she recognized that it is not
her fault that she was able to work through those
because if she had been there, she could have been
a victim too. And I'm just glad she was able
to work through that and channel that into advocacy as
opposed to keeping all of that in.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, I just I hate that she passed without any
real answers, But.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
I hope before.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I believe Kristin has three four kids, I hope they
get the answers.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Kristin was working on a book about Brandy when she
passed away unexpectedly in October of twenty twenty four. Her
death is another devastating loss for the family, leaving behind
her children and the legacy of her advocacy. Today. Brian
Patrick Miller remains the prime suspect in Brandy's disappearance, but
the case remains unsolved, with authority stating that they don't
(19:00):
have enough evidence to even pursue him as a suspect.
Brandy's body has never been found, and it sounds like
they don't even have much evidence to go on. I
don't believe they found any items she was carrying with her,
not the money, not in order form, not a piece
of clothing. There's She literally disappeared with everything with her,
(19:25):
and those family members that are left are still seeking answers.
For those listening today, If you have any information about
Brandy Myers or remember her, please contact the Phoenix Police
Department at six zero two two six ' one eight
zero four to two. Brandy was a bright, trusting, and
(19:47):
loving girl who was taken from her family, and she
missed out on so much life with her family. Her
story and Kristen's fight for justice remind us of the
importance of community advocacy and persistence.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Thank you for listening to this episode of Navigating Advocacy.
Let's honor Brandy by sharing her story and keeping her
memory alive. If you'd like to support Kristen's children, there's
a GoFundMe set up in her honor that will be
in the show notes.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
So when it came to the call to action for
this episode, because it is so different, since we don't
have a designated family member to work with on this,
we decided we want to keep Kristen's advocacy efforts and
her pursuit of justice alive. So we're asking you to
listen to this episode and share a Brandy's story with
(20:40):
someone who may not know otherwise, share her flyer, talk
about her, keep her in your mind because Kristin fought
so hard to keep Brandy's memory alive, so least we
can do. While this episode was a research written and
(21:03):
produced by us, we want to thank Charlie from Crime
Lines for sharing the information she had gathered and the
notes that she had taken when she had the opportunity
to meet with Kristen with us. It truly helped us
build this episode and we are honored to be able
to share brandy story.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Please consider leaving us a five star review on your
favorite podcast platform or sharing us with a fret. You
can follow us on all social media outlets if you
would like more information about this podcast advocacy con or,
our nonprofit Impact Advocacy Foundation. Head on over to navigating
(21:46):
advocacy dot com. Eight
This episode is different from our typical season six episodes.
We don't have the family member's insights or thoughts because
the sole advocate for this week's case recently passed away.
Kristin was Brandy's younger sister, and she was a fierce
advocate for her sister's disappearance for over thirty years. This week,
(00:40):
we are honoring Kristin and her fight for justice for
her sister. Kristin, we never had the pleasure of meeting you,
but so many people close to us spoke of you highly,
told us how fierce you were and said that Brandy
would have been proud of you. Welcome to Navigat Advocacy,
(01:01):
the podcast where we shine a light on unsolved cases,
amplify the voices of victims, and explore the relentless fight
for justice. I'm Melissa and I'm Whitney.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Today we're sharing the story of Brandy lan Myers, a
thirteen year old girl from Phoenix, Arizona, whose disappearance in
nineteen ninety two remains unsolved. We'll talk about Brandy's life,
her disappearance, the investigation, and the devastating impact on her
family before we dive in. I want to remind our
(01:35):
listeners that while these stories can be heartbreaking, there are
also calls to action. Every time we share them, we
keep the memory of these victims alive and push for justice.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Let's start by getting to know Brandy, the friendly, kind
hearted girl at the center of today's episode. Brandy Lynn
Myers was born on March thirteenth, nineteen seventy nine, in Phoenix, Arizona.
At just four foot nine inches and seventy five pounds,
she was small for her age, but her presence lit
(02:17):
up a room. She had blonde hair, piercing blue eyes,
and a distinctive strawberry shaped birth bark. She wore pink
and yellow glasses, which really just added to her sweet
and gentle demeanor. Brandy had been diagnosed with some form
(02:38):
of brain damage, and her mental and emotional age was
closer to that of a nine to ten year old.
Despite this, she was curious, loving, and full of life.
Her family described her as trusting, perhaps too trusting.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Her younger sister, Kristen, was her best friend. The two
girls spent most of their time outdoors, exploring their apartment
complex after school until their parents would come home from work.
Brandy loved animals and her family believed that she might
have pursued a career in the veterinary field. At Sunny
Slope Elementary, where she was in sixth grade, she was
(03:17):
participating in the Ritathon fundraiser, which is an activity that
would tragically lead to her disappearance. This event was a
way for students to raise money for an upcoming field trip,
one that Brandy was very excited about. She was determined
to raise the money on her own. Her stepfather, Lester,
stated that after she went missing that they would have
(03:39):
just given her the money, but Brandy was set on
raising it all on her own. I believe she only
needed six or seven more dollars to reach her goal.
May twenty sixth, nineteen ninety two, was just a normal
day for the Meyers family. Brandy and a friend. Now,
there are some reports that Brandy wasn't really friends with
this girl that she went on with that afternoon, and
(04:01):
that this girl was a bit of a bully to Brandy,
but take that as you will. Anyways, the two were
going door to door in their neighborhood raising money for
the school fundraiser.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Around six pm, Brandy's mom, Cheryl, came home from work
and noticed Brandy wasn't there. Cheryl immediately knew.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Something was wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Brandy was not the type of child to lose track
of time and miss dinner. Her younger sister, Kristin, later
shared the regret she carried from that day because Brandy
had actually asked Kristin to come with her door to
door getting money for this fundraiser, but Kristin declined. See,
(04:45):
Kristin was eleven years old and she had a crush
on a boy and she wanted to stay near the
apartments because this boy was apparently hanging out outside of
the apartments and so she thought she could possibly get
some one on one time with him. And Kristen told
Brandy that she was being a nerd and she didn't
(05:07):
even want to hang out with her, and that decision
not to go with Brandy really haunted her for the
rest of her life. Because the last confirmed sighting of
Brandy was around eight PM near Tenth Street and Hatcher
Street in that area of Phoenix. She was seen standing
(05:29):
in a grocery store parking lot when her friend went inside.
There are reports that Brandy had stayed outside and when
the friend returned, Brandy was gone. Now, I do want
to make a note. There are reports that this friend
went inside the store to buy candy with the money
(05:50):
she collected from the fundraiser. Yes, Brandy was a very
straight lace did not like to not follow the rules,
so her mom and her family were like, this is
not something Brandy would do on her own. She was
very much a rule follower. So if this is true,
(06:11):
that could be why Brandy was standing outside because she
didn't want any part of it. And if the girl
that she was with was like, oh, I'm going to
go in here and do this, she might have kind
of backed away from it and been like, Okay, go
do what you gotta do, but I'm not going to
be a part of it. But yeah, this is the
last real confirmed sighting of Brandy. Brandy's mom, Cheryl, was
(06:36):
desperate to find her. She drove through the neighborhood searching
for Brandy before calling the police. Now, this is nineteen
ninety two. It was common for kids to stay out
until the street lights turned on. It was they you
didn't always know where your kid was one hundred percent
of the time in the early nineties, and that's actually
why at ten o'clock the news stations would say parents
(06:59):
do you know where your child's at. And I believe
that's because of the is that because of the Atlanta
monster situation.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I feel like I don't remember the exact case that
it's from, but I very distinctly remember that that commercial
of parents, it's ten o'clock, do you know where your
children are?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
That wait be re minded to look for their kids,
which is entirely crazy, absolutely nuts. Technology has come so
far and since we were children, that is for sure.
But yeah, I could have been dead in a ditch
one hundred times that my parents wouldn't have a clue.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So I don't fall to Cheryl for driving through the
neighborhood first before calling the police, because she could have
just been a few doors down. She was supposed to
go door to door of fundraising, and I remember as
a kid going door to door selling wrapping paper and
chocolate bars and all of the million fundraisers Girl Scout
cookie or I didn't do Girl Scouts. I did can't
fire candy and with my door to door all the time,
(07:57):
so I'm not surprised that Cheryl struck out on her
own before calling in reinforcements.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Kristin and Brandy were I don't want to say Pharaoh Lord.
But they were literally just would just run around the
apartment complex waiting for their parents to get home. Because
their parents had their mom and their stepdad had the
same schedule, so there was no after school program.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Or babysitter for these two.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
It was just like, hang out outside until we get home.
You're fine. They would go down to friends' houses, they
would go to the store. I'm sure it was such
a different time. I'm jealous of that time, but also
I'm too neurotic to ever think that I could be
a parent in that time.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
But it's probably because the childhoods we led that we
are neurotic now, because we would never let our children
do the things.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
We'd oh most definitely not.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Volunteers and law enforcement searched the area tirelessly, but Brandy
was nowhere to be found. The search for her was immediate,
and through volunteers scoured the area on foot, on horseback.
They even hired a private plane to look, but despite
these efforts, no solid leads emerged. One early clue was
(09:12):
the discovery of another teenage girl's body in the Central
Arizona Project Canal just two days after Brandy disappeared. This
girl sixteen year old Shannon almuck Bore, a striking resemblance
to Brandy. Shannon had been missing for eight weeks and
her body had been found strangled. When Brandy disappeared, police
(09:35):
initially considered several suspects, but her case has remained unsolved.
But there were several leads that were vital in shaping
the investigation, it just stalled. One suspect was Scott Layer,
a man with a disturbing history of violence. In nineteen
ninety one and ninety two, Layer was linked to a
(09:57):
year long spree of at least five rates and one murder.
His victims also had a wide range of ages. We're
talking ten years old to forty seven years old. Brandy's
age obviously falls within that range, and all of these
victims were Britite, just like Brandy.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
This man happened to live less than half a mile
from Brandy's apartment complex and just south of the grocery
store where she was last seen. His proximity to the
area in his history for targeting young girls made him
a person of interest right away. However, there was no
evidence that connected him to Brandy's disappearance. Because I really
(10:42):
feel like there was no evidence. There was no evidence
of a struggle, no witnesses, no, there was nothing to
prove that she went anywhere besides just vanishing, which I'm like,
where do you even begin If you don't have a
crime scene, you don't have a body, you don't have anything.
(11:03):
It's absolutely insane.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
It's amazing that no one else saw something happen to
her outside of what I'm going to assume is a
fairly busy grocery store. There's is there ever a time
that there is no one outside of a grocery store ever,
And they may have had closed circuit TV cameras back then,
but in the early nineties, it's iffy on that. I
just feel like someone should have seen something.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Of course, yeah, there's nothing great. Mom really believed that
this Scott guy could be the person responsible for her
daughter's disappearance. That was for a while, until another person
of interest was made known. Investigators also looked into reports
of all of the unhoused individuals in that area and
(11:53):
other residents of the Sunny Slope neighborhood who had criminal
histories of course, offenders, anything like that. They're looking into
those people first. Though numerous tips were received, none led
to a break in the case until one man by
(12:13):
the name of Brian Patrick Miller stood out amongst the rest. Okay,
this Brian guy is even worse than the Scott guy.
I feel like Miller would later be convicted of two
brutal murders in the same area that Brandy lived in
(12:34):
during the early nineteen nineties. Okay, this is what he
was convicted of, and based on everything that I researched,
I feel like it could be a lot more. His
ex wife revealed chilling details two investigators claiming that Miller
had confessed to killing a young girl who fit Brandy's
(12:57):
description around the time that Brandy went missing.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
According to this confession, Miller said that a girl came
to his door selling items, and he either lured her
or forced her into his home, where he killed her.
He described dismembering her body and disposing of it in
the trash to end up in the landfill eventually. So
it's awfully specific for a confession. There's a lot of
(13:25):
detail there, for which I don't understand what people wrongfully
confess all the time anyway, but for them for him
to describe something so graphic and brutal is interesting.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I can understand how they confess once they're in interrogation
with trained police for hours upon the hours, because you
could probably convince me I killed JFK, no doubt about it. However,
for him to tell his ex wife and she goes
back and forth, Oh she thought he was joking or
was it real? She was scared a lot of kind
(14:02):
of like why didn't you come forward earlier? But obviously
they were in a relationship type of things.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So I agree in those trained interrogation, with those tactics, absolutely,
I see why that happens, But not over your steak
dinner just being willy nilly, Hey, guess what I did
a few years ago. That's where I'm like, who you?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
How does your conversation get here? Yeah, and all those
details with it. So she came to police and fully
set all of that, and the case is unsolved, so
you can surmise what happened.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
While these details matched Brandy's case, no evidence ever conclusively
tied Miller to her disappearance. The two murders that Miller
was charged with were Angela Brasso, who was twenty two
years old, and Melanie Bernas, who was seventeen. These two
cases were eerily similar They were both young women who
(14:56):
were riding their bikes near the Arizona Canal when they
were abducted and brutally killed. He wasn't charged or convicted
until two thousand and fifteen. Angelo's body had been found
in November of nineteen ninety two and Melanie's in September
of nineteen ninety three, so ten months apart, but years earlier.
(15:18):
DNA evidence linked Miller to both crimes decades later, finally
providing answers for those families.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, it's wild what DNA has done for a lot
of cases. And we always say it like it's not
as easy to commit a murderer crime nowadays as it
was back then. But that's a very long time to
go without answers. Obviously, Brandy's family has been going even longer,
and it's just absolutely insane.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
It also makes me wonder how many other victims of
his are out there, because if he did that twice
in the early nineties and wasn't apprehended until twenty fifteen,
the availability to potential victims is like, you can't count
how many people he probably came across in those years.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Astronomical. That's why I believe there are other victims of his. Now,
if he killed Brandy, that's a different story. Yeah, I
don't know, but I do believe there could be other victims, definitely,
because those were in quick succession ten months. That's pretty
quick if there was no other ones in between there.
And we're talking Arizona where there's so much desert and
(16:33):
so much land that's uninhabited. Uh. But still, even after
these two murders were solved, there was nothing about Brandy
or what happened to her. They still hadn't even found
Brandy's body after all this time. For Brandy's family, her
disappearance was a life altering tragedy. Cheryl, her mother, struggled
(16:56):
to maintain just plain normalcy for Kristin while she's trying
to cope with the loss of her eldest daughter. Kristin's
life was deeply shaped by that day that her older
sister went out to do a fundraiser. In her adult years,
she talked about her struggles with addiction. She admitted that
(17:19):
much of the pain that she had came from all
this unresolved grief and the guilt that she had for
not being with Brandy that day. But despite her challenges,
Kristin became this amazing advocate for her sister. She dedicated
herself and her life to keeping Brandy's story alive. Kristin
(17:45):
stated in an interview, and I quote, I understand that
I have survivor's guilt and remorse, and I definitely blame
myself for Brandy's disappearance. Now that I've worked through those things,
I'm stronger, but it hurts every day.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I'm so glad that she recognized that it is not
her fault that she was able to work through those
because if she had been there, she could have been
a victim too. And I'm just glad she was able
to work through that and channel that into advocacy as
opposed to keeping all of that in.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, I just I hate that she passed without any
real answers, But.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
I hope before.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I believe Kristin has three four kids, I hope they
get the answers.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Kristin was working on a book about Brandy when she
passed away unexpectedly in October of twenty twenty four. Her
death is another devastating loss for the family, leaving behind
her children and the legacy of her advocacy. Today. Brian
Patrick Miller remains the prime suspect in Brandy's disappearance, but
the case remains unsolved, with authority stating that they don't
(19:00):
have enough evidence to even pursue him as a suspect.
Brandy's body has never been found, and it sounds like
they don't even have much evidence to go on. I
don't believe they found any items she was carrying with her,
not the money, not in order form, not a piece
of clothing. There's She literally disappeared with everything with her,
(19:25):
and those family members that are left are still seeking answers.
For those listening today, If you have any information about
Brandy Myers or remember her, please contact the Phoenix Police
Department at six zero two two six ' one eight
zero four to two. Brandy was a bright, trusting, and
(19:47):
loving girl who was taken from her family, and she
missed out on so much life with her family. Her
story and Kristen's fight for justice remind us of the
importance of community advocacy and persistence.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Thank you for listening to this episode of Navigating Advocacy.
Let's honor Brandy by sharing her story and keeping her
memory alive. If you'd like to support Kristen's children, there's
a GoFundMe set up in her honor that will be
in the show notes.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
So when it came to the call to action for
this episode, because it is so different, since we don't
have a designated family member to work with on this,
we decided we want to keep Kristen's advocacy efforts and
her pursuit of justice alive. So we're asking you to
listen to this episode and share a Brandy's story with
(20:40):
someone who may not know otherwise, share her flyer, talk
about her, keep her in your mind because Kristin fought
so hard to keep Brandy's memory alive, so least we
can do. While this episode was a research written and
(21:03):
produced by us, we want to thank Charlie from Crime
Lines for sharing the information she had gathered and the
notes that she had taken when she had the opportunity
to meet with Kristen with us. It truly helped us
build this episode and we are honored to be able
to share brandy story.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Please consider leaving us a five star review on your
favorite podcast platform or sharing us with a fret. You
can follow us on all social media outlets if you
would like more information about this podcast advocacy con or,
our nonprofit Impact Advocacy Foundation. Head on over to navigating
(21:46):
advocacy dot com. Eight
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