I live in Sunnyslope, a neighborhood in north central Phoenix. Sunnyslope ranges from 19th Ave. east to 16th St., and Northern Ave. north to Cactus Rd. There’s some nice homes higher up on the desert hills around Sunnyslope’s fringes, and especially between Northern Ave. and the Arizona Canal, but for the most part Sunnyslope is working class on down. The area between 19th Ave., 7th Ave., Hatcher Rd. and Shaw Butte is a straight up barrio.
We get a fair number of homicides in Sunnyslope. Perhaps the most infamous is Bryan Patrick Miller, the Canal Killer. Before his arrest for serial killing, Miller was publically well known for cosplaying as the Zombie Hunter. I live just up the street from his hovel. (Small world: My wife had a co-worker who was ALSO a serial killer, Dale Hausner.)
I’ve been thinking for a long time about doing a video Sunnyslope Murder Tour: This is where this homicide happened, that is where that one happened, etc. When Bernardo Pantaleon got slaughtered just after Thanksgiving, 2023, in Mountain View Park — a place I’ve often hiked or biked — I finally had the impetus to do it.
So I rode my bike past Bryan Patrick Miller’s last house, then west on the Arizona Canal to where Miller killed Angela Brosso and Melanie Bernas. Then through the barrio, past where Angela Simpson burnt Terry Neely’s dismembered corpse. (Right next to the cop shop!) Then just around the corner — only ¼ mile away! — to Mountain View Park. I didn’t even go out of my way: It’s one of my normal bike loops.
Equipped with my GoPro, I was doing commentary on the fly. The footage was blah. Afterwards, I thought I should plan out my Sunnyslope Murder Tour. Down the web search rabbit hole I went. 48 hours later, I arrived at the conclusion “There’s no way I can fit all this mayhem in one video.”
On another one of my normal bike loops, I head south to the Arizona Canal, passing by the community center on Vogel Ave., just east of the post office on 7th St. By sheer coincidence, as I was working this week on the first Sunnyslope Murder Tour, I happened to make that ride just three hours after Sunnyslope’s most recent homicide, at the Erin Place Apartments.
Lots of bums hang around Erin Place Apartments, and the adjacent dive bar, behind which there was a major fire last April. The homicide is so recent that neither the victim nor suspect have been named. I’ll cover it more in a future Sunnyslope Murder Tour.
So, here is the first episode of Sunnyslope Murder Tour …
Circle K Stabbing Murder (2018?)
I live in the neighborhood behind the smoke shop and sports bars at Cave Creek Rd. & Peoria Ave. There’s a reason I call these places “stop & robs” or “24 hour tellers”: Before the Chinese Lung AIDs, it was a Circle K, and a man was murdered as he walked in the door, stabbed in the back by a vagrant. There were cop choppers over my house for hours. I think the cops found the perp hiding in one of the apartments on 14th Street and Desert Cove. The murder was in the news. But, try as I might, I can’t find anything on Google.
The Mayor of Sunnyslope (unknown)
Another homicide I distinctly remember, but also can’t find on Google, is a guy that was known on the street as “The Mayor of Sunnyslope”. He rode a heavily-stickered mobility scooter, with a safety flag antenna. One day, at Cave Creek Rd. and Hatcher Rd., “The Mayor of Sunnyslope” was killed by a white pickup, which hit & run. Cops found the truck, but couldn’t prove who was driving it, or if the driver was impaired. And that’s the last I heard.
Retta Renee Cruse (2021)
A double filicide I didn’t originally hear about, but did find info on, occurred September 5, 2021: Retta Renee Cruse — who was involved in a custody dispute — murdered her two daughters, 4-year-old Royal McIntyre and 9-year-old Aleyah McIntyre, via oxycodone overdose, in apartments near 14th Street and Mountain View Rd.
Cruse also cut herself, though whether it was an attempt at suicide, or creating a cover story, is unknown. Cruse’s excuse was her daughters “had COVID” and she gave them medicine “to help them sleep.”
The bodies were discovered by Michael Coleman, Cruse’s boyfriend. The girls’ father was living in New Jersey.
Cruse was booked on two counts of 1st Degree Murder. Bond was set at $2 million. Less than a year later, Cruse pled guilty, avoiding a possible death penalty, under ARS 13-751 (aggravating circumstances 6 & 7). Instead, Cruse received two consecutive “natural life” sentences (i.e. cannot be paroled, or released, for any reason).
Viral Mustang Hit & Run (2016)
You might remember the viral video from April 29, 2016: A bike bum pedals out of Norton Park, travels a few yards down 13th Pl., does a u-turn, and is promptly smooshed by a red Mustang, which speeds off down 13th Pl. Other bike bums then come to check on the victim, Joseph Michael Valva, who had fractured vertebra and a head wound requiring staples.
The perp’s reasoning is typical “Cops” drama: Misty Lee Wilke claimed the victim, her “boyfriend”, laughed while saying he had HIV. And that when Wilke pushed him, he slashed her with a pocketknife. So, she ran him over. Wilke then drove to the Shell gas station across from Palma Park, parked, got a ride home, and called the cops.
Wilke — aka Misty Smith, Misty Dignan, Michele Wilke and Misty Rae Wilke — had previous Arizona prison stints for theft (1997) and forgery (2004), and at least one other arrest (2012). Valva also has a long criminal career, doing multiple DOC stints for drugs, weapons and — just last month (1/17/24) — for running a house of prostitution. (Go to the DOC inmate lookup site and search for Valva J.)
I have questions: Why would someone abandon their driveable car? Why would a Mustang owner “date” a vagrant? How could someone who looks like a meth addict afford a Mustang? Was her “boyfriend” really her pimp? Sounds to me more like a drug deal gone wrong.
Anyway, Wilke was sentenced to 6½ years in prison, plus 3 years probation, for aggravated assault and hit & run.
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Sunnyslope Murder Tour from Preston McMurry on Vimeo.
