A former Georgia police officer is charged with kidnapping and murdering 16-year-old Susana Morales, whose death he buried and lied about.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Gwinnett County Police Chief J.D. McClure revealed the enhanced charges against Miles Bryant, of Norcross, in the kidnapping and death of Morales in July 2022.
Former Georgia Police Officer Leaves Dead Girl Naked After Crime
Asked by a reporter about his reaction as a police officer to the reality that the ex-Doraville police officer is accused of murder, the police chief stated that the unspeakable tragedy of the case evokes anger even within the ranks of his own department, which is investigating an alleged crime committed by a former member of an outside department.
The police chief stated that the cause of Morales’ death is still unknown, but he is certain that Bryant murdered her.
Law&Crime has previously obtained arrest warrants that shed light on how Bryant was initially recognized as a suspect in the July 2022 case of a missing person. The former cop is believed to have resided in the Sterling Glen Apartments, where he worked as a security guard, and left the victim’s naked body in the woods.
Authorities believe Morales’ last known location was at this apartment complex, where she had been visiting a friend. On the evening she was last seen alive, Morales contacted her mother to let her know she was on her way home. She never made it.
Tuesday, July 26, 2022, at 9:40 p.m., Morales texted her mother that she was on her way home. At approximately 10:00 p.m., Morales had not arrived at his residence.
A location application revealed that Morales walked on Singleton Road from Windscape Village Lane to her residence between 10:07 and 10:21 p.m. According to police, Morales was last seen wearing light blue pants, a yellow shirt with spaghetti straps, and white crocs.
Between 10:21 and 10:26 p.m., Morales’s cell phone says her last known position was near Steve Reynolds on Oak Loch Trail. Morales’s cell phone continued to indicate that he was in the vicinity of Oak Loch Trail until it died or stopped working.
Prosecutors believe that Bryant concealed Morales’ death between 10:20 p.m. on July 26, 2022, and 1:40 a.m. on July 27, 2022, thereby unlawfully “preventing the finding of whether or not such individual was unlawfully slain. Her relatives reported her missing that morning before dawn.
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Suspect Provided Wrong Details
The accused did, deliberately and knowingly give a false report of a crime to a law enforcement officer by falsely alleging his vehicle was broken into and his pistol was stolen, according to the warrant. Bryant’s car was stated in documents as a black Ford F-150.
Bryant was initially charged after investigators confirmed on February 6 that Morales’ remains were discovered in a forested area along Highway 316. That discovery was uncovered more than six months after Morales’ family reported her missing.
On Monday, February 6, 2023, at about 6:30 p.m., Gwinnett Police rushed to Highway 316 between Drowning Creek and the Barrow County Line in response to a call from a passerby who reported seeing what they believed to be human remains in the woods, according to authorities.
The Gwinnett Medical Examiners’ office took control of the remains after the Gwinnett Detectives and CSI responded to the area and recovered the remains. The police are investigating the manner and cause of Morales’ death.
In January, authorities stated that video evidence from Morales’ cellphone suggested she may have boarded a car while walking toward her residence.
At least one of Bryant’s neighbors spoke with 11 Alive and said he was pretty normal, just smiling and joking, living his life over the last six months, even as Morales laid out in a field somewhere some 20 miles away from where she went missing.
Since Bryant’s arrest, it was revealed that a woman came forward and accused him of stalking her for the greater part of a year.
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