Investigators aren’t sure how or why a Gwinnett County teenager was killed. But they feel certain a former police officer is responsible.
“What we do know is she died at the hands of Miles Bryant,” Gwinnett police Chief J.D. McClure said during a news conference Wednesday morning.
Bryant, a former Doraville police officer, has now been charged with murder and kidnapping in the death of 16-year-old Susana Morales. He was previously charged with concealing the teenager’s death, but now investigators believe Bryant, 22, killed Morales after kidnapping her. They do not believe anyone else was involved.
Credit: Gwinnett County Police Department
Credit: Gwinnett County Police Department
Morales, a junior at Meadowcreek High School, disappeared the evening of July 26. By the time her family reported her missing the next morning, she was likely already dead, police said Wednesday.
The teen’s disappearance remained a mystery until earlier this month when her remains were found more than 20 miles from where she was last seen.
During Wednesday’s news conference, McClure shared a few new details about the timeline of the case.
The evening of her disappearance, Morales had been visiting a friend at the Sterling Glen Apartments, a short walk from her home, he said. Bryant lived in the same complex, where he served as a security officer.
Morales spent about four hours with her friend and began her walk back home around 10 p.m. after texting her mom to let her know she was on her way. Between then and 10:30 p.m., investigators believe she encountered Bryant “and ultimately was not seen or heard from again,” McClure said.
Morales’ mother, Maria Bran, immediately knew something was wrong when her daughter didn’t return home or respond to her calls and text messages, she recently told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She couldn’t sleep, calling and texting Morales’ friends to see if they knew where she was. By 6 a.m., Bran started knocking on doors. And at 9 a.m., the family filed a missing person report.
Bryant filed his own report around 11 a.m. that day, claiming his personal gun had been stolen from his vehicle. Police have said they believe that was a false report.
Not far from where Morales’ body was found on Feb. 6, investigators discovered that same gun and traced it to Bryant, McClure said. There is no indication that he shot Morales — just that he was armed at the time and “may have simply lost the weapon there,” McClure said. But the discovery made him a person of interest.
“At that point ... we began watching him and watching his activities,” the police chief said. “Our investigators were able to uncover information that directly linked Bryant to this crime.”
A cause of death has not been determined, but investigators believe she died sometime between 10 p.m. July 26 and 2 a.m. the morning of July 27, according to McClure. It was not disclosed what led them to that conclusion.
Bryant was arrested Feb. 13 on the suspicion that he “dumped her naked body in the woods” and was fired from the Doraville Police Department the same day. He is being held in the Gwinnett jail without bond and faces charges of felony murder, kidnapping, concealing the death of another and filing a false report.
“I’m sad,” Bran previously said in Spanish during an interview at her Norcross home. “I know where she is now. It’s not the same anguish anymore. Now it’s just the pain of not knowing how much she suffered before she died. It’s a pain that will never go away.”
Credit: Rosana Hughes/AJC
Credit: Rosana Hughes/AJC
Morales’ family said Bryant was a stranger to them. And apart from Bryant’s connection to the neighborhood where Morales was visiting, police have not found any indication that the two knew each other.
McClure said there is no sign that Bryant committed similar crimes against other people, but he noted two earlier police reports detailing troubling encounters.
In 2018, a neighbor of Bryant’s filed a police report alleging that he tried to enter the home through a window, McClure said. An investigation ensued, but Bryant denied the allegation and the homeowner declined to pursue charges. The case was then closed.
Then, in December 2022, a woman who knew Bryant since elementary school said he tried to enter her home.
According to an incident report, she provided camera footage showing Bryant knocking on the door and turning the knob “but doing nothing egregious.” A Doraville officer questioned Bryant, who said he was checking on the woman after she made a “questionable post on social media that worried him.”
It was eventually concluded that the woman misinterpreted Bryant’s gesture, and he was told not to contact her.
McClure said Wednesday that criminal charges in connection with that incident are forthcoming.
Doraville police declined to comment on Bryant’s additional charges, stating only that they continue to work with Gwinnett investigators and that their “thoughts and prayers remain with the Morales family during this incredibly difficult time,” spokesperson Emily Heenan said.
A popular teenager, Morales played the piano and guitar and loved to do her makeup, her mother said. She wanted to be a detective one day.
The family immigrated to the United States from Mexico nearly 24 years ago hoping to raise children in a country with more opportunities, Bran said.
“This is an unspeakable tragedy,” McClure said of the allegations against Bryant. “This type of crime at the hands of a law enforcement officer evokes anger ... It’s a shame that Miles (Bryant) was able to get in the ranks of law enforcement, but I am happy with the department’s response in terms of bringing him to justice.”
