Police upgrade charges against [BLACK] ex-Doraville officer in 16-year-old [White Hispanic] girl's death to murder, kidnapping

[Arheel's Uncle]

TIMELINE: Here are key moments in the tragic murder of 16-year-old Susana Morales

Police say the officer reported his gun missing the day after the teen was killed.

www.wsbtv.com

TIMELINE: Here are key moments in the tragic murder of 16-year-old Susana Morales​

By WSBTV.com News Staff
February 22, 2023 at 3:31 pm EST

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett County police announced in February that a 22-year-old ex-Doraville police officer has been charged with murder and kidnapping in the death of a 16-year-old Gwinnett County girl.

Susana Morales vanished on a walk to her home last year on July 26, 2022. Her remains were found nearly 20 miles away in February 2023.

The ex-officer, Miles Bryant, has been charged with murder after he was initially charged with concealing a death.



Here’s a timeline of events police say led to Morales’ death and Bryant’s subsequent arrest.

JULY 26, 2022:

6 p.m.: Susana Morales leaves her home on Santa Anna Drive in Norcross, walking to a friend’s house nearby.

9:40 p.m.: Morales texts her mother to let her know that she’s walking home from Windscape Village.


It’s the same apartment complex in Norcross where Bryant lives. His unit overlooks the Morales’ family’s home. Police have said they do not believe Morales and Bryant had a prior relationship.

10 p.m.: Morales has still not returned home.

10:07 p.m. - 10:21 p.m.: A location app shows she is walking on Singleton Road.

10:21 p.m. - 10:26 p.m.: Morales’ phone indicates that her last known location was Oak Loch Trace near Steve Reynolds Boulevard.

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10 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.: Detectives believe Morales encountered Bryant and possibly got into his vehicle.

10 p.m. July 26 - 2 a.m. July 27: Detectives believe Morales was killed.



JULY 27, 2022

9 a.m.: Morales’ parents report her missing to police.

11 a.m.: Bryant reports his gun being stolen.

OCT. 2, 2022: Bryant responds to a report of a missing child but waits three days to finish the report, according to personnel records. Bryant is written up.

DEC. 11, 2022: A former friend of Bryant’s files a police report claiming that he has been showing up uninvited at her apartment repeatedly for nearly a year. The case is never assigned.

FEB 6. 2023: Morales’ remains are found in a wooded area off of Highway 316 on the Gwinnett/Barrow county line.

Police find a gun near the remains. They determine that it is registered to Bryant.

FEB. 13, 2023: Gwinnett County arrest Bryant for concealing a death and false report of a crime.

FEB. 22, 2023: Bryant is charged with felony murder and kidnapping.

Police upgrade charges against ex-Doraville officer in 16-year-old’s death to murder, kidnapping

 

[Arheel's Uncle]

Where does the Susana Morales murder case stand? | Miles Bryant trial date

Susana Morales went missing in Gwinnett County in the summer of 2022, and it would be months until her remains were found in the woods.

www.11alive.com

Where does the Susana Morales murder case stand? | Miles Bryant trial date​

Susana Morales went missing in Gwinnett County in the summer of 2022, and it would be months until her remains were found in the woods.


Author: 11Alive Staff

Published: 8:00 AM EST January 5, 2024

Updated: 8:00 AM EST January 5, 2024



GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The murder case of a 16-year-old Gwinnett County girl will go to trial later this year, with an ex-police officer charged in the killing.

Susana Morales went missing in the summer of 2022, and it would be months until her remains were found in the woods.

The unsettling details of the case included police accusing Miles Bryant - a Doraville police officer who was terminated upon being arrested in early 2023 - of dumping Morales' naked body in the woods. Gwinnett Police later detailed a timeline of how they believed she was killed by Bryant after she'd gone to visit a friend the night of July 26, 2022.



RELATED: One year later | Where the case of Susana Morales stands

Few other details about the killing itself have emerged, with Gwinnett Police Chief J.D. McClure saying last year: "We don't definitively know (how she died); we're still investigating. What we do know is she died at the hands of Miles Bryant."

Credit: Gwinnett Sheriff

Miles Bryant

Here's where the case stands:

Miles Bryant Georgia murder trial update​

Court records in Gwinnett County show a scheduled trial date starting on June 3, 2024. These scheduling dates can sometimes change.

Bryant faces four charges: Murder, felony murder, kidnapping and false report of a crime (the fourth charge relates to an alleged false report on July 27, 2022 that his personal car had been broken into and a gun had been taken from inside.)

Where the case stands​

Bryant is in jail and has been denied bond twice, most recently in May 2023.

Since his arrest, police have released a tentative outline of events:

• On July 26, 2022, Susana Morales went to visit a friend in a nearby apartment complex, and she was taken between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. while returning home. Police believe that she was killed sometime by 2 a.m.
• Susana Morales was reported missing the next morning, July 27, at 9 a.m.
• "By the time she was reported missing we have every reason to believe that Susana was deceased," McClure said.
• He also said there was "no indication" Susana had been shot to death.

Who is Miles Bryant?​

• He was a Doraville Police officer. That department said Bryant was no longer employed with them after his arrest, calling him a "now former police officer."
• Bryant lived on Windscape Village Lane in Norcross, near the location where Susana Morales lived and originally went missing.
• He also lived and served as a courtesy officer at the apartment complex where Susana had gone to visit.
• Chief McClure previously said that investigators have not established if Morales and Bryant knew each other prior to her death.
• In a press conference last year, McClure acknowledged previous incidents involving Bryant - pointing to one in 2018, in which he had allegedly tried to enter a neighbor's home through the window. Additionally, there were allegations in December 2022 that Bryant tried to enter a residence where a woman said he was stalking her.