Georgia Cop Accused of Kidnapping, Killing Teen as She Walked Home
A Georgia cop already arrested in connection to a teen girl’s death is now accused of kidnapping her after she left a friend’s apartment, killing her and ditching her naked body in the woods.
Authorities believe the slain girl, 16-year-old Susana Morales, was killed by Miles Bryant last summer while he was still a police officer in the Atlanta suburb of Doraville.
Bryant was arrested earlier this month—and fired the same day—after authorities found Morales’ body. He was initially charged with concealing information about dumping her body in the woods. A charge of murder and kidnapping were added on Wednesday as chilling new details about the case emerged.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Morales’ family members said Bryant was a stranger to them, but court records indicate that he lived near their apartment.
Morales disappeared on July 26 without a trace as she walked home from a nearby friend’s apartment at around 10 p.m. Her family reported her missing the following morning, but cops initially deemed her a runaway, as there was no indication of foul play.
What happened to Morales remained a mystery until her body was found this month in a wooded area—more than 20 miles from the last place she was seen alive.
Cops quickly honed in on Bryant—a courtesy officer at the apartment complex Morales was visiting, where he also lived—because a gun that was registered to Bryant was found near her body.
“We have reached the threshold to where these charges have been upgraded to felony murder and kidnapping,” Gwinnett Police Chief J.D. McClure said Wednesday. “We have a very solid case and we're very confident.”
McClure said Morales was kidnapped between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. as she walked home and was likely dead by 2 a.m., but he did not say what happened to her in her final hours. He said there’s a “possibility” she was sexually assaulted.
Authorities allege Bryant filed a false police report the day Morales was reported missing to say his gun had been stolen. Despite this, McClure said Wednesday that Morales wasn’t shot to death.
McClure said detectives are still probing how Morales died and whether she and Bryant had contact with each other in the past.
“We have looked at the idea if there was some type of knowledge or relationship, but so far we have not made that connection,” McClure said. “We do not know if she knew or was familiar with Bryant in any capacity.”
After Bryant's initial arrest, 21-year-old Elesha Bates provided Ring footage to Fox 5, and said Bryant had repeatedly stalked her—one time going as far as breaking inside her home. The alleged harassment led her to buy a gun, she said.
Bates added that Bryant’s arrest was especially jarring because she felt it easily could’ve been her who mysteriously disappeared.
“I was shocked,” Bates told Fox 5. “It could have been me because he was the person at my door coming, unscrewing my knob, it was very alarming.”
Morales was a junior at Meadowcreek High School in Norcross, Georgia.
“I want her to be remembered for her kind soul,” her sister, Jasmine, told WXIA-TV. “She was sweet and nice.”
Jasmine didn’t mince her words when speaking about her sister’s alleged killer.
“He doesn't know what's coming for him,” she said. “I promise that everything comes to play, and we'll know everything soon. Everybody is going to get what they deserve at the end of the day. If it's not here, it'll be up there.”
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