A former Georgia police officer has been charged with felony murder and kidnapping in the death of 16-year-old Susana Morales after authorities revealed Wednesday that a gun he reported missing was found near her skeletal remains.
The officer, Miles Bryant, 22, was previously charged with concealing a death and false report of a crime in connection with the disappearance of the teen, whose skeletal remains were found Feb. 6, the Gwinnett County Police Department said. He was a police officer in the Atlanta suburb of Doraville, and was fired in light of the charges.
Gwinnett police Chief J.D. McClure on Wednesday announced Bryant’s charges were upgraded to felony murder and kidnapping.
Authorities honed in on Bryant in the case after finding “a critical piece of evidence” — a handgun — “in close proximity” where Susana’s body was found during a grid search of a wooded area near Highway 316 between Drowning Creek and the Barrow County line.
It was determined that the personal gun had been reported missing the morning of July 27 by Bryant, which made him a person of interest in the case.
McClure shared a breakdown of the timeline of her disappearance.
Susana was last seen July 26 and reported missing the following morning by her family.
The night she disappeared, Susana had left her home in Norcross at 6 p.m. and walked a short distance to the Sterling Glen Apartments where she met with a friend for about four hours. She headed home at about 10 p.m.
“We know that between 10 and 10:30 p.m. Susana had an interaction with an individual,” who McClure said to be Bryant, and “ultimately was not seen or heard from again.”
Police said they believe Susana died in that time frame from when she had the interaction with Bryant up to 2 a.m. the following day July 27.
McClure said that it’s not known if Susana and Bryant knew each other or were familiar with each other, but he did live in the Sterling Glen Apartments complex that she had visited that day and served as a courtesy officer there.
He said it’s not “definitively” known how Susana died, noting there’s “no indication” that she was shot. He said it’s possible that she was raped.
“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,” he said.
As for motive, McClure said that police are “still investigating.”
He said “it’s entirely possible” that Bryant was watching Susana for a period of time before her death.
While police have no evidence linking Bryant to harming another person “in a similar fashion,” McClure said that there have been previous reports about him.
In 2018, he was accused of trying to enter a neighbor’s house through a window. Police were called to the scene and Bryant countered the allegation. Ultimately, the homeowner did not wish to prosecute and the case was resolved.
In December 2022, Bryant visited the home of an acquaintance and “he may have tried to enter” the residence, McClure said. The case is under investigation, and “we do believe that warrants are forthcoming,” he added.
Those two cases were not in the Sterling Glen Apartments complex, McClure said.
McClure said Susana’s death was “an unspeakable tragedy.”
“This type of crime at the hands of a law enforcement officer evokes anger, even within the ranks of this agency,” McClure said. “Police officers should always be pillars of trust.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
