Tracking Susana

Summary

20/20 – "Tracking Susana" (May 9, 2026)

A Podcast Episode Summary

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Main Theme

"Tracking Susana" is a gripping true crime episode following the mysterious disappearance and tragic death of 16-year-old Susana Morales from Norcross, Gwinnett County, Georgia. The episode delves into the Morales family's ordeal, the step-by-step police investigation, community response, the shocking involvement of a police officer, and the high-profile pursuit of justice for Susana.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Susana’s Disappearance: The Timeline

• Last Seen (07/26/2022, ~7:19PM): Susana tells her mother she arrived at a friend's house (Esmeralda’s), which turns out to be untrue (05:17).
• Phone Calls & Panic (9:40PM onward): Susana's mom tries to contact her to come home. No response. Esmeralda tries to cover for her, but later admits Susana wasn't there (06:11–06:39).
• Life360 App & Crash Alert (~10:30PM): Friends receive a crash alert from Susana’s phone, indicating a possible car accident or sudden phone trauma (08:37, 09:15).
• Walking Alone: Last known Life360 data shows Susana walking home, then abruptly traveling away at 40 mph before her phone goes silent (11:19).
• Family’s Immediate Response: Morales family retraces her steps, canvasses businesses, seeks camera footage, and ultimately files a missing person report (13:07–14:09, 22:04, 23:03).

"All of a sudden, she goes in the opposite direction in a car. And that's when I started panicking. Something happened to her on the way home." — Susana's Sister (01:38)

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2. The Investigation: False Leads & Family Efforts

• Community Flyers & False Hope: The family floods the area with flyers, receives false ransom calls, and follow up on dozens of tips, some bringing fleeting hope, others adding to the heartbreak (27:04, 27:37).
• Video Evidence: Surveillance footage confirms Susana walking alone, dressed in a yellow tank top, jeans, and white Crocs, debunking early theories of eloping or running away (23:39–24:17).
• Police View: Initially, police treat the case as a possible runaway due to her misleading her mother and visiting a forbidden friend's apartment (Kelly’s at Sterling Glen) (12:10, 14:09, 16:03).

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3. The Break in the Case: Human Remains Found

• Discovery (Approx. 6 Months Later): Skeletal remains are found off Highway 316, with nothing to immediately identify gender or age (36:36–38:16).
• Key Clues: Black-painted fingernails match Susana’s last known appearance (39:39–39:59).
• Crucial Lead: A pistol found at the site is traced to Miles Bryant, a police officer and courtesy officer at Sterling Glen—where Susana was last seen (43:13–44:20).

"It doesn't take a rocket science to figure out that they're probably related." — Detective Carter (43:38)

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4. Miles Bryant: Officer Turned Suspect

• Discovery of Connection: Bryant reports his firearm stolen the morning after Susana goes missing, strangely asking that no detectives investigate (44:20, 47:26, 48:01).
• Cell Phone Data: Pings place Bryant at the scene where Susana’s remains were found, matching the vital window after she was last seen (52:54–53:18).
• Police Interviews: Bryant's story shifts under questioning; he denies involvement, invents alibis, and expresses discomfort when confronted with evidence (55:16–61:19).
• Arrest and Backstory: Eventually, he’s arrested after inconsistencies and overwhelming circumstantial evidence. His history reveals predatory behavior toward young women (63:18–70:36).

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5. Trial, Justice, and Aftermath

• Evidence & Testimony: Multiple witnesses, including Susana’s friends, recount suspicious and inappropriate encounters with Bryant. Police uncover disturbing behavior in bodycam footage and other cases (74:12–75:55).
• The Verdict: The jury finds Miles Bryant guilty of malice murder, kidnapping, and related charges (78:50–79:05).
• Family Impact: The Morales family expresses relief at the outcome, yet remains heartbroken at the lack of clear answers about Susana’s final moments (79:12–81:40).
• Sentencing: Bryant is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole (80:09).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

"This case is just... it's unreal." — Detective Carter (01:45)

"She walked that way... and all of a sudden she goes in the opposite direction in a car." — Susana's Sister (01:38)

"We tried to retrace her steps... So we started at Kelly's apartment." — Susana's Sister (22:38)

"I was like, that can't be true. Like, that can't be true." — Susana’s Sister, on learning her sister’s remains were found (50:25)

"He was supposed to serve and protect. Instead he abused the woman. He is a cop who turned into a killer." — Investigator (72:04)

"All I could do was cry and cry." — Susana’s Sister, on the funeral (64:40)

"When we were waiting for the verdict... it seemed like forever." — Susana's Sister (78:31)

"She was on the way home, and nobody had the right to take that away from her." — Susana’s Sister (81:40)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Call to Police & Disappearance: 01:06–03:47
• Family’s Search and Community Effort: 22:04–27:50
• Discovery of Remains: 36:06–42:21
• Connection to Miles Bryant: 43:13–48:47
• Police Interviews & Arrest: 55:10–63:18
• Bryant’s Background & Predatory Behavior: 63:18–70:36
• Trial and Evidence: 72:04–79:05
• Verdict & Sentencing: 78:31–80:09
• Family Reflections: 80:21–81:40

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Tone and Narrative Style

• The episode sensitively weaves personal family testimonies, police investigation insights, and community perspectives.
• The tone is both empathetic and determined, focusing on the pain of uncertainty, the failings and strengths of investigative work, and the devastation wrought by betrayal from a trusted official.

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Closing Thoughts

"Tracking Susana" is a sobering exploration of a tragedy close to home—made all the more harrowing by the revelation that a police officer, entrusted with public safety, was the central perpetrator. The Morales family's perseverance and the investigators’ dogged pursuit of the truth offer a poignant commentary on justice, loss, and the resilience required to withstand both. The case is a stark reminder of the importance of vigilance, the impact of technology in modern investigations, and the lingering pain left in the wake of such crimes.

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For those seeking a rich, emotional, and thorough recounting of Susana Morales' case, this episode of 20/20 provides both detail and depth in honoring her memory.

Transcript

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[News Reporter]

An all new 2020 starts right. Gwinnett County 911.

[Susanna's Sister]

I need to make a report. My sister's been missing since yesterday. No one has seen her.

[News Reporter]

What's your sister's name?

[Susanna's Sister]

Susanna. Where I live.

[Detective Carter]

When Susanna walked out the back gate of Sterling Glen Apartments. There's a sidewalk there that would take her straight to her residence.

[News Reporter]

Where can I see her last known location?

[Susanna's Sister]

Have a screenshot?

[News Reporter]

You have a screenshot?

[Investigator/Police Officer]

They could that she was walking back from the apartment complex down Singleton Road.

[Susanna's Sister]

And all of a sudden she goes in the opposite direction in a car. And that's when I started panicking. Something happened to her on the way home.

[Detective Carter]

This case is just. It's unreal.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

She walked that way.

[News Reporter]

Gwinhound county police are hoping that you can help them find a teenager. 16 year old Susanna Morales. Police now believe that she may have gotten into a car that night. July 26th.

[Narrator/Commentator]

She was a young, full of life teenager who vanished pretty much out of thin air.

[News Reporter]

You know why we're here.

[Susanna's Sister]

Just thought about the worst.

[Detective Carter]

They needed to do something. Oh,

[Susanna's Sister]

brushes, brushes. Susanna was the baby. She would get everything that we wanted. When we were at her age, we. Necklace, earrings. Yes, yes.

[Family Member]

She was definitely spoiled.

[Susanna's Sister]

Y' all really went out. This is cute.

[Detective Carter]

Ooh, I like this.

[Family Member]

Our best moments is laughing together as a family.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Susanna Morales was very close to her family. They lived in Norcross, here in Gwinnett County. We are a large county just north of Atlanta and we are one of the most diverse counties in the United States.

[Interviewer]

Where are you from originally?

[Susanna's Sister]

Mexico.

[Interviewer]

What were you looking for?

[Susanna's Sister]

Vivir mejol verde.

[Interviewer]

Three daughters. Tresillas.

[Susanna's Sister]

Tresijas. Julisa. Yasmina.

[Interviewer]

Her name was Susanna, but you called her Susie.

[Family Member]

Me and Susanna had a 10 years difference. Me being the oldest. I used to take care of them.

[Susanna's Sister]

Susanna was very outgoing. I was a little closer to Susanna probably because three year age gap in between us.

[Narrator/Commentator]

She was always making TikTok videos.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

She loved to record music videos of Herself singing.

[Susanna's Sister]

Susannah's best friends that I've known since like middle school for her was Kaya and Esmeralda. They were very, very close.

[Susanna's Friend]

We had fun together. We didn't have to do much to be happy around each other. She was a very bubbly person.

[Susanna's Sister]

Remember Shishan?

[Susanna's Friend]

She was very sweet, very nice.

[Susanna's Sister]

Susannah's hair was very curly. She loved exploring new colors with it. She had dyed her hair green, red and blonde.

[News Reporter]

At one point, she worked with her

[Investigator/Police Officer]

mother at a local McDonald's. She loved music. She loved to play a ukulele that had been given to her. She loved to sing.

[Susanna's Sister]

So won't you save me your location. Let's focus on communicate.

[Interviewer]

Take me through that day. July 26, 2022.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Susana didn't really like fish and didn't want to eat that. So she asked her mother if she could go to her friend Esmeralda's home.

[Interviewer]

How close was that house? Six minutes.

[Narrator/Commentator]

She told her mom she got to her friend's house safe and that was around 7:19pm I just want to know

[Interviewer]

if you got there. And she responds, si, si, with a thumbs up.

[Detective Carter]

Later that night, approximately 9:40ish PM Susanna's mom starts calling Susanna and asking her to come home because it's getting late.

[Interviewer]

You were going to go pick her up.

[Sergeant Biggers]

Susana's mom reached out for Susana to be like, hey, where are you? And she texts her and text her

[Interviewer]

and text her, suzy, do you want me to go for you? My daughter, please answer.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Because Susana's mother was not able to get in touch with her, she reached out to Esmeralda and her family.

[Susanna's Friend]

She called me asking if Susana was at my house.

[Detective Carter]

Susanna had actually never come over there.

[Susanna's Friend]

Of course that's my best friend, so I will back her up. I told her that Susanna was leaving. While I was able to get enough time to get a hold of Susana.

[Detective Carter]

Initially, Esmeralda, being a teenage friend, was trying to cover for Susanna.

[Susanna's Friend]

I contacted her, calling her, no response. So I texted her and told her that her mother was looking for her and she better be on her way home before I get in trouble.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Susana's mother recalls talking to Esmeralda's mother who told her Susana was never there.

[Narrator/Commentator]

So mom at that point is worried and like, hey, why was my daughter not where she said she was?

[Susanna's Sister]

I remember getting a call from my mom like around 9 or 10pm at night and she was just asking me if I've heard from Susanne or if I had talked to her because she wasn't answering her phone.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Susana's mother was continuously contacting people, trying to figure out where Susana might be.

[Sergeant Biggers]

She had a very good relationship with her sisters and her mom, so that was not characteristic if she did not get in contact with her mom.

[Susanna's Sister]

I told my mom that maybe Susanna's phone had died or that she fell asleep and let's just wait till morning to hear from her.

[Interviewer]

You realize there's something really wrong here.

[Narrator/Commentator]

One of Susanna's friends gets a crash alert on her cell phone. Susanna's in a moving vehicle and there's a serious crash.

[Interviewer]

That's Susie.

[News Reporter]

Huh?

[Interviewer]

Your screenshot. That's the Screenshot on her 15th birthday for her quinceanera. What did she want more than anything? Tacos.

[Susanna's Sister]

Tacos, Susie. All she wanted was great tacos. She wanted us to buy her the mini quinceanera dress, a pink, sparkly, short quinceanera dress.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Susanna was always hanging out with her friends. None of them drove, so they all were young and would walk to each other's house.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

On July 26, 2022, while Susana's mother was attempting to locate her and worried about where Susana was, Susanna's friend Kaya had gotten a notification on her phone through a mobile application on their phone called Live 360.

[Susanna's Friend]

It's an app where you can add people to your circle. You can add friends, family members, and it'll tell you their location.

[Detective Carter]

It also provides other safety features like parents can track their kids. It shows how fast they're driving, it shows if the phone battery's low, things like that.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Around 10.30pm, Susanna's friend Kaya had gotten a notification on her phone that Susannah's phone had been involved in some kind of crash.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Kaia gets what they call a crash alert on her phone. To get a crash alert, there has to be serious force.

[Detective Carter]

With that phone, Susanna could have potentially been involved in a car accident.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Once kaya got the Life360 notification crash alert, she contacted Esmeralda.

[Narrator/Commentator]

So her friends at that point are worried about Susanna. And Susanna didn't drive.

[Susanna's Friend]

After speaking with Esmeralda, she went out there and checked it out because we were thinking she got into a car accident.

[Detective Carter]

They had the location of where the alert was sent from, so they went to that location and started looking for Susanna.

[Susanna's Friend]

I was on the phone with Kaya. My sister had some Susanna's phone number. My sister was calling her phone to see maybe we could find it or find any debris of any sort of car crash. But that road and that neighborhood was very quiet that night. So obviously there was no car crash.

[Narrator/Commentator]

There's no signs at all of a vehicle crash. No signs of Susanna, and no signs of her phone.

[Susanna's Friend]

She couldn't find any debris or anything. So we just assumed that she was sleeping over at a friend's house. And we slept on it.

[Family Member]

The next day, I received a terrifying call from my mom where she was sobbing, and I was like, what happened?

[Susanna's Sister]

My mom called me and told me that she was going to call the police because she hasn't heard from Susanna. And I told her to wait for me. And I left work. I don't think I was really worried until I got the screenshots from the Life360. And that's when I started panicking. And it basically showed the trip of her walking home. And all of a sudden, she goes in the opposite direction in a car. And it was like a notification of the 360 that Susanna might have been in a crash.

[Narrator/Commentator]

She's heading down Singleton Road in the direction of back home. Then we see about five minutes later, her direction pattern change, and she's going the exact opposite way, away from her house. And here we see she's now driving in a vehicle at a top speed of 40 miles an hour. Ultimately, we get the crash alert at that location. That's the last known location where Susannah phones pings.

[Susanna's Sister]

Once we got the screenshots, we realized that Susanna had gone to a different friend's house.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

She actually had gone to her friend Alyssa and Kelly's apartment complex.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Kelly is a girl that Susanna's mom, for whatever reason, didn't like.

[Detective Carter]

She didn't want Susanna to be around certain friends because she believed they were a bad influence. Susanna knew that her mom was going to say no about her going to Kelly's house, so she asked, can I go to Esmeralda's house? So that's where Maria thought she was gonna go. But instead she ended up going to Kelly's house, which she lived in. The Sterling Glen Apartments.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

The Sterling Glen Apartments, a fairly typical apartment complex for that area. A lot of different buildings that have multiple apartment units in them. There is a clubhouse and a pool. Because of the crime in the area, they also employ a courtesy officer to help patrol the area.

[Narrator/Commentator]

The family have, at this point, reached out to all of their friends of Susanna. No one knows where she is, so they reach out to the Gwinnett county police and make a report.

[Susanna's Sister]

My sister's been missing since yesterday.

[News Reporter]

How old is your sister?

[Susanna's Sister]

16.

[News Reporter]

Okay. Is your mom or dad there?

[Detective Carter]

Yes.

[News Reporter]

I'll have an officer out there as soon as possible to meet with you and your mom, okay?

[Susanna's Sister]

Okay. Thank you so much.

[Detective Carter]

Maria speaks Spanish so just to have that clear communication, if we can, we send officers that speak Spanish.

[Susanna's Sister]

Her friend has her on Life360.

[Narrator/Commentator]

No, that is.

[Susanna's Sister]

But it's not like renewing her location. And once the officer arrived at the house, we were just letting them know what was going on, that Susanna hadn't been home since last night and she wasn't answering any calls.

[News Reporter]

So where can I see her last known location?

[Susanna's Sister]

On screenshots. We were showing him the screenshots from the Live316 on the messages that we had and they asked us to send that to them, so we did.

[Sergeant Biggers]

When you're looking at the 360 of her being in a car, it can be someone took her or it can be that she ran away.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Whose car is she in? What happened? Is she okay?

[Sergeant Biggers]

My name is Xavier Biggers. I've been in policing for 20 years. I've always wanted to be a police officer since I was 5 years old. the time of Susanna Morales disappearance, my title was a sergeant over the Special Victims Unit. Initially I had met the other than what the officers on scene had given me.

[Interviewer]

You showed him something on your phone.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Jeans, a yellow tank top. They showed Susanna's hair.

[Sergeant Biggers]

She had black fingernails. That's something that stood out as something descriptive for her.

[Susanna's Sister]

They gave us a report number.

[News Reporter]

Good morning.

[Susanna's Sister]

Gcse.

[News Reporter]

Good morning. I need to list juvenile missing.

[Sergeant Biggers]

When Susannah mother called us to report her missing, she was put on the system by the officer that made the report as a missing person. On that day, I was the on call sergeant. They called me and let me know that they went door to door trying to get more information about her disappearance. They went to Sterling Glen Apartments where Kelly lives.

[News Reporter]

Hello?

[Susanna's Sister]

Hello?

[Sergeant Biggers]

They spent about a good three to four hours at that apartment complex looking for her.

[Forensic Specialist]

She here?

[Susanna's Sister]

She's working right now.

[Sergeant Biggers]

And they actually spoke with Kelly and talked with her.

[News Reporter]

You know why we're here. Why don't you tell us about her?

[Susanna's Sister]

She left me at 10.

[News Reporter]

And then there was only like.

[Detective Carter]

This is so strange.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Susanna ended up walking over to her friend Kelly and Alyssa's home at the apartment complex.

[Detective Carter]

We were actually able to locate some social media videos that were taken of Susanna and her friends that day.

[Friend Alyssa]

We were doing a belly piercing, just taking videos.

[Susanna's Sister]

We were just hanging out.

[Susanna's Friend]

We ended up walking to the back of the gate to the apartments and then I just said goodbye.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Around 10pm Kelly said that she took Susanna to the exit of the Sterling Glen Apartments on Singleton Road.

[Detective Carter]

Singleton Road is located in a pretty populated area. There are residential areas as well as businesses. Even at night, there's a lot of foot traffic as well as vehicles.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Susannah had walked on that road numerous times, so she was familiar with it.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

However, once you pass the businesses, it is a very dark walk back to Susannah's house.

[Sergeant Biggers]

This is where Kelly basically walked Susanna out to the back gate and Susanna went home this way. From the back gate from Sterling Glen Apartments to Susanna home is probably only about a 15 minute walk to get home.

[Detective Carter]

Susanna would have exited the Sterling Glen Apartments through the back door, taken a left onto Singleton Road and then traveled down Singleton Road and taken a left onto Santa Ana Drive where her home was located. I was a homicide detective with Gwinnett County Police at the time of Susanna Morales disappearance. I worked on the same floor as the Special Victims Unit. I heard them talking about it, so of course I jumped in and I was asking questions. There was something up with this that wasn't a typical case. Somewhere after she walked past this parking lot, her phone changed directions and began going back towards the Sterling Glen Apartments at a speed that's consistent with her being in a vehicle. And within less than a mile, a crasher alert is received.

[Sergeant Biggers]

So this is the direction that 360 application was showing Susanna was going in at 40 miles per hour. Then this is the area that it pretty much crashes out around about here. We checked to see if there were any accidents in that area. There was no accidents reported in that area.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Given that there's no actual evidence of a car crash, our assumption is that her phone is thrown out the window out of a moving vehicle and that the phone is damaged or broken to cause the crash alert.

[Sergeant Biggers]

When you're looking at the 360 of her being in a car, you can see it from both ways and I saw it from both ways. It can be someone took her or it can be that she ran away. So.

[Susanna's Sister]

I knew she didn't run away. She was on the way home and something happened.

[Sergeant Biggers]

Just because of the information that we had about hanging out with Kelly and the fact that she told her mother that she was going one place and she ended up going somewhere else. We was thinking maybe that she had thrown her cell phone away or got rid of it because she knew she was going to get in trouble. So we linked this as possibly while she was running. Even with that, we were working the case as a regular missing person by gathering the information we had far as her friends, her social media and doing the things as our policy have stated and working.

[Interviewer]

At that point, did you ever think she would run away?

[Susanna's Sister]

No.

[News Reporter]

No.

[Family Member]

She didn't take her trouser. She didn't take clothes. She didn't take anything. So we were really, really scared at that moment. And that's when we, as a family,

[Narrator/Commentator]

start looking for her.

[Detective Carter]

They needed to do something. Susanna's nowhere to be found. They go out, they start canvassing.

[Interviewer]

Then the family thinks they found something.

[Susanna's Sister]

That's her. That's her.

[Sergeant Biggers]

That is her.

[Susanna's Sister]

That's her.

[News Reporter]

Just be honest. We don't throw out search parties unless it's a critical person. Diabetic, can't live by their own. Something that will have exigent circumstances for us to find this person. She's 16, right? Yeah. Let me make a couple phone calls.

[Susanna's Sister]

After filing the police report, we said that we weren't gonna wait. We had to do something. And so using the screenshots that we had, we kind of retraced her steps. We started looking for her in the

[Family Member]

exact point where the app shows were the incident was

[Sergeant Biggers]

the ping hit in this area right here. Her family came here, and it was unfortunate that this was not the location where Susanna was at. It was just the last area where her cell phone pinged at.

[Susanna's Sister]

We tried to retrace her steps that we thought that she would take. So we started at Kelly's apartment.

[Interviewer]

You were the detectives.

[Detective Carter]

They needed to do something. Susanna is nowhere to be found. They go out, they start canvassing as well.

[Susanna's Sister]

We were asking all the businesses to see if they had any cameras, and we got to a daycare. The camera system that the place had, it was super old, so it was like an hour ahead or behind.

[News Reporter]

I'll tell you the time it is.

[Susanna's Sister]

At first, we couldn't get anything until he went back to the right hour. We saw Susanna.

[News Reporter]

That is her.

[Susanna's Sister]

That's her. We were like, oh, my God, that's her. That's her.

[Detective Carter]

In the video, Susanna's wearing the yellow tank top, jeans, and white Crocs.

[Narrator/Commentator]

She's alone. There's no cars near her, no strangers.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

She appeared to be walking towards the direction of her home and that nothing was wrong at that moment.

[Sergeant Biggers]

Susanna walked this way. She walked past the cameras coming right there. She walked down this pathway here.

[Family Member]

Once we saw that, our mind was thinking that maybe she got kidnapped. She's being raped, she's trafficking. We just thought about the worst.

[Susanna's Sister]

It was a bad feeling because we knew for sure something had happened, because she was on the way home.

[Interviewer]

How did you feel?

[Detective Carter]

You have to look at what she abducted.

[Sergeant Biggers]

We have close to 40 to 50 missing persons reports in our system a month. And I would say majority of those, they come back home within the first week. All hands are on deck when it comes to a person that's been abducted versus someone is just being missing because you have to show that foul play is actually involved. And at that time, we didn't have any information that Suzanna was abducted by anyone. However, I had taken the case as a personal matter and I was looking for her like someone had taken her. My daughter is 16. At the time when this occurred, I looked at this as if she was my daughter because every day I saw my daughter, I saw her. So I was working harder every day because. I came over here to the extra storage space knowing that Susanna was continuing her walk. But unfortunately, the video camera only caught the brush at the bottom of here, didn't capture the sidewalk. We actually checked the buses cameras during that time frame when she went missing. We didn't see any footage of her on any of the buses. That's Sterling Glenn Apartments. The only cameras that they have on top of the building, those are considered like live feed cameras, which means live feed, not recording.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Once Susana was reported missing and nobody was able to find any location for her or any information about where she had gone, Susanna's family and her friends and the community began to launch a campaign to try and find Susana.

[Susanna's Sister]

We decided we would make these big posters and say, have you seen her? Can you please call this number? And we were posting all over social media. I remember I got a call from this woman. She was saying, I have your sister. I have your sister. In that moment, my heart dropped.

[Sergeant Biggers]

Especially nowadays with social media, people do things to make you feel like a moment of hope and false hope. And that's what happened.

[Susanna's Sister]

He was just not messing with me.

[Detective Carter]

Unfortunately, there are evil people out there and they prey on this.

[Narrator/Commentator]

The family is begging and pleading with anyone to find Susanna.

[Susanna's Sister]

We just don't know what happened. We don't know if she got picked up. We don't know if she got lost. She wouldn't just go out and, like, not tell her.

[True Crime Commentator]

This was a case that grabbed so much attention. You're talking about a teenager, and all of a sudden she goes missing. It blows your mind.

[Detective Carter]

We did receive a lot of tips from people who were genuine and did care and tried to give potential sightings of her.

[Interviewer]

One tip brings her family to the brink.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Someone saw Susanna's bright curly hair hair at a hotel.

[Interviewer]

Police are dispatched to the scene. What do they find?

[Susanna's Sister]

Me and my mom were going out every single day. If we would get a tip at 2 in the morning, we would be out looking for her at 2 in the morning. I remember that we would get a lot of like sightings of her. So we would always go and check out.

[Narrator/Commentator]

At one point, a tip comes in that someone saw Susanna's bright curly hair at a hotel.

[Susanna's Sister]

And when we went, we were just like driving around the hotel. And then in one of the windows we saw like a silhouette of two women and one had super curly hair. And we were like for sure that it was Susanna. So we called the police.

[Sergeant Biggers]

We had officers go to the hotel because they were actually waiting in the parking lot saying that Susanna was actually there.

[Susanna's Sister]

They were taking forever to get there. And once the police got there, they went inside and they were able to talk to one of the women that was there. But the lady that had left was the one with curly hair. And so we were like, oh my God, what if that was her? So we were left with that doubt if that lady was her or not.

[Sergeant Biggers]

They never gave up hope. And I lived off their hope. After my eight hours of work, I. I would still spend two to three more extra hours during, I would call it Susannah time, just driving around just to seeing if I could see Susanna sitting on a stoop or sitting at the playground, hoping that I would possibly see her just walking down the sidewalk. I mean, my car doesn't really look like, I mean, a police car. So I would actually go in plain clothes and just like camp out at some of these hotels. And after a while, some of the criminals who do a lot of prostitution started noticing who I was. This is the RV camp. Someone said that they had thought they saw her, saw a sighting of her over here. And then I just got into a routine that I would do the exact same thing. And I would go from the hotels to here to the businesses to the apartment complex to Sterling Glen. I just kept doing the exact same thing over and over because I just felt that if I didn't do it, that would be the day that someone saw her.

[Susanna's Sister]

It was a super hard time. I was honestly really just trying to be strong for my mom.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

The longer that Susana remained missing, the bigger of a story this became in the local community.

[News Anchor]

It's been more than a month since anyone in Susanna Morales family has heard from the 16 year old. This flyer is all across Norcross and Gwinnett county today. Gwinnett police said they can't find her alone.

[Susanna's Sister]

Honestly, we're just tired of not knowing. That's like the hardest part. But our goal was just to make sure that everybody knew her face. If anybody would try seeing her, they would call us.

[News Anchor]

Gwinnett police on Monday said they have exhausted all options and need the public's help to find her. The Meadow Creek High student is not believed to be in any danger.

[Susanna's Sister]

What's the evidence for them to think that or do they have evidence that show otherwise?

[True Crime Commentator]

While we're going through the fall, police don't have any updates on it.

[Susanna's Sister]

During that time. I also. I was pregnant. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. All I did was cry. I got pregnant to the point I couldn't do anything. And so mainly I felt guilt for not being able to look for her more.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

As the investigation began to month after month turn up no results, the Special Victims unit turned the case over to the homicide unit.

[True Crime Commentator]

What's interesting about this case is there's a team with the first 48 TV show that was embedded with police during this investigation into this disappearance of a teenage girl.

[Detective Carter]

SCU's been working a missing juvenile case for going actually six months. Today I was asked to come in and assist and I just got kind of pushy, I guess. Not in a bad way. I just kind of hijacked the case.

[Sergeant Biggers]

Carter is just. Man, she's a. She's a warrior and she knows. She just have a knack for stuff.

[Detective Carter]

There was zero communication coming from Susanna after that crash alert. Literally zero activity. Nothing. She's a teenager. That's unheard of.

[Susanna's Sister]

We did have hope that somebody new was coming to the case and hopefully they were able to see something that nobody else saw.

[Detective Carter]

I started from scratch. We took metal detectors where her phone was last seen on Live 360 and attempted to locate it. We're just gonna check that center median. I really wanna find this. We didn't find the phone. We just tried. I spoke to friends, I spoke to family.

[Sergeant Biggers]

You treat this just like a real homicide case. Not just a person just walked away. Everyone is now considered a suspect at this point.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Throughout those investigations, the police realized that absolutely none of them had any information whatsoever as to Susana's disappearance.

[Detective Carter]

So I asked for another media release to be sent out just to keep her name relevant. And we had no suspects at that time. We don't know who's watching.

[News Reporter]

This is 16 year old Susannah Morales, a teenager who's been missing since summer. Cell phone data and Cameras show her last known location was in Gwinnett county.

[Sergeant Biggers]

Walking home, we needed either someone come forward with some information or Susannah, come home.

[News Reporter]

If you have information, please call Gwinnett county police.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

And then within about two weeks or so, we had a break in the case.

[Family Member]

I received a call saying, did you hear the news? They found your sister.

[News Reporter]

Y' all really went out.

[News Anchor]

Nobody expected to still be looking for her.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Gwinnett county police department. Out of leaves.

[News Anchor]

They said they have exhausted all options

[Narrator/Commentator]

looking for this missing high school student.

[Detective Carter]

We had the meeting where it was decided, like I would kind of take over the case. And then we just started doing all these other search warrants and we got a call.

[Susanna's Sister]

Winnie County 911, what's the location of your emergency?

[Investigator/Police Officer]

He was driving. He noticed on the side of Highway 316 a trail that went into the wood line. He had a small kind of off road vehicle, and he liked to adventure and find different trails. And so he took that trail down the side of Highway 316. He ultimately said that he got a phone call, got out and began to walk around the woods. As he was on the phone, I

[News Reporter]

was just out walking through the woods off the side of 316, but I found a human skull. All right, we're gonna have an officer head out that way.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

No, no, bro.

[Narrator/Commentator]

A patrol officer sent check out those remains. The immediate assumption is, hey, it's probably an animal. It's a skull.

[News Reporter]

Oh, it's going. How you doing? That way. A little walk. Show us.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Officers arrive and they meet the man who made the 911 call from the side of the highway. And he kind of leads them into the woods where he found it.

[Detective Poppy]

Is it off like this road or

[News Reporter]

is it a little ways off? Right up over here.

[Detective Carter]

There's no stores, there's no real residences. It's just literally the side of a highway. It's not a place that people normally would pull over and just walk around or there's no reason for someone to be there.

[News Reporter]

313, out of the cold fort

[Susanna's Friend]

we

[Narrator/Commentator]

see on that officer's body cam when he gets there, the officer sees a skull and the remains are too big to be a small animal. And it's clearly they are human.

[News Reporter]

And there's more. I walked straight that way and there's a few more over here.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Step back a little bit.

[News Reporter]

We're gonna see how far we gotta cordon this off. I got some tape in the back

[Sergeant Biggers]

of my car too.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

So the Gwinnett county police department confirmed that they did Appear to be human remains. And so the Gwinnett county medical examiner, homicide unit, and crime scene specialist responded to the area.

[Forensic Specialist]

We were called out because a citizen discovered skeletal remains. This is just all wooded. There's nothing out here. Yeah, this general area right here is where the remains were located.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

It's gonna take.

[Sergeant Biggers]

This is gonna be all night.

[News Reporter]

Yeah, it's gonna be several hours.

[Forensic Specialist]

The first thing that I saw when I got here was a human skull on the ground. Right now, they're collecting some of the

[Investigator/Police Officer]

larger bones of the foot.

[Forensic Specialist]

We've retrieved a significant portion of the skeleton. The skull is complete. There's no clothing. There's no wallet. There's no, you know, possessions, no effects.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Police look and there's absolutely nothing to identify the person. Not even any indication if they're male or female. Dull child. Nothing.

[News Reporter]

I have not seen any sharp force injuries to the bones.

[Forensic Specialist]

Right now, we don't have a cause of death. We don't have an identity.

[News Reporter]

Looking at it, the growth points is not fused.

[Detective Carter]

She said tibia. Younger.

[Narrator/Commentator]

17, 18.

[Detective Carter]

Ish.

[Forensic Specialist]

The first words from the forensic pathologist when she sees what we have are, do you have any missing teenage girls?

[Narrator/Commentator]

So the medical examiner, Dr. Terry, she's able to tell that they're female. And that is when red flags start going off in our heads. Could this be Susanna?

[Forensic Specialist]

As we were sifting through the topsoil and recovering some of the small bones of the hands, one of the medical examiner investigators, he recovered some fingernails. We found some fingernails.

[News Reporter]

This paint was peeling off of them, right?

[Detective Carter]

Yeah.

[Friend Alyssa]

Like the black.

[Forensic Specialist]

This started missing as soon as I saw the nail polish on the fingernails. I recalled a photo that Detective Carter had shown me of Susanna. In that photograph, her. Her nails were painted black. It kind of put a chill in my spine.

[Detective Carter]

Something he took note of was that the remains that we were able to actually recover indicated that her clothes were not with her at the time that she was killed.

[Forensic Specialist]

I definitely remember thinking that whoever this girl turned out to be, you know, it was immediately obvious that she didn't walk out into the woods. As thick as it was, she didn't walk out here in the nude with no shoes on. That was immediately suspicious.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

By the time the medical examiner processed the scene, it was completely dark in the middle of the woods. Our immediate concern at that point was trying to verify if, in fact, these were Susannah.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Could it really be Susanna? All of ours. Heart spray. Because, of course, we still hope she's alive.

[Forensic Specialist]

I made arrangements to have uniformed officers out here so that there would be bodies all night guarding this perimeter, making sure that no evidence could be tampered with to come back out here the next day to search for additional items just because it was too dark to perform that thorough of a search.

[News Reporter]

Hey, y', all, hold up. Recruits found a gun.

[Forensic Specialist]

It felt really strange that a firearm

[Detective Poppy]

would be out here, probably 30 yards past where the skeletal remains were found.

[News Reporter]

I was just out walking through the woods off the side of 316, but I found a human skull. I walked straight that way and there was a few more over there.

[Detective Carter]

So we went that next morning out to the remains. So just make sure that you're scanning carefully because they're going to be small pieces that you're looking for in addition to clothing, shoes, something like that.

[News Reporter]

All right, go ahead. Form the line from here down to the guardrail. Just fill in any gaps.

[Narrator/Commentator]

So we line up police officers to do a grid walking through the woods near that remains to see is there anything that could have been left there?

[News Reporter]

Hey, y', all, hold up.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Recruits found a gun probably 200ft off the highway. Here was a black pistol just barely

[News Reporter]

covered with pine straw.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

It was a 9 millimeter firearm that had a flashlight attached to the firearm as well. And it appeared it had been there for some time, probably 30 yards past

[Detective Poppy]

where the skeletal remains were found. It's definitely suspicious.

[Susanna's Sister]

You want to run that really quick?

[News Reporter]

A 1029 pistol, serial Bravo Romeo X

[Detective Poppy]

Ray Hotel 074, which ran 1099. It means it's stolen.

[Detective Carter]

The gun was loaded, but there was no evidence to say that it had been fired.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

That's where the gun was actually found, is where that dead end was.

[Detective Carter]

Definitely the close proximity that the gun was to the remains and then the gun being listed as stolen, it. It doesn't take a rocket science to figure out that they're probably related. I want to talk to the guy who reported it missing.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Police run that serial number of the firearm. They find out that that gun was reported missing by someone named Miles Bryant. Miles Bryant actually lived in the Sterling Glen apartments.

[Detective Carter]

I pulled the report and saw that it had been reported stolen the same day that Susanna was reported as missing from the same location, Sterling Glen Apartments.

[Narrator/Commentator]

She's last seen July 26, 2022, 10:00pm the next morning. In the early morning hours, that gun's reported stolen from the Sterling Glen apartment apartments. Miles Bryant is the owner of that gun. He lives at the Sterling Glen apartment complex where Susanna was last seen. All of our evidence is coming back to Sterling Glen.

[Detective Carter]

Miles Bryant, the guy who Reported his gun stolen the day after Susanna went missing. He reported from his courtesy officer job at Winscape Village.

[Prosecutor]

He was working in security?

[Susanna's Sister]

Yes.

[News Reporter]

Oh, my gosh.

[Detective Carter]

He's a cop?

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Yeah.

[Detective Carter]

The moment that I found out that he was a cop, it was like, are you serious? What the heck? Like, it was kind of extremely shocking because you never think you're gonna see that. It was, like, getting crazy.

[Forensic Specialist]

Where is he an officer?

[Detective Carter]

I learned that the person who reported the gun as stolen was Miles Bryant. From there, I started doing some research on him.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Miles Bryant was working for the Dorrville Police Department. Dorville is between our area and Gwinnett and the city of Atlanta not far from us.

[True Crime Commentator]

His side gig was to do security. He was a courtesy officer for the apartment complex where he lived. And that's typical. You'll see officers live in different apartment complexes and they'll do security for them.

[Defense Attorney]

He appears very young, and he is young. He was in his early 20s. Miles grew up here. He went to school here in Gwinnett County.

[Friend/Acquaintance of Miles Bryant]

Me and Miles Bryant grew up since I was in elementary school. We were best friends. He was kind of nerdy. He wore glasses. He liked me. He wasn't my type. So I just kind of threw him into the friend zone.

[Prosecutor]

Miles played football at Burtmore High School. He was a running back.

[Defense Attorney]

His number was 23.

[Prosecutor]

He would post highlight videos of himself to his Huddle account. He's an ROTC in high school. He joins the Army National Guard. Miles was very proud of his National Guard service. He posted photos of himself in his uniform on social media.

[Defense Attorney]

He always wanted to be a police officer.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Detective Carter began to review that report of the missing weapon, believing that it was very possible somebody had stolen this gun and used it to abduct Susanna.

[News Reporter]

What's up, man? Hey, Mr. Brad.

[Susanna's Sister]

I'm sorry.

[Narrator/Commentator]

No, you're good at that point. That's when we pull that body cam video on the gun reported missing so yesterday.

[News Reporter]

So I can't find my wallet. And then this morning, I looked on my floorboard and the my Glock 19 holster, right. Oh, I hate to say I think I left my three, right. They ain't smashed the window or nothing. I around left my door unlocked.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Miles Bryant reports that from his personal vehicle, his own truck, his wallet is taken and his gun is taken.

[News Reporter]

I looked down this morning and saw my holster. I said, I can't find my wallet. My holster's there. My gun and holster is never separate, you know? Okay.

[Forensic Specialist]

Anyway, I'll list it in the truck just to Say it's out of the airport.

[News Reporter]

Yeah, I don't really care about, you know, the detective, stuff like that. I just want to.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

You know, we found it very odd that. That Mr. Bryant would not want detectives to follow up on a stolen gun report.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Hey, I just want to document this, but you don't need to send it to detectives. You don't need to investigate that. That's unheard of.

[News Reporter]

If you need anything, hit me up. I'm more than welcome to talk to you. Cool, man. Appreciate it, bro. Hey, hopefully you find your wallet.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

It's not, actually.

[News Reporter]

Yeah, I know.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

When the police department discovered that he was a police officer, they didn't want to believe that he was necessarily involved in this. But at the same time, it was very difficult to figure out and think about how his gun could have ended up in the woods where Susanna was last located, 22 miles away from where he lived.

[Detective Carter]

I was like, hardcore at that point. We need to talk to this person because they're definitely going to have information or some kind of involvement.

[News Reporter]

We're literally talking to everyone here. So we got no, man. We're just trying to.

[Sergeant Biggers]

Myself and Detective Carter went and got the dental records for Susanna. The medical examiner was able to match them up and actually told us that it was Susanna. Me and Carter, we just sat there and cried. For about 10 minutes because we. We didn't want to believe that it was her.

[Detective Carter]

We're about to go make death notification to the family. I'm not looking forward to it, but it has to be done. Break the horrible news. You guys want to go inside for a second?

[Detective Poppy]

Yeah.

[Susanna's Sister]

I remember going to my mom's house to wait for the police. So I know Biggers and Carter were coming. And then that's when they informed us that they had found her remains.

[Family Member]

And I was like, what? They found my sister.

[Susanna's Sister]

I remember Brandis hearing my mom screaming, and I was in shock. I was like, that can't be true. Like, that can't be true.

[Sergeant Biggers]

Our mom literally just fell to the ground. Her soul just left her body. It was the hardest thing that I've ever done. And to this day, it still. Obviously, you can see that it still stick with me.

[Susanna's Sister]

Then the queso, Susanna.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Unfortunately, because of the way the body was to disposed of, we have no indication of what happened to Susanna.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

But what the medical examiner also determined very quickly was that there was also absolutely no evidence of any clothing that had been on Susanna prior to her being left there. And that was significant because with an accidental death, it would be very unlikely Nearly unheard of for Susannah to not be dressed, to not be clothed. And so that immediately told us that we suspected this was a homicide.

[News Reporter]

Investigators in Gwinnett county just told us human remains found along Highway 316, that's in Gwinnett county are those of a 16 year old girl who disappeared in July.

[Susanna's Sister]

I remember Carter promising me that she would find out what happened and who did it.

[Detective Poppy]

Looking at Miles, we're kind of wondering, you know, what his involvement may have been. Is he a true victim and had his gun stolen and whoever stole it is responsible, you know, for maybe taking Susanna? Or is this a ruse to distance himself from his gun being located out in the woods where the remains were found?

[Investigator/Police Officer]

They then obtained a search warrant for Mr. Bryant's cellular phone records.

[Detective Carter]

We just got phone records back on our suspects.

[Narrator/Commentator]

He is in the wood line at

[Detective Carter]

1am which is three hours later after Susanna goes missing.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Now, Miles Bryant was a police officer. He had two phones. A personal cell phone and a work cell phone. Both phones put him in that location. And he's in the same location at the same time as Susannah's remains.

[Detective Carter]

Oh, I wanted to go arrest him. I wanted to go arrest Miles, like, right away. I wanted to leave that night and go get him because it was alarming. I'm like, he's in a position of power. I'm like, we can't just leave him like this. But this is a cop involved in this. We need to make sure we handle this correctly.

[Detective Poppy]

I went out there and just waited for him to walk outside, and we just approached him asking for his help for our investigation on Susanna.

[Forensic Specialist]

Hey, man.

[News Reporter]

What's up? You doing all right? We're just out here. We're trying to look for anybody helping

[Detective Poppy]

us out with that missing girl.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

You're the courtesy officer or something?

[News Reporter]

Yes, sir. Cool, man. You know anything about that? Yeah. No, I don't.

[Detective Poppy]

Miles's response to the information he had about Susanna was a little surprising. He should be more informed with what's going on in his complex Flex. If he's a good courtesy officer, you

[Investigator/Police Officer]

know, you got some time for us to come up to our headquarters and

[News Reporter]

just talk about, you know, what you see on a daily basis and stuff like that.

[Detective Poppy]

Yeah. So at that time, there was no arrest warrants for Miles, so he really needed to come voluntarily. So we kind of just urged him that we needed his help.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Yeah.

[News Reporter]

It doesn't have to be today. Yeah.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Yeah.

[News Reporter]

Now I have to go meet my girlfriend and not work for him. Okay. What time's work at 4. Yeah, it should be. We're. We're literally talking to everyone here. We got no leave, man. We're just trying to document everything.

[Forensic Specialist]

That's all.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

We are.

[News Reporter]

No problem. Okay. You are. You can get up front seat. All right, ma'?

[Susanna's Sister]

Am.

[News Reporter]

Yeah, we'll get you up there, knock this out.

[Narrator/Commentator]

We don't put him in the back of a patrol car. We actually let him sit up front in the police car, trying to make him feel comfortable, make him see, hey, we're just police officers, one on one, friends talking to each other.

[Detective Poppy]

So we brought Miles up here, he sat in this chair here, and we interviewed him.

[News Reporter]

Hey, how you doing?

[Detective Carter]

In the interview room, we have seats where we put certain people. Like where detectives sit, where suspects sit. We let him sit in a detective seat. We didn't change anything. We wanted him to be as comfortable as possible. I'm Detective Carter. We don't know how to get a lot for this case, so I gotta start working a little bit more.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

So Detective Carter obviously wanted to build a rapport with him. They're both working for the same goal, trying to accomplish the same thing, and that's find a missing girl.

[Detective Carter]

Have you ever seen her? She used to be older, Quite a bit.

[News Reporter]

Okay. I haven't recognized the picture. The picture, I haven't recognized it.

[Detective Carter]

So the initial plan for the interview, again, just go in there, be relaxed, ask him very open ended questions. I asked him about his gun. Have you heard anything about the gun? And I played dumb. I know that your gun was stolen. Do you know if it was located or anything yet?

[News Reporter]

No, I've heard anything.

[Detective Carter]

I haven't run it yet. We probably need to check that. And then at one point, when I think I got as much information as I probably could get from him with just being super casual, I dropped that one bomb, basically. My sergeant did confirm. So we did find your gun, actually.

[News Reporter]

Yeah.

[Detective Carter]

You watch the news? You know, we found Savannah, but there was actually a gun found out there too. Yeah. You've been shaking.

[News Reporter]

Yeah.

[News Anchor]

It's crazy.

[News Reporter]

You know, I told you you were coming up.

[Detective Poppy]

You know, we wanted your help and everything. And your hands are shaking. In my car.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

We had not disclosed prior to the interview with Mr. Bryant that we had found a firearm near Susanna's body. So he learned that for the first time, sitting there in the interview room.

[News Reporter]

Guy's crazy. I found my gun.

[Detective Carter]

And it's the same serial number. He just verified it.

[News Reporter]

That's crazy.

[Detective Carter]

I know. So help me walk through it a little bit. Do you know where she was found 316 somewhere. At that point, when I told him we found his gun, he does start shaking a little bit more.

[News Reporter]

That's crazy. I found my gun.

[Detective Carter]

So do you think he's involved? I mean, that's a crazy coincidence. Yeah, I think it got stolen from you the same day. So it's probably someone that was walking around out there.

[News Reporter]

Yeah.

[Detective Carter]

Try to think hard with me.

[News Reporter]

Did you know her at all, Morales?

[Detective Poppy]

Nothing.

[News Reporter]

Nothing at all.

[Detective Carter]

Look, your gun was found there. You know how this goes. We have to do like this, that and the third to do everything, which we did. We did our due diligence. So I did get your phone record.

[Family Member]

So I had no.

[Detective Carter]

I knew you were already up there, so kind of tell you were there for a little while.

[Detective Poppy]

So once Miles was confronted with the phone records, he changed his story to say that he got in this crazy chase fight with his girlfriend.

[News Reporter]

She tried to chase my girlfriend tried to chase me with her car.

[Detective Poppy]

Yeah.

[News Reporter]

I mean, I was driving around. I was driving and I remember I was driving and I was still in our area. No words dropping. She tried to chase me. Yeah. Like the Jerry Springer episode.

[Detective Carter]

His story went from there's no reason I would be there, I'm never there to oh, yeah, actually I was there and I stopped and pulled over and I was on the phone going up

[News Reporter]

towards Lawrenceville, I think. Oh, man, that sounds bad. It is over about 316.

[Detective Carter]

I mean, you're saying that's bad? I mean, Lawrenceville's big. You're saying that's bad? You mean the area where.

[News Reporter]

Yeah, cuz. Yeah, I'm be honest. Some police are okay. So, yeah, my gun was found in that area. You know, technically was in that area. Stuff like that, you know,

[Detective Carter]

I think

[News Reporter]

it sounds bad, man.

[Detective Poppy]

Miles ultimately, you know, says that he admits that he was out there. He kind of has to because his phone put him out there. But he said he was. Doesn't get out of his vehicle, doesn't do anything in the woods.

[Detective Carter]

Why were you in the woods?

[News Reporter]

I wasn't in the woods.

[Detective Carter]

You were in the woods.

[News Reporter]

I was not in the woods.

[Detective Carter]

You were. You're not helping me out much, man.

[News Reporter]

I know.

[Detective Carter]

Interviewing him was just so frustrating because this poor girl didn't deserve this. Like, she didn't. And I just wanted him to take responsibility and actually tell us what happened instead of deflecting and trying to say that he had nothing to do with it. So I say, okay. I'm like, this isn't working with me. I said, fine, we're gonna take a break. He's not gonna come off of it. You wanna try? Maybe it's cause I'm a female. Because he doesn't respect females.

[Detective Poppy]

We decided, you know, we were kind of running into dead ends interviewing Miles. And that's when me and Sergeant Poppy decided to come in and just get more aggressive with him.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Sergeant Poppy? I'm Carter's supervisor.

[Detective Poppy]

The confessional was going to be huge in this case because without a manner of death, we needed Miles to tell us how he killed her. We just decided to take an aggressive approach and just tell him that he was essentially just full of.

[News Reporter]

And at the end of the day,

[Investigator/Police Officer]

you can't give us any information on why your gun is there and why you're there for an extended period of

[Detective Poppy]

time in the same spot that her body was found.

[News Reporter]

I don't know. I was by myself the entire night. Besides, when my girlfriend was chasing me. That's not a good answer.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

And your girlfriend's gonna tell us she was chasing you that night?

[News Reporter]

Yeah, she remembered.

[Detective Carter]

I then speak to his girlfriend on the phone to confirm whether she was chasing him that night or not.

[Susanna's Sister]

Quick question.

[Detective Carter]

You said you caught him cheating that night. You weren't chasing him. But she said she never chased him.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Your girlfriend says absolutely not. She did not chase you that night.

[News Reporter]

She did not chase me. I swear.

[Detective Poppy]

So I even, you know, told Miles I thought he was, you know, lying about his gun being stolen, telling him that he was trying to distance himself from the crime. And he just denied, denied, denied everything.

[News Reporter]

I think you dropped your guns. Good find.

[Detective Poppy]

That you gave up and left.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

No. So you didn't even want a detective assigned to your case. You told the officer, you don't even have to investigate this.

[News Reporter]

Because if you.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Because if we investigate it, we're gonna find it. And it's gonna be near a dead body that you killed.

[News Reporter]

No. You can say no.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

I don't hear that word from you no more.

[Detective Poppy]

You don't represent this badge at all or this country. So, dude, I was hoping talking to Miles about, you know, honor, pride, integrity, might tug on his, you know, conscience a little bit. Because people get into law enforcement for the right reason. And I was hoping maybe that would strike a chord in Miles. But unfortunately, it didn't. Honor, integrity, sacrifice, you're none of those.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

And unless you could provide us with that thing, then that's going to say it's not you. But you haven't done that.

[News Reporter]

What do y' all want? I tell you everything I got.

[Susanna's Sister]

All right, man.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Be charged we'll be back in a couple minutes.

[News Reporter]

Why bro, I should have stayed home instead of drive around, man.

[Detective Carter]

We tell him, look dude, you're under arrest.

[News Reporter]

Go ahead and stand up for it.

[Detective Carter]

We get his phone, we get his passwords and he is transported to the jail.

[News Reporter]

Oh, can't, bro. I cannot go to jail.

[Forensic Specialist]

I have a career.

[Detective Carter]

At that time. Because we weren't 100% sure on the cause of death and we were still looking for additional evidence, we charged him with false report. You can't just go to a judge and say, well, I just know it, I just feel it, you know, we have to come with some evidence.

[Narrator/Commentator]

We started investigating Myles Bryant's past and there starts to be a bunch of weird behavior with women.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

We began to realize who Mr. Bryant really was under the surface. And it was this repeated pattern, all involving young women.

[Friend/Acquaintance of Miles Bryant]

I was very scared for my life.

[Family Member]

The funeral was very surprising. Seeing a lot of community together,

[Susanna's Sister]

A

[Family Member]

lot of people out there supporting our family.

[Interviewer]

And that quinceanera dress was the one she was buried in.

[Susanna's Sister]

All I could do was cry and cry.

[Family Member]

The most emotional part about the funeral was just hearing my mom cry out justice for Susie to the Lord.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Susanna Morales family got a call from investigators just hours after laying her to rest Monday.

[Interviewer]

Miles Bryant. The first time you heard the name Miles Bryant.

[Narrator/Commentator]

22 year old miles Bryant started the day as an officer with Doraville Police. Now he's behind bars, off the job and linked to the disappearance of a dead teenage.

[Detective Carter]

I got search warrants and conducted forensic downloads on his cell phones and then began reviewing that data. I was able to show and put him out there based on his activity logs on his cell phone. Like how quickly you moving your steps and stuff like that. At 1:20am he traveled 3, 381 meters. 131, 140 meters, 141, 373 meters. Technology is amazing. In a cell phone you can see how many steps somebody takes. You can see their heart rates, get their locations. Do you know where she was found? So when Miles told us, he was just sitting in the truck. Do you ever go in the woods and stuff out there in a loosenow? He was actually dumping Susanna's body in the woods and then losing his gun and freaking out because he can't find his gun because it's pitch black out there. That's him running around.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Where's my gun? Yep, looking for his gun.

[Narrator/Commentator]

It's interesting that those phone records put him at that remote location where the remains and Gun are found twice the nighttime when Susanna goes missing. And then the next morning our theory is that he, he goes back to the woods. We assume he's looking for the gun that he dropped.

[Detective Carter]

So we also got like his Google search history. He is on Google zooming in on the wooded area where he leaves her. Safari search for how long does it take a body to decompose?

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Yeah.

[Sergeant Biggers]

Bike trap.

[News Anchor]

The man arrested last week for the death of 16 year old Susanna Morales is now charged with her murder. 22 year old former Doraville police officer Miles Bryant now faces charges of felony murder and kidnapping.

[News Reporter]

It's disheartening when you think that a police officer would be involved in something as heinous as this situation. It is an affront to what these officers do on a daily basis.

[Defense Attorney]

We went to arraignment, we entered a plea of not they didn't do their

[Narrator/Commentator]

job, they didn't do their due diligence.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

I think there were some feelings from many in the community that the police didn't care about Susana, about her being missing because she was Hispanic. And while I didn't feel that way and I don't think the police felt that way, I think that was a feeling in the community at the time.

[Susanna's Sister]

It was still seven months of us looking for her, seven months of us worrying about her. I feel like if we could have found out sooner that would have been a little more helpful for us that maybe we could have buried her body and not just her bones.

[News Anchor]

Chief McClure defended his department again. This case was immediately assigned to an

[News Reporter]

investigator and they began following up on

[Investigator/Police Officer]

leads, trying to locate Suzanne.

[Detective Carter]

When I was looking into Miles, I located a lot of documented history and encounters we had with him where it seemed like he kind of targeted women.

[Friend/Acquaintance of Miles Bryant]

Me and Miles Bryant were friends from 5th grade all the way up to 10th grade. We kind of stopped talking a little bit. But then after graduation, he hit me up to start talking again. He was asking me about his ex girlfriend a lot and I kind of got like a icky feeling.

[Detective Carter]

Alysha Bates told him, I don't want to deal with you anymore. And he just wouldn't take no for an answer on that. He continued to reach out. He continued to like follow her around, show up at her apartment, try to break into her apartment, covering his face

[News Anchor]

and pulling on the door handle, then again knocking. This happened nearly five months after Gwinnett police say Bryant dumped the naked body of Morales in July.

[Friend/Acquaintance of Miles Bryant]

My neighbor's ring cam captured two times Miles Bryant showing up to my home Uninvited. It freaked me out. When I called Doraville's department, I spoke to the chief and the chief was telling me that he'd speak to Miles and give me a call back.

[True Crime Commentator]

So his superiors start investigating that. Bryant says that he only did that because she probably posted something he found strange on social media. So he went by her house to check about her well being.

[Prosecutor]

And Doraville just writes it off as a misunderstanding between two people. But they do tell him not to have any more contact with Alicia Bates. When you look at it in light of what came out in relation to the Susanna Morales case, however, it's very concerning.

[Friend/Acquaintance of Miles Bryant]

I was very scared for my life. I felt like everything was against me as far as the odds, just the fact that he was a cop.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Mr. Bryant lived two lives. On the surface he was a well respected police officer. But then on the other side was this dark and hidden secrets.

[Detective Carter]

We and the DA's office, we all looked through his body cam footage. There was a call located where he responded to a missing juvenile.

[News Reporter]

So somebody picked you up and what

[Sergeant Biggers]

in that video he basically described what he's basically done to Susanna, which is very scary.

[News Reporter]

We're doing a missing person, then we find your body out there in the woods. Then what?

[Susanna's Sister]

Foreign.

[Detective Poppy]

An ex cop now on the other side of the law, accused of kidnapping and murdering 16 year old Susanna Morales.

[True Crime Commentator]

We have yet to hear why prosecutors think the former police officer would abduct the teenager and kill her. They did say that he is accused of trying to dump her body in a wooded area. Reporting live in Gwinnett County, Courtney Francisco, Channel 2 Action News. This was a high profile trial. The courtroom was packed, a lot of family and friends and it involved a police officer. So you can imagine the interest is really high.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

He was supposed to serve and protect. Instead he abused the woman. He is a cop who turned into a killer.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Unfortunately, because of the way Miles Bryant dumped Susanna's body, we didn't have evidence to prove a cause of death.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

I thought it was important for the jury to understand that it's his fault that that we don't have that the defendant doesn't get to escape justice because he's good at.

[Defense Attorney]

Our strategy was basically to try to get the jury to see that. It was basically a speculation as to what really happened that led to the death of Ms. Morales. We do know that Miles left her in the woods. We don't know if she was unconscious at that time or if she was dead. We don't know that he did anything

[Narrator/Commentator]

to her to Cause that he might

[Investigator/Police Officer]

have lured her either through the use of a badge or gotten her in the vehicle somehow, but very quickly, I think he incapacitated her and ultimately murdered her. And as the courtesy officer there at the apartment complex, he had run into Susannah and had seen her along with her friends.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Do you swear?

[Prosecutor]

Susanna's friend Alyssa testifies at the trial that they had met Myles Bryant before at the apartment complex.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

The defendant, Miles Bryant.

[News Reporter]

Have you seen her before?

[Friend Alyssa]

We all knew it was a cop in our neighborhood.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

Had you ever had any personal interactions with the defendant before Susannah disappeared?

[Susanna's Sister]

Yes.

[Friend Alyssa]

He came with his backpack and he had a drink with him and he had little shot cups and he had edibles and stuff. And he asked how old I was. And then when I told him my age, he like still wanted to talk to me, but didn't talk to me because my age. So he knew not to drink with me, but he wanted to drink with me before he knew my age. But he still offered the edibles.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

And Susanna was with you?

[Friend Alyssa]

Yes. He offered us to give us a ride to get pizza, but we said no because we're underage. You're grown.

[Defense Attorney]

How old were you back in July of 2022?

[Friend Alyssa]

I was 17.

[Defense Attorney]

Too young to dream, correct?

[Narrator/Commentator]

Right.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

It proved to us a connection. There was some time when Mr. Bryant had seen Susannah before, even though he claimed to never have seen her.

[True Crime Commentator]

Prosecutors were painting a picture of Officer Creepy. His employment record was strong evidence that he had some questionable encounters.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

I'm going to show you what's Martin states Exhibit 6.

[Prosecutor]

Prosecutors show the body camera footage of Miles Bryant telling a 13 year old what could happen to her if she runs away from home.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

A mom had reported her 13 year old daughter was missing and he is there taking the information. While he's there, this young 13 year old girl comes back.

[Detective Carter]

Miles starts talking to her and says pretty much narrates what I believe he did to Susanna.

[News Reporter]

Something was happening to you. We're doing a missing person. Then we find your body out there in the woods. Then what? Nowadays people don't care. People are my size big and just come snatch you up. You can scream, you can shout all you want. They go throw you in the back of the van, they go take you and your parents will never see you again. And there's nothing you can do. You can't fight it.

[Detective Carter]

It was definitely disturbing.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Here he is interacting with another young Hispanic female, a teenager, and scaring her.

[News Reporter]

You got a cell phone?

[Narrator/Commentator]

No, no.

[News Reporter]

See little something happened out there. What you gonna call?

[Detective Carter]

And this was a couple months before Susanna ever went missing.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

And it was almost this premonition that he had put thought into this.

[News Reporter]

It's ridiculous that he would use his position in order to prey on young women.

[Susanna's Sister]

Emotional testimony today in the trial of

[True Crime Commentator]

a former police officer.

[Detective Carter]

I had prepped a lot for this trial because it meant so much to me and I didn't want to be the reason anything messed up. So I was very, you know, locked in and focused. I get up there and then the emotions just start coming. Detective Keshler was communicating with me and telling me that they believed it was going to be. Sorry. A Hispanic teenage girl.

[Narrator/Commentator]

That's all the questions I have.

[Defense Attorney]

I don't have any questions, ma'.

[Susanna's Friend]

Am.

[True Crime Commentator]

Thank you.

[Prosecutor]

The defense attorney in this case doesn't really challenge a lot of the things that are said about Miles Bryant. And she doesn't call any witnesses. There's still one person sin we're all waiting to hear from.

[Narrator/Commentator]

However, Mr. Bryant, do you swear or affirm that testimony you're about to give in this case is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

[Sergeant Biggers]

Can't get enough. 2020 true crime.

[News Reporter]

This podcast is for you.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Join me for 2020, the after show.

[News Reporter]

Wherever you get your podcast, get exclusive audio you won't hear anyplace else.

[Sergeant Biggers]

New episodes drop every Monday.

[Detective Poppy]

The ex cop plans to testify in his own defense.

[Prosecutor]

When the defense attorney says, we're going to hear from Miles Bryant, that was a big bit of news for us.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Miles Bright is the only one who was in this woods. Susanna's mom and family could finally get answers.

[Detective Carter]

He told us he didn't do this. Look at her.

[News Reporter]

Have nothing to do with this.

[Detective Carter]

If he wanted to take that back, he needed to get up on the stand and say it.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Are you aware that this is the only time you can testify during your trial?

[News Reporter]

Yes, ma'. Am.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Do you personally, Myles Bryant, want to testify or not?

[News Reporter]

No, ma'. Am.

[Narrator/Commentator]

He didn't take the stand.

[True Crime Commentator]

So everyone waiting with that bated breath how he can explain himself, they did not get that at all.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

He's a predatory monster with a badge. I'm asking you to find him guilty.

[Defense Attorney]

Is there any evidence of malice in murder?

[Narrator/Commentator]

There is not.

[Susanna's Sister]

When we were waiting for the verdict, it was like 8pm and we were there seemed like forever, to be honest.

[News Anchor]

Tonight we learned the fate of the

[News Reporter]

former police officer accused of killing this teenager, Susana Morales.

[Detective Carter]

The judge is given the paper. She's reading it. I swear. It's like in Slow mo It takes forever.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Count one. Malice murder. We the jury, found the defendant guilty.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

And as soon as she said guilty to malice murder, I knew at that moment, we had him. The guilty on malice murder would have was gonna send them to prison. Prison forever.

[True Crime Commentator]

Miles Bryant found guilty of malice murder, kidnapping, felony murder, and false report of a crime.

[Susanna's Sister]

I felt maybe just like a little bit of relief that he wasn't gonna be able to walk away free from what he did.

[Family Member]

I would like to know from Miles Bryant, why did he do it? What did my sister do to him to serve such a death?

[Investigator/Police Officer]

I don't think they're ever gonna get those answers. I think they'll have to live with an understanding that we got the right person.

[Detective Carter]

Susanna's family is able to give the victim impact statements. Then Miles is asked, does he have anything to say?

[News Reporter]

I just want to apologize to everybody and to the victim's family.

[Detective Carter]

He says sorry. He just gives some. He should have just been quiet.

[Susanna's Sister]

No, I didn't care about his apology, to be honest, because we still had that unknown of what happened that night.

[Detective Poppy]

The judge then sentenced Bryant to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

[Interviewer]

You moved from that house.

[Detective Carter]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Do you still wait for her?

[Susanna's Sister]

See, it'll be a baby.

[Interviewer]

She was your baby. How often do you think about her?

[Susanna's Sister]

The video of Susanna singing the song location on the ukulele is one of my favorite videos to look back on. So won't you save me your location? Let's focus on communicating.

[Family Member]

My last memory was I got on her bed. Cinda was like, susie, I love you so much. I hugged her. She was like, I love you, too. And I think that was the best experience. The last experience I had with her.

[Susanna's Sister]

I want her to remember by her laugh because she was a beautiful girl. And at the end of the day, she was just a sister, a daughter, a friend. And that night, she was on the way home, and nobody had the right to take that away from her. She was on the way home.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

We should note tonight that Miles Bryant's motion for a new trial has been been denied. He's now appealing that decision to the State Supreme Court.

[Narrator/Commentator]

David. For more on Susana's case or similar homicide investigations, you can check out the first 48 Thursdays on AE.

[Detective Carter]

That's our program for tonight.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Thanks for watching.

[Detective Carter]

I'm Deborah Roberts.

[Investigator/Police Officer]

And I'm David Muir. From all of us here at 2020 at ABC News, good.

[News Reporter]

Sa.