Briana Winston: Grandma pleads for return of missing Clayton County mom police believe to be dead

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. - The family of a young woman reported missing at the beginning of April is still searching for answers as all signs begin to point to murder.

Briana Winston's family hasn't stopped handing out missing person flyers, hoping someone knows where the 23-year-old is.

"I just don't see how it could happen to a beautiful young woman who is trying to do everything by herself," Ann Thomas, Winston's grandmother, told FOX 5 Atlanta. She said her granddaughter was a loving mother to her 4-year-old child.

Briana Winston (Clayton County Police Department)

"She was real sweet, loving, adorable, really attentive, loved her baby to the death," Thomas said.

Thomas said she and Winston would text each other every week. She sensed something was wrong when Winston suddenly stopped responding after March 16.

Where is Briana Winston?

Winston's cousin, Jasmine Walker, said the family found out from a friend that she was last seen heading back to the apartment she shared with her child's father, her boyfriend Michale Edwards.

After not hearing from Winston for a while, her cousin asked the apartment complex to do a welfare check on her.

"They said the apartment was totally cleaned out, and it smelled like bleach went out of the apartment," she said.

Walker reported her cousin missing to the Clayton County Police Department on April 1.

On April 26, Walker said she received the call from investigators she hoped she would never get.

Missing Clayton County mother believed to be homicide victim

"They called me and told me that, um, that she was going to put out a press release because she figured that my cousin is deceased," she told FOX 5 Atlanta. "And, um, she said from this point on, they're just looking for [Briana's] body."

Police named Edwards and his wife, Brienna Phillips-Edwards, as persons of interest in the case.

Michale Edwards and Brienna Phillips-Edwards  (Clayton County Police Department)

Walker said she had no idea her cousin's boyfriend was married to another woman.

Edwards was taken to the Clayton County Jail where he is being held on aggravated stalking charges from a different case.

Phillips-Edwards was arrested for false statements, but was later released on bond.

When asked whether the false statements were in regard to Winston's disappearance, police said they could not confirm that information.

Meanwhile, Thomas said she just wants her granddaughter back.

"Could you please just come forward and tell us something about her whereabouts and what you had to do with it, so we can find her body or find her and bring her home?"

 The family said if you know anything, please call the Clayton County Police Department.