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Family of Susana Morales shows raw emotion as they call for justice in her death
The pain was very clear from the family of 16-year-old Susana Morales more than a month after former Doraville Police Officer Miles Bryant was arrested. The family held a press conference on Thursday calling for justice in the case. It is one of several cases recently in Gwinnett County which has raised concerns among Hispanic community.
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - The family of 16-year-old Susana Morales spoke with raw emotion on Thursday morning calling for justice in the murder of the teenager.
Miles Bryant, a now ex-Doraville police officer kidnapped and then killed Susana before dumping her body, the Gwinnett County Police Department says.
During a news conference, Morales’ sister and mother demanded transparency and changes to ensure this never happens again to any other family.
"We were just holding onto the fact that we were going to see her again one day and that any day she would walk through those doors," said her sister Jasmine Morales.
Susana Morales poses for pictures with her family. (Supplied) (Supplied)
Morales' family said they will be at The Universal Church on Thursday night for the community meeting in hopes of getting some questions answered.
For Jasmine, there is still a lot of raw emotion. It has been more than seven months since Susana vanished and just about a month since her remains were found.
"No amount of money, no amount of justice can bring her back to us," Jasmine said. "But what we can do is to try and make sure that this doesn't happen to anybody else again and that's why we are here today."
Susana's family gathered Thursday to share their concerns about the case, to demand justice and push for changes to missing person investigations.
"She never did anything to anyone, she didn't deserve that," said Maria Bran, the victim’s mom through an interpreter.
Miles Bryant (Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office)
Bryant remains in the Gwinnett County Adult Detention Center without bond on charges of murder, kidnapping, first-degree burglary, filing a false report of a crime, and concealing the death of another.
"We do not want the person responsible for this to be free, we want them to receive justice, and we do not want them to receive bail," Bran said.
The family also said they want to ensure Susana's death was not in vain. They are calling on police departments to reevaluate policies and police hiring practices.
"We want to make sure her death means something and changes something in this world," Jasmine said.
For that reason, the Morales family will be at the community forum Thursday night in Norcross to talk with police.
The forum is set to address concerns within the Hispanic community like the recent murders involving youths and a number of overdoses among teens.