Susana Morales murder: Jury charges ex-officer with attempted rape
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - A former Doraville police officer accused of kidnapping and murdering a Gwinnett County teenage girl has now been charged with attempted rape in connection with the case.
Miles Bryant is accused of abducting 16-year-old Susana Morales as she walked home from a friend's house in July 2022.
In a new indictment on Jan. 10, 2024, a Gwinnett County grand jury charged Bryant with five counts, including a new count of criminal attempt to commit rape.
In the new charge, the grand jurors alleged that Bryant "did knowingly attempt to commit the crime of rape," when he "did kidnap Susana Morales, an act which constitutes a substantial step toward the commission of said crime."
Former Doraville Police Department Officer Miles Bryant arrested in death of 16-year-old Susana Morales. (Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office)
Bryant had previously been charged with four other counts, which included felony murder, malice murder, and false report of a crime.
The ex-officer will go before a judge for an arraignment hearing on the morning of Feb. 1. His trial is set to start on June 3.
Susana Morales disappearance
Morales' family members told police they hadn't seen her since the evening of July 26, 2022. That night, detectives said Morales texted her mom at 9:40 p.m. to tell her she was on her way to her home on Santa Anna Drive. Officials confirmed an app on Morales' cell phone showed that she was walking in that direction on Singleton Road from Windscape Village Lane between 10:07 p.m. and 10:21 p.m., but detectives said they have reason to believe she had gotten into a vehicle.
Susana Morales, 16. (Credit: Gwinnett Police Department) (Supplied)
Between 10:21 p.m. and 10:26 p.m., her phone indicated that she was in the area of Oak Loch Trace and Steve Reynolds Boulevard. Her phone pinged that location until it either died or was turned off. Morales never made it home.
A breakthrough in the case came on Feb. 6, when officers responded to the area between Drowning Creek and Barrow County after someone reported seeing what they believed were human remains in the forest.
The Gwinnett Medical Examiners' office tested the remains and said the DNA matched Morales' dental records. The site was about 20 miles from where the teen was last seen.
Susana Morales poses for pictures with her family. (Supplied) (Supplied)
Miles Bryant charged with murder
After marking Bryant a person of interest in the case, officials said they began watching his activities and eventually found evidence that "directly linked" him to the crime.
In the warrant application, officials allege that Bryant, who was working as a Doraville police officer at the time of Morales' death, lives close to where she was last reported on Windscape Village Lane and dumped her naked body in the woods.
While police mentioned in their warrant application that they suspected Bryant of rape, he had not been charged with the offense at the time of his arrest.
In the warrant, police accuse Bryant of falsely reporting that his vehicle had been broken into and that his gun was stolen.
Bryant claimed he left his truck door unlocked when the theft occurred, but Gwinnett County's police chief said his investigators found Bryant's handgun in the same wooded area on Drowning Creek Road where they found Morales's remains.
Miles Bryant accused of stalking, charged with burglary
New details in investigation into officer accused in teen's death
A Snellville woman says she was stalked by the same police officer who has been arrested in connection with the death of a 16-year-old Gwinnett County teen. Former Doraville police Officer Miles Bryant now sits in jail charged with concealing a death and filing a false police report. The new accuser who says she has known Bryant for years.
Bryant is also facing charges of first-degree burglary in Snellville over accusations that he broke into the home of one of his former classmates.
A former classmate of Bryant's who spoke to FOX 5 in February 2023 accused Bryant of stalking her and breaking into her home in May 2019. She said the incidents happened before Morales disappeared in July 2022.
A neighbor shared a Ring video with Bates, showing a man lurking around her door on several occasions, tugging on the doorknob. Back in February, Bates told FOX 5 that she believed Bryant broke into her apartment one time while she was not home, sharing photos of her damaged front door.
Bates said she feared for her life and reported the behavior to both the former officer's employer, the Doraville Police Department, and the Gwinnett County Police Department.
Doraville Police claimed it underwent an administrative investigation. Officials said Bryant was spoken to and the behavior had stopped. Doraville Police said they told Bates to report any potential criminal charges to the Gwinnett County Police Department.
Police said investigators closed Bates' case against Bryant due to a ‘lack of leads’. They reopened it in late February after receiving new information.
Before becoming a Doraville police officer, Bryant had been a sworn sheriff's deputy in Forsyth County from March 2020 to May 2021.