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Missing 16-year-old’s Remains Found In Woods Lead To Officer’s Arrest, Georgia Cops Say

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A Georgia police offi­cer is accused of con­ceal­ing the death of a 16-year-old girl who went miss­ing on her way home last sum­mer, author­i­ties said. Miles Bryant, 22, an offi­cer with the Doraville Police Department, was arrest­ed days after the remains of Susana Morales were found in the woods near Highway 316, Gwinnett County police announced Monday, Feb. 13. He was charged with con­ceal­ing the death of anoth­er and false report of a crime in con­nec­tion with the teen’s death, accord­ing to a news release. Additional infor­ma­tion wasn’t imme­di­ate­ly avail­able, and it’s unclear how or if Bryant and Morales knew each other.

City of Doraville Police Department

on Monday

City of Doraville Statement on the Arrest of Miles Bryant
February 13, 2023

The City of Doraville was noti­fied the after­noon of Monday, February 13 that a now for­mer police offi­cer was being served felony arrest war­rants by the Gwinnett Police Department in con­nec­tion with the dis­ap­pear­ance and mur­der of Susana Morales. The City of Doraville and its Police Department are ful­ly coop­er­at­ing with the Gwinnett Police Department in its inves­ti­ga­tion of Mr. Bryant. Our prayers rest with the fam­i­ly and friends of Susana Morales and every­one else affect­ed by this tragedy.

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Doraville police learned of Bryant’s arrest on Feb. 13 and said the depart­ment is coop­er­at­ing with the Gwinnett County Police Department’s inves­ti­ga­tion into the “now for­mer police officer.”

Miles Bryant,

“Our prayers rest with the fam­i­ly and friends of Susana Morales and every­one else affect­ed by this tragedy,” the depart­ment said in a state­ment post­ed to Facebook.

Missing teen was ‘dumped’ in woods, warrant says

Morales had been report­ed miss­ing since July 26. She texted her moth­er around 9:40 p.m. say­ing she was head­ed home but nev­er arrived. On Feb. 6, some­one spot­ted what appeared to be human remains in the woods near a creek and called 911. The coun­ty med­ical examiner’s office test­ed the remains and lat­er iden­ti­fied them as Morales’s. “The trag­ic dis­cov­ery of Susana’s remains this week was not the out­come any­one want­ed in this case,” police said in a state­ment last week. “Finding out what hap­pened is one of our top pri­or­i­ties.” Authorities said Bryant lived near the area where Morales was report­ed miss­ing and alleged that he “dumped her naked body in the woods,” WAGA and WXIA report­ed, cit­ing a war­rant appli­ca­tion. The war­rant also said the ex-offi­cer is sus­pect­ed of rape, mur­der and oth­er felonies, though he hasn’t been charged with those crimes, WXIA reported

Further, police said the Bryant filed a false report on July 27 claim­ing his gun was stolen in a car break-in at an apart­ment com­plex, accord­ing to WSB-TV.

Death investigation continues

Before she van­ished, author­i­ties said Morales’s cell­phone and a sur­veil­lance video showed her walk­ing in the direc­tion of her home in Norcross. Police believe she got into a vehi­cle at some point. “Morales’s cell phone con­tin­ued to show being in the area of Oak Loch Trace until the cell phone died or was turned off,” author­i­ties said. The cause and man­ner of Morales’s death remain under inves­ti­ga­tion, police said. Bryant remained in the Gwinnett County Jail with­out bond as of Feb. 14, online records show. Doraville is about 15 miles north­east of down­town Atlanta.