Susana Morales’ sister criticizes the investigation against Miles Bryant
Miles Bryant appears in court (Image via 11 Alive Screengrab, Susana Morales performs a hearing in video provided by her family)
In a new petition, Susana Morales’ grieving family members released a list of demands, claiming investigators broke the law when relatives attempted to report the murdered 16-year-old missing nearly a year ago.
The online campaign, which is taking donations and has thousands of signatures on the petition, includes a lengthy post from Morales’ sister Jasmine. In that post, Jasmine said that Morales’ family knew something was wrong within 20 minutes of their last message — and yet, she said, the Gwinnett County Police Department declined to immediately list the teen as a missing person:
Susana Morales was 16 when she disappeared. she was my sister On Tuesday 26th July Susana was with our family all day and later that evening decided to go to a friends house. Her friend lived in the neighborhood 9 minutes walk from our house and she spent the evening there until about 9:40pm when she texted our mother and let us know that she was on her way home. This was a walk she had taken many times and we awaited her arrival. At 10 p.m. she was still not home. We knew something went wrong. We asked the Gwinnett County Police Department to search for her, but they told us people are only considered missing for 48 hours. We knew we couldn’t wait that long. Throughout the investigation, the police dismissed us and said she was a runaway, even though we knew she never would.
The family’s demands include the Gwinnett County Police Department acknowledging that “Title 35 of the Georgia Code was violated when officers asked us to wait 48 hours before reporting Susana missing.”
Georgian law provides that: “No law enforcement agency shall implement any policy or practice that requires a minimum waiting period before initiating a missing person report with such agency; provided, however, that law enforcement has discretion to determine what action, if any, is required in response to such a report.”
Susana’s sister said authorities did not find the remains of their loved one until February 2023 — more than six months after the family knew immediately she was not the teenage “runaway” that investigators suspected.
“It took the police department more than 6 months to find clues to her disappearance until they began asking us for more details earlier this year. They asked for her full dental record and for my mother’s DNA test. After all this they called us on February 8th and said their remains had been found in the woods,” Jasmine wrote.
The family also called for a “fair and transparent investigation by the Doraville County Police Department,” which hired 22-year-old former officer Miles Bryant and reprimanded him multiple times during his 21-month tenure. The family is asking for more information on Bryant’s charges, Bryant’s prosecution and conviction, and a review of procedures in missing child cases “so that families have access to full transparency during the investigation.”
Morales’ family said the Doraville Police Department “should be held accountable for knowingly hiring a man with a history of violence and not taking responsibility for the damage her officer caused to a sister, my family and the other women.” after Bryant’s arrest, it was revealed that a woman had previously come forward and accused him of stalking her for almost a year.
Law&Crime reached out to the Gwinnett County Police Department and Doraville Police Department Public Information Offices for comment prior to the publication of this story. Both did not respond immediately.
Prosecutors allege then-Doraville Police Officer Miles Bryant kidnapped and murdered Morales in the summer of 2022, before disposing of the victim’s naked body in a wooded area. Bryant was originally charged with concealing Morales’ death between 10:20 p.m not”. Investigators also said he lied when his vehicle was broken into and his gun stolen.
These two allegations formed the original basis of the charges against Bryant in connection with Morales’ disappearance. In announcing the much more serious kidnapping and murder allegations, investigators said they had not yet determined how Morales died but were confident Bryant was the person who killed her.
Susana Morales (Gwinnett Police Department), Miles Bryant appear in court (screengrab of 11 Alive)
It has been revealed that the former officer lived – and worked there as a security guard – in the Sterling Glen Apartments complex near Morales. Investigators believe Morales’ last known whereabouts was this apartment complex, where she was visiting a friend.
Morales’ last communication to her family was a text message to her mother saying she was driving home on the night of July 26, 2022.
“Around 10:00 p.m., Morales had not returned home. A location application showed Morales walking to her home on Singleton Road from Windscape Village Lane between 10:07 p.m. and 10:21 p.m. Morales was last seen in light blue jeans, a yellow shirt with spaghetti straps and white crocodiles,” police officers said. “Between 10:21 p.m. and 10:26 p.m., Morales’ cell phone says her last known whereabouts at Oak Loch Trace were near Steve Reynolds. Morales’ cellphone continued to indicate that it was in the Oak Loch Trace area until the cellphone failed or was turned off.”
Mugshot of Miles Bryant (Gwinnett County Police Department)
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https://lawandcrime.com/crime/susana-morales-sister-blasts-probe-of-loved-ones-disappearance-cops-violated-the-law-when-family-tried-to-report-murdered-teen-missing/ Susana Morales’ sister criticizes the investigation against Miles Bryant