A suburban Atlanta police officer has been charged with the kidnapping – murder of a 16-year-old girl abducted last July – and stashing the victim’s naked body for months in a forest.
Miles Bryant, a 22-year-old ex-cop with the Doraville Police Department, is now being held without bail for the girl’s death — and faces additional charges of conspiracy to cover up his alleged crimes after the fact.
The indictment revolves around the disappearance of 16-year-old Susanna Morales, who police say was unrelated to Bryant but was only a few miles from the disgraced officer.
Her skeletal remains were discovered and identified by police last month in woods near Dacula, an Atlanta suburb less than 20 miles from her last known location. Detectives have so far remained silent on a motive, but have said the suspect is “known or suspected of” rape, murder and other crimes.
Over the weekend, Bryant was hit with another unrelated burglary charge, after a former classmate of his accused him of stalking her and breaking into her home during a taped encounter in 2019.
Miles Bryant, a 22-year-old ex-cop with the Doraville Police Department, is now being held without bond — and charged with conspiracy to cover up his crimes after the fact
The indictment revolves around the disappearance of 16-year-old Susanna Morales, who police say was unrelated to Bryant but was only a few miles from the disgraced officer.
Since being stripped of his police credentials and taken into custody, Bryant has faced charges of concealing the death of another, filing a false report of a crime, murder and kidnapping.
Police have not filed any rape charges since Sunday. The charge of concealment, meanwhile, is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The first charges against Bryant came less than three weeks ago, after investigators confirmed that Morales’ remains were found naked in a wooded area off Highway 316.
That discovery was made nearly six months after Morales’ family reported her missing, sparking a search in the Atlanta area that bore little — until last month when police issued an update on the investigation.
“On Monday, February 6, 2023, shortly after 6:30 p.m., Gwinnett Police on Hwy 316 between Drowning Creek and the Barrow County Line responded to a call from a passerby who said they had seen what they believed to be human remains in the woods. officers in Gwinnett County wrote at the time.
“Detectives and CSI arrived at the scene and the Gwinnett Medical Examiners’ office took possession of the remains,” the department – just a few miles from Doraville – added, noting that police were “investigating the manner and cause of death of Morales,” who was identified from her dental records.
Over the weekend, Bryant was hit with another unrelated burglary charge, after a former classmate of his accused him of stalking her and breaking into her home during a taped encounter in 2019 (photo of which can be seen here)
The body was found, police said, after officers received a call from a passerby who said they had seen what they believed were human remains in brush on the side of the highway that connects Atlanta’s communities.
Police added that Morales’ family told the department that when the teen disappeared on the night of July 26, her cell phone and video footage showed her walking to her home, but police have reason to believe she was got into a vehicle.
Bryant, meanwhile, lived in Norcross — “close to (the) victim and dumped her naked body in the woods,” Gwinnett Detective Angela Carter said when he announced his arrest less than two weeks later as the only suspect in the case.
An initial warrant application would indict the relatively green Georgia peace officer — a work history in the Army National Guard, deputy at the Forsyth County Jail and several security positions — with one count of concealing the death of another and one count of falsely reporting a crime.
Bryant is being held without bond at the Gwinnett County Adult Detention Center (pictured) on charges of concealing the death of another, filing a false report of a crime, murder and kidnapping
The false report of a felony charge, misdemeanor and concealment charge, police said, stemmed from an attempt by Bryant to cover up Morales’ death during a period between July 26, 2022, at 10:20 p.m. and 1:40 a.m. in July. 27, 2022.
During those hours, detectives alleged, the officer — who may have had a history of stalking women that went unchecked — unlawful ‘obstructing the discovery of whether or not such person has been wrongfully killed’.
Police added that Bryant also falsely filed a police report alleging that his gun was stolen after his car was broken into. Police have not elaborated on how the charges relate to the Morales case.
Bryant was in jail on Sunday after a judge denied him bail earlier this week.
As police continue to build a case against Bryant, more of his alleged wrongdoings come to light as he faces new charges related to the alleged stalking and burglary of another woman, Elesha Bates, a former classmate of Bryant who claims to be a suspect showed up unannounced at her home in Snellville in May 2019.
Bates submitted Ring camera video of the scary encounter to both the Gwinnett County and Doraville Police Department as evidence in December, after telling police that Bryant, who was an employee of the Doraville Police Department at the time, was stalking her .