Former Doraville officer charged with murder of teen | The trial begins

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The murder case of a 16-year-old Gwinnett County girl is set to begin trial this week with a former police officer charged in the killing.

Jury selection is expected to begin Monday.

Susana Morales went missing in the summer of 2022, and it will be months before her remains are found in the woods.

Disturbing details of the case included police accusing Miles Bryant — a Doraville police officer who was fired after his arrest in early 2023 — of dumping Morales' naked body in the woods. Gwinnett police later detailed a timeline of how they believe she was killed by Bryant after she went to visit a friend on the night of July 26, 2022.

The trial is expected to begin at 9 a.m. Monday. 11Alive will stream the proceedings in the video player above.

Bryant is in jail and has been denied bail twice, most recently in May 2023.

Since his arrest, police have released a provisional overview of events:

• On July 26, 2022, Susana Morales went to visit a friend at a nearby apartment complex, and she was taken between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on her way home. Police believe she was killed around 2 a.m.
• Susana Morales was reported missing the next morning, July 27, at 9 a.m.
• “At the time she was reported missing, we had every reason to believe that Susana was deceased,” Doraville Police Chief James D. McClure said.
• He also said there was no indication that Susana had been shot.

• He was a Doraville police officer. After his arrest, the department said Bryant was no longer employed by them, calling him a “now former police officer.”
• Bryant lived on Windscape Village Lane in Norcross, near where Susana Morales lived and initially disappeared.
• He also lived and served as a courtesy officer at the apartment complex where Susana had gone to visit him.
• Chief McClure previously said investigators have not established whether Morales and Bryant knew each other before his death.
• During a press conference last year, McClure acknowledged previous incidents involving Bryant — highlighting one in 2018, in which he allegedly tried to enter a neighbor's house through a window. Additionally, in December 2022, there were allegations that Bryant attempted to enter a residence where a woman said he was stalking her.