GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The Gwinnett County detective who investigated the Susana Morales murder case said she feels honored to help lock up a monster after a jury convicted her killer.
Former Doraville officer Miles Bryant was convicted Wednesday and sentenced to life in prison in Morales’ kidnapping, attempted rape and murder.
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Channel 2′s Gwinnett County Burea Chief Matt Johnson talked to Detective Angela Carter, who spent many tireless months putting together the case against Bryant.
“I didn’t think I’d work a case where a police officer would target a young girl and do such a horrific thing,” Carter said.
She described feeling “absolutely disgusted” when she discovered Bryant, an active officer at the time, was involved in the crime.
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Morales was first reported missing in July 2022 after she vanished while walking home from a friend’s Norcross apartment.
Bryant became a suspect after police found his gun near Morales’s remains off Highway 316 in 2023, seven months after her disappearance.
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Bryant had been a security officer at the apartment complex where Morales was last seen.
After the guilty verdict, Bryant apologized to the family.
Susana’s sister, Julissa Renteria, said that at this point, she can’t accept it.
“It was too late for him to apologize,” she said.
Renteria also said the family has mixed feelings about the conviction.
“Everything we did will never bring her back,” she said, “but knowing that we did justice for our sister will bring us peace.”
Carter said that while she’s satisfied with the verdict, she is still heartbroken for the family.
“We all held out hope we were going to find her,” Carter said.
The Morales family hopes to memorialize Susana with a park in her honor in Gwinnett County in the future.
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