20/20 will be re-visiting one of Georgia’s most disturbing murder cases with Tracking Susan. The new episode that will be focused on 16-year-old Susana Morales.
The teen vanished in July 2022 while walking home in Norcross after visiting a friend. However, she never made it back home. A few months later, her remains were found in the woods, near a highway 20 miles away.
The ABC special will be following the investigation that connects the case to Miles Bryant, a police officer and Army National Guard member whose own gun became one of the biggest clue of the investigation.
With the help of interviews with Susana’s family and investigators, the episode on 20/20 will put together who Susana was before she was brutally killed.
Susana Morales’ family remembers her as creative, funny, and full of life on 20/20: Tracking Susan
Before the case turned into national news, Susana Morales was just a kid known by her loved ones as “Susi.”
Her sister Jasmine Perez described Susana as someone who loved music and loved trying new looks with her hair.
In her interview with 20/20, Perez said,
“Susana’s hair was very curly; she loved exploring new colors with it. She had dyed her hair green, red and blonde at one point.”
The episode also includes interview chats with Susana’s mother, Maria Bran, speaking to ABC’s John Quiñones.
According to Bran, Susana once told her, “Mommy, I want tacos,” while talking about how she wanted to celebrate her Quinceañera.
These really small memories and moments are how the family likes to remember their child with love.
Susana was just a teenager walking home from a friend’s apartment, but never made it back home. Investigators later found out that her phone’s tracking app suddenly showed some movement in the opposite direction at nearly 40 miles per hour, raising fears that she had gotten into someone’s vehicle.
Nearly seven months after the teen went missing, investigators found her skeletal remains in a wooded area. Black polished nails matching the ones Susana wore before vanishing helped the authorities to identify her.
How investigators connected Miles Bryant to Susana Morales’ murder
20/20 also takes a look at how the investigators built the case against Miles Bryant. The biggest clue of the case came in when the police found a black Glock 19 pistol where Susana’s bones were found.
The authorities later learned Bryant had reported that same gun to be missing the morning after Susana had vanished.
At the time, Bryant was working as a police officer in a nearby town and he also served as a courtesy officer at the Sterling Glen Apartments, the same location where Susana was last seen.
The case against Bryant became even more solid after testimony came in from Susana’s friend Alyssa. She told the court they had met Bryant before at the apartment complex and claimed that he offered them drugs regardless of knowing they were minors.
Marvin testified,
“He wanted to drink with me before he knew my age…but he still offered the edibles.”
Marvin also said Bryant once offered them “a ride to get pizza,” but they refused.
The investigators later pulled up Bryant’s phone records and said both his work and personal phones placed him near the wooded area where Susana’s remains were eventually found.
The investigators also found out about internet searches connected to body decomposition and searches related to the location.
Homicide detective Angela Carter told 20/20 that Bryant became extremely nervous during questioning.
Carter said,
“At that point, when I told him we found his gun, he does start shaking a little bit more…”
Bryant denied having any involvement with the murder, but prosecutors argued he either forced Susana into his truck or used his police badge to gain her trust before he could kill her.
In June 2024, Bryant was convicted of murder, felony, kidnapping, and false report of a crime. He received life in prison without parole.
Stay tuned to SoapCentral for more updates on 20/20 and more!
Edited by Deanne Dsilva