'Monster with a badge': How an officer was convicted in teen's shocking murder

On July 26, 2022, 16-year-old Susana Morales vanished while walking home from a friend's house in Norcross, Georgia -- a trip that should have only taken about 15 minutes.

She was last seen leaving the Sterling Glen Apartments before a tracking app detected her moving in the opposite direction at around 40 miles per hour, a troubling sign that Morales may have entered a vehicle. Almost seven months later, her remains were located in the woods near a highway more than 20 miles away.

A new "20/20" episode, "Tracking Susana" with John Quiñones, airing Friday, May 8, at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu, examines the case.

You can also get more behind-the-scenes of each week's episode by listening to "20/20: The After Show" weekly series right on your 20/20 podcast feed on Mondays, hosted by "20/20" co-anchor Deborah Roberts.

In an exclusive new interview with "20/20," Morales' sister Jasmine Perez described her love of music and creative expression.

"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," Perez said.

Her mother, Maria Bran, told ABC News correspondent John Quiñones that she would go by the nickname Susi and how she wished to celebrate her Quinceañera eating her favorite food.

"She tells me... mommy, I want tacos," Bran said.

When her skeletal remains were discovered in February 2023, investigators determined, based on the fact that no clothing fragments were found near her remains, that Morales's body had been left there naked.

Nails with black finger polish, like Susana wore on the eve of her vanishing, were found in the woods. It was the first indication to authorities that they had finally found Susana.

However, investigators also located the key to tracking down her killer 30 yards away -- a black Glock 19 pistol.

Police discovered that the morning after Morales disappeared, Miles Bryant reported the gun missing from his residence at the Sterling Glen Apartments, where Morales was last seen.

Bryant, 22, was a local police officer of a neighboring town who also served as a member of the Army National Guard and a courtesy officer at the Sterling Glen Apartments. He said that the gun and his wallet were stolen from his unlocked car, according to authorities.

Morales' friend Alyssa Marvin would later testify that they had previously met Bryant at the apartment complex, where she said he offered them drugs and a ride in his car.

"He wanted to drink with me before he knew my age," she said on the stand. "But he still offered the edibles."

Marvin also said that Bryant offered them "a ride to get pizza."

"We said no because, 'We're underage, you're grown,'" she said. Marvin was 17 at the time the encounter occurred.

Obtaining his phone records, police discovered that his personal and work phones placed him at the scene where Morales' remains were found on the night she vanished and the subsequent morning. His internet records also held searches of the wooded area and a Safari query for "How long does it take a body to decompose?," authorities said.

In an interview with police, Bryant said he was in the area on the night of Morales' disappearance but did not exit his vehicle.

In an exclusive new interview with "20/20," homicide detective Angela Carter said that Bryant was extremely nervous.

"At that point, when I told him we found his gun, he does start shaking a little bit more," Carter said. "Interviewing him was just so frustrating because this poor girl didn't deserve this. She didn't. I just wanted him to take responsibility and actually tell us what happened."

Despite his claims of innocence, Bryant was arrested and ultimately charged with malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping and false report of a crime, to which he pleaded not guilty.

At trial, Bryant's defense argued that he had no involvement in the crime, stressing that Morales' cause of death could not be determined due to the decomposition of her body.

"Is there any evidence of malice and murder? There is not," defense attorney Tracy Drake said.

The prosecution argued that Bryant had encountered Morales before and likely followed her from the Sterling Glen Apartments, then either lured her with his badge or forced her into his truck before killing her and leaving her body in the woods.

Special prosecutor Brandon Delfunt called him a "monster with a badge."

Bryant was convicted in June 2024 of malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping and misdemeanor false report of a crime. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus 12 months.

He attempted to appeal the verdict, but was denied a new trial in March. Bryant is now appealing that decision to Georgia's Supreme Court.

Morales's sister Jasmine Perez still remembers her as a joyful and loving person.

"I want her to be remembered by her laugh, that she was a beautiful girl and at the end of the day, she was just a sister, a daughter, a friend, and that night, she was on the way home and nobody had the right to take that away from her," she said.