The After Show: Tracking Susana

"Now, well, what do we do with emergency? We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer."

“For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved, until new technology allowed investigators to do, but had once been impossible.”

A new series from ABC Audio and 2020. Blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. Hi there everybody. Welcome to 2020 The After Show.

So good to have you with us as always.

I'm Deborah Roberts and as we always do, we're going to dig a little deeper into our most recent episode of 2020. And this one, if you saw it, I'm sure you haven't forgotten it.

“And if you haven't, you're going to hear some details about the heartbreaking story of the murder of 16-year-old Susana Morales.”

Now, those who knew her, described her as somebody who was full of light, somebody who loved music, and she was living sort of a classic immigrant story. Her mother came here from Mexico, setting out to live the American dream, and then only to find a nightmare. On July 26, 2022, Susana vanished while walking home from a friend's house in North Cross, Georgia. And it wasn't really until a chilling discovery made almost by chance in the middle of the woods that led police to a shocking realization of who might have been responsible for the murder.

It is one that that community just couldn't shake.

Well, my colleague and friend John Kenyounis covered this story for 2020, and as always, he just does an expert job of bringing us into all those details and all the humanity of these stories.

John is here to help us put the pieces of this puzzle together with some exclusive details from what happened inside the investigation. And he's going to give us a chance to see some clips that you didn't get a chance to see on Friday night. Interviews also with law enforcement and Susana's family. John, as always, it's good to see you. I wish you were here in the studio, but good to see you there. Great to be here. Thank you. You and I always have such an interesting time talking about stories because we go way back and have such perspective with so many stories that we've covered over the years.

And I have to say the first thing that came to mind, you know, in talking to you about this one is your father, you've got a daughter, I'm a mother, I've got a daughter.

And the death of a young girl, a teen girl, and the desperation of her family trying to find answers. I mean, this one really, I think just kind of gets at you and pulls at the heartstrings, what about you when you set out to start looking into this story? Of course, you know, your daughters are precious, only one daughter, two boys and her, Andrea. And I worry about her all the time, and she's now, you know, 30 years old, and I still worry about her. So yeah, this much Tom, and this was a woman from Mexico. I did the interview in Spanish with Maria Susana's mother, and it was incredibly touching. Yeah, and it hit home.

Yeah, it did hit home, and you can sort of really feel it from the way you tell the story. Take us back, John, about the night that she went missing because, you know, she's a classic 16 year old who wasn't exactly truthful to her mom. She said she was going to her friend as Morrell does house. Exactly, that we find out. I mean, obviously, by from everything we heard, she was a sweet girl, a good girl, but she, you know, she didn't want to tell her mom everything. She was a teen. She was a teenage girl, you know, and it all started off that night, did quite innocently enough.

Susana didn't want to eat fish, which her mother had cooked for dinner that night for the family. So she asked her mom if she could instead go to her friend's house. You mentioned as Morrell does. She lived just a few blocks away in the mom said, okay, but then it gets laid into the night when she doesn't come home, her mother calls the friend as Morrell. And she covers for Susana. She says, oh, yeah, she's on her way home now. Well, as it turns out, she was never at as Morrell does house. She instead had gone to another apartment, her friend Kelly's place.

“She didn't tell that to her mom because her mom didn't like this is on a hanging out with Kelly. And that's how it all started.”

And John, what we'd learn in the piece is that, you know, it's like that, but bump, but bump, but bump that heartbeat. It wasn't like Susana not to answer her phone or reply to text messages. And, you know, we all kind of know that feeling of having a kid, even our grown children, right, when you reach out to them and they don't get back. Give us a sense of what Maria told you she felt in those early moments of just not hearing from her daughter. She shows us the texts and you saw them and where she says, oh, no, my daughter, where are you? You know, we have more, where are you?

And she keeps reaching out to her and there's no response.

And it's a, it's a popular GPS based app that tracks real time locations of people on their phone. People will give permission to each other to do this families and friends.

“And on that app, you can see her phone at least leaving Kelly's apartment complex at around 10 p.m. So it wasn't that late.”

And you can actually see a Susana starting to move to walk on singleton a road toward her street, which was Santa Ana drive. And then Susana's phone starts moving in the opposite direction and it's going very quickly around 40 miles an hour. And then up 1029, Kaya receives the text message saying that Susana's phone has experienced a crash alert, meaning there's been, you know, some sort of accident or some sort of hard force trauma to her phone.

And that starts them raising their eyebrows.

It never heard of this 360 app. I just thought that was fascinating, John, the idea that in real time, you can kind of get a sense of where someone is and so forth. And this was a critical piece of evidence for them to actually be able to have this when they begin looking for her. Right, right, the police step in, of course, they call the cops. But at this point, the police are thinking, Susana might be a runaway, right, because there was no evidence of any kind of foul play, they cannot consider her being abducted, but Susana sister and this family was amazing.

Susana sister Jasmine argues that, you know, this could well be an abduction and she points to that app that life 360 data, which shows, you know, Susana's phone suddenly taking off at 40 miles an hour. And then seeming to crash, well, then police go ahead and they file police report that day and Susana's name is put into the system as a missing person that very day. So it didn't take long. She's now a missing person. Yeah, police are kind of thinking that she might be a runaway and her sister is insistent that that's not happening. And then they find evidence of Susana walking home.

So suddenly, there's real suspicion that there's something that has happened here, something of foul.

There's a new developer there. Again, the Morales family was amazing. They just wouldn't give up.

They start canvassing the whole neighborhood where she had walked and they find surveillance video. The family finds a business that shows them their surveillance camera that captures Susana walking. But then, as I mentioned, that 360 app shows there's suddenly turning around and going speeding in the opposite direction indicating that maybe she was abducted. Police tell the police that that could be interpreted in two ways. This could either be that she got into a vehicle, right? With someone she knew willingly or yes, it could be that she was taken by force.

But the family wouldn't give up. They post up missing posters and the mom goes on Facebook. And she starts desperately pleading for information and she does interviews, by the way, with local Spanish speaking media. So they're just desperately getting the word out about this missing daughter.

“And John, that's what I thought was so touching and also gives me goosebumps. Really to this moment thinking about a family's desperation and how family won't give up.”

When they feel like they know their family member, they know what she might be capable of or not. Police were trying to be helpful, but they are also trying to be realistic. It's a teenager, but the family would not give up. Our team sat down with Lieutenant Baker, who was one of the investigators on Susanna's case. He began to kind of take matters into his own hands. He's trying to help bring her home to her family. And we showed some of that interview on Friday night, of course. But here's a bit of it that if you were watching, you didn't get a chance to see on Friday. Let's take a look.

“I remember I went to my mom and dad on Thanksgiving, and then I came back and dropped my wife and kids off, and I drove my personal card looking.”

I remember like it was yesterday. I went looking, drove, drove my personal card down off in the intro looking for hoping that I would even then I had hope that I would see her. John, we saw Lieutenant Baker's getting pretty emotional during these interviews. I mean, this was a kind of a mind boggling case. I mean, what did Louis was that like for you seeing this, you know, cop becomes so emotional in this search. It was a family man himself. He has a 16 year old daughter. He's married to a Hispanic woman. He could see the pain in Maria, and he just didn't want to give up even worked weekends on this case.

Because he connected with them. And up to this point, there was no solid evidence of an abduction.

It takes a while, John, and that's what I think was so fascinating about this story and also so heartbreaking.

“I mean, it time just kind of dragged on. You know, we go for months to months. I mean, the case would drag on for nearly seven months with no leads.”

No further evidence and no answers. So of course, everybody's trying to figure out what happened to 16 year old Susanna. Well, John, don't go anywhere and don't you go anywhere because we're going to take a quick break. But when we come back, John is going to take us through sort of a shocking discovery that police made about Susanna's killer. That just nobody could believe. And then there's going to be more emotional interviews with Susanna's family that we're going to reveal to you that you haven't had a chance to see.

So don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. [Music] 2020 is partnering with vibes open ear wireless headphones. That's Vy BZ. If you listen to a lot of true crime, you probably like to listen with a good pair of headphones. But it can be tricky to find a pair that provides great sound quality that's not too overwhelming. Because when you're out with a podcast during a late night dog walk or pre-do on run, you don't necessarily want noise cancellation that blocks out the sounds around you.

“That's why you'll want to get yourself a pair of vibes. You're a perfect companion in audio.”

They're designed for maximum comfort with ultra lightweight earbuds that sit just outside the ear canal. And they offer crystal clear audio. So no matter what you're listening to, whether it's your favorite song or a sound rich true crime podcast, it'll come across loud, clear and silky smooth. The battery lasts up to 10 hours per charge and they come in a range of sleek modern colors and styles. So what are you waiting for? Order now and you'll be listening to better sound with better headphones before you know it.

For a limited time, our listeners can get more than 60% off a pair of vibes wireless headphones. Just go to ABCsecretsavings.com/2020. Again, that's ABCsecretsavings.com/2020. ABCsecretsavings.com/2020. ESPN presents the Stanley Cup playoffs. The most exciting playoffs out there. A two-month roller coaster filled with sudden death over times and good old-fashioned chaos. Every shift matters. Every series is a statement and everyone gets their shot at the cops.

The Stanley Cup playoffs presented by Guy Goe. Continue on ABC, ESPN and the ESPN app. Welcome back to 2020 The After Show. I'm here with John Kenyounis, my colleague who is talking with me about the heartbreaking story he just brought to us on 2020 about 16-year-old Susana Morales who disappeared after walking home from her friend's home in her Georgia neighborhood.

And she was never heard from again. The investigation had gone on for months. Her family was convinced that she was not a runaway and that's something that happened.

But police were not able to crack this case. And then John there was a break on February 6th, 2023 when a man who was just off-roading in a wooded area

“happens to find skeletal remains more than 20 miles from where Susana had vanished and it was a complicated crime scene wasn't it?”

Yes, the skeletal remains were scattered throughout the woods in that area. And remember, her body had been out there months. There was exposure to the elements. There was decomposition, animal activity in the woods after all, right? No clothing or personal items belonging to Susana were found at the scene, nothing was found. And the medical examiner could not even determine an exact cause of death. Also because of the because of all that decomposition, there were no body fluids or blood recovered at the scene.

But what they did find ever, it were finger nails painted black. It was the color of Susana's nails the night she went missing.

And also at the scene, they suddenly find a critical piece of evidence, a glock 19 handgun.

And that was absolutely critical. This is what they needed to zero in on her killer heartbreaking, heartbreaking for the family because they were holding out hope all that time that they would find her. And then they find this evidence and they find the remains. But the gun, John, belonged to Miles Bryant, a doorville police officer. I mean, that was mind-blowing. This man, Miles Bryant, not only a member of the doorville police department, he was also a member of the Army National Guard. And what's more, he lived and he worked at the same apartment complex where she had visited her friend and from where she had disappeared.

John, let's talk about the family because you did get a chance to bond with the family. I mean, obviously, you know, maybe at a certain point they began to consider the possibility that something bad had happened to her.

They were just shattered, you know, they were heartbroken. To this day, the mother still thinks it's a nightmare.

Even after everything they've been through and we'll get into that, the trial and all that. But the family is just a very close knit, you know, Mexican family, all girls, they work really hard, you know, the mom worked at a fast food restaurant, along with her daughter Susana. Maybe tight knit relationship with her family. You know, she didn't want to kiss and add up, for example, the 15th birthday and there's some of the most precious pictures that they have as memories are Susana with the family.

“She instead wanted to go have dinner, I think, at a fast food restaurant at that goes with her mom.”

So they were shattered. They were just totally destroyed and I'll get into more of that as we go on here.

So they lose their daughter. Then the reality is there that they found her remains. They know she's gone and now this investigation and it's all about what is going to be revealed.

John, you're reporting was so intense about this because what police discovers it after Susana went missing. Bryant, this police officer reported that his gun was missing and that's obviously is two coincidental and now looking back, you know, police are kind of trying to figure out what's it play here and, you know, clearly they have theories now. Bryant tells police, oh, I had a break in into my car, which I left unlocked at the apartment complex where he lived and worked. He claimed someone broke into his unlocked truck attack and stole his wallet and then also stole the gun.

But strangely enough, he tells the officer that day that he does not want police detectives assigned to the case. That's a bit of a red flag, right? In the course, there's of course, are now pretty suspicious.

They believe that Bryant dropped his gun while he was trying to dispose of Susana's body out there in the woods.

They're convinced that by claiming his gun was stolen, Bryant was just trying to cover his tracks. And what police now have to confront is that this is a police officer who you would think is there to serve and protect, but now clearly something has gone on. He's possibly got a different life, a double life and the community has to come to grips with this. But police are sort of confident at this point that they know who the killer is, that it is indeed Bryant. They've got phone records that show he was in the exact location where Susana's body was found that same night.

What are they theorizing about what might have happened? Well, one of the theories was that Miles Bryant had seen Susana Morales before and that he had approached her, but there he is that he likely saw her again that night, and this time she's walking home alone, the dark, he follows her, and then as she turns into the street where she lived, he took her, maybe forcibly.

“We don't know for certain, and then drove her into the other direction, that's why that app showed her speeding away at 40 miles an hour.”

At some point, shortly thereafter, he throws herself on out the window of his truck, which caused that crash, you know, indication on the app. She appears to have been killed and then dumped in the woods. Prosecutors believe he likely intended, may well have intended to rape her, but they were not able to prove that during his trial. Remember the value of Susana was completely decomposed when she was eventually found. Yeah, just and you can only surmise, you know, what he might have done to her because they weren't able to tell, but they could definitely see she didn't, she wasn't cloth. Now, you're talking about police investigating an officer who knows a little bit about strategy and what might be coming. So they had to have a particular strategy to try to get him to cooperate, they were, you know, they were being coy with him, but they were essentially just trying to get him to possibly mess up.

The police officer, he knows how these investigations work, right?

“So investigators then have to try and pretend that they're questioning everyone, right?”

He's just one other person and by the way, they're telling him they need his help. So they take him in, right? They notice that in the squat car, on their way to questioning, he, his hands are shaking. And then they ask him why, and he says, he tells police, well, I was out there that night, but I've been fighting, I had been fighting with my, my girlfriend.

Yeah, and things begin to unravel from there. Well, he refuses to admit anything if you saw our program, you, you see how this all played out, but he was arrested and as John said, eventually stood trial for the murder of Susana Morales.

“John, I want to talk about that case. I want to talk about the court room, but first we got to squeeze it another quick break, but when we come back, we're going to take you inside the courtroom.”

Some shocking moments at trial. And then big questions about Bryant, you know, and and possible conviction is he going to be convicted or walk free. You want to hear all the details, so don't go anywhere, John, and I will be right back. Imagine you've been charged with a crime, and the only witness pointing the finger at you isn't even human. I remember thinking, are you serious? What is this thing? It's something artificial, created by mysterious Canadian, and it's coming for all of us.

A life defining technology.

Crime, as we know it, will never be the same. I'm like, oh my god, he's lying from rock and CBC's uncover, the expert witness.

“Available now on CBC Listen, or wherever you get your podcasts.”

Welcome back to 2020, the after show. I'm talking with John Ken Jonas about the piece that he just reported on for 2020, a horrifying case of a young girl named Susana Morales who was found dead. The police officer, Miles Bryant, who was charged in her murder, went to court. John, he pleaded not guilty. He stood trial. He chose not to testify, which all the lawyers that we have interviewed and talked to on our our pieces tell us that obviously that's his right. He doesn't have to testify, but our team spoke with prosecutors.

And this was a detail that we actually sort of didn't necessarily touch on in our episode, but tell us a little bit about what we've learned about some of the motivation for him not taking the stand.

Well, he was expected to take the stand, right? His defense attorney had said in his opening arguments that statements that he would

that Brian would testify, and everyone was looking forward to hearing what he, Miles Bryant would say. Susana's family, you know, they wanted answers, but then Brian chooses not to testify.

“It turns out that he had been speaking to his mother by telephone from jail. You know, those phone calls are recorded.”

And those calls reveal that as it was his mother, who was the one who convinced him, not to take the stand. She thought the prosecutor would just destroy him. That Miles Bryant, if he testified, would only look worse if he took the stand and seems like Brian then in the end. Why the listening to his mother? Yeah, he did, but it didn't really help him. A jury did find him guilty. The court counts related to Susana's death in June of 2024. And he was given a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. I mean, this is a cop who now is finding himself in prison for a murder.

He actually apologized to Susana's family at the sentencing. And her family, as you said, has just been heartbroken. And hearing from her sister in the interview in your piece was really something else, but we've also got a little more of her interview that we didn't get a chance to hear. On Friday night reacting to what Brian said, let's take a look. I felt maybe just like a little bit of relief that we got partial justice for Susana. And that he was in the way we would walk away from what he did.

I didn't get my apologies to be honest, because we still had that unknown of what happened that night. I don't feel like I have closure because I feel like the unknown still eats me to this day. I would want to know what happened that night. John, she talks about how she wanted to know more. She just needed to know why this happened. And there's still unanswered questions here.

Give us a sense of how the family is coping with the idea.

It's one thing if they have, I don't want to say closure because we always find out that these folks don't have closure,

but some kind of a resolution. But in this case, they don't have it, do they? And they have to live with that. Absolutely, they really don't. Like I said, they're just, they're heartbroken. They want to moving from the house that they used to live in. And even then, her mother didn't want to leave.

Didn't want to move from that house because she still thought that Susana would walk home and walk in through that front door. One of these days, you know,

But now, we understand that Ryan's appellant attorney has filed a notice indicating that he wants to take this case to the Georgia Supreme Court.

So, you see what happens.

“So stay tuned. We may not have seen the end of this just yet.”

But at this point, he has been denied. So he's still in prison. You talk so passionately and eloquently and just so heart-wrenchingly about her mother. Susana's mother. And, you know, you really had a chance to know this family. And they had to make a choice to sit down and talk and share their emotional reaction to all of this. Give me a sense, John, of this family.

Because at the end of the day, it's also about the family. We're going to deal with the impact and the emotional turmoil of what they've dealt with. What kind of impact did that her mom leave on you? And did they give you a sense of how, you know, what they're hoping people will take away from this tragedy that they've experienced? Yeah, she wants Maria, the mother.

“She wants us all to remember that life is incredibly precious and fleeting.”

And she reminds us all not to give up, you know, this family never gave up.

If you don't feel like there's enough being done, get out to yourself as she tells us, conduct your own investigation, canvas the neighborhoods. Look for the security video, you know, surveillance videos, put up posters, you know, ask for those surveillance videos. And use the media to spread the word as she did, not only in English, but also in Spanish. Yeah, no, well, they certainly did not give up. I mean, they were sort of an example of a family that just absolutely did everything they could to try to find some resolution.

And John, I'm sure speaking with you and being able to speak with you in Spanish and, you know, knowing your story, your mom shared her name. I'm sure that brought them a list a little bit of comfort and talking about this story and sitting down and sharing their feelings. And it's so obvious in what you brought to us. So thank you as always.

I hope so. Thank you. Thank you.

“Well, John, I really appreciate it as always for you being with us. And I thank you for being with us.”

And of course, you can watch our latest 2020 episodes on Friday nights on ABC. And you can stream episodes like this one on Disney Plus. And Hulu. Thanks so much for being with us and you all take care. Have a good day. No, no. Welcome to Get Real.

I got something to say, a weekly talk show for the reality TV of Seth. Oh, my God. It's going to be deliciously desperate. The final day's broadcast for Get Real. She has a saucepot for trouble, man.

Boo, platy. This is your show. Find Get Real wherever you get your podcast. Love runs deeper than we know. And stream new episodes Thursdays on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus.

Whoa. You need some water. I need a martini. Yeah. I love just son of cooking.

It's not something you're thinking of. It is. I'm Stanley Tucci and I want to invite you on a journey through the country that I love. Italy. Join Stanley Tucci for a new season.

You are a good cook. I'm not bad. Of National Geographic, Tucci and Italy. All right, should we eat? National Geographic, Tucci and Italy.

And all new season is now streaming on Disney Plus and Hulu.