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After the First 48 - Season 12 - Episode 02: Little Girl Lost
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00:01The following program documents a real homicide case, the investigation, the
00:06pursuit of justice, and the lasting impact on the loved ones left behind.
00:14This case is always gonna stick with me because there's so many unanswered
00:19questions. They say they're out of Leeds after spending more than a month
00:24looking for this missing high school student. I definitely was hoping she was
00:28still alive and still out there and we could go save her. For those most
00:32affected by a homicide. I remember hearing my mom's cries in the background and I
00:37couldn't sleep because not knowing what happened to Susanna was killing me. The
00:42first 48 is just the beginning. I have not seen any short-force injuries to the bones.
00:48There was no obvious cause of death. That's a huge deficit to have in a homicide
00:53investigation. Without that it makes it tough. This is the story of the fight
00:58for justice. There just wasn't any evidence to show that he caused her death. In the
01:06weeks, months, and years. We are anxious because of the bomb that the defense
01:12attorney dropped. We are all anticipating what is he going to say. After the first 48.
01:34When it tell me, 9-1-1. I need to make a report. My sister's been listening since yesterday.
01:39What's your sister's name? Susanna Wallace. I'll have an officer out to meet with you and your mom.
01:45Okay. Thank you so much.
01:52Buenos dÃas.
02:06I felt a little overwhelmed because we're all wondering, did she get kidnapped? I'm just like,
02:13what could have happened?
02:22She was at 360 with her friends and it pinged her last location. So her friends went to go
02:28look at that last location, but didn't have seen anything.
02:47My mom, she felt in her heart that something was wrong.
02:53I was hoping that maybe she did run away and they would find her.
03:00For several weeks, Gwinnett County's Special Victims Unit attempts to retrace Susanna's steps,
03:06interview her friends, and respond to alleged sightings of her, only to come up empty.
03:13They say they're out of leads after spending more than a month looking for this missing high school
03:20student.
03:20This flyer is all across Norcross and Gwinnett County.
03:24I felt like I couldn't stay still.
03:25I had to do something.
03:26If I would even sit down for a second, I would feel guilt.
03:31I had to make sure everybody knew her face to remind people that we're still looking for her.
03:41After months without any leads on Susanna's whereabouts.
03:46STU's been working a missing juvenile case for going actually six months today.
03:52I was super drawn to this case and I would always follow up and ask them what progress had been
03:58made.
03:58I kind of inserted myself into the case.
04:01I definitely was hoping she was still alive and we can go save her.
04:0716-year-old Susanna Morales lives in Norcross, Georgia with her mother and two sisters.
04:14A junior at Meadow Creek High School and a member of the cheerleading team,
04:19Susanna dreams of becoming a professional singer.
04:24July 26, Susanna was contacted by her mother and instructed to come home.
04:29She lived a walking distance.
04:30Susanna then begins traveling down Singleton Road and she's captured on this camera.
04:38Her friend was tracking her through Life 360.
04:41Then out of nowhere, she starts going the opposite direction and at a speed of 40 miles per hour, indicating
04:48she was in a vehicle.
04:49They drove for about five minutes and then there was an alert sent to the friend's phone.
04:54It then sent off a crash alert, but there's no reports of a car accident there.
04:58So to me, that says her phone was tossed out of the vehicle.
05:02That's the only thing that made sense.
05:05And then the phone remained in that area until it died the following day.
05:09After reviewing all the Life 360 alerts, I definitely knew in the back of my mind that there was going
05:15to be some kind of foul play.
05:22Two weeks later.
05:32A call comes in from a remote area 25 miles from where Susanna was last seen.
05:38I found a teeny skeleton.
05:40He's pretty old.
05:42Very weathered.
05:44All right.
05:44We're going to have an officer head out that way.
05:58The troll secures the scene and calls for homicide.
06:08Look at there.
06:11While Carter works an unrelated case, detectives join county medical examiner, Dr. Carol Terry.
06:18It was dark, so it's harder to see what's not there.
06:21And the bones were somewhat scattered.
06:24We retrieved a significant portion of the skeleton.
06:28The skull is complete.
06:29There's no clothing.
06:31There's no wallet.
06:32There's no, you know, possessions, no effects.
06:37I have not seen any sharp force injuries to the bones.
06:42Right now, we don't have a cause of death.
06:44I know this is likely going to be a challenging case because the soft tissue is gone.
06:49And you may need the soft tissue to establish what the cause of death is.
06:53Looking at it, the growth points is not fused.
06:58My assistant who's there is texting our forensic anthropology expert pictures of the remains.
07:06She said tibia, younger, 17, 18-ish.
07:10She said, this looks like a young Hispanic female.
07:14Do you have any missing Hispanic females?
07:17All of us in homicide immediately thought of Susanna.
07:22They were sending pictures of what they had out there, which included her hair, which was the same color as
07:29Susanna's hair.
07:30My heart dropped at that point.
07:35Dr. Cherry found in the ground some of the teeth that had fallen out post-mortem.
07:39If I can get the dental chart on this person, it should be an easy identification to make.
07:44Because we got feelings in tooth number 14.
07:47They're pretty distinctive.
07:50I was hoping that it wasn't Susanna.
07:53You see all these other cases where people are found alive.
07:56So there was still hope that she was out there.
08:06While the team waits for the dental remains to be identified.
08:10We are looking for bones aside from thumbnail.
08:14We needed to do a line and grid search of that area for any clothing, identification, anything that could tell
08:21us who the remains belonged to.
08:30It was a very serious mood because I think we all kind of had a feeling who the remains might
08:34end up being.
08:36Hey, y'all hold up.
08:38The pre-recruit kind of raised his hand and said, hey, I think you need to come look at this.
08:45The pre-recruit found a gun.
08:48Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we would have found a gun laying in the woods.
08:52And I couldn't believe it.
08:54Probably 30 yards past where the skeletal remains were found.
09:00It's definitely suspicious.
09:02You want to run that really quick?
09:03We had the serial number ran over the air through our dispatch.
09:07It means it's stolen.
09:10The day after Susanna went missing, the gun was reported stolen from the same apartment complex where she was last
09:18seen.
09:18The likelihood of that being a coincidence just wasn't possible.
09:24As the search wraps up.
09:27Saw the vehicle driveway.
09:29Yeah.
09:29Carter arrives after getting an update about the gun.
09:33I got super excited because now I'm like, okay, we're getting somewhere.
09:37That's where the gun was actually found, is where that dead ends.
09:41I want to talk to the guy who reported it missing.
09:44The owner of that firearm was priority number one to talk to them and see how their gun ended up
09:50in the woods out there.
09:55Back at headquarters.
09:59Miles Bryant.
10:01The guy who reported a gun stolen the day after Susanna went missing.
10:06He reported from his courtesy officer job at Winsgate Village.
10:11Miles Bryant lives at the same complex where Susanna visited friends the night she went missing.
10:16He also worked security there.
10:20Oh my gosh.
10:23This is crazy.
10:25At that moment I thought, it's not something you run into every day.
10:45This is like getting crazy.
10:46Where is he an officer?
10:49Doraville.
10:49The gun owner, 22-year-old Miles Bryant, works for the Doraville Police Department, 20 miles southwest of Gwinnett.
10:58He has served in the army for four years.
11:00No criminal history, which I figured.
11:03But he's definitely a suspect in some odd behaviors.
11:07Miles had a documented history where he was listed in multiple reports.
11:11Reports of him allegedly breaking into girls' homes, allegedly stalking another female.
11:19The neighbor then showed her video of a man with his face covered in a hoodie, grab the doorknob, twist
11:25it, and push the door, then leave.
11:27She believes the person was Miles Bryant.
11:30This incident was investigated four months after Susanna went missing, but charges were never filed.
11:37This guy right here is tingling a lot.
11:39He's sticking out.
11:40My gut feeling, Miles was the guy that we needed to start focusing on.
11:45I've learned that nine times out of ten, my intuition and my gut feeling are correct, but just your gut
11:51feeling isn't enough to arrest anybody.
11:54The next thing we needed to do was getting his phone records, which were going to help us identify where
11:59he was at the time Susanna went missing.
12:06The next day.
12:07We obtained dental records for Susanna that were then provided to the medical examiner, and she confirmed that the remains
12:15were Susanna.
12:17Cause of death is going to be ruled undetermined because of the state of decomposition and lack of evidence.
12:26There was no obvious cause of death, which was kind of frustrating.
12:30That's a huge deficit to have in a homicide investigation. Without that, it's hard to reach the threshold of those
12:36murder warrants.
12:38Carter turns her focus to Susanna's family.
12:44Break the horrible news.
12:47I met the detective Carter when she brought the news to the house.
12:57They could explain how she could have been strangled.
13:01It's something that I'm hurting, the suffering of her.
13:05In those hours, in those minutes, you understand?
13:15I remember seeing my mom's cries in the background, and I couldn't sleep because of not knowing what happened to
13:22her was killing me.
13:27While waiting on Miles Bryant's phone records.
13:31I looked over my floorboard and my Glock 19 holster is on the floorboard.
13:37Fortunately, we were able to find the body camera from when Miles reported his gun as stolen.
13:44I don't really care about, you know, the detectives, stuff like that.
13:47I just want to get on UCIC.
13:48At least some person get caught up on the side of the road with it, you know?
13:50I gotcha.
13:51It was definitely odd because he mentioned not needing detectives to investigate.
13:57No cop is going to be okay with their gun missing.
14:01Unless you didn't want the police to go look for it.
14:05Definitely raised a lot of red flags that he was like,
14:07he's trying to hide something.
14:14Two days later.
14:17We just got phone records back on our suspect.
14:19He is in the wood line at 1 a.m.
14:23Miles' cell phone records put him in the wooded area where Susannah was located.
14:28I have chills right now.
14:30From where Miles lived, it's probably a 30 to 45 minute drive.
14:34So it definitely was suspicious that he was out there a few hours after she went missing.
14:39I definitely started feeling a lot more urgency because he's in a position that he could put more people in
14:45harm's way.
14:47There's no question.
14:48There's no question.
14:48We need to move on him.
14:49We need to talk to him.
14:58Three days later.
15:00I don't want to go reaching the front door.
15:03We need to go up and knock.
15:04So if we go in there with flashbangs and guns and everything else, he ain't gonna say .
15:10There were many discussions on how to approach Miles.
15:15We kind of wanted to play it like, oh, cool.
15:19Like, we just need your help.
15:20You're one of us.
15:21He says no and tries to shut the door.
15:24Are we stopping him?
15:25I think at that point, we have to tell him, you know, we would have a search warrant.
15:34The team heads out to Miles' apartment.
15:39Me and Garrett just went and sat in the complex.
15:44until he walked outside and we approached him on foot.
15:49Hey, man.
15:49What's up?
15:51You doing all right?
15:52We're trying to look for anybody helping us out with that missing girl.
15:56All right.
15:57You got some time to come up to our headquarters and just talk about, you know, what you see on
16:02a daily basis?
16:03Yeah.
16:04As it be today.
16:05Yeah.
16:05Yeah.
16:06We got no leads, man.
16:07We're just trying to document everything.
16:09That's all we are.
16:10Get up front seat, all right, man?
16:14Get down.
16:16There was a lot riding on this interview.
16:18At that point in time, we didn't know if he took Susanna, how she died, why all this happened.
16:23We didn't know anything.
16:25If you need that, just not.
16:26All right, thanks.
16:27Since we didn't have a cause of death for her, and there wasn't enough evidence for probable cause at that
16:32time.
16:32If he did do it, then I wanted him to confess, so I charged him with the murder.
16:52What day was it?
16:55What day was it?
17:25I would love hearing her sing.
17:27She was learning the piano.
17:29Yeah, I know the guitar.
17:30So I just love watching her do that.
17:33My passion for the music, I think I was very little.
17:38But Susanna, for me, she was like a daughter.
17:44I know that she is your mother.
17:46And she was my sister.
17:47I know that you took her from when I was little.
17:51Because I was only working.
17:53And she was very attached to me, in the sense that I took my responsibility as a mom.
18:00And for me, it was very hard.
18:04And I thank God for having experienced moments so beautiful with Susanna.
18:25More than six months after Susanna went missing.
18:31Hey.
18:32Hey, how you doing?
18:33I was good.
18:34I'm Detective Carter.
18:35I'm lead on this.
18:36This was the first time I ever interrogated a police officer about a potential murder.
18:42So my goal was definitely to build rapport with him and make him comfortable.
18:50We were trying to keep him calm, not to tip him off that we're looking at him for this missing
18:56person and murder.
18:58So I've been getting a lot of for this case.
19:00So I got to start working a little bit more.
19:03How long have you been with Doraville?
19:04About two years.
19:05Hell yeah.
19:06I think I'll come to Grant, though.
19:08You should, because we need people.
19:10Yeah.
19:10I didn't know if this strategy was going to work with him, because he's also trained in
19:16interview techniques and strategies.
19:19So you said that you possibly went out, like, patrolling that night.
19:22Do you remember anything?
19:24Anything that stands out to you?
19:25Not really.
19:26At that time, no.
19:30That was wild, my man.
19:32So I know that your gun was stolen.
19:34Do you know if it was located or anything yet?
19:35No, I haven't heard anything.
19:37At that point, we wanted to start laying the trap for miles.
19:40So I started giving him little bits and pieces of information that I knew.
19:46So we did find your gun, actually, yes.
19:50You watch the news.
19:51You know we found Susanna.
19:52But there was actually a gun found out there, too.
19:55For real?
19:56Yeah.
19:57And it's the same serial number.
19:59I wanted to get his reaction to see what he would say.
20:02He was like, oh, that's crazy.
20:03But it didn't seem like a genuine shock.
20:06Do you know where she was found?
20:09In 316 somewhere.
20:12Do you ever go in the woods and stuff out there?
20:14In the woods now.
20:16I need you to think really hard, though, with me.
20:18Think of anybody that was out there that night, because I know you were out there patrolling
20:21that night.
20:24Me and my girlfriend were actually arguing that night.
20:28Mm-hmm.
20:29So I think I just was driving around.
20:30What were y'all arguing about?
20:32Miles says his girlfriend confronted him about cheating on her.
20:37What were y'all trying to do?
20:39I went toward, God, this sounds bad.
20:42This sounds terrible.
20:45Probably went up to Lawrenceville area.
20:48Lawrenceville's pretty big, so I'm not sure what you're talking about.
20:51It is over here by 316.
20:56I mean, you're saying that's bad.
20:58I mean, the area where...
21:00Yeah, I'm gonna be honest.
21:00My gun was found in that area, you know.
21:03Technically was in that area, stuff like that, you know.
21:07I don't think you have anything to hide.
21:10I mean, you're a police officer.
21:12I'm not disrespecting.
21:13I'm really getting, you know, I say perk vibes.
21:15He's being like, like suspect vibes right now.
21:18Why?
21:18You know, what are y'all talking about?
21:20We're just talking.
21:22I think he felt like he was still kind of in control at that point, but I think he also
21:27knew that he was in trouble.
21:30So I did get your phone records.
21:32Um, so I had no...
21:34I know you were already up there.
21:35I don't know what you're thinking, but no.
21:39We know you were there, but we need to figure out why and what happened.
21:43I'm being 100%.
21:44I literally never seen her.
21:48Your phone is right there where your gun was dropped.
21:52Carter kind of flipped the script and put the pressure on him.
21:55I think Miles felt powerless in that moment.
21:58I was on 316, but in the woods, no.
22:02I would, no, I would not do that as well.
22:05I'm nervous right now.
22:06You've been nervous the whole time.
22:07Take a minute.
22:08Take a breath.
22:09You gotta...
22:09You gotta...
22:10Don't...
22:10Don't...
22:11Don't...
22:13It's a question about if you are a cold-blooded killer or if you made a mistake.
22:20I would not do that and say, well, maybe I messed up.
22:24No, none of that.
22:25I'm not involved.
22:26All right.
22:27Well, we do have to get your phones, okay?
22:30All right.
22:30Just hang out.
22:34It's definitely frustrating.
22:35We were hitting dead ends.
22:39If he's not gonna change his stance, we needed to take a break and regroup.
22:45He's not gonna come off of it.
22:46You wanna try?
22:47No, definitely.
22:49Maybe it's because I'm a female.
22:51Given his history, I didn't think he really respected women.
22:54So I made the decision to switch places with Sergeant Poppy to hopefully see if Miles would respond to him
23:02more.
23:04So we read body language.
23:06Right.
23:06Big time.
23:08And the stuff you're giving us is just not telling us that you're not guilty.
23:14I did not do that.
23:16Most people who say that do not say it would worse than that.
23:20Me and Sergeant Poppy went back in and kind of just hit Miles a little more aggressively.
23:26Why was your gun being stolen, like, of so little importance to you?
23:30I have a lot of guns.
23:31So...
23:32So I went and reported.
23:33You told the officer, you don't even have to investigate this.
23:37Because if you...
23:38Because if we investigate it, we're gonna find it.
23:40And it's gonna be near a dead body that you killed.
23:42No.
23:42I feel like you reported it stolen.
23:44And you're trying to set up an alibi for your gun.
23:46No!
23:47That's not why.
23:48Don't start as pain as a suspect.
23:50Miles was either gonna break and confess, or he was gonna shut down and say he's done talking.
24:08Hoping you were gonna be a man, thrown up to whatever you did.
24:12You don't represent this badge.
24:14At all.
24:17You'll be charged.
24:19Come on, man.
24:21Since Miles didn't confess to anything during his interview, we weren't able to charge him with the murder.
24:27But we knew he made a false report for his gun being stolen.
24:31And we knew that he was out there at the time that she was likely dropped there.
24:35So we charged him with concealing a death and false report of a crime.
24:39The decision was made to charge him with these crimes to get him off the streets.
24:43Because he's clearly a danger.
24:46I definitely was nervous and anxious because if we don't find the evidence that we needed to charge him with
24:53the murder,
24:54he could potentially walk.
25:00While Miles awaits a potential bond hearing to be released from jail.
25:04Holy , look how many steps he's taken in these 10-minute periods.
25:08What is that you're looking at?
25:10His activity sensors.
25:11Carter makes a discovery in the data downloaded from Miles' phone.
25:16It showed that he had taken a huge amount of steps within such a short period of time.
25:21At 1.20 a.m., he traveled 381 meters, 131 140 meters, 141 373 meters.
25:29The activity was recorded when Miles' phone was in the woods where Susanna's remains were found.
25:35Miles' activity was a game changer because the amount of steps he was taking indicated somebody's searching for something.
25:42I think he was trying to find his gun.
25:44Then...
25:45Here we go.
25:46We were able to get search history where we saw he was Googling things like,
25:53how long does it take a body to decompose?
25:55The internet search was made after Susanna disappeared.
25:59Bam.
26:00Mic drop.
26:02Can I get more now, please?
26:04After all the cell phone evidence, Carter was able to charge Miles with the murder of Susanna Morales.
26:15My initial impressions of Miles' case, I thought it was a strong case.
26:20There was no motive.
26:22There was no cause of death.
26:24So we don't know how she died.
26:26There was zero evidence to go towards the murder case, in my opinion.
26:31That was going to be one of the largest defenses that we are going to have to overcome.
26:35Because we had no cause of death, how can you prove this was a murder?
26:41Could she have been stabbed?
26:42Sure.
26:43Could she have been shot?
26:44And it didn't hit the bone?
26:45Sure.
26:46But I can't say absolutely, just by looking at these bones here, that this establishes a definitive cause of death.
26:54Because it doesn't.
26:55Because we couldn't prove how this happened, we had to prove, why would he do this?
27:00In researching and investigating Miles Bryant, he had a history of allegedly stalking women.
27:07So we charged him with malice murder, kidnapping, and criminal attempt to commit rape that he intended to rape her.
27:16During their research, prosecutors discover evidence of alleged stalking or other suspicious behavior by Bryant towards multiple women.
27:24They submit the evidence to the judge, even though none of the cases led to charges.
27:30This case was based on circumstantial evidence.
27:33So we needed to present these alleged acts to the jury to show his motive and intent.
27:44Nearly two years after Susanna's death, the trial of Miles Bryant begins.
27:52Stay ready.
27:53We're ready here.
27:54Defense ready?
27:55In order.
28:05I couldn't even look at him.
28:07I didn't even want to see his face.
28:10I attended every day of the trial instead of just coming to testify.
28:15It was a really, really important case to me.
28:17So I wanted to make sure everything went right.
28:22Then...
28:22Ms. Drake, you said there was something to take up?
28:25Yes, Your Honor.
28:27Right before opening statements.
28:29This light 360 that the court has heard a lot about, I think it is error to bring that in.
28:37And I would ask that it be kept out at this time.
28:41This to us came out of nowhere.
28:43We had already had days of pretrial motions.
28:47And the defense attorney starts to try and keep out something that was essential to our case.
28:53These are screenshots of the Life 360 app that show Susanna's movements from that evening.
28:59This shows to us that Susanna was taken against her will and in a completely different direction from her home.
29:05The Life 360 is a form of hearsay through the photograph.
29:09The state was unable to produce business records from Life 360.
29:15Those have to be requested within six months.
29:19So the only way that they could get in anything would be through these individual photographs.
29:27Without that Life 360 evidence, our case would have been much harder to prove to a jury.
29:32That was the crux of the whole state's case.
29:35If we didn't have that evidence, we have no direction to go in.
29:51At this point, that is hearsay because it's not a business record exception.
29:55The defense was arguing that because these screenshots from her friends' phones didn't come from the Life 360 corporate headquarters,
30:03that they were not official.
30:05We relied on case law that shows that people who received the messages are able to testify to it.
30:12The judge makes her ruling.
30:14I am denying Mr. Bryant's motion.
30:20That moment was important to us because that Life 360 evidence was essential.
30:26Does the state wish to make an opening statement?
30:30He was supposed to serve and protect.
30:35Instead, the abuse is a cop who turned into a killer.
30:42You don't have to laugh, my friend.
30:45And back to the conclusion of this trial, you're going to think that he is the most callous, uncaring coward
30:52that you have ever seen.
30:55But if you're going to hear from Miles Bryant, he's going to explain to you exactly what happened.
31:04We are shocked.
31:06None of us expected that Miles Bryant is going to testify.
31:09That had always been our strategy.
31:13I felt that in order for any shot at an acquittal, he needed to testify.
31:19We are anxious because of the bomb that Tracy Drake dropped.
31:23We are all anticipating what is he going to say.
31:27Stay ready to proceed with first witness.
31:31Okay.
31:32Prosecutors call Susanna's mother, Maria, to the stand.
31:36How long was it from when Susanna disappeared to when the police found her?
31:43Almost seven months.
31:48What went through your mind at that moment when you hurt?
31:54I was waiting for her.
31:56I was waiting for her.
31:58I'm still waiting for her.
31:59My heart really broke for her.
32:01You could feel her pain.
32:03I cannot fathom what she went through all those months.
32:10Did you ever know that she would smoke marijuana?
32:15Yes.
32:16And did you ever hear Susanna tell you that she did anything else other than marijuana?
32:21No.
32:22No.
32:23We had to get that information out there because we figured the defense attorney would try to smear Susanna's character.
32:30You mentioned you thought that she had tried a drug, something crystal. Would that be crystal meth?
32:37Can't say for sure.
32:38Do you also remember telling Detective Carter that it was something bad?
32:45Possibly, yes. I can't say for sure.
32:48The fact that there had been some drug use by the victim was very important to our case.
32:55The idea that perhaps she had overdosed was a very big defense and a very real possibility.
33:06The state summons the first of multiple women who alleged suspicious behavior by Bryant, Susanna's high school friend who was
33:14with her the night she went missing.
33:16The friend lived in the same apartment complex as Miles.
33:20Had you ever had any personal interactions with the defendant before Susanna disappeared?
33:26Yes.
33:26And can you tell us what those are?
33:28We were there at the pool and he came and he came with his backpack and he had a drink
33:34with him and he had little shot cups and he had edibles and stuff.
33:38And he asked how old I was and then when I told him my age, he like still wanted to
33:43talk to me but didn't talk to me because my age, but he still offered the edibles.
33:47And Susanna was with you?
33:49Yes.
33:50During those?
33:50Yes.
33:51We thought it was important for jurors to see why would he target Susanna? Why would he pick her up?
33:56Well, he had done these type of things before.
33:59Yes, it looks horrible that he's approaching minors and offering them drugs.
34:04However, it does establish that Susanna knew who he was and it does emphasize that possibly she had a bad
34:14reaction to a drug or overdosed.
34:22Day three of the trial, prosecutors called a former classmate of Miles to the stand.
34:29What do you have Mr. Bryant saved in as your phone?
34:32Miles the soccer with an axe and a hole.
34:36Did you put that in there?
34:37I sure did.
34:39Ring doorbell cameras from her neighbors shows Miles Bryant trying to break into this young woman's apartment over and over
34:47again.
34:49What did you see when you looked through the peephole?
34:52He started knocking on the door and then as I backed away, he started kicking on harder.
34:58I grabbed my gun and I peeked through the peephole.
35:01I cocked the gun back and he had his pointed at the door as well.
35:07Did you end up speaking to the law enforcement?
35:10I don't think they sent the unit. They called my phone, but nobody ever came.
35:15Her belief was that because he was a police officer, she was ignored.
35:19I knew that the prior bad acts kind of puts a bad taste in the jurors' mouths, but that doesn't
35:27mean that they had proven kidnapping, rape, or murder.
35:34Finally, the state calls their key witness, Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Carol Terry.
35:42As Dr. Terry is coming into court, all of us were nervous, nervous about what were the jurors going to
35:48think,
35:48because she's the one who ultimately says, this is a murder.
35:52And we didn't have that.
35:54All right, get up in there. Dr. Terry, how are you?
35:56Fine, thank you.
35:56Worst case scenario was that the defense grilled her as to why there's no cause of death.
36:05And the jury start believing some of those defense arguments, and we lose a murder charge.
36:22Dr. Terry, were you able to make any conclusions in your report?
36:26Yes. These circumstances are very suspicious for homicidal violence, but I can't prove it because of the condition of the
36:32remains.
36:33We anticipated the most questions from the defense to Dr. Terry. How do we know what happened to Susanna? All
36:40of this is speculation. All of this is circumstantial evidence.
36:44But then...
36:45Dr. Terry, thank you so much, and...
36:49Actually, I'm leaving this to Mr. Dobbins.
36:50Okay, Mr. Dobbins.
36:52He did such a good job, I don't have any questions.
36:54We didn't need to ask her any questions.
36:57Dr. Terry was unable to say, this is the manner in which she died.
37:03So there was really no evidence to disprove that it wasn't an overdose in this case.
37:13The state calls their final witness...
37:16Good morning, Detective Carter.
37:18Good morning.
37:19...and submits their last piece of evidence against Miles.
37:23Miles Bryant was dispatched to a residence regarding a missing juvenile.
37:29While on scene, the juvenile returns home.
37:32Something was happening to you. We're doing a rape or a missing person, then we find a body out there
37:38in the woods. Then what?
37:39In the video, he says these striking words.
37:44Things that we don't expect police officers to say to kids.
37:47People are my size, big, and just come snatch you up.
37:49You can strain me, you can shower you off.
37:50They're gonna throw you in the back of the van.
37:52They're gonna take you, and your parents will never see you again.
37:54This happens just months before Susanna is reporting missing.
37:59Miles Bryant is here snitching on himself.
38:02Talking about all things that preview the awful, horrendous acts he committed on Susanna.
38:07It's frightening.
38:09It was a blow to the case, and that's why he needed to testify.
38:14Swear you in?
38:16Do you swear or affirm that testimony you're about to give in this case is the truth, the whole truth,
38:20and nothing but the truth?
38:24I did fear that he would come as a juror, that he had nothing to do with it.
38:27But more than anything, we wanted to know the truth about what happened.
38:31Do you understand that no one can make or compel you to testify?
38:35Yes, ma'am.
38:36Do you understand that you have the right to not testify if you do not want to?
38:41Yes, ma'am.
38:43Do you personally, Miles Bryant, want to testify or not?
38:47No, ma'am.
38:47Okay.
38:50I felt it was necessary, but obviously it's his right to not testify.
38:56All right, y'all may be seated.
38:58I believe he just got a little bit worried that he would say the wrong thing trying to explain himself.
39:05That was a huge letdown for the family because those answers, they'll never get.
39:16The jury begins deliberations.
39:19Waiting on a verdict, it's awful.
39:21You rehash in your mind the whole trial.
39:23I was nervous and I was wondering why I was taking them so long to the side.
39:28I did not think that they proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he himself caused her death.
39:35Perhaps she had overdosed and Mr. Bryant simply freaked out and made a very bad decision to dispose of her
39:46body.
39:46Has the jury reached a verdict?
39:50Okay, if you'll hand it to my bailiff.
39:59It was the longest three minutes of my life.
40:01Tell us, just say it.
40:03State of Georgia versus Miles Bryant.
40:06Count one, malice murder.
40:10We, the jury, find the defendant guilty.
40:19I lost it.
40:21The attorney, they were like, calm down, calm down.
40:23But I was just so excited because I knew all of the work paid off.
40:27I remember tears coming to my eyes and I looked back at Susanna's mom because that's what we were here
40:34for.
40:37¿Esther?
40:41He is for you?
40:44Are we all- what we may be?
40:45Of course.
40:45It's good to meet my eyes and I was like you.
40:46It did come to my eyes and cry.
40:49For sure.
40:49For sure.
40:50Look at salaries.
40:56The.ples.
40:59The problem.
41:01They just don't
41:02have to act. Co Panchalias
41:04yes. The
41:09This case is always going to stick with me
41:12because there's so many unanswered questions.
41:15He should have been stopped a long time ago,
41:16and he should have never had the ability to do this to her.
41:20Miles Bryant abused the badge.
41:22In this awful, awful case,
41:24it was so important that there were so many strong women
41:28that put a stop to that.
41:36More than three years after she was killed,
41:39Susanna's family visits her memorial.
41:42I will forever miss Susanna.
41:46Sometimes I forget that she's not even here.
41:49And then I remember.
41:51It's really hard.
41:54Thank you for coming.
41:55Of course, I wanted to see you.
41:59Seeing the memorial, it just reminds me of why I do what I do.
42:03It makes me really sad still.
42:06She wants to know if we can go all the way in there.
42:08Yeah.
42:21I'm sorry, guys.
42:24There's a phrase in Spanish,
42:26although it hurts so bad sometimes that I can't breathe
42:32that she's not with me,
42:34the only thing that gives me peace is God.
42:35There's a phrase in Spanish.
42:39There's a phrase in Spanish.
42:41There's a phrase in Spanish.
42:43There's a phrase in Spanish.
42:44There's a phrase in Spanish.
42:48There's a phrase in Spanish.
42:52There's a phrase in Spanish.
42:52There's a phrase in Spanish.
42:53There's a phrase in Spanish.
42:53There's a phrase in Spanish.
42:53There's a phrase in Spanish.
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