Ex-Cop, Accused of Killing 16-Year-Old Girl, Faces Burglary Charges in Earlier Alleged Stalking Incident

A former Georgia police officer charged with the death of a 16-year-old girl last summer is now facing new charges of burglary in another jurisdiction, where a woman says he stalked her and broke into her apartment on at least one occasion.

Miles Bryant, 22, is in jail charged with kidnapping and killing Susana Morales on July 26, 2022. Morales’ body was found last month — along with his personal handgun “in close proximity” to the body, CrimeOnline previously reported. He had reported the weapon missing the day after Morales disappeared.

Eleisha Bates, the 21-year-old Snellville woman who has accused Bryant of stalking her and breaking into her home in May 2019, told WAGA that she and the former cop have known each other since fifth grade.

“We grew up together,” she said.

Bates told the station that she reported the incidents — a neighbor’s Ring video camera showing a man hanging around her door tugging on the doorknob on several occasions and an apparent break-in when she wasn’t home — to his employer, the Doraville Police Department, and to the Gwinnett County Police Department. Doraville police told WAGA the spoke to Bryant about the matter and the behavior stopped, and that they told Bates to speak with Gwinnett County police about possible charges.

Gwinnett County police told the outlet they closed the case due to a “lack of leads” but reopened it in late February when they received new information. They said that Bryant apparently tampered with a locked bedroom window during the break-in.

Susana Morales/Gwinnett County Police Department

Bates, meanwhile, wonders if Susana Morales might still be alive if her concerns had been taken seriously in 2019.

Bryant was fired by the Doraville Police Department when he was accused in Morales’ disappearance.

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[Featured image: Miles Bryant/Gwinnett County Police Department]