Missing Georgia teen's remains found in forest 6 months after disappearance
02/08/2023 4:43 pm PST
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. (TCD) -- A 16-year-old’s remains were found and positively identified this week about six months after she was reported missing.
WAGA-TV reports Gwinnett County Police Department officers were called Monday, Feb. 6, to an area on Highway 316 when someone reportedly said they found what appeared to be human remains in a nearby forest. Detectives went to the scene, collected the remains, and matched them to Susana Morales.
According to the Gwinnett Police Department, Morales was last seen Tuesday, July 26, wearing a yellow spaghetti strap shirt, light blue jeans, and white Crocs. She reportedly last left her home on Santa Anna Drive in Norcross at 6 p.m. and was supposed to walk to a friend’s house.
That night at 9:40 p.m., she reportedly texted her mother to say she was coming home, but by 10 p.m., she still had not arrived. She was known to be walking on Singleton Road between 10:07 p.m. and 10:21 p.m., and from 10:21 p.m. to 10:26 p.m., phone data showed she was at Oak Loch Trace.
Then, her phone died or was turned off.
Gwinnett County Police said detectives "have reason to believe she may have gotten into a vehicle."
According to a Gwinnett Police Department missing person bulletin, Morales "has no history of running away and usually maintains contact with her family."
Cause and manner of death have not been released yet.
MORE:
TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page for podcasts, exclusive videos, and more, and don’t forget to follow us on TikTok.
