Police issue warrant for man on malice murder charges after disappearance of 23-year-old mother

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Police have issued a warrant for malice murder for a Clayton County man weeks after the mother of his child vanished.

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Brianna Winston, 23, was reported missing by family members on April 1. They said her 4-year-old daughter had been staying with the child’s father’s family, and no one had heard from Winston in weeks.

By the time she had been reported missing, her family said someone had cleaned out her apartment.

Six weeks after reporting her missing, police announced that all evidence points to Winston being dead.

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Detectives initially named two people of interest in the case: the father of Winston’s child, Michale Edwards, and his wife, Brienna Phillips-Edwards.

Channel 2′s Tom Jones was the only reporter at police headquarters Thursday when detectives shared new information about the case with Winston’s family.

But Winston’s cousin, Jasmine Walker, didn’t reveal what police told them, but the news made them somber. Relatives hugged each other as they left.

“By them bringing us down today it brought a lot of closure to us, and I appreciate them doing their job,” her cousin, Jasmine Walker, said. “We’re emotional because this is not what we expected. But now we know.”

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Walker reported her cousin missing last month. She said her apartment was cleaned out and no one had heard from her, not even her job.

Police then said they believed she was no longer alive or incapacitated.

Jones asked Walker if police have found Winston’s body.

“We have closure,” is all she would say.

Walker did say she wants justice and plans to be right there when it happens.

“I’m going to be at every court date,” she said. “I’m going to be there every step of the way.”

Edwards has not been booked into the Clayton County jail, but he is in the building.

Police said they will hold a news conference Monday where they will release more details.

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