Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #11

[Ontario Mom]

I don't think it's been exactly mum silence regarding the bike's location.
Somebody among the police and 100+ searchers told the family the bike was recovered the same night SM vanished, and somebody told that the bike was found ...

1) leaning against a tree,
2) on or under a bridge, and
3) in a ravine -- because we have MSM sources for all the above!

I believe the current location of the bike a police evidence locker in Chaffee County. Otherwise, I think the overall question is best answered reading the Sheriff's bio and the team of agencies and professionals working on this missing person investigation. I'm confident SM's recovery is their number one priority.

MOO

Interestingly, literally all 3 of those locations (and none others, that I've seen) all started as rumors on SM (the "leaning against a tree" was in the very first couple of days, in fact) and were repeated and repeated, with no sources at all, and then picked up by MSM. I saw loads of comments asking "what's your source for this" and no replies, at all.

Which doesn't automatically mean they're wrong, but it certainly doesn't mean they're right either.
It means MSM journalists are also following these kinds of criminal cases on SM.
I've seen this quite a bit in the last few years (I'm sure many others have too) and I'd guess about 25% of the time the rumors are true, and maybe the other 75% they're pure malarky.

Just some food for thought on media sources.

 

[Seattle1]

No evidence Officials have changed their minds about an animal attack.

Family: Suzanne Morphew's Husband Offers $100,000 Reward In Disappearance Investigation

May 13, 2020

On Wednesday, Sheriff John Spezze told CBS4 while it’s an open investigation, he would not rule out a criminal investigation. He adds the probability of an animal attack is not very high.

‘They can’t find her’: Message to church group shows desperate plea in early days of search for missing Colorado mom Suzanne Morphew [REPORT]

May 25, 2020

Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze said during the first week of the search that investigators believed it was unlikely Morphew was the victim of an animal attack.

 

[MyBelle]

RSBM
not to churn gossip/innuendo...suppose they do have the bike, leaks happen all the time. If they have it and all concerned are that tight lipped...good for them but I'd be surprised.

I've never seen a case where a member of a professional search party spoke directly to the media to leak info. There were quite a few involved in the search of the landfill in the Frazee case and no leaks from them that I recall. Why would any of them leak to the media and risk their job. That's not an incentive to leak.

I'm confident they have the bike. I think somebody in the family had to identify it. No different than if a body was found. The Sheriff has been very frustrated at the false rumors that SM's body has been found.

JMO

 

[Fireflize]

How do we know that? Seriously...Why is LE refusing to acknowledge the bike? For all we know a bike was never recovered.

I remember with Gannon's case questioning why won't LE speak about the video by Roderrick Drayton, it was a huge part of the story at the time. What's the truth? Did Gannon come home or not? Why did Al cry? Did Al really cry? Are they keeping quiet to just to make Letecia squirm?

Turns out LE didn't know, maybe that's the case here.

Back to the question...why is LE refusing to
acknowledge the bike? Any ideas?

LE's refusal to acknowledge the bike or its condition could make sense to me in two ways. First, they aren't giving out any information whatsoever, so why would they address the bike. Second, there was the email sent to the Indiana church which stated that her bike was "crashed" and the newphew early on prodded LE to comment on the bike. I think that came across to them that someone was trying to play them, put words in their mouth, create a narrative, that would benefit a guilty person. Moo

 

[oviedo]

How do we know that? Seriously...Why is LE refusing to acknowledge the bike? For all we know a bike was never recovered.

I remember with Gannon's case questioning why won't LE speak about the video by Roderrick Drayton, it was a huge part of the story at the time. What's the truth? Did Gannon come home or not? Why did Al cry? Did Al really cry? Are they keeping quiet to just to make Letecia squirm?

Turns out LE didn't know, maybe that's the case here.

Back to the question...why is LE refusing to
acknowledge the bike? Any ideas?

@riolove77 posted this in the other thread
——
People thought in Kelseys case that the prosecution had nothing but the word of KK...I remember reading so much doubt about the strength of the case, and how it was not going to be an easy one to prove because there was “nothing else”. Then it went to trial and we the public became actually privy to the facts and how much evidence the prosecution had all along. It was the slam dunk-iest case in some time.

What we don’t know does not equate what reality is. Quite the opposite.

I am currently working on a rather high profile cold case murder, which I won’t name for now. There is SO much going on in this case and I bet there are people who’ve forgotten entirely that it even exists, because you won’t hear a peep from us, and as a result, the media. WE DONT LIKE TO TALK. I can’t stress this enough. Why would I show my hand?? And in my case we already have an arrest. So we’re on far more solid ground than this three-week-old investigation.

Patience. It will come to light when it’s ready.

Sunday at 10:49 AM
——
These LE (CBI, CCSO, etc) are veterans of these high profile investigations IMO and I think @riolove77 nailed it
JMO

 

[Seattle1]

Interestingly, literally all 3 of those locations (and none others, that I've seen) all started as rumors on SM (the "leaning against a tree" was in the very first couple of days, in fact) and were repeated and repeated, with no sources at all, and then picked up by MSM. I saw loads of comments asking "what's your source for this" and no replies, at all.

Which doesn't automatically mean they're wrong, but it certainly doesn't mean they're right either.
It means MSM journalists are also following these kinds of criminal cases on SM.
I've seen this quite a bit in the last few years (I'm sure many others have too) and I'd guess about 25% of the time the rumors are true, and maybe the other 75% they're pure malarky.

Just some food for thought on media sources.

I don't follow social media but I don't believe you can factually state that each and every location cited above originated on social media.

For example, the bike recovered from a ravine was a direct quote from the Fire Chief of Chafee County District when contacted by a reporter. I doubt he has time to be gossiping underground.

I recall the bike located on a bridge and most recently UNDER a bridge both by Nancy Grace.

I'll give you "leaning against a tree" but beg to differ on the others. MOO

 

[Ontario Mom]

Good observations. I think it's logical that BM authored the message to his old church because 1) it's his old church (not anyone else's in the immediate circle, other than SM) and 2) the citing of mountain lion and bike crash are 100% consistent with what he relayed to TD on the YT video. MOO

Yeah, the reasoning seems to say it was BM who sent the message but then, why would BM himself write in the very same message:
“Barry is just beside himself and so are the rest of us because they can’t find her,” ??

That is not reasonable, unless the author was attempting to conceal his identity, and was sending from some sort of fake account.
Or, the author wasn't BM at all.

Either way, how did the sender know the condition of the bike?
From all appearances the nephew seemed annoyed (moo) that the CCSO wasn't releasing the info about the find bike, and the condition of the found bike, as he pressed the media and the public to put this question to the Sheriff (paraphrasing).

From day 1, the CCSO refuses to even acknowledge they have the bike, let alone what condition it's in.

So either they (CCSO) did tell the family and then TN was upset they weren't releasing that info to the public, or;
the CCSO never did tell the family, and yet someone still seems to know the condition...

Seems to me there's only 1 way that's possible, and that would be the person where the info originally came from, is the person that caused the condition of the bike.
Maybe nephew had the same thought and decided yeah, good time to hush up & step aside?

100% jmo, of course

 

[MyBelle]

This probably sounds bad, but I feel like it’s very arrogant of Barry to assume Suzanne was kidnapped for ransom. How self-important do you have to think you are to think someone’s going to kidnap your wife for money?

It’s difficult to find specific statistics because googling produces a lot of stories about Americans being kidnapped in other countries for political reasons, but the last one I could find that happened in America was 1976 when children were kidnapped on their school bus and the kidnappers demanded ransoms from their families.

If anyone can find any better info than I was able to find, I’d like to see it because the topic does interest me.

Why do you consider a kidnapping to be an arrogant assumption on the part of BM?? Mollie Tibbetts' family did the very same thing. So did LE investigating the Jayme Closs disappearance. It's a long shot but there were hundreds of tips that resulted.

JMO

 

[Warwick7]

No evidence Officials have changed their minds about an animal attack.

Family: Suzanne Morphew's Husband Offers $100,000 Reward In Disappearance Investigation

May 13, 2020

On Wednesday, Sheriff John Spezze told CBS4 while it’s an open investigation, he would not rule out a criminal investigation. He adds the probability of an animal attack is not very high.

‘They can’t find her’: Message to church group shows desperate plea in early days of search for missing Colorado mom Suzanne Morphew [REPORT]

May 25, 2020

Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze said during the first week of the search that investigators believed it was unlikely Morphew was the victim of an animal attack.

Great post great reminder!!

 

[Murphy1950]

LE's refusal to acknowledge the bike or its condition could make sense to me in two ways. First, they aren't giving out any information whatsoever, so why would they address the bike. Second, there was the email sent to the Indiana church which stated that her bike was "crashed" and the newphew early on prodded LE to comment on the bike. I think that came across to them that someone was trying to play them, put words in their mouth, create a narrative, that would benefit a guilty person. Moo

Thank you...I can accept this, it does make sense. I am fairly new, the post from the more experienced sleuths sure does help, thanks Fireflize.

@riolove77 posted this in the other thread
——
People thought in Kelsey's case that the prosecution had nothing but the word of KK...I remember reading so much doubt about the strength of the case, and how it was not going to be an easy one to prove because there was “nothing else”. Then it went to trial and we the public became actually privy to the facts and how much evidence the prosecution had all along. It was the slam dunk-iest case in some time.

What we don’t know does not equate what reality is. Quite the opposite.

I am currently working on a rather high profile cold case murder, which I won’t name for now. There is SO much going on in this case and I bet there are people who’ve forgotten entirely that it even exists, because you won’t hear a peep from us, and as a result, the media. WE DONT LIKE TO TALK. I can’t stress this enough. Why would I show my hand?? And in my case we already have an arrest. So we’re on far more solid ground than this three-week-old investigation.

Patience. It will come to light when it’s ready.

Sunday at 10:49 AM
——
These LE (CBI, CCSO, etc) are veterans of these high profile investigations IMO and I think @riolove77 nailed it
JMO

Can't beat you veterans...it helps, Thanks Oviedo, I've been beating my head against the wall, wondering why...AH, Patience is a virtue. I shall pray for more.

 

[Ontario Mom]

I don't follow social media but I don't believe you can factually state that each and every location cited above originated on social media.

For example, the bike recovered from a ravine was a direct quote from the Fire Chief of Chafee County District when contacted by a reporter. I doubt he has time to be gossiping underground.

I recall the bike located on a bridge and most recently UNDER a bridge both by Nancy Grace.

I'll give you "leaning against a tree" but beg to differ on the others. MOO

I think you misunderstood what I was saying.
Simply, that in our modern digital day, people talk, A LOT, and they do it on social media.
Journalists know this, and they're following cases there too.
Sometimes it's pure gossip, other times it's legit.
It's just the way it is now.

And yes, the 3 locations you mentioned I did actually first see on social media, before I ever saw them anywhere else.
I normally don't even follow cases there but this one I made an exception and have seen a lot of discussion.
Obviously I can't link to verify since we can't link social media here but I didn't save the links anyway.

 

[10ofRods]

And if BM wasn't the author of that message to the church in IN, telling them SM's bike was crashed, then who was it?
Who else would send their old church a message asking for prayer?
Who would know that her bike was found "crashed" and how would they know that?
Did the same person contact the person in charge of the prayer chain at the new church?

At first I didn't think it was BM that sent the message because the article says “Barry is just beside himself and so are the rest of us because they can’t find her,” the message, sent on May 11, reads in part." ‘They can’t find her’: Message to church group shows desperate plea in early days of search for missing Colorado mom Suzanne Morphew [REPORT]

Those first few days, it was TN doing all the speaking, so I thought maybe it was him that sent this message but it sort of doesn't make sense he'd contact their old church in a previous state where they lived.

Ellen Killoran wrote this article and I don't think she's a member here, but @leighEg is, so maybe we can ask her to ask EK to join us

The article is quoting the minister at the Indiana Church, so it makes sense that the minister speaks of Barry using his name and the third person. Perhaps Barry also spoke with the minister (if I were the minister, I'd call Barry).

I think it's a good assumption that Barry would reach out to his churches. That's his base of support. "The rest of us" must mean the members of their former church, who knew them for years and years. And he knew the bike was crashed. Of course, it's possible Barry had had conversations with the police who found the bike. Barry doesn't arrive in person until well after dark, so he had to know it either from a talkative policeman, a neighbor who followed the police around, OR from other personal knowledge.

Personally, I think the bike was found by the first responding police officer and taken as evidence, and that none of the subsequent searchers know its condition.

 

[oviedo]

Thank you...I can accept this, it does make sense. I am fairly new, the post from the more experienced sleuths sure does help, thanks Fireflize.



Can't beat you veterans...it helps, Thanks Oviedo, I've been beating my head against the wall, wondering why...AH, Patience is a virtue. I shall pray for more.

I forget patience as well and I’ve followed many cases for many years on WS and others - I trust LE and the prosecutors but I especially trust CO because of their record with Shannon and Kelsey - and I can’t help but think Suzanne looks like what Kelsey might have looked like at her age Had she been allowed to live
IMO-

 

[MyBelle]

Yeah, the reasoning seems to say it was BM who sent the message but then, why would BM himself write in the very same message:
“Barry is just beside himself and so are the rest of us because they can’t find her,” ??

That is not reasonable, unless the author was attempting to conceal his identity, and was sending from some sort of fake account.
Or, the author wasn't BM at all.

Either way, how did the sender know the condition of the bike?
From all appearances the nephew seemed annoyed (moo) that the CCSO wasn't releasing the info about the find bike, and the condition of the found bike, as he pressed the media and the public to put this question to the Sheriff (paraphrasing).

From day 1, the CCSO refuses to even acknowledge they have the bike, let alone what condition it's in.

So either they (CCSO) did tell the family and then TN was upset they weren't releasing that info to the public, or;
the CCSO never did tell the family, and yet someone still seems to know the condition...

Seems to me there's only 1 way that's possible, and that would be the person where the info originally came from, is the person that caused the condition of the bike.
Maybe nephew had the same thought and decided yeah, good time to hush up & step aside?

100% jmo, of course

Or LE showed the found bike to a member of the family to confirm the bike belonged to SM. In order to confirm the ownership, someone had to SEE it.

JMO

 

[Murphy1950]

DBM

 

[Seattle1]

MAY 14, 2020

"I'm willing to confirm that the bike was found on Sunday evening, the night she disappeared. "

The sheriff has said he doesn't not believe she was attacked by an animal. Read the latest updates at http://cbsdenver.com/tag/suzanne-morp...

CBS/DENVER

 

[DizzyB]

If LE felt that the bike was a red herring, maybe that’s why BM and company keep saying “the bike! Ask about the bike!”. BM may be forcing the narrative of the bike to takes heat off of the rest of what LE is looking at-the house, a jobsite, camera footage from long before the supposed bike ride. Somebody may be hoping there won’t be enough evidence to create guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Throwing out the alternate theories.

 

[MassGuy]

Why do you consider a kidnapping to be an arrogant assumption on the part of BM?? Mollie Tibbetts' family did the very same thing. So did LE investigating the Jayme Closs disappearance. It's a long shot but there were hundreds of tips that resulted.

JMO

There was no question MT was kidnapped, the question was if it was a stranger, or someone known to her.

Jayme Closs was clearly kidnapped, and there was no doubt about that either.

Here, BM knows if it was a kidnapping or not. It’s apparent that law enforcement doesn’t believe that, as they are not doing any of the things they normally do in a true kidnapping case.

And this is the FBI and CBI here, not some overmatched police department who wouldn’t know how to necessarily handle something like that.

 

[al66pine]

Does Youtuber TD Have Any Info/Vids Useful to LE?

I'm guessing that LE has already seen the video and they don't need to contact him for more details.

@MsBetsy Yes, entirely possible, but two points about - TD saying he said hasn't heard back from LE:
1. Do we know whether TD spoke the truth about LE's non-response?
2. Even if true at time (June 2?) he said it, maybe LE contacted him after article was published?

A few ppl said ~ BM's stmts on the vid revealed nothing new, and I tend to agree. But I wonder if LE may have contacted/will contact him to secure his recordings not posted online or to Youtube, if any? Possibly w subpoena? Seems TD (even if considered to be a journalist) would have no basis for refusing to produce such vids for LE, under reporter's/ journalist's privilege** which someone mentioned upthread.

If, hypothetically, BM & TD agreed in advance to make that vid for soc media, then other content, perhaps when BM really, truly thought camera was not rolling, could reveal something of evidentiary value to LE. IDK, just conjecturing.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* YouTuber who ‘secretly’ recorded video of Barry Morphew discussing wife’s disappearance says he believes Suzanne Morphew’s husband knew the camera was on. CrimeOnline.com, June 2
** Reporter's privilege or journalist's privilege: "...reporter's protection under constitutional or statutory law, from being compelled to testify about confidential information or sources." bbm Reporter's privilege - Wikipedia

 

[Ontario Mom]

The article is quoting the minister at the Indiana Church, so it makes sense that the minister speaks of Barry using his name and the third person. Perhaps Barry also spoke with the minister (if I were the minister, I'd call Barry).

I think it's a good assumption that Barry would reach out to his churches. That's his base of support. "The rest of us" must mean the members of their former church, who knew them for years and years. And he knew the bike was crashed. Of course, it's possible Barry had had conversations with the police who found the bike. Barry doesn't arrive in person until well after dark, so he had to know it either from a talkative policeman, a neighbor who followed the police around, OR from other personal knowledge.

Personally, I think the bike was found by the first responding police officer and taken as evidence, and that none of the subsequent searchers know its condition.

RBBM

Maybe I read it wrong, but I'm pretty sure the articles states that the message sent to the church, “Barry is just beside himself and so are the rest of us because they can’t find her,” the message, sent on May 11, reads in part.

I read that to say that the author of that message [sent to the church by an unnamed source], is talking about Barry.

Not that the pastor is being quoted.

jmo