Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #13

[gitana1]

@gitana1 Interesting. Did colleague think it was odd:
- a missing person could be declared 'incapacitated' (also seemed odd to me before seeing similar IN statute), or
- guardian or conservator could sell the MisPers/ IncPers's real property?
Also looks like CA statute permits filing petition for Grdnship, w no specified waiting time for missing persons.
^ is the only CA section I read.
California Code, Probate Code - PROB § 1849.5
"(a) A petition may be filed under this article regardless of when the proposed conservatee became missing or how long the proposed conservatee has been missing."

@gitana Thank you very much for providing us w benefit of your legal expertese.

That he could get a conservatorship in another state when she didn’t reside there AND was missing.

 

[Madeleine74]

Yes!

I’m hoping that Suzanne has a similar relationship with the electronics in her life. Even if it’s a routine of checking the weather, which would be normal before a bike ride into the wilderness....

MOO

That and if you meow at your Echo device/Alexa, it will start meowing back. (For some reason my cat thinks her name is Alexa because she meows when I tell Alexa to do something.)

But it certainly would give investigators a good timeline of a user being alive and well (and possibly running hot & cold every 5 min).

 

[gitana1]

I’m just trying to think of an explanation for what was apparently an almost immediate determination that BM was responsible for SM’s disappearance, combined with a failure, after a month filled with searches, to secure enough evidence for an arrest.

What evidence is there that there was an almost immediate determination that he was responsible?

Having a suspicion, combined with the need to rule out possible foul play involving people close to her, would lead to investigative resources being turned in that direction. That doesn’t mean that’s all they did.

Failure to find evidence suggesting an accident, animal attack or abduction would tend to pinpoint that direction.

But yeah, there’s a lot we don’t know that may indicate they need to look closer at certain people or scenarios.

The lack of an arrest this early on is meaningless when it comes to the viability of their approach.

 

[Lori Cooper]

You can search the names ..I've yet to see any donations from SM side of the family.

After looking at the list, how do you know there are none there from her side of the family?

 

[Lori Cooper]

It's possible, except they let them fill it in, concrete over it, and build the house.

Agreed. If they even thought for one moment, that something to assist their case was found, that would have halted construction for the time being. IMO

 

[gitana1]

Question for me on the last thread:

What did I think of the 26 second appeal video? It reminds me so much of other videos we’ve seen in these cases.

My two cents on wild animal attacks and pumas in the west- I live near mountain lion country. I hike and bike all over areas where mountain lions live. I go as far as four hours in. Went the last three weekends in a row.

I’ve been hiking wilderness trails here in CA, - including ones where we have had attacks- (Whiting Ranch and Casper’s Regional Park) since I was tiny. In fact, right now Whiting Ranch is closed due to repeated mountain lion sightings there. A three year old was attacked and dragged a couple months ago at the park. (The lion was killed).

I hike/jog at dusk, in certain areas near where sightings have been made. Usually in the winter because I have no time otherwise.

I’m scared of mountain lions. I’ve seen tracks on multiple occasions but in all my years of hiking, biking, jogging, I’ve only seen one. That’s it. Crossing a field in Black Star Canyon as a crowd watched.

Mountain lion attacks are so rare that it’s really not a threat. Not to an adult woman. If she was three I’d be more inclined to worry about that. Crashes, heart attack, stroke, heat stroke or rattlesnake bite are vastly higher risks.

It’s kind of like saying we know a woman went on a bike ride and she turned up dead (if the body was found) so we think a lightning strike is a good possibility of the COD even though there were no storms in the area, and no signs of a strike.

I mean unless there was a sighting where and when she disappeared, drag marks, paw prints, scat and blood, this possibility is exceedingly unlikely.

Because I’m afraid of them I've researched extensively. We don’t have a “big cat problem” in the west. Instead, we have been working to protect them in some places and increase their genetic diversity.

Signs won’t help protect avid bike riders/hikers/runners because they’re well aware of the animals and that won’t stop them from using those areas.

I do carry pepper spray and other weapons, however. But that’s mostly for two legged predators and coyotes, which I do see often and which went after me and my dog once.

 

[gitana1]

Yes. People in expensive homes tend to be savvy with money.

People with million dollar homes can afford to be savvy with money.

 

[tmar]

As you know, that happened in the Berreth case. It’s a major reason Patrick Frazee is spending the rest of his life behind bars.

Yes.
Frazee walked around using his own phone and that of KB: thinking he was so smart!!!
In this case, surely this stupidity as publicized , would not be followed.

 

[GordianKnot]

Yes.
Frazee walked around using his own phone and that of KB: thinking he was so smart!!!
In this case, surely this stupidity as publicized , would not be followed.

BBM:

In almost all the cases I've followed, the guilty party invariably digs his/her own grave by trying to be too cute.

A lot of these perps think they're ever-so-much cleverer than LE.
In their eagerness to prove just how very clever they are, they manage to hoist themselves on their own petards.
In spectacular fashion, too, I might add.

Hubris: It pounds the proverbial nails in the coffin almost every time.

I fully expect the same will prove true here in SM's case.

My sense is that the perp who's responsible for SM's disappearance has a massively overinflated ego.

JMO.

 

[Mimi in London]

Yes.
Frazee walked around using his own phone and that of KB: thinking he was so smart!!!
In this case, surely this stupidity as publicized , would not be followed.

BM may have learned a lot from Frazee’s mistakes. Kelsey’s case must have had a lot of coverage in Co over the last year- 18 months. BM is bound to have discussed it in some detail with his firefighter colleagues, given the fire aspect of the case.

 

[pocketaccent]

Maybe SM's phone activity, had continued, due to the Culprit having access, therefore the timeline is masked.

BM talked (TD video) as if he had a person to person conversation with SM on Mother's Day, that since the girls will be home, it should be okay for him to be in Denver all day and night. Most likely he told the same story, that SM was alive and well, to LE when he returned back home that night. Yet no one could reach her, possibly for days.

I don't know if LE found SM's phone. Maybe LE was looking to recover SM's phone under the concrete.

But they do have BM's. His phone record may have revealed many days of texts received such as - 'Do you know where SM is? I can't reach her', ' Give her this message, she isn't calling me back'.

 

[Poedelini]

Not really new stuff in this article.

Missing Mom: Suzanne Morphew Disappeared 4 Weeks Ago

 

[kay74]

Would it be normal for LE to spend so much time at the house even if they didn’t find anything? What about the evidence bags they carried out? Not being argumentative just asking because I have no idea. It just seemed to me they held their home for an extended amount of time. Wasn’t it ten days?!

That's crazy! I wonder if BM has cameras in the house where he could watch them? Oh wait, forgot, they had his phone.

 

[rainbowshummingbird]

BBM:

In almost all the cases I've followed, the guilty party invariably digs his/her own grave by trying to be too cute.

A lot of these perps think they're ever-so-much cleverer than LE, and in their eagerness to prove just how clever they are, they manage to hoist themselves on their own petards.
In spectacular fashion, I might add.

It's like Wyle E. Coyote is their role model, or something.

Hubris: It pounds the proverbial nails in the coffin almost every time.

I very much anticipate the same will prove true here in SM's case.

JMO.

Perhaps BM is smart, though his language skills are certainly elementary school level; but he may be smart in other ways. Even if BM is smart, he is only one individual. One person’s intellect versus the collective intelligence of hundreds of law enforcement (police, sheriff’s, CBI, FBI). Those are pretty tough odds.

 

[Truecolors]

BM talked (TD video) as if he had a person to person conversation with SM on Mother's Day, that since the girls will be home, it should be okay for him to be in Denver all day and night. Most likely he told the same story, that SM was alive and well, to LE when he returned back home that night. Yet no one could reach her, possibly for days.

I don't know if LE found SM's phone. Maybe LE was looking to recover SM's phone under the concrete.

But they do have BM's. His phone record may have revealed many days of texts received such as - 'Do you know where SM is? I can't reach her', ' Give her this message, she isn't calling me back'.

Very interesting idea that family may have been contacting him to reach her. Facebook accounts might have similar info. I know I contact people through messenger if I’m having trouble reaching them by text.

I do wonder what they were looking for in the concrete. Seems like a bad choice for a personal object that could be destroyed and tossed downstream a few miles. But criminals can be dumb.

MOO

 

[gitana1]

Believe me, as a DA, I'm DYING to know what they have. But I'm not entitled to it!

I ALWAYS voir dire on the "CSI effect" when I'm seating a jury. And it always gets a chuckle out of potential jurors, but I tell them, especially in not-so-exciting cases, I need to know if there is anyone who is going to be upset that this doesn't play out like an episode of CSI.

Is there anyone who is going to be disappointed that I don't have a DNA expert here to testify? Anyone going to be mad this investigation wasn't handed to me with a bow on top and zero doubt? Anyone not going to be able to convict, despite me proving the case BRD, simply because the cast of Criminal Minds wasn't brought in to help us solve this?

I really want to know. I don't want those people on my jury. I don't want someone who thinks, well that's not how it happened last night on CSI, so there's reasonable doubt. No! That's not how it works in real life!

Sometimes we gather evidence for months and years before we think we have enough. It is an ethical duty we take an oath to uphold that we will NOT even file charges on a case we are not certain we can prove BRD.

We do not file cases to appease the public, to "get back at" a defendant we don't like, or to play games with anyone. It's really not like that. We don't do it to win, we don't do it to just get a conviction, and we don't do it willy nilly.

Most of us are ethical humans who believe in the oath we took to uphold the US and our respective state constitution, and to get actual justice, no matter how long it takes or where our investigation ultimately leads us.

Okay, off my soapbox.

And aren’t those questions also a means of setting the stage for the jury that’s seated? Sort of a way to guide their expectations and let them know what’s reality and what’s not?

 

[MrX]

I do wonder what they were looking for in the concrete.

Same as the house search, mentioned above. If the spouse/partner is statistically usually guilty, and if BM's behavior/movements were "suspicious," then those were the places LE had to look. The way everything just seemed to stop after the dirt sifting, it tells me that neither search turned up anything.

 

[Tricia]

Hey Websleuths Members.

I've been reading your great posts on this strange case. It is so frustrating. Other than it has been 4 weeks since Suzanne went missing is there anything else new?

Tonight on Websleuths YouTube Live we are going to discuss Suzanne's case but, as we say in Utah "Dang it all to Heck", there is nothing new to discuss. Join us tonight and every night at 10:00 PM Eastern.

Anyway, just wanted to stop in and say hello and let you know I appreciate your ability to keep this case alive with your informative posts.

Take Care,
Tricia

 

[pocketaccent]

That he could get a conservatorship in another state when she didn’t reside there AND was missing.

I'm rethinking the guardianship issue.
They were selling the IN property while living in CO. How were they signing many real estate documents? All electronically of course, unless one of them or both traveled to IN.

And all these happened during COVID 19. All documents may be signed electronically. (I think required even. @kkdj can confirm?)

 

[10ofRods]

Here some things I think might have alerted police early on that something was amiss, beyond a bike accident (most of the ideas come from you all, through the past couple of threads, I'm just a list maker):

• no one able to reach Suzanne for an actual telephone conversation on the 8th, 9th, 10th
• no one credible saw Suzanne for those same dates
• scratches or injuries on someone within her circle
• no fingerprints on the bike or other evidence of staging (brake lock engaged?)
• someone in Suzanne's circle conveyed worries that there could be a DV situation
• no evidence of BM going to Denver or a job being prepped in Denver
• financial situation, including overdue bills and other evidence of financial distress
• life insurance policies in force (surely they must have asked BM early on?)
• tire tread analysis

There's probably more. But taken together, it's possible that's enough for LE to conclude this wasn't a stranger abduction. Or a mountain lion. Or a suicide.

If in fact, no one had heard from Suzanne since, say, Friday (except for BM's claim he was with her Sunday morning) and BM's trip to Denver didn't check out, those two things alone would make LE want to know who else had actually talked to (not just messaged) Suzanne. But there needed to be at least one other item from that list, I think (or something else) to make them so certain.