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

[Fireflize]

JMO
If the bike was staged and if BM was involved in this then it means he needed someone to discover the bicycle before he needed to come home. I think as it got close to getting dark and as it got close to him needing to return home, I think he may have been the one to press the issue which could have raised red flags to LE.

Since the children were out of town and not home yet then I am thinking the most they may have done on their own is either tried to call or sent her a Happy Mothers Day greeting by phone text or message. But here is the thing. Even if the Mom did not reply, I dont think they would have done much more until they got home because they would have been busy themselves and they would have assumed she was busy with some other plans or something. They would have no reason to suspect something more other than her just not replying back yet. If they were on their way home then I think they would have waited till they got home to find out more about why Mom was so busy she did not reply back to their Happy Mothers Day greeting.

So I think what may have happened is BM may have started to get anxious that nobody made the discovery yet and I am guessing that he was the one that started to press the "discovery". Like he may have called his daughters to remind them to wish Mom a Happy Mothers Day. And then at some point either they called him or he called them back to find out she has not replied back yet. At that point he may have forced the issue into it being a concerning issue for everyone. Like oh no, time to call the neighbor then because something is definitely wrong.

To the kids, they would not make that jump right away unless they had been trying for a very long time to get ahold of her.

Anyway, Im starting to think that this sort of thing may have flagged LE that he was the one raising all the alarms and then low and behold her bicycle is found because he got everyone in an uproar about her not being there.

If the kids would have not been running late to get home then they would have likely discovered things on their own. But since they were still not home, then BM may have had to take control and force the missing person issue with everyone. And that would set off a big red flag to LE if it went down like that.

Thx. That's a new angle to think about. It makes sense that the girls might not think it necessary to call a neighbor, on their own, over SM not answering her phone. That is a serious step to take, considering that they were on their way home and excepted to see her then. Moo

 

[seekingjustice**]

Do we know for certain, who first brought up that she was on a bike ride that day?

Barry to the girls?
Girls to the neighbor?
Neighbor to the girls?
Girls to Barry?

Pardon the brain fog, I can't seem to recall who first suggested it, and to whom.

It would be interesting to know who planted that seed. I don't think we actually know where the story came from though.

Maybe BM just happened to drop in at the neighbours house under some other pretense on his way to Denver, and mentioned to the neighbour that SM had gone off on a bike ride for the day. Then when the girls called the neighbour she instantly knew SM was on a bike ride etc.......

 

[Bridger]

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

The total failure to do what is normally done when a woman goes missing on a bike ride— put out a description of her, her bike, her clothing (if known) and the time she was supposedly riding.

 

[RickshawFan]

"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.

Searching For Suzanne Morphew: Reward For Information Doubled To $200,000

Maybe LE found "the" bike in the Morphew house? There's nothing here confirming a bike was actually involved in this incident, just that an appropriate bike showed up.

 

[DizzyB]

So who told Barry that his wife was missing? I know the neighbor called 911, but then what happened? Did LE or the neighbor call Barry? Did Barry call them? Did he give LE a suggestion as to where she might have run off the road, hence the discovery of the staged bike? Who did LE speak to after they were contacted by the neighbor? What did LE learn that night that made them feel like something was not quite right with the story?

 

[Lilypad13]

Your average, somewhat mentally healthy person realizes that “crime doesn’t pay”. Those who are personality disordered and suffering traits of malignant narcissism may not have the ability to consider the damage their actions cause. Through their own pathology and self obsession they are unable to comprehend it OR they just don’t care.

Or perhaps it was a “crime of passion” and a person with those personality traits thought they were smart enough that they could cover it up because they couldn’t face the consequences - children and family hating them, going to jail, losing their freedom & “reputation” in their community. Maybe the risk of trying to hide what he did was in his confused and panicked thinking at least worth a try even if he thought he might not get away with it in the end. I keep hoping that IF BM is responsible that regret, guilt and the stress of continued interrogation by LE might lead to a confession and IF BM did something to her and with her body IF there is still a person/husband/father in there somewhere he will realize that Suzanne and his children deserve better than this. I would also not be surprised if he couldn’t bring himself to confess and if he thought he was about to be arrested he might take his own life compounding the tragedy and taking her location to his grave.

 

[BeckyF]

Thank you for this understanding. We only get one bite at the apple. Why jump the gun if we don't have to? There's a reason on a felony (in California) we have a three year statute of limitations to charge (not counting murder of course). I might know on day three of an investigation what the deal is, but why not take the extra time to gather my evidence? The second you charge someone, they can invoke their speedy trial rights. Why would I cut myself down to a mere 60 days on a homicide when I can have a lot more?

There is no doubt TONS of evidence in this case to go through. I'm not sure why people think they need to either arrest him NOW or announce he's been cleared and they need help after all. It's likely neither of those things. Just because we don't know what they're doing does not mean they don't know what they're doing.

Consider the intricacies of defendant rights once they've been charged. You (as a DA) do yourself no favors but jumping the gun, just to appease the public.

Thank you so much for posting this.

 

[Hatfield]

Do we know for certain, who first brought up that she was on a bike ride that day?

Barry to the girls?
Girls to the neighbor?
Neighbor to the girls?
Girls to Barry?

Pardon the brain fog, I can't seem to recall who first suggested it, and to whom.

JMO
We dont really know. The only thing we know for sure is the neighbor was the one to contact LE. But we dont really know who or what made her get to that point of calling LE.

"Suzanne Morphew’s neighbor reportedly first alerted police with concerns after Morphew did not return from a bike ride on Mother’s day."

BREAKING: Police prohibit Suzanne Morphew’s family members from entering home

 

[Feistyomi]

Your average, somewhat mentally healthy person realizes that “crime doesn’t pay”. Those who are personality disordered and suffering traits of malignant narcissism may not have the ability to consider the damage their actions cause. Through their own pathology and self obsession they are unable to comprehend it OR they just don’t care.

You are absolutely right, and some are just evil.

 

[BeckyF]

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.

Thank you for your great perspective!

 

[DizzyB]

If LE really really likes Barry for this, would they feel any need to protect or inform the girls? Do they have to weigh the possibility that they are spending time with a murderer, and do they have to consider their welfare? Or do they assume it’s a one-off and the girls are safe, and their only concern is the case at hand?

 

[Bridger]

Could be anything. Here's a few examples that we've all seen before: husband is immediately caught in a lie; there's a girlfriend (or two); wife wants to leave the marriage; wife confides in others about emotional or physical abuse; husband confides in others regarding rage at wife; financial problems. It will be interesting to learn the details of the investigation. One day.

But these aren’t the kind of things that should lead a seasoned lawman to throw out the playbook for searching for a missing woman. These are things that should arouse his suspicions, but lots of men have affairs, have financial problems, lie because they don’t want to admit something embarrassing. Whatever the sheriff found out had to be MAJOR. But even now, not enough for an arrest. It is perplexing.

 

[Feistyomi]

This is an intriguing theory.

It's also an extremely disturbing one.

If true, this would mean that a father cold-bloodedly arranged things in such a way that his daughters would be the ones to discover that their mother had gone missing.

On Mother's Day.

"YOUR daughters need you," he said in that 26-second video.

If the scenario you've outlined above turns out to be what's happened here, I can well understand why he'd unconsciously use language to distance himself from them.

Anyone who could do that, is no kind of father.

JMO.

dbm

 

[BeckyF]

BBM:

I see strong indications that a lot of people have been manipulated:

Nephew.
SM's daughters.
Neighbor.
Co-workers at the fire department.
Friends.
Kind-hearted, generous strangers on the internet.
The legal system in Indiana.

Fortunately, despite the perp's best efforts, there's one group that I think he has NOT been able to manipulate:

LE.

Not for lack of trying...I think every bit of staging r/t her disappearance was an attempt to manipulate them.

It must be incredibly frustrating for the perp, seeing how LE refused to take the bait.

JMO.

Yes, we at least have that. I hope he is squirming every single day wondering what they have!

 

[DizzyB]

But these aren’t the kind of things that should lead a seasoned lawman to throw out the playbook for searching for a missing woman. These are things that should arouse his suspicions, but lots of men have affairs, have financial problems, lie because they don’t want to admit something embarrassing. Whatever the sheriff found out had to be MAJOR. But even now, not enough for an arrest. It is perplexing.

I agree. Just because someone is unhappy in a marriage or even if there has been domestic violence, a person can still get hurt on a bike ride or get abducted or attacked by an animal. LE knew that wasn’t any of those.

 

[Lilypad13]

Did anyone notice whether BM had any scratches or marks on his face or hands during his FB video?

I thought he looked very red possibly from being out in the sun all day “searching” and tired which would be understandable. I thought he was limping in the TD video. Maybe he didn’t make an on camera plea for five days (I think that’s correct might be longer) because he had visible marks? But they wouldn’t heal that fast would they? Remember OJ with the cut finger...he said he cut it on the glass in his hotel room. If BM had any cuts, scratches or bruises he could blame it on something during searching in the woods.

 

[RickshawFan]

It would be interesting to know who planted that seed. I don't think we actually know where the story came from though.

Maybe BM just happened to drop in at the neighbours house under some other pretense on his way to Denver, and mentioned to the neighbour that SM had gone off on a bike ride for the day. Then when the girls called the neighbour she instantly knew SM was on a bike ride etc.......

This scenario. Well put. Someone planted a seed that a bike was involved, but we don't know it's a fact.

 

[Fireflize]

Did anyone notice whether BM had any scratches or marks on his face or hands during his FB video?

If so, it would perfectly explain his reluctance to be filmed by media! And as someone already noted, we don't see his hands in the 26 second self video. By the time he was filmed by the YouTube guy, a lot of time had passed. Moo

 

[vaporlass]

Excellent post! And with rhyming too.

"Pics or it didn't happen" has become a default mentality in various cases, including this one, along with an expectation that missing person and murder cases are, or should be, solved quickly. DAs often refer to these types of expectations as "the CSI effect," because on TV shows everything gets solved in 42 min, not counting commercials, with all kinds of whizbang amazing technology and slick editing.

Imagine trying to live up to those kinds of expectations when real life investigating contains a lot of drudgery, digging through digital files, all the administrivia involved and cataloging everything, waiting for lab testing, following up on tips in which most will be useless, possibly juggling other casework in addition. And imagine you have some good evidence but it's not enough for the DA to take the case forward yet. On top of that there's always the people who believe you aren't doing your job, you aren't competent, they know better, you should be prescient or there's something wrong with you, etc.

Exactly! I agree, the only disappointment is that SM has not been located, yet.
I understand it takes time, recently we had a chainsaw come up missing ... it took me DAYS to get through all my cameras video because I didn’t know WHEN it was stolen (it’s not something we used everyday). Ugh!
Can you imagine the hours needed just to review all the videos in that town and other areas! It’s not fun and it’s very time consuming...
I’d love for them to announce something or give us information but I’m well aware that it’s going to take awhile to sort through everything.

 

[Itsapuzzle]

Has anyone heard what was supposed to be suspicious about the car?

Sorry, can't find TKG's original post with the clip, but just watched it again where I quoted TKG's post at #256.
Reporter says - speaking about avid mountain biker Francis - "He says he happened to be riding up County Road 225 the same Mothers day as Suzanne Morphew. Says he spotted a car that looked out of place." Then we have avid mountain biker Francis saying, "very suspicious, you know, that car was very - and it shouldn't have been there, in my opinion."
So, hopefully some cars passing by at that time may have picked up a bit of dashcam footage as it entered or left the area around the time and handed it in.