Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #14

[carbuff]

We posted at the same time...I understand it is a remote possibility but it would be possible especially if driven and dumped there as opposed to drifting down the river there. I was just confused how they already knew it wasn’t the other woman already. I guess I’ll just let it go for now. If it turns out to be SM we will all know in due time!

Like I said, probably dentals. It's easy to eliminate people that way.

Now I think we need to link virtual little fingers and say bread and butter! so we don't jinx each other.

 

[Tate123]

How so? If the spouse of the missing person is charged and there is evidence from the job site search used to establish the charges, the spouse would not have standing to challenge the search at the job site whether it was a consent search or a SW search. The evidence from the job site would come in and the Defendant would not have a viable challenge to the search.

I checked with my significant other ( a Judge) and got his opinion...

Here the police have consent from the property owner- one assumes in a written form the police always carry. A consent search can be stopped by the consenter unequivocally withdrawing his/her consent. It must be a clear and unambiguous withdrawal of consent. Expressions like.. this is taking a long time or too long a time are insufficient. Also, if a person withdraws consent the police may keep, and a court will admit, what was found up until revoking consent...CAVEAT, NY is quite liberal with respect to standing, searches and permitting hearings when other jurisdictions are less inclined. In NY, trial judges often grant a hearing in order to get testimony when memories are fresh a year or more before a plea of guilty or a jury conviction because, on appeal, there often are appellate rulings holding the appeal in abeyance pending a judge conducting a hearing to make findings of fact and conclusions of law which in part are the basis of the appeal. A hearing means taking testimony from one or more witnesses some of whom might have retired in the interim. The judge then makes factual findings and a legal ruling. Here, the defendant might have an affidavit from the property owner challenging his/her having given consent or claiming the police started to search before consent or continued after a supposed withdrawal of consent. The appeals court cannot resolve those questions and if the trial judge had not conducted a hearing the case would be paused until the trial judge did so....Having a murder conviction overturned and a new trial ordered occurs if clearly critical evidence were incorrectly admitted for the jury’s use.
The grounds on which to challenge a SW are quite difficult to meet and some benefit is given to law enforcement for getting one even if it is not perfect.

 

[10ofRods]

I think y’all are mixing up two different found bodies. The one we’re awaiting ID on was found in Sumner county, not Wichita. No ID yet.

Update: KBI joins investigation of body pulled from river in Kansas6


SUMNER COUNTY — The Sumer County Sheriff's has requested the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's assistance to positively identity a person whose badly decomposed body was pulled from the Ninnescah River over the weekend.

It is a homicide investigation, according to Melissa Underwood with the KBI.

Sheriff’s deputies were called to an area in northeastern Sumner County, west of the Kansas Turnpike, around 1:30 p.m. Sunday after someone fishing in the river spotted the body.

Authorities said they were unable to say how the person died or whether the victim was a man or a woman because of the deteriorated condition of the remains. An autopsy has been scheduled at the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center in Wichita

I think the reference was to a missing woman in Wichita. There's a missing woman who is closer to that River than our Suzanne was/is.

So the County where the body was found was Sumner, as far as any of us know, there are no missing persons from Sumner County at this time (maybe someone can check and repost, I know it's been posted). But there is a missing woman from not too far away in Wichita.

We are hoping that the family in Wichita gets closure, too.

 

[oviedo]

This could take a long while IMO - I've been following Jennifer's case and today they are searching a Fore group home and emptying the septic tank - it's been over a year and a detailed investigation - no body...yet.

Where is Suzanne?

 

[Moonchime]

I suspect it may have something to do with with the atmosphere in general society right now.
It's motivated me to be even more supportive of law enforcement, and appreciative for all they do, and all they risk, every day they put on that badge.
Civilians have no idea.

Actually, these statements were made before the current situation going on right now. BM's family seemed hostile regarding LE from the get-go. MOO.

 

[10ofRods]

I checked with my significant other ( a Judge) and got his opinion...

Here the police have consent from the property owner- one assumes in a written form the police always carry. A consent search can be stopped by the consenter unequivocally withdrawing his/her consent. It must be a clear and unambiguous withdrawal of consent. Expressions like.. this is taking a long time or too long a time are insufficient. Also, if a person withdraws consent the police may keep, and a court will admit, what was found up until revoking consent...CAVEAT, NY is quite liberal with respect to standing, searches and permitting hearings when other jurisdictions are less inclined. In NY, trial judges often grant a hearing in order to get testimony when memories are fresh a year or more before a plea of guilty or a jury conviction because, on appeal, there often are appellate rulings holding the appeal in abeyance pending a judge conducting a hearing to make findings of fact and conclusions of law which in part are the basis of the appeal. A hearing means taking testimony from one or more witnesses some of whom might have retired in the interim. The judge then makes factual findings and a legal ruling. Here, the defendant might have an affidavit from the property owner challenging his/her having given consent or claiming the police started to search before consent or continued after a supposed withdrawal of consent. The appeals court cannot resolve those questions and if the trial judge had not conducted a hearing the case would be paused until the trial judge did so....Having a murder conviction overturned and a new trial ordered occurs if clearly critical evidence were incorrectly admitted for the jury’s use.
The grounds on which to challenge a SW are quite difficult to meet and some benefit is given to law enforcement for getting one even if it is not perfect.

I want to frame this. Thank you so much for finding a Judge for us, and especially for your exceptionally well written summary.

 

[Dave F.]

Like I said, probably dentals. It's easy to eliminate people that way.

Now I think we need to link virtual little fingers and say bread and butter! so we don't jinx each other.

Several years ago in northern Wyoming, hunters found a body in a ditch that had been shot and then decapitated and the hands were removed. Nobody had been reported missing, but LE were able to go straight to his trailer to question the wife of the deceased, who said she was just about to go to town to report him missing. She and a co-conspirator were convicted of murder. The deceased had been in trouble with the law, and LE recognized his belt buckle. IMO

 

[Lilypad13]

But...if they could already r/o that woman then shouldn’t they also already have been able to r/o SM using same methods? I would think KBI & CBI would work together to also make sure it wasn’t SM but maybe not? Or they did check but made no announcement that it wasn’t her because it’s farther away in another state? If it was SM would they hold that information within LE pending further investigation to determine cause of death and notification of family before releasing a positive identification to the media? Ok, sorry...obviously I can’t let it go. I don’t mean to disrupt the thread with a long shot that nobody cares about. But I think there are still few of us who are interested in f/u on this body. Thanks for your patience and I won’t bring it up anymore unless there is something definitive to report.

 

[Moonchime]

<rsbm>

I don't recall there being any time provided for when the bike was found. Do you have a link for that?

IIRC, the 911 call was made just prior to 6:00 pm (5:46 rings a bell, but somebody will correct me if I have this wrong). BM said he got home around 9:00 pm.

ETA: Found it ...

Maysville’s Suzanne Morphew, 49, is missing. The Chaffee County Communications Center received a call about a missing female at 5:46 p.m. on Sunday. Sheriff John Spezze said that’s they day they think she went missing.

Isn't it odd that Sheriff John Spezze's said that MD is the day they think SM went missing? It sounds as if BM must have left the house before Mother's Day. MOO

 

[FelicityLemon]

I think LE is finally beginning to realize they went about this backwards and that their initial focus on BM may have been in error. Searches focused on him have turned up nothing, so now they start canvassing neighbors in the area? That should have been done the second day.

But here’s the really telling thing—the poster shows Suzanne in a bike helmet. If they didn’t think she disappeared while on a bike ride, why in the world would they put out a poster a month after she disappeared showing her wearing a bike helmet????

I think they’re coming around.

Ooh! Good point about the bike hemet pic because it adds weight to the theory of her going missing on or after a bike ride! Ooh. I don''t know who made the fliers or picked the photos, but I thought there are literally dozens of photos of her we've seen. :thinking:

 

[Moonchime]

Not that I have seen. It’s just not the missing Wichita woman.

A poster above has written that the body found was a male.

 

[Charlot123]

BBM

This may be true for some people who believe he is innocent, but certainly not for me.

I believe he is innocent, not because of the way he looks (I actually find muscles quite ugly).

MOO

I am sorry if my post hurt you in some way, i did not mean to.

Muscles aside, you posted that you would trust him, or so I understood. I am not citing you, just thinking about trust-inspiring people. I think that there are types that we all seem to like. I have met several incredibly trustworthy-looking guys, and while they were not bad people, average, I’d say, I once sat down and thought, what was so likable about them?
It is this “nice neighbor”, John-Glenn-like, charm.

And when I look at BM’s face, I see the same trustworthy traits. Forget the muscles, it is about the face. (And together the Ms looked like a handsome, happy couple, exuding love and support).

But then I get back to the article I linked, I think of poor SM’s chance of being abducted by a stranger (17%) vs mountain lion (0.00001 maybe).

Now, 17% is not that small, so some people can bet when the odds are 1/4.

But what about nr 1 reason cited in that article, anger? What about 1/2 of the women killed by intimate partner having had quarrel the day before? What about this anger being such that outsiders notice it?

I can’t discount it. Apparently, to the authors angry temper was way more important than such common reasons as financial troubles or any other “banal” reason.

 

[Lilypad13]

Several years ago in northern Wyoming, hunters found a body in a ditch that had been shot and then decapitated and the hands were removed. Nobody had been reported missing, but LE were able to go straight to his trailer to question the wife of the deceased, who said she was just about to go to town to report him missing. She and a co-conspirator were convicted of murder. The deceased had been in trouble with the law, and LE recognized his belt buckle. IMO

Wow that’s amazing! You just never know...one little detail remembered and recognized by one person can solve a murder! That must be why LE are asking for anyone who thinks they have seen something or found something no matter how insignificant it seems to call the tip line. Dave were you the one who posted about the book you read about the husband who was found guilty of murdering his wife and then someone posted they worked on the case and thought he was wrongly convicted? It sounded very interesting and I wanted to read the book but already forgot the name of the case/book.

 

[Dave F.]

Thanks. Yes I have the map, just couldn't tell whether it connected to that other trail. But if it's a road bike trail, it makes sense that it wouldn't.

I know around here lots of people ride their mountain bikes everywhere. Not for long tours, but for in-between kinds of road trips, like maybe riding to the trail head. But then the roads around here are often potholed and ragged...

Salida offers world class biking, hiking, kayaking and snowboarding. Many residents, and even more visitors have made a serious lifestyle choice to get there. There have to be bikers that combine Monarch crest and downtown Salida trails. They are just doing their own thing!
My own impression is that SM was happy doing Monarch Crest on a mountain bike, by herself............but it's MOO

 

[Lilypad13]

Ooh! Good point about the bike hemet pic because it adds weight to the theory of her going missing on or after a bike ride! Ooh. I don''t know who made the fliers or picked the photos, but I thought there are literally dozens of photos of her we've seen. :thinking:

B&IBM. Hmmmm...I wonder?

 

[IceIce9]

Isn't it odd that Sheriff John Spezze's said that MD is the day they think SM went missing? It sounds as if BM must have left the house before Mother's Day. MOO

Or there could a discrepancy they are looking into
MOO

 

[RickshawFan]

Did they ID the body in the Arkansas river in Wichita yet?

Male.

Not that I have seen. It’s just not the missing Wichita woman.

They did ID the body in the Arkansas River in Wichita: MALE.

 

[RickshawFan]

Check again. I don’t think it has been identified. The article you posted about a different body, male, was from April 2020. Before SM went missing.

We don't know when SM went missing.

But, gotcha, on the date. Here's the one that hasn't been ID'd: Body found on west side of river in downtown Wichita

 

[FelicityLemon]

Yes. And you know if they were just going there to look around, even with scent dogs, I wouldn’t be certain there had to be a search warrant, if the owner consented. That happens. “Hey, can we search your property?” “Of course!”

But they used sonar and dug up a cement pad the owner had paid to install. That’s a lot more intense.

And would insurance even cover that if he consented?

Even with owner consent, doesn't a warrant help protect any evidence found? It's all well and good that Owner said you could dig, but how can the court be sure of XYZ?
A defense lawyer could claim all kinds of things regarding evidence planting, chain of custody issue, even the "real" guilty person planting the evidence in hopes to implicate someone else.

 

[FelicityLemon]

In the last month, since Suzanne’s disappearance, not one named individual (of which I’m currently aware) has come forward to give a positive comment on the Morphew’s marriage or BM’s character. Not exactly a glowing recommendation from the friends and family. Sad.

No one has come forward to say anything negative about their marriage, either. So...yay!