Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #16

[Dave F.]

Yes. First of all, they got a search warrant in this case. It’s been sealed but it is believed to cover the search of the house. It could’ve covered the work site as well. We don’t know.

But with a search warrant there needs to be a showing of probable cause that evidence of a CRIME has been committed in the area to be searched.

And bringing in sonar and digging up an expensive concrete pad, that’s not going to happen without a search warrant. And certainly not at the insistence of a third party property owner. Citizens don’t get to direct law enforcement in their searches.

Second, only three days after she disappeared:

“Spezze declined to comment on whether Morphew’s husband is cooperating with authorities in the search for the woman or whether investigators believe foul play was involved.

‘This is an open criminal investigation,’ Spezze said during a brief interview.”
https://nypost.com/2020/05/13/colorado-woman-missing-after-going-on-mothers-day-bike-ride/

Of course they quickly softened that to:
“The family is cooperating.” And that they wouldn’t “rule out” a criminal investigation.

But the horse is out of the barn.

All references to missing persons under Colorado statue are contained in Section 16 - Criminal Procedure. It was safe to call it a criminal investigation at 5:47 pm on May 10, 2020 when the 911 call was answered. As long as it's a missing person case, it will still be safe to also call it a criminal investigation. Same-o Same-o, IMO, IANAL

 

[Madeleine74]

Citizens don’t get to direct law enforcement in their searches.

I could absolutely see that as a tattoo on someone. Maybe every detective would want one?

IMO

 

[LietKynes]

Yes. You apparently missed quite a bit.

First off, the FBI and CBI didn’t treat this as an abduction case. We have seen both agencies quite a bit in recent high profile cases, and they are quite competent (just ask Chris Watts or Patrick Frazee).

Obviously they don’t think this was an abduction, a suicide, or an accident. They also don’t think this was one of the lions from “The Ghost and the Darkness.”

Basically, all I see in defense of this guy are excuses. All the weird behavior does not matter, the behavior of law enforcement does not matter, and something that does not happen with any regularity must have happened.

Yeah, maybe the FBI, CBI, and local law enforcement were fooled, and someone abducted a low risk victim, from a low risk area, and left no trace.

Maybe the husband behaved like a guilty man, and this task force excavated a property for no reason.

But maybe a spade is a spade.

bbm
First of all -- great post!
And yes, if it quacks like a duck...

Not to mention the creepy infomercial with the scrolling phone number -- like an advertisement for dirt removal, and the extra interview with TD and the subsequent 'B-Splaining'.
Shades of Gannon Stauch's stepmother.

And a good insight into a man whom LE felt necessary to actually destroy part of another person's concrete foundation.
No way in Hades would LE do that on a 'whim'.
Not to mention local LE asked the FBI and CBI to assist.

They have a ton of evidence to go through including the digital trail.
I shudder to think of the massive amounts of gps , computer history, and phone pings/texts they must search.

But I see zero evidence that they're giving up and quitting.

They are going to find out what happened to Suzanne, it's just a matter of time !
Imo.

 

[oviedo]

BBM & snipped for space

IMO

I bet he had no idea he'd become the focus of an investigation. How could he have known that unless he was a consistent follower of murder cases, specifically missing/murdered by the partner cases?
Snipped

Most of these partners/spouses have no clue how much attention their missing loved one will get, without any publicity on their part. They don't see their partner/spouse as important and valuable and newsworthy and one of the biggest mistakes made is thinking no one will care or spend much time looking.

BBM
Yes I don’t think they do realize this - In fact I could swear one of these killers said as much - something about they didn’t know attention would come their way? Maybe Patrick frazee or fotis dulos? I can’t remember maybe someone does ?

 

[LietKynes]

Yes. First of all, they got a search warrant in this case. It’s been sealed but it is believed to cover the search of the house. It could’ve covered the work site as well. We don’t know.

But with a search warrant there needs to be a showing of probable cause that evidence of a CRIME has been committed in the area to be searched.

And bringing in sonar and digging up an expensive concrete pad, that’s not going to happen without a search warrant. And certainly not at the insistence of a third party property owner. Citizens don’t get to direct law enforcement in their searches.

Second, only three days after she disappeared:

“Spezze declined to comment on whether Morphew’s husband is cooperating with authorities in the search for the woman or whether investigators believe foul play was involved.

‘This is an open criminal investigation,’ Spezze said during a brief interview.”
https://nypost.com/2020/05/13/colorado-woman-missing-after-going-on-mothers-day-bike-ride/

Of course they quickly softened that to:
“The family is cooperating.” And that they wouldn’t “rule out” a criminal investigation.

But the horse is out of the barn.

bbm
This ^^^

 

[LietKynes]

I wonder why someone who was so quick to call 911 and seek LE assistance decided within a week to “do his own thing” separate from them? Surely he knew he would be POI since he is spouse, why would that offend him so greatly? He has his lawyer, his own PI, his own search team, his private reward for safe return .... he obviously does not like or respect the LE that are investigating and his opinion of them was formed very quickly it seems. Interesting.

bbm
Indeed interesting. ^^^

Maybe they asked questions that he didn't want to answer ?
Some people don't want anyone 'in their business'.
But when a lady is missing and the video infomercial indicates an abductor has her....
Imo.

 

[FelicityLemon]

.dbm

 

[susiQ]

Is DwaP's video with Lauren Scharf no longer an approved source?

I thought it was approved. Just not DWAP’s comments/opinions were not allowed to be discussed. IIRC.

 

[oviedo]

Thank you Tate123.

This DWAP video is approved as it is an interview with reporter Lauren Scharf.

Is DwaP's video with Lauren Scharf no longer an approved source?

 

[OldCop]

I really don’t think they found anything at all. There’s definitely the possibility of a surprise, but my money is on them finding nothing is evidentiary value.

I’m on the fence a bit about this. I tend to think they didn’t find anything either. What I find perplexing is that out of that whole slab, the search was very concentrated. We have that one section cut out, then 3 days of sifting dirt. Why was the search so precise? What did they expect to find? Why, if they didn’t find anything in the first hole, wouldn’t they have enlarged the hole or checked another area under the slab?

 

[vaporlass]

Strongly agree, I would add L.E. officially naming a person of interest in order for them to be sleuthed here is probably not a priority. IMO

Omg! This made me LOL ...

 

[Feistyomi]

How do we know that though?

Searching the home makes sense to see if something happened there in the absence of her family so that doesn't necessarily point to the husband.

Searching the family vehicles makes sense as well as a means to possibly confirm or exclude his involvement.

Searching the construction site based on tips - or as we have heard, possibly at the insistence of the property owner to make sure she isn't there makes sense as well as a means to exclude an area of concern.

But since all of these have been released and returned, we haven't heard anything else that tells us they are focused on the husband unless I missed something. Did I?

you are correct in your assessment. Imo, this is standard procedure, for LE. The husband is always going to be under suspicion in a disappearance. This you learned from your friend’s disappearance.
IANAL, so the lawyers can explain it. These are the normal places to search for evidence, therefore if the husband agrees to these searches, aren’t search warrants just standard procedure? Are search warrants 100% in finding evidence of a crime? Aren’t there some that come up w/zip? I assume that if LE, including the judges and husband all agree to let this process document no evidence, the focus shifts toward other possibilities quite smoothly.
Of course, in order to completely clear a husband, the financial and electronics investigation would continue. Can you recall how long these processes took in your friends case? Your experience gives such a clear view from the other side in a case like this. I am solidly of the opinion, BM is innocent.
I am willing to let the majority have their crow party later. I guess that’s because this is my second rodeo and I should be allowed to be wrong. Hopefully, I will learn from the experience.
This is my speculative questioning of our more knowledgeable members? Given the close knit communities, and that the Ms became part of those, wouldn’t LE bend over backwards and carefully go a little beyond what would be normal, if no evidence was found?
Would the presence of outside LE have been based on that also? I think we all saw how the firefighters were excluded from searches. I imagine the entire CCLE force knows the Ms well. IMO this is the reason, he has not been cleared yet. They are protecting him and his reputation by thoroughly clearing him.

 

[Feistyomi]

Thank you! I remembered the ghost part, but couldn’t remember the rest. I could not get those dramatic scenes out of my head during our mountain lion discussions. The animals would sense the lions before any of the villagers. We all know that was Hollywood overkill, but I just couldn’t believe the dogs would not have gone crazy in the searches for SM.
I can picture them dragging the trackers behind them in the trail of a lion.

 

[vaporlass]

bbm
First of all -- great post!
And yes, if it quacks like a duck...

Not to mention the creepy infomercial with the scrolling phone number -- like an advertisement for dirt removal, and the extra interview with TD and the subsequent 'B-Splaining'.
Shades of Gannon Stauch's stepmother.

And a good insight into a man whom LE felt necessary to actually destroy part of another person's concrete foundation.
No way in Hades would LE do that on a 'whim'.
Not to mention local LE asked the FBI and CBI to assist.

They have a ton of evidence to go through including the digital trail.
I shudder to think of the massive amounts of gps , computer history, and phone pings/texts they must search.

But I see zero evidence that they're giving up and quitting.

They are going to find out what happened to Suzanne, it's just a matter of time !
Imo.

^^^^^THIS^^^^^
And if they don’t have a body, wouldn’t their case against the POI need to be supported by a lot more evidence than a case with a body?
And that will obviously require a lot more time to gather to insure its air tight.

 

[vaporlass]

I won't bore everyone with details, but this also happened to me and I can confirm that I was a COMPLETE MESS for the 2 hours it took to locate my 3-yr-old. Missing loved ones -- the worst thing that can happen.

Me too! My 7 year old grandson. We were vacationing by the ocean ... thank God for all the cameras! The security guards had him located within minutes, they were amazing! He had went up to a room with another child. It was one of the most terrifying times in my life. I was very loud, vocal and demanding ... which is probably why I think others should be too....

 

[Feistyomi]

The pictures clearly show they are framing the main portion of the house. The entryway is the tallest section. Both the garage (in front of the picture) and the portion of the house on the opposite side from the garage (bedrooms?) appear to me to be wide enough to require some pretty long roof trusses. There would be no point in erecting stud walls if there was a delay in the truss delivery, because it is difficult to keep walls straight and in square on a busy construction site without the roof to link everything together.
Truss manufacturers do not have the facilities to store their finished product. If there is a delay in construction, the truss order goes back into the queue for rescheduling.
IMO

Bingo! IMO we will be able to watch the house build rapidly continue; any little thing that creates a tiny delay disrupts the entire process.
Trusses are a huuuuge delay. A good builder handles such issues proactively. A woman isn’t going to allow a house to be built on evidence of a crime.
Once those trusses got delayed, every other contractor would be rescheduled and so on.

Was there even a tip to LE, or just a suggestion to the builder?

And the builder forced the search. this entire speculation of BMs guilt is based on the assumption that LE forced the issue?

Am I finally finally getting what you are saying? I hope we will be able to watch the house go up and finished. SMH

 

[TristanP]

I could be wrong about this, but it appears that LE was able to focus in on where to find Tylee Ryan & JJ Vallow only after they obtained cell phone data analysis, and it appears they only received this analysis within the past few weeks. And that investigation has been ongoing since last October.

If the same situation is happening in this case, it could be fall before there’s more info for investigators to use.

 

[DetectiveFoyleWannabe]

Yes. First of all, they got a search warrant in this case. It’s been sealed but it is believed to cover the search of the house. It could’ve covered the work site as well. We don’t know.

But with a search warrant there needs to be a showing of probable cause that evidence of a CRIME has been committed in the area to be searched.

And bringing in sonar and digging up an expensive concrete pad, that’s not going to happen without a search warrant. And certainly not at the insistence of a third party property owner. Citizens don’t get to direct law enforcement in their searches.

Second, only three days after she disappeared:

“Spezze declined to comment on whether Morphew’s husband is cooperating with authorities in the search for the woman or whether investigators believe foul play was involved.

‘This is an open criminal investigation,’ Spezze said during a brief interview.”
https://nypost.com/2020/05/13/colorado-woman-missing-after-going-on-mothers-day-bike-ride/

Of course they quickly softened that to:
“The family is cooperating.” And that they wouldn’t “rule out” a criminal investigation.

But the horse is out of the barn.

No search warrant is necessary for the search at the building site if the owner of that property consented.

 

[O.Incandenza]

I’m on the fence a bit about this. I tend to think they didn’t find anything either. What I find perplexing is that out of that whole slab, the search was very concentrated. We have that one section cut out, then 3 days of sifting dirt. Why was the search so precise? What did they expect to find? Why, if they didn’t find anything in the first hole, wouldn’t they have enlarged the hole or checked another area under the slab?

Perhaps because the search was based on something they saw with the ground penetrating radar?

Pure speculation, but it would make sense if the scenario went something like this:

• Homeowner or neighbor calls in saying that BM was at the site on Fri or Sat or Sun before the concrete was poured.
• LE can't confirm that SM was still alive at that time (maybe her communications on those days were only via text/social media so it could have been her, but they can't be sure).
• With the property owner's consent (but no warrant) they use GPR to scan under the fresh concrete. Something shows up that makes them suspicious.
• Using the scan, the tip & whatever other evidence is making them suspect BM, they get a warrant to dig up the slab to investigate whatever they saw.
• They don't find what they're looking for. If the warrant was based on the scan results, then the scope of the search would probably have been limited to that specific area. So they couldn't just start digging up other parts of the property.

 

[Deleted member 102539]

Why was the search so precise?

^^ This! I wonder.