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

[Feistyomi]

Agreed. ^^^

It was said here that the 'big guns' aka FBI and CBI were called in on the second day after the 911 call.
Why ??
Because imo LE smelled a rat.

IMO it could just as easily be something that goes beyond the usual murder by SO, and well beyond most small rural counties capabilities. In SC SLED comes in very rapidly in smaller counties, I assume sometimes immediately in cases where the local LE are involved. Firefighters may be considered an arm of the local LE, in certain cases. JMHO.

IMO

The stipulation is that SM be returned safe for the $210K to be awarded. Obviously, SM is not safe and is most likely not alive, so no payout will ever occur.

/IMO

Imo this was never intended to be a way of avoiding paying reward, it was sending a msg to a kidnapper, if she is alive, keep her that way, and we can negotiate, we’ll do whatever it takes...that’s my interpretation.
IMO both donors were willing to give up the money if that brought her home alive, probably more...opening bid. Now, I believe we are at the or else part—-we will use every penny of it to find you and hold you responsible.
I’m not 100% right on all the previous cases I’ve followed elsewhere, quite often I am, tho. I’m going on my instincts, because the little actual evidence, IMO does not point to BM guilt.

 

[LietKynes]

IMO it could just as easily be something that goes beyond the usual murder by SO, and well beyond most small rural counties capabilities. In SC SLED comes in very rapidly in smaller counties, I assume sometimes immediately in cases where the local LE are involved. Firefighters may be considered an arm of the local LE, in certain cases. JMHO.

bbm
Agreed.^^^

Interesting that someone here (I think it was MG or GK ?) looked at the msm list of outside agencies brought in and neither the fire fighters (nor their helpful and talkative fire chief ) were asked to assist.

One would assume that the fire fighters would be asked to help; given that the fire chief when asked about the possibility of a fire training exercise in Denver on mother's day said no training was planned.
But such exercises happened in the past days or weeks.
So if there were any practice burns, they'd know where to look.
Per. the media thread.
MOO

 

[Goldenseal]

bbm
Agreed.^^^

Interesting that someone here (I think it was MG or GK ?) looked at the msm list of outside agencies brought in and neither the fire fighters (nor their helpful and talkative fire chief ) were asked to assist.

One would assume that the fire fighters would be asked to help; given that the fire chief when asked about the possibility of a fire training exercise in Denver on mother's day said no training was planned.
But such exercises happened in the past days or weeks.
So if there were any practice burns, they'd know where to look.
Per. the media thread.
MOO

IMO, the reason the firefighters were not asked to assist is that BM is one of them. They would be 'tainted,' rightly or wrongly, by BM's membership.

 

[Seattle1]

Really? I never heard that-it truly is out in the public but unconfirmed? I never would have thought that this was the family friend- I was thinking it might be a BM friend. There was a name mentioned in the beginning.

The family friend has never been identified in MSM, at their request.

Suzanne Morphew search: Reward for missing Colorado woman increased to $200,000

May 14, 2020

The reward for the safe return of a 49-year-old bicyclist who has been missing since Sunday in Chaffee County has been increased to $200,000.

“Police and family are seeking any information that leads to her safe return, no questions asked, and offer a $200,000 reward,” according to a missing person’s bulletin.

Missing woman Suzanne Morphew’s nephew, Trevor Noel, left a message with The Denver Post that said he would resume searching for her at 7 a.m. Thursday.

A family friend matched the $100,000 reward offered by Morphew’s husband, bringing the total to $200,000, Noel’s message said. He did not identify the family friend.

 

[oviedo]

The family friend has never been identified in MSM, at their request.

Suzanne Morphew search: Reward for missing Colorado woman increased to $200,000

May 14, 2020

The reward for the safe return of a 49-year-old bicyclist who has been missing since Sunday in Chaffee County has been increased to $200,000.

“Police and family are seeking any information that leads to her safe return, no questions asked, and offer a $200,000 reward,” according to a missing person’s bulletin.

Missing woman Suzanne Morphew’s nephew, Trevor Noel, left a message with The Denver Post that said he would resume searching for her at 7 a.m. Thursday.

A family friend matched the $100,000 reward offered by Morphew’s husband, bringing the total to $200,000, Noel’s message said. He did not identify the family friend.

right - thank you

 

[LietKynes]

IMO, the reason the firefighters were not asked to assist is that BM is one of them. They would be 'tainted,' rightly or wrongly, by BM's membership.

Yes, you're exactly right.

I was trying to say that without being biased.
LE's actions and more importantly silence speak louder than words.
Imo.

 

[al66pine]

Keeping a Lid on SM's Disappearance? Scaring off tourists?

It was more of a general question at the time - mostly because I know that smaller towns/closely-knit communities - while some rallying around the victim - can cause bias. Although do keep in mind that I'd forgotten about the numerous other agencies that were also involved, such as the FBI. Mental note to self to refresh before commenting.

@caffeinatedinsomniac No, no need to refresh, as nothing about your post was wrong. Someone influential there could try to keep a lid on this (presumed) crime. Maybe multiple ppl; maybe everyone in area. IDK. My post just presented another possible point of view. No worries. Glad you joined WS & this thread.

 

[Dave F.]

IMO it could just as easily be something that goes beyond the usual murder by SO, and well beyond most small rural counties capabilities. In SC SLED comes in very rapidly in smaller counties, I assume sometimes immediately in cases where the local LE are involved. Firefighters may be considered an arm of the local LE, in certain cases. JMHO.

I believe LE is required by statute to report the missing person to CBI and FBI. Asking for their assistance is optional, but declining to ask for assistance when it's available would seem counterproductive, to me. IMO

Colorado Revised Statutes 2019
16-2.7-103. Missing person reports - response.
Page 34 of 391
"16-2.7-103. Missing person reports - response. (1) Upon receiving a report of a missing person, a law enforcement agency shall assess the information received from the reporting person and other available information. The law enforcement agency shall then determine the best course of action based on the circumstances.
(2) (a) If the missing person is eighteen years of age or older and has allegedly been missing for twenty-four hours or more, the appropriate course of action includes entry of relevant information into state and national databases and appropriate communications with other law enforcement agencies that may assist in locating the missing person.
https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2019-title-16.pdf

This does not mean that all other law enforcement agencies are going to respond in the same way to every report or request in a predictable way. The CBI's website clearly states what they feel their primary investigative functions are:
"CBI Investigations
The CBI’s Investigations section is committed to providing the highest quality service to assist law enforcement throughout the state. Agents are frequently requested by local agencies for assistance on active investigations such as homicides, financial crimes, sexual assaults and other crimes."
Colorado Bureau of Investigation |

 

[marylamby]

That’s a possibility. Or the location he was in had no service. Thanks. That’s why I ask these questions. Someone always helps clear my mind up.

I don't know anyone who doesn't have a charger in their car.

 

[susiQ]

Or his phone battery was dead? Moo

Not a good excuse. When my phone goes dead and I desperately need to call someone, I hop in the car, turn it on and plug in my phone. Presto, it works!!

 

[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
Bumping this excellent comment. ^^^

IF LE say something like :

• "Yes. She was abducted for ransom and someone has her and is waiting for the promised payout."
• " A mountain lion killed her and that's what happened."
• "There was an accident and she washed away in the creek ... that BM helpfully pointed out in the TD video interview."
• "We found her bike and it was mishandled (according to BM) and thus no verifiable prints can be gleaned."
• "Suzanne left of her own volition and is safe in hiding."
• Etc.

That will be LE's verdict and most of us will accept it.

So far LE have said nothing of the sort; but their actions are louder than words, and at this time no one has been declared a poi and no one has been cleared.

If LE say this is no longer a criminal investigation, but a missing person investigation -- we'll know that if harm befell Suzanne, that it possibly came from a random passerby or someone unknown to either Suzanne or BM.
LE have not said there was foul play, but haven't ruled it out.

As of now LE haven't said that it's no longer a criminal investigation.
Something to ponder while we wait.
Imo.

 

[Seattle1]

I haven’t posted on this thread in a long time. I’ve been sucked into those crazy FB groups For Suzanne and I’ve finally escaped them. Anyway I have a dumb question. Apparently the daughters were in Idaho camping. Barry said in the Tyson video that they were going to be home for Mother’s Day. My question is, how long does it take to get home from Idaho? I’ve read that it is almost a ten hour drive. Does anyone know if that is correct? If it is then wouldn’t the girls need to come home on Saturday in order to be with their mom on Sunday? When did Barry and Suzanne learn the girls were running late? Were they driving through the night? Did they drive part of the way and then were doing the second half on Sunday? I’m just so confused. Running late is so vague. Or am i overthinking this? I guess I’m assuming they drove their own car but if they were with someone else or a group in a bus then the transportation would be out of their control? It just seems sad because Barry and Suzanne had to have know first thing in the morning that they were late and then Barry asks if she minds if he leaves to go set up a job? Seems sad to just leave her alone like that. I don’t know if it’s been determined what day he left. All MOO.

^^bbm

If traveling by car, it's more than 8-hour drive from just the Idaho border to Salida. Unless the travelers departed Idaho on Saturday or very early Sunday morning, it would not be possible to spend Mother's Day in Salida. A neighbor contacted 911 at 5:45 pm to report SM missing when daughters were obviously not in near proximity to check on SM themselves. Personally, I don't believe the daughters had plans to arrive Salida early on Sunday. MOO

8 h 50 min (515.6 mi) via I-80 E

خرائط ‪Google‬‏‏

 

[FelicityLemon]

To those who are fearful this is becoming a "cold" case, may I offer the two following cases as reassurance?

Laci Peterson: Missing Christmas Eve; body of unborn son Connor found in April, Laci's body found a few days later. Husband, Scott, arrested within days close to the US/Mexico border while apparently planning a vacation that required 15k cash, his brother's ID and Viagra.

Janet March: Disappeared August 1996. Husband, Perry, not indicted until 2004 and whoops, his own father testified against him. Fun fact: Perry had relocated to Mexico and started a new family. That was a wild case, if anyone is interested in the most basic facts: Murder of Janet March - Wikipedia

Suzanne has been missing for about six weeks now, since we don't know when exactly she was last seen. The data dump alone and combing through that is terribly labor intensive. As some of our lawyers and LE members, @Angleterre @riolove77 @gitana1 ,have pointed out, this is meticulous work, because LE only gets one chance to prosecute this.

We need to be patient and have faith in the professional, dedicated work being done behind the scenes.

I don't think this is close to being cold. If LE isn't talking, they don't need our input. And I do not think that is a "rush to judgement" or "tunnel vision", nor are they sweeping it under the rug in the interest of tourist dollars; they go where the evidence leads them. I don't think they are all sitting around at the cop shop saying, "Well, what do we do next?"

MOO. ETA: Janet March's body has never been found.

Add the arrest of the murderer of Teresa Sievers. She was murdered June 29, 2015 (five years ago!) and the final -and most important murderer of the three- was February 2016. And those of us who followed that one, LE had A FREAKING BOATLOAD of evidence - holy moly! The murderers weren't going anywhere (except prison) and everyone involved in the successful investigation and prosecution of the murderers did an absolutely incredibly thorough job and that took time. It takes time to make sure they have more than enough documented to prove guilt to a jury. Nobody wants the little thing to cause a case to break down. *cough....oj* No glitches, no technicalities.

LE knows what they're doing, especially in CO after recent similar events.

Another one is Jessica Chambers - she is who brought me here to Websleuths many years ago. Last week I read an article that detailed the timeline of phone calls and texts between JC and her killer who was already in custody suspected woman's for another murder in another state. We had no idea at the time how much info LE had. Everything that LE had and that we the public now know, I thought the trial would be a slamdunk, unfortunately and tragically, there were two trials of QT that both resulted in mistrials.
Fortunately, he's still in jail waiting for his murder trial in Louisiana. That was another very small town and eeeehboyyyyy quite a different culture there given all the sex, drugs and social media antics.

 

[marylamby]

bbm
Agreed.^^^

Interesting that someone here (I think it was MG or GK ?) looked at the msm list of outside agencies brought in and neither the fire fighters (nor their helpful and talkative fire chief ) were asked to assist.

One would assume that the fire fighters would be asked to help; given that the fire chief when asked about the possibility of a fire training exercise in Denver on mother's day said no training was planned.
But such exercises happened in the past days or weeks.
So if there were any practice burns, they'd know where to look.
Per. the media thread.
MOO

The firefighters were told NOT to assist. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

[FelicityLemon]

Imo this was never intended to be a way of avoiding paying reward, it was sending a msg to a kidnapper, if she is alive, keep her that way, and we can negotiate, we’ll do whatever it takes...that’s my interpretation.

Once again, you express my thoughts, too, and you do it so much more clearly!

 

[susiQ]

To those who are fearful this is becoming a "cold" case, may I offer the two following cases as reassurance?

Laci Peterson: Missing Christmas Eve; body of unborn son Connor found in April, Laci's body found a few days later. Husband, Scott, arrested within days close to the US/Mexico border while apparently planning a vacation that required 15k cash, his brother's ID and Viagra.

Janet March: Disappeared August 1996. Husband, Perry, not indicted until 2004 and whoops, his own father testified against him. Fun fact: Perry had relocated to Mexico and started a new family. That was a wild case, if anyone is interested in the most basic facts: Murder of Janet March - Wikipedia

Suzanne has been missing for about six weeks now, since we don't know when exactly she was last seen. The data dump alone and combing through that is terribly labor intensive. As some of our lawyers and LE members, @Angleterre @riolove77 @gitana1 ,have pointed out, this is meticulous work, because LE only gets one chance to prosecute this.

We need to be patient and have faith in the professional, dedicated work being done behind the scenes.

I don't think this is close to being cold. If LE isn't talking, they don't need our input. And I do not think that is a "rush to judgement" or "tunnel vision", nor are they sweeping it under the rug in the interest of tourist dollars; they go where the evidence leads them. I don't think they are all sitting around at the cop shop saying, "Well, what do we do next?"

MOO

ETA: Janet March's body has never been found.

Well said! Thank you!!

 

[OldCop]

Yes, I was wondering if this was reported simply as a wellness check.

Since LE can enter for a wellness check, would they naturally walk the whole interior and look for her, possibly passed out in a bathroom or wherever?

It would give LE an opportunity to take in a lot of information. What would you expect to see if one person got up that morning and left for a bike ride? I’m thinking of details like dishes, toothbrush, alarm, bed made, etc.

What might you find if a woman disappeared from her home without planning to leave? Again, I’m thinking of details a woman might typically take care of, that a man might not notice “undone”.

MOO

The Chafee County Sheriff’s first press release stated they were informed by a neighbor that SM reportedly went for a bike ride and didn’t return. I think “reportedly” was a key word in this very first press release as well as its position in the sentence. It does not say that the “neighbor reportedly said....”. It says that the neighbor said that SM had “reportedly gone on a bike ride” and didn’t return. I think there is a big distinction here and that it was carefully worded by LE. Who told the neighbor that SM went for a bike ride?
As for whether there was a wellness check at the home at this time is not clear. LE probably walked around the premises, rang the bell, looked in windows to see if anything was amiss. If the bike was gone, they most likely wouldn’t have searched inside right away. On the other hand maybe the daughters or BM asked them to go in and check.
There’s been speculation that someone knew SM was alone in the home and that she was assaulted and abducted from there. This seems highly unlikely because if this was what had happened it doesn’t make sense that the bike was taken and planted up the road. Who would have then started the missing biker narrative?
As for the scope of wellness or welfare checks, LE is limited to looking for the body, alive or dead, of the person they are checking on. If they enter the home they can not search for anything other than the person. If they see something that would cause them to believe a crime had taken place, they would back out and request a search warrant. If a person was walking through the house with them, they may be able to point out things that were unusual. If the daughters arrived and went through it with them they may see things such as the bike helmet or biking gloves, that should have been missing or her rings that should have been there.
Depending on who requested it, and the circumstances, will determine if LE will actually go inside when they conduct a welfare check. If an out of state person reported they couldn’t reach an elderly parent and LE arrived to find mail or newspapers piled up, they would likely make entrance. On the other hand if a friend says she hasn’t been able to reach her adult friend for a few days, there may be some hesitation on whether to enter before they have more facts. After all, who would be happy to come home from a spontaneous mini vacation to find that the police had broken down their door?

 

[Hoosierfan72]

bbm
Very good questions !!

Re. the bolded :

As far as the Missing sites for Suzanne, the distance from the camping trip to Salida was 14 + hours.

No way were they just 'running late' and it's doubtful they were expected that day (BM hinted that they were expected to arrive MD and if so, how ? Flying ? Then why didn't he just say that ?) unless they'd left the day before.
Googling the distance from the camping place to Salida you get some pop-ups that advertise airfare options.
Query : Were they flying in from ID ?
Imo.

Good questions. I do suppose it's also possible that they split a return drive up across two days, so maybe they drove part of the way on Saturday and the rest on Sunday, with plans to leave early in the a.m. to get back early/mid-afternoon. I still think it begs the question of what the actual plan was (as I would assume coming home in time to "spend the day with Mom" would mean early/mid-afternoon at the latest) and why didn't BM know they were "running late" before he left for Denver (which in the Tyson video he implies was Sunday am, but we don't know for sure)? Also, this might just be a nuance of language, but I wouldn't use the term "running late" to apply to flying (I'd say "delayed" or something of the sort). JMO, MOO.

 

[LietKynes]

The firefighters were told NOT to assist. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

Yes, you're right.

They were asked not to come.
Thanks for the correction !

Much more forceful than just being 'left out'.
Holy crappola.
I have to wonder if any of the volunteers tried to show up in the beginning, and were asked to leave ?

And was BM with them ?
Was there an awkward moment or did BM become agitated, like at his other work sites (allegedly) ?
MOO

 

[Fireflize]

I don't know anyone who doesn't have a charger in their car.

Yes, it would be a big ole red flag, if that happened. Moo