Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #19

[PaulaDC]

Yes, this (from 2KUTV) comes to us from Salt Lake City, Utah based network.

What drives me batty about these no news reports is that they keep saying and leading you to believe that SM was on a bicycle ride and they also keep saying or leading you to believe that authorities found the bike. They need to tell everyone she was reported missing by a neighbor who "said" and report that the bike was "found" as we have no confirmation of her being on that bike ride or that police/fbi actually were the bicycle finders.

 

[10ofRods]

IIRC, the only thing that was reported was that LE was not asking for volunteers to help with the search and I believe that somehow morphed into firefighters not being allowed to search.

It was more than that. It's in MSM somewhere. It may have been the Fire Chief (someone will remember).

The fire people were specifically forbidden to help and BM says that some are instead aiding him personally in his private search.

It's definitely the case that the firemen were told they could not search by Spezze.

 

[oviedo]

It was more than that. It's in MSM somewhere. It may have been the Fire Chief (someone will remember).

The fire people were specifically forbidden to help and BM says that some are instead aiding him personally in his private search.

It's definitely the case that the firemen were told they could not search by Spezze.

Yes, @Warwick7 replied that they were told the fire guys were not allowed 'up there"

Now you have me curious.
Be right back.

"Morphew’s colleagues from the Maysville Fire Station have also been attempting to help with the search, although one told DailyMail.com they have been warned off by police."

"Tim Nelson, 33, said: ‘The Sheriff’s office, they told us none of the fire guys are allowed up there."

"They can’t keep us out of the forest so that’s what some of the others have done – they set up their own little search party."

"Nelson added: ‘It’s a bad deal you know. They aren’t telling us anything. We got excluded from everything."

Police search and carry out evidence bags from the $1.5M home of missing Colorado mom | Daily Mail Online

 

[OldCop]

The point is that the homeowner was never connected to the case, in any way. LE cannot "clear" someone who they have not investigated. Therefore, saying the homeowner has been cleared while the husband has not is not a valid conclusion IMO

RBBM. Hi, @Dave F. Gonna respectfully disagree with you on this one. If you own a home/property where LE is digging up the foundation looking for a missing woman or evidence connected to her, you are connected to the case in a very real way. When word got out about the dig, there was wild speculation about the property owners and their involvement in SM’s disappearance. At that time, LE chose to publicly state that the homeowners were not connected to the case thus clearing them as POI’s. I’m sure the homeowner was thoroughly vetted even before the dig began.

 

[10ofRods]

But is it possible they were called in by the husband to assist very early on and they did - before they were asked not to be involved? If the bike was found - someone had to find it right? I still find it very odd that LE has not verified the bike from what we have found in MSM - is this still correct? I need to go find my timeline for SM.
IMO

Of course that's possible. People are free to do what they wish, unless specifically told an official reason not to. Even then, even the Sheriff cannot forbid private individuals from going on public land, unless that land is closed to all the public for a reason.

As far as we know, early on, BM (not permitted into his own house on May 10 to about May 24) was staying with a friend in a house very close to his own house. I don't think we can discuss what any other family members were doing at that time, but Fire Chief tells us that and that he and other fire personnel were stopping by that house - which was owned by a volunteer firefighter, IIRC. There's that picture of BM standing with two trucks (and a bike visible on one truck) where he's supposed to be talking to a reporter about his private search efforts.

Someone found the bike, obviously. My first instinct was that it was the neighbor who, after calling 911, probably went to wait for the response in the near vicinity - it wouldn't have been hard to find the bike.

It's extremely hard to think what could have happened to Suzanne so close to her own home, presumably in the very earliest part of her ride (we have no idea where she thought she was going that day, if in fact she got on the bike)l

If a bunch of people did touch the bike (possible), then truly valuable forensic evidence was lost. If Barry sent a crew of his own friends to the scene and they are part of this bike-touching, evidence-destroying event, that is really unfortunate. But possible.

It would make sense, though, that BM heard from various parties about the finding of the bike and how it was handled. Whether he got an accurate view secondhand, we don't know and may never know.

Surely, the only viable theory that BM can have at this point (that doesn't incriminate him) is that Suzanne was abducted. She didn't just wander off into the mountains.

So...what would you do if you thought your spouse was abducted and LE was doing nothing but botching the job?

 

[OldCop]

I don't know what they have been doing?! IMO Barry is innocent so hope they start looking at someone else. All their concentration on Barry and they turn up nothing.

Can you tell me how you know they are not looking at anyone else?

 

[susiQ]

What drives me batty about these no news reports is that they keep saying and leading you to believe that SM was on a bicycle ride and they also keep saying or leading you to believe that authorities found the bike. They need to tell everyone she was reported missing by a neighbor who "said" and report that the bike was "found" as we have no confirmation of her being on that bike ride or that police/fbi actually were the bicycle finders.

Well, they can’t really confirm they don’t believe she was on a bike ride. That would basically tell BM they believe he’s a liar and they absolutely suspect him and no one else because he’s the one that spun that tale. Nope, they won’t do that. They’ll let him sweat it out. Let him drive himself crazy not knowing what they know. Excellent strategy .

As far as finding the bicycle, I believe it was most definitely found, and I believe TN that it was found on Sunday night, despite the fact that LE will neither confirm or deny it. I have NO idea who exactly found it. JMHO

 

[RumorMonger]

I will believe the bike was found when I hear it from LE and not before !

SBM
@LietKynes
If LE has not found the bike, how do you explain that they aren't very publicly looking for it? Certainly they would at least ask for the public to bring to LE attention any random, unattended bikes found in the area, no? We-can't-talk-about-it-because-it'll-ruin-the-investigation isn't a plausible reason not to do so, IMO.

If they haven't found the bike, does that make homicide less likely in your opinion? Or does it indicate a most likely reason for SM being missing that wouldn't be the mostly likely if the bike has indeed been found?

 

[oviedo]

Perhaps information or video has surfaced that make the "bike" irrelevant? JMO

 

[Feistyomi]

Of course that's possible. People are free to do what they wish, unless specifically told an official reason not to. Even then, even the Sheriff cannot forbid private individuals from going on public land, unless that land is closed to all the public for a reason.

As far as we know, early on, BM (not permitted into his own house on May 10 to about May 24) was staying with a friend in a house very close to his own house. I don't think we can discuss what any other family members were doing at that time, but Fire Chief tells us that and that he and other fire personnel were stopping by that house - which was owned by a volunteer firefighter, IIRC. There's that picture of BM standing with two trucks (and a bike visible on one truck) where he's supposed to be talking to a reporter about his private search efforts.

Someone found the bike, obviously. My first instinct was that it was the neighbor who, after calling 911, probably went to wait for the response in the near vicinity - it wouldn't have been hard to find the bike.

It's extremely hard to think what could have happened to Suzanne so close to her own home, presumably in the very earliest part of her ride (we have no idea where she thought she was going that day, if in fact she got on the bike)l

If a bunch of people did touch the bike (possible), then truly valuable forensic evidence was lost. If Barry sent a crew of his own friends to the scene and they are part of this bike-touching, evidence-destroying event, that is really unfortunate. But possible.

It would make sense, though, that BM heard from various parties about the finding of the bike and how it was handled. Whether he got an accurate view secondhand, we don't know and may never know.

Surely, the only viable theory that BM can have at this point (that doesn't incriminate him) is that Suzanne was abducted. She didn't just wander off into the mountains.

So...what would you do if you thought your spouse was abducted and LE was doing nothing but botching the job?

I’m glad you asked!

I would be searching both on internet , and on the ground. I would be systematically widening the search circle. I would be coordinating so that search teams (as few as one, but better w/ two at least driver, searcher,) overlap only slightly. I’d put up flyers as I went.
I wouldn’t care that these type searches aren’t publicized, less said, the better.

Just thought of this one... i’d have two circles for searching, WIDE w/ diameter of all BadGuy= BG previous addresses, and work inward, close and familiar. But avoiding him just staying ahead of the widening search circle.
Drones, helpful.
We would have no proof of any of this, other that LE’s 10 searches...
Perhaps, some of used to fund some of the volunteers, keeping reward money intact. I’d donate to that.
I am in SC, so I am limited to internet searches, google earth street views. I wouldn’t be sitting around giving updates, that’s a definite waste of resources.
I’m sure I missed a few, but all this would keep my mind focused on action, not sitting around mourning.

 

[OldCop]

Well done ! BBM - so did this little search party find the “bike” claimed found by the husband?

I don’t think so. The initial call reporting her missing came in at approximately 5:46. I’m not sure of response time, but I imagine it was not too long. Once LE arrived on scene, they would talk to the reporting party to get the facts. (Remember the first statement by the Sheriff’s Dept stated that SM “reportedly” went on a bike ride.). They probably tried to see if the bike was in the garage or on the property. I imagine they asked the neighbor if she had actually seen her go off on the bike. They probably also asked if she knew her usual bike routes. I’m sure that shortly thereafter, the first responding officer called for additional officers to help search the area. If all that took an hour, that left a little over 2 hours of searching before BM arrived home from Denver. (According to him).
IMO, if you are searching for a missing biker you will walk the route that biker took, searching the roadside. Initially, you would not go into wooded areas where there is no trail. From what BM indicated to TD, the bike was found down an incline fairly close to the house. I believe the bike was found fairly early Sunday evening before BM even arrived home.
As far as the possibility that LE mishandled evidence, that could very well be true, but not necessarily due to recklessness or negligence. LE responds to far more calls for accidents or injuries than mysterious missing persons. The number one priority is preserving life. What happens in the initial stages of an investigation depends on what you are told when you arrive at a call. That first statement will direct your follow up unless and until you find otherwise.
LE initially looked for a missing biker because that’s what they were told. They likely considered accident or illness first so if someone spotted the bike down the embankment, he or she probably called out or radioed in. At this point I’m pretty sure one or more officers made their way down the hill to see if SM was laying injured nearby. They had no reason to believe at this time that a crime had taken place. They probably spread out from the bike’s location to see if they could find her. I’m sure at some point the bike was brought up to the roadside in LE custody. We don’t know that the bike wasn’t photographed or fingerprinted before it was moved. We don’t know that LE wasn’t wearing gloves when they recovered the bike. We do know that some early investigative work took place, (probably when SM was not found near her bike), because LE ruled out accident and mountain lion very quickly.
For what it is worth, even if LE handled the bike less carefully than they should have early on, I find it ludicrous to believe that 10 officers handled it.
I also do not think that BM’s merry band of searchers recovered the bike because I think they would have given him full details. Maybe it was his FF friends who told him that the evidence was mishandled because their collective noses were out of joint when they weren’t allowed to participate in the search.
IMHO

 

[brooks]

IMO the searches were done earlier, and to my knowledge, have not been repeated. I’ve not seen any evidence, that the investigation keeps coming back to BM.
IANAL, but IMO these were standard procedural events, based on statistics.
The concrete slab excavation, was an anomaly, possibly based on tip, which could have been an honest mistake by the tipster, or even a deliberate one by someone; an attempt to frame BM.

IMO the statement made about clearing the property owner is not the statement that BM was referring to in the TD interview. It would be unlikely for them to have cleared him before all the electronics came back. They could have informed him personally, once they had all the results.

IMO, there would not have been a need for recanvassing citizens, if they had overwhelming evidence against BM.

I’m not sure we would see evidence of BM and his team searching, because it is much more of the same information gathering, that some of us have been doing.

Past addresses, credit card info, and so on is extremely hard to find, when someone is off the grid. I certainly hope they have some experts tracking this. I am a novice and I am having little but some success.

One of the cases I followed in the past involved the Lyon sisters’ kidnapping and murders, eventually found to be committed by a drifter. The FBI timeline for the 45 yrs of this drifter’s life after that event were extremely vague, w/ lots of gaps.
We think our electronics have made it easier to catch these guys. They HAVE made it harder to avoid the grid. There are still people who pay in cash, and don’t maintain cell phone service, using the pre paid phones, etc.

Harder, not impossible. I believe the investigators have been looking for this Bad Guy, while we have been only focused on BM.
It serves no purpose to update us on these searches, and the public doesn’t need to have statements warning them, there have been enough incidents before SM disappeared, to alert the public.
It IS time consuming to search, that’s why I’m not posting as much.
It’s disheartening to check back here, and realize we are still pounding the same puzzle pieces into the puzzle.
IMO, they seem to fit, based on the norms, but this isn’t a normal puzzle.
People do not always know they have a stalker, this event did involve a degree of spying, surveilling, and planning.
We actually do have 2 people missing from Salida. Coincidence? I think not.

Great, informative post! Thank you.

 

[LietKynes]

Perhaps information or video has surfaced that make the "bike" irrelevant? JMO

Agreed that's very possible. ^^^

If LE believe there was never a 'bike ride' to begin with-- then looking for Suzanne is their only focus.

And if the bike is a red herring, then LE have other avenues they're most likely pursuing.
I'd love to know what they found, and what was in the search warrant -- that showed probable cause for digging up the homeowner's foundation !
Holy crapola.
Must have been a doozy of information.
Imo.

 

[oviedo]

Agreed that's very possible. ^^^

If LE believe there was never a 'bike ride' to begin with-- then looking for Suzanne is their only focus.

And if the bike is a red herring, then LE have other avenues they're most likely pursuing.
I'd love to know what they found, and what was in the search warrant -- that showed probable cause for digging up the homeowner's foundation !
Holy crapola.
Must have been a doozy of information.
Imo.

yes and together with the SW for the family home - guessing by now they have put together a pretty specific timeline IMO. Hard to believe it's 2 months already (Saturday) but of course, I believe she was missing sooner -8th is my guess
JMO

 

[Ontario Mom]

I sure wish LE would provide some kind of reasonable update.
Such as, YES, the bike was recovered, NO, we do not have a suspect, NO, no one has been cleared, etc.
It's always so frustrating when LE ask for tips, for folks to hold onto surveillance cam footage and things like that, but then they don't update on the public on anything.
They were pretty regular with updates until 06.10 and since then, nothing.

jmo

 

[Sillybilly]

Yes, @Warwick7 replied that they were told the fire guys were not allowed 'up there"

IMO, the Sheriff's office was not authorizing firefighters or any volunteers, only LE resources.

I could be wrong but am skeptical and just think it is open to interpretation as there is some ambiguity in the wording. Possible scenario:

Firefighter calls Sheriff "We want to help with the search"
Sheriff "Nope, we are sticking entirely with our LE resources"
Firefighter then says "Sheriff told us we aren't allowed up there"

(May 15 CBS Local)
Crews are using drones and search dogs to try and locate Morphew. Members from Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the South Ark Swiftwater Rescue Teams have also searched nearby watersheds. Authorities are not asking for help from volunteers in the search.

(May 20 Daily Mail)
Morphew’s fire department colleagues have been ordered not to take part in the search by police, although locals said Morphew and his friends have been out looking for Suzanne.

(May 21 Crimeonline)
Bertram also noted that the fire department is not working with the Chaffee County Sheriff’s office or state and federal authorities on the search for Suzanne Morphew, but said that some firefighters had been volunteering their time to search for the missing woman. He acknowledged a possible disconnect between Morphew’s friends and family and the law enforcement officers conducting the investigation.

(May 23 Daily Mail)
Morphew's fire department colleagues have been ordered not to take part in the search by police, although locals said Morphew and his friends have been out looking for Suzanne. ...

Morphew's colleagues from the Maysville Fire Station have also been attempting to help with the search, although one told DailyMail.com they have been warned off by police.

Tim Nelson, 33, said: 'The Sheriff's office, they told us none of the fire guys are allowed up there.

(June 10 The Denver Channel; Susan Medina, CBI)
As of Wednesday morning, there was not a need for volunteer search groups.

“They have done a number of targeted searches with specialized investigators and different groups that have come to do searches over the past month,” Medina said. “As for volunteer search groups, at this point, the sheriff was indicating that he wanted to continue to utilize law enforcement resources to conduct those searches.”

 

[oviedo]

IMO, the Sheriff's office was not authorizing firefighters or any volunteers, only LE resources.

I could be wrong but am skeptical and just think it is open to interpretation as there is some ambiguity in the wording. Possible scenario:

Firefighter calls Sheriff "We want to help with the search"
Sheriff "Nope, we are sticking entirely with our LE resources"
Firefighter then says "Sheriff told us we aren't allowed up there"

(May 15 CBS Local)
Crews are using drones and search dogs to try and locate Morphew. Members from Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the South Ark Swiftwater Rescue Teams have also searched nearby watersheds. Authorities are not asking for help from volunteers in the search.

(May 20 Daily Mail)
Morphew’s fire department colleagues have been ordered not to take part in the search by police, although locals said Morphew and his friends have been out looking for Suzanne.

(May 21 Crimeonline)
Bertram also noted that the fire department is not working with the Chaffee County Sheriff’s office or state and federal authorities on the search for Suzanne Morphew, but said that some firefighters had been volunteering their time to search for the missing woman. He acknowledged a possible disconnect between Morphew’s friends and family and the law enforcement officers conducting the investigation.

(May 23 Daily Mail)
Morphew's fire department colleagues have been ordered not to take part in the search by police, although locals said Morphew and his friends have been out looking for Suzanne. ...

Morphew's colleagues from the Maysville Fire Station have also been attempting to help with the search, although one told DailyMail.com they have been warned off by police.

Tim Nelson, 33, said: 'The Sheriff's office, they told us none of the fire guys are allowed up there.

(June 10 The Denver Channel; Susan Medina, CBI)
As of Wednesday morning, there was not a need for volunteer search groups.

“They have done a number of targeted searches with specialized investigators and different groups that have come to do searches over the past month,” Medina said. “As for volunteer search groups, at this point, the sheriff was indicating that he wanted to continue to utilize law enforcement resources to conduct those searches.”

Nicely done - so it's interesting to see how the reporters vary in their words regarding the FF - from "ordered not to take part" , "warned off by police", "none of the fireguys are allowed up there" and finally the Sheriff utilizing just LE for searches. Quite a stretch IMO. Appreciate the compilation.

 

[gliving]

Suzanne's twitter page:

https://twitter.com/srmorphew

 

[Nerissa]

What drives me batty about these no news reports is that they keep saying and leading you to believe that SM was on a bicycle ride and they also keep saying or leading you to believe that authorities found the bike. They need to tell everyone she was reported missing by a neighbor who "said" and report that the bike was "found" as we have no confirmation of her being on that bike ride or that police/fbi actually were the bicycle finders.

Count me in on all that too: that banner in Salida also said she'd not returned from a bike ride....& I'm all growling under my breath while entering Walmart..... mutter mutter 'we don't know she went on a ride,probably didn't, all damn staging' mutter mutter
That was me if you saw a gal in a black face mask scowling & muttering, lol

There's just about nada that's been confirmed in this case.....& I imagine LE is just fine with that

JMO

 

[Warwick7]

According to BM -- ten people touched the bike on Sunday so he's got at least 10 Investigators at the recovery.

And on May 14, nephew Trevor told us twice (at 1:50 mark) that the bike was found on Sunday evening.

Poor BM.

May 14, 2020
CBS/4 Denver

Nephew TN:

"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. Read the latest updates at http://cbsdenver.com/tag/suzanne-morp...

Curious?
Notice his words?
"...the night she disappeared."
What does he know that we don't?
He chose the word night not day....