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

[Goldenseal]

Well when was she seen last? It will be interesting to find out if she went to her online church service on mother's day, called her mother in law, or took calls from her daughters. Does anyone know when BM went out of town and when did the girls leave?

No one other than LE knows any of that -- BM has said that he left for Denver the morning of Mothers Day, but of course we don't know that for sure.

 

[AbigailHobbs]

Agree much of this would be v interesting indeed but sadly the previous 18 threads have yet to establish it

That makes the "later than thought" comment from LE confusing. We were made to believe she went for a bike ride and went missing mothers day, but who is confirming that? no one. I just dont know if the police mean "later than we thought" like Sat vs Friday or Sunday later than? 4?

It's definitely weird to have a missing mother with no confirmations of her activity after the kids left. We still no nothing.

 

[LietKynes]

We're told that, but we have no idea of the truth, nor of the circumstances. Many many children who lose one parent to DV support the remaining parent to the ends of the earth.
jmo

Nearly all of them support their living parent at least to trial. In a seemingly normal family especially with minor children (i think one was a minor) you do not want to deal with losing your mom, believing your dad did it, wondering where you will live if your dad gets arrested. I think it's too much for a lot of people to wrap their head around. The Daybell kids were supporting their dad until the kids were found in their family home. I think denial is super common bc its hard to believe someone you love and have relied on would do that[/QUOTE]
bbm
Agreed. ^^^
Almost like a second 'death' in the family-- if that makes sense ?

Karl Karlsen's daughters do not support him and haven't for some time.
Now that was a hard case. (NBC's Dateline ; I didn't follow it here.)

 

[AbigailHobbs]

No one other than LE knows any of that -- BM has said that he left for Denver the morning of Mothers Day, but of course we don't know that for sure.

I wonder how many weekends he commonly worked. I also wonder whether he has staff or is he just successful enough to own millions in homes because he's doing the work of 10 men solo. It's not unheard of to go to job sites, but probably not alone. Isn't he in landscaping? These days just getting your lawn mowed has 3 guys showing up with equipment in a trailer. If mothers day isnt important to him, it would be to staff.

Has he said what type of job in Denver?

 

[HongKongPhooey]

That makes the "later than thought" comment from LE confusing. We were made to believe she went for a bike ride and went missing mothers day, but who is confirming that? no one. I just dont know if the police mean "later than we thought" like Sat vs Friday or Sunday later than? 4?

It's definitely weird to have a missing mother with no confirmations of her activity after the kids left. We still no nothing.

It is v confusing. My own opinion was that she was missing before the Sunday, but I have nothing factual to back that up.

Not being privy to investigation info, we dont know when the last confirmed contact was, or if she was seen on local cctv anywhere, or if she attended online church and that left a digital footprint. All these things would be good to know.

JMO

 

[gitana1]

I'm not sure that LE goes by 'feelings' but a day long search of 2.5 miles of highway involving 100+ personnel, drones and dogs as a follow-up to having found a personal item of Suzanne is noteworthy to me. Opinions may vary.

Investigators say they believe they found item belonging to missing Chaffee County woman

Yeah I think they'd find blood or something if she was hit near where her bike was presumably found.

 

[Goldenseal]

That makes the "later than thought" comment from LE confusing. We were made to believe she went for a bike ride and went missing mothers day, but who is confirming that? no one. I just dont know if the police mean "later than we thought" like Sat vs Friday or Sunday later than? 4?

It's definitely weird to have a missing mother with no confirmations of her activity after the kids left. We still no nothing.

The timeline from May through Mothers Day is crucial, I think, for determining who did this. The LE requested early on that people save their security video, game cam video, etc. from May 8 through May 12. Many here, including myself, think this may mean that she was seen/talked to by someone other than BM on May 7, locking down at least one time when she was known to be alive/not abducted. That's about all we know. So, no, that "later than we thought" comment means nothing to the public because we have no idea when she was last seen. LE hasn't released that info.

 

[AbigailHobbs]

It is v confusing. My own opinion was that she was missing before the Sunday, but I have nothing factual to back that up.

Not being privy to investigation info, we dont know when the last confirmed contact was, or if she was seen on local cctv anywhere, or if she attended online church and that left a digital footprint. All these things would be good to know.

JMO

Someone on here did say that church moved to online. I would think she would talk to her mother in law too.

 

[Curiousobserver]

Yeah I think they'd find blood or something if she was hit near where her bike was presumably found.

And the really weird thing is that they are so sure it was hers, not some random thing that fell out of someones car/bike/pickup truck. What could that be? LE hasn't even confirmed there was a bike found but announced this with "somewhat" certainty right away.

 

[MrsWatson]

Someone on here did say that church moved to online. I would think she would talk to her mother in law too.

She was allegedly close to her MIL. I wonder what her MIL thought if Suzanne was not in touch on Mother's day?

 

[AbigailHobbs]

She was allegedly close to her MIL. I wonder what her MIL thought if Suzanne was not in touch on Mother's day?

Yeah and had lost her own mother. Her MIL could be super tech savvy, but my experience with women that age (BM's age) they arent texting Happy mothers day. They are calling each other even if its a quick call. A mother in law very close to her daughter in law would be in contact. Especially bc she might be sad about not wishing her own mom a happy mothers day.

 

[branmuffin]

That's certainly possible. Was she isolated while living in Indiana?

I find it odd that the only person who media found in Indiana was someone who was friends with her in middle school. There wasn't one person interviewed who was putting up ribbons who spoke of a friendship with her in the present or recent tense. MOO

 

[MrsWatson]

Websleuths is such an interesting exercise because bouncing off what we don't know, we can formulate reasonable guesses as to what those gaps mean. The nuance and semantics of what is said (and boy can we tear it to shreds and then knock it down some more) and what is not said factors into the conclusions we have.

It's really quite fascinating to follow a case with you all.
moo

 

[gliving]

Yeah I think they'd find blood or something if she was hit near where her bike was presumably found.

Thanks. We're left to wonder what was the personal item. Blood, hair, etc?

There's a lot of subjective reasoning being posted as we see with all the MOOs & IMOs. My sleuthing preference is more toward objective reasoning.

It's all good though, as the common denominator here is finding what happened to Suzanne.

 

[AbigailHobbs]

I find it odd that the only person who media found in Indiana was someone who was friends with her in middle school. There wasn't one person interviewed who was putting up ribbons who spoke of a friendship with her in the present tense. MOO

It could be that after cancer, she cut ties with a lot of people? with my mom I noticed a lot of her "friends" werent that helpful? I dont know how to explain it. There were a lot of friends that just dropped off. It might be that also it's hard to be a friend to other people. I dont know I just mean that sometimes there is a thinning out of friends.

 

[MrsWatson]

Thanks. We're left to wonder what was the personal item. Blood, hair, etc?

There's a lot of subjective reasoning being posted as we see with all the MOOs & IMOs. My sleuthing preference is more toward objective reasoning.

It's all good though, as the common denominator here is finding what happened to Suzanne.

My personal theory is that it was something instantly identifiable as belonging to or with Suzanne. No idea of what it would be, though.

 

[FelicityLemon]

Possible Motives for Stranger Abduction

It doesn't have to be a motive or reason that any average, mentally and emotionally healthy person would understand or ever think of. It could have been random with time, place and circumstances in the criminal's life at that moment. Blind rage, just wanting to hurt someone and made an instant decision to do it.

• “Just Because”
• Crime of opportunity: doesn't matter who the victim is, only that the opportunity presented itself. Maybe they've done it before, maybe they've been thinking about it for years (not necessary in any detail, just “I wonder what it would feel like to...”) and this situation became available.
• An accident (unintentional or recklessness) that led to the driver wanting to prevent the victim from talking. There was no intent in harming anyone, they did it as a by-product of thought to protect themselves.
• An accident-on-purpose: bump the bike enough to dislodge the rider, maybe incapacitate them. Offer to help or give them a ride to the hospital, etc. Once the victim's in the car and trapped, off they go.

> for sexual purpose
> for non-sexual, torture purpose
> for thrill of straight out killing someone
> for money: force victim to withdraw cash, or give their PIN
> for money: ransom with no intention of letting the victim go

• A stranger, but had seen her before and became fixated on her. Stalking her for an opportunity. Video from days before the assumed

Or a non-stranger who has known her, superficially or not, for a long time and takes a chance that goes horribly wrong and …
Possibly he knew she would be alone that day. Possibly, he knew her well enough to drop by to check on her and made an unwanted advance and there was a struggle or worse. Knowing that she could have told her husband or others that so-and-so might drop by, he made it look like she went on a bike ride. He planted something on the road 'just in case' to direct or misdirect a search. It's possible he didn't want the bike actually found.

She may have gone for a car ride unwillingly with him and been able to toss or drop something out the car window as a clue. Maybe the single item was run over by traffic and broken into multiple pieces. Those multiple pieces could be stated as item(s) plural or as a single item when put back together.

She may have gone for a ride and then realized she was being followed or someone stopped and it didn't look good for her, so she left/dropped/tossed something that she hoped would be found as hers.

If she left for her ride at 4:30p, it's reasonable to assume that she'd ride a trail close to home and there's no need for her to go up on the highway when there's a direct trail from their home to the Colorado Trail and Fooses Lake/Dam.

Randomness depending on what was found on the up on the highway, it could have been something of hers completely unrelated to her disappearance. Dropped at another time, flew out the car window, etc.

 

[Seattle1]

Well when was she seen last? It will be interesting to find out if she went to her online church service on mother's day, called her mother in law, or took calls from her daughters. Does anyone know when BM went out of town and when did the girls leave?

All great questions without answers or confirmations by LE or reported in MSM.

We know that Grace Church of Salida -- believed to be where SM worshiped, live-streamed services at 9 AM.

YT blogger TD asked BM when he last saw his wife -- probably expecting him to say something like Sunday morning before he left for Denver but BM gave no response.

MSM reported the girls were in Idaho on Mother's Day and that's the extent of what's allowed discussed on the main thread.

I'm sure there's much speculation on SM about the Idaho camping trip including when they left and actually arrived back to Salida. I know a Fox21 news reporter was asked but declined to make contact with the daughters.

MOO

 

[JnRyan]

Regarding vehicular homicide: how could evidence of something happening at a scene, a scene in which a person is hit by a vehicle and killed, be completely hidden? I'm not referring to the body being hidden afterwards, but no indication at the scene itself?

Aside from that, the consequences could range from no charges filed (accident, bike cut into path of driver) to misdemeanor, up to felony homicide, depending on the particulars of the crash. Not every car hitting a cyclist, resulting in death, is considered a homicide.

IMO

Rare. This is believed to be what happened to Tara Calico. Hit by a vehicle and both she and her bike were never recovered. Her Sony Walkman was found on the road, but LE is not sure if that was the crime scene. Mickey Schunick disappeared while riding her bike in south LA. A fisherman found her bike a week where it was dumped in the water and it had obvious damage like she had been hit by a car. Her body was later found, but I don't believe LE ever knew the exact crime scene since both the body and bike were dumped in different places and nothing was found on her route to indicate a crash. (Mickey actually survived the crash but she fought her attacker using mace and a knife before her assailant shot her.) Jill Behrman was hit while bike riding and according to the FBI's theory both she and her bike were dumped in different places - i.e., crime scene unknown. Sierah Joughin was abducted while bike riding and murdered and her assailant had previously been in prison for attempting the same thing to another woman who was bike riding. LE found evidence around her where her bike was found in a cornfield, but not on the road.

In all of these cases the bike was not left at the scene of the accident or abduction. But there is going to be signs that the bike was hit if it is found. LE in Suzanne's case has never confirmed her bike was found, let alone the condition. I believe it is safe assumption that if Suzanne was hit while bike riding it would be obvious from looking at her bike. I have four acquaintances who were hit by vehicles and survived - hospitalized, but survived - and in all cases the bike was in pieces.

 

[Fireflize]

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My imaginings have developed two possibilities.
First, close to home, taken way during the night on an ATV, leave phone at home, so no digital signal.
Second, packed up and taken towards Denver, tossed quickly over the side of mountain.
Old cop shared idea of her being taken to Denver, switched to an older, different vehicle, to avoid a digital signal.
I'm confident that LE is narrowing down possibilities. Moo