That comment is utterly damning in my eyes.
"It's too soon," is something a person says when they're trying to buy themselves time.
Time is not your friend when someone goes missing.
Who in the world tries to buy more time when they find themselves in a situation where every second counts?
There is no rational explanation, and no justification, for BM not jumping at the opportunity to implore the public to BOLO for his beloved wife of >25 years.
At least, no innocent rational explanation.
JMO.
Not that I disagree with you, but I thought I'd do my absolute best to defend BM here (seeing as how no one else is doing so, and the fact that people who say they think he's not suspicious have not responded to this question...and it's been several threads).
There is a type of person who, when tragedy befalls, goes into a turtle like shell of denial. This type of person is usually the type of person who not only exerts a great deal of control over their day-t0-day life in ordinary circumstances (as most entrepreneurs do as well as many others) but they also have a mental to-do list and regimen that is miles long and often, not negotiable.
They handle bad times not by sitting at someone's bedside (can't, must flit around, burn off nervous energy) but by doing more of whatever they already did. I've seen a woman go home and fix a bunch of pancakes for a husband that was dying in the hospital - not only was he not returning, but even if he had - she'd have had to do a different batch. I watched her throw them in the trash and I thought she would cry, but she just acted busy cleaning up the kitchen and did not speak of it. When asked what she was doing, she said, "Fixing pancakes for Jack." So we all knew not to disturb that part of her that was functioning that way.
Let's say BM is such a person. Just can't deal. Won't deal. Has never had to deal with death, illness, disappearance of wives. Has only had to deal with landscaping, business contacts, making contacts and building networks and finding one more "job" after another (maybe including real estate speculation etc).
So that's what he does now. Like many small time contractors who are trying to make it into the big time (Indiana state capital, big projects) and are now in a small town, small business environment, he needs extra things to do on a good day (volunteer fire department, hunting, improving his own property, servicing various cars and vehicles, gym).
When a tragedy occurs, he doubles down and just does more of the above, completely oblivious to how it looks to others.
How'd I do? I realize this still paints BM as a person incapable of strong empathy, of coordinated directed action, of sentimental gestures. He eventually got past the "too soon" remark to record and edit (IMO) a brief youtube video, and then fell silent.
I look at what I just wrote and think, if a man is so vigorous and outwardly competitive/social - how is it that he's not finding a way (personally) to keep Suzanne front and center. Why has he not explored each of his various theories about her disappearance to the best of his ability? (He could use a spokesperson, obviously several people would have been glad to help out).
I did try to depict him as a "normal person" whose grief reaction is...just to double down on how they lived life before.