Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #22

[10ofRods]

Is there a bike path through the woods where the bike was found?

There's a road with a sharp U in it, and a shallow ravine with trees in it. The bike was found down in that ravine (according to Lauren and TD and, apparently, BM). There is no path through that ravine. It's a ditch beside a dirt road. The dirt road, in my understanding, hooks up to the Morphew's driveway not too far away.

I wouldn't call it "woods." It's a lightly wooded space right next to the road, with road on three sides of it. To me, it looks easy to climb in and out, should an able person try it (heck, I could do it, pretty sure and I'm no athlete).

 

[Megnut]

Good catch. I missed that. Of course, a rental property owner might have been using a rental property along with friends/family. As long as the owner stays within the IRS rule of the 14 days of personal use or 10% of the total rental days they don't lose some of their tax benefits.

Or doesn't report every single use. Could be a friend has a key and can use it whenever it's not rented. Just sayin'

Somebody was using it, but looks like nobody was booked as a renter.

ALL MY OWN SPECULATION

 

[ethereal*22]

... and that learned BM on Wednesday evening, when he had a walk with Suzanne and met the cleaning lady, who had cleaned after departure of the last guests. IF it was BM and IF premeditated, then PERHAPS spontaneous planned by him since Wednesday night. Maybe, it was a welcome info, he got during that walk.

If the cleaning lady was cleaning up after guests during a time there were no rentals, WHO had stayed there? Without a rebuttal agreement but known, because someone sent the cleaning lady to clean. Was BM inquiring or covering? Is it the same rental BM used, per PE, while the facility home was sealed from him? And did he have a rental agreement or just a friend with an open rental?

All my own speculation

This really stood out to me! Why would a home cleaning service (cleaning lady)be there doing cleaning at an AirB&B type rental on May 6/7 if supposedly no short term rentals were allowed since mid March per LS in the most recent PE just posted?

LS interviewed the said cleaning lady, who gave her account- seeing the M’s while taking out the trash from clearing out the rental. Really...almost 2 months after the last guests stayed? Must have been pretty stinky in there. Yuck!!!

I’m guessing there were guests, just hosts not wanting to be caught breaking the Covid restrictions on record with LS- understandable- these income properties are just that- income- can’t let a pandemic stop your cash flow! I know more than a few people who bent rules and slunk around the restrictions to keep income flowing-and no, they did not get caught. People are people...

MOO.

 

[Boxer]

This really stood out to me! Why would a home cleaning service (cleaning lady)be there doing cleaning at an AirB&B type rental on May 6/7 if supposedly no short term rentals were allowed since mid March per LS in the most recent PE just posted?

LS interviewed the said cleaning lady, who gave her account- seeing the M’s while taking out the trash from clearing out the rental. Really...almost 2 months after the last guests stayed? Must have been pretty stinky in there. Yuck!!!

I’m guessing there were guests, just hosts not wanting to be caught breaking the Covid restrictions on record with LS- understandable- these income properties are just that- income- can’t let a pandemic stop your cash flow! I know more than a few people who bent rules and slunk around the restrictions to keep income flowing-and no, they did not get caught. People are people...

MOO.

Such a good point.

 

[Ashildir]

This really stood out to me! Why would a home cleaning service (cleaning lady)be there doing cleaning at an AirB&B type rental on May 6/7 if supposedly no short term rentals were allowed since mid March per LS in the most recent PE just posted?

LS interviewed the said cleaning lady, who gave her account- seeing the M’s while taking out the trash from clearing out the rental. Really...almost 2 months after the last guests stayed? Must have been pretty stinky in there. Yuck!!!

I’m guessing there were guests, just hosts not wanting to be caught breaking the Covid restrictions on record with LS- understandable- these income properties are just that- income- can’t let a pandemic stop your cash flow! I know more than a few people who bent rules and slunk around the restrictions to keep income flowing-and no, they did not get caught. People are people...

MOO.

What was the stance in Colorado over lockdown? Didn't some states want to reopen quite early? cos if Colorado was one of them, maybe she was called in to tend to the property prior to people staying - it would need a good clean and airing after being closed up

 

[MassGuy]

What was the stance in Colorado over lockdown? Didn't some states want to reopen quite early? cos if Colorado was one of them, maybe she was called in to tend to the property prior to people staying - it would need a good clean and airing after being closed up

If I recall correctly, she was called in to clean the house, and throw out food.

It sounds like the house had been empty for a while, and food obviously spoils.

 

[Ashildir]

If I recall correctly, she was called in to clean the house, and throw out food.

It sounds like the house had been empty for a while, and food obviously spoils.

Thanks

 

[kay74]

There's a road with a sharp U in it, and a shallow ravine with trees in it. The bike was found down in that ravine (according to Lauren and TD and, apparently, BM). There is no path through that ravine. It's a ditch beside a dirt road. The dirt road, in my understanding, hooks up to the Morphew's driveway not too far away.

I wouldn't call it "woods." It's a lightly wooded space right next to the road, with road on three sides of it. To me, it looks easy to climb in and out, should an able person try it (heck, I could do it, pretty sure and I'm no athlete).

I "think", I could be wrong but I thought I saw a picture of that ravine and it was really deep.

 

[DizzyB]

I had read some stuff that was from early May, regarding river rafting in the area. Locals were still permitted to raft (“open to locals only until June 1-give us a call if you want to go”). I imagine that some people who rented before were able to contact owners directly and skirt the rules regarding short term rentals. This could also be contributing to some of the information gathering-although owners may want to assist, they may not want to expose themselves as law breakers. I know LE does not care about prosecuting illegal rentals during a murder investigation, but it does give people pause. Sometimes husbands make up alibis if they happened to be with their mistress when their wife goes missing. LE will check to make sure the mistress confirms where he was-but then one might start considering motive.

 

[Gigi3]

If I recall correctly, she was called in to clean the house, and throw out food.

It sounds like the house had been empty for a while, and food obviously spoils.

Totally agree. We have some friends who have rental properties and during this time, they still employed their cleaning service lady.

Basically, to go and check on the property every couple weeks, throw out any spoiled food, etc...
They also wanted to make sure their particular cleaning lady still had some income coming in during the lockdown situation. This could be true here, as well.

JMO

 

[Hatfield]

JMO
It is really interesting that the cleaning lady indicated she ran into the M's.

What I find most interesting about that is when I looked at an aerial map of the area, I did not see that many houses that were close to the M's home and if they shared a large trash bin, then I am curious where exactly that rental home is.

Maybe I did not look close enough and will take another look but from what I remember there was the M's home and the neighbors and I did not see many other homes near them where they would share a large trash dumpster.

If there was a close by rental home then it would be good to know the last time it was rented out and if we could ever find out the age, gender, and number of people that rented it.

ETA-It would be nice to know the exact location of the shared trash dumpster and where that is compared to where the bike was found.

 

[TKG]

Great summary! I want to focus on this revelation:

*neighbor who heard late-night noise didn't go to LE, LE was asking around and came to her. she knew property was a work-in-progress, so she recognized the same noises.

So up until now, I was under the impression that this woman called in a tip after hearing the late-night noises.

Now it appears, that law enforcement was already interested in that area. If they were already interested in the area, then this means they already suspected at that point that there was no bike ride.

I’d love to know what drew them there in the first place. My hope is that it was some sort of GPS data, from his phone or vehicle.

Or possibly something of hers buried/dropped that pinged the location.....

 

[TKG]

This really stood out to me! Why would a home cleaning service (cleaning lady)be there doing cleaning at an AirB&B type rental on May 6/7 if supposedly no short term rentals were allowed since mid March per LS in the most recent PE just posted?

LS interviewed the said cleaning lady, who gave her account- seeing the M’s while taking out the trash from clearing out the rental. Really...almost 2 months after the last guests stayed? Must have been pretty stinky in there. Yuck!!!

I’m guessing there were guests, just hosts not wanting to be caught breaking the Covid restrictions on record with LS- understandable- these income properties are just that- income- can’t let a pandemic stop your cash flow! I know more than a few people who bent rules and slunk around the restrictions to keep income flowing-and no, they did not get caught. People are people...

MOO.

I do have a condo that we rent about 2 miles from my home. I have offered it to essential personnel for housing needs. Things are still being rented, it’s simply more cumbersome and we have standards to follow. IMO, it’s still possible someone was staying there.

 

[swedeheart]

JMO
It is really interesting that the cleaning lady indicated she ran into the M's.

What I find most interesting about that is when I looked at an aerial map of the area, I did not see that many houses that were close to the M's home and if they shared a large trash bin, then I am curious where exactly that rental home is.

Maybe I did not look close enough and will take another look but from what I remember there was the M's home and the neighbors and I did not see many other homes near them where they would share a large trash dumpster.

If there was a close by rental home then it would be good to know the last time it was rented out and if we could ever find out the age, gender, and number of people that rented it.

ETA-It would be nice to know the exact location of the shared trash dumpster and where that is compared to where the bike was found.

in the recent interview with lauren, she stated it was last rented in march.

 

[Hatfield]

Thrown by a fit person with strong biceps, I would think, because afaik mountain bikes are relatively heavy. MOO

JMO
If the bicycle was tossed down the embankment like I envisioned it was, then I think the technique would be similar to a 1/2 turn of one of these rotations that are similar to the Hammer Throw, except the person would hold the bike by the middle of the frame and do a 180 and release the bike when its pointing down the hill.

This is not the best example to use since they spin around multiple times and if someone is throwing a bike they probably would only do a 1/2 turn 180 and that would be all that is needed before releasing the bike.

 

[Chingaling]

It's because there has been reporting on BM, and RT had only that one interview (broadcast in 2 parts). We could discuss RT's claims about where Barbara might be, but not anything that wasn't in MSM (just as in this case). Suzanne's case has more traction because of Lauren, IMO.

In Barbara's case, the Sheriff provided no updates at all, not even a "We're still working on it." Much less a "let's go look under some concrete" or "let's go door to door in town." There was no search warrant issued for RT's home. RT's truck and trailer were not impounded or examined forensically.

SO, in short, there's WAY more information about LE's interest in BM.

And people DID accuse RT of things and still do...

Thank you for the answer,but that is the problem,nobody has said a word about RT and BT except his daughter,which was to put forth the notion that RT is innocent of any thing.His actions read differently to me.

 

[Hatfield]

in the recent interview with lauren, she stated it was last rented in march.

Thank you.

JMO
That is interesting then that the cleaning lady was even there if there was not a recent renter. I suppose the owners have to do periodic dusting and cleaning even if no renters. And like others have mentioned, maybe the owner wanted all old foodstuffs removed so it may have been a special request too for the cleaning lady. Or just periodic scheduled maintenance no matter if renter or not.

 

[Megnut]

Last rented and last used might not share the same dates.

Regardless, it's interesting that there was activity in the area.

JMO

 

[Madeleine74]

Lauren Scharf reported on the DWAP interview that SM's family member were "told not to talk." @ about 36 minutes at the video linked below

She's mentioned that a couple times now.

Some people don't care what LE told them; they insist SM's family members should to talk to the media anyway, and if SM's family members don't, that means they don't really care about SM. I'm so glad her family is holding firm, listening to LE, and not taking the bait.

<modsnip>
IMO

 

[jakat]

Thrown by a fit person with strong biceps, I would think, because afaik mountain bikes are relatively heavy. MOO

And could have been in a rage...
MOO