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

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LE does not just investigate things on a whim. We know something alerted them almost immediately that they needed take specific actions. We know the family home was searched at least twice. We knows things were removed from the house. We know a creek/river was searched. We know a jobsite Barry worked on was searched with GPR. Le did canvassing and at least ten searches.

None of that happened on a whim or without evidence that led to it. Search warrants aren't approved on flimsy ideas. Nor are searches that involve divers or GPR.

I feel so very sorry for Suzanne's daughters. They've got a hard road ahead of them.

MOO
 
Concern for finding Suzanne:

In disposing of her body, what if the perpetrator was savvy enough to leave his phone elsewhere or remove the battery from his phone; and he was smart enough to drive a vehicle that didn’t have GPS tracking? How can LE find her? Does it come down to traffic cameras and other video?

The needle in the haystack aspect of it is discouraging.

IMO
 
MassGuy said:
I don’t care if you’re an introvert. I don’t care if you are a private person. If your loved one disappears, how in God’s name does any of that even matter?

Doesn’t it go out the window?

Don’t you put that aside?

Don’t you do everything you can to find your wife?

What occurred here is contrary to both human nature, and every similar missing person’s case ever.

<modsnip>
Click to expand...
ITA MG. IMO yes human nature tells me that BM should be doing everything in his power to find his missing wife, pleading with the public, shouting from the rooftops, organizing searches etc., even an introverted private person IMO would put that aside, as love and concern for your missing loved one takes over and finding them becomes your sole mission and you do whatever it takes to find them and bring them home. Going by BM’s actions/inaction since SM supposedly went missing, it appears to me he is not too concerned with finding his missing wife, and I believe it is because he knows she is not coming home.

Additionally IMO, it appears BM is not working in concert with LE, and if this were truly an abduction/kidnapping of SM, I do believe LE would be handling it very differently. They don’t appear to be handling this case the way we’ve seen them handle countless other Missing Person’s cases, i.e., the fact that very early on, LE didn’t hold a PC as a united front with the Family pleading with SM’s “abductors” to release her so she can come home to her Family, no LE released BOLO for SM describing height, weight, hair color etc., in addition to the deafening silence surrounding this case, speaks volumes.

Per the above, IMO it’s logical and reasonable to assume that very early on, LE must have found incriminating evidence pointing away from Suzanne being missing, which led them to conclude that SM is more than likely Deceased. I believe they have their POI in their sights and are diligently building their case behind the scenes. They don’t have her body, so they need to build a rock solid case that will hold up in court. As we know, no body cases are harder to prosecute, but it can be done as long as LE crosses all their T’s and dots all their I’s so to speak, and this takes time in a no body case. But I believe and have confidence that with all the LE involved in this case, CBI, FBI and the way they’ve handled recent other high profile Colorado cases, they will solve this case. It may not be solved as quickly as we’d like to see, but in the end I believe justice will be served for Suzanne. I hope they will eventually find her body for her daughter’s sake so they can properly lay her to rest, but don’t hold out too much hope that her body will ever be found, unfortunately, and that breaks my heart.

All of the above is IMO, MOO, JMHO etc, etc.
 
susiQ said:
At this point, BM being innocent is as likely as the earth being flat. I’m sorry for her children. I’m sorry she was murdered, but unfortunately wishing him innocent doesn’t change that. We see these cases over and over again.

When this breaks open, her children and family will be confronted with the truth and will be faced with making a decision of accepting it or ignoring it. I think some of SM’s immediate family know who made her disappear. By immediate I mean her siblings. The fact that LE have from the beginning not entertained the idea of SM having been abducted, tells me they have enough evidence to know who did it. Like the guys on PE, I fully believe this case will be solved. I think soon. Suzanne deserves justice. She deserves for the truth to be known. Her entire family deserves to know what happened. She deserves a memorial to honour her life. Someone is denying her that honour.

JMHO as always.
Click to expand...

Great post. I also think that Suzanne's family would not be silent if they didn't know she was gone. Whatever evidence LE had, early on, was communicated in some fashion to them and they were asked to keep it private, which of course would be their natural impulse while they grieved, anyway. TN's wife's brief, heartfelt statement also shows that the family knows.

I too think there will be an arrest in this case. There are many reasons why it may be delayed. So far, the suspect isn't going anywhere. More tips and evidence keep turning up. The instant they arrest him, the County has to start reassigning public defenders to the case and all of the evidence is turned over to the defense as well. It's best for the prosecutor's office to have the case mapped out and to decide what is and isn't going to be in evidence (etc).

In many jurisdictions, part of the cost of a private attorney is footed by the County (whatever the judge thinks would have been spent in the defense of the accused - in some cases, attorneys in private practice will work for that amount, in others the client needs to pony up...)
 
10ofRods said:
Great post. I also think that Suzanne's family would not be silent if they didn't know she was gone. Whatever evidence LE had, early on, was communicated in some fashion to them and they were asked to keep it private, which of course would be their natural impulse while they grieved, anyway. TN's wife's brief, heartfelt statement also shows that the family knows.

I too think there will be an arrest in this case. There are many reasons why it may be delayed. So far, the suspect isn't going anywhere. More tips and evidence keep turning up. The instant they arrest him, the County has to start reassigning public defenders to the case and all of the evidence is turned over to the defense as well. It's best for the prosecutor's office to have the case mapped out and to decide what is and isn't going to be in evidence (etc).

In many jurisdictions, part of the cost of a private attorney is footed by the County (whatever the judge thinks would have been spent in the defense of the accused - in some cases, attorneys in private practice will work for that amount, in others the client needs to pony up...)
Click to expand...
Just a note: A murder defense is 100-200k, doubt he would be assigned a public defender. They are provided for people that would not be able to afford a defense, making a conviction virtually meaningless. (Indiana still call them pauper defenders.)
 
Love Never Fails said:
Relaxed for a man whose wife disappeared or abducted by an unknown assailant. You would think he would ask a ton of questions of the stranger. His demeanor would be tense and he would tell the stranger to contact the sheriffs office, wouldn’t you think?
Click to expand...

That, too, surely.

But look at it from another standpoint.

Supposedly, an abduction happened. And around that area, BM runs into an unknown young man. If it happened to me, so close to the place where the bike was found, I’d feel very, very scared.

What BM did, on one hand, was logical, he led the unknown guy to his mom, a potential witness. So maybe he was somewhat apprehensive. But in general, his gait, speech, demeanor are very interesting. My impression, he has a “compass in his head”, probably, easily orienting in poorly known areas, is unafraid of walking alone (not uncommon for big men, but also a personal trait), is rather social and is adventurous but careful at the same time. To add to it, that he looks friendly but there is a discussion that he could be deadly.

MOO. A very peculiar type. What he was doing in the video was showing his territory, in a way. And if it was their first meeting, BM clearly must be a fast decision-maker. MOO.
 
Dave F. said:
First........why did LE talk to her Indiana family at all? Do they have some specific part in the investigation?
Click to expand...
^^SBM

Hmm...let's think about this ---- when a 49-year-old wife and mother suddenly vanishes without a trace, and information from her husband and children do not lead authorities to locating or making contact with the woman, it's reasonable to expect that investigators would also reach out to the the missing woman's father and siblings, wherever they happen to be including Indiana where the missing woman lived her entire life up until two years ago when moving to Colorado with her husband and children.

Not only is it reasonable, but it should also be expected that investigators would widen the circle of family members interviewed for information important to the police timeline and other including health, family history, relationships, personal, etc. MOO
 
Dave F. said:
I did not say that I had knowledge of where the bike was. What I said was that I had confirmed, using TD's video, the direction of the sun / shadows, and the counting of BM's distinctive steps to confirm that the location was exactly the same as the spot placed on the map on the Profiling Evil interview by our favorite journalist LS (at 8:48 in the linked presentation), who was taken to the spot by TD
The screenshot from that link shows a white rectangles where LS placed it. The red dot marks CR 225, and the broken light line from top left corner to bottom right corner is the South Arkansas River. The gravel area at the top center is the access to the Colorado Trail head, where TD's video interview of BM ended.
Click to expand...

Your post was super interesting, and IMO, is of relevance in this he case. I never had the ability to find my way (anywhere), and I am in awe of your talents, @Dave F.
 
Love Never Fails said:
Do you have an opinion as to why BM even considered speaking to TD and explaining how he thought his wife disappeared, seeing as how for all BM knew, it could have been TD who abducted his wife?
Click to expand...
Actually, I do have an opinion on that.
TD admits that he had been there the day before. After studying ALL of his posted videos, I reached the conclusion that TD had spent a great deal of time walking up and down CR 225 from the S. Arkansas river bridge to the the "Y" , talking loudly and distinctly to his GoPro on a selfie stick. TD respected the barricade placed on Puma Path and stayed in plain sight at all times. Everything about his general demeanor, that I cam see; is that TD is a very friendly, non-challenging type of person. I think his brother was quoted explaining that TD had always found it easy to meet people.
It would have been pretty obvious to anyone watching TD's antics to see that he was sincerely seeking some pretty basic information, putting down a lot of steps and getting so close, yet so far. As I stated earlier in the thread, I have serious doubts that TD ever earned a Pathfinder Merit Badge.
If BM decided that the easiest way to get this strange but harmless man to leave was to give him what he wanted, I think it was a brilliant plan.
I couldn't help but observe, in the linked video, that on his most recent trip back to the spot, TD stayed well out of the line of sight, yet in full public view, at Fooses Lake while LS walked to attempt to contact BM nearer to his house.
As a longtime salesperson myself, I admire when people have the advanced social skills to meet as complete strangers and work out the interface so that everyone gets to accomplish what they came to do. I don't know that I would ever want BM, TD or LS as my close personal friend, but I fully appreciate that each of them did exactly what they had to do skillfully, and with a lot of class.
So, why then didn't BM allow LS to make contact and tell the world his side of the story? I think that he has no intention on telling his side of the story to the public. He has told it to LE, and it is becoming fairly obvious that it checked out. I'm guessing BM wanted to tell the world where the bike was found (which may figure in his wife's story, but not his). Through a single contact with the wandering TD, he certainly has accomplished it.
I have to give kudos to LS for converting BM's message through TD to a simple white square on the map, that we can all understand. IMO

So I'm guessing that
 
Seattle1 said:
^^SBM

Hmm...let's think about this ---- when a 49-year-old wife and mother suddenly vanishes without a trace, and information from her husband and children do not lead authorities to locating or making contact with the woman, it's reasonable to expect that investigators would also reach out to the the missing woman's father and siblings, wherever they happen to be including Indiana where the missing woman lived her entire life up until two years ago when moving to Colorado with her husband and children.

Not only is it reasonable, but it should also be expected that investigators would widen the circle of family members interviewed for information important to the police timeline and other including health, family history, relationships, personal, etc. MOO
Click to expand...

But what you are speaking of is Indiana background information, not potential direct witness testimony. Why would LE instruct all of them to remain silent? Surely LE didn't ask them to not let the world in on the secret that they had known her all of her life and she really was a beautiful woman? Is there something incriminating that they all have some sort of knowledge of?
(asking for a friend in Colorado) IMO
 
Dave F. said:
Actually, I do have an opinion on that.
TD admits that he had been there the day before. After studying ALL of his posted videos, I reached the conclusion that TD had spent a great deal of time walking up and down CR 225 from the S. Arkansas river bridge to the the "Y" , talking loudly and distinctly to his GoPro on a selfie stick. TD respected the barricade placed on Puma Path and stayed in plain sight at all times. Everything about his general demeanor, that I cam see; is that TD is a very friendly, non-challenging type of person. I think his brother was quoted explaining that TD had always found it easy to meet people.
It would have been pretty obvious to anyone watching TD's antics to see that he was sincerely seeking some pretty basic information, putting down a lot of steps and getting so close, yet so far. As I stated earlier in the thread, I have serious doubts that TD ever earned a Pathfinder Merit Badge.
If BM decided that the easiest way to get this strange but harmless man to leave was to give him what he wanted, I think it was a brilliant plan.
I couldn't help but observe, in the linked video, that on his most recent trip back to the spot, TD stayed well out of the line of sight, yet in full public view, at Fooses Lake while LS walked to attempt to contact BM nearer to his house.
As a longtime salesperson myself, I admire when people have the advanced social skills to meet as complete strangers and work out the interface so that everyone gets to accomplish what they came to do. I don't know that I would ever want BM, TD or LS as my close personal friend, but I fully appreciate that each of them did exactly what they had to do skillfully, and with a lot of class.
So, why then didn't BM allow LS to make contact and tell the world his side of the story? I think that he has no intention on telling his side of the story to the public. He has told it to LE, and it is becoming fairly obvious that it checked out. I'm guessing BM wanted to tell the world where the bike was found (which may figure in his wife's story, but not his). Through a single contact with the wandering TD, he certainly has accomplished it.
I have to give kudos to LS for converting BM's message through TD to a simple white square on the map, that we can all understand. IMO

So I'm guessing that
Click to expand...
Hold it. “It’s becoming fairly obvious it checked out?”

Obviously he did talk to law enforcement early on. How did they respond?

Didn’t handle this as an abduction.

Searched his home on two separate occasions, with two separate warrants.

Seized his phone and vehicle.

Excavated a construction site he worked on.

The sheriff threw shade at him: “...hope he continues to cooperate.”

Every single thing they have done, has BM as the focus.

What makes you think his story checked out?
 
rainbowshummingbird said:
Concern for finding Suzanne:

In disposing of her body, what if the perpetrator was savvy enough to leave his phone elsewhere or remove the battery from his phone; and he was smart enough to drive a vehicle that didn’t have GPS tracking? How can LE find her? Does it come down to traffic cameras and other video?

The needle in the haystack aspect of it is discouraging.

IMO
Click to expand...

"In more recent use cases, these companies have the capability of taking your key fob and getting a read out of the VIN, Mileage of the car, the last time it was driven, and even the fuel level, and if that isn't scary enough newer versions have capabilities to store GPS Data."

Hmm. I wonder if BM uses a fob for his vehicle?

How much information does your Key Fob actually store?
 
Charlot123 said:
He comes across as a man who feels very comfortable talking to unknown younger guys. It might be coming from his profession, after all, he gave orders to younger men on the job, but he is rather relaxed, except for the shoulders. Interesting, considering that he hardly knows T. Even if they spoke the previous day and agreed to meet and make this YouTube video, which I think might have happened, still - very deserted area, unknown man, and assuming BM’s wife just disappeared, BM is very relaxed. Interesting what else he did for a living.
Click to expand...

Great observations. There's a type of household (fairly widespread) in which the Man of the House is the chief social operator for the family. This works well if the husband is more social and the wife a bit more introverted/focused on the kids. Man makes friends easily, but also has more friends/constant masculine support. For some subcultures, this is the norm. The women are homemakers (and even if they work outside the home some, it's not their main focus in life).

No matter how a household is organized, there are always "issues." In the type we're discussing, one issue is that the husband may have a much larger social presence in the community, be perceived outside the home as "hail fellow, well met," - a nice guy. The wife probably knows the men her husband knows, but only in passing. In short, the man can live a life outside the home, while the woman has fewer friends and opportunities. This is usually of their own choosing, or at least, that's how it would seem to the participants. In fact, it's got a great deal to do with cultural beliefs.

Those of us familiar with the literature on control and abuse know that these households have a greater chance of masculine acting out and DV. It can go the other way in a different type of household (much more rare) where it is the woman who is the social butterfly and the man is more introverted and may be the more home-oriented. I have an aunt who managed two marriages this way. The family generally regarded her as abusive.

It's probably a good time to mention that while physical abuse is common enough, that for many families, the physical abuse becomes more rare as time goes on, but the psychological, financial and emotional abuse can continue (and sometimes includes sexual control or abuse as well).

Women who have forgiven their husbands for past physical or emotional abuse and whose husbands swear they won't do it again (and only "fall off the wagon" every other year or every 2-3 years) are heavily conditioned to forgive and think things are "getting better." There's quite a bit of research on this phenomenon in the Christian community. The family usually has the idea that God will assist them and that the lessened frequency of the physical or severe emotional abuse is a sign that God is assisting. Every scrap of evidence is used by all parties to believe that "things are better." And, the victims might be perceived as walking on eggshells or overly conforming by an outside observer.

These last 3 paragraphs may not be relevant here, but it's hard not to mention the possibility.
 
Dave F. said:
But what you are speaking of is Indiana background information, not potential direct witness testimony. Why would LE instruct all of them to remain silent? Surely LE didn't ask them to not let the world in on the secret that they had known her all of her life and she really was a beautiful woman? Is there something incriminating that they all have some sort of knowledge of?
(asking for a friend in Colorado) IMO
Click to expand...

< modsnip> I talk to my mum all the way across the pond almost daily and if I vanished from Washington involving foul play-- I promise she'd be on the witness list with crucial testimony.

ETA: And no I'm not speaking of Indiana background information. I said it would be reasonable for investigators to contact SM's family wherever they lived. The fact that SM was a lifelong resident of Indiana until recently just makes it that more important since SM may still have daily contact with individuals there.
 
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