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

[gitana1]

It's been 76 days, far beyond world record sluggishness for LE checking of a very simple alibi. The result? Zip. Zilch, Nada. IMO

Really? If there was nothing then why did they go back and search the property again 60 days after the disappearance of Suzanne? That was only two weeks ago.

 

[Dave F.]

Really? If there was nothing then why did they go back and search the property again 60 days after the disappearance of Suzanne? That was only two weeks ago.

Diligent LE will often return to a mountainous search time and time again, as locations are ruled out and others become interesting by testing of evidence or by study of previous searches. The residence is actually just under 8 acres of woodland, with the north property line formed by approximately 100 yards of South Arkansas River frontage.
The area where Serenity Dennard disappeared in January 2019 in the Black Hills of South Dakota has been searched literally multiple dozens of times, by a huge array of resources, and there is no suspicion of foul play in that case.
With all of that said as a general disclaimer, my personal guess is that they believe foul play took place on the family property, or in the public areas around it; and are following up on information developed in their prior searches. IMO

Assessor
SERENITY STILL MISSING: One year later, S.D. girl's fate unknown despite extensive search and investigation | South Dakota News Watch

 

[Janeumayer]

Diligent LE will often return to a mountainous search time and time again, as locations are ruled out and others become interesting by testing of evidence or by study of previous searches. The residence is actually just under 8 acres of woodland, with the north property line formed by approximately 100 yards of South Arkansas River frontage.
The area where Serenity Dennard disappeared in January 2019 in the Black Hills of South Dakota has been searched literally multiple dozens of times, by a huge array of resources, and there is no suspicion of foul play in that case.
With all of that said as a general disclaimer, my personal guess is that they believe foul play took place on the family property, or in the public areas around it; and are following up on information developed in their prior searches. IMO

Assessor
SERENITY STILL MISSING: One year later, S.D. girl's fate unknown despite extensive search and investigation | South Dakota News Watch

But in Serenity’s case dogs have alerted in that area.

 

[Puzzles8]

There has been quite a bit of speculation on why SM's family has not been more vocal regarding her disappearance. Could it be their love and support of the two daughters that are left behind trying to process the disappearance of their mom and possible guilt of their father?

If SM was murdered by BM, those poor girls have lost everything. But IMO their loss could have only been made worse if SM's family had publicly spoken about their suspicions of BM. Right now, extended family have become the girls support system. I would think SM's extended family knew what might have happened in the very early days after the crime.

Initially, the girls were trying to deal with the heartbreaking disappearance of their mom. I'll bet at the beginning they initially turned to BM for comfort and believed his story. At some point later, some doubt surfaced about their father's innocence.

If SM's family knew/suspected she had already been murdered by BM, there would be no point to talk to MSM. They knew nothing they could say would bring back SM. The only thing it would serve to do would be to deal another crushing blow to the girls.

By, now I think the girls have a pretty good idea whether BM was involved or not. Thankfully they have the support and silence of their extended family in Indiana.

This is all just my thoughts and opinion.

ETA - File under: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

 

[Dave F.]

Dave F.,

I appreciate your bike analysis and was wondering if you had the time to add the location on to a map? I can’t visualize the location even after reading your very specific explanation.

As you can see by the first map view, the map is getting pretty full of information about properties, and bike paths, in addition to the marking for bridges and the bike itself. To imagine the location of the bike, turn south off of Hwy 50 onto CR 225. The graveled road takes a sharp turn to the west as it descends a steep slope below the highway nearly at the bottom, and south of the road, is the location of the bike. Just after that, an access to the Colorado Trail head is straight, or CR 225 makes a sharp left turn and heads straight south.
TD met BM father south on CR 225, just south of the Fooses Creek Bridge. BM then walked straight north to the base of that steep part and only walked a short distance up the road hill before stopping and pointing to the tree. The route is traced in bold purple line on the second map, which is skewed sideways to get the best view of the short walk.
The third view shows the Colorado Trail north of Highway 50 to the summit in red, and one of the descent route down CR 240, which is an unimproved jeep trail (basically two tire ruts at best) in the upper parts and ends in the location of the family friend's house north of Maysville. This route would provide great exercise without requiring a great deal of mountain biking skill. I'm sure the possibility that SM was either going to, or coming back, when she disappeared has been considered by LE.
As has been pointed out by other posters many times, SM could certainly have disappeared elsewhere, and the bike dumped or staged at this location.
JMO

All three maps are screenshots that were generated entirely in Google Earth Pro with no external editing.

 

[Dave F.]

But in Serenity’s case dogs have alerted in that area.

..................and several teams of dogs were used in all of the area searches. Examining their results for future more concentrated searches is standard procedure. IMO

 

[?mysterian?]

For those who might have missed this when it was originally posted in thread 15, post 114, @Angleterre posted this excellent summary explaining law enforcement investigations and how thorough and time-consuming they can be:

"I don’t know if the following post will help my fellow Websleuths members with regards to how a major investigation is run . I have tentatively mentioned this in a previous post but I have had quite a few questions privately in response so I decided to tidy up and expand my previous post ...
Here goes ....

With any major enquiry wether that be a murder / Homicide or a missing person , a dedicated team of detectives is set up with a SIO ( senior investigative officer) as the lead .
Certainly in the UK, a policy book is commenced and everything that you know , everything that subsequently happens, every decision taken and every action followed up, is written into the policy book . Every decision made by the SIO and the justification behind such a decision, has to be written into the policy book .
I was responsible for leading a number of murder investigations and Missing persons investigations and I would lead teams of detectives and forensic experts etc
A twice daily briefing would be held where everyone has an input as to what has happened that day , any evidence found , any witnesses spoken to etc and a summary of the day’s investigation would be written up by the SIO.
Each investigation has a strategy and that strategy is followed from the Murder and Major Crime investigations Manual .
So at the start of the investigation, there will be various strategies drawn up to encompass all of the different strands of the Investigation.
They are :
1.Victim - what do we know ?
2. Suspect - Do we have any?
3. Circumstances of last seen
4. Intelligence - What do we know ? What can we find out?
5. Cell phone analysis
6. Forensics - what do we have ? How are they to be prioritised? Submissions to laboratory and cost?
DNA evidence
Fingerprints
7. Search parameters and recovery of evidence to include continuity of retrieval
8. CCtv - What’s available ? How do we prioritise it?
9. Cell Phones - Victims, Suspect’s, Family etc
10. Family History
11. Actions - those raised that need investigation and those that are considered but not deemed to take the investigation further ( but it still all needs recording )
12. Forensic mapping
13. Witnesses
14. Interviews - suspect/s?
15. Exhibits/Property Officer - to record everything brought into the enquiry and the continuity of that evidence
16. File of evidence - Who will create the file of evidence for submission to CPS/DA
17. Warrants - allocated officer to swear all warrants
18. Disclosure - Officer allocated to start a disclosure record ( court process )
19. Family liaison officer - Officer allocate to be the go between for the family and SIO
20. Media strategy - controlled release of information to press
I could go on but I think that you get the drift that any investigation of this type is massive and takes time and has to be that way to get it right so that by the time it gets to the Court process, there’s no room for doubt or for weaknesses in the investigation to allow the accused to get off on a technicality or procedural issue .
Then if there is a suspect you need to start thinking of who will do the suspect interview and the downstream monitoring and alibi checks .
And on top of all that, the biggest and most onerous task besides cell phone evidence retrieval, is CCTV ! And that is a biggie ... it takes Detectives hours upon hours to go through and watch CCTV to enable them to ascertain if there is anything of evidential value on each individual recording and that can be CCTV from the street , from a shop, car park, toll booth , buildings, churches , Public CCTV along a route and individual CCTV in peoples driveways or on their mobile phones etc
You start to get the idea of just how much work is involved in a major investigation and that’s before you go to a judge to swear out warrants and arrest the perpetrator. Once an arrest takes place, you then have interviews and downstream monitoring in real time of the interviews and then liaison with the CPS in UK and DA/attorney general I think maybe in the USA? And then putting the whole file of evidence together and ensuring full disclosure to the defence ... it’s massive workloads and it goes on and on ...
Cell phone data is also massive because of pings of location and subsequent searches and data dumps of all cell phones active within a specific MAST area and tracing who those numbers belong to and ascertain what they were doing in the area. And I can tell you that the evidence from one cell phone alone can run into thousands of pages for my detectives to read through and decipher what, If anything, is relevant to the case . So can you imagine when you have numerous people involved in an investigation, wether it to be rule them in or out or as an alibi or a victim, just how onerous this task is? And it is just one small part of the investigation.

Also the CCTV , people ask why now , 1 month later ? Well you don’t know what evidence that LE already have and if they had nothing else then the individual private residence CCTV would have been done immediately but it is a massive task and takes officers hours and hours to sit and watch every piece of CCTV that comes into the enquiry so it’s now easier to say , keep hold of your own individual residential CCTV and if you think that you have something of importance then let us know immediately otherwise we will get round to looking at it when we can because EVERYTHING has to be prioritised.

In the UK we have HOLMES ( home office Major enquires system ) and everything is entered into the system and looked at by three officers working with admin staff and any actions deemed necessary as a result of those 3 officers painstakingly going through every piece of information, item, cell phone number, cctv , search recovery evidence etc and allocating actions ( work ) to officers to compete before they are given another action . And some officers are individually given specific roles for example CCTV, Cell phones, Intelligence, Statement takers , Family liaison .

So this gives you an idea of just what is going on behind the scenes .
And the information released has to be protected and provenanced to ensure accuracy and the SIO doesn’t want information released unless absolutely necessary because the perpetrator may slip up and say something that hasn’t yet been released to the public and that then becomes dynamite to the investigation.
I hope this helps you all to understand the process , procedures and time for any major investigation to bear fruit .

Regarding technology- People do not realise just how much electronic tracking there is in our everyday lives and the footprint that we leave . Let’s take for example the obvious ones like public CCTV and residential / business CCTV and street CCTV , shop and bank and fuel CCTV, road surveillance CCTV to monitor traffic flow and speed camera CCTV etc The list is endless! Then there are tracking devices on the car if there is one , then there is the cell phone and text message/social media footprints alongside Pings
But - there are some footprints that we either don’t think about or are not aware of for example I own a luxury ( ish ) brand of car and I don’t have a key , I have a black plastic fob that I carry around which activates the car but without inserting it anywhere within my car console. Now when my car has a problem and I go to the dealership, this fob is inserted into their computer and it tell you every journey I have made and the status of the car throughout that journey, if the fuels low , if the seatbelt warning is activated, if any warning lights come on , if tyre pressure is low etc
I was gobsmacked just how much information that could be obtained and to be quite honest, I am a law abiding citizen but it scared even me , just how much we are being monitored. Then there is ANPR both mobile and static and lets not forget that it’s not only your cell phone that can be pinged and calls traced but LE can go to any mast and triangulate all mobile cell phones that ping off a particular mast at a given time and they can cross reference the data from this to any of the contacts in your phone and see if there are any patterns . So just from this you can start to see how many avenues are open for LE to look at. And then we have instagram and Facebook and WhatsApp and snapchat and Twitter and email and fit bits and apple watches and you start to get my drift .....
Edited to add: We have family Life 360 so that we can see where our children are and vice versa and my DH decided to turn his location permissions off
BUT although it does not now tell me his location in words, it does show him driving down the various roads and highways when he’s out and about. So another form of surveillance and if somebody was going to commit a heinous crime, they cannot possibly erase all their electronic footprints

Then we have Amazon Alexa and Smart devices ...
The list is endless!


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Last edited: Jun 12, 2020
Angleterre, Jun 12, 2020Report
#114Unlike"

 

[al66pine]

@kay74 "He was told it would hurt the investigation if he said anything...." on Thread 21, post 1342.

Would you be so kind as to provide MSM link & quote for the above pls. I have not been able to find it. Thx in adv.

 

[Boxer]

Where did this whole idea that Barry is some sort of introvert come from?

MOO From friends or associates of Suzanne's describing him as standoffish.

 

[Boxer]

Im very introverted but when it comes to family and close friends that are going missing like this, i will become a beast. I will do anything that is needed. So that is definitely no explanation. Jmo

Exactly. One's comfort becomes irrelevant.

 

[Charlot123]

OK re my own question of GPS trackers. They can be installed on more expensive bikes, but mostly, for the owners to track them if stolen.

GPS Bike Trackers: find and follow your stolen bike - Cycling Weekly

So maybe it was installed, but could it be uninstalled? Or, can the bike movements be tracked?

 

[JnRyan]

Does a bicycle have GPS tracking? Asking for a friend.

It would be easy to use a bicycle up to a certain point and then take a friend’s car.

No, the bike itself doesn't. But certain electronic devices do provide it. Some, like mine, are wrist units. Others are mounted on the handlebars. I just finished downloading my GPS data from my 45 mile ride.

 

[Charlot123]

No, the bike itself doesn't. But certain electronic devices do provide it. Some, like mine, are wrist units. Others are mounted on the handlebars. I just finished downloading my GPS data from my 45 mile ride.

Congratulations!

So given that SM was an athlete, she must have been wearing something. Also, there are GPS trackings mounted on expensive bikes so that they are not stolen.

The Ms lived in a pretty expensive house. From the photos, they liked nice things. I assume SM’s bike was not hand-me-down. Did the Ms install a GPS device? Is it possible to find out? Probably, depending on when and where the bike was bought.

It seems to me that for a while it was advantageous for BM to have a tracker on her bike. Does it have one now?

 

[JnRyan]

Congratulations!

So given that SM was an athlete, she must have been wearing something. Also, there are GPS trackings mounted on expensive bikes so that they are not stolen.

The Ms lived in a pretty expensive house. From the photos, they liked nice things. I assume SM’s bike was not hand-me-down. Did the Ms install a GPS device? Is it possible to find out? Probably, depending on when and where the bike was bought.

It seems to me that for a while it was advantageous for BM to have a tracker on her bike. Does it have one now?

To this point, we don't even know what kind of bike Suzanne had. She could have Trek's Top Fuel with Shimano 12 spd XTR ($4,000 to $7,500+) or she could have bought a used hybrid or hardtail like the Trek Marlin 5 with Shimano 7 spd Altus for $300. Or anywhere in between. I doubt I would have a GPS tracker on something like a Marlin 5. But we don't know.

 

[Charlot123]

Anyone know what type of car Suzanne drove? Late enough model for GPS?

Without knowing her at all, I’d say, yes.

BM is a successful contractor who moved to another state with higher per capita income. He has to sell himself, his lifestyle, his wife, his beautiful family, to get business. So you bet her car was a newer model. Maybe leased, but newer.

 

[Charlot123]

To this point, we don't even know what kind of bike Suzanne had. She could have Trek's Top Fuel with Shimano 12 spd XTR ($4,000 to $7,500+) or she could have bought a used hybrid or hardtail like the Trek Marlin 5 with Shimano 7 spd Altus for $300. Or anywhere in between. I doubt I would have a GPS tracker on something like a Marlin 5. But we don't know.

It is probably not a secret, if anything, LE should have released this information, locally.

 

[Itsapuzzle]

Have just been looking at the LS interview Part 2 where TD's recounting to Lauren what BM told him about the condition the bike was in. TD recounts that BM told him "the wheel was 'destroyed ' or something, I don't know the word he used" ..... h'mmm , really, "I don't know the word he used" ..... I think he does know he word he used, and we have a tell-tale hand to cheek body language gesture as he says "destroyed or something ....." "and he said there was something wrong with the front wheel" ..... nope, didn't hear that either. I only heard "the wheel was facing", and then he changed the subject. Gotta keep it fair dinkum. MOO

 

[Boxer]

To this point, we don't even know what kind of bike Suzanne had. She could have Trek's Top Fuel with Shimano 12 spd XTR ($4,000 to $7,500+) or she could have bought a used hybrid or hardtail like the Trek Marlin 5 with Shimano 7 spd Altus for $300. Or anywhere in between. I doubt I would have a GPS tracker on something like a Marlin 5. But we don't know.

Some have thought the bike behind BM on the car carrier was hers. It is the color of her helmet.
The photo where he is with several vehicles, down the article.

Husband of Suzanne Morphew is having a 'difficult time

 

[Love Never Fails]

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

The truth is that TD and LS, for all their sleuthing, have discovered little more than those sleuthing on social media. IMO. Just because both are personable doesn’t give me a reason why BM was so comfortable talking to TD when he claimed someone abducted her. It could have been TD for all he knew.

As far as not intending to tell his story to the public, that makes him even more suspicious. He should be front and center speaking up for Suzanne.

Whether BM is guilty or not, LE will figure out. But he sure didn’t appear too concerned while talking to a complete stranger and a male at that.

 

[dmac55]

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

"...it is becoming fairly obvious that it checked out."
(bolded by me)

I don't know if you're being serious or facetious
If serious, I don't understand what you mean by "fairly obvious", but I want to know