Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #3

[indicolite22]

IMO, it is interesting that the Uncle says to Tell that to the Sheriff in regards to the public suspicions related to BM. Similarly, the nephew commented that people should ask the Sheriff about the condition of the bike. Both statements suggest they want to "call out" the Sheriff's office. I don't think the family & LE are on the same page.

When it comes to the husband's uncle, I doubt he knows very well what goes on in his nephew's marriage. He just stated that he wasn't aware of any problems.

 

[Rosiebones]

Sounds like there may have been financial problems - spring tax bill on Indiana home
has NOT been paid- $3660. due 5/11/20.
Hamilton County, IN - Property Records

My husband would never pay a tax bill until the day it was due, preferring to walk it down to town hall tax office. Considering the due date on this bill, it could just be the fact that his mind was on other things OR it was something she would have done. MOO MOO MOO

 

[IceIce9]

My husband would never pay a tax bill until the day it was due, preferring to walk it down to town hall tax office. Considering the due date on this bill, it could just be the fact that his mind was on other things OR it was something she would have done. MOO MOO MOO

Hamilton County extended the tax payment deadline 60 days due to Coronavirus.

Not sure if that has anything to do with it but thought I would mention.

 

[Rosiebones]

Hamilton County extended the tax payment deadline 60 days due to Coronavirus.

Not sure if that has anything to do with it but thought I would mention.

Hamilton County extended the tax payment deadline 60 days due to Coronavirus.

Not sure if that has anything to do with it but thought I would mention.

Yeah, that is an even more logical answer.

 

[Bridger]

Sounds like there may have been financial problems - spring tax bill on Indiana home
has NOT been paid- $3660. due 5/11/20.
Hamilton County, IN - Property Records

If you access the statement, you see that the Morphews are not the parties that were billed for these taxes.

 

[Lambseatoats]

No, but you're totally right that a car like a McClaren at a trailhead or on a dirt road would defo stick out to those of us from the area. It's one of those "what the heck is that person doing driving that in this rough-road area?" kind of reaction from people who live here and spend enough time in the area to get a feel for it. A lot of the time we might dismiss it as tourists in a rental car, but we also might snicker at somebody deciding to do outdoor rec in a car like that.

Cuz I have done a lot of outdoor rec in Chaffee County and other parts of the country, one of the things I tend to do is check the cars at trailheads. Cars that give me pause are super nice ones like sports cars with low frames and air scoops and also really beat up vehicles that don't have outdoor rec stickers on them. If the really beat up vehicles don't have those, then I worry about people who may be transients and camping illicitly off hiking trails. Most of the time people like that are probably fine, and just minding their business, but others might not be and especially if I'm alone, I'm extra-wary about a car like that.

And if you live near a trailhead or a river put-in, you pay attention to who's coming and going and you get a sense of who's there for legit rec and who's there to just hang out and maybe smoke weed or drink in a quiet spot. And then there are the cars with people who aren't doing either and if you see them, you wonder what they're doing and you keep an eye on them if they're hanging around the trailhead or the put-in.

Or maybe I'm just one of those people who pays attention to things most people don't. Heh. Totally possible.

I appreciate your post, because I do the same thing. I live near a trail head and have access to the trails from my yard without seeing the parking lot, but I always walk to the parking lot before my hike to check out what kind of people (cars) are there. Lots of bike racks, no problem; really nice sports cars or beat up vans that you can't see into make me nervous. MOO

 

[MsBetsy]

I’m not sure why NG and Ashley are sooo curious as to why they moved to Colorado? I realize any and all background information is needed during a case, but just not sure why they’re so curious about it. Nancy says, “Why move if you’re happy and doing well where you are?” People move here all the time because it’s beautiful and ideal for active lifestyles.

Yes, it does seem like a strange question to ask. People move from one state to another all the time for various reasons.

So far I have not seen any indication that the move from Indiana to Colorado has anything to do with Suzanne's disappearance.

 

[IceIce9]

I’m not sure why NG and Ashley are sooo curious as to why they moved to Colorado? I realize any and all background information is needed during a case, but just not sure why they’re so curious about it. Nancy says, “Why move if you’re happy and doing well where you are?” People move here all the time because it’s beautiful and ideal for active lifestyles.

I have around a dozen friends who have moved from Indiana to Colorado in the past two years.

 

[Force Ten]

Something else that seems could be a misstatement is the “locked brakes”. From people in the know about bikes, this isn’t a thing. I wonder if the bike was actually locked up to a tree and this got misconstrued somehow.

 

[MimosaMornings]

I know of people that moved to Denver/Colorado Springs because of jobs but left after two years because they didn’t have a clue about the winters there. I don’t know anyone that moved without having a job lined up unless they were retired. Suzanne wasn’t close to retirement age. Perhaps she worked for one of the farms in some capacity.

A lot of places look great on vacation.

 

[bancam]

@oviedo TY. That is actually a different property than what is recorded in White Pages but appears to agree with the Heavy article. Interesting.

Just to clear up some of this Indiana stuff, White Pages is not an accurate source for property records but State land registries are. Cal Carson Rd was their home in Arcadia IN before they moved to Puma Path CO. The IN house may have been placed on the market for a short time, as per SM’s FB pics of it, but it did not sell and they retained it. They did however offload a small section they owned that was located at the rear of their next door neighbor’s property according to the register. A seed company that owns the bulk of the rear sections along their strip was the purchaser, they now pay the taxes of course, and it would not have been much of a windfall for SM and BM (because the property is undeveloped and has no formed accessway from the road). See my earlier post quoted below.

Other than to say that some info in White Pages is completely out of date, I don’t want to comment here on the other properties appearing in White Pages searches because we will get dangerously close to sleuthing family members and the mods here will not be happy(!)

It is splitting hairs though. The county land records show they sold the small vacant parcel tacked onto the back of their next door neighbor’s property (not directly at the back of theirs or even accessible from theirs, as you can see here) to the seed co. It’s unimproved and currently valued for county taxes at just $4900. They remain the freehold owners of the Indiana house they had lived in and all the land that house sits on, currently valued at $796,000. No registered mortgage securities have been found.

As you note, whether it’s rented out or not is largely immaterial. What is material to a potential financial motive (if it transpires that a crime has occurred with her disappearance) is unencumbered combined property owned by the couple together and valued at about $2.3 million.

 

[bancam]

I’m not sure why NG and Ashley are sooo curious as to why they moved to Colorado? I realize any and all background information is needed during a case, but just not sure why they’re so curious about it. Nancy says, “Why move if you’re happy and doing well where you are?” People move here all the time because it’s beautiful and ideal for active lifestyles.

I suspect it’s because NG is keen to discover if anything could’ve happened in IN that potentially gives rise to someone wanting to target SM/the family - in other words a motive. Financial and/or in terms of relationships or rifts with family, business associates, former employees, others. JMO. We can only speculate here and do so while remaining within the WS TOS.

As a slight aside, we do a lot of thinking here about opportunity, but as you will know, establishing motive is a big part of what investigators will be focusing on *if* a crime is suspected to have been committed over her disappearance. Because mainstream media rightfully can’t just make wild accusations without basis, we struggle here to discuss and analyse motive until someone is formally charged and we can do so within the forum rules. Nancy Grace isn’t constrained in quite the same way, which might explain her curiosity over the move from IN to CO!

 

[EggSalad]

Someone responded upthread in detail, hopefully they'll explain again.

But a couple of the reasons that person listed had to do with a bike not being used recently (IIRC). Sudden slow down has caused brakes to jam - but it's a curiosity to me how the person could not release the brakes via brake release or caliper cables. Hopefully the 2-3 bicyclists who've been so gracious to explain will explain again.

They were pretty much shut down, though, by people complaining that this was not yet MSM. As is the custom.

As a road cyclist with quite a bit of experience and a limited amount of mountain biking, I have to agree. "Locked brakes" seems to be a mystery to me as an experienced cyclist. I strongly suspect this is from someone with no experience or knowledge of cycling or there is a miscommunication/misunderstanding between whoever told the nephew and the nephew.

Maybe they’re waiting on trace evidence analysis to come back on the bike before talking about it with the public, like potential paint transfer for instance.

Still thinking about why they’re being so secretive about the bike. Perhaps they’re analyzing it and waiting on that analysis. But then why not just say that?

Something else that seems could be a misstatement is the “locked brakes”. From people in the know about bikes, this isn’t a thing. I wonder if the bike was actually locked up to a tree and this got misconstrued somehow.

As someone who has mountain biked for 25+ years, I figured I’d add some commentary on the brake speculation.

Mountain bikes that cost $500 and up are made with disc brakes. If SM was a mountain biker, I’d have to assume she had a bike with disc brakes. In fact, I can’t imagine a bike with caliper brakes being able to cut it on CO trails.

I’ve never heard of disc brakes locking up.

So if the brakes were indeed locked up, it was most likely not the brakes but it was caused by a bent rim or fork.

I could also see the thought that high end mountain bikes have disc brakes that can be locked for transport; although I’m not familiar with high end bikes and by that I’m thinking at least $5,000 and up.

But having watched the video of the trail she was allegedly going to, you’d need a bike with full suspension (which is expensive) and would this have disc brakes, which I’ve never heard of as locking on their own or malfunctioning. People be getting critically hurt al over the country if that was the case because a locked up disc brake would immediately stop and throw you head first off the bike with all the riders momentum.

So most likely, if the locked brake thing is true it was structural damage to the rim or fork. Or the bike was being stored with the brakes locked and the person that put her bike out there as a decoy is not a bike rider and didn’t realize to unlock the brake before disgaurding the bike.

 

[EggSalad]

It’s also odd to me that there would be fire fighter training on a Sunday on Mother’s Day that would go past say 4pm.

And even if there was that type of training, wouldn’t the neighbor have called the husband first before calling the police? It would be interesting to know if that call occurred.

 

[Bubblehead]

IMO...kidnapping and holding people for ransom in the United States just doesn't happen anymore or so rarely that it's the last thing I would expect unless the family were multi millionaire/billionaires. The technology is far too advanced these days for anyone to reasonably succeed in a ransom request that releases the individual back to their loved ones....

 

[MsBetsy]

Something else that seems could be a misstatement is the “locked brakes”. From people in the know about bikes, this isn’t a thing. I wonder if the bike was actually locked up to a tree and this got misconstrued somehow.

I think the most common way for brakes to lock up is from braking too hard or suddenly pressing very hard on the brakes.

It might indicate that Suzanne was cut off by a vehicle or forced to slow down (or fall off the bike) by someone, in order to disable and overcome her.

Or, there may have been a problem with the bike itself that caused the brakes to lock up.

It's hard to say, since LE has not verified anything about the bike.

Imo

 

[Tippy Lynn]

It’s also odd to me that there would be fire fighter training on a Sunday on Mother’s Day that would go past say 4pm.

And even if there was that type of training, wouldn’t the neighbor have called the husband first before calling the police? It would be interesting to know if that call occurred.

I did a rewind of the Chaffee County Sheriff scanner on 5/10 at 5:46 p.m. I didn't hear anything about a missing person. In fact, I didn't hear one single transmission. I was hoping, but no luck there.

 

[Inthedetails]

As someone who has mountain biked for 25+ years, I figured I’d add some commentary on the brake speculation.

Mountain bikes that cost $500 and up are made with disc brakes. If SM was a mountain biker, I’d have to assume she had a bike with disc brakes. In fact, I can’t imagine a bike with caliper brakes being able to cut it on CO trails.

I’ve never heard of disc brakes locking up.

So if the brakes were indeed locked up, it was most likely not the brakes but it was caused by a bent rim or fork.

I could also see the thought that high end mountain bikes have disc brakes that can be locked for transport; although I’m not familiar with high end bikes and by that I’m thinking at least $5,000 and up.

But having watched the video of the trail she was allegedly going to, you’d need a bike with full suspension (which is expensive) and would this have disc brakes, which I’ve never heard of as locking on their own or malfunctioning. People be getting critically hurt al over the country if that was the case because a locked up disc brake would immediately stop and throw you head first off the bike with all the riders momentum.

So most likely, if the locked brake thing is true it was structural damage to the rim or fork. Or the bike was being stored with the brakes locked and the person that put her bike out there as a decoy is not a bike rider and didn’t realize to unlock the brake before disgaurding the bike.

Maybe it was someone who doesn't know much about bikes who described the "locked breaks." Maybe the bike simply had something wrong with it and was described that way by someone who doesn't know what the real problem was.

jmo

 

[Inthedetails]

I did a rewind of the Chaffee County Sheriff scanner on 5/10 at 5:46 p.m. I didn't hear anything about a missing person. In fact, I didn't hear one single transmission. I was hoping, but no luck there.

Good idea to check - smart.

jmo

 

[Ontario Mom]

Great points! I'm not taking anything NG is reporting seriously until it's verified. She seems to be spouting a lot of rumors I've seen elsewhere on SM with nothing to back them up. She clearly doesn't have rules of vetting info like we do here on WS. She should take notes. JMO

Her and her guests last evening just did what a lot of people are doing: brought up the rumors, discussed them & made a clear point to indicate they are in fact rumors and not confirmed by LE.