ChuckMaureen
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bbm
Irrelevant whether or not SM actually rode the bike or not. The fact the bike was discovered at an unusual location and position (down a steep embankment and on its side) alongside a road is a red flag condition (possible accident).
1st officer observes the bike scene to determine if the person who is assumed to have been riding the bike is also down the embankment alongside or in close proximity to the bike. Call out: anyone down there? Are you alright? Response or no response. No visual.
Determine best method to arrive to scene down the embankment without much disruption or determine if safer method to arrive to bike. I believe the roadbed turns a 90 within 100-150 feet or so from the top of the embankment location to where the roadbed is lower and meets the lower level of the ravine. There is an easy access into the ravine that provides easy path access to the bike location. If multiple officers are set to search the ravine each should enter along the same path then spread away from the bike as possible.
2nd officer observes along the road bed, both directions, looking for rider (since no response from the ravine) and for road indication of an accident: skid or drag marks and other notable disruption.
2nd or 3rd officer: time to restrict or at least limit foot and vehicle traffic in the immediate area/top of the embankment. Secure the broader scene. There is no immediate need to retrieve the bike. No need to have multiple LE stomping through the top/along of the embankment.
Contamination of scenes might not be a common occurrence but it has occurred, so there should be no surprise with IF questioning.That is a lot of ifs.
And yes, it would be a shame if some evidence was destroyed early on. However, we should also look at it another way. LE arrives on a scene with a blank slate when they are called. At the beginning, they take what they are being told at face value. When LE arrived at the Morphew home, they were told that SM had not returned from a bike ride. They had no reason, at this time not to believe it. What if it was your child, wife, husband, parent, who had gone missing while on a bike ride? Would you not want LE out scouring the area? Protection of life is always the first priority. Continuing on with the narrative, as the search spread out along the road/trails where SM usually rode, someone spotted the bike down that steep incline. I’m quite sure that LE did scramble down there. I’m sure that when she wasn’t found right near the bike, they spread out in a radius around the bike to make sure she wasn’t laying in the area injured, incapacitated , or dead.
Irrelevant whether or not SM actually rode the bike or not. The fact the bike was discovered at an unusual location and position (down a steep embankment and on its side) alongside a road is a red flag condition (possible accident).
1st officer observes the bike scene to determine if the person who is assumed to have been riding the bike is also down the embankment alongside or in close proximity to the bike. Call out: anyone down there? Are you alright? Response or no response. No visual.
Determine best method to arrive to scene down the embankment without much disruption or determine if safer method to arrive to bike. I believe the roadbed turns a 90 within 100-150 feet or so from the top of the embankment location to where the roadbed is lower and meets the lower level of the ravine. There is an easy access into the ravine that provides easy path access to the bike location. If multiple officers are set to search the ravine each should enter along the same path then spread away from the bike as possible.
2nd officer observes along the road bed, both directions, looking for rider (since no response from the ravine) and for road indication of an accident: skid or drag marks and other notable disruption.
2nd or 3rd officer: time to restrict or at least limit foot and vehicle traffic in the immediate area/top of the embankment. Secure the broader scene. There is no immediate need to retrieve the bike. No need to have multiple LE stomping through the top/along of the embankment.
We don't know, that's why there are IF's in my post. But we do have claim from BM's second-hand info regarding how officers on scene allegedly responded: "This isn't CSI."Would you have not wanted LE to do the same for your family member? Do you know that the bike was not fingerprinted and photographed before it was brought back up to the road?
I’m sure it probably did take several officers to get the bike up to the road. It may have then been examined then to determine if there was a mechanical issue with the bike.
Perhaps that is when some doubts began to form as to what really happened to SM.
In the meantime, CCSO within hours brought in both the North and South Chaffee County SAR teams and canine search dogs from the local DOC facility.
LE’s first priority in those early hours was to find SM. Shame on them if it wasn’t.