Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #4

[LietKynes]

May 20, 2020

FOUR POINTS NOW REPORTED IN MSM FOR DISCUSSION:

1) We still have no confirmation when SM was last seen physically alive but reports are she was last in contact on Saturday, May 9, 2020.

2) Her bike was recovered from a bridge near her residence.

3) Daughters were together in Idaho on a camping trip when SM reported missing. Daughters asked a nearby neighbor to go check on SM, contrary to a neighbor saw SM leave on her bike and worried because she was not back after 5:30 pm as previously told by NG.

4) Husband was at a training course for his Volunteer firefighter course confirmed by MSM.

Suzanne, 49, has not been heard from since May 9. A bike owned by the mother-of-two was recovered from a bridge close to her home on May 10, according to local sources – the same day she was reported missing.[..]

DailyMail.com has learned it was her daughters Mallory and Macy who first raised the alarm after they were unable to get hold of her on Mother’s Day as they made their way back from a camping trip in Idaho. [..]

Friends said they asked neighbor Jeanne Ritter, 70, to check on Suzanne when they couldn’t get hold of her and it was Ritter who later called the police to report her missing. [..]

‘Nobody actually saw her on her bicycle, sadly.’ [..]

Suzanne’s husband Barry Morphew, 52, has said he was away on a training course for his job as a volunteer firefighter in Denver, Colorado, when she vanished.

Police search and carry out evidence bags from the $1.5M home of missing Colorado mom | Daily Mail Online

bbm
Thanks for this excellent summary !

Re. #4 : I'd like to hear it from LE.
Not saying that DM ever gets it wrong ....

 

[Backstroke10]

You'd have to be pretty stupid. But look at Chris Watts, some of the things he thought he'd get away with were unbelievable

I’m not sure if it’s stupidity, arrogance, or both. MOO

I suppose it’s possible that the house contains a crime scene that was perpetrated by one or more intruders.

Or someone that lives there. MOO

 

[lucidtx]

Forensics is amazing though. I’m recalling a case where a recovery society, forgot the name, something to do with recovering remains, had a case in Aspen, if I’m not mistaken. Via a very smart “forensic botanist”, she was able to determine that plant trace evidence came from a tree species which only grows on one side of a mountain due to the sun’s exposure. Perps make mistakes. Here’s to hoping, again IF BM killed her.

Side note but a forensic botanist with Necrosearch is on the Gannon Stauch case, too. I'm really looking forward to seeing her findings in court, especially since the suspect's vehicle movements are so key in that case. It's truly amazing how much they can narrow down the geography of a case, but there are plants out there that only have a range of a few acres.

 

[whitelilac]

bbm
Thanks for this excellent summary !

Re. #4 : I'd like to hear it from LE.
Not saying that DM ever gets it wrong ....

Yes, agreed!

 

[Rosiebones]

If the girls could not get hold of their mother by phone on Saturday and Sunday and then called the neighbor for a check, I wonder if they called their dad and that was his advice. I wonder if they were in contact with him about their concerns about her welfare.

 

[margarita25]

Side note but a forensic botanist with Necrosearch is on the Gannon Stauch case, too. I'm really looking forward to seeing her findings in court, especially since the suspect's vehicle movements are so key in that case. It's truly amazing how much they can narrow down the geography of a case, but there are plants out there that only have a range of a few acres.

Yes that’s the organization. I was going to say “necrophilia” but that’s not it

I wonder if it’s the same lady. I remember her face, short hair. I saw this on an OLD forensic files. It may be the same lady!

 

[Ontario Mom]

Idaho is a 13 hour drive from Salida. Who did they go with. Are we sure this was idaho state not idaho springs? Who on earth would go camping in idaho when they live in colorado? Someone help me understand...
Idaho is known for potatoes colorado for mountains. My mind is going to explode

Funny you mentioned that, since earlier in this case I'd read (somewhere, can't recall now) some tipster thought they saw SM in Portland.
If you hear that and you're from the west coast, you'd immediately think "Oregon".
East coast? It'd be "Maine".
It was neither, turns out the alleged sighting was Portland, Colorado.
I didn't even know Colorado had one of those
I also didn't know they have an Idaho Springs.
Would someone there call it just Idaho, or would they say Idaho Springs?

 

[NervousNellie]

If the girls could not get hold of their mother by phone on Saturday and Sunday and then called the neighbor for a check, I wonder if they called their dad and that was his advice. I wonder if they were in contact with him about their concerns about her welfare.

To clarify for anyone reading your post - it is only speculation at this point that Suzanne's bike ride was Saturday, and that she would have been missing since then. Maybe your post is also speculation and I missed that. If so, sorry!

 

[cujenn81]

it's one of the those big plastic bags they make now - it's maybe a rug, towel, shirt? IMO
ETA: I see someone upthread pointed out the brown evidence bags - could be that i just see a curve to it that makes me think it's fabric - I don't recall seeing them double bagging evidence like this before but it could be what they have put in there that makes them double bag if it is the paper evidence bag
JMO

It looks like maybe several items are in the Ziploc bag. The brown square looks like it could be carpet, a piece of cork board or cardboard, or a brown paper bag. I feel like I can even make out a thin spiral bound notebook in the plastic bag behind (or inside) the brown paper bag/not paper bag. lol

 

[Herat]

Possible scenario BUT PURE SPECULATION.

If the last KNOWN sighting of SM was on the 9th, possibly THAT is when the neighbor saw her heading out for a ride. A real ride that really did happen. Before the unthinkable happened.

Possibly on Sunday, at the behest of the daughters, the neighbor drove over to the family house, encountering the abandoned bike as dusk was settling. Possibly in conference with the daughters agreed that that was quite alarming, especially if there were no sign of SM near her bike nor at home.

IMO it explains the information given to LE just before 7pm on May 10. Found her bike, appeared she'd gone for a bike ride, no one's been able to reach her or find her.

We don't know how long the bike may have been there.

JMO

The neighbor's path from her house to Morphew house would not go anywhere near the bridges where the bike is reported to have been found, and the neighbor could easily walk it. The houses are about 100 yards apart.

The bike was almost 2/3 a mile from her home in a completely different direction

 

[margarita25]

It looks like maybe several items are in the Ziploc bag. The brown square looks like it could be carpet, a piece of cork board or cardboard, or a brown paper bag. I feel like I can even make out a thin spiral bound notebook in the plastic bag behind (or inside) the brown paper bag/not paper bag. lol

What’s weird about the carpet is usually don’t they take the whole roll and do the cutting in the lab? If there’s microscopic spatter, droplets etc., they would look at the whole surface. Maybe luminol just showed one spot, idk. (IF it’s carpet and contains evidence)

 

[bkgregg5]

Does anyone know who this information about BM being at firefighting training originally came from? I thought family had said he was in Denver on a work-related trip, but has anyone in the family specified that it was firefighting related? Is the media just running with an assumption that work = firefighting although he's just a volunteer and his day job is in landscaping?

I'd be surprised if he was in Denver specifically for firefighting training. Every major training/conference event I know of has been postponed or cancelled. Traveling out of one's county is so strongly discouraged right now that most local governments have cancelled work travel for all employees for the forseeable future.

Even before COVID, it would be uncommon for a volunteer FFer from this part of the state to ever need to travel that far for training. There's typically plenty of opportunities much closer. Colorado Mountain College has a very robust firefighter training program and most of these departments are capable of hosting nearly all training in-house.

Maybe the volunteer fire service in CO is different than here on the east coast, but it’s not uncommon for volunteer or city paid firemen to travel extensively for training. My husband has gone as far as Texas. Others have gone all the way to CA. Disaster City in College Station TX is a one of a kind training. I’m not saying BM did or didn’t go, but firefighters do travel for training. That said, all trainings here in DE have been cancelled since Covid.

 

[Backstroke10]

If the girls could not get hold of their mother by phone on Saturday and Sunday and then called the neighbor for a check, I wonder if they called their dad and that was his advice. I wonder if they were in contact with him about their concerns about her welfare.

BBM I want to know this too. The girls were obviously so concerned, they called the neighbor. I want to know his excuse for not driving the two hours home to check on his wife. MOO

 

[Elle*Bee]

If the girls could not get hold of their mother by phone on Saturday and Sunday and then called the neighbor for a check, I wonder if they called their dad and that was his advice. I wonder if they were in contact with him about their concerns about her welfare.

I’ve been mulling this around, too. If I was a teen/young adult unable to reach my mother, my next call would be to my dad. I wouldn’t think to call the neighbor first.

I wonder if the girls called Barry. Were they able to reach him? Did he advise them to call the neighbor? As a parent, I probably would’ve made the call to the neighbor rather than ask my daughters to do so. Of course it’s possible that the girls weren’t able to reach Barry by phone for any number of innocent reasons.

Not sure where I’m going with this...

 

[Seattle1]

It's unknown what fire training was scheduled in Denver on Mother's Day, May 10, 2020.

I'll be watching out for any firefighter colleagues to speak out that they attended training in Denver and saw the husband there.

For example, the Colorado Firecamp located in Salida, Co (since 2002) -- said to be the grandfather in training camps for wildland firefighters-- did not have any training scheduled during that week but did offer 3-day course May 14-17 in Salida.

2020 Training schedule for Colorado Firecampt at link below.

Colorado Firecamp - wildland firefighter training

 

[ventuc]

If the girls could not get hold of their mother by phone on Saturday and Sunday and then called the neighbor for a check, I wonder if they called their dad and that was his advice. I wonder if they were in contact with him about their concerns about her welfare.

That does raise an interesting question--why wouldn't it have been BM that contacted the neighbor to check on SM? Surely there was some back and forth between the daughters and him if they couldn't reach SM on Mother's Day. Unless the daughters tried to reach him and didn't get a response because he was working (or whatever he was busy with in Denver). The first thing our kids would do is contact the other parent, not a neighbor. Just thinking as I go...

 

[Steph9676]

I would like to know if they finger printed the bike and if finger prints were found or wiped off and if any one else but hers was on the bike.

 

[OzzieB]

Funny you mentioned that, since earlier in this case I'd read (somewhere, can't recall now) some tipster thought they saw SM in Portland.
If you hear that and you're from the west coast, you'd immediately think "Oregon".
East coast? It'd be "Maine".
It was neither, turns out the alleged sighting was Portland, Colorado.
I didn't even know Colorado had one of those
I also didn't know they have an Idaho Springs.
Would someone there call it just Idaho, or would they say Idaho Springs?

They would call it Idaho Springs. I have never heard anyone call it idaho

 

[indicolite22]

Isn't Suzanne's home misidentified in this DM photo? She would be using road 225 to get home.

Police search and carry out evidence bags from the $1.5M home of missing Colorado mom | Daily Mail Online

Is the location of the personal item found correct?

 

[Razz]

If the girls could not get hold of their mother by phone on Saturday and Sunday and then called the neighbor for a check, I wonder if they called their dad and that was his advice. I wonder if they were in contact with him about their concerns about her welfare.

I'm sure they called their Dad.
"Well honey, she's probably out on a bike ride. You know how she enjoys that. You might want to call the neighbor and see if she knows anything if it gets to be late."