Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #48

[Area52]

MOO on such a high profile case, once a month.
Nov 10 will be six months, haven't seen any announcement yet of a PC.

MOO the El Paso Counry Sherrif's Office was a highly professional during the GS case and that kept confidence in them high.

EPSO used SAR searchers, asked for the public's help to look for evidence of GS along their property frontage roads for anything suspicious, and had a local military base volunteers perform roadside searches as well.

To me, the difference between these cases point to the fact that CCSO doesn't need any input from the public. They have what they need, and are continuing to evaluate the electronic and forensics evidence and interviewing people. There is no need to make any announcement until their investigation is over. It's on a need to know basis, and we dont need to know! Moo

 

[al66pine]

LE Professionalism or Four Leaf Clover???

... MOO the El Paso Counry Sherrif's Office was a highly professional during the GS case and that kept confidence in them high....

@Boxer
W Gannon in CoSpg: MisPers report Jan 27; arrest early Mar; remains recovered Mar 20, less than 60 days.
Did professionalism play into the (fairly quick) arrest, or did that happen because LE was able to see sufficient blood evd, right there at the victim's home/apt? Or was it in part, because perp was not a PhiBetaKappa in crime?
(I did not follow GS case closely enough to comment further, except to question whether we can heap accolades on CoSpg LE's professionalism for recovery of Gannon's remains, along an interstate highway, what, 1000 miles away from home? Remains in black, plastic trash bags, discovered by hiway dept employees mowing shoulder? Or equiv.) I'm not criticizing CoSpg LE, not at all, no way, shape, or form.

Back to SM, CCSO could make arrest tomorrow for her homicide. And afawk, LE does/did not have incompatible-w-life evd at MisPers/SM home (like I think they did w Gannon). Or could arrest six mo's or six yrs from now.

Short time gap btwn death & arrest does not always translate to smart, highly professional LE agency or work;
conversely a long time gap does not necessarily indicate sloppy, unprofessional or incompetent LE imo.

Many factors affect the MP-report or death-to-arrest time. And one of the least predictable factors is luck.
Pure, dumb luck. Sometimes perp is lucky; sometimes LE is lucky. jm2cts.

 

[K9Enzo]

The dog handler interviewed by PE (WK) who I believe stated both of her dogs indicated on HR while she was part of the SM private search. She is the same handler, who it appears had a dog that alerted on HR in the Redwine case back in 2013, I believe. Older threads in the Dylan Redwine case on WS, she is discussed.

I didn’t follow this case either but pay attention when @al66pine posts, because I think they are very clever and I always appreciate what they have to say, especially their research.

IMO

....and another WS case where WK (dog handler) is mentioned. (I’m done now) imo

WA - WA - Richard 'Cody' Haynes, 11, Kittitas, 12 Sept 2004

 

[ChuckMaureen]

SUZANNE MORPHEW MISSING: Private dive team comes to Colorado to search for Suzanne Morphew

A private dive team will be in Colorado to search bodies of water between Salida and Denver. FOX31 and Channel 2 anchor Natalie Tysdal spoke to the team.

 

[Boxer]

LE Professionalism or Four Leaf Clover???
@Boxer
W Gannon in CoSpg: MisPers report Jan 27; arrest early Mar; remains recovered Mar 20, less than 60 days.
Did professionalism play into the (fairly quick) arrest, or did that happen because LE was able to see sufficient blood evd, right there at the victim's home/apt? Or was it in part, because perp was not a PhiBetaKappa in crime?
(I did not follow GS case closely enough to comment further, except to question whether we can heap accolades on CoSpg LE's professionalism for recovery of Gannon's remains, along an interstate highway, what, 1000 miles away from home? Remains in black, plastic trash bags, discovered by hiway dept employees mowing shoulder? Or equiv.) I'm not criticizing CoSpg LE, not at all, no way, shape, or form.

Back to SM, CCSO could make arrest tomorrow for her homicide. And afawk, LE does/did not have incompatible-w-life evd at MisPers/SM home (like I think they did w Gannon). Or could arrest six mo's or six yrs from now.

Short time gap btwn death & arrest does not always translate to smart, highly professional LE agency or work;
conversely a long time gap does not necessarily indicate sloppy, unprofessional or incompetent LE imo.

Many factors affect the MP-report or death-to-arrest time. And one of the least predictable factors is luck.
Pure, dumb luck. Sometimes perp is lucky; sometimes LE is lucky. jm2cts.

EPSO had several PCs in that time. They updated the public on their efforts and continued to make appeals for information.

 

[oviedo]

I honestly can't wait to see how the evidence in this case plays out so we can do a "post mortem" to see what we got right and where we made assumptions that did not pan out.

Me too- I’m going through Shan’ann’s threads (#12 now) and it gives a fascinating glimpse of Sleuthers who correctly called out what they thought happened - it’s tough work though as there are still CW supporters -
JMO

 

[Boxer]

To me, the difference between these cases point to the fact that CCSO doesn't need any input from the public. They have what they need, and are continuing to evaluate the electronic and forensics evidence and interviewing people. There is no need to make any announcement until their investigation is over. It's on a need to know basis, and we dont need to know! Moo

The Sheriff is an elected position and they work for the public
MOO CCSO is notably lacking in fulfilling normal PI responsibilities.

 

[al66pine]

Pressers & Media Releases?

EPSO had several PCs in that time. They updated the public on their efforts and continued to make appeals for information.

@Boxer Granted, they did hold multiple pressers and distributed media releases.
If your thoughts are ---
1. LE should hold pressers, issue MR's, regularly, daily, weekly, or monthly on a case, even if they have no substantive info to provide the public and no need to request tips or info from public, and
2. Holding pressers & issuing MR's per above is a sign of professionalism,
then okay, I do not share your opn, tho your opn is a perfectly valid one. If I have misinterpreted, then I apologize.

If an LE agency believes pressers & MR's provide needed caution to the public or may lead to valid info from the public in some cases, LE should hold/issue them, imo
jm2cts.

 

[al66pine]

The dog handler interviewed by PE (WK) who I believe stated both of her dogs indicated on HR while she was part of the SM private search...

@kenzo sbm
Wow. You know the these handlers. Or their dogs. Or both.

 

[JosieMae]

IMO, BM never ordered the supplies because he knew he wouldn’t be completing the job Mother’s Day weekend. Or the next week.

An interesting theory. If correct, that indicates BM expected no one would EVER question his version of events. Which, in turn, tells us how he's probably conducted his life.

 

[K9Enzo]

@kenzo sbm
Wow. You know the these handlers. Or their dogs. Or both.

I do not know the handler or the dogs. I just pay close attention because of my interest in working dogs IMO

 

[MsBetsy]

Wow. Look at that. WS's own thread on this case (Dylan Redwine) is a treasure trove of information on a particular dog handler. IMO

Were her dogs successful in that case? One of the reasons I was skeptical of the dogs alerting on HR during the search was because there was no way to know the history of the handler or the dogs. All they said was that the dogs had been successful in the past and had found human remains in two other cases. That's great, but it's just as important to note how often they have given false alerts or how often they mistook animal remains for human. It seems to be a very common mistake.

 

[Boxer]

An interesting theory. If correct, that indicates BM expected no one would EVER question his version of events. Which, in turn, tells us how he's probably conducted his life.

Or maybe it was just too late to order supplies, suppliers probably didn't have Saturday or Sunday hours in May.

 

[K9Enzo]

Were her dogs successful in that case? One of the reasons I was skeptical of the dogs alerting on HR during the search was because there was no way to know the history of the handler or the dogs. All they said was that the dogs had been successful in the past and had found human remains in two other cases. That's great, but it's just as important to note how often they have given false alerts or how often they mistook animal remains for human. It seems to be a very common mistake.

I’m still reading up on her in these other cases. It definitely appears in the Haynes no, false hits, according to LE. Still going through the Redwine case but I don’t think that one looks good either. If you dig more online there’s some info out there to form an opinion on.

I was bothered by her interview on PE. It seemed off to me, if I can be honest. IIRC she stated her one dog has a 90% positive TFR in training on HR. Ok, that’s great. However, I would want to know, from any handler that says the % on positive finds- how about blind negative searchers, where there’s no HR? Even better, double blinds, no HR and the handler’s going into the training search and does not know if HR is present. To me, that’s insanely important. I think it’s crucial for dogs to be trained often in negatives, it’s very uncomfortable for them. They have to work through it. These dogs are self-serving, they want paid, they want their reward, they aim to please. BUT, the handler must see how their dog reacts to negative odors and distractions. If you don’t compare and document the two, how do you know, how are confident to tell LE your dog had a positive hit? The majority of call outs are going to be clearing a area, no HR. Certainly not 90% of call outs will have HR. IMO

I also believe she stated she works two dogs at the same time, literally they are working together. One gave a positive alert for HR, then the other one followed and gave a positive alert. It’s just a little odd to me but I don’t believe there’s any rules on this. Best practices, maybe. This was the private SM search.

I believe she stated in the PE interview LE asked her how she ended up where she was with her dogs for those positive hits, IMO, I think it was LS news release where she interviewed MG, and she (MG) talked about the beach work site on that Friday before Mother’s Day.

*I’m* going to go with her dogs gave false alerts in the private SM search. CCSO *confirmed that, IMO, with their last press release where they talked about the private search.

All my opinion only

ETA: *Suzanne Morphew - Chaffee County Sheriff

 

[MsBetsy]

Pressers & Media Releases?
@Boxer Granted, they did hold multiple pressers and distributed media releases.
If your thoughts are ---
1. LE should hold pressers, issue MR's, regularly, daily, weekly, or monthly on a case, even if they have no substantive info to provide the public and no need to request tips or info from public, and
2. Holding pressers & issuing MR's per above is a sign of professionalism,
then okay, I do not share your opn, tho your opn is a perfectly valid one. If I have misinterpreted, then I apologize.

If an LE agency believes pressers & MR's provide needed caution to the public or may lead to valid info from the public in some cases, LE should hold/issue them, imo
jm2cts.

Maybe it seems like there were more media releases in Gannon's case because the investigation only lasted a little over a month before the arrest.

In the beginning of this case, there were more frequent updates and then they slowed down after the first month.

Also, Gannon's parents were featured in at least two of the PC's. Maybe LE thought having his parents plead for his return would appeal to the murderer's conscience. (Not that she has one)

Normally the spouse would participate in the PC's, but in this case Barry chose to go his own way. For all we know LE wanted to have another PC with him and he refused.

 

[Minordetails]

What the CCSO is doing to solve SM’s disappearance and how things are going, are apparently non of our business.

Ok fine...

until when?

 

[DizzyB]

What the CCSO is doing to solve SM’s disappearance and how things are going, are apparently non of our business.

Ok fine...

until when?

I like press releases because they keep the case front and center, which creates a buzz and stories. When stories come out, Barry does dumb stuff.

 

[MassGuy]

What the CCSO is doing to solve SM’s disappearance and how things are going, are apparently non of our business.

Ok fine...

until when?

We have a general idea as to what they are doing, which in my experience is incredibly rare.

Suzanne Morphew missing person Investigative Task Force Recap since May 10:

• 1,123 Total tips called to the designated tip line (includes hang-ups and duplicates).
• 180 Interviews conducted in Colorado, Indiana and other locations. This number does not take into account the hundreds of other contacts made between investigators and individuals as part of this case since May.
• 130+ Searches conducted (including warrants, which remained sealed at this time)
• 4,000+ Hours spent by Task Force investigators on the case.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

They had eyes and scopes sighted on them and were told they should pull out? Why would LE suggest that? Even if they were being watched; would they really shoot with all of those people and LE there? There was quite a bit of information but this coupled with LS's newest report raise more questions than provide answers.

Hmm I will have to go back and relisten. I don’t recall the searchers saying more than their “protection” reported they were being watched by people with binoculars that suspicious vehicles had circled their RV.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

Couldn’t agree more. The biggest takeaway is that BM’s alibi isn’t only less believable than most of us imagined, but it’s flat out damning.

Of less importance but still interesting, is the fact that BM doesn’t exactly operate a professionally run company.

Operating without permits, lack of planning, lack of proper tools and materials, and performing low quality work with no oversight, isn’t exactly a good look.

Oh, and his company was in delinquent status too. Fortunately he fixed that a couple weeks after Suzanne disappeared.

It seems that networking is the only thing keeping him afloat. I don’t anticipate that continuing now that the cat is out of the bag.

Shame.

Didn’t Lauren say it would not have been Barry who would have ordered the materials but one of the other contractors involved? And on said the project was to begin on the 11th. So there seemed to be a general understanding but it is unclear where it went upside down.