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

[susiQ]

Absolutely, that is what was going on. He wanted the crime 'solved' before he had to face LE.

This was his fantasy: he pulls into Puma Path. He is greeted by a compassionate officer, who puts an arm around his shoulder. Officer says, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Morphew, but your wife has been abducted from her bike ride. We found her bike in a ditch beside the road. It's clearly an abduction by a stranger. I'm so very sorry. We'll do everything we can to find her, but you need to prepare yourself, as cases like this usually do not end well."

BM will cry crocodile tears and stagger to emphasize his love for his missing wife. Officer overheard commenting to another, "Poor man! He's broken hearted! What an awful tragedy!"

Speculation, moo of course.

Exactly! He couldn’t imagine that he would be “Suspect Numero Uno” right out of the gate. He is after all a respected first responder with a buddy that did 400 tours, and all that! Don’t you just love how these fools cannot get out of their own headspace to perceive how ALL their actions/inactions appear to others, ESPECIALLY LE. Just love how you got “into his head.”

Poor BM (not!). Things didn’t go as he planned. Tick, Tock BM. There’s a new DA and YOUR file is on her desk!!
Edit: MOO

 

[K9Enzo]

I would probably have words with my husband if he deployed the boys to search for me right away if I was overdue. I could see it now. omg lol

 

[Ontario Mom]

But if your spouse had gone missing and you were hoping that locals would help you find him/her, wouldn't you use local language? I would, for example, mention my subdivision name if speaking to most of my fellow townspeople and if they looked blank, then the local name for our zipcode. I'd be specific.

RSBM

Sure, if my loved one went missing I'd be incredibly specific.
But SM didn't go missing from either Denver or Broomfield (that we know of), so it's kind of a moot point.

jmo

 

[MrsWatson]

Since England is now in Lock Down 2.0, I got a big haul of library books. One of them is Ted Bundy: The Only Living Witness, by Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth.

Of the five victims Bundy claimed in CO, only one was found, even though he gave general locations of the others and extensive searches were done.

Bundy, of course, was a serial killer. He had lots of practice in hiding his victims' remains. He was not any sort of outdoorsman, yet four of the five victims have never been found, all these years later.

I just thought that was interesting to note.

 

[Ontario Mom]

I am having trouble understanding why the neighbor was concerned enough to call 911 just because Suzanne's bike was missing as she would not know when Suzanne had left. If Suzanne customarily rode her bike, why wouldn't they wait to see if she returned? Also, why would police respond so quickly if an adult has gone on a bike ride and no one knows when she left. The idea that the girls were going to spend Mother's Day with Suzanne is also suspicious as they left on Wednesday for Idaho which is several hours away. To be back with their mom on Sunday they would have to leave around 4 or 5 in the morning. It does seem that there must have been something alarming the 70 year old neighbor noticed to make her want to alert authorities after discovering the bike was gone.

IIRC, the girls attempted to reach SM more than once on Sunday morning.
Then they called their dad, and he allegedly tried to reach her as well, and his call went to voicemail.
I'm not sure how much time had passed, but I suppose it was enough time to be "concerned" (and yes, feigned concern, if in fact BM was the one that disappeared her, this was all going exactly according to plan) that she was unreachable, by the time BM asked the neighbor to go have a look at the house.
After the first look, she called him back, and he asked her to go back and see if the bike was gone. [insert the birth of the bike ride story here]
When she did, and the bike was missing, the call from the neighbor to 911 was placed at 5:46pm.

It would seem at that point, that sufficient time had passed to explain away that she was not just out for a bike ride, from Sunday morning until nearly 6pm Sunday evening.

jmo

 

[Megnut]

I would probably have words with my husband if he deployed the boys to search for me right away if I was overdue. I could see it now. omg lol

That's just it. Only one person was aware WHY Suzanne was unreachable and he went to great lengths, it would appear, to distance himself from that. In all ways.

For everyone else the expectation would BEGIN with wonderment. Is she in the shower? Did she go somewhere? Is her phone dead?

Criminals are never smart in hiding what they know when they know too much.

Because BM SHOULD HAVE been in that camp or pretended to be in that camp. Let me call around. Have you seen Suzanne? Maybe she brought her bike to Scot. Maybe she was talking on her phone and not responding to other callers? Maybe she dropped her phone in the hot tub and, without a landline, was waiting on her people to return to tell them all about it.

We still don't know that anyone called 911 though. Neighbor may have called the nonemergency number. I would have. I'd have assumed a simple explanation for Suzanne's absence. Unless BM said something that niggled me. Unless I saw or smelled something very odd. Unless I had a backstory reason to worry....

Without that, I'd call the desk number.... and I'd fully expect to be embarrassed later when the posse and hook and ladder showed up at the same time Suzanne did.

I wonder truly who enlisted the neighbor. Me, if I couldn't reach my mom, I'd call my dad, then the nearest neighbor. Small town. So....was the neighbor part of the disappearer's plan or did he utilize it?

Once the neighbor talked to BM, cars no bike, I want to know IF HE MADE ANY OTHER CALLS. 3 hours of alleged drive time.... you'd think he'd have time to call around....

But maybe he was busy rehearsing his 26 second video....

JMO

 

[K9Enzo]

That's just it. Only one person was aware WHY Suzanne was unreachable and he went to great lengths, it would appear, to distance himself from that. In all ways.

For everyone else the expectation would BEGIN with wonderment. Is she in the shower? Did she go somewhere? Is her phone dead?

Criminals are never smart in hiding what they know when they know too much.

Because BM SHOULD HAVE been in that camp or pretended to be in that camp. Let me call around. Have you seen Suzanne? Maybe she brought her bike to Scot. Maybe she was talking on her phone and not responding to other callers? Maybe she dropped her phone in the hot tub and, without a landline, was waiting on her people to return to tell them all about it.

We still don't know that anyone called 911 though. Neighbor may have called the nonemergency number. I would have. I'd have assumed a simple explanation for Suzanne's absence. Unless BM said something that niggled me. Unless I saw or smelled something very odd. Unless I had a backstory reason to worry....

Without that, I'd call the desk number.... and I'd fully expect to be embarrassed later when the posse and hook and ladder showed up at the same time Suzanne did.

I wonder truly who enlisted the neighbor. Me, if I couldn't reach my mom, I'd call my dad, then the nearest neighbor. Small town. So....was the neighbor part of the disappearer's plan or did he utilize it?

Once the neighbor talked to BM, cars no bike, I want to know IF HE MADE ANY OTHER CALLS. 3 hours of alleged drive time.... you'd think he'd have time to call around....

But maybe he was busy rehearsing his 26 second video....

JMO

For me, I don’t think it’s weird the neighbor was asked to check the house for SM. She’s the neighbor and they obviously have some kind of relationship with her. She reports back her findings and a decision is made 911 should be called. I also don’t think it’s odd it was her that made the call, she was right THERE. Police would arrive quicker to the home than BM or the girls would. Things started to happen super fast after that. IMO

 

[MrsWatson]

To me, the whole fiasco of BM not being the one to call LE is the beginning of the seeds of doubt. It's been pointed out many times, BM was a volunteer firefighter and first responder. Unless that's all more BM BS, he knows how 911 works. I refuse to believe that he did not know even one LE employee to call and say,"Hey, I can't get hold of Suzanne and neither can the girls, can you run by the house and check?" Or his great buddy, the fire chief, why didn't he reach out to him? It defines common sense that he didn't reach out to them first, and he started his dog and pony show of deflection and distraction right then.

MOO

 

[Error505]

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[OldCop]

@Sillybilly - I agree, from the information we have this is true. I was not questioning such. Perhaps I didn’t explain well to not go into old stuff again. I think I find it odd that at some point when any of the three did get into range or closer - or whatever reason given for not being the original callers to 911, that none of them made their own calls to LE/911 to follow up, provide information, anything. My gut instinct tells me this is what I would instinctually do in such situation. I would need to become involved as soon as I was able- and to me in our tech world would be long before pulling into the driveway- I feel I would be taking action, not just chilling thinking it’s all good, the neighbor lady’s got this, it’s just my mom missing. But again, many unknowns here. Always, IMOO.

I’ve thought all along that it is very likely LE contacted BM as he was driving home. The neighbor was probably waiting at the home when LE arrived. They would have had a lot of questions. I’m sure they asked for BM’s cellphone number and contacted him for permission to enter the home, when he last saw or spoke to SM, when he left for Denver, what bike route she usually took etc.
-Maybe he was evasive even then.
-Maybe he said something that sounded “off”.
-Maybe they found out later from his cell phone records that he wasn’t where he said he was as he was driving home. (There’s been a lot of speculation that maybe BM had 2 phones, one personal, one for work. He may have thought he was being clever turning one or another off at critical points in the timeline. How many phones did he turn over to LE?)

I’m sure LE expected to meet a scared, worried, upset husband when he arrived home. Instead they faced an angry accusatory man. They had already dealt with his army buddy who tried to stop them from recovering the bike. By BM’s own admission, on the TD video he says he was angry that night, (about how LE messed up all the evidence). The best defense is a good offense?

 

[OldCop]

RSBM

Sure, if my loved one went missing I'd be incredibly specific.
But SM didn't go missing from either Denver or Broomfield (that we know of), so it's kind of a moot point.

jmo

True, but I’d be very specific if it was my alibi.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

True, but I’d be very specific if it was my alibi.

Agreed. If I don't want to be perceived as babbling or offering too many unnecessary details, I would say "I was up near Denver" or "in the Denver area" and then let LE ask for the specifics.

Same with "I didn't remember the exact time I was working on the Bobcat." It's ok to say "working on it" generically, (or even the awkward "did a mechanical thing"), as long as you then give the specifics once asked.

MOO

 

[Ontario Mom]

True, but I’d be very specific if it was my alibi.

I suppose it all depends on who he told, and what he said.
I can only imagine he did tell the CCSO exactly where he was, in Broomfield, right down to the hotel room number. "Listen, check the cameras, I was there!" kind of attitude.
We've heard it a few times now.

But in the context in your original post/question, he was rambling on to TD, a complete stranger, with zero official credentials, and zero official capacity. In that situation he likely just said "Denver" since, there was no compelling reason for BM to answer in a more specific way.

The same may hold true for what he originally told TN, since I think it's a good bet he was the source for the MSM statements saying "according to family, BM was out of town in Denver on business".

And this is all entirely 100% speculation, of course.

ETA: correction of the nephew's initials

 

[DizzyB]

I would never have given a completely different city name, like Denver. I would have said up near Denver, Denver area, Broomfield, or named the company whose job I was working on and said a few hours away. Barry is pretty vague on a lot of details.
If I wanted a neighbor to call 911, in the interest of quickest response time, my cell phone would have gotten a workout on the way home. My next choices would have been-my very close to the scene Army Ranger good buddy, to get his butt over there ASAP, my own follow up 911 call and to make sure they had my cell and any additional info I might have, my kids to let them know I was handling, my FF friends to ask them to help in any way they knew how, the neighbor again to hear any updates, my workers to let them know, maybe someone who could take over the Broomfield jobsite coordination. Three hours is a lot of time and a lot of thinking. If Barry’s phone wasn’t blowing up the whole way, I would be throwing him the side eye.

 

[MrsWatson]

I would never have given a completely different city name, like Denver. I would have said up near Denver, Denver area, Broomfield, or named the company whose job I was working on and said a few hours away. Barry is pretty vague on a lot of details.
If I wanted a neighbor to call 911, in the interest of quickest response time, my cell phone would have gotten a workout on the way home. My next choices would have been-my very close to the scene Army Ranger good buddy, to get his butt over there ASAP, my own follow up 911 call and to make sure they had my cell and any additional info I might have, my kids to let them know I was handling, my FF friends to ask them to help in any way they knew how, the neighbor again to hear any updates, my workers to let them know, maybe someone who could take over the Broomfield jobsite coordination. Three hours is a lot of time and a lot of thinking. If Barry’s phone wasn’t blowing up the whole way, I would be throwing him the side eye.

Such a good point, @DizzyB.

And what if LE had to call HIM? BM didn't reach out, they contact him?

That could be a huge side-eye as well, because they would know he was a volunteer FF (small town) and had at least rudimentary knowledge of emergency response in general, if not specific missing person training.

I just don't see any way to spin BM's behavior with the handling of the 911 call other than to point as far away from himself as possible.

MOO

 

[steeltowngirl]

Absolutely, that is what was going on. He wanted the crime 'solved' before he had to face LE.

This was his fantasy: he pulls into Puma Path. He is greeted by a compassionate officer, who puts an arm around his shoulder. Officer says, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Morphew, but your wife has been abducted from her bike ride. We found her bike in a ditch beside the road. It's clearly an abduction by a stranger. I'm so very sorry. We'll do everything we can to find her, but you need to prepare yourself, as cases like this usually do not end well."

BM will cry crocodile tears and stagger to emphasize his love for his missing wife. Officer overheard commenting to another, "Poor man! He's broken hearted! What an awful tragedy!"

Speculation, moo of course.

^Love this^

Alternate fantasy:
He pulls into Puma Path and the sheriff is standing over the carcass of a mountain lion shot dead. Officer says “I’m so sorry, but look ... we got him!”

And the rest of the fantasy continues, as said above.

jmo / wild musings

 

[LietKynes]

Since England is now in Lock Down 2.0, I got a big haul of library books. One of them is Ted Bundy: The Only Living Witness, by Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth.

Of the five victims Bundy claimed in CO, only one was found, even though he gave general locations of the others and extensive searches were done.

Bundy, of course, was a serial killer. He had lots of practice in hiding his victims' remains. He was not any sort of outdoorsman, yet four of the five victims have never been found, all these years later.

I just thought that was interesting to note.

bbm
Hmmm.
Good point.

Here's hoping that Suzanne will be found soon !

 

[LietKynes]

Absolutely, that is what was going on. He wanted the crime 'solved' before he had to face LE.

This was his fantasy: he pulls into Puma Path. He is greeted by a compassionate officer, who puts an arm around his shoulder. Officer says, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Morphew, but your wife has been abducted from her bike ride. We found her bike in a ditch beside the road. It's clearly an abduction by a stranger. I'm so very sorry. We'll do everything we can to find her, but you need to prepare yourself, as cases like this usually do not end well."

BM will cry crocodile tears and stagger to emphasize his love for his missing wife. Officer overheard commenting to another, "Poor man! He's broken hearted! What an awful tragedy!"

Speculation, moo of course.

I'm also curious IF LE had any previous encounters with BM that made them question this from the start ?
Or the firefighter's BM volunteered with ?
Or BM's workplace --any issues there that made employees go "Hmm..." ?
Imo.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

There are so many things we don’t know it is almost impossible to speculate. We don’t know how many calls went back and forth between he and their daughters or the neighbor or what time. All we know is that Barry had to leave Broomfield around 6 to get home around 9. We don’t don’t what his demeanor was when he got to where LE was and any of his friends or neighbors. I think we can assume he was rattled or frantic or upset...pick one as we don’t know. We don’t know if he was able to stick around that night or exactly where he and the girls waited for news. We just don’t know many details that paint the true picture. I usually say “outside Denver” if I am in a suburb or outlying area. I assumed if he said “Denver” he probably wasn’t “in Denver” but was outside Denver. His BIL said “Colorado Spring” but clearly he didn’t remember or never really learned when he was out there right after Suzanne disappeared.

 

[Deleted member 102539]

MOO is it was a friend of BM and BM possibly had no idea because he was busy hiding his own Secret affairs. I think they need to check landfills that body would have been dumped in the Lakewood area MOO. I feel that someone was passing thru in a minivan and should track that person down think I read early on suspicious minivan with Arizona plates was seen MOO

Arizona plates? I've only heard of TD from Arizona. Minivan or not, I can't remember.