Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #6

[RickshawFan]

TY for that. So it looks like they cut the concrete out in little squares first. The concrete doesn't look very thick to me at all.

My input upthread was that there seem to be too many pieces cut out to fit in that big empty square. Anyone else?

 

[oviedo]

JMO
I’m seeing people talking about “usually” or “in the past” or “usual habit”.

Such as Suzanne usually would ride her bike before she went to church.

To me that means prior to March. Or it could mean last year. There is nothing being said about what she was doing or her habits the past 2-3 months. That’s the information that is missing.

Together with a confirmed by LE last seen date ...
JMO

 

[pepper 34]

I suspect that square mini-rooflike thing near the ground is the cover to the well (the real well, not the red decorative thing nearer the street)

On Google Maps street view you can see a garden standpipe right next to it. And in one of the current photos I saw the well casing or what looked like it (white vertical pipe around 6-8" diameter, maybe 2-3 feet high) in that location.

On the other hand I noticed what looked like the concrete cover to a water meter near the street -- but lots of places still keep the original well functioning even after the property is connected to municipal water service. IMO MOO



I agree, but I noticed in the transcript of his video plea, he doesn't mention the idea of her being injured and not yet found -- ie "hang on, honey, if you're out in the woods we will find you". I mean obviously he wouldn't actually expect her to hear his plea if she was lying injured somewhere, but the whole premise of a plea that's half to her and half to some potential kidnapper is nonsensical on the merits, but an honestly distressed spouse would still address the missing person with "hang on, we're searching and will find you" IMO MOO

BLM made the public plea at a later time. My comment was a reply to another member and strictly addressed the quote made earlier in time,
"It's too soon."
It could be, that BLM no longer believed his wife was injured and nearby where she often rode her bike at the time he made the public plea. By then, he could have believed she had been abducted.

 

[RickshawFan]

TY for that. So it looks like they cut the concrete out in little squares first. The concrete doesn't look very thick to me at all.

My input upthread was that there seem to be too many pieces cut out to fit in that big empty square. Anyone else?

Could LE be looking for a cell phone?
Any news on whether LE have cell phone info or last time anyone spoke or heard from SM?

If you state it is opinion and add JMO or similar then that is OK.
A Honey farm - so you think he was deliberately hinting or it was a subliminal message?

Since the sieves are in action, perhaps not something as large as a cellphone, but maybe a cellphone part like a SIM?
IMO they're looking for something even smaller than that, either a fragment or something that was inadvertently left on a set of remains, like an earring stud.

On the "honey" thing, around here a "honey wagon" is a manure spreader.

 

[10ofRods]

I can see I'm in the minority here (heck, maybe a minority of one), but this whole thing is not adding up to me.

First, from the very beginning--day 2--the sheriff has clearly focused on the husband as the perpetrator of a crime and has not investigated this as a mysterious missing person case. No "here's a description of missing woman and her bike," no "did you see this person on May 10 in this vicinity?" nothing like that. Early on, he searched water that could only have been either a dumping place for a body, or a search for someone who had, either intentionally or unintentionally, engaged in self-harm. Almost a week later, he halfheartedly asked for neighbors to "preserve" their camera footage--didn't even ask them to look at it! And specifically told them NOT to send it to him. He was certainly telegraphing that he didn't think it would be of much evidentiary value.

So he must know something that is pushing him strongly toward a crime. But then, it takes him nine days to get a judge to sign off on a search of the house! Nine days. Whatever he's seeing, that judge (or judges--can he shop that warrant to several looking for a signer?) took a long time to see. But he got it finally, carried out lots of items from the house but apparently there was no smoking gun. So now he responds to a tip and heads off to a site that, given the timeline and the state of construction, seems very unlikely to hold anything of value regarding SM's disappearance and starts breaking up concrete. This man is sure he's going to find something there. But he doesn't. Two full days of digging proves to me there's no body under that slab. And as someone pointed out earlier, they aren't looking for a body or body parts because the sifters aren't even suited up. Are they just saving face at this point?

There's just something wrong with this story. Doesn't mean I think BM is innocent. But does mean that I think LE started off with tunnel vision and it hasn't served them well.

Or there were enough clues, right away, to point in one direction. Certainly, LE talked to people in that nearby campground (IMO) and probably questioned every sex offender in the county. I also bet they found no stranger footage on any of the neighbor videos that they did have.

But the number of things that friends or family members could say, the things they could have found at the house (etc) might point them in just one direction. Aren't most murders committed by just one person, followed by the more rare two person conspiracy? Hardly ever are there half a dozen murderers in a case like this. So focusing on a suspect early on, if the evidence is strong, seems the normal thing to do.

 

[10ofRods]

The Police must have a timeline for this site. So they have an indication of who, why and what time people entered and left the site.

I still would like to have a timeline for the family. When did everybody exactly leave? When was the last time her family had contact with her, exactly? Because if someone used that site to get rid of evidence, they have to know how and when not to be spotted, given it is a residential area.

We are not allowed to sleuth the family. Please don't get this thread shut down again by continuing to ask questions that some might try to answer - and thereby, violate TOS and have another long thread shutdown.

We don't know the answers to those questions and we are not allowed to post if we do. On WS we only know what's been released by LE, what's in MSM, and what's publicly knowable about the victim.

We know Barry is a volunteer firefighter, because it's in approved MSM. We know that his family thinks he went to Denver, because that's in MSM.

That's it.

 

[RickshawFan]

If they suspect a body may have been burned, I wonder whether LE would search sites where woodland fires had occurred. Such as, for example, the site of the bad fire that the Sheriff made specific mention of at the press conference (where he also talked about running into the fire while others run away).

Could ash from countryside fires feasibly remain in an area over a period of time? So that no-one would find it odd to find ash in an area?

You could potentially do this at a camp spot. However, there would be a risk of someone coming across you. Erm, a person or a bear ... Plus, right now the backcountry seems really busy, and IIRC there's a backcountry fire ban in that area? You'd be a ranger-magnet if you had an open fire going.

 

[Mimi in London]

You could potentially do this at a camp spot. However, there would be a risk of someone coming across you. Erm, a person or a bear ... Plus, right now the backcountry seems really busy, and IIRC there's a backcountry fire ban in that area? You'd be a ranger-magnet if you had an open fire going.

I wasn’t thinking so much of having a fire out in the open, but disposing of ashes near the site of a previous fire.

 

[Mauig’ma]

Missing person cases can have many twists and turns, and many times the person who the public may see as the prime suspect had no involvement. We all need an open mind. We don’t know what LE knows. BM may have a successful business and many employees. An employee/s might see Suzanne as an excellent kidnap victim to hold for ransom. Things could have gone bad after an abduction. Keep in mind that workers also have access to those job sites and might know when BM would be out of town, for whatever reason.

I’m with you on this one. Idk why but I don’t think the husband has anything to do with her disappearance. If I’m proven wrong, I’ll be the first one to admit it. But I just don’t see it. Moo

 

[Dave F.]

And how many times have I heard about the terrible cell reception in that area? (Lauren Scharf just mentioned it in her last video.)
One thing I’ve learned from living in BFE myself is that I can always send TEXTS but I can’t make calls or FT ... so my family texts me rather than call. If I know a call is coming I often have to go outside to receive it. So I’m going to assume that this is what actually set off the major alarm ... girls planned a FT with Mom for Mothers Day and she didn’t respond. She could have been “missing” since daughters left on trip, with someone else texting for her. MOO and not really opinions but rather speculations.

When you initiate a voice call or SM, and it goes right through, your phone would have already been recognized (or pinged) by the tower cell. If a tower cell is available, but your phone had not yet "pinged", it takes one full minute for the recognition to take place. So you can sometimes be in "dead zone", hang up and wait a minute, recall and have it go through.
When you text and are not pinged by a tower cell, you are notified on your phone; but your phone keeps trying to establish a connection at pre-set intervals within the phone's programming and will attempt send for up to ten days before ceasing. At that point, most carriers will send a message telling you that the attempt has been terminated, which few people understand, and therefore just delete as random nonsense.

Verizon has pretty cell coverage all the way up Monarch's east slope, but it is from a single tower cell that is narrowly focused on the thin line of the highway itself Her house sits at the edge of that cell. AT&T has spotty coverage up Highway 50, from a mountain top tower designed to provide minimal coverage blanketing to as many places as possible. It does not show that the cell reaches her house. All other carriers use one or both of those services on the east slope of Monarch.

If SM left Sunday morning to ride a road bike up to the top of Monarch and back down on US 50, she should have taken her cell phone. If she left on a mountain bike to do off-roading, her phone would have been as useless as a rock for call or text, and she would have good cause to leave it at home.

Further, All transmission to or from a cell phone is recorded for billing or troubleshooting purposes. The exact air distance from the tower cell to the phone is recorded. The automatic "pings" are also distance-logged. So, if she had ridden her road bike up Highway 50, LE could create an arc from the tower cell that is the distance to her phone, with the arc being the approximate length of the cell coverage. Where that arc crossed US 50 would have been her exact location, within a 30 foot radius.
down in the valleys, there is better, often overlapping coverage. It becomes practical to at least get an idea of where someone with a cell phone was driving. When you get to a high density area like Denver, precise movement can be traced, walking riding or driving by triangulation of the arcs from multiple tower cells.
All of this is my opinion. Cell coverage is changing every day. Even if I was 100% accurate when I started entering this post, the information is outdated now.
JMO

 

[MsBetsy]

Could LE be looking for a cell phone?
Any news on whether LE have cell phone info or last time anyone spoke or heard from SM?

If you state it is opinion and add JMO or similar then that is OK.
A Honey farm - so you think he was deliberately hinting or it was a subliminal message?

I think many people call their spouses, and their children, "honey." I don't think it suggests anything in particular. Jmo

 

[10ofRods]

They are probably tired of all the rumors going around. Maybe they don't want to open themselves up to more criticism, considering everything that's happened in the last few days. This has probably been an emotional rollercoaster for them and they may be losing hope that Suzanne will be found alive.

Good points, MsBetsy. If it were my family member, I'd have no hope left at 2 weeks out. I can't even imagine the rollercoaster they've been on. Now, with obvious LE (including FBI) focusing on a site where one family member is known to have worked, they must be absolutely devastated and without a home to go to. No mom to comfort.

The Fire Chief says BLMy does a lot of pacing and staring out the window. This implies that the Fire Chief has been by the house where BLM is staying. BLM says he's using another volunteer firefighter friend to accept phone calls. So BLM may have a small group of comrades around him at this time. But the daughters are having to rely on other support systems, I'd think.

After 3 days of looking under that concrete (and maybe another day today, per some MSM on twitter), I am beginning to lose hope that they'll find anything there. Does anyone remember if MSM reported that they actually used Ground Detecting Radar (GDR). I thought for sure it was reported, but perhaps it was just an hypothesis here. They sure didn't tear up all the concrete.

Also, those of you with landscaping or contracting experience - is it possible that concrete was poured on top of semi-set concrete? There was that inspection, then more work done. I know the foundation to our house was poured in two phases and the layers are still visible and top layer erodes/chips away from the other where the foundation has been exposed by prior flooding.

 

[Stormy415]

So glad this thread is open again and let’s keep it that way.

Still hoping she is found today.

 

[pepper 34]

*

 

[raja]

I wonder if the daughters received a text message earlier in the day that Suzanne was going for a bike ride perhaps after church. Surely they called or texted their mother early and asked what she planned on doing for Mother's day. When the daughters could not reach her by phone the neighbor checks and the cycle is gone. Suzanne is a recent cancer survivor so this could have added to the emergence of the search by LE.

 

[Tippy Lynn]

I’m with you on this one. Idk why but I don’t think the husband has anything to do with her disappearance. If I’m proven wrong, I’ll be the first one to admit it. But I just don’t see it. Moo

IMO everything points in one direction. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Mimi in London]

Missing person cases can have many twists and turns, and many times the person who the public may see as the prime suspect had no involvement. We all need an open mind. We don’t know what LE knows. BM may have a successful business and many employees. An employee/s might see Suzanne as an excellent kidnap victim to hold for ransom. Things could have gone bad after an abduction. Keep in mind that workers also have access to those job sites and might know when BM would be out of town, for whatever reason.

This is exactly what the prime suspect wants people to think! IMO.

 

[vaporlass]

I found an even better view of what I think are more likely pieces of concrete slab that LE cut out to form that large rectangle. Hope its ok to do this ... it's a screen shot from a news video (found on DM; source is 9news.com) ...

Looks like those pieces fit perfectly and the cutting was what was kicking up all the dust on Friday. I read that they actually began on Thursday, not sure if that’s true or not, so I’m wondering if Thursday was day with dogs and sonar equipment or whatever those things are that can see beneath concrete.

 

[10ofRods]

I think many people call their spouses, and their children, "honey." I don't think it suggests anything in particular. Jmo

Right - but I'd like to know if he commonly called her that. I've shared the clip with a couple of colleagues (all of us with some background in linguistics - mine is more in facial expressions and body language than in speech analysis). Every one of us (including me) wants more context. Is there anyone behind the camera (I think it's on a tripod). How many takes? Eyes are not red, but there are bags under Barry's eyes, consistent with losing sleep. Main affect is fear, even terror. Seems somewhat rehearsed (which is to be expected). The head-shaking indicates more fear and denial.

In other statements (such as the Barbara Thomas case), we got a view of RT walking and moving around right before the interview, and the reporter showed herself to be standing in the driveway of the family home. There was also a cameraman. This is of interest because people behave and think differently when they are alone. They are on a different kind of "linguistic platform" if they are actually speaking to someone else. Humans and their own small reactions act as dialogue partners (potential human lie detectors) but cameras do not. Talking to a camera is like writing in a diary, in some ways.

To establish a sense of his own innocence, Barry should consider doing another video, with someone asking a few questions. I think we'll see hell freeze over first, but that's what I'd advise him to do. I doubt that's what his lawyer would advise him to do. Most of us would do almost anything to get our wife or husband back, though. The lawyer could even call a presser and do most of the talking. But if Barry wants the pressure to be off, answering the few simple questions that so many of us have...would be a start.

 

[sumzero]

I’m with you on this one. Idk why but I don’t think the husband has anything to do with her disappearance. If I’m proven wrong, I’ll be the first one to admit it. But I just don’t see it. Moo

Few facts have been released. So, yeah, it's too soon to draw any conclusions. LE would be remiss, IMO, if they didn't thoroughly investigate the spouse, no matter how firm his alibi. It is part of doing their due diligence. So, I'm reluctant to read too much into LE actions at this point. Might mean something; might not. If it turns out that SM was abducted and killed by a stranger (or by someone with whom she had little direct contact), then LE will have their work cut out for them.

The request for people to preserve any video recordings, in case LE may need them later, could suggest that LE isn't really sure where the investigation will go (i.e., leads are few). I think of David Stodden in Seattle. LE had few leads into the murders of his wife and daughter. So, what did they do? Focus on David, by default. Finally, after 12 years, LE cleared him as a suspect. Imagine being under a cloud of suspicion for so long and not being able to do anything about it.

David Stodden passes a polygraph, hopes for tips in slayings | HeraldNet.com