Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #7

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Mysti88c

Mysti88c

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Chaffee County Sheriff's Office (2 hours ago)

Please see the following news release from the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office providing an update on the Suzanne Morphew Missing Person Case.

CHAFFEE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Salida, Colorado
PRESS RELEASE
May 15, 2020 (update)

Nearly 90 investigators searched a 2.5-mile area near County Road 225 and Highway 50 in search of clues into the disappearance of Suzanne Morphew (age 49) of Chaffee County, who went missing on May 10, 2020.

Local, state and federal investigators searched steep and rugged terrain in an effort to attempt to locate additional items of Ms. Morphew after investigators believed to have found a personal item of the missing woman on Thursday.

While investigators aren't releasing details about what may have been found they can confirm that Ms. Morphew has not yet been located to date.

The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office continues to seek tips in Ms. Morphew's disappearance. Anyone with information is asked to call (719) 312-7530.

The Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office, with support of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will continue to follow-up on tips forwarded to investigators.

Agencies assisting in Friday's Search Include:

Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office
Chaffee County Search and Rescue North and South
Chaffee County Combined TAC Team
Department of Corrections Search Team
Department of Corrections East Canon Search Team
Colorado Department of Transportation
Colorado State Patrol
K9 Assistance
FBI (Evidence Recovery Team)
CBI

*****Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze*****
 
PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING DISCUSSION IN THIS THREAD

Tricia wants members to know that she feels very badly that anyone was upset by the thread specific decision she made yesterday to allow discussion of the rumors in this case. She will revisit this matter as the situation warrants.

The Sheriff has specifically stated that Suzanne’s body was not found and Barry has not been arrested. Accordingly, Tricia has reversed the decision to allow discussion of any of the three rumors, specifically that:

- Suzanne’s body was found
- there is a mistress involved
- that Barry was arrested

Do not discuss those rumors.

The thread is open once again for members to discuss the case details within the regular WS parameters (i.e. as we believe them to be factual via MSM and LE).

Thank you.
 
This post falls at random:

Some gentle advice.....
If your post states:
“I remember reading that _____”
OR “Didn’t somebody say that ______”
OR “I don’t have a source but I saw somewhere that _____”
OR anything in that vein, you are posting a potential runaway rumor if it does not have a link to the info in MSM.

Runaway rumors are tough to stop, and often require a thread shutdown to clean up.
I know NO ONE ever intends that with what seems to be innocent questions, but once those words are printed here they can take on a life of their own.
Please consider carefully what you write. You can ask some of these questions in PMs that will remain off the board and not cause a proliferation of mistaken info taking over the thread.


THANKS from me - I really appreciate your efforts!

Faithfully,
CocoChanel
 
Last edited:
The question was asked in the last thread, how was it known SM was known to go for a bike ride on Sundays:

"Bertram went on to say that Suzanne and Barry were both well-respected members of the community, and active in their church. He said Suzanne was known to go for a bike ride on Sunday mornings before church, and said he did not believe she attended church on May 10, though he could not be certain." ‘Pacing around, staring out windows’: Chaffee County Fire Chief addresses questions about missing Suzanne Morphew’s husband Barry Morphew
 
Given the posts about wasted time and firing officials, maybe it's time to reflect on the considerable experience of Sheriff Spezze at the head of the investigation. He no doubt knows the area and it's residents, and this investigation is certainly not his first rodeo. It's not often that you find a small-town official that can run such a tight-lipped operation. MOO

About Sheriff John Spezze - Chaffee County Sheriff
 
It’s possible to think they didn’t find anything of importance in the search but also think LE likely had good reasons for the search and it wasn’t a waste of time. You have to rule things out. You can’t not follow up on good leads.

Things they could have found not connected to SM at this time (but maybe connected later): gloves or some personal belongings belonging to a suspect that can be tied to SM forensically. I don’t think they found any remains or they’d have the coroner. I don’t think they found anything directly belonging to SM or it would have been “connected to SM.”

Either way they had to check it out if they had sufficient evidence to establish probable cause. But IMO it is a weird way to phrase it if they actually found something. If they asked me I would have just said the investigation is ongoing. No need for a comment about what was found or not found at this time or some time in the future!
 
Are the Fire Chiefs words considered rumor? He’s the one who said bike was found in a ravine ...
Investigators search Salida property in connection with Suzanne Morphew disappearance, Fire Chief remains “hopeful”
He also stated:
“Due to [the coronavirus pandemic], our firefighters have not been attending any trainings sponsored by us,” Bertram said, adding that sometimes firefighters will pay for training courses on their own. The fire chief said he had heard, rather, that Morphew had been working a landscaping job in Denver on May 10.
‘Pacing around, staring out windows’: Chaffee County Fire Chief addresses questions about missing Suzanne Morphew’s husband Barry Morphew
 
The source of the story that SM went for a bike ride originated with the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office. This is the wording of the original press bulletin for this case, dated May 11, 2020:
"On May 10, 2020 at 1746 hours the Chaffee County Communications Center received a report of a missing female in the area on County Road 225 and West Highway 50.
Members of the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office responded to the area and contacted the reporting party. They advised that their neighbor, Suzanne Morphew, age 49, from the Maysville area had reportedly gone for a bike ride in the area and failed to return home."
Missing Person - Chaffee County Sheriff
 
Does anyone have a current photo of the foundation that was being searched? Seems they would have torn the entire thing up to find a missing person if believed said person to be there. I don’t know just seems like LE is pretty thorough and would search until they could search no more or until they find what they are looking for...
 
Seattle1 said:
Given the posts about wasted time and firing officials, maybe it's time to reflect on the considerable experience of Sheriff Spezze at the head of the investigation. He no doubt knows the area and it's residents, and this investigation is certainly not his first rodeo. It's not often that you find a small-town official that can run such a tight-lipped operation. MOO

About Sheriff John Spezze - Chaffee County Sheriff
Click to expand...
Wow! I was about to say that he might not be very experienced since the entire County only has a population of 17k ... but 27 years in Denver PD certainly screams experience! I wonder if the person responsible for SM disappearance thought a Sheriff in such a small community wouldn’t have a lot of experience in these matters either... ;)
 
Seattle1 said:
Given the posts about wasted time and firing officials, maybe it's time to reflect on the considerable experience of Sheriff Spezze at the head of the investigation. He no doubt knows the area and it's residents, and this investigation is certainly not his first rodeo. It's not often that you find a small-town official that can run such a tight-lipped operation. MOO

About Sheriff John Spezze - Chaffee County Sheriff
Click to expand...
^^^^This. Well written @Seattle1
 
Dave F. said:
The source of the story that SM went for a bike ride originated with the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office. This is the wording of the original press bulletin for this case, dated May 11, 2020:
"On May 10, 2020 at 1746 hours the Chaffee County Communications Center received a report of a missing female in the area on County Road 225 and West Highway 50.
Members of the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office responded to the area and contacted the reporting party. They advised that their neighbor, Suzanne Morphew, age 49, from the Maysville area had reportedly gone for a bike ride in the area and failed to return home."
Missing Person - Chaffee County Sheriff
Click to expand...
Oh yes, there was a lot of discussions about that word “reportedly.”
 
Seattle1 said:
Given the posts about wasted time and firing officials, maybe it's time to reflect on the considerable experience of Sheriff Spezze at the head of the investigation. He no doubt knows the area and it's residents, and this investigation is certainly not his first rodeo. It's not often that you find a small-town official that can run such a tight-lipped operation. MOO

About Sheriff John Spezze - Chaffee County Sheriff
Click to expand...

THIS!!! Yes, this is not his first rodeo. LE is doing things the way they are doing them for a reason....We may not know the reason yet, but we should NOT accuse them of incompetence... We do not know what they know!
 
vaporlass said:
Are the Fire Chiefs words considered rumor? He’s the one who said bike was found in a ravine ...
Investigators search Salida property in connection with Suzanne Morphew disappearance, Fire Chief remains “hopeful”
He also stated:
“Due to [the coronavirus pandemic], our firefighters have not been attending any trainings sponsored by us,” Bertram said, adding that sometimes firefighters will pay for training courses on their own. The fire chief said he had heard, rather, that Morphew had been working a landscaping job in Denver on May 10.
‘Pacing around, staring out windows’: Chaffee County Fire Chief addresses questions about missing Suzanne Morphew’s husband Barry Morphew
Click to expand...

Technically I guess, unless or until the lead investigative agency on a case either confirms or disputes, everything is considered a rumor.
In this particular case, the Sheriff's office hasn't really done a whole lot of that.

However, the difference between rumor on social media and rumor in MSM, is that we can discuss the latter here, where as we cannot discuss the former.
 
I hope this works. I was working on a reply in the other thread when the new thread opened.

Truecolors said:
Thank you, I have seen that. But how did the neighbor get that idea? I assumed they saw her leave, but later learned that’s untrue. Did the daughters tell the neighbor that?
Click to expand...

There doesn't seem to be any additional information that I'm aware of. Chief Bertram said she was in the habit of riding after church on Sunday (see post #11 above) but doesn't specifically say that's why they thought she might have been on a ride this Sunday (when there was no church).

One of the Daily Mail articles (Police search and carry out evidence bags from the $1.5M home of missing Colorado mom | Daily Mail Online) identified the neighbor who made the report but the neighbor didn't talk to them.

There's this, in the same article:

"Summer Stehle, 43, the stepmother of 17-year-old Macy’s best friend, said: ‘The neighbors up there are spread pretty far apart but the only reason they found out [she was missing] is because the girls called the neighbors and said, ''we never heard from Mom – can you go check on her?''

‘Nobody actually saw her on her bicycle, sadly.’"

Which again doesn't tell us anything. Could have been the neighbor, could have been the daughters.
 
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