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

[DizzyB]

I will say that this case has almost zero leaks.

 

[pepper 34]

This photo of the search site was tweeted 4 hours ago by 9News.

Marc Sallinger on Twitter

I've taken the picture Marc Sallinger "tweeted" and compared to a photo on DM published on May 23d. I believe the photo posted by Marc Sallinger was also taken on May 23d and is "borrowed" from DM. Both photos are posted below... note the placement of the black truck and white vehicles in the roadway. The photos are not exact matches due to a slight change in location by aerial "device" actually taking the photos... but the photos were probably taken just seconds apart from each other.

Marc Sallinger photo is #1 (I entitled "FINAL DAY")
DM photos is #2 (I entitled "PUBLISHED BY DM ON MAY 23d")

Suzanne Morphew's husband was paid to lay dirt at the building site Colorado cops are searching | Daily Mail Online

 

[Seattle1]

I'm not sure, the list of agencies assisting with the search/investigation specifically names the FBI's ERT division.
I'm not sure the ERT do any kind of investigation outside of crime scene evidence collection.
I didn't see any indication of that mentioned in the services they offer.

jmo

I'm sorry I wasn't clear that the Chaffee County Sheriff has no jurisdiction in Denver County or Idaho, etc. where verifying alibis would have been on the early agenda.

FBI ERT is pretty much all-inclusive of traditional and hazardous evidence collection capabilities which I wasn't referring to.

 

[vaporlass]

Regarding your question about FBI involvement. Here is the best explanation I've seen.

"The sheriff of Chaffee County would say that he has information that is pertinent to something beyond Chaffee County and they want the FBI to search outside Chaffee County," he said.". Full article link below.

Investigator explains FBI's involvement in Chaffee County missing woman case - KRDO

Interesting!

 

[lucidtx]

I will say that this case has almost zero leaks.

That's the advantage of targeted, smaller-scale searches conducted almost entirely by LE only.

 

[charminglane]

I've been wondering if Suzanne's helmet was at the house, leading investigators to question the placement of the bike and the movements of BM from the get go.

 

[Alethea]

Two weeks into it and by now you’d think we have a Today Show or Good Morning America interview with the husband. BM giving specifics. We met in high school, she is just as beautiful today as she was 30 yrs ago. We have a wonderful life and she needs to be home with me. I last saw her at 10 am on Saturday when I left for .........I called her .......and everything seemed fine. My daughters tried calling her for Mother’s Day.........We didn’t become worried until......Please if anyone knows anything, just let us know. Etc.

Bizarre there is nothing. Nada.

(Question for attorneys: would you always advise a spouse to NOT do interviews if there was no indication they were involved?)

Personally I am really anti-media for anything that’s even a little complicated because I’ve seen innocent people - whistleblowers even - get dragged through the mud. You’re really opening yourself up to serious liability once you start talking.

That said, if I represented a family of a missing person and I found actual evidence that the people were telling the truth and they aren’t involved, then media attention helps. It puts pressure on LE. Squeaky wheel gets the oil. But I will say it might be the situation of picking one representative to represent the family. The spouse may be too upset or awkward where it really wouldn’t help. Really truly innocent people even the best lawyer can’t stop them.

I recently had a case where against my advice the client did a story with the NYT to exonerate himself- it predictably blew up and he looked like a jerk even when all charges against him were dropped. He became a viral meme because sometimes you can be 100% legally right but still a jerk to the public.

Long way of saying if Barry came off like a jerk even if he’s innocent I might try to pick someone else to do the media pleas- a best friend with him standing behind her? A maternal family member?

 

[Dave F.]

IMO Barry is innocent and they should be looking elsewhere and I hope they are.

I am very frustrated that the sheriff said the investigation was going to start at the center and work diligently outward to gather the facts, and by all appearances the investigation seems to be bogged down in the center after two full weeks. JMO

 

[pepper 34]

I wonder if they found evidence in the dirt but now need time to test it to be sure it’s Suzanne (thinking very small evidence that could have dna extracted).

So they have what they need for now to test, hence no search for tomorrow and hence no need to completely tear up everything.. yet.

It would be interesting to know if the house plans go ahead as scheduled now or if the job remains stalled and / or shut down. Since we don't know what the original plans and schedules were it would only lead to speculations; but it would still be very interesting to know

 

[oviedo]

Personally I am really anti-media for anything that’s even a little complicated because I’ve seen innocent people - whistleblowers even - get dragged through the mud. You’re really opening yourself up to serious liability once you start talking.

That said, if I represented a family of a missing person and I found actual evidence that the people were telling the truth and they aren’t involved, then media attention helps. It puts pressure on LE. Squeaky wheel gets the oil. But I will say it might be the situation of picking one representative to represent the family. The spouse may be too upset or awkward where it really wouldn’t help. Really truly innocent people even the best lawyer can’t stop them.

I recently had a case where against my advice the client did a story with the NYT to exonerate himself- it predictably blew up and he looked like a jerk even when all charges against him were dropped. He became a viral meme because sometimes you can be 100% legally right but still a jerk to the public.

Long way of saying if Barry came off like a jerk even if he’s innocent I might try to pick someone else to do the media pleas- a best friend with him standing behind her? A maternal family member?

Always appreciate your insight and I’m still wondering why there is no verified word from her side of the family that I have found so far IIRC

 

[Dave F.]

I've taken the picture Marc Sallinger "tweeted" and compared to a photo on DM published on May 23d. I believe the photo posted by Marc Sallinger was also taken on May 23d and is "borrowed" from DM. Both photos are posted below... note the placement of the black truck and white vehicles in the roadway. The photos are not exact matches due to a slight change in location by aerial "device" actually taking the photos... but the photos were probably taken just seconds apart from each other.

Marc Sallinger photo is #1 (I entitled "FINAL DAY")
DM photos is #2 (I entitled "PUBLISHED BY DM ON MAY 23d")

Suzanne Morphew's husband was paid to lay dirt at the building site Colorado cops are searching | Daily Mail Online

Excellent examination! I might add that Marc Salinger is a well known reporter for Denver News Channel 9, which has for many years had a pooling / sharing news arrangement for their jointly leased helicopter. The linked article explains. DM may have purchased the still shot from the exact same video as Salinger's still. IMO
News4 to join 9News and 7News in sharing helicopter – The Denver Post

 

[RickshawFan]

I am very frustrated that the sheriff said the investigation was going to start at the center and work diligently outward to gather the facts, and by all appearances the investigation seems to be bogged down in the center after two full weeks. JMO

What is the "center" of an investigation? And where did the sheriff say "the investigation was going to start at the center"? And what does "work diligently outward" mean?
a. I'm not familiar with that phrasing.
b. To all appearances, LE has been "gathering facts" by doing searches, etc., so how do you get to "bogged down"?
c. Sources?

 

[gliving]

"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

I can't address whether the 'entire family' attends church as that would be sleuthing minors.

Grace Church Salida

 

[TKG]

Always appreciate your insight and I’m still wondering why there is no verified word from her side of the family that I have found so far IIRC

This is the first real quotable material from SM’s side. Interesting that TN is BM’s nephew and that they don’t know him. They reportedly also don’t know where the girls are? Had she been estranged from her family? Father supposedly lives in Michigan?

“I think it was sort of a step toward retirement,” the family member said. Suzanne mention to the relative she was happy that another family member, Barry’s newphew Trevor Noel, lived in the state.

Early in the investigation, Trevor Noel identified himself as the family spokesperson, but has stopped responding to media inquiries. A Facebook page he launched to collect and share information about the search for Suzanne has not been updated in over a week. He also launched a campaign to raise money for a volunteer search effort. The crowdfunding campaign has raised over $30,000 dollars, and Barry Morphew’s mother was listed as the beneficiary in recent days.

Suzanne’s relative said they did not know Trevor Noel, and was not sure why Barry Morphew’s mother was the recipient of the donatons, though they did note that the fundraiser may be supplementing travel and housing costs for relatives who traveled to central Colorado.

“I have a feeling someone told him not to talk,” the relative said about Trevor Noel’s recent silence. During the first week of the investigation, Noel told local media outlets that police had recovered Suzanne Morphew’s bike, and Suzanne’s relative believes police did not want that information leaked.


EK ‘We’re in the dark’: Missing Suzanne Morphew’s family waits and worries two weeks after Colorado mom’s mysterious disappearance [EXCLUSIVE]

 

[MntnHiker]

I believe it was the fire chief (please correct me if I'm wrong) who said Suzanne would always bike on Sunday mornings. If that is true, then I think that may be where the idea came from that she never came back from her ride. I don't find it hard to believe that she had a standing bike ride at the same time each week. I'm sure her daughters would know that.

If they couldn't get a hold of SM on Mother's Day, they may have said to the neighbor, "She always goes for a bike ride on Sunday mornings. Can you see if her bike is at the house?" Or possibly Suzanne even told them she'd give them a call after her ride that day and never did, something to that effect. Although it was never stated, I wouldn't be surprised if the neighbor had a spare key to the house and could check if the bike was not in the garage or wherever it was stored. We gave our trusted neighbors a spare key. What if something happened while we are out of town on vacation and it was an emergency that someone get into the house? Perhaps this neighbor was friendly with SM and they gave her a key in case of an emergency. I could also see exchanging phone numbers for the same reason, especially if neighbors are few and far between. This is all JMO.

 

[Lilypad13]

Spezze runs for re-election as sheriff
http://www.chaffeecountytimes.com/f...cle_0cf04304-d2ef-11e8-931b-5763c0d0e45a.html
Sheriff Spezze has a very impressive background and 37 years of experience. There is a comment in the article related to releasing information to the public/media. He might just always run his investigations this way. <modsnip: There is nothing in MSM to indicate that drugs are involved in this case.>

 

[Alethea]

Maybe LE told SM’s family not to talk. If there’s a history of domestic violence they’d likely know about it.

Understanding statistics isn’t tunnel vision.

 

[vaporlass]

Excellent questions! I am not a lawyer, so I can only answer in generalities. The Chaffee County Detention Facility is fairly large and reasonably modern. It is located at the same place as the Sheriff's Office in Salida. The sheriff can move inmates to another facility for a variety of reasons, but sheriff's in Colorado usually don't. If it's a murder or kidnapping charge, it is filed in District Court, which is also located in Salida. If the crime occurred in another county, it would have to be charged in the district court for that county. Basically everything would happen in the county where the crime happened. I've added a link to the main state court website, which can be used to access dockets and in a high profile case, search warrants, affidavits and court filings.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation provides central pools of investigative resources, intended to ease the investigative burden in "big" cases. To many outsiders, they often seem to take over a case, performing elaborate searches, sudden dramatic arrests, seizing phones, bank accounts, automobiles, homes and even clothing and toiletries as evidence...........but they have been very efective in many high profile cases. Under the 1930"s Lindbergh kidnapping law and subsequent federal legislation, the FBI is authorized to join a search for a missing person any time they are requested by local authorities. The FBI has several different specialized mobile crews, with the one seen most often in Colorado is the forensic search specialty group, probably because they are based here. That group never goes to a county without having one or more FBI Special Agents leading their portion of investigations. If the crime moves from state to state, the FBI special Agents assume more of the command and pass the case along to the field office having responsibility. The local sheriff has charge of all of the decisions, but may delegate decision making responsibility to his officers or to the support teams. In this case, I believe that all of the decisions are being cleared through Sheriff John Spezze.
Investigation of a missing person anywhere in the United States is a slow, methodical process that can be devastating for victim families, and the families and friends of POI's. Colorado is somewhat unique in that murder and kidnapping are "no bail" arrests and the prosecution continues to actively investigate after the "arraignment". The nature of a case can change dramatically, in between arrest and trial. It is not uncommon to see charges dropped, and additional charges are quite frequent. Colorado is no longer a death penalty state, but there are multiple "sentence enhancer" charges that can be added to build a sentence up to such an inflated number of years that the convict has no chance of ever being released.
If there are charges filed against accomplices or people who obstructed the investigation, it gets into a system that is completely unpredictable to an outsider. For lesser felonies, the sentences can be astonishingly light, and prison sentences can literally seem to evaporate.
If you plan on following this criminal investigation all the way to the end, please buckle your seat belt and always observe social distancing. It's going to be a long, bumpy flight.
Colorado Judicial Branch - Courts

Thank you Dave! Very interesting and informative ... explained a lot for me.

 

[Truecolors]

This is the first real quotable material from SM’s side. Interesting that TN is BM’s nephew and that they don’t know him. They reportedly also don’t know where the girls are? Had she been estranged from her family? Father supposedly lives in Michigan?

“I think it was sort of a step toward retirement,” the family member said. Suzanne mention to the relative she was happy that another family member, Barry’s newphew Trevor Noel, lived in the state.

Early in the investigation, Trevor Noel identified himself as the family spokesperson, but has stopped responding to media inquiries. A Facebook page he launched to collect and share information about the search for Suzanne has not been updated in over a week. He also launched a ******** campaign to raise money for a volunteer search effort. The crowdfunding campaign has raised over $30,000 dollars, and Barry Morphew’s mother was listed as the beneficiary in recent days.

Suzanne’s relative said they did not know Trevor Noel, and was not sure why Barry Morphew’s mother was the recipient of the ******** donatons, though they did note that the fundraiser may be supplementing travel and housing costs for relatives who traveled to central Colorado.

“I have a feeling someone told him not to talk,” the relative said about Trevor Noel’s recent silence. During the first week of the investigation, Noel told local media outlets that police had recovered Suzanne Morphew’s bike, and Suzanne’s relative believes police did not want that information leaked.


EK ‘We’re in the dark’: Missing Suzanne Morphew’s family waits and worries two weeks after Colorado mom’s mysterious disappearance [EXCLUSIVE]

Interesting paragraph from that article:

“The relative said they have doubts about whether Suzanne actually went for a bike ride on May 10, as her neighbor reportedly told police. The source said they believed Suzanne’s daughters asked the neighbor to check and see if their mother’s bike was at the home”

 

[JLouiseB]

It’s so frustrating that CBS is stating “investigators say she vanished after going for a bike ride”. Isn’t that straight-up untrue? Does anyone know which investigator actually said this?

I think that when a MSM does a story it its vetted pretty carefully so, in my mind, all of our talking does not matter as much as what they gleaned from their journalists. I think it is possible, that whatever we think they know, they probably had access to LE so it is possible that we will hear things that we did not know. I think MSM can get it wrong, but they do not usually just take the word of someone on the street for their investigative reports, like this.