Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #8

[IceIce9]

I was only addressing the question of where the Chief was getting his information from. However, you bring up a good point. I don’t understand why LE won’t confirm if the bike has been recovered. If the bike is missing, that should be something the public could be on the look out for.

Because maybe LE doesn’t think the bike figures into the scenario at all. Maybe she never took a bike ride that day. Just a possibility. MOO

 

[MrX]

I'm sure there is a strategic reason for the silence, though frustratingly, we don't know what is.

Keep going back to Parker Powell cases. In both LE made it pretty clear that they knew who was responsible, but with no body and no sign of a crime, there was nothing they could do. With Watt they had the Dad get him to confess. I wouldn't be surprised if that's not what's happening here - all they can do is convince the family to pressure him to spill the beans. If the perp learned from other's mistakes (and "successes") then the body is someplace it will never be found.

 

[RickshawFan]

s it known who was naively saying it might be an animal attack?

My sense is someone living in Colorado planted some tidbits of information with good and kind folks he knew back in Indiana, and good and kind folks in Indiana have a WHOLE different idea about how wild and dangerous it might be out West. Mountain lions and man-eating bears everywhere.
And the details provided by someone living in Colorado got legs!
If this scenario is true, it says quite a bit about deliberate manipulation of the story line by someone in Colorado. It gives me the creeps.
This is not meant to be a slam on good and kind folks in Indiana. Story details and the way they get elaborated reflect the perspective of the teller. The forest can look very intimidating if you haven't been there.

 

[MrX]

Not all domestic murderers are miserable in their marriage. There’s another, possibly more common scenario where the man kills the woman who is trying to leave him.

But don't those tend to be murder/suicides? The whole "if I can't have you, no one can."

 

[margarita25]

Because maybe LE doesn’t think the bike figures into the scenario at all. Maybe she never took a bike ride at all. Just a possibility. MOO

Jumping off this post, IF a home crime was premeditated, perhaps one wouldn’t want to leave blood evidence, etc. in the home. So perhaps they were “invited” or “fooled” out of the home, and the crime was planned for an offsite location.

@sillybilly , are we allowed to say “hypothetically/IF”? I’ve had posts deleted for this before. I would like to be clear about this while posting here.

 

[Ravenesque]

But don't those tend to be murder/suicides? The whole "if I can't have you, no one can."

I think those are scenarios where the husband is too cowardly to kill himself. IMO

 

[Truecolors]

But don't those tend to be murder/suicides? The whole "if I can't have you, no one can."

Those happen, but I don’t have any stats that show they are more common than the man killing the woman and not himself.

Here’s a BBC article with a researcher’s profile of the progression of violence in controlling relationships. Killers 'follow pattern' in domestic abuse cases

 

[Seattle1]

Can I just clarify something because I'm trying to keep up with the quickly moving threads. It hasn't been confirmed where BM was on May 9 or 10, correct? Relatives have said he was at training in Denver, but there was no training. Then the fire chief had mentioned he had a landscaping job. But we don't know for sure where he was or even really where he purports to have been?

I have a thought in the back of my mind that BM is in my opinion the most likely POI, but some of the comments by the fire chief are niggling at me. He stated that he was told BM was away on a job. BM told his family he was on a fire fighting course. Thereby destroying BM alibi. Who else did BM disclose to that he was away on a job? There were a few other oddities that I am not going to dig around for online about comments made by the chief, he knew where BM was staying, BM was pacing around looking out the windows. He is very vocal...just a niggling thought.

Actually, I don't think that BM ever told his family that he was at firefighter training in Denver. I've been very curious as to when the narrative changed from the family spokesperson's message that the husband was out of town on a trip to Denver at the time of the neighbor reporting her missing to BM was attending fire training, and took on the task to find out.

After reviewing all the media/MSM and trusted reporter's tweets from the date SM reported missing, I found the following:

Beginning May 13 - May 20, Citing family as their source, it was consistently reported by MSM that BM was out of town in Denver when his wife was reported missing. No additional details were ever provided as to why BM was in Denver.

On May 20, Daily Mail was first to report that BM said he was attending fire training in Denver. After DM's report, local media continued to report BM was out of town in Denver but did not join to include BM was attending fire training.

On May 21, Crimeonline reached Fire Chief Robert Bertram for the first time and asked him specifically about scheduled fire training in Denver on May 10. Bertram replied that BM attending training in Denver on Sunday "was a first for him." He further provided that sponsored training had been suspended due to the pandemic, and that he heard BM had been working on a landscaping job on May 10. Bertram also acknowledged that firefighters can pay for their own training.

DM has since been reporting that relatives said BM was attending fire training (versus BM said he was at training).

Conclusion: It seems to me that once the family spokesperson TN who had long held firm to local media that BM was in Denver when SM went missing (period), ceased communicating with media, the Daily Mail used the opportunity to make new headlines by finding an unnamed "relative" to place BM at fire training in Denver.

There's no evidence any fire training courses were available in Denver on May 10, and the Fire Chief that BM reports to as a volunteer seems to believe BM was in Denver for personal business including landscaping work. I don't know if BM was doing landscaping work in Denver on Mother's Day but I'm pretty confident BM wasn't attending firefighter training.

Decide for yourselves.... MOO

References:

On May 13, it was reported for the very first time that the husband (who was still not identified) was out of town in Denver when his wife was reported missing by a neighbor.

May 13 is also the date that nephew TN, acting as the family spokesperson, first announced the husband was offering a $100,000 reward for the safe return of SM, no questions asked.

TN also announced the creation of a separate crowd campaign fund where the contributions would be used to assist with the search efforts.

On May 14, nephew TN spoke to media for the second time. By audio-only interview with Denver Fox 21, TN announced that a family friend matched the husband's reward offer making the grand total at $200,000 for SM's safe return.

TN also confirmed that SM's bike was recovered on Sunday (CCSO has not confirmed this information), and declined to comment if SM had children or who she lived with. No further details were provided. The family maintained BM was in Denver.

On May 20, the DM reported for the very first time that BM was attending firefighter training in Denver when SM vanished:

Barry Morphew, 52, has said he was away on a training course for his job as a volunteer firefighter in Denver, Colorado, when she vanished. The 52-year-old is currently staying at a property close to the marital home and has been joined by friends who have flown in from his native Indiana. Morphew was pictured leaving the property along with Davis shortly before the CSI investigators arrived to search his home on Tuesday.

Police search and carry out evidence bags from the $1.5M home of missing Colorado mom | Daily Mail Online

May 21. Crimeonline reached Fire Chief Bob Bertram to confirm whether BM was attending firefighter training on Mother's Day -- this news was a first for him:

“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.

https://www.crimeonline.com/2020/05/21/pacing-around-staring-out-windows-chaffee-county-fire-chief-addresses-questions-about-missing-suzanne-morphews-husband-barry-morphew/

 

[AdyStand]

Also could be a local news story heard (over & over in Denver) the day after SM went missing for BM to just add to an existing story IMO



Mountain lion attacks resident, deputy west of Loveland before being shot, killed

 

[BeckyF]

I hope that Suzanne had established herself with new doctors after moving to Colorado since she had an existing medical condition. It can be difficult to find new doctors that you feel comfortable with when you move to a new city. JMO.

 

[Lore Listener]

IMO, predators abduct and assault women of all ages. I don’t think any correlations or inferences can be made by the victim’s age, but perhaps there are studies on this which say otherwise.

ETA: I’ve seen enough home invasions and rapes of seniors to know this, sadly.

Yeah, you're in Colorado, right @margarita25? Remember Brent J. Brents? My college friend was living in Capitol Hill in Denver in a small, ground-level apartment when he was going on his crime spree there--early 2000s? There were literally helicopters flying around in real time trying to catch him. Super scary!

Anyway, this guy, Brent J. Brents, was a serial rapist who sexually assaulted both men and women, and in one case, broke into a house and assaulted a grandmother and her two grandchildren! The whole episode utterly terrified the entire city.
Brents’ rampage nets 1,300 years – The Denver Post

If we consider that abductions, like sexual assault, are crimes of control and violence, rather than sexual desire, that makes sense. Although it would be nice to think we ladies in our 40s are officially safe from being grabbed by a predator!

 

[oviedo]

I hope that Suzanne had established herself with new doctors after moving to Colorado since she had an existing medical condition. It can be difficult to find new doctors that you feel comfortable with when you move to a new city. JMO.

I also wondered about that especially if she moved during treatment ? I can’t imagine wanting to lose my trusted medical team JMO

 

[TKG]

Because maybe LE doesn’t think the bike figures into the scenario at all. Maybe she never took a bike ride that day. Just a possibility. MOO

THE BIKE!!

I think he’s being fed from a fire hose by BM. MOO IMO

 

[Alethea]

My sense is someone living in Colorado planted some tidbits of information with good and kind folks he knew back in Indiana, and good and kind folks in Indiana have a WHOLE different idea about how wild and dangerous it might be out West. Mountain lions and man-eating bears everywhere.
And the details provided by someone living in Colorado got legs!
If this scenario is true, it says quite a bit about deliberate manipulation of the story line by someone in Colorado. It gives me the creeps.
This is not meant to be a slam on good and kind folks in Indiana. Story details and the way they get elaborated reflect the perspective of the teller. The forest can look very intimidating if you haven't been there.

Oh my goodness it just hit me: do you think someone staged this whole thing to look like a mountain lion attack and just thought everyone would go along with it? Like tell family and friends “it looks like her bike crashed and a mountain lion ate her.” And since this someone might be a respected businessman / public servant, he thought he’d just tell LE that’s what happened too and they’d believe him and not investigate?

In my day job I’m always shocked by how stupid very rich and successful people can be. You just assume these rich people have to be really smart to have gotten where they are. But something like this sounds just like something someone would make up.

 

[Curious-A]

BBM:

We have seen something similar…at least, I see definite parallels with another case.

The Barbara Thomas disappearance.
CA - CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, Bullhead City, hiking wearing bikini in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019

RT (husband) gave an initial interview to reporters, insisted that someone must have abducted her and asked that whoever took her, release her. "No questions asked."
Direct quote.

Sound familiar?

JMO.

That is the very first thought I had, as well, when I saw BM's video. MOO

 

[Boxer]

I also wondered about that especially if she moved during treatment ? I can’t imagine wanting to lose my trusted medical team JMO

So agree with this. ^^^

 

[mom2chloe]

I also wondered about that especially if she moved during treatment ? I can’t imagine wanting to lose my trusted medical team JMO

IMO this supports your previous comment that SM was isolated. Can’t say much more but it’s extremely odd and telling that a man would ask his wife to move to a secluded home across the country after a recent cancer diagnosis and treatment. Isolated indeed and likely controlled to some extent. Again IMO

 

[branmuffin]

The reward money just seems so odd to me. If there's anyone out there who could provide information on SM's safe return at this point in time, they would move to the front of the line in terms of a POI, IMO. It's a dead end, a diversion.

In terms of the bike. The nephew infers there was specific damage to the bike but no one has clarified any information regarding the condition of the bike. Damage from what? A wipe out on a trail? Bent wheel? Broken spokes? A collision with a vehicle? Bent frame? Blood evidence? Paint transfer? LE hasn't even really identified where the bike was found, in what condition, and whether it was visible to a casual observer or whether it was discovered by the initial individuals who searched for SM based on the premise she went biking, perhaps on some trail.

So we don't really know what's going on with the bike, whether it played an instrumental role in SM's disappearance or whether it was just a diversion.

We don't know what the 'personal' item was. When I think of serious bike riders I tend to classify items they take with them as either personal or equipment. A helmet would be equipment, a lone shoe would be a personal item. Her Camelback would be equipment, a phone would be a personal item.

Suzanne battled a deadly illness, twice, which means she was strong, mentally, physically, and spiritually so she wasn't a stupid woman. If she endured all the things that entail cancer treatment she wouldn't be cavalier when it came to her safety. She would wear a helmet for safety, she would take a Camelback for hydration and she would be circumspect enough to take a phone with her when she went biking, especially since she was home alone, presumably. So to me the whole bike thing is a diversion.

We have no idea how long SM was alone in the house after her girls went on a camping trip. She may have been gone days before the alert went out. We don't know. And no-one's clarifying that information for us. Not the family nor LE.

In Indiana signing a diversion agreement when charged with an offense means you don't get a conviction on your record if you are a first offender. You do community service or some other type of activity within a time frame and you have your record expunged. You can move anywhere with a clean slate.

Indiana and Colorado divorce laws regarding community property are very similar but there are provisos that could alter what the traditional breadwinner could be entitled to in Colorado.
https://www.hg.org/divorce-law-colorado.html

https://www.hg.org/divorce-law-indiana.html

My speculation here, but I don't think what happened to SM happened in a vacuum. There is someone out there who suspects something or someone but will remain quiet because to voice a suspicion means suspicion will be cast upon them. MOO

 

[AdyStand]

The bike.

THE BIKE!!

I think he’s being fed from a fire hose by BM. MOO IMO

I've moved here in the past year. Bikes are gold here as we've found. You must keep your garage closed at all times. If you chain your bike it can't be with a basic chain as it will just be cut and gone. SM had a very nice bike - the kind that would be of big value. I'm no longer on "team she was on a bike ride" that bike would never sit on a trail bridge in Colorado unattended long. Even if it was damaged for some reason. Zero chance. IMO

 

[Hoosierfan72]

My sense is someone living in Colorado planted some tidbits of information with good and kind folks he knew back in Indiana, and good and kind folks in Indiana have a WHOLE different idea about how wild and dangerous it might be out West. Mountain lions and man-eating bears everywhere.
And the details provided by someone living in Colorado got legs!
If this scenario is true, it says quite a bit about deliberate manipulation of the story line by someone in Colorado. It gives me the creeps.
This is not meant to be a slam on good and kind folks in Indiana. Story details and the way they get elaborated reflect the perspective of the teller. The forest can look very intimidating if you haven't been there.

Well, being a 'kind folk from Indiana' I feel somewhat qualified to respond to this, and I do think you are right. I think this is potentially a huge clue. Someone was driving a narrative of bike ride, bike crash and animal attack. It also explains TN urging the details of the condition of the bike to be shared early on. I believe the bike was staged, hoping to look like an animal attack, and that fell apart very quickly. MOO.