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

[Mysti88c]

A Chaffee County woman is missing after a neighbor said she went out for a bike ride Sunday and never returned
Chaffee County woman missing since Sunday after neighbor said she went out for bike ride

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Media, Maps & Timeline thread (No Discussion)

Suzanne Morphew Case Archive (developed and maintained by WS member AmandaReckonwith)

Verified Experts/Professionals posting in this thread:

10ofRods is a Verified Anthropologist
Angleterre is a Verified LE from England
riolove77 is a Verified Attorney (prosecutor)
Alethea is a Verified Attorney (defense)
otto is a Verified Expert
Chomsky is a Verified Attorney
angelainwi is a Certified Trauma Counselor
gitana1 is a Verified Attorney

 

[Mysti88c]

Chaffee County Sheriff's Office

 

[Knox]

Her fb page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1141246651

 

[Sillybilly]

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.

Do NOT sleuth BM and his businesses and post your findings or questions about his background or businesses on this public thread.

Unless he is named a POI/suspect by LE members may NOT sleuth him; members may ONLY speculate and discuss what has been contained in MSM.

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.

 

[CocoChanel]

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

 

[MassGuy]

The CBI says as of this morning, they aren't planning any media briefings today regarding the disappearance of #SuzanneMorphew.

Stephanie (Butzer) Rose on Twitter

 

[debrat007]

Since we have no information, I’m back to-how do they live like they do? What’s the Colorado based landscaping company and how many employees are there? Sunset Farm Landscaping? Do they advertise locally? Is BM basically retired and runs a small crew now? No LinkedIn? How do they get local business? Word of mouth? If you list yourself as a volunteer firefighter only, is that because you don’t want to promote your business using that format?

Possibly sold his business in IN. Lots of boomers paying good money to buy a business that allows them to begin transitioning into retirement and out of corporate America. Also younger folks looking to direct their future. Corporations also buy up local businesses as a way of expanding although landscaping less likely.

 

[Seattle1]

Fire Chief Bertram is quoted as disclosing that in the article.

Bertram's awfully eager to repeat what he hears, isn't he?

Chief Bertram is quite the Chatty Cathy. He likes attention that's for sure.

As told by a local reporter, Chief Bertram has become the default contact as he's the only person that answers his phone!

 

[LietKynes]

Since we have no information, I’m back to-how do they live like they do? What’s the Colorado based landscaping company and how many employees are there? Sunset Farm Landscaping? Do they advertise locally? Is BM basically retired and runs a small crew now? No LinkedIn? How do they get local business? Word of mouth? If you list yourself as a volunteer firefighter only, is that because you don’t want to promote your business using that format?

ITA.
Here, here !
Inquiring minds want to know.

I can't help but suspect that money is somehow involved .
Does the husband even have an extra 100,000 to hand out for Suzanne's safe return ?
And other questions that were addressed in the above quoted post.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

FYI, no classes were scheduled at Colorado Firecamp on the Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday surrounding Mother's Day weekend.

Colorado Firecamp - wildland firefighter training

 

[oviedo]

Bertram's awfully eager to repeat what he hears, isn't he?

the town crier IMO. jeez- is he wanting attention?
JMO

 

[lucidtx]

I don’t even think it should be considered reliable information that she would go riding before church on Sunday mornings. That’s what the Fire Chief “heard” and he doesn’t have any personal knowledge that it is true.

There’s so much “heard” info in this case and about 5 actual facts. It’s really frustrating. I believe the Sheriff and other agencies are doing a good job...just wish we knew more actual truth.

I agree that it shouldn't be taken as fact, but I think it's fair to make some assumptions about the general character of Suzanne's bike rides based on what has been reported, and nothing suggests she would've gone on any kind of unusually extreme or long-distance ride that weekend.

My main point is just that she wasn't likely to have been doing anything particularly risky outdoors that weekend, and especially not an activity that could make it difficult or impossible to locate remains.

A case that comes to mind is Michelle Vanek, who disappeared years ago while climbing Mt. Of the Holy Cross. Hiking a 14er like that is objectively a bit riskier than taking an easy MTB trail ride. It's also generally going to be much more difficult to find and recover remains on that terrain. In all likelihood, Michelle's remains are somewhere up there tucked into some rocks at high elevation. There's a difference between vanishing in the mountains and ON an actual mountain, though.

At this point it seems unlikely that Suzanne had some kind of recreational misadventure, IMO.

 

[oviedo]

I thought it was presumed that Jennifer Dulos was dismembered and that’s what was in the numerous packages her husband and his girlfriend were depositing in trash cans and sewer openings all over town. I haven’t followed that case closely so maybe I’m wrong about that.

OT but only blood evidence - no body parts have ever been disclosed (even from searching the garbage plant for days on end.)
JMO
---
I wonder if the personal item was a bloody shirt??? It would mean someone was sloppy since LE has ruled out an animal attack. still wonder how they ruled that out so quickly.....
JMO

 

[Hoosierfan72]

Here's what I can't quite figure out:

Upon her initial disappearance, there is a quick, large-scale search for her. Someone alerts her church in Indiana that her bike was "crashed" and there had been reports of a mountain lion in the area.

TN tells MSM that the bike was located and urges the public to pressure the sheriff to release the condition of the bike (presumably because he believes the bike was crashed, per the same source that shared the information with the church?? JMO)

CCSO doesn't release the condition of the bike (or even confirm it was found) but the sheriff does say an animal attack was highly unlikely (surely there is solid reasoning for this conclusion that we are unaware of)

BM then offers a reward for "safe return, no questions asked" that implies kidnapping

Additional personal item(s) found of SMs a couple of days after that, presumably (though I guess we don't know for sure) in a location that is different from where the bike was located JMO (assuming that the bike was indeed located on the 10th as TN reported). I have to believe if the bike was found, that area was searched thoroughly first.

So here's what I don't understand. IF the bike was staged to make it appear to be an animal attack, then the personal items were likely also staged (but don't point to an animal attack). If the bike was staged to appear to be a kidnapping, maybe the personal items being staged in a different area would make more sense with that narrative - but the fact that doesn't appear to be the initial narrative on this is interesting if you go down that line of reasoning. If the bike was never part of the equation (maybe in the garage the whole time), then how (and by whom) it was relayed that it was "found crashed" is interesting, but it still leaves the question of SMs personal items being found. I suppose it could be a sloppy, panicked move - but why ditch the items and hide the body at that point?

So one theory that might make sense would be if SMs personal items were discarded after the 13th, when the animal attack narrative fell apart (and the kidnapping story took shape). It would be a risky move, but given the location of where they were found, may have been thrown from a moving vehicle? If the perp is someone connected to SM, furthering the idea of a kidnapping might be worth that risk. JMO, MOO.

 

[prima.facie]

We don't hear anything about anyone else being investigated, except BARRY, his house, his work.

Ummmm....we dont hear about ANYONE being investigated. Not even BM.
Of course the house would be under investigation. LOL. That is where the victim lived. His work site? That was a tip called in - and followed up. Pretty sure other tips have been followed up - w/out media presence.

This is not a Law & Order type TV show where we, the viewer, sees every step made by the perp and LE. This is real life.

LE is doing their job. The Sheriff is HIGHLY experienced. Obviously, there is no threat to other citizens - or that would have been released...therefore; we are not entitled to any information. Nobody knows what is going on - because, thankfully, LE is being tight lipped so there will be a highly successful prosecuted case.

BTW...mods have repeatedly said to not use full names. BM is what should be posted.

 

[MassGuy]

Here's what I can't quite figure out:

Upon her initial disappearance, there is a quick, large-scale search for her. Someone alerts her church in Indiana that her bike was "crashed" and there had been reports of a mountain lion in the area.

TN tells MSM that the bike was located and urges the public to pressure the sheriff to release the condition of the bike (presumably because he believes the bike was crashed, per the same source that shared the information with the church?? JMO)

CCSO doesn't release the condition of the bike (or even confirm it was found) but the sheriff does say an animal attack was highly unlikely (surely there is solid reasoning for this conclusion that we are unaware of)

BM then offers a reward for "safe return, no questions asked" that implies kidnapping

Additional personal item(s) found of SMs a couple of days after that, presumably (though I guess we don't know for sure) in a location that is different from where the bike was located JMO (assuming that the bike was indeed located on the 10th as TN reported). I have to believe if the bike was found, that area was searched thoroughly first.

So here's what I don't understand. IF the bike was staged to make it appear to be an animal attack, then the personal items were likely also staged (but don't point to an animal attack). If the bike was staged to appear to be a kidnapping, maybe the personal items being staged in a different area would make more sense with that narrative - but the fact that doesn't appear to be the initial narrative on this is interesting if you go down that line of reasoning. If the bike was never part of the equation (maybe in the garage the whole time), then how (and by whom) it was relayed that it was "found crashed" is interesting, but it still leaves the question of SMs personal items being found. I suppose it could be a sloppy, panicked move - but why ditch the items and hide the body at that point?

So one theory that might make sense would be if SMs personal items were discarded after the 13th, when the animal attack narrative fell apart (and the kidnapping story took shape). It would be a risky move, but given the location of where they were found, may have been thrown from a moving vehicle? If the perp is someone connected to SM, furthering the idea of a kidnapping might be worth that risk. JMO, MOO.

I think the staging was done to fake a kidnapping, and the animal attack narrative was thrown out there to take advantage of speculation that an animal of some sort was responsible.

Like “oh yeah [animal attack], that sounds good.”

 

[gamma gal]

Indiana Court searches are public. I was curious if SM ever filed a court case. I only found one case (civil) where she was a plaintiff against an insurance company.

Indiana Supreme Court public access case search - MyCase

There were some joint cases with her husband with a title company....makes me wonder if it involved their own home. I couldnt retrieve the details.

 

[gamma gal]

That was my thought too.

In the video plea, he opens with "Oh Suzanne"

THAT is the strangest opening EVER!!

 

[Seattle1]

I am kind of new here, am I allowed to quote and site this source?

"The relative said they have never seen or heard about any specific issues in the Morphew’s marriage, and that the couple seemed happy. But they did indicate that Barry could be somewhat controlling.

“He’s been in charge of what happens for a long time,” they said."
‘We’re in the dark’: Missing Suzanne Morphew’s family waits and worries two weeks after Colorado mom’s mysterious disappearance [EXCLUSIVE]

In these cases where the kids are leaving home, the woman sometimes just wants a chance to make things she wants to happen, happen - if she still has some semblance of who she is outside the marriage. Just wondering if her own life had become outside of her control.

@CronesEye - Yes, Crimeonline is WS approved for citing/linking. (Reporters of COL are friends and guests of WS).

What's defined as MSM here often surprises so good of you to inquire. Welcome to WS.

 

[prima.facie]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

We’ve followed countless missing persons investigations on here, and regardless of who conducting the investigation, we generally see the same things:

A physical description (clothing, height, weight, etc).

The time and date the person was last seen.

Public searches, daily press conferences, and appeals from the family.

Here, the FBI and CBI were on scene very quickly, and searches were conducted by law enforcement. They did not ask for public help in that regard.

That tells me that they knew a crime had been committed, and had a very good idea that the perpetrator was close to home.

We know how the CBI and FBI operate, and how they handle certain situations. I’m convinced this is a murder investigation with a strong suspect.

Not a stranger abduction. Not a runaway wife. Not an accident. Not an animal attack. Not a lost woman.

This could take a while.

It is ALWAYS good to see you posting on a case! Welcome noob.