Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #9

[Dave F.]

DBM


Edit unavailable. Verbiage changed to allow question.

Is it common practice for LE to release a home after processing to a family if one of the family members may be a focus/POI or suspect for a violent crime? How do they protect other family members? TIA

No, it is not common in Colorado, but recently, a home where LE believed a family member was murdered was released back to the head of household and his ex-wife/victim's mother, but not to his wife/POI whose home it was. Frankly, I found that to be quite bizarre, but that's only one opinion. It gives me the willies just thinking about it. IMO

 

[MassGuy]

DBM


Edit unavailable. Verbiage changed to allow question.

Is it common practice for LE to release a home after processing to a family if one of the family members may be a focus/POI or suspect for a violent crime? How do they protect other family members? TIA

A couple towns over from me, a mother and her three young children were stabbed to death in their home. Law enforcement released the home to the husband approximately a week after the murders.

At the time, law enforcement didn’t have a strong suspect (I’m sure they were looking at the husband though), and the man now charged with the murders wasn’t identified until after the house was released.

So even though the husband was likely a suspect, he was allowed to move back in. You can’t hold a house forever, and as it turned out, the forensics that were conducted prior to that, ended up breaking the case.

 

[Dave F.]

Excellent post. One note: The Fooses Lake Dam has a covered spillway. The Colorado trail actually starts lower, near Highway 50 but over many years of use, access to it, including Fooses Dam Bridge, developed. This "trailhead" merged with the actual Colorado Trail in an open meadow above the bridge. In recent times, the high speed descent has made that trail too dangerous to hike or even to ascend with a bike, so a new hiking route has developed across the dam and spillway top to the Colorado Trail a short distance beyond. This had the effect of turning the spillway cover into a bridge, but it has no railing or formal approaches like a conventional bridge. IMO

 

[susiQ]

Thank you I appreciate that


And on top of all that, the biggest and most onerous task besides cell phone evidence retrieval, is CCTV ! And that is a biggie ... it takes Detectives hours upon hours to go through and watch CCTV to enable them to ascertain if there is anything of evidential value on each individual recording and that can be CCTV from the street , from a shop, car park, toll booth , buildings, churches , Public CCTV along a route and individual CCTV in peoples driveways or on their mobile phones etc
You start to get the idea of just how much work is involved in a major investigation and that’s before you go to a judge to swear out warrants and arrest the perpetrator. Once an arrest takes place, you then have interviews and downstream monitoring in real time of the interviews and then liaison with the CPS in UK and attorney general I think maybe in the USA? And then putting the whole file of evidence together and ensuring full disclosure to the defence ... it’s massive workloads and it goes on and on ...

Honestly, I’m just tired thinking about all that!!

 

[Dave F.]

A couple towns over from me, a mother and her three young children were stabbed to death in their home. Law enforcement released the home to the husband approximately a week after the murders.

At the time, law enforcement didn’t have a strong suspect (I’m sure they were looking at the husband though), and the man now charged with the murders wasn’t identified until after the house was released.

So even though the husband was likely a suspect, he was allowed to move back in. You can’t hold a house forever, and as it turned out, the forensics that were conducted prior to that, ended up breaking the case.

I think Dave is correct, that the 2,000 foot distance was reported first (and only?) by NG.

Fooses Lake also has a bridge across the dam spillway, besides the one upstream from the lake.

I, too, think that whatever has been found was close to her home. Hwy 50 was closed for part of a day while searchers looked for additional items that might be SM's, from milepost (MP) 190-210 for the search. MP 190 is just north of Sargents and MP 210 is just west of Maysville. A lot more of the highway was closed than they searched, but I assume that was to stop traffic above and below the search area at places where there was a choice of travelway to take instead of Hwy 50. In other words, the highway was closed at intersections with other roads, and not because LE was searching the whole ten miles. IMO

I don't remember reading before about the 2.5 mile search area near County Road 225 and Hwy 50. County Road 225 is the turnoff from Hwy 50 you'd take to get to Puma Path and SM's house.

U.S. 50 closed as search for Morphew intensifies

As a result, U.S. 50 Monarch Pass will be closed for an undetermined amount of time. The highway is closed between mile markers 190 and 210.

WATCH: Chaffee County Sheriff gives update about missing woman

Highway 50 over Monarch Pass was temporarily closed for part of Friday as crews searched. Nearly 90 investigators searched a 2.5-mile area near County Road 225 and Highway 50 in search of clues.


Local, state, and federal investigators searched steep and rugged terrain in an effort to attempt to locate additional items of Morphew after investigators believed to have found a personal item of the missing woman on Thursday. Investigators aren’t releasing details about what may have been found.

The sheriff’s office said Friday’s search was targeted to “a specific area just west of County Road 225 and Highway 50.” That’s just outside of Maysville, which is where Morphew lives.

The room on the University of Colorado campus where my friend was brutally murdered remained locked for thirty-seven years, but I have no idea how long it was held in evidence. I don't think there is any consistency of release to be found. It's all over the map. IMO

 

[susiQ]

I think that’s entirely possible. If that is the case, they must have known that right away. Something told them right off the bat that something wasn’t right (nefarious).

Hypothetically, let’s say that someone told them that her bike wasn’t operational, and there’s no way she rode it to where it was discovered. Going further, say they managed to retrieve video evidence that pointed to the bike being staged.

Either of those things would allow them to all but rule out an abduction, which is why they aren’t following that playbook.

Even if it’s neither of those, there just has to be something equally compelling that is directing their focus inward.

Totally agree. My mother always said, “Lies have short legs.” The long “legs” of the law WILL catch up. I think in this case, it was almost immediate. Something was off right from the get-go for the investigation to take the direction it did. IMHO

 

[vaporlass]

Guys... The previous owners (before 2018) are public record. The house was sold to the Morphews in 2018. They bought it under their real names, as joint tenants, personally. No trust, no LLC, just BM&SM. The ONLY THING that proves ownership is the deed.

Real property is unique because things attach to it- permits, property tax, easements, covenants. They “travel with the land.” Transfer to the new owners. Databases will cite the parcel number or address and not create new records at every sale. The important thing is that records stay with the land so new owners fully understand (and can prove!) what rights and permits and easements their land has.

This lists the sales and owners:

Beacon - Chaffee County, CO - Report: R368531400097

In 2008 vacant land was sold from Owners 1 to Owners 2.

In 2015 a built home was sold from Owners 2 to Owner 3, a revocable trust.

In 2018, the home was quit claimed from Owner 3 trust to Owner 3 LLC. This was likely done because of trust restrictions. It was on the same day then sold to BM and SM.

So I’m confused... @Dave F. submitted a link to a document that had SM/BM applying for a building permit (I think) in 2008 for this property... but I can clearly see in your link that they were not owners and sellers. “¯\_(ツ)_/¯“

 

[HongKongPhooey]

The room on the University of Colorado campus where my friend was brutally murdered remained locked for thirty-seven years, but I have no idea how long it was held in evidence. I don't think there is any consistency of release to be found. It's all over the map. IMO

OT but sorry to hear this, it sounds horrific. I hope the room being closed all that time doesnt mean the killer wasnt found.

 

[kiwi50]

I think the bike probably was found where stated but was part of the staging, something alerted LE quickly that things weren’t as they seemed, perhaps her bike helmet was still at home.

 

[bancam]

If it is not BM, then what?! Scary she could be with someone, very scary.

It is not “BM-or-nothing” though, in terms of a possible murder - or manslaughter - outcome. Because WS is a victim-friendly forum, we have to assume as our starting point that SM is as pure as the driven snow and that all things were largely as they appeared. So we cannot explore here, sleuth or speculate on whether someone else (e.g. who was known to her) might have been in the mix. This leaves us to presume that LE investigations and site searches to date are focused solely on BM, when its still possible they could be focused instead on a known third party common denominator.

With no verifiable information though, just rampant social media, all we can do is wonder to ourselves!

 

[TKG]

The room on the University of Colorado campus where my friend was brutally murdered remained locked for thirty-seven years, but I have no idea how long it was held in evidence. I don't think there is any consistency of release to be found. It's all over the map. IMO

Wow, thank you for sharing. That sounds traumatic, I’m sorry you ever endured something like that.
*edit* And like @HongKongPhooey , I hope the responsible party was found and justice was finally served.

 

[Sillybilly]

Admin Notes of May 20, May 24, May 29th have ALL stated that the whereabouts of the daughters is off limits.

Next member who enquires about their whereabouts will receive a 1 week Time Out from Websleuths.

 

[samsmom]

Speculation
Someone mentioned pages or threads back that maybe LE bugged the house when searched.
Returning the house to the family may prove fruitful for LE. IMO

Long time Member/Lurker

 

[NervousNellie]

Despite rumors, CBI spokesperson tells me there has NOT been a body found near #suzannemorphew home. She is still a #MissingPerson Investigators are still following up on hundreds of tips.

Lauren Scharf on Twitter

Wow, again?

 

[Feistyomi]

It's been explained, by several members. The answer isn't going to change

That is a great answer!

 

[MassGuy]

Wow, again?

It’s going to keep happening. With no news from law enforcement, people are going nuts over every rumor they hear. Literally anyone can make a fake Facebook account, and post something that sounds semi-believable.

 

[JerseyGirl]

This thread will be closed shortly. I will move over rent posts. Please continue here:

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

 

[NervousNellie]

This thread will be closed shortly. I will move over rent posts. Please continue here:

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

Please move these over as well (If you haven’t already), since this is what will be discussed for the next 30 pages. Thanks for all you mods do!
Ugh, I was trying to quote the videos. I’m usually better at that multi quote thing.