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

[LietKynes]

I don't know why but I just don't believe there was an abduction, at least by an UNKNOWN perp. My gut is telling me that it is unlikely. I believe something is going on that we aren't being told. Right now I am leaning toward self-harm or accident. Possible abduction by someone she knew or a stalker?! Seems unlikely because of her age, but still possible. I don't understand the one hundred THOUSAND dollar reward though, especially so fast, yet telling the public they don't need assistance or volunteers for searching?! The reward gives me the vibe that they know she is in danger OR have the feeling that she is with someone (whether by choice or by force) and are trying to get this individual to let them know where she is. Normally with rewards they start out small and work their way up, don't they? I don't really know what to make of all this. Do we have any family pleading for help? A press conference video? All of this is strictly my opinion, not facts.

MOO IMO

No presser.
A plea from the nephew on Suzanne's side of the family.
Pretty quiet otherwise.

 

[Seattle1]

Suzanne Morphew Missing: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com

May 14, 2020

The Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office immediately began to search the area, with the help of more than 100 law enforcement officials from Chaffee County Search and Rescue, the Department of Corrections and the Combined Tac Team. Drones and tracking dogs have also been used, but Morphew has not been found. The FBI has joined the investigation, along with other local agencies including the Salida Police Department.

[..]

A neighbor told deputies Morphew had gone for a bike ride and never returned home. Her husband was away at the time. It was not immediately clear what time Morphew left her house or how frequently she may have taken long bike rides or hikes. Her nephew, Trevor Noel, says Morphew’s bike was found but details about the condition of the bike have not been shared.

[..]

Sheriff John Spezze told CBS Denver that the department feels an animal attack is an unlikely scenario. He added that the case is not a criminal investigation at this point but the possibility of foul play has not been ruled out. On May 13, investigators blocked off Morphew’s neighborhood to traffic as the search continued.

[..]

Morphew’s husband, Barry Morphew, has offered a $100,000 reward for information about what happened to his wife. A family friend matched the offer, bringing the reward to $200,000 for info leading to Morphew’s safe return, “no questions asked,”

[..]

Family members say Barry Morphew was in Denver when a neighbor reported his wife missing. Denver is located about 150 miles northeast of Chaffee County.

[,,]

The Morphew family is originally from the Midwest. Morphew’s husband, Barry, lists Alexandria, Indiana, as his hometown on his Facebook...

According to property records, the Morphews moved from Arcadia, a small town about 35 miles north of Indianapolis, in 2018. ...May 2018 after putting it on the market. ...13 acres of land and that the listing price was $895,000. ... the property never sold and the Morphews still own it.

... Morphews purchased their current home in April 2018 for $1,575,000. The house, which was built in 2008, sits on more than 7 acres of land.

[..]

Images from the area show that it is a mountainous community where homes are tucked back into the trees.

[..]

Morphew ran a charity organization that operated under her name. She started the Suzanne R. Morphew Hope Foundation in 2012,... relocated it to Colorado. It was registered with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office in February 2020, records show.

... It is listed with Propublica and Charity Navigator as a nonprofit entity in good standing, but neither indicates which causes Morphew may have focused her efforts on.

Morphew’s husband is a business owner. According to Indiana business records, he started a company called BLM Enterprises in 2004. He is also listed as an agent with BLM Landscaping in Indiana.

According to his Facebook page, Barry is a volunteer firefighter in Colorado. He wrote that he is a wildland firefighter at Chaffee County Fire Protection District.

The Morphews have two teenaged daughters.

 

[Seattle1]

No presser.
A plea from the nephew on Suzanne's side of the family.
Pretty quiet otherwise.

How do you know the nephew is from SM's side of the family -- just curious.

 

[LietKynes]

Sheriff said not a wild animal. Sheriff said he won't comment on the bike. Sheriff brought in FBI/CBI.

I think we need look at the sheriff's actions and not his words.

bbm
Snipped for focus

Maybe because Suzanne didn't go out riding on her bike at all and so it's (the bike) irrelevant ?

 

[Steelslady]

I think it's highly possible someone may have asked the neighbor to check on her. JMO

Yes, I have thought this myself. Could be one of her family members wasn't able to get in touch with her, so perhaps the neighbor went to her house and saw something suspicious (sign of a struggle maybe?) and called LE?

 

[LietKynes]

How do you know the nephew is from SM's side of the family -- just curious.

I don't. ^^^
If you find out otherwise, you can correct my comment.

Actually I thought a link referred to him as "Suzannes' nephew".
He does come across as genuinely worried.

Also interesting was his plea for people to ask the sheriff about what condition the bike was in.
Wouldn't the family --esp. the husband and daughters-- already know this ?

 

[SayWhat?]

dbm

 

[dulcinea]

I've been stewing on what I interpreted to be a very quick and large response that I don't recall seeing in other cases. Maybe this area is just that good at organizing a search and took it seriously right from the neighbor's phone call. Maybe the neighbor mentioned she is a two time cancer survivor and LE thought there was a medical component involved and had to rush against the clock. Maybe because the town is so small they all recognized the name, knew she was a firefighter's wife, and took it personally. Maybe LE had received calls about a suspicious vehicle in the area. Based on what I am understanding and how events unfolded, the quick response and how large it grew so quickly makes me think there is a missing piece of information. Imagine if we saw this amazing type of response in every case.

 

[LaborDayRN]

Good points.
Here's a question : How would the neighbor know if she arrived back home from her bike ride ?
I'm just saying.

When we get back from a bike ride we cut across our back yard area by the woods and put our bikes back in the garage smaller side door, which isn't viewable from the highway. (Rural area)

Unless they had ring doorbell or sec. cams and just looked at the footage.

I wonder if it's as simple as he/she got a call from one of SM's family members and went over and knocked on the door.
Perhaps it went something like this:
"Suzanne went for a bike ride 3 hours ago. I've been trying to get a hold of Suzanne (or "mom") for hours and can't find her. Can you go knock on the door or see if she is out in the yard?"

 

[The Night Watchman]

Chaffee County Search and Rescue began searching for Morphew in the area around County Road 225 and West Highway 50 – where Morphew said she was headed (pictured).

Not sure if this has been posted but here is the area where she was biking. You can see Rt. 50 and 225 on the map. There is a bike-able trail, the "Colorado Trail" that goes up the valley towards the upper right of the image. Remote area.

Obviously where they found the bike, as well as it's condition is a big key to figuring out what happened.


Colorado mom, 49, vanishes after setting out on a Mother's Day bike ride

 

[Rocky1]

I don't. ^^^
If you find out otherwise, you can correct my comment.

Actually I thought a link referred to him as "Suzannes' nephew".
He does come across as genuinely worried.

Also interesting was his plea for people to ask the sheriff about what condition the bike was in.
Wouldn't the family --esp. the husband and daughters-- already know this ?

I don't think that the family would know about the condition of the bike if it's in a crime lab someplace being processed.
LE can be very tight lipped as many know. There was a murder not far from where I live in which a vehicle was parked at the crime scene for a few hours. That was reported to LE on day one of the investigation, yet LE didn't mention it till 6 months later. The reason was because they had a tip line set up and they helped narrow down fact from fiction when 3 or 4 called in reporting the same make, model, and color. After they sifted through the tips, they did a press conference asking people to call if they saw a car in the area matching the description the callers reported.
Just because they haven't mentioned the bike yet doesn't mean they won't. IMO.

 

[fraudqueen]

Wow, lot's of questions going through my head.

 

[Tbone144]

I wonder if it's as simple as he/she got a call from one of SM's family members and went over and knocked on the door. ???

One would think their house has an outdoor camera that shows her biking away. The neighbors may be set back enough from the road you can’t see anything. Wonder if any of them have gates with cameras that would have picked her up on record. With animal attack deemed unlikely I’m leaning towards an accident with the driver with a lot to lose. If you hid the body, you would hide the bike though too, unless she was hit hard enough to launch her some distance through the air as they just drove on.

 

[Steelslady]

<modsnip>

Back to Suzanne... what was she wearing ?
What kind of bike ?
Her shoes ?

If anyone can think of questions that LE needs to answer so that she can be found.
Or at least in case someone has spotted her somewhere.

It is strange that none of this information has been given out to the public- in case maybe someone saw her.

They also haven't mentioned anything about a kidnapping. No alerting the public to be careful, which makes me think that LE believes that someone close to her did something to harm her.

Which makes me think that they have found evidence that she is not alive. Just my opinion.

 

[tge17]

Chaffee County Search and Rescue began searching for Morphew in the area around County Road 225 and West Highway 50 – where Morphew said she was headed (pictured).

Not sure if this has been posted but here is the area where she was biking. You can see Rt. 50 and 225 on the map. There is a bike-able trail, the "Colorado Trail" that goes up the valley towards the upper right of the image. Remote area.

Obviously where they found the bike, as well as it's condition is a big key to figuring out what happened.


Colorado mom, 49, vanishes after setting out on a Mother's Day bike ride

"where Morphew said she was headed".....hmmm? said to whom? neighbor? bike ride confirmed <modsnip> ?

 

[SeaStar]

Nothing can be posted here that hasn't been in the MSM but we know a neighbor called the sheriff.
Many people have speculated that someone in the family ask the neighbor to check. It's Mother's Day - most families call their mom on Mother's Day so perhaps a family member couldn't reach SM and by 5 asked the neighbor to check? Neighbor checks and something isn't right perhaps so notifies law enforcement?

Now, it's Mother's Day everybody's getting ready to sit down and have a nice meal yet your spouse says I got to go and check on something about this nice mom that I got a call about. As LE, you have 3 hours of daylight left. If you call a couple of your peeps to go check out what's going on and they leave their families. Now all those spouses and kids know something is up. And my guess is word travels like wildfire in order to mobilize. Now when it says a hundred people- you can imagine that those agencies are diverse - Forest service Park and wildlife fire district etc. Chaffee county has also had its fair share of tough times
in the past and some pretty amazing people live there that leap into service for others very very creatively.

 

[Seattle1]

I don't. ^^^
If you find out otherwise, you can correct my comment.

Actually I thought a link referred to him as "Suzannes' nephew".
He does come across as genuinely worried.

Also interesting was his plea for people to ask the sheriff about what condition the bike was in.
Wouldn't the family --esp. the husband and daughters-- already know this ?

There wasn't a link in your post. I just thought you may have seen this reference in print somewhere. I don't think there's anything to correct -- he's still her nephew.

I 'm getting the feeling that LE is not sharing much with the family at this time. No doubt investigators (CBI, FBI) are working diligently to verify the whereabouts of husband and daughters-- which we know is investigator protocol 101. The sooner their stories check out the better.

TN would still be "Suzanne's nephew," and could also be equally worried about his aunt if he was her nephew by marriage (i.e, husband's nephew). SM's maiden name is Moorman.

Also, I think TN may have been the go-between with a news reporter and the husband live on-air recently when the husband was asked if he wanted to make a statement on TV. The family member (TN?) told the reporter the husband thought it was too soon.

 

[fraudqueen]

One possibility is kidnapping for ransom, even though very rare.

 

[LietKynes]

"where Morphew said she was headed".....hmmm? said to whom? neighbor? bike ride confirmed or neighbor prime suspect?

Good catch,@tge17 .
We also don't know to whom she met with or spoke to last.
I don't mean texted or called, but in person or facetime.

 

[LietKynes]

One possibility is kidnapping for ransom, even though very rare.

I'm interested in their finances.
Seems like a possible clue there ?