DE - Susan Ledyard, 50, found dead in river (suspected homicide), Wilmington, 23 July 2019

[TTF14]

I didn't see a thread here for Susan yet.....just heard about her on the 11PM news.

‘Not Finding Out Is Not An Option’: Family Of Delaware County Teacher Found Dead In Wilmington River Pressing For Answers

" Police say Ledyard was discovered in the Brandywine River around 7:40 a.m. on July 23. Just 80 minutes later, police found her car unattended on Walkers Mill Road, approximately three miles upstream from where her body was recovered."

“To hear they were looking at it from a standpoint as a homicide was a shock,” Jack Morrissey, Susan’s father, said. “I don’t know who in the world would want to take her life.”

Two months after a Delaware County English teacher was found dead in a river, questions remain

"She had visible injuries, although authorities declined to provide more information..."

"Investigators said they ruled out the possibility that Ledyard, a longtime teacher at Academy Park High School...., had killed herself."

"“Susan was the love of my life, my best friend, my beloved wife,” said her husband, Ben Ledyard. “She is so missed and I am so heartbroken.”

"On the morning Ledyard died, investigators said she stayed up late, texting friends until 2:45 a.m. At 3:02 a.m., ....she drove two minutes to a road near a bridge. She then turned the headlights off and got out. Police said they do not know what Ledyard, 50, did between then and 7 a.m., when they were alerted that her body was in the river."

 

[otto]

Trying to get a sense of the area. Sounds as though staged like a suicide, but that doesn't work because of her injuries.

Her car was found on Brandywine Creek? and her body was 3 miles downstream at Brandywine River?

Bit of a mess sorting out. Is it possible for a body to travel 3 miles downstream in 4-5 hours?

 

[otto]

Can we get better information about the address for her car and her body?

 

[otto]

Work, car, body

 

[otto]

Looks like there's a bridge near Walkers Mill Road, and her body was found 3 miles downstream 4 hours after she parked her car. She was found at 7:40AM, her car was found upstream 80 minutes later.

If she texted with friends at 2:45AM, drove 2 minutes and parked near the bridge, turned off her lights. What happened in the four hours until her body was found?

The white dashed line is the river.

 

[otto]

It has to be someone she knows if she was talking to friends 15 minutes before her car was driven near the bridge, parked, and the lights turned off.

What did she tell her friends she was going to do? If she said nothing, who was she with earlier in the evening?

Actually, that might not be true. Maybe she finished talking to friends, was bonked on the head, her car was driven to the bridge, she was ... taken somewhere else?

How did she end up 3 miles downstream 4 hours later with injuries inconsistent with suicide?

 

[otto]

She must have parked somewhere around here



What else is in the area? Where was she 2 minutes before parking near the bridge?

 

[otto]

Does she live 2 minutes from the bridge?

 

[otto]

What is the flow rate of the river?

At 400 cubic feet per second, what does that mean in 4 hours? Is it possible that she went into the water at the bridge? If so, and the only issue is bodily injuries, are they sure she wasn't caught on a branch traveling 3 miles in 4 hours?



Three miles, four hours (looks a bit like snakes and ladders)

 

[otto]

Is there a second vehicle involved? Susan parked her car at 3AM, her body was put in the river somewhere else and found at a 3rd location.

"Police also don’t believe Ledyard went into the river in the area where she left her car. The Brandywine River is normally shallow and while it had rained, the river’s levels weren’t above average that day, according to investigators."​

Death of Del. Teacher Found in River Remains Unsolved

"The body of Ledyard’s 50-year-old wife Susan Ledyard was discovered in the Brandywine River near Northeast Boulevard in Wilmington, Delaware, back on July 23 around 7:40 a.m.
...

More than an hour later, State Troopers responded to Walkers Mill Road in the area of the Rising Sun Lane Bridge in Wilmington for a report of a suspicious vehicle. When they arrived, they found Ledyard’s unoccupied black, 2016 Honda Civic. The location where the vehicle was recovered is approximately three miles upriver from where Ledyard’s body was found."​

Death of Del. Teacher Found in River Remains Unsolved

 

[J Block]

Family certain that it’s a homicide investigation

‘Not Finding Out Is Not An Option’: Family Of Delaware County Teacher Found Dead In Wilmington River Pressing For Answers

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

I hope Susan’s family get answers quickly. They sound devastated but resolved to finding the person responsible for her death.

 

[otto]

I hope Susan’s family get answers quickly. They sound devastated but resolved to finding the person responsible for her death.

I did read that police know what she was doing up to 2:45AM and that she was texting with friends at that time. It sounds like she willingly drove to Walkers Mill Road near the bridge, parked and turned off her lights. From then on, it's a mystery.

Does that mean that she willingly met someone? It seems really odd that a 50 year old married woman would be meeting someone at 3AM in a secluded area near the river.

 

[otto]

I suppose it's possible that she was meeting someone that she knew from somewhere else (through teaching, online, through friends) - maybe someone who expected more than she was willing to give, and that led to her murder.

Was her marriage a bit unstable at the time of the disappearance? That is, is it even possible that she was meeting a man that interested her at 3AM, or was she just taking a walk near the river to rest her mind?

The curious thing is that her family initially accepted the suicide theory until it was announced that her injuries were inconsistent with suicide, and the water levels at the bridge near her vehicle were too low to carry the body to the location where she was found. In some ways, it was staged to appear as a suicide, but the facts contradicted the staging.

 

[Veritas777]

The following are some things I have been thinking about regarding this case:

1.) Location: The police state that they know that Susan was active from the time she parked her car near Brandywine River until at some point before her death. Every cell phone has a certain amount of location capability even when that feature is not turned on by the user. I am uncertain as to why they were able to use it to find her car but not to find her or at least get an idea of where she was after she parked.

2.) Meeting?: I wonder if the police asked the family or her friends if they knew if she frequented this area during that time of morning, and if so, why. This information might provide a measure of insight. If this was a unique visit, that might indicate a meeting. Likewise cell phone records and her Internet activity would be helpful - the police did not mention if they found through these that she had planned to meet anyone or not. It is unclear if the reason they didn't mention this is because there was no evidence of such a plan.

According to the police it took two minutes for her to leave her home shortly after 3 am and to arrive at the area where she parked, so I would say it's likely that she lived nearby.

Another forum member mentioned the possibility of a meeting that went wrong because the person she was meeting expected "more than she was willing to give", but it is also possible that the meeting could have been for other purposes, such as a secret drug addiction. While I don't believe she is the "type", she was well-to-do and had the financial means to sustain such a habit if she had one - she was married to a prominent banker.

4.) Where did she go?: If you view the area of Brandywine River across the bridge from where she parked, you will see that there is a walking path indicated by a light gray/white line running through the woods on that side. She might have walked across the bridge and walked that path and been attacked/abducted. Likewise there is a road that would take her down past the river to approximately the area where her body was found, so she could have been on foot or been driven.

5.) The other bridge: The bridge where her body was found had often been in the news prior, as it was closed for construction. If she was killed, it could be that the murderer wanted her body to be found, or they killed her near the bridge because they knew there would be no traffic crossing it or construction at a very early hour.

6.) I do not believe she committed suicide for such reasons as these: By all appearances she was healthy. She was successful in her chosen career. She seemed to have had a supportive family. She was wealthy and enjoyed going on a variety of trips with her husband (see photos on Facebook and Google), as well as attending various functions with those of a similar financial/social status. She had a beautiful stepdaughter. She was outgoing and communicative (according to her friends it was normal for her to be texting them late into the night).

That being said, it is possible for a person who has everything they could want in life to secretly suffer from depression or other issues, but my guess is that in this case it is not very likely.

I will be interested to see what the autopsy results indicate regarding her injuries (if that is ever revealed, and sadly the body has been cremated), as well as the toxicology report (which can take several months to complete).

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

what was she talking about in her texts to her friends? What was so important that it had to be relayed at that time of night?

And I try to remember that folks who have everything going for them - a great job, a lovely family, a new dog, a huge trip planned, fresh groceries in the fridge, close siblings, new babies, a great car, etc. - can choose suicide just as easily as someone in dire straits. We see it here time and time again.

That said, this may not be that, but we should let the facts tell us rather than fit the facts into our own theories.

May answers come soon for this family and anyone who loved Susan.

 

[Veritas777]

The reports say that it was common for her to be texting her friends late into the night. She is described as a "night owl" in general. I would hope that if there is something important in the texts leading up to the day she died and in particular the night before and that early morning, they would have included this information (not sharing the texts themselves, but simply the fact that they had indicated that she was headed toward what could have been a dangerous situation).

 

[Veritas777]

Also I seem to have missed this part, mentioned in a previous post above by Otto.

"More than an hour later, State Troopers responded to Walkers Mill Road in the area of the Rising Sun Lane Bridge in Wilmington for a report of a suspicious vehicle."

I would want to know who reported the vehicle as suspicious, and why. Was it because it was parked along the side of the road and not in the small business park type of area nearby in a parking space? Do people not normally park in that spot and take a walk? If so, that might indicate that she was assuming she would be back to her car shortly. So many questions...

I also want to clarify that in my numbered list above I meant to say that if you view the area on Google Maps you should be able to see the indicated walking path along the river that would have been accessible if she had crossed the bridge on foot.

 

[MsArk]

WILMINGTON, Del. (CBS) — Delaware State Police say the death of a teacher whose body was found in the Brandywine River in Wilmington over the summer has been ruled a homicide. Fifty-year-old Susan Ledyard died due to blunt force trauma and drowning.

Police: Death Of Teacher Whose Body Found In Brandywine River Over Summer Ruled Homicide

 

[YOLO61]

1. Her phone was in the car so no way to "track" her.
2. The car was blocking the entrance to the parking lot so it was reported when people showed up for work the next day and couldn't access the lot.
3. The family never thought it was suicide. They believed it was accidental.

Questions:
1. Was Susan the one who drove her car to the empty lot?
2. How do the police know she was "active" from 3 am to 7 am?
3. Given she drowned after the blunt force trauma, she was thrown in the river alive?
4. Why do they describe the top she was wearing but nothing from the waist down?