Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #18

[10ofRods]

I also question the bike ride the day she went missing. What gives me pause is LE selecting two photos of her for their released poster. One she is wearing a bike helmet & sunglasses. IMO, that’s what she probably would have looked like riding her bike. Perhaps they are trying to jog the memory of anyone who saw her at all, even if it was days/weeks before she went missing. Not sure. Like others, it’s strange to me they don’t list an appearance description of her. Even if they suspect foul play from the start, that info would matter, at least to me. IMO

Someone call the Sheriff and ask. lol

This makes me think about the crucial question of when Suzanne was last seen (by someone other than BM) and when her voice was last heard by anyone at all.

By now, LE has a really good idea about that. If it's 10 days before she went missing (just to pick a date that I think may be relevant), then that would lead to further investigation of various phone records, GPS units from vehicles, etc. I wonder when Suzanne last drove her own vehicle and what evidence there is of that drive.

I wonder when Suzanne last used her phone for anything other than text.

 

[Tate123]

IMO both the vehicles in that photo are LE. I can see light bars on both roofs and lettering on the sides of both.

I thought the same thing, and right after the 1:42 mark it looks like someone in the driver seat of the dark grey car raises his arm. I always thought they were parked like that talking to each other.

 

[al66pine]

Online crowdfunding sites

JMO...the Give me fund setup for ALL the tons of personal searches that must be going on. /s
... Its frustrating to know that honest good hearted people will donate and have donated and yet we have no idea where that money is really going and we have no idea if any subsequent searching really has taken place beyond the first week or two.

@Hatfield Yes re bbm, true - honest good hearted ppl have donated. Speaking only in gen terms & not specifically to this case, I think part of the crowdfunding appeal is tickling potential donor's social conscience somewhat like a charitable organization does, but differently. In donating to a personal fundraiser, donor may have more of the sense of contributing to solving a finite problem and personally making a significant contribution toward that end.
Donor giving $100 to -
--- $ 5,000 goal for XYZ cause may think - if just 49 other ppl ea contribute $100, then I/we've accomplished something, I/we met the goal (e.g., paying for elec. wheelchair, or student taking trip, etc).
--- $ 1,000,000 goal to XYZ charity may be inclined to think - his/her donation is not so meaningful. By comparison, $100 is a drop in the bucket. And the following year the org.'s goal will be/likely be ~ $ 1,000,000 again, as these organizations tend to run in virtual perpituity (until this or that disease is eradicated; until nobody goes to bed hungry, etc. What's $100 in that huge buckets?).

But the fact that a crowdfunding donor will (virtually) never know how his/her own contribution or the collective, crowdraised funds were used is inherent in the nature of online fund raising sites. my 2 cts.

 

[al66pine]

Vehicle Position in News Chopper Vid of M Home

8+ min raw vid

... right after the 1:42 mark it looks like someone in the driver seat of the dark grey car raises his arm. I always thought they were parked like that talking to each other.

@Tate123 Sharp eyes. When watching for that hand movement you pointed out at ~ 1:40-ish I also noticed the dark vehicle's driver had (metallic-ish?) epaulets on shoulders of very dark shirt, like a LE uniform. And FWIW those two vehicles are in classic LEO-talking-to-LEO stance, i.e., parked cars heading in opposite directions, w driver windows opened & next to one another.

 

[Love Never Fails]

- Michael Peterson's step-daughters (Kathleen Peterson's daughters)
- Marni Yang's children

yes there are many out there.

Watch several episodes of Dateline and you'll see examples.

IMO

That would make my stomach churn. I guess denial is a strong emotion.

 

[lamlawindy]

I think that if the defense tries to show that LE used "groupthink" and zeroed in too early on one suspect, there will be several days of testimony from three different agencies about the various leads they checked out and how many tips they followed. The jury will likely be very impressed by the thoroughness of this group.

This is not Spezze's first rodeo, not by a long shot.

As to your last sentence, I do not think it will be applicable in this case, just as it wasn't in the Patrick Frazee case. I also don't think it will work in the Gannon Stauch case - and especially not Suzanne's case.

The phrase "an investigator" is a curious choice, as in this case, there are many different investigators. The early days focused on tracking and dogs, and surely some information came out of that (about where Suzanne wasn't). At that point, while BM may have been a POI for LE, LE says they worked to rule out suicide and mountain lion. They looked for evidence of abduction and found none. I'm sure the actual individuals, dog handlers and so on would be happy to testify.

However, in Colorado, I believe it is the case that if the defense intends to try and point the finger at someone other than the defendant, they have to so state and the Judge will require them to provide cause before the jury is even selected. Any line of questioning that tries to head toward "another candidate may have done it" will be strictly managed by the Judge.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong. At any rate, I think the main investigators in this case will be able to show they did not narrow down too quickly (the canvasing alone shows they're trying to cast as wide a net as possible).

All moot if this never gets to trial.

You may be correct about Colorado requiring notice of an alternate perpetrator. Here in Indiana, the defense is allowed greater latitude & need not inform the State of most theories prior to trial: alibi is the notable exception. Of course, informally most of us defense attorneys will let the prosecutor know in a general sense what elements of a crime will be at issue at trial.

Re: my use of the term investigators: I try to not use the terms "law enforcement" or LE. Those terms are relatively novel & reflect a belief that police agencies exist to enforce laws. The problem with that is that traditionally the role for police has been to preserve order during peacetime, hence the term "peace officer." This necessarily may include not enforcing certain laws at certain given times, which is why police officers have quite a bit of discretion.

Most police agencies that I've dealt with have a "road" division and an "investigations" division. I just use the term "investigators" as a general catch-all for officers who are assigned to the latter.

 

[Area52]

I strongly believe that the M's vehicles were positioned (not just parked) during the home search to create a classic LE roadblock formation. Incoming traffic would have had to stop, then with permission proceed slowly though the narrow opening to their right between BM's pickup truck and a tree.
In these screen shots from the Channel 9 drone-like helicopter video, I note that the truck is parked with the tail end toward an approaching vehicle, thus exposing the most difficult angle to push it with another vehicle due to the high profile and hitch extended directly from the frame. The crossover SUV parked beside it is pointed the opposite way. It does not have those extruding features, and the vehicle is reinforced in the front end to withstand collisions. The end gate of the trailer is down in the ramp position facing incoming traffic, making it impossible to push at all, but it is angled so that if it was pushed from the corner, it would slide sideways into the side profile of the Bobcat loader (or Diggy-thingy).
It's not very likely, in my mind, that BM thought this out all by himself. I'm guessing LE had some input. IMO

2 vehicles are definitely Law Enforcement vehicles. If you zoom in, you will see the logos and drivers.
These

 

[kkdj]

Yes, or moved! IMO MOO

mmm.....That's an interesting thought.

This makes me think about the crucial question of when Suzanne was last seen (by someone other than BM) and when her voice was last heard by anyone at all.

By now, LE has a really good idea about that. If it's 10 days before she went missing (just to pick a date that I think may be relevant), then that would lead to further investigation of various phone records, GPS units from vehicles, etc. I wonder when Suzanne last drove her own vehicle and what evidence there is of that drive.

I wonder when Suzanne last used her phone for anything other than text.

Were the daughters gone for 9 days? That's what I recall, I think.

 

[Love Never Fails]

Sarah Ristevski still supports her father even after he plead guilty of killing her mom. She refuses to see him as a killer, only as the loving father she knows. I cant imagine how hard it would be on anyone, but especially children in these cases.

Makes me wonder how someone would feel if they were close to their stepmother and she killed their brother. I’m thinking of Leticia Stauch killing Gannon. She seemed to prefer his Little sister, Laina. We don’t know for sure but if they were close it has to tear that little girls heart up.

 

[lamlawindy]

That article, I just had a read of it, says they were (past tense) active members of the Indiana Baptist church till they moved to Colorado in 2018. Article says it’s their former church - (Trinity) I believe - but they were attending a local church now in Salida, Grace, not sure why you think it’s less likely they were watching mass. If it was rare for Barry to skip mass and work on Sunday, fair enough, but if it was out of the ordinary and rare, and people can verify this, hmm, something to look into ... MOO

It's because of the term Mass. The Morphews were Baptists prior to their move to Colorado: all the Baptists I've known would refer to a Sunday religious gathering as a "Sunday service," not "Mass," which is a Latin Rite Catholic term. Accordingly, I believe it would be unlikely -- though not impossible, as I've also met non-Catholic Christians who attend Mass because they're drawn to a liturgical form of worship -- that they would specifically be watching a Mass.

 

[branmuffin]

The fact that she is a earpod user makes me happy. That means she uses her cellphone music and stuffs a lot on the cellphone. I wonder what they found. Jmo

I'm a neanderthal when it comes to some of the new technology so I had to read up on what some of the new earpods can do. If you own an Apple product, unlike the Vegas slogan, 'what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas', once the pairing process is initiated the airpods update everything: your Ipad, Mac, Apple watch, etc. That's if Suzanne had an Apple product.

Apple AirPods: 18 indispensable tips for your wireless earbuds

 

[10ofRods]

You may be correct about Colorado requiring notice of an alternate perpetrator. Here in Indiana, the defense is allowed greater latitude & need not inform the State of most theories prior to trial: alibi is the notable exception. Of course, informally most of us defense attorneys will let the prosecutor know in a general sense what elements of a crime will be at issue at trial.

Re: my use of the term investigators: I try to not use the terms "law enforcement" or LE. Those terms are relatively novel & reflect a belief that police agencies exist to enforce laws. The problem with that is that traditionally the role for police has been to preserve order during peacetime, hence the term "peace officer." This necessarily may include not enforcing certain laws at certain given times, which is why police officers have quite a bit of discretion.

Most police agencies that I've dealt with have a "road" division and an "investigations" division. I just use the term "investigators" as a general catch-all for officers who are assigned to the latter.

I use those terms because this is WS, where those terms are used (LE means a collection and collaboration of entities and surely CCSO, CSI and FBI are all in that group). It's shorthand.

I don't think a debate over the meaning of the term or the history of "police" is going to change usage here, it was well established for years before you or I ever showed up here.

At any rate, you missed my point. There have been a lot of people (who come from divisions with the word "investigations" in their title), not just one or two. If I were the prosecution and I had to address this issue in court, I would start with local LE (and I think someone higher than "lead investigator" is more likely to be able to speak to the overall logistics from the 911 call onward), then do FBI, then CSI. ''

I do have a question for you, as a defense attorney (bear with me, I'm sure this could be said easier by an attorney).

If the defense should try to bring up this point (that LE narrowed too soon on one person and didn't attempt to investigate other leads), how would they introduce it? Who would they call to the stand? Those persons have to be added to the list of witnesses - can they be added during the trial?

In that case, what happens? (Besides X-examination). The prosecution can then bring its own witnesses on this point, right? The defense won't know what those witnesses are about to say, but can X-examine? And then prosecution can Re-X, right?

(I know that's a lot of questions - any help here would be appreciated). That's how it would work here in a California. My main question is whether you think a judge would permit a defense to bring in such witnesses after the trial started, and in any case, how would the defense establish that point?

 

[Hatfield]

Online crowdfunding sites
@Hatfield Yes re bbm, true - honest good hearted ppl have donated. Speaking only in gen terms & not specifically to this case, I think part of the crowdfunding appeal is tickling potential donor's social conscience somewhat like a charitable organization does, but differently. In donating to a personal fundraiser, donor may have more of the sense of contributing to solving a finite problem and personally making a significant contribution toward that end.
Donor giving $100 to -
--- $ 5,000 goal for XYZ cause may think - if just 49 other ppl ea contribute $100, then I/we've accomplished something, I/we met the goal (e.g., paying for elec. wheelchair, or student taking trip, etc).
--- $ 1,000,000 goal to XYZ charity may be inclined to think - his/her donation is not so meaningful. By comparison, $100 is a drop in the bucket. And the following year the org.'s goal will be/likely be ~ $ 1,000,000 again, as these organizations tend to run in virtual perpituity (until this or that disease is eradicated; until nobody goes to bed hungry, etc. What's $100 in that huge buckets?).

But the fact that a crowdfunding donor will (virtually) never know how his/her own contribution or the collective, crowdraised funds were used is inherent in the nature of online fund raising sites. my 2 cts.

Yes those are good points.

They serve a good purpose when used honestly by the parties that need them.

I just have some doubts in this case as to how much personal searching has really gone on since that was the stated purpose for it.
Oh well. Everyone knows its buyer beware, or rather, donator beware when using those sites.

 

[Dave F.]

2 vehicles are definitely Law Enforcement vehicles. If you zoom in, you will see the logos and drivers.
These

Yes, you are correct! I zoomed in, and see the white one appears to be a City of Salida Police cruiser and the dark pickup looks like a Chaffee County Sheriff's Office vehicle. I wonder what the Salida Police were doing there? IMO

 

[susiQ]

Yes, you are correct! I zoomed in, and see the white one appears to be a City of Salida Police cruiser and the dark pickup looks like a Chaffee County Sheriff's Office vehicle. I wonder what the Salida Police were doing there? IMO

Come one, come ALL! My husband always says, “many hands make light work.” In this case, “many minds will solve this case!”

 

[branmuffin]

Same, no sleuthing required. I would never ever out anyone, though.

How would you know a WS sleuther is posting on FB under a different name? Cut and paste is alive and well.

 

[GordianKnot]

I’ve seen posts that were very nearly verbatim to theories being discussed here by WSers show up on social media sites. Sometimes I can actually tell which WSer is posting under a different name.

BBM:

Well, it ain't me, that's for sure.

I never post to SM sites, on account of I refuse to dumb it down for those audiences.

Do me a favor, though:
If you ever see a post that's quoting me verbatim on some FB page, let me know.
So I can sue them for plagiarism, or something.

TIA!

 

[Janeumayer]

I'm a neanderthal when it comes to some of the new technology so I had to read up on what some of the new earpods can do. If you own an Apple product, unlike the Vegas slogan, 'what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas', once the pairing process is initiated the airpods update everything: your Ipad, Mac, Apple watch, etc. That's if Suzanne had an Apple product.

Apple AirPods: 18 indispensable tips for your wireless earbuds

Hi Branmuffin, I think you misread the article. Yes, the AirPods pair with all of those Apple devices but they do not update “your iPad, iMac, Apple Watch, etc.”. For that, you would need to update the operating system either manually through the device (iPad, iMac or MacBook) by automatic software update or through iTunes, Finder or Apple Configurator.

One interesting thing, if this were an abduction case: EarPods are a Bluetooth device and Bluetooth devices are trackable by anyone within a close range. SM could have named her EarPods after her. Something an abductor can use to their advantage.

Here’s a very interesting article on how it works:

How Bluetooth Surveillance Works

 

[MrsWatson]

How would you know a WS sleuther is posting on FB under a different name? Cut and paste is alive and well.

More than a few of those about on the social media sites,as well.

 

[branmuffin]

I often come here looking for resolution. A happy ending would be ideal. In the past few days I've been thinking about all the silence, I don't know if this has been addressed before. No one in her family is looking for her, really. Is it possible that she took her life because of health issues and this is the only way for the children to get the insurance? The family would be screaming from the mountain tops if she simply vanished. And I don't for one minute believe that her daughters would protect their father if he did something to her.

I can agree with the possibility of suicide because you never know what an individual is thinking but I also believe that children, more than anyone, can be in a state of denial when it comes to believing one of their parents could end the life of the other.