Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #23

[Hatfield]

Regardless of how and when the girls got back to Maysville, their communications with SM, BM and possibly the neighbor will be a telling narrative. Right now we are under the assumption they planned to arrive back in Maysville to spend some part of Mother's Day with SM.

IMO, cell phone location and records told LE everything they needed to know...

JMO
I agree and I think someone forced the issue a little too much Sunday which made LE realize something was fishy with how the neighbor originally got involved to go look for the bicycle at the house.

Here is the thing.
If BM was involved then it meant he had to have someone discover SM was missing and bring it to LE attention so that he could even come home.

And if the girls were like I would have been they probably at first did not worry too much when they first sent their Mom a text and she did not reply. The girls were busy themselves on a trip so they probably did not think too much about it and expected their Mom was busy.

I think someone else was getting ansy because nobody had discovered SM was missing yet and he could not come home Sunday until that happened. Because he did not want to be present when it all "went down" in order to distance himself from the situation.

So I expect we will learn he began pushing the concern about SM a little too much. He alludes to it using "we" in his statements but it may have been more of an "i" than a "we" when the concern was amped up and the decision to go over to look for SM, look for the bike at the house, and to call LE.

Just speculation but someone made the decision that they need to raise the red flag and just guessing who that was that did that.
It would have made LE start to question things.

 

[Tate123]

But WSers are coming from a crime solving, think-tank perspective. Dollars to donuts BM (football player, landscaper, volunteer firefighter) never had a loved one go missing before, and never laid eyes on a crime sleuthing forum in his life.

So what does the Average Joe do when his wife goes missing, if he feels helpless and wants to do something, anything to feel he has some power or control in a distressing situation? If TN helped put the reward video together, he probably doesn't know anything about how these things work either. So where does an ordinary guy find a manual on how to deal with this situation? LE would likely not sanction a reward due to crackpots coming out of the woodwork, and would likely discourage a reward so soon, but BM feels he has to do whatever is in his power to try to bring her home.

bbm
I am not a regular of crime solving forums. This is my first time reading/posting on one yet I would instinctively know that my best chance to find a loved one would be to enlist all of the help I could get by using the media and working closely with LE. I'd attach myself to Sheriff Speezes hip and be begging him to tell me what to do next. I'd have LS sleeping in my guest room and a number of food trucks for all those out there searching. My offer of a reward would not be conditional.

 

[kkdj]

Honestly, I could see my hubby leaving me on a Sunday Mother's Day to go to work because of a job schedule for Monday.
And I could see him not being especially worried if I couldn't be reached in a remote area. Cell service can be sketchy.
He would probably think I took a nap or something.
moo

 

[MichelleBlue]

IMO Just for comparison, I recently had a situation where I could not reach my teenage son for a few hours when he was expected back. I was in another town, about a half hour away. My husband was out of town, about 7 hours away. These are the steps we followed that would be verified by our phone records if it ended up being a missing persons case (it was not):
1) I texted my son to ask if he was home. He did not respond.
2) I texted again about 20 minutes later. Still nothing.
3) I tried calling his phone, the house phone, & tried dropping in on the Alexa. Nothing.
4) I texted again & told him to call right away or I would be sending the neighbors over.
5) I texted 2 neighbors. One responded.
6) I texted my husband. He called me. He called a neighbor.
7) I left my location ahead of schedule to check what the heck was going on at home.
8) Neighbors went to my house & made contact with my son. He called me.
9) I told my son I was going to kick his butt.

Ok. Ignore #9, but my point is...in a missing persons case there are stages of realization & attempts to contact the missing person that would be documented on phone records. I don't know if they exist in this case. However, if they don't exist or they don't match the account of a spouse, that would be a huge red flag.

 

[Fireflize]

Aside from the many question marks or inconsistencies that exist in this case, the most glaring from a human nature perspective is:

-What husband leaves their wife on Mothers Day to go work out of town? Especially a wife/mother that just beat cancer for the second time.
-And then when your daughters and neighbor contact you to say that your wife seems to me missing and the husband shares their concern, asks the freaking neighbor to call the police???!!!

I’ll give BM a pass on the alleged working on Sunday but no way on this earth does any husband not call the police themself after hearing from his daughters and his neighbors that his wife can’t be located. UNLESS, he does not want the recording of the 911 call because that has incriminated many other murders before.

Agree with this. And even if he was not aware that 911 calls have incriminated others, he probably knew full well that he was in no shape to talk to 911. I think he was very nervous and paniced. He could manage to talk to his elderly neighbor, she wouldnt intimidate him, or have the experience to pick up on anything hinky. But with 911 and LE, he didn't trust himself to be able to pull off the role of an innocent, loving husband. Im thinking that from his first in counter with LE, they knew something was off. He was afraid of them, rather that appreciative and they sensed it.

I'm leaning towards an unpremeditated murder, not cold and calculated, but a furious violent act that shook him to his core. So then his problem is this. How to hide the all too real horror that he was experiencing. He probably felt that LE could look into his eyes and see what he did.

If he was "just beside himself," as he was described in the email to the Indiana church, that may well have been true. Not for the reason that Suzann's was missing. Rather due to the the shock to his psyche because of his hienous act.

He seems to have moved on by now. But on Mother's day he hadn't gotten the hang of compartmentalization yet. Moo as always, of course.

 

[oviedo]

IMO Just for comparison, I recently had a situation where I could not reach my teenage son for a few hours when he was expected back. I was in another town, about a half hour away. My husband was out of town, about 7 hours away. These are the steps we followed that would be verified by our phone records if it ended up being a missing persons case (it was not):
1) I texted my son to ask if he was home. He did not respond.
2) I texted again about 20 minutes later. Still nothing.
3) I tried calling his phone, the house phone, & tried dropping in on the Alexa. Nothing.
4) I texted again & told him to call right away or I would be sending the neighbors over.
5) I texted 2 neighbors. One responded.
6) I texted my husband. He called me. He called a neighbor.
7) I left my location ahead of schedule to check what the heck was going on at home.
8) Neighbors went to my house & made contact with my son. He called me.
9) I told my son I was going to kick his butt.

Ok. Ignore #9, but my point is...in a missing persons case there are stages of realization & attempts to contact the missing person that would be documented on phone records. I don't know if they exist in this case. However, if they don't exist or they don't match the account of a spouse, that would be a huge red flag.

I suspect once the phone records are released we will see something very similar in the girls trying to reach Mom- perhaps even earlier than Mother's Day
IMO

 

[Love Never Fails]

bbm
I am not a regular of crime solving forums. This is my first time reading/posting on one yet I would instinctively know that my best chance to find a loved one would be to enlist all of the help I could get by using the media and working closely with LE. I'd attach myself to Sheriff Speezes hip and be begging him to tell me what to do next. I'd have LS sleeping in my guest room and a number of food trucks for all those out there searching. My offer of a reward would not be conditional.

Very well said!

 

[Goldenseal]

Agree with this. And even if he was not aware that 911 calls have incriminated others, he probably knew full well that he was in no shape to talk to 911. I think he was very nervous and paniced. He could manage to talk to his elderly neighbor, she wouldnt intimidate him, or have the experience to pick up on anything hinky. But with 911 and LE, he didn't trust himself to be able to pull off the role of an innocent, loving husband. Im thinking that from his first in counter with LE, they knew something was off. He was afraid of them, rather that appreciative and they sensed it.

I'm leaning towards an unpremeditated murder, not cold and calculated, but a furious violent act that shook him to his core. So then his problem is this. How to hide the all too real horror that he was experiencing. He probably felt that LE could look into his eyes and see what he did.

If he was "just beside himself," as he was described in the email to the Indiana church, that may well have been true. Not for the reason that Suzann's was missing. Rather due to the the shock to his psyche because of his hienous act.

He seems to have moved on by now. But on Mother's day he hadn't gotten the hang of compartmentalization yet. Moo as always, of course.

I think this is what happened, too. I think he lost his temper and punched her, and she died. And since he seems to be invested in playing the 'alpha male' most of the time, he was unable to do the simplest and best thing -- the right thing: call the police and confess that he did it in a moment of anger. That outcome would have been best for everyone, yet he was unable to do it. Now he's in doodoo so deep there's no getting out. JMO.

 

[MichelleBlue]

I suspect once the phone records are released we will see something very similar in the girls trying to reach Mom- perhaps even earlier than Mother's Day
IMO

IMO you are probably correct. Interestingly, a little less than 3 hours passed in my situation & only one person said, "Do you think you should call the police?" I immediately was like, nooooo. Maybe he's just asleep or with a friend, etc. And it never entered my head to have my neighbors call the police. If anything, I would've called 911 myself or called a close friend who is LE.

 

[EggSalad]

Honestly, I could see my hubby leaving me on a Sunday Mother's Day to go to work because of a job schedule for Monday.
And I could see him not being especially worried if I couldn't be reached in a remote area. Cell service can be sketchy.
He would probably think I took a nap or something.
moo

Good point. But let’s say he shared enough concern and agreed that the police should be called. Would you find it odd if he was not the person to call the police and instead put it on your neighbor to call about you?

 

[fcavanaugh]

Sorry, I was trying to reply to Tate’s post above.
Very well said Tate, I 100% agree!

 

[Tate123]

IMO you are probably correct. Interestingly, a little less than 3 hours passed in my situation & only one person said, "Do you think you should call the police?" I immediately was like, nooooo. Maybe he's just asleep or with a friend, etc. And it never entered my head to have my neighbors call the police. If anything, I would've called 911 myself or called a close friend who is LE.

And why is that? Because you were not afraid of being questioned by LE about your son's whereabouts! You had nothing to hide. All of us would seek their help with fervor.

 

[kkdj]

Good point. But let’s say he shared enough concern and agreed that the police should be called. Would you find it odd if he was not the person to call the police and instead put it on your neighbor to call about you?

Well, I think calling 911 gives them the address site immediately. So, maybe that was best in this situation.

 

[Tate123]

Well, I think calling 911 gives them the address site immediately. So, maybe that was best in this situation.

I still have a difficult time believing he didn't make the call in order to save time. By BMs own admission he said he and the girls were just "a little" worried. That implies there was no sense of urgency. For a myriad of reasons, the person that should have been talking to LE was BM yet he chose to delegate that job.

 

[Hatfield]

IMO you are probably correct. Interestingly, a little less than 3 hours passed in my situation & only one person said, "Do you think you should call the police?" I immediately was like, nooooo. Maybe he's just asleep or with a friend, etc. And it never entered my head to have my neighbors call the police. If anything, I would've called 911 myself or called a close friend who is LE.

JMO
I agree. I know every family has different dynamics but another thing that we dont really know much about is at what point did BM drop what he was doing and immediately start heading home.

It seems to me that at the point you direct someone to call LE you would immediately drop what you are doing and start to head home. It will be interesting to know what he told the neighbor after the decision was made to have her call 911. Did he just hang out and wait till things unfolded before showing up at the house?

If it were me, short of calling LE myself which I hope I would have done, at a minimum, I would tell the neighbor Im on the way and to call me as soon as LE gets there and have them get on the phone to talk to me so that I can find out what THEY are going to do to help find SM.

The issue is too important to be getting information through a 3rd party because of the childhood telephone game but from what we know BM seemed just fine to let everyone else drive the whole situation with LE until he shows up. That in itself is strange to me if it happened that way.

 

[OldCop]

I don't understand why many members are having an issue with the reward offered for Suzanne's "safe return". IMO it is an attempt to keep a potential abductor from harming the victim.

There are many cases where families have offered rewards for the safe return of their loved ones. To name just a few of many:

Sarah Townsend
Julia Madsen
Mekayla Bail
Jamie Tull
Irene Campbell

In addition to the wording, I think it is also the limited audience FB plea. Kind of reminds one of the classic old cases where you put the info in the classified section of the newspaper.
BM complains about the press. He has a fantastic opportunity to spread SM’s story far and wide yet he prefers to do next to nothing to broadcast her information.
Oh, except for the time he gave the ladies in the convenience store such a great detailed description of her when asked: blue bike helmet, biking clothes.
BM does nothing to garner anyone’s belief in his deep and caring love for his wife or that he is doing everything he can to find out what has happened to her.
MOO

 

[Ontario Mom]

IMO Just for comparison, I recently had a situation where I could not reach my teenage son for a few hours when he was expected back. I was in another town, about a half hour away. My husband was out of town, about 7 hours away. These are the steps we followed that would be verified by our phone records if it ended up being a missing persons case (it was not):
1) I texted my son to ask if he was home. He did not respond.
2) I texted again about 20 minutes later. Still nothing.
3) I tried calling his phone, the house phone, & tried dropping in on the Alexa. Nothing.
4) I texted again & told him to call right away or I would be sending the neighbors over.
5) I texted 2 neighbors. One responded.
6) I texted my husband. He called me. He called a neighbor.
7) I left my location ahead of schedule to check what the heck was going on at home.
8) Neighbors went to my house & made contact with my son. He called me.
9) I told my son I was going to kick his butt.

Ok. Ignore #9, but my point is...in a missing persons case there are stages of realization & attempts to contact the missing person that would be documented on phone records. I don't know if they exist in this case. However, if they don't exist or they don't match the account of a spouse, that would be a huge red flag.

The beautiful thing about digital evidence is, it doesn't have an agenda, it doesn't have anything to hide, and it doesn't have any reason to lie.
It's just raw, honest evidence, pointing directly at what happened.
The cell phone records of BM, SM and the girls, will all tell a story that may or may not line up with the story we've been told by BM.
The online banking, food/merch orders/deliveries, social media, search histories, all of that... will paint a picture that may or may not also line up with the story we've been told.
I believe LE already have that story, and it's highly likely it does not line up with what they were told.
If it did, searching the house twice and digging up a concrete slab likely would have never happened.

As for my issue with the 210k reward, it just reeks of an insincere token.
Just like the FB video posted to his page only.
Things he might think are expected of him.
I've followed missing persons cases pretty much my whole life and I have honestly never seen an innocent person conduct themselves the was BM has.
It's been nearly 3 months and has he even given a single interview to plead for his dear wife's safe return? (TD aside)
Is he updating the public FB page and pleading with the public to keep her face out there?
Is he doing anything that anyone has seen, at all, that rings familiar to what distraught husbands do when their wife went missing?

If it turns out he was innocent all along, we'll all be dining on crow as he'll be the most extreme exception to the rule most of us have ever seen.

100% jmo

 

[Midwestmom2019]

I still have a difficult time believing he didn't make the call in order to save time. By BMs own admission he said he and the girls were just "a little" worried. That implies there was no sense of urgency. For a myriad of reasons, the person that should have been talking to LE was BM yet he chose to delegate that job.

All three were a little worried. Three people? Three times worry equals one big worried person. All sensed a problem yet BM didn’t take action? I wonder who suggested let’s just wait and see if she calls us back.

 

[Tate123]

The beautiful thing about digital evidence is, it doesn't have an agenda, it doesn't have anything to hide, and it doesn't have any reason to lie.
It's just raw, honest evidence, pointing directly at what happened.
The cell phone records of BM, SM and the girls, will all tell a story that may or may not line up with the story we've been told by BM.
The online banking, food/merch orders/deliveries, social media, search histories, all of that... will paint a picture that may or may not also line up with the story we've been told.
I believe LE already have that story, and it's highly likely it does not line up with what they were told.
If it did, searching the house twice and digging up a concrete slab likely would have never happened.

As for my issue with the 210k reward, it just reeks of an insincere token.
Just like the FB video posted to his page only.
Things he might think are expected of him.
I've followed missing persons cases pretty much my whole life and I have honestly never seen an innocent person conduct themselves the was BM has.
It's been nearly 3 months and has he even given a single interview to plead for his dear wife's safe return? (TD aside)
Is he updating the public FB page and pleading with the public to keep her face out there?
Is he doing anything that anyone has seen, at all, that rings familiar to what distraught husbands do when their wife went missing?

If it turns out he was innocent all along, we'll all be dining on crow as he'll be the most extreme exception to the rule most of us have ever seen.

100% jmo

So well said!

 

[MissTilly]

Right. And if you did so, I am pretty sure that LE would suggest that you do a press conference alongside them, and ask for the public's help, and announce your reward offer.

In doing so, you would reach millions of viewers on various tv networks, local and national, and be in many newspapers and online news sites.

It would be way more effective than a Facebook video by oneself, in my opinion.

BBM - and also in my opinion!