Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #26

[Warwick1991]

In the construction industry, equipment moving late at night or in the wee hours of the morning almost always means that thieves are at work, unless the job has overnight shifts. It just doesn’t happen - operators don’t want to have an accident in the darkness. An accident in a front end loader has a lot of potential to be fatal. Unless the site has temporary lighting, it is very hazardous to operate construction equipment in poor light, even if there is some lighting on the equipment. In a theft scenario, a flatbed transporter is driven to the site for transporting the stolen equipment, and the equipment is started up and driven onto the flatbed.

 

[Hatfield]

I think it depends how far the hunter is from a place where the deer can be dressed - properly butchered for meat. I’ve never seen anyone use a game bag; perhaps it varies by region/geography. If someone lives in a wooded area with plentiful deer, they often place the deer on a deer cart or other portable transport method, drag/push it through the woods, load it onto the back of a pickup truck, and take it to a place - like a garage or barn - where it can be hoisted up to allow the butchering to be done in a controlled manner. It is harder to dress a carcass in the field, and trying to do that in the woods can attract predators. If a hunter is hunting very far from a parked vehicle, getting the game out of the woods is a much bigger challenge.

Yeah, you typically dont use large animal game bags so long as the weather outside is cool enough. Usually you can just transport in back of a truck open to the cool air. Hotter climates is where it becomes more of an issue.

I think the other poster was wondering if they made a large enough game bag that could hold a body and keep blood and other evidence from getting on the vehicle if the perp was transporting a body. And yes, they do make the heavy duty large plastic game bags but they are very hard to find because most of them are "breathable" and made of a mesh type material that allows air to circulate which is what you typically want to do. The breathable ones will leak blood and other evidence. The mesh breathable bags can be helpful to keep flies and other insects from getting on the meat if its going to take a long time to process the game animal.
JMO

 

[NoSI]

Welcome, @NatKingCola. You made some good points that got me thinking. What if BM had one of his workers, or two, take his truck and trailer and asked him to go pick up a piece of equipment at that job site and bring it to Denver for the other job prep. While this was going on it gave him opportunity to stage a bike, drop a personal item, and dispose of a body in a vehicle that wasn’t his and which, potentially, had no GPS. He may have taken the worker’s older vehicle and told him he would swap back when he got to Denver. The workers may have had no idea they were being used as pawns. This may have been another one of BM’s false trails.
When LE confronted him about the dig site, he could say, “No, that wasn’t even me. I was home with my wife until 5:00 a.m.”
Theoretical scenario.

BAM! as @Warwick7 would say! Post of the day! The noise could have been a distraction... Look here not there...

 

[Lilypad13]

When hunting, normally a large game animal like a deer should be gutted immediately to remove entrails and then either butchered immediately or kept cold and cool until the deer can be transported to a deer processing place.

For hunters, they make all types of Large Game Bags that can help transport a deer or other large game animal but most are "breathable" because you typically want to let it breathe.

However, if only going for a short drive to a butchering station, they do make very heavy duty plastic game bags like this one in 1st link below. Most of the other types in the 2nd link are the breathable type.

I think BM would know about all types of game bags. The heavy duty large plastic ones are hard to find like in 1st link. I bought one one time to transport a deer to a butchering place and it worked great to keep the back of the truck clean but I kept one end open to let air in and keep it breathable. I also packed ice all around the outside.

Single Quarter Game Bag Available in Small - Medium - Large

GAME BAGS

Thanks for the information on “game bags” so that wasn’t just a dumb thought I had. Learned something new today about hunting and wondering if BM might have a few of those bags handy? Convenient but not scent dog proof.

 

[OldCop]

BAM! as @Warwick7 would say! Post of the day! The noise could have been a distraction... Look here not there...

Yes, and because it was BM’s job and because BM’s truck was there in the middle of the night, and because his wife was missing under suspicious circumstances, LE might have had enough PC to get a warrant for that job site.
Then BM could say, “See you’re barking up the wrong tree. There’s nothing there.”

ETA I do wonder if we are giving BM too much credit to come up with this narrative.
However, if it was premeditated, it gives him a little more time to plot it out. The fact that SM wouldn’t stop texting with her friend was the fly in his ointment. MOO!

 

[Boxer]

Well ITA retrieving a piece of equipment to use elsewhere is definitely a possible explanation for the noise. But respectfully if that is what happened then it is still connected to a coverup and with hiding Suzanne’s body. So if the neighbor heard and reported this noise and it is an important clue in the investigation then she should be commended for it and not called a “busy body.” LE asked that if anyone saw or heard anything to report it no matter how small of a detail it may seem. Hearing loud machinery late at night at a construction site connected to a missing woman’s husband does not seem insignificant IMO. If BM and/or someone else removed a piece of equipment and loaded it on a trailer would it take that long? I would agree that the neighbor could have misjudged the length of time she heard the noise unless she looked at a clock and timed it. But she said she was woken up by the noise so I was thinking it might have even been longer than 30 minutes. And was the piece of equipment returned to the site afterwards? That would be risky. Was any equipment missing? We don’t know the answers to these questions but maybe LE does. And maybe gps, cell phone pings, etc. will shed more light. You know I love you but I don’t share your impression of the neighbor. Just because she’s elderly and a little cranky doesn’t mean she should be stereotyped as a meddling busybody. I think she did the right thing and if Suzanne was found at the construction site she would be called a hero. Actually if I remember correctly LE came to her house so she didn’t seek them out but when asked if she heard or saw anything unusual she told them what she heard. IMO No tomatoes thrown! Lol

Reporting noise at the site is the kind of thing the Sheriff was asking to be reported.

MOO someone was trying to call attention to the noise. MOO pairing their phone and plausible activity at the work site.

Whether a person close to SM or a stranger, MOO she will be found in the isolated stretches of Hwy 50 south of Salida.

 

[Lilypad13]

The loud noises late at night at the Salida contruction site would be very unusual to me because if BM had needed that piece of equipment in Denver then he had all day Saturday to move it, so why wait till the middle of the night to move it.

Unless they were using it at the Salida site during the day Saturday and I am not sure if we heard anything about whether the crew was working during the day Saturday. If there was no activity at that site during the day and it only happened late Saturday night, then that would seem strange to me as well. Why not move it during the Saturday daytime hours when you can see better?
All JMO of course.

All good questions and don’t forget the helicopter footage showed a trailer and a moverdiggiething (Bobcat?) parked in the M’s driveway the next day. Could that be the equipment used and/or removed from the dig site and towed to Denver and back by BM?

 

[Hatfield]

All good questions and don’t forget the helicopter footage showed a trailer and a moverdiggiething (Bobcat?) parked in the M’s driveway the next day. Could that be the equipment used and/or removed from the dig site and towed to Denver and back by BM?

I do remember that small white Bobcat tractor that was in an aerial photo of SM's home.

Those small Bobcat tractors are amazing machines and I still wonder about that Bobcat if it was used to help hide SM's body.

The one in the photo I saw of the home was similar to the one in the top left photo in the link below.

Bobcat G Series Vinyl Cab Enclosure Kit

 

[NuttMegg]

I know next to nothing about hunting. Do hunters use any type of containers or bags to put the deer or bear or whatever they killed in to hide the scent from other animals? Like say they are on an overnight hunting trip and they kill a deer, what do they do with it until they are ready to leave? Do they cut it up immediately and put it in something? My train of thought here is I’ve heard when you camp you need to put your food in something so bears won’t smell it. So is there something hunters use to hide the smell of a freshly killed deer from say a Bear or mountain lion who might want to eat it? I hope this is not a dumb question. I’m still stuck on any way to conceal the cadaverine smell from scent dogs...

There are dozens of ways to deal with the animals killed in hunting. But I know only of a few of the legitimate ones, not the methods used to hide a hideous crime, but you could guess it would be similar = animal/human body.
In my experience hunters who are camped out and wanted to hunt for a few days would clean their deer, maybe put some muslin around it to keep off flies, then string it way up in a tree many yards from the tent. Someday I will tell you about the time we did that, but the grizzly got it anyway. But a lot of people just go day hunting and bring their prey back to their truck. I'm sorry, there are lots of ways to make a harvested deer lighter before hiking out with it. So many people on this board know more about cadaverine than I do. But, remember, if a person wanted to kill someone and move that body far away before dealing with it, they could in effect move a live body that has been demobilized one way or another, ie would not smell unusual.
One thing I would like to know, if a person had a leakproof plastic tote in the back of their pickup or truck, and if that tote had a dead body in it, could there be scent for the dogs if the whole container was moved out of the pickup within a couple hours of being placed there. Anyway, disposing of her via dismemberment would be my guess. Look at the Vanessa Guillen case, cement, dismemberment, and being discovered seemingly through carelessness of the alleged murderer.

 

[Lilypad13]

I do remember that small white Bobcat tractor that was in an aerial photo of SM's home.

Those small Bobcat tractors are amazing machines and I still wonder about that Bobcat if it was used to help hide SM's body.

The one in the photo I saw of the home was similar to the one in the top left photo in the link below.

Bobcat G Series Vinyl Cab Enclosure Kit

Can the ones without “claws” (for lack of the proper term) still be used for digging? Or are they just for moving dirt and heavy material? I was wondering if it could dig a deep hole? What do you think?

 

[Birmingplumb]

Following - what work being done on searched site- clearing land = bulldozer, basement = backhoe, footings = mini excavator or 12" bucket backhoe. What else could be on a simple residential build site? Can we eliminate the land clearing and basement based on it being a slab or crawl? (don't remember permits or work being done) I did leave out a compactor but a small 1 cylinder gas engine on a home depot $650 compactor would not be that roar).
From there we look at his trailer and his equipment to see if they match what would be there. We look at what job he actually contracted Monday in Denver to verify what could have been common to both.
First I would not take a job so far away . Second if I did I don't think I want to pull a backhoe that far and out of town contractors rent machines and labor from the union hall . Rule of thumb- Each piece of equipment on a jobsite--= 1 man labor price. @ 8hrs. So 3 pieces on a jobsite where labor is $100 per hr is 3 x $100 x 8=2400$. Add 1 operator who alternates equipment ( usual suspect) . A big time contractor would send 3 operators for 3 pieces and just overcharge or find somebody else. A beginner scabbing for anything would use himself as operator and 3 convicts or illegals. All that said, normal has to be established, before you can troubleshoot anything including a crime , and when a beginner is involved I don't think normal is normal. Then after u figure out how usual suspect operates his jobs- by asking the builders he worked for - and inspectors he has been dealing with- you might be able to figure out what the darn noise was but a lot goes into that if you want to bet on it. Is waterboarding legal yet? Sorry got off track. Then we get the neighbor who heard the noise to jump in bed , close window and we start each piece of equipment and ask her --did it sound like this or louder? then we let her listen to a woodchipper? But on paper thats what I do. Motown

 

[Lilypad13]

In the construction industry, equipment moving late at night or in the wee hours of the morning almost always means that thieves are at work, unless the job has overnight shifts. It just doesn’t happen - operators don’t want to have an accident in the darkness. An accident in a front end loader has a lot of potential to be fatal. Unless the site has temporary lighting, it is very hazardous to operate construction equipment in poor light, even if there is some lighting on the equipment. In a theft scenario, a flatbed transporter is driven to the site for transporting the stolen equipment, and the equipment is started up and driven onto the flatbed.

Can I give you one of your own BAMS?!! That makes a lot of sense...

 

[Hatfield]

Can the ones without “claws” (for lack of the proper term) still be used for digging? Or are they for moving dirt and heavy material? I was wondering if it could dig a deep hole? What do you think?

They would need the "bucket" attachment or one of the other attachments like the "auger" that can drill a deep hole or the "backhoe" attachment.

Im not sure how deep a hole one could make with just the "bucket" on the front but people can get creative with those machines and I suspect a person could easily get down about 4-5 feet or more with a regular bucket attachment on the front.

Link below shows all the attachments like the bucket and auger bit. From what I remember of the photo of SM's home with the Bobcat, it did have the bucket on the front. I cant seem to find the aerial photo of the home that showed the Bobcat.

ETA-The "backhoe" attachment would be even better if BM had that attachment. Not sure if he had that one. The bucket attachment on front could dig as well though, but probably not as deep as the backhoe attachment.

Bobcat Attachments - Bobcat Company

 

[Ontario Mom]

i was just checking twitter to see if there was anything new happening, and suzanne's profile is locked. wasn't it previously open?

moo.

Yes, it was.

 

[Gigi3]

Thanks for the information on “game bags” so that wasn’t just a dumb thought I had. Learned something new today about hunting and wondering if BM might have a few of those bags handy? Convenient but not scent dog proof.

My husband and both sons are avid hunters. When they kill a deer, they usually clean and quarter it up shortly after the hunt. Sometimes, it may take a few days to get the deer processed (as in taking to the butcher)

In that instance, the deer is kept in a large ice chest until it can be transported and processed into hamburger, sausage, back strap, or whatever.
I can see BM having a large capacity ice chest on hand since he hunts.
MOO

 

[Lilypad13]

Following - what work being done on searched site- clearing land = bulldozer, basement = backhoe, footings = mini excavator or 12" bucket backhoe. What else could be on a simple residential build site? Can we eliminate the land clearing and basement based on it being a slab or crawl? (don't remember permits or work being done) I did leave out a compactor but a small 1 cylinder gas engine on a home depot $650 compactor would not be that roar).
From there we look at his trailer and his equipment to see if they match what would be there. We look at what job he actually contracted Monday in Denver to verify what could have been common to both.
First I would not take a job so far away . Second if I did I don't think I want to pull a backhoe that far and out of town contractors rent machines and labor from the union hall . Rule of thumb- Each piece of equipment on a jobsite--= 1 man labor price. @ 8hrs. So 3 pieces on a jobsite where labor is $100 per hr is 3 x $100 x 8=2400$. Add 1 operator who alternates equipment ( usual suspect) . A big time contractor would send 3 operators for 3 pieces and just overcharge or find somebody else. A beginner scabbing for anything would use himself as operator and 3 convicts or illegals. All that said, normal has to be established, before you can troubleshoot anything including a crime , and when a beginner is involved I don't think normal is normal. Then after u figure out how usual suspect operates his jobs- by asking the builders he worked for - and inspectors he has been dealing with- you might be able to figure out what the darn noise was but a lot goes into that if you want to bet on it.

Since you are familiar with construction and equipment needed for which job - and you do not use terms like moverdiggiething -could you please take a look at the Bobcat (not sure if that’s a bulldozer or backhoe?) in his driveway and say if it could be used to dig a deep grave? Also would one of its intended purposes be laying a large amount of dirt in preparation for a concrete slab being poured? It looks kinda small. Is a compactor anything that could be used in a nefarious way to dispose of a body? I’m guessing it pushes all the dirt down tight so the foundation doesn’t crack if the dirt settles but not sure. Thanks @Birmingplumb! For all we know a totally different piece of equipment could have been acquired elsewhere and taken TO that job site where the FBI excavated and used there or attempted to use there and then taken away.

 

[Megnut]

We only know what's been reported from the neighbor, being awakened by construction equipment, over the course of a half hour. Then when she turned on lights and opened the door to look out, silence.

Just occurred to me, what she DIDN'T report hearing (at least to MSM) is, subsequent to that, a personal vehicle start up and drive away.

Possible explanations:

She heard that and reported it.

She DIDN'T hear OR report it because

a) she was asleep again when the vehicle departed

b) the vehicle was running the entire time, too quietly for her to hear

c) the start up was quiet and her poor hearing simply didn't hear it

What equipment could have been powered up, such that, when the lights went on, operation could cease? Was its purpose complete?

Digger?

Woodchipper?

Auger for footings? Didn't several fail? Perhaps someone prepared additional columns for footings in an area that didn't REQUIRE footings.... Fill them back in, finish with landscape boulders or more soil.... nice, deep hidey holes.

Suzanne unexpectedly stops texting Saturday evening... and a very short time later, someone is hard at work, at night, in the dark.

Oddly industrious, no?



JMOJMOJMO

 

[Lilypad13]

My husband and both sons are avid hunters. When they kill a deer, they usually clean and quarter it up shortly after the hunt. Sometimes, it may take a few days to get the deer processed (as in taking to the butcher)

In that instance, the deer is kept in a large ice chest until it can be transported and processed into hamburger, sausage, back strap, or whatever.
I can see BM having a large capacity ice chest on hand since he hunts.
MOO

Speculation off your post: If you put a body and weights or something heavy in one of those big ice chests, duct taped it shut and drilled holes in in would it sink to the bottom of a river or reservoir and stay down?

 

[Gigi3]

Speculation off your post: If you put a body and weights or something heavy in one of those big ice chests, duct taped it shut and drilled holes in in would it sink to the bottom of a river or reservoir and stay down?

I guess that’s a possibility! I could definitely see someone using a large ice chest to transport a body. JMO

ETA: I remember the case of Anne Marie Fahey. She was placed in an ice chest and dumped in the ocean. The ice chest eventually surfaced, but she never did

 

[swedeheart]

I guess that’s a possibility! I could definitely see someone using a large ice chest to transport a body. JMO

in the back of a truck. on the way to a work site. nothing to see here! it would look totally normal.