Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #35

[MadTing]

I am intrigued to know how he actually went about planting the bike in the location it was found. Did he drive his truck or another vehicle to the location with the bike in the back, get out of the vehicle unload the bike then thrown it down? That could be pretty risky in case somebody saw him or spotted his vehicle, also this may have shown up on his GPS as stopping in that location.

If he didn't take a vehicle then how did he get the bike there? did he ride a female bike from his house with what i would imagine would have a much smaller frame size than bike he would use which would look funny to any body passing through and would also leave him having to make he way back on foot increasing his chances of being spotted again.

 

[osu]

I forgot about those barrels. You've brought up more possibilities.

Inside garage at Puma Path.
Photo #30.

19057 Puma Path, Salida, CO 81201 | Zillow

 

[Dave F.]

MOO I haven't seen any reports on the equipment or attachments BM owned and/or rented. He could have rented, borrowed, or owned a back hoe attachment. There was a track hoe at the job site LE searched. BM may or may not had access to it. It would do the exact same work as the Bobcat skid steer with a back hoe attachment. Actually it would probably have gone deeper and wider reach wise. JMO To keep the Bobcat from tipping you would have to balance it with counterweights. You put them on the back to counter the force and weight of the digging and dirt/rock. It also need stability. So thats where the stabilizer bar/bars come into play. They will act as an anchor of sorts,and also act as a balance if you're on uneven terrain. These two things are needed with every dig. Especially the counterweights. They are needed moving anything. You must have them for the machinery to do its job. IMO ANYONE who uses ANY heavy equipment knows this. Most pieces of heavy equipment that moves dirt, rock, or pulls a plow of any type has counterweights.
Counterweight Kit, 7129250

Rear Stabilizer Attachment for Loaders - Bobcat Company
MOO As far as moving attachments, it can be done on a trailer with a Bobcat. It just has to be secured and the trailer has to be accommodating in size. Attachments can be changed pretty fast and easily. One of Bobcats selling points is fast attachment hook up. You line it up, bump it, and then hook up the hydraulic hoses. Theres a button or two to push, and its on.
MOO

Very good description!

My point was:
"He could have transported his Bobcat on that trailer with a backhoe attachment installed, but it would have been impossible to carry the Bobcat and the backhoe attachment separately, on the same trailer."
I was referring to the size and structure of the trailer being inadequate to carry the bobcat and separate attachments at the same time, not the adaptability of the Bobcat.

I also am well aware that the larger piece of equipment at the jobsite is designed to dig a wider and deeper hole. It may be the piece of equipment that the neighbor lady heard in the middle of the night, since it was stored on site. My theory is that larger piece of equipment was used to remove and replace the septic leach field by another contractor, during the demo phase in March and April. The original trunk line from it's entry point under the double-wide mobile home that was previously on that site to the old leach field itself, is the location of the LE cut and dig. That refilled trenching could have created a backfill anomaly on the ground penetrating radar in the spot where LE removed a portion of the concrete slab, and dug. The drone photography of the slab search site shows the "beach" worksite. LE made no major disturbance to it during the entire search, and to the best of my observation and study, LE completely ignored the onsite equipment in the search.
There are many, many details that would have had to happen in a very limited time frame for BM's Bobcat to be used to create a quick hole in the ground and fill it back in, anywhere.
IMO

The graphic was produced entirely in Google Earth Pro with no external editing. The "Polygon" feature of GE was used to drop a red outline in the approximate position of the portion of the slab that was removed by LE. The leach field itself, a forklike network of slotted sewer piping, would was located in the non-open area between the U-shaped driveway and the highway (as far from the flowing river as was practical). The site of "the beach" work is seen in this aerial shot as a dark section of riverfront, quite a distance directly behind the area of LE's cut.

 

[DizzyB]

BBM - what things? I thought they could access the phone records from the carrier and get content like text messages, location data (if turned on) cell phone pings from the tower - if Gmail or photo sharing is used-pictures ? I would like to learn more about what the actual physical phone has that the carrier and apps wouldn’t have? I’m thinking of Kelseys smashed phone and I thought they had a lot of information from it without the actual phone?
JMO

I did a little bit of reading on recovery of text messages without a physical phone. If there’s a geek in the house, please correct me if I am wrong. Suzanne may have had an iPhone. If Suzanne used Imessaging with another iPhone user, those messages would be encrypted and Apple would not provide anything other than the pings back and forth-in other words, they would give times and locations but not the actual text of the messages.

At times, my messages do not go through when on iMessage. They are then sent via SMS. I am unsure if this is due to signal strength or other factors, and I have zero knowledge of how this would affect someone who lived in a location as remote as the Morphews.

 

[Hatfield]

Very good description!

My point was:
"He could have transported his Bobcat on that trailer with a backhoe attachment installed, but it would have been impossible to carry the Bobcat and the backhoe attachment separately, on the same trailer."
I was referring to the size and structure of the trailer being inadequate to carry the bobcat and separate attachments at the same time, not the adaptability of the Bobcat.

I also am well aware that the larger piece of equipment at the jobsite is designed to dig a wider and deeper hole. It may be the piece of equipment that the neighbor lady heard in the middle of the night, since it was stored on site. My theory is that larger piece of equipment was used to remove and replace the septic leach field by another contractor, during the demo phase in March and April. The original trunk line from it's entry point under the double-wide mobile home that was previously on that site to the old leach field itself, is the location of the LE cut and dig. That refilled trenching could have created a backfill anomaly on the ground penetrating radar in the spot where LE removed a portion of the concrete slab, and dug. The drone photography of the slab search site shows the "beach" worksite. LE made no major disturbance to it during the entire search, and to the best of my observation and study, LE completely ignored the onsite equipment in the search.
There are many, many details that would have had to happen in a very limited time frame for BM's Bobcat to be used to create a quick hole in the ground and fill it back in, anywhere.
IMO

The graphic was produced entirely in Google Earth Pro with no external editing. The "Polygon" feature of GE was used to drop a red outline in the approximate position of the portion of the slab that was removed by LE. The leach field itself, a forklike network of slotted sewer piping, would was located in the non-open area between the U-shaped driveway and the highway (as far from the flowing river as was practical). The site of "the beach" work is seen in this aerial shot as a dark section of riverfront, quite a distance directly behind the area of LE's cut.

Thanks Dave. That's a nice image that clearly shows the large Arkansas river at the top and the shady spots that have the beach area that we saw in other photos where the new boulders were laid off the side of the beach.

I used to have Google Earth installed and I need to get it back on my PC. Its much nicer to use than regular google maps from what I remember.

 

[oviedo]

I did a little bit of reading on recovery of text messages without a physical phone. If there’s a geek in the house, please correct me if I am wrong. Suzanne may have had an iPhone. If Suzanne used Imessaging with another iPhone user, those messages would be encrypted and Apple would not provide anything other than the pings back and forth-in other words, they would give times and locations but not the actual text of the messages.

At times, my messages do not go through when on iMessage. They are then sent via SMS. I am unsure if this is due to signal strength or other factors, and I have zero knowledge of how this would affect someone who lived in a location as remote as the Morphews.

I'm going to guess that her friend may have done screenshots of the messaging once she found out SM was missing? and turned those over -I wonder who the account holder was for their cell phones? I can log in and see every incoming and outgoing telephone call and text message (not contents) just through my verizon account. So if something similar is available and LE has it, they would know who she was communicating with via the phone number and when. More importantly - when did all of this stop? (outgoing, incoming we know the girls were trying to contact her and would guess they used several methods)
JMO

 

[Eloise]

I did a little bit of reading on recovery of text messages without a physical phone. If there’s a geek in the house, please correct me if I am wrong. Suzanne may have had an iPhone. If Suzanne used Imessaging with another iPhone user, those messages would be encrypted and Apple would not provide anything other than the pings back and forth-in other words, they would give times and locations but not the actual text of the messages.

At times, my messages do not go through when on iMessage. They are then sent via SMS. I am unsure if this is due to signal strength or other factors, and I have zero knowledge of how this would affect someone who lived in a location as remote as the Morphews.

Yup, all correct. iMessage uses data and is end-to-end encrypted and is only for iPhone to iPhone. If defaults back to SMS when you have no data signal and is also SMS when messaging non-iPhone users (or iPhone users that have turned iMessage off), and it's true data signal might have been patchy out there.

You can also of course message people via something like WhatsApp which is also end-to-end encrypted.

 

[Warwick7]

I did a little bit of reading on recovery of text messages without a physical phone. If there’s a geek in the house, please correct me if I am wrong. Suzanne may have had an iPhone. If Suzanne used Imessaging with another iPhone user, those messages would be encrypted and Apple would not provide anything other than the pings back and forth-in other words, they would give times and locations but not the actual text of the messages.

At times, my messages do not go through when on iMessage. They are then sent via SMS. I am unsure if this is due to signal strength or other factors, and I have zero knowledge of how this would affect someone who lived in a location as remote as the Morphews.

I don't have an iphone. But, once I found out my friend was missing I would screenshot my whole conversation with her. And take them to LE.
(Especially since AM stated Divorce was in the scenario).

 

[Megnut]

Inside garage at Puma Path.
Photo #30.

19057 Puma Path, Salida, CO 81201 | Zillow

That photo is from the 2018 listing so the barrels belong to the previous owner, no?

JMO

 

[Warwick7]

I'm going to guess that her friend may have done screenshots of the messaging once she found out SM was missing? and turned those over -I wonder who the account holder was for their cell phones? I can log in and see every incoming and outgoing telephone call and text message (not contents) just through my verizon account. So if something similar is available and LE has it, they would know who she was communicating with via the phone number and when. More importantly - when did all of this stop? (outgoing, incoming we know the girls were trying to contact her and would guess they used several methods)
JMO

Exactly!

 

[Seattle1]

Through verizon, I was able to get the text message details between two of the phones on my account. they sent a printout. I guess it depends on the carrier/phone/syncing/ - if the phone was using their home wifi during saturday's wedding conversation, I would think they would know that by examining the router/network at the house? There was a cell phone expert on Kelsey's thread I think? would be good to have their input.
JMO

The Weld County District Attorney released 2,000+ pages of discovery in the Watts murder case, and there are some good examples of what information LE was able to obtain from extracted phone data. Also, I noticed that the investigator noted he would obtain a follow-up search warrant to search the hidden browser and dummy apps CW used to hide images on his phone.

Kelsey's case had good info on tracking phones and cell tower triangulation but not near the volume of discovery as Watts case.

 

[NatureLover]

I wonder if he’ll plan a hunting trip as an excuse not to attend the search, which would be another bad move on his part. Would he have the audacity? We’ll see.

Or he might have an important activity involving his daughters which would keep them all away?

MOO

 

[MadTing]

Iv'e never actually pondered this before but do any cell phone service providers store contents of text messages? I would not be surprised if there was some kind of privacy law preventing them doing so but i really have no idea. I know they record all the times messages and calls are made and received but not sure about the content of the messages.

 

[Hoosierfan72]

This!! I don't believe BM plotted to murder SM as in premeditated, either. I believe it was misadventure. The issue is what would make an individual decide to cover up an accident. If there was discord between the couple, whether it was about SM's dissatisfaction with the move to CO, or her desire to go to a wedding in IN, or tensions regarding her cancer diagnosis and a disagreement regarding alternate therapies, I have no idea. But something came to a head.

I suppose anyone can daydream about being single when things aren't going well with your spouse; it doesn't make you a murderer. Discord in a marriage can result in a wandering eye and finding a sympathetic shoulder. Perhaps BM was under pressure regarding finances, too.

But when an accident happens that ends in death that was triggered by an angry exchange some people could interpret the result as being seen as premeditated. Especially if others are aware of the tensions.

I was looking at the Morphew home and how long the driveway is and how they appear to be the only residence on Puma Path for quite a distance. The closest home to them isn't even on that road; the entrance to that residence is north of Puma Path. Walking, they'd have to cross the Arkansas river to get to the Morphew residence. And we know that many of the homes in the area are not full term residences, that they are vacation homes or AirBnB's. So it's very possible that Suzanne in an effort to end an argument or fight removed herself from the situation and chose to ride her bike and BM, in a fit of pique, got in his truck and followed her, yelling dammit Suzanne just stop! and ended up hitting her. He may have picked her up and brought her back to the house where she died.

And the next act is what separates a perceived murder from a tragic accident: covering it up.

According to GM, she was with BM in Salida on Saturday until 11 am. That was when he had to go home to make "the wife" happy and go hiking or biking. Normally, I would think it was at this time, if there was a plan to eliminate SM it came to fruition, but the evidence of the texting between SM and her BFF in IN, shortly after noon, seem to refute this theory since it was the abrupt ending of the conversation that triggered the panic not the content of the conversation. GM also maintains that BM was in Salida for the rest of the afternoon but that is second hand information, I believe. So I think BM came back to Salida after SM's demise and was scrambling to organize a rush job in Broomfield for Monday to create an alibi, which is why he never mentioned it to GM that morning. It seems odd to me that a government job would be so loosey goosey without any oversight from a structural engineer or someone like that, which is why no tools were left to do the job. BM would know you don't just up and work on a government project without someone there to oversee.

I also believe that maybe BM drove to Broomfield more than once between late Saturday afternoon and Sunday just before six pm.

As to where SM's remains are. I still think they are close to home. MOO

I'm not quite following why you believe the abrupt ending to SMs convo with her friend points away from premeditation? If that's the moment something happened to her (which I think is a reasonable assumption at this point), that doesn't seem to indicate an argument that "got out of control", IMO. That seems to indicate an ambush. But do you have another take on that?

Also, why do you think he went to Broomfield more than once? IMO, Broomfield was supposed to be his alibi for SM's "bike ride" - but do you think there was a different reason for that trip?

 

[DizzyB]

I don’t delete most messages (my iPhone is a dumpster fire). I have to get a new phone but I need to back up my text messages first because some are from people who are no longer of this Earth. I’m out of cloud space.

If I were Suzanne’s friend, screenshots would not be required. I would probably have every single conversation, both sides, sitting right there on my iPhone.

 

[NatureLover]

Please tell me.. Is there an organized internet site for the search? I read every day whenever I can but can't find a site. I'm in Michigan and wanted to see if there was any ride share type thing going on for the search.Thank you in advance.

Yes, which you've surely been directed to. AM is in Michigan with his dad right now. If you can get to Alexandria, I'm sure there will be people you can ride with to Colorado.

MOO

 

[Tate123]

The drone photography of the slab search site shows the "beach" worksite. LE made no major disturbance to it during the entire search, and to the best of my observation and study, LE completely ignored the onsite equipment in the search.

<bsbm>
With all due respect, we have no idea what LE ignored or didn't. Unless one of us was part of the search we are just going by online pics that give us only a glimpse of a large three-day search.

 

[Hatfield]

Yes, which you've surely been directed to. AM is in Michigan with his dad right now. If you can get to Alexandria, I'm sure there will be people you can ride with to Colorado.

MOO

I agree that anyone that wants to join the search and lives anywhere near AM or in Indiana should try to email AM to ask him about any coordinated rides to Colorado. Car pooling at a minimum will surely occur. I also suspect that they may realize renting a bus or two will be a good idea to transport people to Colorado.

 

[MsBetsy]

I am intrigued to know how he actually went about planting the bike in the location it was found. Did he drive his truck or another vehicle to the location with the bike in the back, get out of the vehicle unload the bike then thrown it down? That could be pretty risky in case somebody saw him or spotted his vehicle, also this may have shown up on his GPS as stopping in that location.

If he didn't take a vehicle then how did he get the bike there? did he ride a female bike from his house with what i would imagine would have a much smaller frame size than bike he would use which would look funny to any body passing through and would also leave him having to make he way back on foot increasing his chances of being spotted again.

In one of the earlier threads someone local commented that there were trails that led up to the Morphew property or at least close to it. I wonder how easy it would have been to get from the home to the place the bike was found through the woods surrounding the property. Maybe the bike was actually thrown up the hill instead of down the hill. Imo

 

[oviedo]

I don’t delete most messages (my iPhone is a dumpster fire). I have to get a new phone but I need to back up my text messages first because some are from people who are no longer of this Earth. I’m out of cloud space.

If I were Suzanne’s friend, screenshots would not be required. I would probably have every single conversation, both sides, sitting right there on my iPhone.

yes of course but if they are going to be evidence LE would need to probably take the phone? screenshots might be useful so they know what potentially could be important? I'd love to know if they have her phone/computer or whatever device she was using to communicate that Saturday.

JMO