Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #51

[303gmf]

Re the latest PE video:
1). MG still has some of the tools BM left in the hotel room?!?!
2). GD and TN “sizing up” MG. This was allegedly Tuesday, 5/12, when MG, JP, and CC got back from Broomfield. I think TN was starting to have some doubts about BM. He dropped out of the picture the following week after initially starting out as the family spokesman and overseer of the GF account. He did not refer to BM by name, only as “the husband”. That was probably at BM’s request, (demand) which TN might have found strange. TN was also telling the public to pressure LE about the condition of the bike. I think TN may have been uncomfortable about approaching MG in Salida that day.
3) GD also saw the bike being pulled up from where it was found? LS originally said after her interview with GD that he had received a call from another FF telling him that the bike had been found. GD said he then called BM. BM said, “You’ve heard?” “Are you heading over there?” GD then went to the location. LS said that GD was the third person to see the bike being raised. Who was the third person? If they were raising it when GD got there, I would guess they had at least 10-15 minutes to photograph, finger print, and otherwise document/examine it before bringing it up. We don’t know who spotted it or found it or how long afterwards it was that some of BM’s friends began arriving at the scene.
4). I wish MK had pressed LS a little more about the Broomfield hotel. She seemed to be careful about saying when/how long she thought BM was there. Instead of saying Sunday, she would say Mother’s Day weekend. I think she probably knows when that room was reserved but may have been asked by LE to not publicize it at this time.
MOO

OC I wish I had your confidence that any of the bike finding happened that way. I’m more in the camp...a couple deputies or a solo was called out for a missing bicycle rider in their area wouldn’t have been met with much crime scene expertise as opposed to a typical outdoor recreation mishap.
Moo and hope you’re correct

 

[Rachelj1]

LE often holds back pieces of information on a case. Doing so helps weed out false confessions and can catch perpetrators in lies. Sometimes suspects change their stories based on what they find out LE knows. Leticia Stauch, Gannon Stauch’s stepmother, was a perfect example of that. Every time a bit of information came out she had a new answer for it.
BM proclaimed he did nothing wrong at that hotel. Maybe he didn’t. But maybe he thinks he is smarter than LE and pulled something over on them. We already know he “forgot” a time when he was doing a mechanical thing on his Bobcat.

you are exactly right , and they usually watch these sites to , to stay ahead .
Moo

 

[Rachelj1]

Could someone please explain to me how LS could jeopardize the investigation by sharing a piece of information with the public that she has uncovered, and is proven to be true? For example, let’s say LS knows when the Broomfield room was reserved? What’s the big deal? She knows, LE knows, and Barry knows when the room was booked. Us knowing the truth, doesn’t alter truth or change fact.

Sometimes if something is said publicly , it won’t up hold up in court as well.
Moo

 

[OldCop]

OC I wish I had your confidence that any of the bike finding happened that way. I’m more in the camp...a couple deputies or a solo was called out for a missing bicycle rider in their area wouldn’t have been met with much crime scene expertise as opposed to a typical outdoor recreation mishap.
Moo and hope you’re correct

Oh, I’m not that confident at all. As a matter of fact I would not be surprised if the bike was spotted and several deputies ran down the hill thinking that SM was lying nearby, possibly severely injured. Next could have been a combination of inexperience and urgency. LE is taught that preservation of life is ALWAYS the first priority. The initial report was of a missing adult on a bike ride in rugged territory. The statistics show that she would likely not be a victim of foul play. Also, this is a safe area, crimewise. So the mission would be to find an injured missing person as daylight fell.
Once it was discovered she was not lying near the bike, LE would begin to fan out to search in radiating circles. We know that dogs and SAR teams were brought in the first night.
At some point, it seemed like it was early on, LE began to have suspicions about what really happened. It is very possible that some evidence was lost initially, but why did BM immediately label the location a crime scene?

 

[K9Enzo]

Could someone please explain to me how LS could jeopardize the investigation by sharing a piece of information with the public that she has uncovered, and is proven to be true? For example, let’s say LS knows when the Broomfield room was reserved? What’s the big deal? She knows, LE knows, and Barry knows when the room was booked. Us knowing the truth, doesn’t alter truth or change fact.

I understand why LE withholds investigation info from the public, but your question is about the reporter, LS.

Journalists & reporters often times, IMO, are a headache for LE because they do investigate and release facts about a case that they have uncovered. It’s their job. I have no idea what rules a reporter follows behind the scenes before releasing a story they have been working on. It’s a given in many cases that LE won’t like it, but they are there to report. It’s possible this case, even to reporters, is filled with so many rumors, non verified facts, that it kind of sits dormant. Maybe that’s why national reporters really haven’t touched it (that I know of).

I believe LS is sitting on a treasure trove of information. She has talked to BM several times, at length and others close to this case.

I do like her, still wonder why she appeared to abruptly leave the case right before AM’s private search (maybe completely unrelated), BUT do get frustrated about the same information being talked about over & over (BM’s 3 workers, the hotel, the tools, the job site). That’s it? Again, I’m talking about reporters, not LE. IMO

 

[Rachelj1]

Oh, I’m not that confident at all. As a matter of fact I would not be surprised if the bike was spotted and several deputies ran down the hill thinking that SM was lying nearby, possibly severely injured. Next could have been a combination of inexperience and urgency. LE is taught that preservation of life is ALWAYS the first priority. The initial report was of a missing adult on a bike ride in rugged territory. The statistics show that she would likely not be a victim of foul play. Also, this is a safe area, crimewise. So the mission would be to find an injured missing person as daylight fell.
Once it was discovered she was not lying near the bike, LE would begin to fan out to search in radiating circles. We know that dogs and SAR teams were brought in the first night.
At some point, it seemed like it was early on, LE began to have suspicions about what really happened. It is very possible that some evidence was lost initially, but why did BM immediately label the location a crime scene?

Very odd description by him to label it a crime scene just from a possible bike ride accident isn’t it? You would think the last thing you would even want to think of it being is a crime scene!
Moo

 

[303gmf]

Oh, I’m not that confident at all. As a matter of fact I would not be surprised if the bike was spotted and several deputies ran down the hill thinking that SM was lying nearby, possibly severely injured. Next could have been a combination of inexperience and urgency. LE is taught that preservation of life is ALWAYS the first priority. The initial report was of a missing adult on a bike ride in rugged territory. The statistics show that she would likely not be a victim of foul play. Also, this is a safe area, crimewise. So the mission would be to find an injured missing person as daylight fell.
Once it was discovered she was not lying near the bike, LE would begin to fan out to search in radiating circles. We know that dogs and SAR teams were brought in the first night.
At some point, it seemed like it was early on, LE began to have suspicions about what really happened. It is very possible that some evidence was lost initially, but why did BM immediately label the location a crime scene?

Exactly.
I knew you’d know what I meant
The odds in such an active outdoor recreational area of a crime scene almost silly but here we are!

 

[Spartygirl]

An informative episode. Sounds like CM and MK have gone their separate ways. MK does a much better job of avoiding the extra fluff in this one.
MK quote: “Law enforcement should be working with the Mormon family, and the Morphew family, and reporting to them weekly, or every couple of weeks and just saying here’s where we are.”

BBM-- Really ??
I haven't seen or read anything about them separating and have watched many, many PE videos.
Do you know more about this??
I am just curious as I really like the 2 of them together.

 

[Curiousobserver]

Exactly.
I knew you’d know what I meant
The odds in such an active outdoor recreational area of a crime scene almost silly but here we are!

And its likely that BM was getting constant texts or calls from people he knew who were involved in that search. His responses would be interesting.

Something clearly focused LE one way very quickly and since, as you said, crime in that circumstance/location is so rare that something must have been glaringly off.

 

[Algo214]

BBM-- Really ??
I haven't seen or read anything about them separating and have watched many, many PE videos.
Do you know more about this??
I am just curious as I really like the 2 of them together.

CM started his own channel and parted ways amicably with MK but will still feature every now and then in PE.

 

[MrsWatson]

The whole bike/crime scene scenario is itself a big red flag. When someone is reported missing, from a bike ride, in such rugged terrain, it beggars belief that the first thought of first responders would be a crime scene. It would go against not only common sense, but also their training. So BM immediately seizing on the bike being a "crime scene" could have been the first big red flag.

All MOO

 

[Momofthreeboys]

Could someone please explain to me how LS could jeopardize the investigation by sharing a piece of information with the public that she has uncovered, and is proven to be true? For example, let’s say LS knows when the Broomfield room was reserved? What’s the big deal? She knows, LE knows, and Barry knows when the room was booked. Us knowing the truth, doesn’t alter truth or change fact.

Perhaps LE has not entirely discounted Broomfield. It feels like a dead end to me, but if they are keeping information quiet they may not have eliminated the comings and going in and around Broomfield yet. I also think it is possible LE has gotten leery of social media so are keeping things tight to maintain integrity of the case.

 

[K9Enzo]

IIRC, the first time I heard BM criticize LE on the handling of the bike was in that YouTube guys video (can’t remember his name). My assumption was that conversation happened a couple weeks after SM went missing.

If I think of a defense of BM, a innocent BM (another way to look at this) his wife is gone, it’s days later, weeks later, she’s most likely not going to be found alive. He’s gone through several scenarios in his head, even the stupid mountain lion theory, and thinks that bike & area is a crime scene and was not handled properly. He’s reflecting back, because SM is still missing and he’s angry & frustrated. Maybe he was troubled by the bike scene immediately. IMO

 

[MrsWatson]

I know it's been eight months, but could it be possible that LE is still coordinating all the data dumps? It's a huge amount, all the phones, GPS in vehicles, all the devices, etc. A monumental task. Add in Corona virus, an election that was fraught with chaos, other high-priority crimes, could it take this long to sort through it all & make sense of it?

 

[OldCop]

I understand why LE withholds investigation info from the public, but your question is about the reporter, LS.

Journalists & reporters often times, IMO, are a headache for LE because they do investigate and release facts about a case that they have uncovered. It’s their job. I have no idea what rules a reporter follows behind the scenes before releasing a story they have been working on. It’s a given in many cases that LE won’t like it, but they are there to report. It’s possible this case, even to reporters, is filled with so many rumors, non verified facts, that it kind of sits dormant. Maybe that’s why national reporters really haven’t touched it (that I know of).

I believe LS is sitting on a treasure trove of information. She has talked to BM several times, at length and others close to this case.

I do like her, still wonder why she appeared to abruptly leave the case right before AM’s private search (maybe completely unrelated), BUT do get frustrated about the same information being talked about over & over (BM’s 3 workers, the hotel, the tools, the job site). That’s it? Again, I’m talking about reporters, not LE. IMO

I agree with most everything you’ve said, @K9Enzo. I have the same questions as you about LS.
The relationship between LE and the press can be like walking a tightrope. The reporter wants to break the story and sell the most papers. LE wants to keep things close to the vest in order not to derail their investigation.
There is a big difference between the right to know and the want to know. The relationship between LE and the press often blows up because some reporters and members of the public confuse transparency with accountability. Transparency doesn’t come in to play in a criminal investigation until you get to court. Accountability should come into play immediately but LE needs only to show they are doing their job.
Good reporters don’t want to burn their LE sources because there’s always one more case to cover down the road. LE would like to be reported on in a favorable light.
So we find ourselves watching this waltz between LE and the press. Unfortunately not everyone has rhythm. Can you spot the partner with two left feet?

 

[Lyanna]

Very odd description by him to label it a crime scene just from a possible bike ride accident isn’t it? You would think the last thing you would even want to think of it being is a crime scene!
Moo

Also odd is what LS said about the lack of flyer being there, wonder if there are any flowes/pictures there for Suzanne

 

[Ontario Mom]

We know that dogs and SAR teams were brought in the first night. At some point, it seemed like it was early on, LE began to have suspicions about what really happened. It is very possible that some evidence was lost initially, but why did BM immediately label the location a crime scene?

RSBM

Same question I asked, why did GD immediately presume the location of the bike was a crime scene, when he showed up? Did BM say something to him on the phone on the way there, to cause him to think that? This is a big, fat, red flag for me.

jmo

 

[OldCop]

IIRC, the first time I heard BM criticize LE on the handling of the bike was in that YouTube guys video (can’t remember his name). My assumption was that conversation happened a couple weeks after SM went missing.

If I think of a defense of BM, a innocent BM (another way to look at this) his wife is gone, it’s days later, weeks later, she’s most likely not going to be found alive. He’s gone through several scenarios in his head, even the stupid mountain lion theory, and thinks that bike & area is a crime scene and was not handled properly. He’s reflecting back, because SM is still missing and he’s angry & frustrated. Maybe he was troubled by the bike scene immediately. IMO

This is part of the transcription of TD’s video recording when he met BM.
My opinion was that BM was very frustrated that LE didn’t buy his story; hook, line, and sinker. I think he was deflecting. He laid out the perfect scene and LE messed it up.
Most folks, if their spouse was missing in these circumstances, would come flying up to the scene and begin running around looking themselves. Many times LE has to hold them back.
BM arrived and is mad that LE is searching for his wife when they should have been standing around waiting for the Crime Scene Unit to arrive.

 

[StarrDetective]

OC I wish I had your confidence that any of the bike finding happened that way. I’m more in the camp...a couple deputies or a solo was called out for a missing bicycle rider in their area wouldn’t have been met with much crime scene expertise as opposed to a typical outdoor recreation mishap.
Moo and hope you’re correct

yeah, i doubt they processed it for fingerprints, but MOO is it wouldn’t matter because if BM is responsible for it being down there, his fingerprints would be on it. Those fingerprints wouldn’t prove guilt, since he lives w SM.
The thing I’m really curious about is what if something functionally was wrong w the bike and it was inoperable, like a missing bike chain or seat? That would be MaJOR OOPS for BM. It’d get him on a dumb criminals top 10 list

 

[K9Enzo]

@OldCop thank you. I enjoy chatting with you. Very good thoughts.