Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #4

[LietKynes]

BBM:

From the very beginning, I've been openly dubious about the Sunday bike ride story.

I'm firmly in the camp that the bike ride was a complete fiction.

The purpose of staging is usually misdirection.

"Look over there, not here."

I can't think of a reason for a stranger to stage a disappearance during a bike ride, can anyone else?

JMO.

Hi GK !
Needs an emoji for a "happy dance" !!

And it appears we are on the same page.
The bike plus one other undisclosed item have been found.
What random abductor takes things from the house including a bike and plants it ?

We still do not know what Suzanne was even wearing that day... maybe b/c we don't know for sure what day she vanished on.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

MOO
Lots o'speculation....

An interesting coincidence that a disappearance occurred when SM was (thought to be) alone at the house.

Disappeared either by someone else, or by herself.

Why would LE want the public to know a "personal item" of SM's was found in the area? How does that help in the investigation?

What items could be referred to as "personal item"... I believe that phrase was used with intent; we know it belongs to SM and we want a potential perp to know we have it.

Medication.
Cell phone.
Clothing / shoes.
Keys.
Firearm or pepper spray.
None of the above.

Maybe it was something SM (or anyone else for that matter) would not typically bring with her when she left the house something only kept at and used within the home. I doubt it.

I'm leaning toward it being pepper spray, second choice is firearm.

What would LE be searching for in the house? How would they know something is out of place, missing or added with BM on site to assist?

I suspect LE is checking for signs of cleaning. Luminol, perhaps... to include or rule out the typical 'POI-or-suspect' in such cases.

If there were signs of abduction would LE be willing to share that it's an abduction case?

Was BM's plea video a plea to a perp or only a plea to SM? What does BM think might have happened?

MOO

 

[Hatfield]

I can't think of a reason for a stranger to stage a disappearance during a bike ride, can anyone else?

JMO.

JMO
No, me either and I have been trying to see if I can eliminate a stranger abduction and the whole bike thing is what is making me almost eliminate it.

Because if it was a stranger or even someone that knew the family in a work capacity and felt they were owed money or something, I just cant see that person staging a bike scene to make it look like she went on a bike ride.

A perp like that would have either abducted her right from her house or did the normal "bump bike with vehicle to knock her off bike" if she was in fact on a bike ride.

The details I really need in order to totally eliminate a stranger or someone that knew them abduction is to know the exact condition of the bike and exactly how it was positioned and if it was in a rideable condition.

Information that is hard to nail down right now.

 

[IntheSticks]

I am a native and had never heard of Maysville. Yikes

lol

Don't feel bad! It's teeny.

I grew up in Salida and Maysville is on the way to Monarch Ski Area and past that, Gunnison (Western Colorado U) so lots of people in this area know it. I said back in thread 3 (?) that it's considered part of the Chaffee County Census but there's only 135 people in it now and it's mostly residences. Maysville had a thousand people in it back in the day...1880. Mining area. But if you blink as you're driving through "town limits" (which, again, isn't a town), you totally miss it. Beautiful area, though.

Speaking of Maysville, I actually just drove up there a couple days ago (with my mask and gloves, y'all...I don't go anywhere without those these days). Near the base of the pass is a Shell station with an attached Mexican restaurant. The restaurant has a big "MISSING" banner hung outside with a photo of SM and the tip line. Everybody in the county is talking about this, and we're all very upset. It's an awful, awful thing and we all are desperate for answers. I hope some are forthcoming soon, for the sake of SM's friends and family.

 

[whitelilac]

There's no reason some random stranger perp intruder would remove Suzanne from the house, if she was attacked there......except if the guy was afraid of being identified by DNA and is in the registry.
with staging being an extra insurance.
Sill considering scenarios that do not involve someone particular.

 

[10ofRods]

I am not aware of the purported thirty (30) year trend you mention, so I can't comment. What I will say is that it isn't easy to persuade a judge to seal a search warrant. As I mentioned earlier, the police in this case would have had to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that there is a substantial risk of injury to persons or property if an order to seal is not granted. In the context of a missing person investigation, that should give everyone a great deal of pause.

Are you in Colorado? The last few cases I've followed in Colorado have had sealed search warrants, and the warrants seemed to have been executed fairly quickly. I think it started with the Ramsey case, then other jurisdictions adopted the same practice. Eventually, if an arrest is made, of course it becomes public. But the idea has been that criminals don't need to be given a laundry list of items to help them construct an alibi.

I think it's also the case where I live (SoCal), but those are just two places. I tend to follow cases from those two states (my dad and all his family are from Colorado, my sister was living there for a long time, I still visit Colorado frequently). Oh, and I follow Utah, Nevada and Arizona cases as well. Not sure about search warrant sealing in all those places - but it sure has been frustrating in the Colorado cases. The Gannon Stauch case is another recent one where the same thing happened.

 

[Seattle1]

Way upthread, it was reported that Suzanne was last seen on the 9th. Is that correct, anyone remember who said that, whether it was official?

I believe it was reported that Suzanne was last in CONTACT on May 9. A significant difference between when last sighted (physically seen alive) and when she made contact as we know too well how others can act as imposters making contact on your behalf.

As with much of this case, the last contact cited in MSM has not been verified by LE.

 

[10ofRods]

I never stated it was odd he didn't replace it. They made it seem like it a problem they couldn't get a hold of barry. Plus if your wife/husband was missing and you actually believed they kidnapped them for ransom, you would get a new cellphone, because I assume that would be one way they could get a hold of you for said ransom.

I'm curious how a kidnapper would know my husband's (or my) cell phone number. Do you think they have a subscription to some online search engine like White Pages? It's possible. But is there another way? When I do a regular reverse phone look-up, neither my number or my husband's comes up with our names.

 

[justtrish]

I also think it's entirely possible she went for a ride on Saturday and was abducted then possibly on her way back to the house.. it would be easy for someone to see her leave and wait for her to return.. take her (nearly no neighbors to see anything) and just leave the bike where it was and toss some items out as they made their way further up the road. I don't think it makes sense for someone who knows her to stage a bike.. if cameras weren't working and the phone is home, then why the need to stage anything that would create more suspicion. If she just disappeared and there is no video of it, then it's a mystery.. planting a bike now making it more suspicious if an abduction from the bike didn't actually happen. At least that is my opinion. I don't think anyone would stage her bike if she wasn't actually on a ride when whatever happened happpened.

 

[10ofRods]

A couple of things I'm not clear on.

1. Do we know the date the daughters left for their camping trip?
2. Did the daughters know their dad was going to be away the same time they were?

We're not allowed to sleuth the family.

 

[susiQ]

JMO
No, me either and I have been trying to see if I can eliminate a stranger abduction and the whole bike thing is what is making me almost eliminate it.

Because if it was a stranger or even someone that knew the family in a work capacity and felt they were owed money or something, I just cant see that person staging a bike scene to make it look like she went on a bike ride.

A perp like that would have either abducted her right from her house or did the normal "bump bike with vehicle to knock her off bike" if she was in fact on a bike ride.

The details I really need in order to totally eliminate a stranger or someone that knew them abduction is to know the exact condition of the bike and exactly how it was positioned and if it was in a rideable condition.

Information that is hard to nail down right now.

I want to know where the “story” of the bike ride originated. Just sayin’.

 

[cody22]

Then why is LE taking thing out of her house, along with a Crime Van?

To keep "property/possible evidence" from being injured/destroyed....???????.....moo

 

[GoJacks]

I'm curious how a kidnapper would know my husband's (or my) cell phone number. Do you think they have a subscription to some online search engine like White Pages? It's possible. But is there another way? When I do a regular reverse phone look-up, neither my number or my husband's comes up with our names.

Well, I don't really think there was a random "kidnapper" to begin with.

But I'm assuming if this was to be the case, Suzanne could easily tell the kidnapper her husbands cell phone number?

From BM's plea it seemed like that was the angle he was going with or tending to believe. It seemed like he was pleading with a kidnapper/someone looking for a ransom. In my mind, if I truly thought that was the case and there was ANY hope my significant other would be trying to reach out to me, I would be buying a new phone that day.

And to no one in particular, he would not need a new phone number to activate a new phone.

 

[clearskies1]

But staging a bike ride which makes it look like as if she was grabbed during a bike ride would be indeed. Then again if there was a crime scene within the house, we would have known by now right? So where is the acutal crime scene? Where the mysterious personal belonging was found?

Not necessarily. If SM was strangled in the home (god forbid), there would probably be little forensic evidence of a crime. JMO.

 

[Hatfield]

I want to know where the “story” of the bike ride originated. Just sayin’.

JMO
I believe the nephew is where we first heard about a bike being found. Dotting out names to protect the innocent

"..... says her bike was found that evening, but Morphew was nowhere to be found. Sheriff John Spezze has told CBS4 it was “probably not” animals. ..... urged people to question the sheriff about the condition of the bike."

'We Want Her Back': $200,000 Reward Offered In Search For Suzanne Morphew

 

[vaporlass]

That’s a good point. One thing to consider related to a stalker is that we are in just such odd times with Covid. It would be extremely hard to stalk someone now and not stick out in some capacity. Then, if it was a stalker they would have timed it exactly when the daughters were gone camping and the husband was out on a training trip. This could have potentially been the only window of time in months that the circumstances played out for SM to be alone.
Not impossible but seems to not be very probable.

This statement really caught my attention. Whomever is responsible HAD TO KNOW girls were gone and BM was out of town.
That’s just too much of a coincidence for me, combined with secluded location. So almost impossible (99.9%) for a stranger to be responsible IMO.
Y’all probably already came to that conclusion but I’m just now reading and catching up.

 

[susiQ]

My guess regarding the condition of the bike is that perhaps SM had gone on a ride previously, and mentioned to one of her family members “oh such and such happened, and my brakes are jammed. How can I fix that?” then left the bike in the garage for repair another time. Perhaps, hypothetically, the family member mentioned it to other family members when her bike was found, and said “wait, SM couldn’t have ridden that bike. She was waiting to get the brakes fixed.”

Maybe LE asked the family about the bike or mentioned the condition when it was found. Perhaps the perp wasn’t aware the brakes were messed up, making it apparent to LE and to her family that she could not have ridden the bike to that location, and they now know this was a staged incident. purely speculation.
JMO IMO MOO

That would explain why LE are not investigating as if it were a random abduction, untimely accident or self harm. I think they’ve GOT this! JMO

 

[UnapologeticallyAspie]

BBM:

That definitely ain't MY biggest concern.

I don't think a stranger caused her disappearance.

You’re back! YAYYYY!!!!

 

[TristanP]

Did anyone make a transcript of the press conference? I’m gathering some info and can’t transcribe it myself, but I’d like to add in anything useful the Sheriff said.

 

[10ofRods]

Well, I don't really think there was a random "kidnapper" to begin with.

But I'm assuming if this was to be the case, Suzanne could easily tell the kidnapper her husbands cell phone number?

From BM's plea it seemed like that was the angle he was going with or tending to believe. It seemed like he was pleading with a kidnapper/someone looking for a ransom. In my mind, if I truly thought that was the case and there was ANY hope my significant other would be trying to reach out to me, I would be buying a new phone that day.

And to no one in particular, he would not need a new phone number to activate a new phone.

That's what I was thinking - which is why it's strange that BM is without his phone. And yes, I'd get a cloned phone immediately - although I wonder about the technicalities of that. A lot of my stuff is in the Cloud so if I got another iPhone (which I would), then I'd have the old number ported over - would LE consider that an attempt to fool with evidence, I wonder?

I'm trying to remember what was left on my old phone when I got my new one (no phone numbers, that I remember - I didn't make the switch myself, someone in the store did it, I can't remember if she did something special to rid my old phone of those numbers or not). Gah. Phones are not my thing. Mine is just an advanced alarm clock and kindle, to me.