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

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RickshawFan said:
He has IN license plates? Ooops! He'd be very noticeable in CO. His chances of being seen somewhere he says he wasn't just got a lot higher.
Can't believe he has IN plates when his biz is registered in CO.
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I think it's more likely that IN plates belong to "school friends" that came to help or perhaps even his mother's vehicle.
 
RickshawFan said:
He has IN license plates? Ooops! He'd be very noticeable in CO. His chances of being seen somewhere he says he wasn't just got a lot higher.
Can't believe he has IN plates when his biz is registered in CO.
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Indiana plates are some of the most expensive in the country due to excise taxes. For example, the plate for my SUV is $460 per year.

It is very common for Indiana residents to have out-of-state plates, although you can get ticketed for it if you get caught.
 
Hoosierfan72 said:
I've listened to it a couple of times and still don't know what to think. My initial reaction was he was being largely truthful (but exaggerating), but the more I listen (and the more I read comments) the more questions I have. However, regardless, I do think that there are probably more truths in here than lies - so I wanted to look at it from the lens of "what if BM is telling the truth?

The bike was found near the road in a ravine (not on a bridge, not up the mountain on a path). LE found a personal item along that same road some distance away. Obviously LE knows if this is true or not.

Clearly the animal attack narrative (per the email to the church) came from BM. It sounds like BM is still holding to that as a possibility, despite LEs statement that it was "unlikely".

BM believes LE mishandled the scene around the bike. This might explain TNs statement about "ask the sheriff" re: the condition of the bike. It could also explain why LE has been so tight-lipped about the the bike. Obviously LE knows if this is true or not.

BM also appears to be holding onto the abduction possibility. That's not surprising given the video and lack of other alternative plausible theories.

We potentially learned quite a bit about BMs alleged whereabouts on Sunday. I didn't hear him actually state when he left home, but believe he implies it was on Sunday (which would also imply he very well could have been the last person to see SM alive). He also states the plan was for the daughters to be back earlier in the day to spend time with SM, that they were delayed and texted SM. It's when they didn't hear back that they became concerned and called the neighbor. He indicates he was in the communication loop and actually suggested that they call the police. He says he got home around 9 pm, which fits fairly closely with heading home around the time the call to the police was made. There is a lot of detail in that narrative that could be corroborated or refuted based on cell records, interviewing the neighbor, daughters and others who may have been on the camping trip.

I think it's interesting that BM says "they told me I'm cleared". Obviously LE knows if that is true - and if they in fact told him that, why hasn't LE announced it? They were quick to announce the landowner had no ties to the case....

I guess what I take from all of it is even if everything BM said is true - well, minus the clear exaggerations like the 200 mile radius search area - I don't think there's anything in here that is a revelation that actually clears him (knowing that the bike could have been staged). Much of what BM said is verifiable by LE and, if true, certainly lends credibility to the argument that it could have been an animal attack, accident, or abduction. But if BM is lying in the video, that would cast much more suspicion on him. Time will tell......
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Good post. I enjoyed reading your breakdown thoughts on the video.

My only opinion to throw out there from the bolded - IMO, we might start to see more and more LE agencies handle investigations differently in what they report to the media. I don't think we will see many LE agencies anymore say "so and so has been cleared" during an active investigation to the public. What if they believe they are cleared, then later evidence puts the spotlight back on them? It just seems like a unnecessary risk to take. That of course is horrible for an innocent person to continue to live with- negative public perception. At the same time, I CAN see LE making the decision to make it clear that the landowner has no ties to the case because they believe that 100% and don't want the poor people to be harassed, the property trespassed on, etc.
 
<modsnip: quoted post was removed as not an approved source>

ETA: add the transcript

My name's Tyson Draper. I'm from Arizona.

Barry: I'm gonna tell you what happened. Would you mind putting that in your pocket?

T: Oh not a problem. No it's not on bro.

B: We've had a lot of media bother us. Obviously it's very emotional. We're trying to keep it private. So we've searched -- it's never gonna hurt to to retrace searches -- so we've searched a 200 mile radius. All of the mountains have been covered so far but obviously we're gonna miss things. Let me show you what happened. Um, and I do have a reward. $210.000...um, the bike was found at the bottom of the hill by that tree where the peak is. Um the first night there was a mountain lion. The officer seen it walk by the car so we thought maybe she got attacked by a lion. We thought maybe she wrecked coming down this hill, car coming around the corner fast and maybe was disoriented and got in the river. We've covered all of this really good this triangle with search and rescue so we're pretty comfortable that she's not in this triangle between the RV park, your truck, this road and then the next road but what seems to have happened from the investigators and they don't give much and I've got private people working for me is maybe she was abducted right here and they found an article going west of hers. They won't tell us what it is. So they sent another team after they found the article that covered this hillside all the way down to the river pretty good. My concerns were this way and that way if it was the cat because the cats they dragged their prey up the mountain and out of people's... we can't find sign for the cat but we got rain like right away that could've washed away a sign

T: So they found her bike just right against that tree down there?

B: Well no it was on the ground. The wheel was facing and the uh sheriff's department uh they screwed everything up they shouldn't have touched it. [Should've] left it. It's evidence. They pulled it up and we had cars over here. The sheriff let everybody drive through here covering up or messing up all the evidence. They were walking all over this area, which if somebody abducted her they would have had foot tracks. They would have fingerprints on the bike...they let ten other people touch the bike. I mean we was really upset that first night. I was in Denver so I didn't get here until nine o'clock that night. Yeah and my friend's an Army ranger and he knows this stuff better than anybody. He did 400 tours in Iraq Afghanistan...so what I would say. If you want to help, I would say this way...least covered on the mountainside.

T: So you don't know where that article was though was it by the road or Well get your name cleared and uh...

B: They told me that it's cleared, I didn't know if it's on the media because the media...

T: Well they're going to man. Because I mean you got to look at, especially in Colorado there's been so many cases where like Patrick Frazee, Christopher Watts, you know these guys get on there and they they act like you know they didn't do anything and so they I mean naturally people are going to be skeptical in the beginning you know.

B: But you just came to help? Find something. If you find anything, don't touch it. Take a picture of it. Give it to the police. Because if there's an article...DNA...we've found men's clothing up by the lake. Interested We've covered, I had uh school friends come the first few days so we had a bunch of guys that covered that up road from there up in there. But the only thing this is a tough one and my friends...getting up those sides of those hills is kind of tough.

T: So you were in Denver but how long how long before somebody noticed that she was gone?

B: Well it was Mother's Day so we had two daughters that were coming home from the trip and I had that job in Denver that I wanted to get started on on Sunday set it up for my workers because my workers were coming in Sunday night. Normally I don't work Sunday night, I work Monday, but I being the owner I wanted to get everything lined up so that I didn't have to worry about Monday morning, just get busy working. So I told my wife, I said, "Listen, the girls' gonna be home, and they want to spend Mother's Day with you. Mind if I go get started?" She said, "That's fine." Girls...that's what we thought was gonna happen. The girls were running late so they texted Happy Mother's Day. She didn't text back. So we went to...they called my neighbors. And said listen, it's Mother's Day, I'm a little worried and will you go check the house? And the neighbor went and checked the house. Saw that her car was there but the bike was gone. She called me in Denver and said, "Hey, we're just a little worried." And I go, "Well, I am too. Why don't we call the police, just to be safe?" I appreciate it. Yeah and if you're genuine on what you're doing here. News person...then I'll come and find you.
 
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MichelleBlue said:
Ok one more thought. Based on what BM says in this video, he was the last to see SM some time Sunday, correct? He said he headed up to Denver on Sunday to get his job ready for his guys. No one sees her or hears from her after that? I would be interested in hearing him talk about details. What time did he leave? Where was SM when he left, sleeping or awake? Did he say goodbye? Very interesting. He didn't seem to want to focus on that. I think I would be personally awestruck if I had just seen my spouse that morning, gave him a kiss goodbye & left for work. Then, hours later he is missing. I would think, how could that be? I just saw him, spoke to him! I would perseverate on that last moment that I saw him & touched him.
ETA IMO
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I don't believe he talked to her or saw her at all on Sunday. Just my opinion, nothing I know anything about. But the fact that they ask for footage from 5/8 onward means they believe whatever happened could have happened on the 9th or the 10th. Not the 8th. We always ask for a window that encompasses, so if they ask for 5/8 - 5/12, that means they think there could be valuable information on 5/9, 5/10, and/or 5/11. Not the 8th or 12th. I could be wrong, but this is just what I think.

If it's true that he is a man who was always in control etc. etc., I don't believe for a minute he asked her permission to go to his job site on Sunday. That doesn't ring true, and more so just because he made a point to say it.

I think she was last seen and/or heard from on 5/9, not at all on 5/10, and they want to know his comings and goings on 5/10 and 5/11.

JMO.
 
Here’s a crazy thought I had while watching this last night, and feel free to shoot it down. But are we positive this is BM?

Everything just seemed so fake that I wondered if this guy had a similar looking acquaintance help him out for $$ and trolling. I’d have to listen to the 27 second video again and compare his voice but at that distance and angle with all the shake (and only briefly viewing the video) I couldn’t 100% say.
 
oviedo said:
In my state you have to register your car within 30 days of moving here. Does CO have anything like this?
JMO
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That's true here, too. Plus, because of COVID and mandatory out-of-state visitor 14-day self-quarantine requirements, the state is actively paying attention to license plates. They even have DOT officials stationed at the borders: they are that committed.
 
TMcgee said:
Here’s a crazy thought I had while watching this last night, and feel free to shoot it down. But are we positive this is BM?

Everything just seemed so fake that I wondered if this guy had a similar looking acquaintance help him out for $$ and trolling. I’d have to listen to the 27 second video again and compare his voice but at that distance and angle with all the shake (and only briefly viewing the video) I couldn’t 100% say.
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I think TD is shady, but not THAT shady. :eek: JMO.
 
TMcgee said:
Here’s a crazy thought I had while watching this last night, and feel free to shoot it down. But are we positive this is BM?

Everything just seemed so fake that I wondered if this guy had a similar looking acquaintance help him out for $$ and trolling. I’d have to listen to the 27 second video again and compare his voice but at that distance and angle with all the shake (and only briefly viewing the video) I couldn’t 100% say.
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Actually, if not for the woman that pulled up in the truck and later identified herself as BM's mom, I too would have been skeptical that the man was BM.
 
chinablue1 said:
I Just watched the video of Barry, being somewhat interviewed ...and this is my moopinion. It is just way to convenient for that guy to just walk up to Barry and start chatting. Its almost like they know each other (wink wink).. I think it was a set-up between the both of them. Barry just happened to be right around the corner from that guy. The guy doing the camera work didn't seem to be worried at all...wonder why? I could be way off base on this ...just a thought

Just my moopinion
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I don't think it was a setup, I think BM sees someone wearing a Colorado Mountaineering T-shirt, looks like an outdoorsy guy who drops a few of the right words, hints about maybe trying to help and he opens up thinking it could be someone with SAR background, etc. I think the way the youtuber presents played a role in BM being willing to talk.

I am most interested (and we certainly won't know) about any info he shared that could be disproven or doesn't align with what he may have told others.

I still think we have the same 3 possible scenarios (listed in my own opinion - order of likelihood)
1- Foul Play by someone known to Suzanne - spouse is always suspect #1, but we know nothing about her personal lifeto know if there is anyone else LE is looking at or should be looking at.
2- Stranger attack - I personally feel there is little to no precedent for her being taken hostage for $ or abducted and being kept alive by a psychopath - so in this theory I am only referring to a Mollie Tibbets/Amy Bechtel scenario of a woman jogger/biker/hiker out alone, and being attacked and murdered opportunistically by a human predator.
3- Self-harm/Gone Girl - I do think that many suicides are NOT predictable, even by those close to us. But the bike being out and LE sharing that a personal article was found don't seem to point in this direction. And "gone girl" scenarios also have little to no precedent and seem less believable from a mom who had a very close relationship with her daughters.

I don't believe an animal attack is possible given how close the items found were to the house. Animals don't drag their prey miles away and they don't consume shoes or attempt to cover up what they have done. I think there was good reason that this was mostly ruled out and this is the scenario I would be most surprised by if it turned out to be true.

Sadly, I don't see any scenarios that allow for her safe return, but I would love to be proven wrong.
 
K9Enzo said:
Good post. I enjoyed reading your breakdown thoughts on the video.

My only opinion to throw out there from the bolded - IMO, we might start to see more and more LE agencies handle investigations differently in what they report to the media. I don't think we will see many LE agencies anymore say "so and so has been cleared" during an active investigation to the public. What if they believe they are cleared, then later evidence puts the spotlight back on them? It just seems like a unnecessary risk to take. That of course is horrible for an innocent person to continue to live with- negative public perception. At the same time, I CAN see LE making the decision to make it clear that the landowner has no ties to the case because they believe that 100% and don't want the poor people to be harassed, the property trespassed on, etc.
Click to expand...

Interesting thought. I don't know what the norm is - if you'd at least see something from LE along the lines of "*advertiser censored* is no longer a focus of the investigation" or something that hedges from completely clearing them, but does indicate the investigation is looking elsewhere? I also wonder if LE could use a strategy of telling a suspect they are "cleared" as a way to disarm them and hope they slip up a bit. Not sure what to think.... but it's definitely a strange comment to make if untrue and if he thinks he is being recorded.
 
Love Never Fails said:
What if the 200 mile radius was searched by drones? Possible.

And everyone says he knows he was being filmed? Then why give information that’s untruthful when he knows LE can fact check him? I see him as being truthful.
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JMO his ranger buddy has given him a reality check, “Barry, my friend, We have searched over 200 miles of trails paths, tracks in the last 15 days...”, and this has BM back at the beginning. This may also be source of 400 deployments info...both could be true from fit bit type step counters or simple ranger knowledge.
I got an impression almost that he was thinking out loud, and that the stress is breaking him down.
I can find as many reasons for innocence as guilt in the video...
 
TMcgee said:
Here’s a crazy thought I had while watching this last night, and feel free to shoot it down. But are we positive this is BM?

Everything just seemed so fake that I wondered if this guy had a similar looking acquaintance help him out for $$ and trolling. I’d have to listen to the 27 second video again and compare his voice but at that distance and angle with all the shake (and only briefly viewing the video) I couldn’t 100% say.
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Theories and speculation are welcome here at WS. :)
See my post # 515, ;)

I think it's BM because of the pregnant pauses in the conversation. :rolleyes:
As if he was thinking carefully about what he should say next.
Admittedly biased on my part. ^^^^

But if LE clear him and declare an animal attack, abductor, or an accident I'll believe them.
They haven't said this, and fwiw, I don't see it happening anytime soon.
Imo.
 
BM is very down to earth, very honest and not phony. I just feel very sorry for him. This is a tragedy. IMO someone threw her bike down there! They grabbed her and took her. The sheriff SHOULD have gotten DNA from the bike put it in the familial DNA and tried for a match. <modsnip: Nobody knows what the Sheriff did or didn't do> :(
 
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