Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #11

[Nerissa]

bbm
Good points.^^^

Green bolded : Heeheehee ...

Lavender bolded : I'm encouraged by LE's 'selfishness' aka being so tight-lipped.
Since they are silent, I'm guessing they're working overtime to solve this case and bring Suzanne home.

This is the first case I've followed where there was no :
Recent photo ; identifying marks as in tattoos, scars ; no meds that she was on and needed (not like a kidnapper's going to get her any meds) ; clothing she was wearing ; what exact day and time that she was last seen outside of family ; etc.

LE won't even say that they have her bike.
But I think they have it, and at least one or more 'personal items'.
Imo.

Oh, LE knows!

I just hope they've gathered what they need to nail the perp

They know who the perp is

I've no doubt of that

JMO

 

[TKG]

Especially since he "worked" in the fire fighter field and would be comfortable communicating with LE and might have contacts in the LE. Imo

If he has the ability to call in his friends from CCFD, as he was one of 40 volunteers, and there is a photo of SFR in water looking; safe bet he could have asked someone to go check on her. Another piece of the puzzle that is unusual. Now, this would all be a moot point if the neighbor went over and found something disturbing and immediately felt compelled to call 911.

In keeping with this line of thinking, wouldn’t the FD have heard the 911 call and known it was his home? MOO IME the FD and LE are all a tight knit group of individuals that admirably look out for one another.

There is a photo that shows Salida Fire Rescue on the shore as they search the water.

 

[oviedo]

ElleBee, thank you for post. I respectfully submit that I can make the leap from “in charge” to “controlling.”

Largely, I base it on the fact that the person said that Barry has been in charge “for a long time.” To me, that is a veiled way to assert that Barry controlled what happened throughout their many years of marriage. If a person is in charge for 25 years, I’d say that person is likely in control.

Was Barry about to lose that control in the marriage, (Did Suzanne want to go her own way, did Barry fear loss of reputation?) Did he exercise the ultimate act of power and control, perhaps in a momentary fit of rage?

As a lawyer and DV advocate, I try to stick to the facts. Perhaps I will regret having such an overwhelming “gut” feeling on this case. But I strongly suspect this was a case of domestic violence.

ITA as soon as I read that comment I thought - control is very important to the husband -IMO

 

[LietKynes]

Oh dear, should I have been clearer? that was humor, not criticism!...just give me one itty bitty clue, and I will sleuth for hours!

Oh, no... I knew you were being humorous, and not critical.

Sometimes I seriously need a bit of levity in this case.
It's so d*mn dark and sad.

So thank you.

 

[Love Never Fails]

You are correct, there are many intelligent and experienced sleuthers here.
Many here have some legal or other expertise to bring to the table that answer specific questions.
<modsnip>
Speculation and theories, yes.

The definition of 'sleuth' is to investigate and search.

Thank you for sharing the definition of “sleuth”. I know nothing about the use of the English language.
<modsnip>

 

[Flight154]

JMO....... to call LE selfish is pretty ballsy. They have more information on this case than what you could ever know. Just because they are being tight lipped on what they know, doesn't really mean the public should criticize how the handle this and move forward.

 

[10ofRods]

ITA as soon as I read that comment I thought - control is very important to the husband -IMO

And I had the same thought while watching and rewatching his video. I've already mentioned all the details that say 'controlling director' of the short video.

Since then, I've noted his apparent tendency toward hyperbole/mistakes with details such as numbers. He has a lot of unfinished sentences and unintelligible words in the TD "interview." This works with him in control of a situation, it would not work if he was speaking to a jury or to LE or in front of a disinterested audience. He said to be somewhat introverted, so I think he trails off or restarts sentences with entirely new premises because he is thinking very carefully about what he wants to say (controlling the narrative).

He falters the most when he can't work out how to continue speaking without the narrative going somewhere he doesn't want it to go.

And what he says, so far, never goes to "Please help me find Suzanne, she was last seen at X time, they found her blue bike, we don't know what happened to her, etc. etc" If he thinks it was a mountain lion, then he should also appeal to all the backwoodsmen/women and hunters, because they might pick up some clues (especially if we knew what shoes Suzanne was wearing - or what helmet, because mountain lions do not eat helmets).

 

[Whiteorchids]

ElleBee, thank you for post. I respectfully submit that I can make the leap from “in charge” to “controlling.”

Largely, I base it on the fact that the person said that Barry has been in charge “for a long time.” To me, that is a veiled way to assert that Barry controlled what happened throughout their many years of marriage. If a person is in charge for 25 years, I’d say that person is likely in control.

Was Barry about to lose that control in the marriage, (Did Suzanne want to go her own way, did Barry fear loss of reputation?) Did he exercise the ultimate act of power and control, perhaps in a momentary fit of rage?

As a lawyer and DV advocate, I try to stick to the facts. Perhaps I will regret having such an overwhelming “gut” feeling on this case. But I strongly suspect this was a case of domestic violence.

This ^^^^ Great post thank you for your insight on this case. I completely agree with you.

 

[Acorunadepor]

You may disagree with me but I believe they have the bike. What I don’t know is who first located it. The neighbour or LE. They also found either one or two items that belonged to SM, unless they are counting the bike and one item as “a couple“ of items. So, they did indeed find something. Actually, they may have “found” lots of things if we consider the digital evidence of which we know nothing. He can scrub his phone, but the call logs will not lie. Not to mention, video footage they may have of him and who knows, maybe someone else (just speculation) where they ought not to be. They may have caught BM in a lie very early on, all the while letting BM believe they believe him. I think they are playing this beautifully.

If BM did a nasty deed and has NO idea what LE has on him, it’s likely driving him nutty that they are not buying his spiel. He also has to keep up his narrative and appearances to convince family and friends of his innocence, all the while feeling LE may be closing in on him. JMO

Yes you are correct I meant after the bike and that mysterious personal item. That's why I posted further up the thread the official communication of the LE. They got some 400 calls and they were following up on them. The home was released to the family and the search at the Salida property yielded nothing in connection to her disappearance. So what ever they are playing on I am not so sure. But that can be the so called ''game''. Although I doubt it IMO.

 

[LietKynes]

Are the FBI and CBI still heavily involved? I understand everyone’s POV and so on, but why are the big guns in town for a fairly common occurrence? Which should be easily traced?

SABBM
I've wondered this as well and so have others on this board.
Some of my guesses are just that --speculation and theories only :

• There is much more going on and they were being investigated from a financial viewpoint.
• Someone was involved in some nefarious activity and it caught up with that person ?
• Someone was stalking Suzanne ?
• They'd moved from IN to get away from a person or situation and it caught up with them, and LE and the FBI and CBI had their eyes on that other party ?

Anything I've missed ? Probably .
Some people never get any press at all when they've gone missing, unless the family has some means or are able to plead for help via press conferences.
So this was indeed unusual.
Imo.

 

[Whiteorchids]

True. But why does everyone keep saying he was not yet publicly identified when it was announced Suzanne was missing? They are in a town of 200 people right? So everyone knows him. I’m even more curious as to why the locals don’t speak up. What’s up with that?

My guess would be they have been instructed not to as to jeopardize the case. JMO

 

[wheatnotchaff]

Yes you are correct I meant after the bike and that mysterious personal item. That's why I posted further up the thread the official communication of the LE. They got some 400 calls and they were following up on them. The home was released to the family and the search at the Salida property yielded nothing in connection to her disappearance. So what ever they are playing on I am not so sure. But that can be the so called ''game''. Although I doubt it IMO.

I don’t believe we know anything about what LE found at the home. Just because it was released doesn’t mean we can conclude they found nothing. Earlier in this thread there was a good deal of discussion about this point. Not sure exactly where, though.

 

[nannymo]

In these cases I so much "WANT" to believe the husband's story. I am on the fence and think this could go any direction myself.

My gut always tells me something and I ignore it because I want "the story" to be true so badly and everything turn out OK!

I don't think that is the situation here, but I guess time will tell. MOO

 

[muppethead]

I also think it could have been the helmet that was found.

I am wondering this too. Think about it - if she wrecked the bike and went into a ravine with it, a ravine which somewhere upthread there were mentions of boulders, how can there be no trace of blood. There had to be some type of injury. And if the helmet came off before the wreck maybe, then there is even a stronger likelihood of blood. Yet no blood mentioned and tracking dogs did not find anything. I really hope LE took pictures of the bike placement because it would be interesting to see if they could recreate an accident with the bike ending up in that position or if the only way it could have ended up like that were if someone tossed it.

 

[wheatnotchaff]

I am wondering this too. Think about it - if she wrecked the bike and went into a ravine with it, a ravine which somewhere upthread there were mentions of boulders, how can there be no trace of blood. There had to be some type of injury. And if the helmet came off before the wreck maybe, then there is even a stronger likelihood of blood. Yet no blood mentioned and tracking dogs did not find anything. I really hope LE took pictures of the bike placement because it would be interesting to see if they could recreate an accident with the bike ending up in that position or if the only way it could have ended up like that were if someone tossed it.

Speaking as a bicyclist, helmets, when properly attached, do not come off easily without human intervention. For safety they’re designed that way, not unlike seatbelts. IMO

 

[FelicityLemon]

Soooo many cases we've followed here on WS and our frustrations are always the same: “why doesn't LE come out and declare so-and-so is cleared or not under suspicion?” It's not an indication of guilt when LE doesn't make that announcement until weeks or even months later. We saw it back in the “DC Mansion Murders” and recently for Heidi Broussard.

 

[LietKynes]

There's some info. in other sites that are so off the wall crazy.
But I think LE are working this case and aren't floundering at all.
That --imo-- is good news !

 

[Wendyb1063]

(snipped by me, bbm below)

Two days before they concluded the Salida property search and: Investigators “were unable to make any connection to Suzanne Morphew’s case at this time," the sheriff's office said that afternoon.

Sometimes you think LE and the agencies are not telling things, but they also are not findings things. I mean this case baffles me. I have seen that map of the area a hundred times by know, just thinking of where and how.

IMO, LE's wording following the search of the Salida property was worded very carefully, and the qualifier "at this time" may be important if they are, for example, waiting for test results.

As far as LE returning the house to BM, as others have stated in this thread previously, there is precedent for the home of a killer to be searched and then released back to them prior to an eventual murder charge.

In my opinion, I think they are probably finding a lot of things; they just aren't telling us anything at this point.

 

[Seattle1]

I asked because I didn’t know.

The video won’t play for me. I know MSM says things sometimes that aren’t true or they misquote someone.

ETA: I was able able to read the article. It never said he did not want to be identified. It just said he hadn’t been publicly identified. That’s different.

It was obviously a condition of them receiving the story and BM's right to withhold his name. Just as strange as BM not wanting to make his reward announcement at a presser attended by LE. We've seen plenty of reward pressers before. Don't see any editor going with... by the way, "the husband want's his name withheld."

Check any MSM links for the reward announcement and the reward match (May 13-14) and BM is referred to only as "the husband."

 

[oviedo]

Sunday will be a month Missing - wonder what will happen - if anything ?