Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #12

[MassGuy]

I wonder what evidence (other than a body) could pin that down. I know they are looking for anyone who’s seen her or spoken to her after the last known contact. Cell phone data would be useful, but would they be able to get that data from the cloud if her phone disappeared with her?

Her phone company can provide detailed information regarding her phone activity (call records, location data, etc).

If she has Google apps, there’s a good chance they’ll be able to receive more detailed location data via a Google subpoena (more specific location data, search history, etc).

It’s great to have the phone itself, as it does provide things that the phone company itself cannot (ie. text messages).

But all is not lost either way.

 

[Fireflize]

Most hunters would also know about the heavy duty regular plastic "game bags" that can be used to transport a whole deer without having any leakage into a vehicle. They are not as common as the breathable type game bags because you normally dont want to keep a deer or other harvested animal inside a closed in plastic bag, but they do make them large enough to fit a deer or a small person.

This may not be the exact type of heavy duty plastic ones but this is the sort of packaging they come in. They make all kinds. Lots of them are breathable but they do make heavy duty plastic ones also.

Hunters Specialties XL Deluxe Game Bag 01235

Interesting. Hunters have nifty accessories. And know how not to make a mess. Moo moo

 

[wheatnotchaff]

We saw in KB's case that the cell phone data was important and available - I believe they can but I've learned - just because the cell phone shows a location doesn't mean the owner is there as well. Proof for me would be a physical sighting or her on video. Texting would not do it for me personally - however a phone call with someone who knows her voice would be proof
JMO

Agree with your points. I’m also betting investigators have gotten pretty skilled at looking at an individual’s cell phone, internet surfing, and other tech-device usage patterns, and can detect even subtle changes that can provide valuable clues about when he/she (vs a stand-in) was last in communication w the world via their device/s.

 

[Fireflize]

Her phone company can provide detailed information regarding her phone activity (call records, location data, etc).

If she has Google apps, there’s a good chance they’ll be able to receive more detailed location data via a Google subpoena (more specific location data, search history, etc).

It’s great to have the phone itself, as it does provide things that the phone company itself cannot (ie. text messages).

But all is not lost either way.

Without her actual phone, does the phone company have her contacts? Can her text message be found through contacts?

 

[Truecolors]

We saw in KB's case that the cell phone data was important and available - I believe they can but I've learned - just because the cell phone shows a location doesn't mean the owner is there as well. Proof for me would be a physical sighting or her on video. Texting would not do it for me personally - however a phone call with someone who knows her voice would be proof
JMO

I agree that texts don’t count. We recently had a local case where an estranged boyfriend killed a young mother. He kept texting her family as her periodically for a while to make her seem alive. She wasn’t in regular contact with family before her murder, so it worked for about a month, I think. We’re only talking about 2-3 days potentially in this case.

My phone tells a story of me beyond my texts, calls, and location. There’s the websites I visit obsessively, for one thing (hello, WS!). Checking emails. Games I play in the evening. At least for similar phone addicts, the phone activity could grind to a sudden and obvious halt.

MOO

 

[K9Enzo]

IMO, for a submerged body to eventually rise to the surface (gas) depends on water temps, as an example. Warm waters, several days. Cold water several weeks to months, maybe. Water can also move remains great distances. Eventually you have skeletal remains - lighter bones tend to move down stream further, while heavier bones don't. They become scattered. Critters & invertebrates play a role.

Then you have decomp - fully submerged bodies will delay flies from entering orifices and furthering the process along. It will eventually happen however. Bodies that sustained wounds and trauma can decompose faster because egg laying flies can enter easier. This is true on dry land. Then you consider flood waters, drought water levels. Bodies being caught up in downed trees, tangled in grass, trash, etc. What a mess.

IMO

 

[oviedo]

Her phone company can provide detailed information regarding her phone activity (call records, location data, etc).

If she has Google apps, there’s a good chance they’ll be able to receive more detailed location data via a Google subpoena (more specific location data, search history, etc).

It’s great to have the phone itself, as it does provide things that the phone company itself cannot (ie. text messages).

But all is not lost either way.

ITA - and IIRC LE's response to a question of where her cell phone was? "no comment"
interesting...
JMO
ETA Link - confirmation of No comment
Comments from KDVR reporter, Gregory Nieto said the Chaffee sheriff is not releasing any details.

When asked about her cell phone, “No comment”.

Gregory Nieto

 

[TKG]

Ok. I’m sitting here at work & something just hit me like a ton of bricks.
Remember that guy Tyson who (unknowingly ) filmed the interview with Barry?
Well...
There was talk (not sure who said it) that Suzanne left her phone at home because there’s “no cell service on the mountain”
Funny, Tyson’s phone (live feed & camera) seemed to work PERFECTLY on the mountain.

Before anyone says, “ well maybe HER cell provider is crappy on the mountain”
IF you LIVE on the mountain, bike on the mountain, it stands to reason you would have the cell provider with the best service ON the mountain

He was filming on a GoPro not his phone.

 

[PaulaDC]

The quoted post responds to my general question about how to avoid getting cadaver aroma in/on your vehicle if you need to transport a body.
Short of borrowing someone else's car (you would soon be not at all their bestie 'cos you'd, as it were, be feeding them to the dogs), how about transporting on a metal equipment trailer? You could hose it and bleach it after. Drive it through a stream. But you could also disguise the situation by hauling your digging-scraping thingumajig.
Other than that.... what do coroners do? Undertakers? How does a hearse not get contaminated?

Stainless steel. Used in all medical fields.

 

[perception≠reality]

I agree that texts don’t count. We recently had a local case where an estranged boyfriend killed a young mother. He kept texting her family as her periodically for a while to make her seem alive. She wasn’t in regular contact with family before her murder, so it worked for about a month, I think. We’re only talking about 2-3 days potentially in this case.

My phone tells a story of me beyond my texts, calls, and location. There’s the websites I visit obsessively, for one thing (hello, WS!). Checking emails. Games I play in the evening. At least for similar phone addicts, the phone activity could grind to a sudden and obvious halt.

MOO

BBM This is a very very good point. I didn’t think about all of the other phone activity that would have stopped if a killer didn’t try to mimick on-line/phone activities, and thought only of trying to respond to a text here or there. That’s really really glaring negative space if all other phone activity ceased. Step count would also cease, unless the perp carried the phone around with them as well.

jmo moo imo

 

[LietKynes]

I just realized that BM's comment about maybe SM "got in the river" makes no sense to me. The river up that high in the watershed is not going to be enough volume/force of water to fully hide a body or wash a body downstream, even given peak of spring snowmelt flow.

IMO

Even if there are a few spots where a body might be moved a short distance by the water, within a few yards IMO it would be too shallow/narrow to have that much power.

However, a body entering the water considerably further down in the watershed, where the river is really a river, is a different story.

IMO IMO IMO

bbm
Re. both.^^^

All of that extra information.
LE never came out and said she may have had a bike accident and had fallen into the river.
Just so much from BM that seems like he blurted it out w/o thinking.
Wonder what his lawyer thinks about that ?
I'd read that he'd retained one.
Imo.

 

[PaulaDC]

Most hunters would also know about the heavy duty regular plastic "game bags" that can be used to transport a whole deer without having any leakage into a vehicle. They are not as common as the breathable type game bags because you normally dont want to keep a deer or other harvested animal inside a closed in plastic bag, but they do make them large enough to fit a deer or a small person.

This may not be the exact type of heavy duty plastic ones but this is the sort of packaging they come in. They make all kinds. Lots of them are breathable (leakable) but they do make heavy duty plastic ones also that will not leak through.

Hunters Specialties XL Deluxe Game Bag 01235

Is the plastic for foundations thick enough? moo

 

[TristanP]

For those discussing the bike being a red herring (which I believe it is), something that stood out to me when the Sheriff asked for people to preserve video is that he specifically mentioned trail cams.

I’m sure trail cams are very common in that area, but it made me wonder if the person staging the bike may have used a hidden way through fields, and could have been caught on a trail cam, or maybe even more than one.

I can see someone, who is very freaked out, not thinking of that.

Regarding whether or not a cadaver dog would have picked up on a scent in the truck if her body had been transported in it...it’s possible a scent wasn’t detected, sometimes the dogs make mistakes, but for all we know there was a hit on the vehicle and that’s part of the evidence they’ve gathered that they’re either holding back or haven’t gotten lab results yet.

 

[OzzieB]

When you look at actual footage of where the alleged bike ride took place it would seem more likely she crashed and was taken by the fast water than her being abducted or attacked by an animal. That is a very dangerous route to take. I know people might say she took that same route many times and knows it well but maybe this is where the mountain lion comes in? Maybe she saw an animal and tried to speed off and ended up going much faster than she would have before knowing the danger of that route??

 

[DBLG]

I think whatever happened to SM, it was
not planned (either a sudden violent act of rage) or possibly a horrible, random accident (she was hit by a car when she was biking). I keep thinking that she will be found in the Arkansas River far away from her home. I just don't think she was transported or buried elsewhere. I think she will be found. The "big dig" at the property over Memorial Day weekend really has me scratching my head. The precise location and the precise dimensions of the dig site as well as the length of time the FBI searched that area just really intrigues me. JMO

 

[Tate123]

My phone tells a story of me beyond my texts, calls, and location. There’s the websites I visit obsessively, for one thing (hello, WS!). Checking emails. Games I play in the evening. At least for similar phone addicts, the phone activity could grind to a sudden and obvious halt.

MOO

I keep locations on and my 5 daughters know where I am at all times and I know where they are. : )

 

[Puzzles8]

Is the plastic for foundations thick enough? moo

How would he be able to seal the edges if foundation plastic was used?

 

[Truecolors]

I wonder what evidence may be in the house itself to show how long she’d been inactive. For example, do they have a security system? Some of them signal every opening of an exterior door. If BM did go to Denver Sunday, or Saturday night, I wonder if there are any systems that would tell LE if exterior doors were opening and closing on Sunday while SM would’ve been home alone, leaving for a bike ride, etc.

I’ve seen one case of familial murder where the home security system was the first clue, although it wasn’t revealed as such until over a year later when an arrest was made.

MOO

 

[Gigi3]

ITA - and IIRC LE's response to a question of where her cell phone was? "no comment"
interesting...
JMO
ETA Link - confirmation of No comment
Comments from KDVR reporter, Gregory Nieto said the Chaffee sheriff is not releasing any details.

When asked about her cell phone, “No comment”.

Gregory Nieto

I’m glad you posted this! In almost every missing persons case, we hear about the phone location or the last ping. I think the article found could be her phone. I know the area has been said to have spotty reception, but I feel like she would still take it with her just in case. Phones are used for many other things besides making a call IMO.

Why wouldn’t LE reveal SM’s phone location? Unless that phone is what jump started the criminal investigation. MOO

 

[MassGuy]

I wonder what evidence may be in the house itself to show how long she’d been inactive. For example, do they have a security system? Some of them signal every opening of an exterior door. If BM did go to Denver Sunday, or Saturday night, I wonder if there are any systems that would tell LE if exterior doors were opening and closing on Sunday while SM would’ve been home alone, leaving for a bike ride, etc.

I’ve seen one case of familial murder where the home security system was the first clue, although it wasn’t revealed as such until over a year later when an arrest was made.

MOO

Great thought!

Motion sensor information was very important in the Gannon Stauch case, and it could prove very helpful here.

If BM left for Denver and Suzanne remained home alone, then data like that would either prove his alibi, or strongly refute it.