Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #14

[Cindizzi]

CO - CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #14
I think I did this insert wrong, but above Seattle one said the homeowner said they used cutting edge technology.
I think using multiple approaches would be more effective, cadaver dogs, definitely.

The property owner said LE used sonar or ground penetrating radar. Nothing I can find on whether any dogs were at the site. However, several MSM reporters said when they showed up on Friday May 22 they learned that investigators had started searching the day before. So we have no photos or video of the first day. Moo

Finding Suzanne Morphew: Investigators Search Husband's Job Site Near Salida

SALIDA, Colo. (CBS4) — A residential construction site is now the focus of the search for Suzanne Morphew, a Colorado woman who was reported missing from her Chaffee County home on Mother’s Day. The property owner confirmed to CBS4’s Rick Sallinger that Suzanne’s husband was hired to lay dirt on the riverfront land, located east of Salida.

The owner of the property told CBS4’s Rick Sallinger that he has known Barry Morphew for three weeks. The river front property was undergoing improvement. Concrete was laid over the dirt.

The property owner has told others that investigators have been using an x-ray type device to try to see through the concrete.

 

[CronesEye]

And also asking people not to talk to the press is a lot different than asking them not to talk to each other. Maysville is very small and Salida, though much bigger seems to have a small town vibe. You can't tell me that people haven't talked to each other about SM's disappearance. It's human nature to discuss, compare and form opinions about information. Gossip is everywhere and small town are even more susceptible to it. Factual or not.

There are some good studies on gossip, it isn't all bad and can serve important functions. Like us here on websleuths trying to figure out who dun it. We are trying to solve problems and learn how things work. Everyone says their thing and an answer is hopefully, eventually found.

 

[Truecolors]

I agree, but we have absolutely no real evidence she did not go missing that morning. We have speculation only. I believe the requests for surveillance prior to MD may be in case a stalker could have videoed. Or an attempt to follow up on the suspicious car report, was it seen in advance? This would be important to me! Perhaps a disguised abductor could be on video, not so disguised...one can only hope.

It’s speculation, but based on LE behavior. MOO

• they are being evasive about when she was last seen (speculation: they don’t believe the bike ride story)
• They say they have no information about a threat to the public (speculation: not an unknown dangerous person in the area)

 

[Seattle1]

Actually there is also one in CO. Posted on the latest press report. Salida is in CHAFFEE county, What towns in Fremont?

Largest is Canon City but Fremont County is adjacent to many large counties. Also the home of many federal and state prisons.

Fremont County, Colorado - Wikipedia

 

[dspdenver]

It seems like LE would say if they found anything at all-- but they aren't compelled to do this, correct ?
Esp. with people on SM gossiping or whatever-- they have to be extremely cautious about revealing anything.

Well, according to the last line of today's press release,
[The Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office will release information related to the investigation as it becomes available.]

Given how little about the case has been released, this suggests - if you believe this statement, and why would they lie about that? They could have just said released as deemed appropriate, or some such - they have almost no information available after 4 weeks of investigation.

(Edited to fix post quoted.)

 

[Barry]

IMO, the current situation is a chess match. LE likely has an idea of what happened, but needs some missing pieces. The “canvassing” thing could be a chess move, designed to test the behavior of someone (and getting them to think about if any of their previous moves was a mistake). It would not surprise me if there isn’t much real execution on the “canvassing”.

 

[K9Enzo]

I volunteer with my local SAR in terrain that is much less intimidating than this area and the reason they don't accept untrained volunteers is due to safety concerns. That doesn't stop anyone who is riding their mtn bike or going for a hike out on the local trails to keep an eye out for anything that could be pertinent, but the last thing any search need is to have to suspend the search for the intended subject to find/assist missing searchers. Also, in the early days of a search, people need to be kept out to allow the working dogs the best chance at doing what they do best - finding people!

10 large scale searches in 30 days is quite honestly a lot more than a lot of missing persons get (there are so many that never even get a thread on websleuths or a mention in media). In my area, they are likely to suspend a search anywhere from 3-7 days. We have a team that creates the search tasks and when they can not reasonably determine more areas to deploy searchers to, it is suspended until new information surfaces that may hopefully yield a more fruitful direction. Based on the info LE was given, they likely have searched all the "reasonable" areas more than once and now are in need of new information to warrant further searches or new areas.

I am more on the fence than most on this thread, but leaning based on LE's search of the worksite. We will only know more when LE wants us to, so for now I just read through everyone's speculation and enjoy coming across the informative posts by experts.

Thank you! I’m sure you have had many missions where you used your own PTO time or took unpaid time off to search. I’m sure it’s never easy when IC calls the search until more info starts a search back up again. Again, thank you.

 

[marylamby]

Someone else had a very good response to this, pouring concrete is not a one man process, there had to be numerous people, involved...we were so all in on the guilty wagon...
My husband could explain better, concrete sets up and this keeps everything moving... different sections poured and by time one section was poured the one before is already setting up...
We don’t know overlap of crews, either. Has anyone verified that BM was ever there w/o multiple people around.
I CAN ACTUALLY LAY THIS TO REST!!We actually poured our own concrete driveway at our previous house... it was crazy, but hubby and another guy alternated, we’d pour a section approx 20x 15feet(give or take) at our house and the the same at his house...The layers would show disturbances.

This I know, I was the scooby person, I’d take trowel and scooby the edges to get any air pockets out, this strengthened them.
By the time concrete workers left that site in Salida, much of the slab would have been setting up, it is doubtful they would have been able to leave before this process, was well underway. and likely someone would have covered it w poly sheets. If the workers had seen any disturbance the next morning it would have stood out and they would have honed in on that area, almost impossible to rework after putting anything in. Concrete is complicated...
It would not be possible to go in after all workers left, and even harder while crews working! JMO
I am 100% certain that BM did NOT put anything there, based on my experience. ( whell, 99.999999999999% sure, I have to keep my little toe touching fence)

We don't know who or when the concrete was poured. It's possible that BM only supplied the dirt, graded and tamped or he may have hired the cement subcontractor at a later date and they set the rebar and poured.
We do know they used some sort of equipment and dug up a slab so they had to either be going on a positive result for something or even going on a tip.
There's a myriad of possibilities so there's really nothing to get that excited about.

 

[Barry]

A random thought: it’s generally not easy to get everyone in a group not to discuss something. That in itself is interesting, IMO.

 

[Madeleine74]

He seems more like a 'tell' rather than an 'ask' guy, IMO.

Yes! Something no one mentioned is how he supposedly said to SM, "Listen..." and then proceeded to 'ask' her about him going to Denver for his job early. There was another thing he said where he repeated his alleged conversation with someone else and again it started with, "Listen!...."

I made immediate note of that.

 

[Dave F.]

Largest is Canon City but Fremont County is adjacent to many large counties. Also the home of many federal and state prisons.

Fremont County, Colorado - Wikipedia

Actually there are eight Colorado state prisons, two private "for profit" prisons, and ADX-Florence (often called SuperMax) in Fremont County. There is one city - Canon City, and five towns.......Cotopaxi, Florence, Howard, Penrose and Texas Creek.
CO - CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #14
Supermax prison - Wikipedia
خرائط ‪Google‬‏‏

 

[alleyoop24]

Just curious, when did Fremont County Get involved? I am in SC, is Frémont County on the route to Denver, hmmm, that is another area to research. sigh

Fremont County is the one just east of Chaffee County. The county line is just east of house where the foundation was searched.
I don't know exactly when they were involved or why.

 

[Truecolors]

I wonder if SM had a regular cleaning service come to the house. With COVID, maybe not, but it sounds like things had been getting back to normal that week as far as business. She’d want the house to be nice for the girls’ visit, guest rooms and bathrooms freshened up. I wonder if there was a cleaning appointment cancelled Friday or Saturday.

Pure speculation, MOO

 

[Lilypad13]

I think it's important to understand just how massive a problem this is (Missing Persons) and how some cases (Suzanne's, Barbara Thomas's, Gannon's) get more press (Suzanne more than Barbara), more attention on WS, etc.

But for every Suzanne there are hundreds of others gone missing with *no* FBI or state level involvement at all. That's a reason that so many of us are interesting in what's happening in Mayville and Salida.

I wonder if someone thought it would not get this much attention and knew if a good hiding place was found that eventually the searches would be called off and SM would become just another unsolved missing person statistic?

 

[Madeleine74]

I do not understand why they did not look at it right away. They are now interviewing everyone ???? Why do you think they didn't want to look at it first off?

IMO

1. Don't have the peoplepower to go through every single video for hours and days worth of recording for umpteen residents.

2. Might have to get subpoenas or warrants to take the video footage from each owner and then another warrant to be able to look at each video footage from each owner; who wants to write up dozens of subpoenas?

3. Didn't have specific information on where SM might have gone, what direction or even if she rode a bike at all that day.

 

[Warwick7]

IMO, it is pitiful that they have only conducted 10 large scale searches in 30 days. We know that 2 or 3 of the searches were digging concrete. If they are not going to search for Suzanne in the area she went missing, it would be appropriate to let volunteers search. Maybe some bounty hunters will start searching for her if the reward is available to them.

LE knows exactly what they are doing.
They do not need volunteers.

 

[Lilypad13]

He mixes information that came to light AFTER SM's disappearance with a narrative that was supposed to take place in real time from his perspective. And the issue of SM riding a bike is completely irrelevant to the question he was asked. Again, the comment was to push the narrative of somehow the bike and SM riding it the reason she's disappeared.

Yes! Right?! I agree...well put!

 

[Madeleine74]

I wonder if someone thought it would not get this much attention and knew if a good hiding place was found that eventually the searches would be called off and SM would become just another unsolved missing person statistic?

Good point. Most intimate partners who are involved in the disappearance (and murder) of their partner think no one beyond some immediate family will care. They never fathom how quickly it will become news, how big that news will become, how it will be known on several continents. I guarantee most of them are shocked by that.

 

[marylamby]

We know for certain that the Morphews were in the process of selling one of the properties, when SM went missing. We don't know who needed the money. SM, BM, or both. But one or both needed the money. Unless the sale was just part of prudent investment decision of course.

SM going missing and the recent sale of property may be closely tied together.
In the end, BM got the money. SM didn't.

We don't know when that sale went into contract or if it even did before SM was reported missing.
It wasn't set to close until the 3rd or 6th of June, I can't remember which.
Of course, the sale could've been in the works for months but it also could've been quickly arranged with a family member or 'partner in sale' very quickly, especially if you know the right people and already had legal paperwork in order.
I'm saying, it could've been arranged without SM's knowledge.
We don't know when she was last verifiably in contact with anyone.

 

[Madeleine74]

IMO, the FBI would not be wasting their time faking a big dig just to try and play head games. That would be a huge waste of time, money, damage to property owner's concrete pad. It would not happen.