Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #17

[Birmingplumb]

My thoughts: I’ve always believed SM was killed sometime between Friday night and early Sunday morning. I believe that LE asked people to save video from 5/8-5/12 because the 8th, Friday, was the last day someone outside the family had seen or talked to her.
I envision that the bike was planted after dark on Saturday. It had to be easy enough to find when the search started, but not so obvious that someone might see it and steal it before the whole story could be put into play.
Where the bike was found in the area fits several narratives that have been offered: dragged off by a mountain lion, accident with head injuries and wandering off to fall in the river, or abduction. It also fits with the original report given to LE, that SM had taken a bike ride and never returned.
MOO

Call me a die hard but what clues lead you to believe Suzanne was killed and not just gone?

 

[Dave F.]

And another thing ... if you are a dirt guy with your own digging equipment, how convenient is it that you have something to bury after the ground has thawed? As in, late spring.

Yet another interesting bit of timing.

The ground doesn't freeze in southern Colorado. Not even at 9,000 ft altitude. I've dug in it for a living, trying to save the money for college. IMO

 

[Nerissa]

The ground doesn't freeze in southern Colorado. Not even at 9,000 ft altitude. I've dug in it for a living, trying to save the money for college. IMO

I'm reminded of that song: whatever the title the lyrics are: 'it never rains in southern califronia'...lol

Any way - I just happened to be there that weekend - cruising up & down Buena Vista & the friendly folk in Salida....another 'adventure' lol

The Arkansas was flowing, but not crazy or dangerously high....plenty of snow still not melted off & passes closed...

But, no: I'd imagine no 'frozen' ground to dig.....

But then, when you've the equipment & man power & excuses (just for work) - BM had/has: no need for ground to be frozen or thawed....

JMO

 

[Dave F.]

I'm reminded of that song: whatever the title the lyrics are: 'it never rains in southern califronia'...lol

Any way - I just happened to be there that weekend - cruising up & down Buena Vista & the friendly folk in Salida....another 'adventure' lol

The Arkansas was flowing, but not crazy or dangerously high....plenty of snow still not melted off & passes closed...

But, no: I'd imagine no 'frozen' ground to dig.....

But then, when you've the equipment & man power & excuses (just for work) - BM had/has: no need for ground to be frozen or thawed....

JMO

Thanks! There was nice snow on Monarch Crest trail on the 10th. IMO

 

[JosieMae]

Even with proper equipment, digging up frozen ground is extremely difficult. Like digging into concrete or rock. Frozen Ground Excavation: The Contractor's Guide to Excavating

One would want to wait. Say, until mid-May?

 

[al66pine]

Loopholes?

... Michael Chambers case, his wife was able to get him declared deceased despite no body being found... in a matter of WEEKS after his disappearance. Maybe you can explain to me how she managed it? I am calling it a “loophole” but you may use a different terminology for it?...

@vaporlass bbm sbm No, I cannot explain Michael Chambers events, as you report it: a judicial declaration of death w'in weeks after a MisPers case was opened. Unexpected outcome?
Strange, weird, bizarre? Yes and yes. I've read a few news articles about it, but have not seen actual pleadings or TX. ct orders. Maybe one of our legal professionals has seen & can answer, but I cannot comment on or guess about it. I'll address the rest of your question in another post. my 2 cts.

 

[tmar]

I assume that LE would have taken the information from the pickup GPS already, and I would assume that they continue to keep track of his whereabouts-not through that GPS but perhaps through another GPS now located on his vehicle. It would be the prudent thing to do, c0nsidering he seems to be out and about and they are still searching for Suzanne.

BUT if BM knows where SM is, surely he would avoid the area.
MOO.

 

[LietKynes]

Saying this figuratively-- don't get me started on Michael Chamber's case.
Grrr.

Speculation : I wonder how long it will take for someone to request that Suzanne is deceased ?
Chilling.
Imo.

Eta : Suzanne's already been declared "incapacitated" insofar as liquidating assets that were in her name.
I just think it's a matter of time.

Some states require several years to declare a person deceased, but as we've seen in Michael's case, procedures can be fast tracked if necessary.
Things still seem very murky and 'under the table' in M.C.'s case.
MOO

 

[Cassady]

Even with proper equipment, digging up frozen ground is extremely difficult. Like digging into concrete or rock. Frozen Ground Excavation: The Contractor's Guide to Excavating

One would want to wait. Say, until mid-May?

A skid steer was seen in photos from the missing person's house. A skid steer is not going to be very helpful digging much of anything in that area...not too mention towing it around on a NF road looking for a place to bury a body would draw attention, let alone using the skid steer in a remote area...and leaving a GPS or cell phone footprint...IMO

 

[JosieMae]

A skid steer was seen in photos from the missing person's house. A skid steer is not going to be very helpful digging much of anything in that area...not too mention towing it around on a NF road looking for a place to bury a body would draw attention, let alone using the skid steer in a remote area...and leaving a GPS or cell phone footprint...IMO

Perhaps the burial spot was all ready to go. The rest would be easy.

 

[DizzyB]

BUT if BM knows where SM is, surely he would avoid the area.
MOO.

Some people can’t help themselves. They have to go back to check and make sure they left nothing behind.

 

[Cassady]

Perhaps the burial spot was all ready to go. The rest would be easy.

A backhoe or excavator/mini-excavator would be just as conspicuous and would also need to be trailered in, and thus leave potential digital footprints.

Hollywood makes murder look easy. Real life not so much and that is why so many homicides are solved and lead to some sort of conviction...IMO

 

[BeckyF]

True - & yet he also does this bombastic nonsense: what did he offer - $200,000 for information!?

Egads - what nonsense

It's all about image - smoke & mirrors - for Mr. Morphew IMO: that kinda living can catch up with you.....

JMO

Absolutely it is all about his image. I’m surprised he hasn’t added another 100,000 to the reward to show everyone how committed he is to finding his wife.

 

[Nerissa]

A backhoe or excavator/mini-excavator would be just as conspicuous and would also need to be trailered in, and thus leave potential digital footprints.

Hollywood makes murder look easy. Real life not so much and that is why so many homicides are solved and lead to some sort of conviction...IMO

True: but in rural areas, I can attest, no one much cares or notices..

Plus, you've a man with his wife missing who has access to all sorts of machinery & work sites....

BM's job is to use such machines, to dig, excavate, clear, fill........

& his wife is missing

&....LE excavated one of his job sites.....

Stands to reason IF BM is involved: he's relied very heavily on his work experience, & machines & work sites.......

Sure seems LE sees it that way...

JMO

 

[gitana1]

Please bear in mind that Susan Constantine also analyzed Wayne Cheney in the Mollie Tibbetts case:


If you listen to him when he’s talking, he’s talking about how it’s affecting himself,” Constantine said. “He’s not at all concerned about what happened to the victim.”


Constantine also touched on Cheney’s body language during the interview, which to her, seemed to be movements of deception.


“He has this increased anxiety, which is causing all these physiological responses of itching the ears to adjusting his glasses, to stroking his hair, to, you know, crossing his arms and uncrossing them. So what happens is that, when you’re under anxiety, it increases blood flow and causes irritation to his capillaries. Those are all deceptive indicators.”


Cheney had nothing to do with Mollie's killing. Rivera confessed to her kidnapping and killing (but ultimately pled Not Guilty and trial process is ongoing).

I don’t go for body language analysis as a specific science that can be quantified. However, that dude was weird and had ha history. He probably did feel like he had something to hide. He did act anxious. I don’t think she was reading him wrong. She was just guessing he was acting a certain way, for the wrong reasons.

You're correct about norms of human behavior, and making judgments based on norms of behavior is perfectly reasonable. For example, if I know that a money manager is cheating on his wife, I'm not going to invest with him: he's already shown dishonesty in one area of his life, so trusting him with my money would be foolish.


However, in this situation, we have two competing norms:


1. How do innocent people who desperately want their loved one back act?


2. How do innocent people who believe that they are suspected by investigators for their loved one's disappearance act?


The second norm exists because it's become a rule of thumb that when a person goes missing, his/her spouse/GF/BF is immediately placed under the microscope due to statistical probabilities. After all, how can the innocent spouse/BF/GF

ensure that the loved one is found if s/he is in jail based on an erroneous focus by investigators?


Now, I'm not saying that I know that Barry Morphew is innocent or not. I am saying that conclusions should notnecessarily be drawn based on the exercise of one's 5th and 6th Amendment rights.

Well, I don’t necessarily draw conclusions from behavior. These are all factors that influence my suspicions. All of these different things we talk about in these cases can combine to cause me to lean in one direction.


I see this in case after case - one factor, among several, that is causing people to look in a certain direction, is explained away, justified, etc. However, when that begins to have to be done in a case with multiple different things, at a certain point, we just have to look at the whole picture.


Yes, every element of a case can be explained in a way favorable to a suspect or possible defendant. Defense attorneys love to do this. But when there are so many of them, it’s how the individual elements/factors combine, to form a picture.


I don’t think there’s enough for me with this case at this moment, but I am putting pieces together to see if they fit.


But as to the issue at hand, for me, timing is crucial when it comes to the actions of a loved one in a missing person’s case.


When I talk about norms of human behavior with regard to how innocent loved ones act, this is usually in those first, desperate weeks and months.


Because there are cases in which a lot of time is passed and it is now clear LE is going to wrong way and won’t change their mind (Elizabeth Smart case re Richard Ricci, for example), and/or when there’s an arrest, which then forces a loved one to oppose LE and/or stop cooperating and talking.


In the case of Elizabeth Smart, the police were certain Richard Ricci- a criminal offender- had taken and killed Elizabeth Smart. He was arrested on a parole violation, nine days after she went missing and died in prison a couple months later.


He remained the only suspect in the case for nine months.


Then, about four months after she was taken, in October, Elizabeth’s sister finally recalled who the person who broke into the bedroom and took Elizabeth, looked like. The parents wanted to release a composite of this person but the police said no.


The parents waited. It wasn’t until the next February that the parents FINALLY defied LE, held a press conference on their own and released a composite. About a month later, Elizabeth was rescued.


In another case where LE was very wrong, little Riley Fox went missing from her home in the middle of the night and was found dead and sexually assaulted, not too long after, in water not far from the home.


Her father Kevin was honed in on by police. He became their suspect. They interrogated him for hours and he ultimately confessed. He was arrested and charged. But he didn’t harm his child.


Both cases illustrate the lengths people who love their missing person will go to, even in the face of serious accusations, or clear ineptitude, etc., to comply with police and what it takes (months of inaction in the face of a real possibility, or their own arrest), before they stop complying.

ETA: Sorry for all the typos! Hopefully all have been fixed.

 

[Cassady]

True: but in rural areas, I can attest, no one much cares or notices..

Plus, you've a man with his wife missing who has access to all sorts of machinery & work sites....

BM's job is to use such machines, to dig, excavate, clear, fill........

& his wife is missing

&....LE excavated one of his job sites.....

Stands to reason IF BM is involved: he's relied very heavily on his work experience, & machines & work sites.......

Sure seems LE sees it that way...

JMO

If LE thought that the trailer, skid steer or any other equipment was used in the commission of a crime they would have seized these items as potential evidence and likely started civil forfeiture proceedings at some point. Upon forfeiture they would have been sold and the county would get to keep the money.

Do we have anything to suggest LE seized any of the equipment?

 

[gitana1]

The FBI and most state investigative agencies have access to software that rapidly analyzes digital evidence. If LE had access to cars, phones and computers within the first two weeks of the investigation, they have already processed and analyzed this data by now...IMO.

That’s not been what we’ve seen in these cases.

 

[Nerissa]

If LE thought that the trailer, skid steer or any other equipment was used in the commission of a crime they would have seized these items as potential evidence and likely started civil forfeiture proceedings at some point. Upon forfeiture they would have been sold and the county would get to keep the money.

Do we have anything to suggest LE seized any of the equipment?

Not yet...but as they say 'hold my beer'......

JMO & a big

 

[Cassady]

Not yet...but as they say 'hold my beer'......

JMO & a big

So LE would let a POI continue to use equipment that is suspected of being used to cover up for a murder....for over a month?

That would not make any sense...IMO

 

[Brubon]

Call me a die hard but what clues lead you to believe Suzanne was killed and not just gone?

"I'm Just Gone" by Doc Walker. Nice song.
I can think of several beautiful places "to go" in Japan, Canada, East Africa ...and love to recall them as an old woman...but as a mother and grandmother, the best places these days are where my kids and grandsons are. I believe (MOO) Suzanne would NEVER willingly leave her daughters without informing them of her whereabouts. A mother's love is the proof she is not just gone. Sadly I presume she is no longer alive. IMO