Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #20

[LietKynes]

Finally watched the video. What immediately jumps out to me is that he is a compulsive liar. He is so accustomed to lying that he thinks people believe him when he makes statements that are dumbfoundedly ridiculous/impossible. I grew up with a guy just like that.

His ranger buddy did 400 tours of duty? Really? At a minimum, his buddy must be over 200 years old to be that dedicated. He probably still has his three cornered hat. That's gotta be worth something.

Maybe more impressively, BM and his 200+ year old buddy have thoroughly searched a 200 mile radius of rugged landscape including all the mountain peaks within...in just a couple of weeks! That's mighty impressive. Texas EquuSearch needs to sign these guys up.

Thank goodness only ten police officers handled the bike and not 100.

I totally believe him. I swear I do.

Agreed.
There's a huge stretch between a 26 second video 'plea' and searching over 200 plus miles.
Which is more realistic ?
This is a simple question and we're looking at factual evidence.
No one saw the husband searching over a 200 square mile area.
And why wouldn't he want LE's help in the form of a press conference ?
Theories abound here, and sadly most of them make perfect sense.
And so we wait....
Imo.

It's also at that point him speculating that 911 needs to be called. I would try my best not to go from "go see if she's home" to "call 911 the bike is missing!" Especially as a firefighter it just smells off to me. Its a job that requires thinking under pressure. My first thought would be to make a personal call myself rather than having an unknown person go out from the sheriffs office. Nothing indicates that the neighbor reported seeing evidence of foul play. If she did then yeah call 911, The bike is gone? It's not that moving to me. I would for sure be worried, but I would not jump to terrible things happening to her . I'd try to run down some help with friends in the city first. And then drive home.

bbm
Ita.
Why the urgency to make the uninvolved neighbor call 911... then wait for 7 days to make a FB video infomercial plea ?
Citing before this time, that "it's too soon".

It's as if some people have either an inflated ego (As in: 'believe me and my story because I said so !') or have something they don't want made public.
Or both ?
MOO

 

[al66pine]

Pressing Need to Close? Earnest $$$?

The couple who purchased the house had been living in it for at least a year. So, it seems like to me, there was no pressing need or hurry to close this deal. I’m not disagreeing with your information ... I’m just doubting any earnest money was on the line ... [...sbm/al66pine.].

@vaporlass sbm bbm No, no, no, pls feel free to disagree, as my post made some azz-umptions (and spelled them out) but some may be rubbish. Like you said, there may have been no earnest money on the line. Maybe it was not the kind of sale typically made thru MLS; it could have been a sale to a very close friend or fam member, w few standard real estate-ese or legal-ese formalities.
As you say, there may have been no pressing need on part of either Buyers or Sellers. Or maybe BM (and possibly SM at time of initial contract) planned to use sales proceeds for a certain purpose in summer 2020. Or maybe Buyers wanted to secure 'regular' 15 or 30 yr mortgage, and could not do that until purchase from the M's was complete. If I stood in the buyer's shoes now and needed/wanted to finance home purchase, I'd run, not walk, to lock in ~ 2.6% interest loan. I doubt these rates have been lower in our life time than in the past few months (says 1990-me , paying 9.825% mortgage rate that yr, back then a very competitive rate. )
Or maybe Buyers wanted to make improvements to the prop, add on to house itself, build a new barn/stables, install/upgrade irrigation system, etc. but did not want to do that before completing purchase.
@vaporlass, pls comment on, clarify, or correct my posts, as that's one of the ways I try to learn something new here everyday.

 

[al66pine]

dbm, a duplicate.

 

[TristanP]

IMO, we didn't hear all the details of that conversation with the neighbor or with the girls. I'm betting BM mentioned Suzanne's bike somewhere prior to the neighbor going to the house. Finding that bike was important and I'm fairly certain the personal item LE found will turn out to be her helmet.

He’s very fond of the bike ride story.

 

[gliving]

Since one possibility is an abduction and vehicles must pass cameras on 50 going north or south from 225, MOO that footage needed the same immediate scrutiny as the river and roadsides, the home, the camp on 224 and the cement slab in Salida.
MOO absence of reviewing that footage immediately seems to be either a clear signal sheriff had a convincing reason to think she did not get abducted in a vehicle, or it was a big error.

This was discussed on a previous thread and I think it was @Dave F. who pointed out that CDOT cameras don't record.

Road Conditions, Speeds, Travel Times, Traffic Cameras, Live Streaming Traffic Cameras, Road Closures and Road Work Information provided by Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) a branch of Colorado Department of Transportation

Can I get a recording of a specific camera on a certain date and time?

As per CDOT policy, no camera images are recorded.

 

[LietKynes]

IMO, we didn't hear all the details of that conversation with the neighbor or with the girls. I'm betting BM mentioned Suzanne's bike somewhere prior to the neighbor going to the house. Finding that bike was important and I'm fairly certain the personal item LE found will turn out to be her helmet.

If the item was her helmet.... pretty much negates the "abducted while on a bike ride" theory put forth by the husband-- b/c what kidnapper will take the time to undo a helmet strap ?
Much less plant the bike where it would be found ?
Why take the time to do that ?
Not that I think she was on a bike ride.
MOO

 

[AbigailHobbs]

IN. Guardianship. Sneaky? POI?
@AbigailHobbs sbm Now responding to this ^ part of your post.
Sneaky? Let's look at hypothetical couple jointly owning their home but w no legal instrument for addressing an absence or disability circumstance, which would typically be handled thru self-administered trust or a power of atty doc. Say one person is injured in vehicle crash and is in coma in hosp. for months. If it becomes financially necessary to sell their jointly owned home, what could the other partner do to enable a sale? Answer might be petitioning for guardianship, which may be the only answer for this unwelcome coma. A gdn'ship procedure can be used by innocent, well-intended ppl w jointly-held properties, when their estate planning is/was not broad enough to have encompassed methods for addressing absence or disability situations.
Can a no-good, low-down skunk who harmed or killed spouse seek guardianship, sell prop, and use proceeds for riotous living? Yep, can happen. Hopefully rarely.
Spouse. PoI or Arrestee?
I'm trying to recall cases in which person w suspiciously-absent-spouse was publicly identified as a PoI in connection w disappearance, has petitioned for gdn'ship and sold prop. Coming up empty but maybe others can think of some. Granted, for many yrs now LE does not tend to publicly name a PoI or suspect (until after arrest).
Plenty of cases in which surviving spouse tries to hurry probate of suspicious-death-spouse's estate and/or quickly submits life ins claim to ins carrier.
If (hypothetical only) arrest info (re suspicious disappearance) was made part of gdn'ship record, I wonder how that might impact judge's rulings/orders re gdnship. jm 2 cts.

I would hope the question would be raised in court in these types of requests. 99%of the time it's probably just incapacitated with age or illness, but in a disappearance? I don't like it for future transactions

 

[Fireflize]

If the item was her helmet.... pretty much negates the "abducted while on a bike ride" theory put forth by the husband-- b/c what kidnapper will take the time to undo a helmet strap ?
Much less plant the bike where it would be found ?
Why take the time to do that ?
Not that I think she was on a bike ride.
MOO

^^^^^
I think she was already long gone before that 'bike ride' moo.

 

[al66pine]

I would hope the question would be raised in court in these types of requests. 99%of the time it's probably just incapacitated with age or illness, but in a disappearance? I don't like it for future transactions

@AbigailHobbs Me neither.

 

[GordianKnot]

He’s very fond of the bike ride story.

BBM:

He has everything riding on that bike.

Everything except Suzanne, anyway.

JMO.

 

[Knox]

If the item was her helmet.... pretty much negates the "abducted while on a bike ride" theory put forth by the husband-- b/c what kidnapper will take the time to undo a helmet strap ?
Much less plant the bike where it would be found ?
Why take the time to do that ?
Not that I think she was on a bike ride.
MOO

Would Suzanne ride her bike without a helmet according to BM? What better way to cement she was on a ride and perhaps abducted, since the bike was down by the creek and the helmet was near HWY 50 (the way out)? In a struggle, I would imagine a helmet would come off fairly easily.

I hope you all know I don't believe the bike ride story either, just thinking about evidence planted to make it look like an abduction.

 

[JnRyan]

I think most people would be so horrified by the thought that they couldnt say it out loud. Not to the public. How many people get killed and mauled off with zero evidence left behind? Im gonna go with zero.

If there is no evidence left behind we won't know the person's demise. (I actually wonder how many 'lost' hikers, especially in ID, western MT and northwest WY were not actually victims of grizzly bears.) On that topic, if I suspected wild life, a mountain lion would not be my first thought but rather a bear. CO had seven bear - black bears, as CO is too far south for grizzlys - attacks in 2019 per the Colorado Sun. Still, bears and mountain lions can sense humans through scent and sound long before we know they are in the vicinity and will almost always avoid humans. While a bear attack is possible, with no evidence in the area of the bike, it would not be high on my list of possible outcomes.

 

[DellaC]

That is what I meant sorry it wasnt clear. Yes that why would the girls call BM, probably after trying to ask their dad and mom, then not being able to reach her so they call the neighbor who then calls the police. I mean but after she reported to them that the bike was missing? I get being worried, I dont get why the neighbor would call and not the spouse who works for FD?

This article below has some new statements that I at least haven't seen/found interesting. I've only selected quotes I find to be new info so it's not how the article was written, MOO, you can view the entire article via the link

quote

"Friends said they asked neighbor Jeanne Ritter, 70, to check on Suzanne when they couldn’t get hold of her and it was Ritter who later called the police to report her missing."

next quote

"Summer Stehle, 43, the stepmother of 17-year-old Macy’s best friend, said: ‘The neighbors up there are spread pretty far apart but the only reason they found out [she was missing] is because the girls called the neighbors and said, ''we never heard from Mom – can you go check on her?''

‘Nobody actually saw her on her bicycle, sadly.’

next quote

"But DailyMail.com can now reveal that Morphew, 52, has not been allowed to enter the home he shared with Suzanne since he returned from his trip to Denver.

Police also have his car and his cell phone – leaving the businessman and volunteer firefighter to communicate through his close friend George Davis, 33."

next quote from a firefighter

"Nelson added: ‘It’s a bad deal you know. They aren’t telling us anything. We got excluded from everything.

‘George [Davis] put together a search team of friends – I was going to go but pretty much all our fire guys are on it so I decided to step away just in case we get something [a fire].

‘Barry was very understanding from what I got from George. I know he’s not allowed to go home. He’s at a neighbor’s. I guess they got him there until he’s cleared or…’"


Police search and carry out evidence bags from the $1.5M home of missing Colorado mom | Daily Mail Online

One thing that I would like to hear WS folks chime in on: How likely is it that a full-fledged search party would go out immediately after receiving a missing persons report? Is this standard procedure in wilderness areas where the elements or wildlife could pose a threat to the individual? I have no SAR background, but thought LE might take more time to assess the situation before bringing out the "big guns". Also, it seems I must have read somewhere (possibly seen on TV, though I don't watch much) that a person had to be missing so many hours before a formal report could be filed. I have wondered whether there wasn't something more at the scene--house or along alleged route--that warranted 2 dog teams + 100 people in relatively short order.

 

[MassGuy]

If there is no evidence left behind we won't know the person's demise. (I actually wonder how many 'lost' hikers, especially in ID, western MT and northwest WY were not actually victims of grizzly bears.) On that topic, if I suspected wild life, a mountain lion would not be my first thought but rather a bear. CO had seven bear - black bears, as CO is too far south for grizzlys - attacks in 2019 per the Colorado Sun. Still, bears and mountain lions can sense humans through scent and sound long before we know they are in the vicinity and will almost always avoid humans. While a bear attack is possible, with no evidence in the area of the bike, it would not be high on my list of possible outcomes.

I don’t think it’s the absence of evidence of an animal attack that is causing law enforcement to focus on BM, rather, I think there is specific evidence that he did something to her.

I just want to know what was found in the house during those two searches.

 

[AbigailHobbs]

I don’t think it’s the absence of evidence of an animal attack that is causing law enforcement to focus on BM, rather, I think there is specific evidence that he did something to her.

I just want to know what was found in the house during those two searches.

They took his phone and car too. I'm not sure which search but they did

I posted a link in this thread

 

[MassGuy]

They took his phone and car too. I'm not sure which search but they did

It was likely early on. If they had probable cause to search the house, they likely had it to seize his car and phone.

They just had to have had something big on him for them not to handle this the way they handle every abduction, so something pointed them in his direction.

 

[JnRyan]

Would Suzanne ride her bike without a helmet according to BM? What better way to cement she was on a ride and perhaps abducted, since the bike was down by the creek and the helmet was near HWY 50 (the way out)? In a struggle, I would imagine a helmet would come off fairly easily.

I hope you all know I don't believe the bike ride story either, just thinking about evidence planted to make it look like an abduction.

The helmet, if the strap is properly adjusted, would not come off fairly easily. The one photo we have of Suzanne shows her strap appears to be properly adjusted.
Home of Missing Colorado Mom Suzanne Morphew Returned to Family Following Investigation
Of the persons I know who were involved in accidents with cars none lost their helmet even though they were hospitalized. One bike racer I know struck the track so hard during a race the blow to her head caused her to stop breathing and had to be revived and yet the EMT's had to remove her helmet. I have two helmets with damage to the outer shell from objects thrown at me by motorists, one of which was thought to be a plastic 10-12 oz bottle of water. I had to stop my bike on the last one till I could recover, but my helmet barely moved on my head.

If LE found her helmet by itself - i.e., the personal item found on 14 May - I would wonder. Someone likely undid the catch and removed it. If she had been wearing the helmet that day.

 

[IronOreBetty]

That’s true about 911.

But if it was called in as a wellness check, I’m sure he could’ve called the non-emergency line directly. In that small town, and as a volunteer firefighter, I’d think he’d have buddies to call.

MOO

So are you saying instead of asking the neighbor that he was already talking with to make the call, he should have hung up with her and started calling friends, hoping one of them would pick up the phone and make the call? At a time when every second counts?

I can imagine the reaction to those interviews-

Neighbor: I offered to call 911 but BM said no. He would call a friend.

Good grief.

 

[MassGuy]

So are you saying instead of asking the neighbor that he was already talking with to make the call, he should have hung up with her and started calling friends, hoping one of them would pick up the phone and make the call? At a time when every second counts?

I can imagine the reaction to those interviews-

Neighbor: I offered to call 911 but BM said no. He would call a friend.

Good grief.

She “went on a bike ride,” and hadn’t yet returned. There are a ton of innocent explanations, especially if he didn’t know when she had actually left.

So why would he ask the neighbor? It’s because it distances himself from what occurred. It’s like the killer who allows friends or family members to discover a homicide victim.

Like the sickos who return home, knowing full well that there is a dead body inside, and allowing their kids to make the discovery.

That sort of thing is surprisingly common. Distance, distance, distance.

 

[Daisyeve]

So are you saying instead of asking the neighbor that he was already talking with to make the call, he should have hung up with her and started calling friends, hoping one of them would pick up the phone and make the call? At a time when every second counts?

I can imagine the reaction to those interviews-

Neighbor: I offered to call 911 but BM said no. He would call a friend.

Good grief.

He should have said I’m worried sick and I already called 911 because that’s my wife that might be missing!!