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

[pepper 34]

That sure adds a whole other layer,doesn't it?

Maybe because the information was obtained by deception. We have absolutely no proof this was a video made with both parties in cooperation. In addition, LE does not want information about the case to be out and under public scrutiny. They've made that pretty clear. Information that's leaked can damage a criminal case. There may potentially be something the prosecution may no longer be able to use during a trial now that thousands have watched this video. I'm glad it's been removed.
Jmo.

 

[Tate123]

B: So I told my wife, I said “Listen the girls gonna be home and they want to spend Mother's Day with you, Mind if I go get started? She said “That’s fine”

I struggle with this... Mother's Day is not just for your children to celebrate with you but usually for your husband to say thank you for being a great mother. It is by far the busiest day of the year in the restaurant business. It is a "family affair" type of holiday.
Another red flag IMO

 

[branmuffin]

Maybe he hired private investigators or his lawyers did?

He appears to be a large scale landscaper. Maybe he's got quite a few guys working for him that don't have much to do right now so he's got them scouring the countryside based on his choreography.

 

[MsBetsy]

BM is very down to earth, very honest and not phony. I just feel very sorry for him. This is a tragedy. IMO someone threw her bike down there! They grabbed her and took her. The sheriff SHOULD have gotten DNA from the bike put it in the familial DNA and tried for a match. <modsnip: Nobody knows what the Sheriff did or didn't do>

We don't know what LE has done but it's probably not likely they would have found DNA on it unless there was blood, sweat, or some other bodily fluids on it.

I'm not sure what you mean by a familiar match, but if you mean Suzanne's family, I doubt it would prove anything because anyone in her family could have handled the bike.

Imo

 

[riolove77]

"This video has been removed by the uploader." Maybe BM did come after him (legally, I mean).


@riolove77 @Alethea
Can one of our esteemed attorneys say whether or not the "one-party recording" rule I see noted as being okay in CO is valid if one party specifically asks to not be recorded?

One party consent means one party consent. Doesn't really matter what BM wants. No one MADE him talk to this guy. Additionally, so long as the YouTuber isn't working on behalf of law enforcement, the recording can be turned over to them and used as evidence.

 

[Hoosierfan72]

B: So I told my wife, I said “Listen the girls gonna be home and they want to spend Mother's Day with you, Mind if I go get started? She said “That’s fine”

I struggle with this... Mother's Day is not just for your children to celebrate with you but usually for your husband to say thank you for being a great mother. It is by far the busiest day of the year in the restaurant business. It is a "family affair" type of holiday.
Another red flag IMO

I respectfully disagree that this is necessarily a red flag. I think small business owners, to some extent, are "married" to their business and it does require a certain degree of flexibility with the family to deal with that. Add to that how we're living under COVID (where every day pretty much feels the same), the idea of taking a different day/time to celebrate or being apart on Mother's Day, especially if the daughters were supposed to be back in time to spend the day with their mom, it just doesn't strike me as implausible.

 

[Seattle1]

Is the truck his ? Or his mother’s?

Might not be his — could belong to family or friend from IN. Especially if LE still has his vehocle.

As with most states, vehicle tags follow the vehicle, not the owner and Colorado has no exceptions including business-owned vehicles.

Registration Requirements

 

[Boxer]

If the bike was brought up from the creek as BM said it was, that explains TN saying "ask the sheriff about the condition of the bike."
MOO TN meant that the condition of the bike is that the possible fingerprints and touch dna evidence was ruined by careless handling.

 

[Kimmer]

JMO
Ive had a tough time letting go of a possible mountain lion mainly because of all the areas in the entire country where that could have happened, the area around her home is one area where I could see it possibly happening.

The part about an officer seeing a moutain lion go in front of a vehicle is interesting because LE should know if that is true or not.

But I agree that search dogs should have been able to pick up a trail of her getting dragged away if that was the case. And if a mountain lion did attack her on that road then would the bike have ended up that far off the road? Possibly if it charged and pounced at her from the side.

I think I am going to have to go back to what the Sheriff said. I think he said there were no signs of that and it was unlikely.

I have my doubts about the lion attack, if a large cat grabs prey 9times out of 10 they are eventually get it around the neck that is how they kill there prey, if a lion had grabbed her I feel there would have been blood somewhere in the area not to mention drag marks and pieces of clothing to me the lion is a red herring.

 

[Truecolors]

We don't know what LE has done but it's probably not likely they would have found DNA on it unless there was blood, sweat, or some other bodily fluids on it.

I'm not sure what you mean by a familiar match, but if you mean Suzanne's family, I doubt it would prove anything because anyone in her family could have handled the bike.

Imo

Agreed. My husband always puts my bike away in his preferred place. My dad, too. They are particular about the garage.

 

[branmuffin]

Here’s what I don’t understand: if he thinks she was kidnapped, why isn’t he or a spokesperson on TV telling everyone what she was last seen wearing and asking for people to remember if they saw suspicious vehicles in the neighborhood?

If there is a stranger kidnapping, you do need outside witnesses to help.

The DOJ statistics I posted above say less than 13% of murdered women are murdered by a stranger which is why I think this is still low on my list. I would bet anything that number is much lower if you limit it to older married women in rural/suburban areas.

I think he was gone before Mother's Day so any description of clothing would be for some day prior to her being reported missing. So it could be a bit of a sticky wicket if he described clothing she wore on, let's say Friday, and someone thought it odd she had the same outfit on two days later. MOO

 

[Kimmer]

LE may be searching different locations that where BM is searching...moo

I guess what I was meaning is normally you will see Texas Eqisearch or many of the other search groups that LE will bring in to help and they have numerous volunteers, horses, 4 wheelers and most LE would be happy to be backed up by these kinds of groups.

 

[susiQ]

BM is very down to earth, very honest and not phony. I just feel very sorry for him. This is a tragedy. IMO someone threw her bike down there! They grabbed her and took her. The sheriff SHOULD have gotten DNA from the bike put it in the familial DNA and tried for a match. <modsnip: Nobody knows what the Sheriff did or didn't do>

Exactly how do you know the Sheriff didn’t do that? I don’t recall reading anything to that affect. I’m confident LE have EVERYTHING they need from that bike by now. JMO

 

[Lilypad13]

Lots of people here do it because it’s usually cheaper. It’s also against the law though.

Good morning everyone. What will today bring in this saga? Are we having live chat tonight? Re Indiana plate...I wonder if his DL is from Colorado or still Indiana also? I would think it is against the law not to change your license and license plate after a short grace period? Maybe someone looked that up already but I would think the grace period would be months not years? Maybe as long as he still owned the home or land in Indiana it was not unlawful to still have out of state license plate? Not that it matters other than to suggest a disregard for the law or maybe just procrastination we are all guilty of sometimes when life is busy. It actually could help in this case if someone saw his truck somewhere between his home or Denver at some remote location. Or if someone remembered seeing a truck with Indiana plate somewhere NOT between there and Denver such as the opposite direction. If the truck was caught on video driving somewhere suspicious maybe LE can zoom in on the plate? Isn’t there something in newer vehicles where they can be located for repossession? I’m just wondering if LE knows exactly where he has driven? Do you think they have placed a hidden tracker on his truck so they can see where he is going? And another thought on the mountain lion scenario - IF SM was murdered could the killer have thought of putting her body up the mountain where a mountain lion would drag their prey thinking a mountain lion would smell her and come and get her after she was already deceased and then it would look like that is what happened? Could LE determine if victim was already dead before an attack if not much was left? I’m sorry I don’t mean to be disrespectful to Suzanne by saying it like this. I don’t know how else to put it. But suppose she was choked or smothered and the bike was staged and the killer was an “outdoorsman” and he hiked up the mountain and left her where he thought she would be eaten? Again, sorry, I know that is gruesome but after watching the video I can see BM thinking like that. ALLEGEDLY & JMOO!! Maybe he’s out frantically trying-searching the same area hoping some bones or something have been scattered and if he “finds” something then LE will then think it was a mountain lion attack. Maybe he WANTS her to be found so this conclusion can be reached and he can really be “cleared” because he fears that the way it is going if they don’t find a body or any part of his wife he will still be arrested and convicted without her body? Just my own SPECULATION!! I wanted to watch the TD video again this morning but now it’s taken down. I’m going to research TD and see what he is all about. Some of your posts suggesting this encounter and interview seem staged are very interesting. I doubt they knew each other beforehand but what if BM approached TD angrily at first but TD smooth talked him in that “hey bro I’m sorry about what YOU are going through” type of way and said the public just wants to hear from you and that appealed to BM and they talked awhile and TD gained his trust and first and then suggested an idea to interview BM to get his possible scenarios out there and so the public could see how distraught and worried BM was etc. and BM said I would but I can’t because the police and my attorney said not to talk to anyone and TD says well we could make it look like I secretly recorded you?!! And TD didn’t reveal that so he would be keeping his word to Barry? I don’t know...I really believed he was secretly recording BM to the point I was scared for TD’s safety. But it doesn’t make sense that he would trust spilling all of that to a stranger who could be anyone: the abductor returning to the scene, a Daily Mail reporter, undercover LE...why would he walk him to the bike location and say let me show you what happened? Maybe BM’s attorney got the videos taken down but hopefully it’s already in the hands of LE! Big mistake Barry. No matter his intentions I am grateful for his video if it helps find out what happened to Suzanne.

 

[branmuffin]

I think it’s blue. My husband would likely say it’s green.

I'm going to split the difference and say it's aqua.

 

[Truecolors]

I think he was gone before Mother's Day so any description of clothing would be for some day prior to her being reported missing. So it could be a bit of a sticky wicket if he described clothing she wore on, let's say Friday, and someone thought it odd she had the same outfit on two days later. MOO

I understand this limitation, but if he is confident that she was biking, I think it should be relatively simple to identify her missing helmet, shoes, gloves, water bottle, etc.

 

[DizzyB]

Could LE use anything in this video to box him in or would it be considered problematic? If they questioned him on anything that he said, would it throw a wrench into a prosecution?

 

[wheatnotchaff]

I understand this limitation, but if he is confident that she was biking, I think it should be relatively simple to identify her missing helmet, shoes, gloves, water bottle, etc.

Lots we don’t know about the investigation on this. What if her stock bike gear (gloves, helmet, etc) were found/identified in the house? That would make things interesting, wouldn’t it?

 

[Kimmer]

Molly Tibbetts dad comes to mind. LE was quiet, but her dad was everywhere he possibly could be.

Also Jessica Lunsford father and well as Haleigh Dunn

 

[Lilypad13]

IMO, it would have been wise for the YouTube guy to consult with an attorney first before releasing that video. lol He seemed to be so stoked about getting it that he didn't think beyond that.

I thought he said he did get legal advice first??