Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #3

[Backstroke10]

Well to have two very expensive homes, one over a mill. I would say he was successful. Probably did landscaping on a big scale for commercial properties, builders, etc.! That is big money, not your average home landscapers.

Yes, of course he could have been successful and/or her family could have money. The point is, we don’t know.

 

[kay74]

Calling it a night. I wish SM was safe at home.

 

[Murphy1950]

Well, there are pictures of her. We get a pretty good sense of what she looks like from the pictures. Unless she doesn't look like that now. She's thin, tan, has light brown hair, longish etc. We can actually see more than just height and weight (people are bad at identifying people by height anyway). She's 49, but looks younger in many pictures (to my eye).

I have seen her pictures so many times (outside of WS) in the past week. As for the bike, perhaps they already have all the info they need. They are definitely asking for tips, but appear to have gotten some good ones already.

Maybe it's a new phase of LE use of media, but pictures are used more and more, without those traditional descriptors (unless the person is unusually tall or unusually short, then height is mentioned).

Interesting....it probably is the new way. I could no more tell from a picture if someone is 5 foot or 5'8 ?? 110 lbs., or 140lbs, or in most cases their eye color etc. I think your background/training has given you a gift, a special window into an area we all can't automatically envision, envious here.

 

[Backstroke10]

Exactly, think beyond grass cutting & mulch, where I think many are stuck. He could very much have a successful & profitable business.

I’m not stuck at all on grass cutting and mulch. My ex fiancé has a landscaping and sprinkler business that I would help out with on the weekends. I know what landscaping means.

 

[jpcolorado]

Yes, of course he could have been successful and/or her family could have money. The point is, we don’t know.

According to The Herald Bulletin in Indiana, her family owns a popular restaurant. The husband has several landscaping businesses to his name. But you never know what shape the businesses are in with the economic slow down. Thousands of profitable businesses are no longer profitable from the US lock down for months.
Alexandria native goes missing in Colorado

 

[Sillybilly]

Still cleaning up a bit but thread is open again.

 

[Warwick7]

Still cleaning up a bit but thread is open again.

Thank you
:0)

 

[debrat007]

Thank you
:0)

Ditto!

 

[Willowwood26]

<modsnip: quoted post with no response>

 

[happyday]

I hear ya. . Again I’m very behind here in all the maps and information, but just wanted to weigh in on what seems to be potentially dangerous terrain from a Coloradoan’s perspective. Perhaps some locals can weigh in more on that.

FTR though, as far as what family thinks, that to me is not necessarily an indicator of what may have actually happened — an off the top of my head example would be Jessica Heeringa’s mother who says she still thinks her daughter is being held alive somewhere, despite the fact that Jeffrey Willis, a likely SK, has been convicted of her murder. Very often imo the family thinks this, or hopes that a MP is being held alive somewhere, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that is the case.

I look forward to catching up on all the information here. . Thanks for being easy on me.

I’ll be interested to hear what you think after you catch up! Like what do you think of LE’s behavior? And the husband’s plea on fb? At first look I thought this was an accident—I hike in Co and know it can be dangerous. BUT it’s all the other things—silence, lack of info, immediate FBI involvement. It’s just STRANGE and something else is going on here. What do you think?

 

[Cindizzi]

Investigators are still gathering evidence in Chaffee County, but does the early involvement of the FBI mean something in the case?

Investigator explains FBI's involvement in Chaffee County missing woman case - KRDO

 

[Jackielee09]

Is everybody here sold on foul play? I have some thoughts re: the terrain, etc. but don’t want stones thrown at me lol jk.

Lol I know right. Yes I believe foul foul foul play. Not saying who. Cuz I don’t know. Just hope she’s found.

 

[BeckyF]

Indeed, that case of Gerry is what brought me to WS. Such a sad senseless loss of life. Lots of mixed signals and crossed wires on that one. Poor cell phone service being a big one.

In Gerry's case, she was hiking in an unknown, remote wilderness far from her home (the AT in Maine). Whereas Suzanne (if biking) was close to home, so I IMO doubt that she became lost. She did however, become separated from her bike for some reason, voluntarily or not.

Is it possible that she stopped to pick a flower or sit by the lake? Or pee? Definitely possible. The search, though, has been fairly thorough, using searchers on foot, dogs, divers, drones, aircraft and all with a starting point of the bike's location, wherever that may be. Plus an additional and supposedly separate location of personal item(s). Seems that the bike and the personal item(s) were not found together. I IMO don't believe she is missing due to an accidental fall or slide for these reasons.

What other scenarios are possible?
*She left on her own.
*Husband seems to believe (from his video) that someone has her and will return her for money.
*Sheriff is asking for local citizens to save surveillance video footage over a 5 day period, implying some things as to timing and other locations. SOP - yes probably.
*She was attacked randomly on a bike trail, possibly killed and bike left behind. Maybe she even got off her bike and ran for help.
*Everything was staged through a planned crime..a stalker, a worker, a "friend."

We could go down any of these trails and find some way to support as well as dispute. The mystery remains for now. JMO

I don't believe that poor Suzanne is with us at this point. JMO but there too many mysteries for me to venture a guess about what happened. I think answers will come.

 

[Backstroke10]

I hear ya. . Again I’m very behind here in all the maps and information, but just wanted to weigh in on what seems to be potentially dangerous terrain from a Coloradoan’s perspective. Perhaps some locals can weigh in more on that.

FTR though, as far as what family thinks, that to me is not necessarily an indicator of what may have actually happened — an off the top of my head example would be Jessica Heeringa’s mother who says she still thinks her daughter is being held alive somewhere, despite the fact that Jeffrey Willis, a likely SK, has been convicted of her murder. Very often imo the family thinks this, or hopes that a MP is being held alive somewhere, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that is the case.

I look forward to catching up on all the information here. . Thanks for being easy on me.

Nice to see you on here Margarita and I’m curious what you think, after your caught up.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Posted 7 minutes ago:
“CHAFFEE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Salida, Colorado
PRESS RELEASE
May 18, 2020

Members of the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), continue the search for Suzanne Morphew.

Ms. Morphew is a Chaffee County woman reported missing on May 10, 2020.

On Monday, 18, investigators continued to review and follow-up on tips reported to the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office. There have been more than 150 calls to the tip line since the phone line was activated last week. There were no targeted searches conducted on Monday.

Continued from yesterday’s update: Chaffee County residents are being asked to preserve any and all video footage from devices such as Ring doorbells, security cameras, game cameras, etc., from May 8th thru May 12th.

Citizens are only being asked to preserve the video at this time. Please do not send these videos to the sheriff’s office or call the sheriff’s office. As search areas are identified, investigators will contact residents in those locations to collect any camera footage within that May 8-12 window.

PLEASE DO NOT CALL CHAFFEE COUNTY DISPATCH WITH QUESTIONS.

The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office asks the public to continue to report any information about this case by calling (719) 312-7530.

*****Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze*****“
Chaffee County Sheriff's Office

So little information has been given compared to other missing persons cases. E.g., for most cases, don't they usually state "was last seen.........." giving date/where last seen? Not even that.

 

[Seattle1]

@inmyhumbleopinion said: ↑
Posted 7 minutes ago:
“CHAFFEE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Salida, Colorado
PRESS RELEASE
May 18, 2020

Members of the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), continue the search for Suzanne Morphew.

Ms. Morphew is a Chaffee County woman reported missing on May 10, 2020.

On Monday, 18, investigators continued to review and follow-up on tips reported to the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office. There have been more than 150 calls to the tip line since the phone line was activated last week. There were no targeted searches conducted on Monday.

So little information has been given compared to other missing persons cases. E.g., for most cases, don't they usually state "was last seen.........." giving date/where last seen? Not even that.

At day eight, I think there's a good possibility that investigators are waiting for test results from specific pieces of evidence collected during this past week and used today to continue tweaking their game plan to find SM while also preparing to deliver justice for any harm that one or more persons may have caused her.

 

[Dave F.]

Another brief description of the "lay of the land". The first attachment is a Google Earth aerial view of Monarch Pass. Highway 50 starts climbing just west of Poncha Springs, which is 7,521 ft elevation. It climbs steadily. At the intersection with County Road 225 the elevation is 8, 847 ft. At the crest, which is 13 miles uphill from County Road 225, it is 11,421 ft (roughly twice the distance above sea level as Denver) It drops down rapidly on the west slope to Sargents, which is 8468 ft elevation. The second is Google Maps Directions showing the total distance between Poncha Springs and Sargents of 28.4 miles. The last one shows the distance between County Road 225 and the crest of Monarch Pass, which is 13 miles.
If you don't mind high speed, the video at the link will quickly trace the climb up the eastern slope. At 4:27 of 6:09 a large tanker truck will approach from the opposite direction and whiz by. I believe that at that moment, it blocks the view of the turnoff to County Road 225 on the left side of the road, which is easy to miss under any conditions.
Monarch Pass video - Bing video

 

[S.K.F.C.]

I've caught up to the beginning of this #3 thread, but I have (as of now) 42 more pages to read through to completely catch up from the very beginning. My thoughts from what I've read so far as a cyclist and someone who lives in a rural Colorado community relatively near Monarch Pass:

1) If she was a SM user, I would be very surprised if she didn't have tracking apps active and wearables logging her location on all connected devices. I'm not the only one who regularly rides with Strava, Map My Ride, and/or Apple Workout all tracking at the same time. If she had a wearable like a watch vs a bike-attached tracker like a Garmin, chances are one of those apps would have continued tracking her movement. I know my Strava will Auto-pause a workout if I stop moving fast on my bike, but so long as I'm moving, it keeps tracking (for instance if I hop off my bike and hike it a bit). Most wearables these days (at least ones that a cyclist would be wearing IMO) are waterproof. Thus, she would have been tracked at least for a while even had she ended up down a creek. So, were these the personal items found? I know my watch and phone tracks me via GPS without cell service through the mountains near Monarch; on MTB rides, road rides, while hiking up a 12er, snowshoeing, skiing, etc.

2) It's highly unlikely she in any form came over Monarch to the west: there are live CDOT cameras on Monarch Pass, and Gunnison County has been closed to non-Gunnison residents (from what I've heard, they've been strictly enforcing too). Hwy 50 goes straight through the heart of Gunnison.

3) The trails have been odd, popular areas despite the travel bans have been swamped by out-of-towners. However, some trails in more remote areas have been absolutely dead with no one for miles. It's really hard to say what her trails were looking like, but from the location and based on what I've been seeing from a few hundred miles away, her trails would have been pretty darn empty. Salida locals would be sticking to their closer-in trails and non-locals often don't know of these more remote trails.

4) I went MTBing by myself about three weeks ago and txt'd a local friend where I was going to ride and to notify LE if I wasn't back by 5pm. Why her instead of family? Well, she's local, if I needed help I could call her, I can also tell her the recreation area and trails and assure she will know the general area and be able to communicate said to LE. I then went boondocking for a weekend by myself and told my neighbor that I'd be back on Sunday. Why? Well, they've got eyes on my house my family doesn't. They know the area I said I was going to and could notify and communicate that to LE better than family could. Both of these are routine events and I'm not calling my family every day when I hit a trail or the road or go skiing or ......., but I'll be with people or people will know where I am.

 

[Warwick7]

Plus the 10th might be irrelevant if she actually went “missing” day or two before. There’s so little info who knows. Just a guessing sad story. I hope some answers soon.

This really peaks my interest...

 

[Sillybilly]

We are out of patience with the TOS violations. Minimum 3 day TOs are being issued for members who insist on sleuthing family members and others who are not officially named a POI or suspect by LE.

It is a violation of TOS, clearly spelled out in The Rules, and members know this but persist in doing so, regardless of how many times Mods and Admins state it is against TOS.