Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Gorgeous Colorado mom disappears on bike ride. Hubby says he was out of town.

Episode Date: May 19, 2020

It's been more than a week since 49-year-old cyclist Suzanne Morphew disappeared. She went for a bike ride on Mother's Day. Her neighbors called the county sheriff's office when she didn't come home. Morphew's husband, a volunteer firefighter, was out of town at the time of her disappearance.Joining Nancy Grace today: Ashley Willcott - Judge and trial attorney, Anchor on Court TV  Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta Ga. Cloyd Steiger - 36 years with Seattle Police Department, 22-year Homicide Detective & Author "Seattle's Forgotten Serial Killer-Gary Gene Grant" www.cloydsteiger.com Joseph Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics at Jacksonville State University & Author of "Blood Beneath My Feet" Nicole Partin - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Goodbye, friend. Keep the faith. In a community the size of about 150 people, how does a mom go missing, seemingly vanishing off the face of the earth on a Sunday afternoon bike ride? Broad daylight. I'm talking about Suzanne Morphew. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. How did she go missing?

And Jackie, is this significant to you that she goes missing on Mother's Day? Now, yes, that Sunday is not different from every other Sunday, except that you celebrate moms. I always find it very, let me say, curious when someone goes missing or is killed or tragedy befalls them on a particular holiday. It's kind of a red flag you can't ignore. But let's go to the source. Take a listen now to our friends at CBS4 Denver, Alan Jeanette. She went biking on Sunday. They're in the mountains about 20 miles west of Salida, Trevor. And then there was nothing from her. Tell us what you do know.

Alan, I'm willing to confirm that the bike was found on Sunday evening. The bike was found on Sunday evening the night that she disappeared and for more information on the bike or its condition I would encourage you and everyone else to contact the Chafee County Sheriff's Department. Yeah it has to be disconcerting to know the bike is found the sheriff has said he does not believe that this was an animal and so all the Coloradans really ought to be aware that there is a potential then, Trevor, that she might be somewhere well out of the county for all we know, which is why we need to make sure that we're aware of the situation.

Okay, something is hanky right there. Okay, and it doesn't take a JD to figure that out. Did you hear that, Jackie? The way the nephew, and why is the nephew speaking where's the husband where's the children but the nephew is speaking and the way he said it he said I'm willing to confirm the bike has been found I'm not suggesting the nephew is in any way involved in Suzanne's disappearance. He's out facing the camera speaking. But what that tells me, there's something unusual regarding the discovery of Suzanne's bike. And he was very tight-lipped about it with me and all-star panel to help determine what's happening, to analyze the clues left behind.

First of all, trial lawyer and judge, anchor at Court TV, Ashley Wilcott at AshleyWilcott.com. Dr. Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrist, joining us out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. Cloyd Steiger, 36 years Seattle PD, 22 of that. Homicide. That's something. Can't sneeze at that. Author of Seattle's Forgotten Serial Killer, Gary Jean Grant at cloydsteiger.com. Professor of Forensics,

Jacksonville State University. And author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, Death Investigator, Joseph Scott Morgan. But first, to CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter Nicole Parton. I got a lot of questions regarding this, but let's just start with the timeline. Mother's Day. She goes for a bike ride on Mother's Day in the afternoon. She's reported missing by neighbors at 6 p.m. I believe husband is 150 miles away in Denver on Mother's Day.

But hey, that's just three hours if you're going 60 mph and your stop wants to go to the bathroom. So, Nicole Parton, with that in mind, tell me what you know. Yes, Nancy, 49-year-old mom missing, and apparently it's her next-door neighbor that alerts authorities. She sees her and knows that she's headed out on the bike ride. Late in the afternoon when she doesn't return, the neighbor gets concerned and calls authority. Now, I looked at her pictures. You have two beautiful 49-year-old mother, very fit and in shape. It was not uncommon for her to go out for a bike ride.

Do you know that? Do you know that to be a fact? We know that according to the next-door neighbor. They had seen her go out for a bike ride several times. Question, question. Next-door neighbor, male or female? Female. Good to know. Because I'm wondering, how does a next door neighbor know so much about this woman? I was wondering if it was a creepy stalker next door neighbor, but no, it's not. I can tell you statistically, it's not. If it's a woman, how does a woman know that she left for the bike ride and then know by 6 o'clock she's not where she's supposed to be. Maybe they were supposed to have dinner together. Who knows? Maybe she called. Do you know why the neighbor realized something was amiss at 6 p.m.? Only thing we know is that she told authorities

that it was getting dark, it was getting late, and she knew she should have been back by now. Can I tell you about an unconfirmed report? Nicole, we have an unconfirmed report. The daughter, she has two daughters. Correct. Call the neighbor and asked her to call. Jackie, are you saying she asked her to call the mom or ask her to call police? Call police. So in any event, you're correct that it is the neighbor. I was wondering what prompted the neighbor to realize that Suzanne was missing. And that may be a small detail, but we can all agree that small details matter. Here, you pick it up from there. Sorry, Nicole, go ahead.

No problem. So authorities are alerted and they begin the search. As you said, husband is 150 miles away out of town. They're being very tight-lipped. Her family is not speaking except for the nephew. Husband has lawyered up. He's been asked to do several interviews. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Did you just say the husband lawyered up? That's correct. What kind of lawyer? Do you know who the lawyer is? I don't i wasn't given that information i just know that if you can find out who the lawyer is i'd be curious to know if the lawyer is a

criminal defense lawyer just out of curiosity he lined up you know speaking of what you just said ashley wilcott judge trial lawyer court dv Ash, I was wondering why it was the nephew out there hitting the airwaves. But in the last hours, the husband has finally come forward and spoken. Jack, can you play what the hubby just said? Oh, Suzanne, if anyone is out there that can hear this, that has you, please do whatever it takes to bring you back we love you we miss you your girls need you

no questions asked however much they want I will do whatever it takes to get you back honey I love you okay Ashley I'm just a JD, right? I only know how to try cases. That's it.

And cook in the crock pot. The girls miss you. I'm trying to analyze every word. And Ashley, I'm not saying the guy's responsible, but I am saying that that's where the investigation will always start, bar none. With hubby, lover, ex, boyfriend, living. That's where the investigation will always start, bar none, with hubby, lover, ex, boyfriend, living. That's where we start. Jump in, Ash.

Well, exactly. And he didn't say, I miss you, I'm worried, I'm concerned. He also made another statement that was fascinating to me. And he said, no questions asked. I felt like he was blaming her, meaning he has more information or knows more. That's a really good point. I mean, maybe he's trying to say, Cloyd Steiger, no questions asked. I won't go after you.

Just bring her home alive. Could be that. But Ash is right. Why would you say no questions asked? I don't want to parse words. I want to find this woman but what do you make of the circumstances so far also Cloyd they're not telling us I've tried to find out where the bite was found in relation to the home and also we know that a personal item was found that is hers about, I think about 300 feet or so from the home. So what's that item?

Because that would indicate to me that's where the attack took place. If she's on a bike and she's a veteran biker, would she have dropped an item by accident and not gone to pick it up? Where's her cell phone? Was it activated? Does she have find my iPhone app? And where the bike is and the condition of the bike. Because you heard the nephew say, I'm willing to confirm the bike was found. But he sounded like he had been instructed not to say anything else.

What do you make of it, Cloyd? Yeah, I think, you know, when I heard that, no questions asked, same two, that raised a red flag for me. What do you mean by that? I mean, if my wife was missing or something like that, first of all, I wouldn't lawyer up. I mean, he has the right to get a lawyer, but I wouldn't lawyer up. I'd be out there every day in front of the news begging for help. I wouldn't send a nephew out to be my spokesman.

You know, it sounds like, well, first of all, I'm sure that this statement he made was parsed with his attorney before he made it. But, you know, and what was it? I don't know. Where was the bike found? That's pretty important. You'd think they'd give you the area the bike was found. So people in that area, if they saw something, would know to look for something. Exactly. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we're talking about the disappearance of a mom, Suzanne Morphew, beautiful mother of two girls. The husband is 150 miles away in Denver, and I'd be all over that like a cheap suit.

What hotel? Is there surveillance video in the hotel of him going in his room? Did he come out of his room? What time? It's only three hours away. And again, I'm not saying he had anything to do with this. I'm saying that's where you start the investigation. And if anybody disagrees, jump in and explain why. I want you to take a listen now to our friends

at CrimeOnline.com. This is Dave Mack. Listen. Suzanne Morphew went missing from Maysville, Colorado. This small community has a population under 135 according to the 2010 census and average home prices are around $500,000. Search efforts began when the mom of two did not return after a bike ride on Mother's Day. Reports say a neighbor called to report Morphew missing, but we've also heard reports that it was one of Morphew's two daughters who asked the neighbor to contact police when she could not reach her mother. Morphew and her husband Barry moved from Indiana about two years ago. She was a middle school teacher. He owned landscaping companies. He's also a volunteer fireman, while Suzanne Morphew

opened a non-profit for children in need called Hope Network Incorporated. I'm trying to just take in all that information. So he owned a landscaping company. That's just opening up a plethora of possibilities. All the properties where he has worked, all the people that work for him in the landscaping companies. This woman did not leave of her own volition and stage her bike. Right now, it's my understanding that police are not releasing any information regarding the condition or the location of the bike or what the quote personal item is that they found.

You know, Nicole Parton, we got carried away and ran down a rabbit hole. Go back to where you left off and tell me what you know, please. Sure, Nancy. So the next-door neighbor calls authorities, and they begin this search. And, of course, they reach out to the children and the husband. And it's as though she vanished in thin air. The bike trail that supposedly she went is very safe. There are people in the area who bike there as well who say there's never been an incident of anything happening. They don't believe that it had anything to do with a wild animal attack.

They're calling this very suspicious and, of course, a missing person case. They don't know what happened. They're being tight-lipped. We don't know if she had a cell phone with her. We don't know what personal item was found right there near the home but we also know that in addition to owning these landscaping companies her husband has a net worth of close to three million dollars so could this have been something to do with a ransom could this have been something to do with kidnapping for money there's so many different areas that could be questioned.

Well, is that Joe Scott jumping in? Joseph Scott Morgan kidnapped for ransom. Where's the ransom note? Yeah, no kidding. Is there one? And we don't know about it. Police aren't saying anything. That's something I'd be very interested in.

I was just taking a look at the satellite image of the home, and it is, I don't know, by my standards, pretty impressive. And this is in a very isolated area, but one significant thing here, their home sits just off of Highway 50, which is like an old federal highway. And it's kind of a main thoroughfare that runs down there. She would have, when she exited the home, she would have had to have made a left heading back toward town on this road on her bike. That item that they keep referring to that they haven't specifically identified was found about three-tenths of a mile away from the home on the right-hand side, the side of the road she would have been riding on. And it's adjacent to the trail, I think. So that's roughly 500 yards, if you want to compute that. This happened, if this happened right there, Nancy,

it happened almost immediately. Like as soon as she would have turned out onto that road, that's significant. That means that somebody may have been watching her. You know, another thing that you just sparked to memory, Joe Scott, do you remember Dylan and Shasta Groney, the two little children that were kidnapped in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and the whole family was massacred and they were taken, they were held, repeatedly molested. The little boy Dylan was raped over and over and over, and he would be strangled to death or near death and then resuscitated. And then it would start over and over and over. And they caught the perp because he took Shasta to 7-Eleven, and she was walking around behind him, and somebody recognized her photo after seeing her

on TV. We had been covering it like every night on HLN. Long story short, he happened to be driving down the interstate, that perp, and spotted the children playing in an above ground pool. Totally unconnected. So you're telling me this is right off of Highway 50, correct? Yeah, off of Highway 50. You know, one of the things that just strikes me about this, I want to know more information about this bicycle because I don't know where it was found. Let's just say, for instance, just, you know, indulge me just for a second.

Let's say that this person pulled up alongside of her and nudged her off of the road. There's going to be significant damage, probably contact damage to that bike. She would have more than likely if she'd been bumped off of the bike and disabled in some way, she would have injuries to her body, maybe a leg injury, hip injury, maybe even a head injury. But they have the bike. So I'm wondering if we've got transfer evidence like paint from a vehicle that has attached itself onto the bike, you know, when these two things scrub together, that's going to be significant. And also was the bike actually run over, you know, and that, that could go to things like trace evidence relative to tires.

Did it get caught beneath the vehicle? And it raises all kinds, a myriad of questions from a forensic standpoint, of course, that what may have happened to her at that moment in time and what was that personal item. Was it a set of headphones? Was it a phone? Was it a watch? I don't know what it would have been that would have been a specific, and this is significant, a specific tie back to her. They said it's her personal item, not somebody thing we hear well actually they wouldn't say

anything about whether the bike was found at the get go they kept that a secret and I wonder why and based on what the nephew was saying how he was so mysterious about the bike's condition that tells me it's a huge evidentiary clue but then later

like 48 hours later or more, we hear, oh, update, a personal item has been found. That suggests, do you agree or disagree, Joe Scott, that the personal item was found in a different location than the bike? Or it would have come out at the same time? Yeah, it could have been. Just let me kind of follow this line of logic. If the bike was found in a different location, just y'all follow me just for a second here. If she got knocked off and was subdued in some way, you know, a bike's going to draw attention. If it's just laying out, I mean, we've all driven down these old U.S. highways like this.

They're pretty sizable. It's not like some little country road. That bike would draw attention. That means that potentially there was a vehicle big enough to accommodate that bike. Maybe they threw the bike into the car and drove it to a different location so it wouldn't draw attention. And then they hid it or sequestered it somewhere. And of course, she's missing. And that's significant. I do know that they got out what are called swift water searchers, which are kind of like a dive team, but they're set up to do whitewater searches. You know, the Arkansas River runs through this area. That is a serious river that, like, canoers and rafters go down. We're in a very rugged area of our country in this area, Nancy.

And so you're going to have very complex areas to kind of search for evidence here, and it takes a keen eye. They're looking in these rivers for her for whatever reason because they went to the trouble to bring these people in. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, where is Suzanne Morphew, who seemingly vanishes, just poof, disappears in broad daylight. Take a listen to our friends at CBS4 Denver News. This is Ellen Jeanette. The hardest thing.

She's a beloved member of our family and the sweetest person that you've ever met. The nephew of 49-year-old Suzanne Morphew talking about what it's like to go through the difficulty of a search that started after she went missing during a Sunday bike ride. Family has said her husband, Barry, was out of town in Denver. A friend called authorities when Morphew didn't return. The bike was found on Sunday, the day that she went missing. The sheriff has not yet shared information on the bike, but has told CBS for the reason for her disappearance is probably not animals.

Extensive searching in Chafee County, about 20 miles west of Salida, has not brought an answer on what happened to Morphew. Guys, we're talking about a gorgeous young mom, Suzanne Morphew, and I'm getting more questions than answers right now. Once again, we hear the nephew speaking out. The bike found and announced separate from the personal item. Let's bring in the panel. Joining me, Dr. Angela Arnold, psychiatrist in the Atlanta jurisdiction.

Why the nephew? And now the husband, several days later, posts a Facebook video. Interesting, can't take questions on a Facebook video. Go ahead, Dr. Angela. It's very interesting. I'll tell you something, Nancy, a question that's burning inside of me. Why did they move there two years ago? I'm just wondering about that. And how close is the nephew to this woman? Well, you know, my nephews are very close to me because okay you know they came along before i had my own children so they were like children to me and my nephews and my niece very close and for i have always considered them like my own children i do believe

they came here for they came to to Colorado for early retirement. They, you know, stashed away somehow 3 million bucks, had a half a million dollar home in a beautiful area in Colorado. Gorgeous area, by the way, have hiked there many, many times. Long story short, I think that's why they were there. I asked the same question, Dr. Angela, why move if you're happy and doing well where you are? I'm just curious about the whole thing. Floyd Steiger with me, Ashley Wilcott with me, Ashley to you. Again, nobody's pointing the finger at the husband, but being 150 miles away, I mean, that's nothing. That's less than three hours away. I've just got to figure out the timing here.

And you have to start with the husband first. No offense to him, Ash. Absolutely you do, because that's what you always do. Often perpetrators are ones that we know are the person that we live with, that we're closest to. So one of the things that I don't have yet that I would like to have established is the timeline, exactly what you said. Okay, we've heard the husband was 150 miles away, but what time did he leave the house? Where did he go when he was 150 miles away? Do, in fact, they have like a GPS tracker from his phone, from his car to know if he stayed 150 miles away all

day or not. The timeline has not been established in terms of everything I've seen in the coverage yet to know exactly who was where when, which are very important pieces to start an investigation. And I'd like to know about her phone. It's hard for me to believe she would leave it behind even on a bike ride i mean i make my children you know i go out with them have their phone with them not to look at on the bike ride but to have with them let's take a listen to wkwgn craig nieto's channel two day three of the search for 49 year old suzanne morphew the chafee county wife and mother first reported missing late sunday of the search for 49-year-old Suzanne Morphew, the Chaffee County wife and mother first reported missing late Sunday afternoon. The search intensifying today along Highway 50 at the base of Monarch Pass.

Today I've got different types of searching dogs in the area going back over the same area again. Sunday afternoon, Morphew had set out for a bike ride along County Road 225 and West Highway 50. Chafee County's sheriff says social media is actually getting to places where search crews cannot. Well over about 180,000, it's reached well over 180,000 people on Facebook. Authorities down south hope day four ends with promising news. We brought on a lot of extra help to work on this case, and we're just looking for anything we can to try to find her. Now, I did ask Mr. Moore a few if he's interested in making a public plea.

He says at this point it's simply too soon. Too soon? What was he waiting on? Guys, also in the public plea he released on Facebook, taking no questions, he says, I will do whatever it takes to get you back. Honey, I love you. I want you back so bad. You know, people react to this kind of situation differently. I remember when my husband, I don't know if I told you this story, Joe Scott Morgan, when he has to travel a lot with his business, he always texts or calls the minute he touches down so I don't have to worry.

And then when he, usually we'll text when he goes to supper, like, hey, I'm here, I'm having, you know, whatever. And then he'll text or call when he gets to a hotel, and he's safe. And I don't expect him to break into his busy day to call me and have a big long conversation. But he went to Florida and he texted when he landed. And I was super busy that day. So I saw the text. I was happy. And then I didn't ever hear from him again. And I was convinced that, you know, somebody in the parking lot had hit him on the head

or he got to a hotel room and had a heart attack. You do know, Joe Scott, I made Dee, who works with me, wake her up at 1 o'clock in the morning, and we spent until 6 a.m. calling every hospital and hotel in the area. I don't even remember what town it was. I think it was Winter Haven, Florida. Until we found, Dee found his hotel and I tore, I tried to be nice to start with, but finally I tore the poor night clerk a new, well, you know what, until he went to the room with his cell phone turned on and on the door, and you could hear David come to the door, and he said, your wife's going to call you in your hotel room.

And he was fine. He was just exhausted and fell asleep with his iPad open and his cell phone sitting by him on the bed. So, I mean, the moment I think he's missing, I started trying to do everything I could. So, what does that mean? It's too soon to ask the public for help. Yeah, I don't know what it means. And back to your first point there, I think that goes along, obviously, our reaction goes along with the nature of what we do for a living. You know, I'm always terrified something's going to happen to my loved ones like this because of all the stuff we cover. But to this point, I'll tell you something else that's kind of curious for me. You know, I'm just an old Southern boy and, you know, you start coming

on Mother's Day and I'm thinking, why aren't you with the mom of your children on that day? You know, maybe he's, maybe his mama lives in Denver. I have no idea, but you know, for me, I better be standing tall at the house with my wife, the mother of my children. And we better be maybe over at, at my in-laws house, you know, visiting my mother-in-law or my mother, but we're going to be together as a family, not so much on father's day, but on mother's day,, that's kind of, it's kind of odd to me. And so that's one of the things that really kind of raises a flag for me. And again, you know, we're not accusing, but we have to ask these questions, don't we?

You know, when you get married and you say, I do, you situate yourself. You better expect that you're the first one cops come to when anything goes sideways. And I got to tell you come to when anything goes sideways. And I've got to tell you something to Dr. Angela Arnold. Why is this? I don't give a fig about my birthday. I love everybody else's. But never have.

But Mother's Day, I mean, that's my crowning achievement. The twins. Mother's Day. Why is he 150 miles away? And I still don't understand this comment. Whatever he said about No questions asked. No questions asked. What is going on?

All these little nefarious things that people are saying. There's so much underlying this. You don't leave your wife on Mother's Day. I'm sorry. Sorry. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are learning so much more about disappearing mom, Suzanne. We're learning, for instance, reports that her bike brakes were locked.

What does it mean? Bike brakes locked. Let's go to you, Joseph Scott Morgan and Cloyd Steiger. What does that mean to you? Is that significant, Joseph Scott Morgan, if it's true? Well, yeah. And again, that's kind of a cryptic kind of way to describe that. I'm wondering if maybe she didn't apply the brakes, you know, the hand brakes that you have up on the handlebars in such a manner that it locked down at the moment in time when maybe she was approached by a vehicle. Maybe there's an

independent way to lock the brakes on a vehicle so that the tires don't spin. Remember, these bikes that people have, particularly in these areas, are very, very expensive. And so they have kind of fail safes on them to prevent like tires from getting out of line and this sort of thing. So maybe it's locked down to prevent that. That's something that we would need to explore more. I'd like to know if it happened in a sudden moment, like we say in forensic medicine, in an acute moment, or was it something that she had done independent or maybe somebody locked them down so they wouldn't spin around in a vehicle that the car, that the vehicle was being, that the bicycle was being transported in. To Chloe Steiger, 36-year Seattle PD, 22, homicide. Questions mounting as Suzanne Morphew remains missing now one week.

Chloe Steiger, if you were there on that scene, what would you be asking? What would you be doing? Well, first of all, I would would like uh uh actually i believe that why was this her husband 150 miles away or wherever he was what was going on that he had to be there this guy sounds like he's pretty well he's a business owner you have to go there on a sunday on mother's day and then i of course you want to look for uh you're not going to have a lot of commercial surveillance video there but if you went by houses there there's a lot of private. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait, hold it, hold it, hold it. Cloyd, coronavirus.

Who is going to travel out of town and hole up in a hotel on Mother's Day during coronavirus? Yeah, that's another thing. What's going on there? What's happening that makes this guy be 150 miles away? Maybe he was 150 miles away because he wanted to be away when something happened that he'd set up with somebody else. Those are questions I'd ask again. It's almost always the husband. It doesn't mean he did in this case, but you have to be prudent and start from there. Yeah, you have to. And again, he is not a person of interest. He is not a suspect. Nothing like that has been said. We also know, as Joe Scott indicated earlier, the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office has been looking at whitewater.

They're doing fast water dive searches, which is a whole other animal of diving. But they've also asked neighbors to preserve surveillance video. And, you know, when you've got a house, Nicole Parton, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, that's a half a million dollars or more, you know they're going to be tricked out totally with surveillance video so they're asking neighbors if they have any now catch this from may 8 to may 12 whoa why are they asking for video from may 8 to may 12 what about that nicole have you heard that? I had heard that. We don't know why, but it would lead us to believe that they want to see who's coming, who's going, what's happening during all of those dates. Are they watching the husband? Are they watching the

home? Are they looking for, maybe someone would come back to the home who had taken her. There's so many possibilities possibilities but we do know that they are checking with all of the neighbors capturing that surveillance video capturing door-to-door witness accounts of anything that was heard or said during that time frame that makes me think to you joseph scott morgan they're looking at somebody else as well. Why are they looking at video for 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 leading up to her disappearance? Guys, tip line 719-312-7530. Repeat, 719-312-7530. There is a $200,000 reward. Jump in, Joe Scott. Hey, look, Nancy, at this point in time, we have nothing to go on from our perspective.

Now, the police will have more, but you have to turn over every rock. You have to consider every possibility. And look, let's don't beat around the bush. We've talked about people that, you know, with the husband, the next-door neighbor. We're talking about people that are in the intimate circle. Those are going to be people that are going to have firsthand knowledge. Well, if you're on videography relative to the life of this woman, if you're filmed in that area, then that means that you're part of her life in some way. I want to know who's coming and going. I know Cloyd would as a homicide investigator.

I want to know who's going to have contact with her, which is very important, going back and forth. You know, can we establish a timeline before she disappeared, when she maybe was saying she was going to leave, and then up to afterwards? And that goes to motive sometimes if there is something nefarious going on here. And I certainly believe there is. Trying to figure out why they want surveillance footage for a period of days leading up to Suzanne Morphew's disappearance when apparently she's spotted by an eyewitness going for a bike ride Sunday afternoon, Mother's Day,

while her husband's out of town in Denver. Let's cut to cut six, Chaffee County Sheriff's Press Conference. Take a listen to this. We've run foot searches using air support, canine support, swift water support, and we've also utilized countless hours of drone searches. We've used well over 200 personnel and over 2,000 man hours have gone into this search, but unfortunately we haven't found Suzanne yet, and as I stated before, that is our top priority. Yesterday afternoon, which is Thursday, in the area of County Road 225 and Highway 50, we did find items that we believe were personal items of Suzanne Morphew, and that launched a bigger search we had today,

which included the full closure of U.S. Highway 50 on Monarch Pass. In that search, we used today well over 90 searchers that are well-trained individuals from both our local agencies as well as the FBI and CBI. We searched over two and a half miles using grid patterns. Unfortunately, we found no other items in that area. FBI, local sheriffs and police, and the CBI, Colorado Bureau of Investigation. That is quite a search, covering, I think he said, 20 miles via grid. Now take a listen to 9 News Colorado news anchor Kim Christensen.

Suzanne Morphew went for a bike ride on Sunday. She never returned. The Chaffey County Sheriff's Office says an item thought to belong to her was found just west of County Road 225 and Highway 50. The Sheriff's Office would not say what that item was or where it was found. More than 50 searchers were in that area, and they closed Monarch Pass for several hours. This morning, our 9 News anchor Gary Shapiro talked with Morphew's uncle, or nephew rather, about the search for his aunt.

Are there any theories that you're working on? Yes, there are, but I think it's best for the investigation and for the family and for the progress that we keep it close. We're making progress, and we are so far from giving up, and we are going to find her today. Oh, gosh, that's the nephew speaking, saying we're going to find her today. I've got a question. What do you make of that to Cloyd Steiger?

Let me go to Ashley Wilcott. I haven't talked to her in a moment. Ashley, why would they not want to reveal a theory? Wouldn't they want the public's help to further that theory? Sure, they would, unless it's going to interfere with the investigation. So at this point, I have to tell you, knowing that we have Sure, they would, unless it's going to interfere with the investigation. So at this point, I have to tell you, knowing that we have state, we have FBI,

we have all these people involved, I think that they have more information that they don't want to tell the public. They don't want the public to know the theory because they don't want the person who is involved or knows something to know that they're onto them and they still have to investigate more to really make certain that theory might be accurate. That's the only thing I can guess in this case. Tip line 719-312-7530. We wait as the search goes on. Nancy Grace,

Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.