Questions Mount In Case Of Colorado Woman Who Disappeared On Mother’s Day

Suzanne Morphew went for a bike ride near her secluded home and never returned.

May 21, 2020

Missing Mother Suzanne Morphew [Chaffee County Sheriff's Office Facebook page]

Missing Mother Suzanne Morphew [Chaffee County Sheriff's Office Facebook page]

By: Aaron Rasmussen

There’s still no sign of a woman who recently went for a bike ride near her home outside Salida, Colorado, and seemingly vanished into thin air.

On Mother’s Day, May 10, Mallory and Macy Morphew were on their way back from a camping trip in Idaho and grew concerned when their mom, Suzanne Morphew, 49, wasn’t answering the phone.

“The neighbors up there are spread pretty far apart but the only reason [police] found out [Suzanne was missing] is because the girls called the neighbors and said, ‘We never heard from Mom — can you go check on her?’” Summer Stehle, the stepmother of Macy’s best friend, told the Daily Mail.

“Nobody actually saw her on her bicycle, sadly,” she added.

Over 100 people scoured the area that evening and the next day, including with drones and tracking dogs, but they were unable to locate the former teacher, the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office said in a May 11 press release.

Four days after Suzanne Morphew vanished, Sheriff John Spezze revealed investigators found what they believed to be “a personal item of the missing woman” and conducted another search of steep and rugged terrain in the area “in an effort to attempt to locate additional items of Ms. Morphew.”

Suzanne Morphew’s nephew told Colorado Springs’ KXRM-TV that her bike was also recovered during a search.

On May 17, Barry Morphew, 52, released a video on Facebook pleading for his wife’s safe return.

"Oh Suzanne, if anyone is out there that can hear this, that has you, please, we'll 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,” he said in the video. “I will do whatever it takes to get you back. Honey, I love you and I want you back so bad.”

Barry Morphew was attending a firefighter training course almost 150 miles away in Denver around the time his wife went missing, her loved ones said.

Investigators have not ruled out foul play in the case, and the investigation now involves the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI, according to Denver’s KCNC-TV. The station reported that authorities have obtained a search warrant to hold the family’s home as they search for clues to what could have happened.

“The Morphew residence is just one of many areas of focus as part of this open investigation at this time,” officials from the sheriff’s office stated.

Bob Morphew, the uncle of Suzanne Morphew’s husband, told KXRM-TV that family is “terrified,” and he described the missing woman as “one of the sweetest people you would ever want to meet” and “the kind of person that everybody loved.”

He said he is certain his nephew is not involved in Suzanne Morphew’s disappearance.

“They’re a loving couple and I’ve never seen any kind of unhappiness with each other or produced by either one of them,” he noted. “He loves her and he wants her back… I think anybody that ever knew them at any point in their married life would tell you that they were as loving of a couple as you would find anywhere.”

Barry Morphew and a family friend are offering a reward of $200,000 for Suzanne Morphew’s safe return, no questions asked.

Next Up

5 Things To Know About Lori Vallow And The Investigation Into The Death Of Her Children

The Idaho mom’s son and daughter disappeared without a trace in September 2019. Their remains were found buried in shallow graves in June 2020.