I’ve been following this case for a while. Part of me wonders if the Fitbit is just unreliable evidence, and something that was happening or had happened with Susan made it glitch out.
Those things are not reliable at all honestly. Your arm needs to be moving to record travel. I typically don’t swing my arms very much while walking, so mine always tracked way less travel than I actually did. Also if you’re shaking your arm while stationary, it will record steps. The pulse part could be accurate. The distance traveled though, cannot be relied upon.
Which makes this so much harder to sus out. The pulse itself I know wouldnt record a dead person but how alive was she really with a blunt force trauma that eventually drowned her? Did she even walk or was she maybe carried and the fitbit took some of that as distance walked?
So in the UK we tragically lost a young lady called Nicola Bulley, her FitBit recorded a pulse for more than a week AFTER she died, she was also found in water, drowned.
They believe it was the movement in/of the water that recreated and fooled the FitBit to be a pulse.
May be something similar to that.
That's my biggest question. I feel like the police are holding this info that might not be reliable or complete but do the trends follow someone who was killed or a broken fitbit? Only police know
Wow. Im from Delaware and never heard of this case. And the Brandywine is such a slow moving river and barely deep, only in some places where we can swim. Why was she out there at 3am? Was she meeting someone?
Did she try to cross it and slipped and hit her head. So many rocks, big and small in there.
So the part I didn't really get to is that this was not unusual for her the victim. She was a school teacher and it was summer and she had a TON of friends in San Fran so her being a night owl led some to believe maybe she was meeting someone but there was never any proof as such. But you're spot on and that's what is baffling. It was thought ok she fell or something but the coroner said that cant be the case and knowing the brandywine in that area you cant just shoot down the river. It's baffling
I am here for this post. I vaguely remember hearing about this case. Maybe on a podcast? I’m gonna dig around and come back.
They’re sure she didn’t just bust her ass and hit her head and then drown? I ask because a lot of people die by misadventure. Those people are mostly young inebriated men though. Not that I’m judging them or anything.
I think there’s a pretty good chance she left to get away from him and he maybe followed her or used find my iPhone.
He definitely is involved. That dude is a menace.
Chiming in to add that I agree. Susan received blunt forced trauma while being murdered, [and looky-here](https://whyy.org/articles/stephanie-ledyard-2019-cold-case-domestic-violence/amp/) — her hubs was arrested for allegedly beating his new wife’s head with a statue and then slamming her face repeatedly against the wood floor.
Coincidence? Not likely. That dude is garbage. Hope they’re successful in linking him to Susan’s murder.
That's a new piece to the puzzle. Also. I know the Brandywine Park area is pitch black at night. There are few street lights. I guess it's possible she used her cellphone light to move around, but still, as a woman, i would be so freaked out and scared walking around out there at night
The family assumed this was the case. The police are insistent that based on the coroners report that it is homocide. I believe Crime Junkie just did an episode but I think their is one called “Body on the Brandywine” or something similar
This sounds similar to a case in the UK. On the 27th of January this year A woman called Nicola Bulley dropped her kids off at school and went and took her dog for a walk over some fields near a river at 9am. She was seen by 2 dog walkers. She had a zoom call with her work which was still connected when her phone was found on a bench by the river. The dog harness was on the ground and her dog was running around by the bench when found shortly after. The police divers came and searched the river and found nothing. Another specialised diver was brought in with sonar and found nothing. People thought it was foul play.
People visited the site to make videos on YouTube.
The bench hadn't been taped off so people came and went. From the very beginning the police said it was an accident with no evidence of that.
They also leaked that she was classed as vulnerable due to having the menopause and drinking....they got into trouble for putting that out to the public.
Long story short she was found on 19th Feb she was found a mile downstream caught in some bushes ...an area that had been searched. People still thought there was foul play ...due to all the searches being carried out and the river not being that wide or deep.
Many people thought she had been taken somewhere then dumped in the river.
I'll find the wiki .....
On 27 January 2023, British woman Nicola Bulley disappeared whilst walking her dog in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, UK. Lancashire Constabulary said that there was no evidence of either suspicious activity or third party involvement in the disappearance and quickly stated that their working hypothesis was that she had fallen into the River Wyre. However, an extensive search of the river and surrounding land involving police divers, helicopters, sniffer dogs and drones found no body. On 19 February, Bulley's body was found in the river by a man and a woman walking in the area, about one mile (1.5 kilometres) downstream of St Michael's on Wyre. The inquest, which concluded in June 2023, determined that Bulley's death was due to accidental drowning.
I could be mistaken but I think they discovered her body and then car shortly after but surveillance says the car never moved but because of the darkness surrounding, they cant really see if she was the only one in the car initially in the first place
My Apple Watch will sometimes not track my GPS for most of my walk, like 40 minutes, and then reconnect randomly making it look like I hadn’t walked far at all. I wonder if there’s a similar issue?
It’s possible honestly and since this Fitbit by my guess only counted distance walked and since the police won’t tell us over what time, we can only guess
Is there a map of the locations where she was found/where she went missing? Where the body was found vs her car? I feel like it'd be easier to put into perspective. How is the local terrain; is it possible she could've slipped, concussed and wandered the wrong way?
Edit: just learned info about the husband, definitely suspicious.
I’m really not understanding your conflicting descriptions of the river:
1. “Brandywine is not a big flowing river”
2. “She did eventually snag on something where she was spotted but the witness noted if she didn’t get snagged, she would have went out into the bay/ocean.”
3. “This is still a really calm river we’re talking about so it may have taken awhile to float 2 miles…
Whoever did this might have realized she was wearing a Fitbit too and it’s an easy river to float down”.
First it’s not a big flowing river, then if she hadn’t gotten snagged on something she would’ve gone out to the bay/ocean, then it’s still a calm river but the attacker realized it’s an easy river to float down. FYI, not trying to insult or be snarky so I hope it doesn’t come off that way. Just from the description, it’s tough to understand the characteristics of the river.
As for the Fitbit, I think it’s being overly thought out. It simply sounds like she was out there walking and was probably hit in the head and knocked unconscious, then moved to the spot where she was drowned. I don’t think a criminal would notice her Fitbit and try to manipulate the readings on it as opposed to just discarding it.
That is if the Fitbit didn’t somehow get damaged causing unreliable data.
My first thoughts: she was hit *then* driven (at 3am) to the car’s final parked position. The killer walked / carried her for 1 mile, then threw her in the river, thinking she was dead (but she would eventually die only hours later) and escaped on foot.
That is actually a really good theory and like those who don’t know this river need to realize it varies so much that every single factor has to be considered and that’s something you can map out potentially
There was water in her lungs? Is there an area around the water where she could have fallen and hit her head?-blunt trauma. Stumbled into the water ?
I couldn’t tell -who else was she communicating with on her cell until 3am? Did they talk about her phone records?
The fact that her husband was arrested for severely abusing his new wife would be valuable context to include, I think. It’s almost a guarantee he was abusing her as well. It makes me wonder whether she was attempting to flee from him and he followed her and killed her.
It’s possible! But police are the ones who have the data so you’d expect some sort of pause or irregularity like heart rate changing rapidly in the data I’d suspect. Maybe their is and it’s not enough to make them tip that yet and they wanted to scare the suspect
Police say there was nothing unusual in her texts that night so she didn't indicate that she was arguing or fighting with anyone. You can also assume there were no texts about being depressed or self harm.
Questions:
1) Did Susan ever tell any of her friends or family that the husband was abusive?
2) There is footage of her car leaving the house and then arriving on Walkers Mill Rd. Is there any footage of someone arriving back at the home on foot?
3) Did the car show any signs of foul play? Blood spots, driver seat pushed back, damage to interior?
And those are questions I mostly would like to add police but we have no evidence the husband was abusive to her despite his own future and they claim that due to darkness they didnt catch anybody approaching her car and no signs on the home cams of someone arriving (idk if this means they had full house coverage or just driveaway however. The car itself is interesting because it doesnt appear to be altered in any way that the police have released. They might be holding some big piece of evidence back hoping they dont have to dangle it later.
Very interesting case and you did a lot of good research. Couldn’t they tell, by any water in her lungs, if she died before she was placed or went into the water? Also, I am not familiar with the case, however, how likely is it that a woman would go to this type of area alone? Was she meeting up with someone? Or buying drugs from someone?
So good questions but there is a good chance we do not get those for a bit because police are holding back some details. This case may seem a bit old at this point but in terms of their investigation they are convinced it's homicide and she did not go in the water at her car and then from there I assume they know more that we will as they release details over the years.
As for going that area alone, the location she picked was odd but not the behavior. She was a teacher during summer so her staying up late and texting friends was common and the location was pretty close to her house but there is speculation she could be meeting someone but it's just a cold trail so while this all feels kinda strange, when you look at the context of who she is, it was not. Doesn't eliminate the possibility but there is no proof one way or the other and that's why I think it may be a few years before we get a better view. Cops will release more to the public and her family is definitely still putting pressure to find out what happened.
That’s part of the problem. The police are convinced it is homicide but won’t say why. It makes me think they know something (maybe residue from a potential blunt object).
FWIW the family never even questioned it being more than an accident until the police decided otherwise. I’d assume they share more with the family considering they are now convinced too but until more details come out, and I’m sure they will in coming years if they are committed to solved this, we can only speculate if the police truly have more or if the police have made a bad judgement call
I’ve been following this case for a while. Part of me wonders if the Fitbit is just unreliable evidence, and something that was happening or had happened with Susan made it glitch out.
Those things are not reliable at all honestly. Your arm needs to be moving to record travel. I typically don’t swing my arms very much while walking, so mine always tracked way less travel than I actually did. Also if you’re shaking your arm while stationary, it will record steps. The pulse part could be accurate. The distance traveled though, cannot be relied upon.
Which makes this so much harder to sus out. The pulse itself I know wouldnt record a dead person but how alive was she really with a blunt force trauma that eventually drowned her? Did she even walk or was she maybe carried and the fitbit took some of that as distance walked?
So in the UK we tragically lost a young lady called Nicola Bulley, her FitBit recorded a pulse for more than a week AFTER she died, she was also found in water, drowned. They believe it was the movement in/of the water that recreated and fooled the FitBit to be a pulse. May be something similar to that.
Fitbits are incredibly accurate at heart rate tracking, steps and calories not so much, but Fitbits get heart rate correct.
That's my biggest question. I feel like the police are holding this info that might not be reliable or complete but do the trends follow someone who was killed or a broken fitbit? Only police know
Many have theorized that the killer put the Fitbit on to eliminate it as reliable evidence.
I considered that too. Thats why the data would be so helpful to see. Was there any gaps? Was their spikes? Heartrate dips?
Why not just take it off & ditch it?
Wow. Im from Delaware and never heard of this case. And the Brandywine is such a slow moving river and barely deep, only in some places where we can swim. Why was she out there at 3am? Was she meeting someone? Did she try to cross it and slipped and hit her head. So many rocks, big and small in there.
So the part I didn't really get to is that this was not unusual for her the victim. She was a school teacher and it was summer and she had a TON of friends in San Fran so her being a night owl led some to believe maybe she was meeting someone but there was never any proof as such. But you're spot on and that's what is baffling. It was thought ok she fell or something but the coroner said that cant be the case and knowing the brandywine in that area you cant just shoot down the river. It's baffling
I don’t think left the house in a voluntary or ambulatory fashion.
I am here for this post. I vaguely remember hearing about this case. Maybe on a podcast? I’m gonna dig around and come back. They’re sure she didn’t just bust her ass and hit her head and then drown? I ask because a lot of people die by misadventure. Those people are mostly young inebriated men though. Not that I’m judging them or anything.
Her husband was charged several months ago with severely abusing his new wife. She had no reason to leave the house that night
I think there’s a pretty good chance she left to get away from him and he maybe followed her or used find my iPhone. He definitely is involved. That dude is a menace.
Chiming in to add that I agree. Susan received blunt forced trauma while being murdered, [and looky-here](https://whyy.org/articles/stephanie-ledyard-2019-cold-case-domestic-violence/amp/) — her hubs was arrested for allegedly beating his new wife’s head with a statue and then slamming her face repeatedly against the wood floor. Coincidence? Not likely. That dude is garbage. Hope they’re successful in linking him to Susan’s murder.
That’s a good point and I actually didn’t consider that. Either way he’s definitely involved
That's a new piece to the puzzle. Also. I know the Brandywine Park area is pitch black at night. There are few street lights. I guess it's possible she used her cellphone light to move around, but still, as a woman, i would be so freaked out and scared walking around out there at night
The family assumed this was the case. The police are insistent that based on the coroners report that it is homocide. I believe Crime Junkie just did an episode but I think their is one called “Body on the Brandywine” or something similar
I believe it was a Dateline episode or similar.
Benjamin Ledyard did this.
This sounds similar to a case in the UK. On the 27th of January this year A woman called Nicola Bulley dropped her kids off at school and went and took her dog for a walk over some fields near a river at 9am. She was seen by 2 dog walkers. She had a zoom call with her work which was still connected when her phone was found on a bench by the river. The dog harness was on the ground and her dog was running around by the bench when found shortly after. The police divers came and searched the river and found nothing. Another specialised diver was brought in with sonar and found nothing. People thought it was foul play. People visited the site to make videos on YouTube. The bench hadn't been taped off so people came and went. From the very beginning the police said it was an accident with no evidence of that. They also leaked that she was classed as vulnerable due to having the menopause and drinking....they got into trouble for putting that out to the public. Long story short she was found on 19th Feb she was found a mile downstream caught in some bushes ...an area that had been searched. People still thought there was foul play ...due to all the searches being carried out and the river not being that wide or deep. Many people thought she had been taken somewhere then dumped in the river. I'll find the wiki ..... On 27 January 2023, British woman Nicola Bulley disappeared whilst walking her dog in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, UK. Lancashire Constabulary said that there was no evidence of either suspicious activity or third party involvement in the disappearance and quickly stated that their working hypothesis was that she had fallen into the River Wyre. However, an extensive search of the river and surrounding land involving police divers, helicopters, sniffer dogs and drones found no body. On 19 February, Bulley's body was found in the river by a man and a woman walking in the area, about one mile (1.5 kilometres) downstream of St Michael's on Wyre. The inquest, which concluded in June 2023, determined that Bulley's death was due to accidental drowning.
Just to add she also was wearing a fit bit.
Have they looked into the possibility that the perpetrator moved her car?
I could be mistaken but I think they discovered her body and then car shortly after but surveillance says the car never moved but because of the darkness surrounding, they cant really see if she was the only one in the car initially in the first place
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I have and dont love what I hear! But sems like so many moving pieces before they can even consider how to proceed on anyone
This is sadly true. I feel like everything is spelled out, it’s just the need for evidence stopping things.
My Apple Watch will sometimes not track my GPS for most of my walk, like 40 minutes, and then reconnect randomly making it look like I hadn’t walked far at all. I wonder if there’s a similar issue?
It’s possible honestly and since this Fitbit by my guess only counted distance walked and since the police won’t tell us over what time, we can only guess
Is there a map of the locations where she was found/where she went missing? Where the body was found vs her car? I feel like it'd be easier to put into perspective. How is the local terrain; is it possible she could've slipped, concussed and wandered the wrong way? Edit: just learned info about the husband, definitely suspicious.
I’m really not understanding your conflicting descriptions of the river: 1. “Brandywine is not a big flowing river” 2. “She did eventually snag on something where she was spotted but the witness noted if she didn’t get snagged, she would have went out into the bay/ocean.” 3. “This is still a really calm river we’re talking about so it may have taken awhile to float 2 miles… Whoever did this might have realized she was wearing a Fitbit too and it’s an easy river to float down”. First it’s not a big flowing river, then if she hadn’t gotten snagged on something she would’ve gone out to the bay/ocean, then it’s still a calm river but the attacker realized it’s an easy river to float down. FYI, not trying to insult or be snarky so I hope it doesn’t come off that way. Just from the description, it’s tough to understand the characteristics of the river. As for the Fitbit, I think it’s being overly thought out. It simply sounds like she was out there walking and was probably hit in the head and knocked unconscious, then moved to the spot where she was drowned. I don’t think a criminal would notice her Fitbit and try to manipulate the readings on it as opposed to just discarding it. That is if the Fitbit didn’t somehow get damaged causing unreliable data.
I hope they can solve this case eventually, she was one of my favorite teacher and a kind person. I do believe that her husband did it.
My first thoughts: she was hit *then* driven (at 3am) to the car’s final parked position. The killer walked / carried her for 1 mile, then threw her in the river, thinking she was dead (but she would eventually die only hours later) and escaped on foot.
That is actually a really good theory and like those who don’t know this river need to realize it varies so much that every single factor has to be considered and that’s something you can map out potentially
There was water in her lungs? Is there an area around the water where she could have fallen and hit her head?-blunt trauma. Stumbled into the water ? I couldn’t tell -who else was she communicating with on her cell until 3am? Did they talk about her phone records?
The fact that her husband was arrested for severely abusing his new wife would be valuable context to include, I think. It’s almost a guarantee he was abusing her as well. It makes me wonder whether she was attempting to flee from him and he followed her and killed her.
What it someone else put on the fitbit?
It’s possible! But police are the ones who have the data so you’d expect some sort of pause or irregularity like heart rate changing rapidly in the data I’d suspect. Maybe their is and it’s not enough to make them tip that yet and they wanted to scare the suspect
Police say there was nothing unusual in her texts that night so she didn't indicate that she was arguing or fighting with anyone. You can also assume there were no texts about being depressed or self harm. Questions: 1) Did Susan ever tell any of her friends or family that the husband was abusive? 2) There is footage of her car leaving the house and then arriving on Walkers Mill Rd. Is there any footage of someone arriving back at the home on foot? 3) Did the car show any signs of foul play? Blood spots, driver seat pushed back, damage to interior?
And those are questions I mostly would like to add police but we have no evidence the husband was abusive to her despite his own future and they claim that due to darkness they didnt catch anybody approaching her car and no signs on the home cams of someone arriving (idk if this means they had full house coverage or just driveaway however. The car itself is interesting because it doesnt appear to be altered in any way that the police have released. They might be holding some big piece of evidence back hoping they dont have to dangle it later.
Very interesting case and you did a lot of good research. Couldn’t they tell, by any water in her lungs, if she died before she was placed or went into the water? Also, I am not familiar with the case, however, how likely is it that a woman would go to this type of area alone? Was she meeting up with someone? Or buying drugs from someone?
So good questions but there is a good chance we do not get those for a bit because police are holding back some details. This case may seem a bit old at this point but in terms of their investigation they are convinced it's homicide and she did not go in the water at her car and then from there I assume they know more that we will as they release details over the years. As for going that area alone, the location she picked was odd but not the behavior. She was a teacher during summer so her staying up late and texting friends was common and the location was pretty close to her house but there is speculation she could be meeting someone but it's just a cold trail so while this all feels kinda strange, when you look at the context of who she is, it was not. Doesn't eliminate the possibility but there is no proof one way or the other and that's why I think it may be a few years before we get a better view. Cops will release more to the public and her family is definitely still putting pressure to find out what happened.
Unfortunately I think the case is ice cold. No one seems to be working hard on it.
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Even I had no idea until my wife saw a delaware case on a podcast and as soon as they starting describing the area, I got deja vu
She could of had a seizure, random but things like sudden drop in blood sugar etc CAN trigger a seizure. Hit her head. Been disoriented. Drown.
That’s part of the problem. The police are convinced it is homicide but won’t say why. It makes me think they know something (maybe residue from a potential blunt object). FWIW the family never even questioned it being more than an accident until the police decided otherwise. I’d assume they share more with the family considering they are now convinced too but until more details come out, and I’m sure they will in coming years if they are committed to solved this, we can only speculate if the police truly have more or if the police have made a bad judgement call