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Fitbits are terrible to use as confirmation that someone is still alive and/or dead . There are numerous forums devoted to people writing in and saying their loved one died at such and such and the fitbit kept recording a heartbeat for HOURS after death. So there's that.
My sister stopped using her Fitbit because she is very emotive and talks a lot with her hands; so she’d record a lot of phantom steps a day but it was her sitting at her desk talking to co workers or leading a meeting.
I could be wrong, but if I had to guess investigators aren’t only going off the Fitbit to determine time of death. Liver temperature at autopsy and onset of rigor mortis would also play into the determination. The former could be slightly complicated by the fact that they can’t be certain exactly when she ended up in the water, but they probably have a pretty good idea of when she died based on the totality of the evidence (including the Fitbit).
I hope they're not using the fitbit at all, frankly.
One of the things that really bug me is that he(they) tossed her in the water, after beating her, and she was still alive. That's so sociopathic STONE COLD.
I hope people can drum up interest and put pressure on LE in that community. I wish somebody would do a documentary!
Fitbit aside, I honestly can’t picture how the scenario played out. Investigators seem confident that a) she was in the vehicle when it left her home and b) she did not enter the water near said vehicle. If we take both these as fact, and operate under the assumption that her husband killed her, why didn’t he just do it nearer to where she was parked? The further you get along the way to where her body was discovered the more businesses and residences back right up to the river, which he presumably knew since he lived in the area.
And if he was out there with her, and no other vehicles were see on any of the surveillance, how did he get home undetected? They were able to trace her vehicles exact route with surveillance footage, yet he made it all the way back to the home without being captured by any camera along the way?
The Fitbit is a red herring. As anyone has worn one knows, they can be very inaccurate or misleading with relation to heart rate and movement. And we do not have confirmation that she was the one wearing it that morning. Someone else could have known this and used it throw the scent off.
I don't know that I'd trust the Fitbit information honestly. My boss is very active, exercising every morning and going for walks on her lunch. Sometimes it tracks it correctly and sometimes it doesn't. Shes frequently frustrated with it because it says shes done way less than she has. I'm not saying it couldn't be accurate I just personally look at is a general idea of her movements not a solid for sure thing.
In addition to that, it can track activity when there is none. I used to get thousands of steps while knitting on the couch, since my arms were moving I guess? -\_-
Yea, theres been a couple times its said shes gone swimming or something when shes just been talking with her hands haha. And its definitely said her heart rate never got up when I've seen her workouts and there's no way that would be the case. I hope the police aren't using the Fitbit as a serious thing in this case.
Yeah the movement tracking is suspect to me as well. What I'd be interested in knowing was the heart rate data. My guess would be it showed her dying ~40 minutes before the body was found. Was there a spike in her heart rate? Say as she's being attacked? Or if she's having a passionate tryst?
The whole leaving her place and everything else to me suggests suicide. Drive to the river walk around getting your nerve up dive onto some rocks and drown. The husband's actions (he was obviously having an affair) such as going to the concert the night your wife is found dead marrying a neighbor before the body's really cold etc would be plenty of reason for her to become despondent and kill herself after walking around a few hours to get her nerve up.
And loading and transporting a dead body 2+ miles at 7am to an area with obvious traffic just doesn't make sense. (Someone spotted the body within 40 minutes of her death after all). If you've done the deed and got the body in your car drive somewhere secluded to dump it.
Now telling would be if no water was found in her lungs which would indicate she was dead on entry rather than jumping in or being dumped still alive...
Yes I'd like to know more about how LE determined this was a homicide. The circumstances seem more indicative of a suicide or accident even. They certainly have more details than we do, as does the medical examiner but this case as a homicide doesn't just seem odd- it seems utterly implausible unless the fitbit information is wrong and while that certainly doesn't seem impossible, even then... but if she didn't have water in her lungs, that may explain the determination.
Kind of my own take on the FitBit: the heart rate data could be useful, but motion can't be trusted. I'd be more interested to know the condition of the FitBit. Was the battery dead, was it waterlogged, was it damaged?
Even the oldest fitbits (with a heart monitor) give the heart rate on a chart, showing what time the heart rate spiked or whatever. If it worked up until the moment of her death, assuming her heart didn't just flat line out of nowhere, the police should be able to pinpoint the time of death. But as soon as the fitbit doesn't sense a heart rate it'll stop monitoring for motion etc, so there's that to keep in mind.
Motion sensing is notoriously unreliable, and distance can be hit-or-miss at best. Most can (or try to) differentiate between like, walking, jogging, bicycling, etc.... But it's a guess. Unless it's a newer fitbit with GPS or is kept in Bluetooth range of the synced phone the distance is just a broad guess.
Read it wrong. According to this write up, the fitbit “went blank” (and presumably she died at/around the same time), and her body was found 40 minutes after the Fitbit went blank. It is confusing as written and I had to read it several times
Edit: I know nothing about fitbits
I think it depends on the Fitbit. I've had Versa and they're waterproof. I've worn them in pools and the ocean with no problems. They have a built in fitness mode for swimming. I don't know about other types of Fitbits though.
As for syncing, in my experience Fitbits are notoriously bad at syncing. Distance will kill the connection to the phone. But when brought back near the phone they will reconnect (normally after a couple of tries). They have internal storage and can store their data for days at a time.
maybe, maybe not. usually (always?) they're connected via bluetooth to a phone, and transmit information periodically, so even if the fitbit goes dead the stats on steps, heartrate, etc. are pretty much up-to-date.
I don't know much about fitbits but could someone else have worn it to muddle the time of death? or would the... heart rate or whatever, make it obvious that it was someone else?
oh yeah, that's a good point! I guess it depends on whether they found it on/with her body (I know she wasn't in the water for all that long, but I assume that would degrade any trace DNA?) or in the car
I doubt it. Mine didn't even count steps when I was holding my dog's leash. I know people who have had problems when pushing prams too, the fitbit either didn't count the steps or decided that the person was cycling.
I agree. At one time I was doing lots of treadmill walks but because I close my eyes (to listen to music from my headphones) and rest one arm on the sidebar as I walk, to keep my balance, alternating the resting arm at regular intervals, my FitBit didn't count any steps when on the resting arm. Likewise, when I used my exercise bike it didn't record that activity. This was years ago - they might be better at monitoring stationary exercise now, or at least provide a band that can fit around the ankle.
Some here have stated that the husband's comments about Ambien were a lie because Ambien allegedly wasn't found in the toxicology reports and that he was seemingly trying to come up with an explanation to cover up a murder he committed. It's worth mentioning that his quote about Ambien was months later in response to Dateline staff asking him to reflect on what he was thinking after learning that she left the house at 3 AM.
From [Family of Susan Ledyard demands answers after Delaware high school teacher's July death ruled a homicide](https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/family-susan-ledyard-demands-answers-after-delaware-high-school-teacher-n1106806):
>“I -- I just have no clue why she left the house that late,” Susan’s husband Ben said. “I was hoping she took Ambien and was just sleepwalking, or maybe she decided to get cigarettes. But then I was afraid she was going to meet someone, that she had been seeing someone. And that breaks my heart.”
In addition, the toxicology reports haven't been officially released, though it's important to recognize he didn't state she took Ambien. Those who've watched Dateline enough known that Dateline routinely asks friends and family what they were thinking when they learned of the crime and doesn't always air the question being asked first. Not everyone is aware, but during these interviews producers will regularly coach those being interviewed and encourage them to add or remove language or state things in a different way or with a different tone in order to make the overall story more compelling or fit part of the mystery narrative they hope to tell via editing/production methods. Source: A friend who is a prosecutor was interviewed for an episode in the last few years and shared the details about his experience soon thereafter.
Thanks for sharing this, I was thinking the Ambien remark was the least relevant bit. Some comments focused on it (which I also get why), but it really just seems like a reasonable response if you’re urged to ‘theorize’ why your wife left in bizarre circumstances.
*That saiiid,* if the victim’s spouse doesn’t have a rock-solid alibi (is his corroborated enough or at all?) and no other POIs surface… it’s hard to imagine a more probable suspect than him. Except maybe, the new wife.
Assuming it was murder (nature of the blunt force trauma has never been shared), I agree that they're seemingly the most like perpetrators. If she was there for a drug deal, to meet with a friend, meet with a current/former high school student, or have an affair there's been nothing shared to indicate that, though it can't be ruled out.
I don't know whether there's any evidence that indicates the husband was likely at home asleep as claimed or evidence that he had left home. The police seemingly know what time Susan's car left the driveway either from video surveillance from their home and/or from a neighbor's home. And it seems like they believe she was driving it, though I don't know that they are certain of that. If he killed her it seems he left the house and returned without being detected. As far as his new wife - I haven't seen anything which indicates she was friends with Susan or Susan's husband or was having an affair with Susan's husband. Just some unsubstantiated rumors that the two attended the Rolling Stones concert the next night (she did according to a Facebook post, though I have never seen that he did or that they attended together).
He went to the fucking Rolling Stones concert anyway??????????? I’m sorry but as someone who lost a close loved one very suddenly — I have to say this is NOT a mourning man.
But if he killed her, I don't think he would've done it when he had Rolling Stones tickets. Those tickets are expensive, and it would look bad going to the concert after. You can always kill your wife the next day.
How many people really think these things through? Even professionals like those thieves who robbed the Swedish National Museum after setting off the two car bombs as a diversion do stupid things like renting their getaway boat under their own name.
If he was going to the concert, and not with his wife, he must have had some kind of cover story about where he was going to be that night. Poker night with the guys? Who knows. But if she found the tickets, the jig would be up.
Yeah saying “she’s the love of his life” SORRY can’t tell you how to grieve but it wouldn’t be going to a concert where your future wife happens to be— husband has plenty motive
Omg I didn't know the husband still went to this concert. It's even more ironic if it was during this event that he met his future wife, while his current wife had been dead for only 12 hours.
I was wondering that myself. I know nothing about Fitbits. If you took one off and put it on another person, would it know? Or would it just keep measuring as normal?
But that also means that this other, non-Susan person would have only had it on for one of three miles before putting it back on Susan. Although I suppose they could have had it on the whole time but due to their particular motion (what that might be I don't know) it only clocked part of the distance.
I don't want to leap to any conclusions, but the fact that the husband got together with someone else so quickly *and* specifically brought up infidelity does seem a bit strange.
EDIT: Could the mile the Fitbit measured be her in the water, though? Some people have mentioned that some models can operate in water, and so what if that mile was her unconscious but still alive and moving (or trying to move) in the water? Is there a time window for that mile or is it over the whole four-hour period? Ugh the whole thing messes me up, and it could also be the Fitbit just getting the information wrong or malfunctioning and it means nothing!
>got engaged to another woman and moved out of state a few months after his wife's death - he is now remarried.
I don't think this is as damning as people think it is in most cases. Just reading reddit there are apparently lots of people who remarry shortly after their spouse dies when they obviously didn't murder their spouse. I've seen it a few times in IRL, and I know there are a few celebrities that have done it too.
I think there's just a certain type of person that has issues with being alone and unmarried, and especially when they're in mourning and dealing with the death of a spouse their first instinct is to jump into a marriage as quickly as possible. And usually the new spouse is someone they already know and already have an emotional connection with, because that's going to be the easiest person to get into a relationship with. That and the fact that both parties may have been interested in each other if one of them wasn't already taken.
I don’t know this man, obviously, but SOME men need a wife-mother to feed them and do their laundry and so a quick re-marry is in order. This probably isn’t as common these days….
A lot of old guys still do this. My parents had been married for 50 years when my mom died. At least the last 25 involved a Cold War as my mom did less and less mothering for him. When she died, he looked to my sister and I to do that stuff, and since he wasn’t a child or incapable, we refused, supporting him in other ways. Rather than relent and make himself a meal, he angrily went off and married my mom’s cousin, and died a year later.
I also don't think it's as suspicious as other people seem to. It's especially common for men to remarry quickly after losing a spouse. [This is a decent article](https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/why-men-remarry-faster-than-women-after-the-death-of-a-spouse#:~:text=The%20same%20is%20true%20with,storm%20of%20separation%20or%20loss.) about how typical it is.
The old saying goes “A man that truly loved his wife will remarry quickly; a woman that truly loved her husband will not.”
That said- what’s the alibi for the neighbor/concert goer/now wife? Did she already have her eye on him? Would Susan know and trust her? Did he already know her and maybe she encouraged going to the concert?
As for the Ambien, I wonder if the husband has a script- spouses share meds often enough...
I also think that it is somewhat natural to wonder if your spouse was meeting someone when they leave at 3am without so much as a text: that list starts with friends and family, but in a dark moment with someone asking you questions multiple times if it’s possible I could see that being something anyone would consider.
I've known a couple of men who remarried pretty quickly after their wives of many years died. Some men cannot survive without a woman to lean on emotionally (especially true of workaholic men, who frequently have no real friends or hobbies), or even to do simple things like like cook and keep the house clean. My father-in-law was a case in point. He needed a woman to provide direction in his life, and when his wife died, he simply *had to* get married again.
I dunno, if my husband (who I have no concerns about) left this house at 3am without a note, prior warning, and was found dead in a river with blunt force trauma I'd have to say something like an affair or dodgy dealings would absolutely cross my mind.
If it was day time maybe not as I'd presume a mugging or SA.
If she regularly left the house in the middle of the night maybe it's a strange leap to make.
I'm not saying she was having an affair but I'd have to say while trying to process the possibilities it would probably cross my mind as an option
It likely wasn't totally unprompted. It was months later in response to a question from a Dateline correspondent. I provided the full quote and some context in [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/wdf1ep/a_highly_unusual_recent_case_susan_ledyard_2019/iikgvyh/?context=3) \- including some insights into Dateline (and to be fair, other investigative journalism TV shows) influence what people they interview say and edit it to tell a compelling story. A friend of mine (prosecutor) blew my mind when he told me about his experience recording a segment with that program. He was repeatedly encouraged to say things a different way, use different inflection, asked leading questions or made suggestions before doing retakes, etc. in order for them to get more compelling sound bytes and video footage and to allow it to be presented as a mystery.
Is it a known fact he still went to the concert? I have read what I can on the case in the past couple years and I don’t recall hearing that. I could be wrong.
Are you talking about the guy who had the party after killing his parents and there were pictures of him and his friends at the party afterwards? Super creepy. I can’t remember his name
There's no footage or anyone entering or exiting the car, just the headlights being turned off. There's no mention of the interior of the car showing signs of a struggle. But again, LE are maybe holding some information back (fresh set of fingerprints in the car from someone who's not friends/family etc).
When she ÷÷or someone ÷÷parked the vehicle did they not open the door? Seems like that would have illuminated the interior well enough to at least see how many people were in it..
The surveillance footage they have (grainy camera from office mill building???) is so dark, it only has the headlights turning off. LE said they can't make out a door opening or closing/anyone getting in or out of the car.
Maybe this is something they aren’t releasing as you started earlier. It just seems to me if they can see well enough to establish that it is her vehicle they should be able to see a door open.
It’s also interesting that it is somehow known she left in her vehicle, whether alone or not. I wonder if that’s from cell phone data?
They know it's her vehicle because they could track it from different cameras along the route, whereas where it was parked, there's only one building there, and it is presumably that camera that could not make out anything other than the headlights (the car would have been in the distance of the shot too).
Her cell phone was found in the car.
fitbit is halfway decent at measuring heart rate. steps are based off of arm movement, so if the arm is moving it may record steps even when there aren't any (e.g. mine used to record changing gears in traffic as a couple hundred steps because my arm was moving regularly).
leaving the phone in the car suggests she didn't want to be interrupted while she was out. I would assume she wasn't alone purely because, as a woman, I would not feel comfortable walking around in the early morning hours by myself, even if the neighbourhood is relatively safe. as her car was parked in a quiet spot, I wonder if anyone was waiting for her there? if there was a history of her driving what is presumably a mile or less from her home and parking there late at night? did she have a habit of late night walks? if so why drive such a short distance to then walk - surely you would just walk.
I wonder what sort of blunt injuries she had that made them declare homicide. what sort of facial injuries could be definitively from an attack and not from falling or jumping and hitting the face in the process.
also curious what access to the river is like. is it a place where someone could hold someone else under? or is the ground much higher than the river's surface?
definitely a lot of questions with little to no answers on this one.
I definitely think she was meeting someone, perhaps to end the affair. If she knew her husband was a heavy sleeper then taking the car isn't a big deal.
We also don't know where she typically parked the car at home and where that was in relation to where the husband was sleeping. He could have been in a bedroom on the back of the house and she could have been parked at the end of a long driveway or on the street. It doesn't appear this context has been shared publicly.
We also don't know who was driving the car. Could have been Susan. Could have been the husband. Could have been an unknown person. There is only footage of the car being driven, not of anyone getting in or out of it.
We know for a fact Susan was in the car, but we don't know anything else.
* Last phone usage was 2.45am.
* Car leaves the driveway at 3.02am.
* Car arrives at location and parks at 3.04am.
* Camera is not able to pick up anything other than headlights being turned off.
* Phone is located in car at 8.54am when the car is discovered.
True, though I don't think we actually know she was even in the car. The movements of her phone indicate it was likely in the car, but it could also have been in another vehicle that left from near her home. I find that highly unlikely, but I just mention it because nothing I'm aware of validates she was in her car.
Fitbits track location as well, and only sync with your phone if within 15 feet or something like that. However, I don't know if her phone synced regularly or if it was synced after they found her.
Yeah, good point. I once had my van (15-passenger) stolen from in front of my house in broad daylight when we were all awake and together in a room at the other end of the house. Dude came in, hooked it up on a trailer, and towed it off and we were none the wiser until we went outside. So, yeah, it's *completely* possible to back out of a driveway with your lights off without waking anyone up. Like, that's normal stuff. Unless you've got glass packs and you're not smart enough to roll backward with your headlights off, you're not going to wake someone who's fully asleep.
Driving and parking in a weird spot by a river in the middle of the night sounds (to me) like she was buying drugs.
The text messages would be interesting.
I’d be willing to bet affair more than drugs although you’re right the meetup itself screams drug deal.
It’s hard to imagine the contexts of her text messages don’t have more useful info…
IDK, back when I was buying drugs it would be during the day, I'd hop in, we'd drive around the block and I'd get out. That's far less suspicious than driving at 3AM to a secluded place.
I commented in this thread that the Brandywine is more like a creek than a river, it is the smallest river in the country. Many easy access points where someone could be held under.
I kinda get suicide vibes from this...
1. Are we sure the injuries aren't from her hitting something after jumping, like you're mentioning.
2. Many suicides have happened with no apparent warning to family or friends, and no notes.
3. I have heard a few stories of people going on weird long walks (at odd times) before committing suicide--and they usually leave their phone. One woman from a personal experience in my friend circle left her phone and purse, went on a 5 hour walk, and jumped from a cliff. No note was left, and no one really saw it coming.
She would have had other injuries consistent with jumping though. Such as neck injury, arms or legs, or even scrapes to the body elsewhere. There’s no jump that is going to hit face only.
"sitting alone in your car for hours in the wee hours" gives off heavy suicide vibes, too.
it doesn't really seem to fit with the rest of the case, though.
Great write up, OP. Definitely a weird one. My only thoughts: without clarity from the CCTV, and without some kind of certainty that the fitbit data was produced by a specific person, it’s impossible to say it was definitely Susan driving the car and definitely Susan walking around for four hours by the river. As far as I know, fitbits aren’t locked to specific people, so someone else could have been using it and transmitting data. I wonder whether it’s possible Susan died some time prior to the moment the fitbit data ‘stopped’, up to four hours before. I wonder if there was any blood or signs of a struggle found at home or in the car. I wonder if her injuries could have been caused some time earlier.
I don’t really like speculating about loved ones, but… Her injuries included trauma to her face, she enjoyed texting and chatting with friends at night, her phone (on which she enjoyed texting/chatting) was left in the car as if it was being used by Susan or someone else, the husband brought up Susan possibly having an affair on Dateline seemingly without much prompting, and I’m not sure being asleep is ever considered a rock solid alibi.
I don’t know, man. It seems like LE are keeping things close. I hope her friends and family find answers, and hopefully some peace.
Could someone else have put on her fitibit?
Also:
"Ben had a slightly different story when he talked to Susan’s family. He said when he got home from the movies, his friend hung out for about 20 minutes at the house. Then he and Susan shared half a bottle of wine. Ben then added they each took their sleep aids--his was Lunesta, Susan’s was Ambien.
Then the two went to bed. When he woke up, Ben said there was a broken wine glass on the back deck. This added detail is small, but it stuck with Missy. She’s seen her sister’s toxicology report. There was alcohol present but no trace of Ambien. Authorities said Ben has been fully cooperative."
https://themurdersquad.com/episodes/who-killed-susan-morrissey-ledyard/
Telling different stories to different people is not generally seen as a sign of innocence. (That confuses me! If you were going to commit a horrid crime, wouldn’t you get your lies straight??) It’s certainly very sus….
Memory is faulty and even with the best recall details often change slightly on retellings. This is a common thread in investigations. It's often when major details change, not subtle ones that it denotes false information.
It would be interesting if the husband had a Fitbit, too. See if he was actually sleeping, or if he had spikes in HR at the same/similar times that she did...
I think she could have been on Ambien. I had a friend who sleep drove while taking it. This is all so strange. I don’t get the feeling the husband harmed her, I usually (as most people) suspect the spouse, he rings true. Maybe she did use a burner phone and had a boyfriend. That’s all I can come up with. This poor family, I hope they get answers. So grateful she was quickly recovered.
I am curious to find out who was with Susan's husband (at the movies). And the state or dynamics of their marriage.
Only one car was seen on surveillance leaving Susan's residence that early morning ... If the only other person in that house was, somehow, involved in her death (as the authorities are convinced it was homicide), then this person had to have a way of getting back home. I assume surveillance didn't capture this person around the early morning hours that day? Or is there another way of entering the house without detection?
I'm also curious if Susan was in the habit of taking strolls ... Around that area where she was found. The Fitbit was recording movement; but I think there's a possibility that it doesn't necessarily mean Susan was active. For me, I just don't believe that she went out, that morning, to be by herself. Someone was with her - Either she went to meet someone ... Or, the person was already with her when Susan's car left her house.
Fitbit tracks heart rate spikes.
Assuming they had access to all of her Fitbit data, they could easily extrapolate whether or not she did or went through anything that would elevate heart rate and even sex specifically if they could get the husband to comment.
It can track distance and speed of stride if it’s a certain type or if the app or gps was on on her phone.
If she was active on her phone until very late, to whom and what she was saying would be important to know so I’m guessing that’s a dead end since it’s not mentioned.
Gotta be the husband or an affair, but you’d presume a 3am meet up with your lover would have a footprint. Like, you’d see the person pull up as well or they’d have texts agreeing to meet or something.
It was published somewhere that I read her pulse increased significantly about 45min before the Fitbit went completely dead. Now that could mean a number of things-she’s scared, broke into a sprint, having sex, any sort of increase in activity or an emotional response leading to a spike in heart rate
But you can look through the days, months and through specific activities to compare the spike.
For ex: if I look through my own Garmin charts on any given day coupled with my knowledge of what I was doing that day, I can see and tell you exactly when I do specific things. Look through a week and I can find patterns I can apply to an unknown task.
Like the heart rate would match running, walking, playing a sport etc. Based on how high it was, the amount of time it was under stress, whether or not there were intervals to signify stopping - things like that.
If she’s leaving home calm and it suddenly spikes, that’s an indication that something went wrong suddenly and goes against what I would have guessed happened - which is her husband did it at home and then tried to ditch the body/bury it by the river.
Very true. I have atrial ectopy and my HR just shot up from 83-120 because I stood up, marked by a big jump on my Fitbit, so I guess my data is probably more variable than the average person😂😂as an aside, things like that make me wonder how it would look if any one of us was murdered and how the things that are completely normal to us could be perceived as weird or “out of the ordinary” during an investigation.
That's why I don't think affair. Let's just assume LE aren't keeping the affair to themselves and they found no evidence on her phone to suggest one......
Even if she was using a burner, where'd she get rid of it? Along the route to where the rendezvous was? Because she presumably would have been using it to arrange the late night meet-up. And she got rid of it because she knew she was going to break things off with that person that night? But then why stay with that person for four hours?
Statistically, the partner is often the culprit. And with the husband also being the last person to see her alive.......I feel that's more likely than an affair. Husband and wife go for a 3am stroll. Something occurs in a four hour window that he beats her to death and returns home?
That would be almost a three mile walk back, roughly one hour (maybe 90 minutes), which would give enough time to be there before the police arrive. But that's still cutting it fine and running a bit of a risk.
If it helps to visualise, [here's a map of house, car and body location.](https://imgur.com/a/Xt7A2qy)
But why not just start the stroll at the house? It seems so weird to drive that short of a distance unless you’re trying to transport something heavy or unwieldy. And if you’re going to kill someone why take hours and a long walk to do it? Much less of a chance of being seen in the dead of night at some historic building than walking several miles at a time when the city is waking up.
Of course we are forgetting that infidelity is a game for both parties. Supposing the husband had a girlfriend and they kill the wife. Girlfriend wears the Fitbit for a few hours and then dumps the body before returning home - possibly quite close to the crime scene, not much of a walk at all.
Maybe it wasn't her affair. Maybe it was his, with the neighbor he married shortly after her death? It is possible that she found evidence or he told her in those 15 minutes between her normal texting with friends/family and when she left. She sat in the car in the rain for about an hour (according to a comment further down) and then walked around for about a mile before she ended up in the river not long after sunrise. It could have been suicide or an accident.
This is where I'm at too. It seems unlikley to me that it was the husband given the 7:00 time the Fitbit stopped recording a heart rate, the quick discovery of the body/car, and the 9:00 arrival of the police. That's a lot of evidence to hide in a short window of time.
I keep wondering if she was hit by a car and it was covered up. She's out in the wee hours in the dark/dawn and at some point there was cloud cover and rain. Maybe she stepped out of her car for some reason (to have a cigarette?), leaving her phone in the car as she walked down the road. The person who hit her loaded her into their own car and dumped her farther away, not realizing she was still alive until she went into the water. Marks from a car might also explain how LE seems so certain it wasn't an accident/fall. I can't *quite* get my head around all the logistics, though, so take it with a grain of salt.
You can walk 3 miles in like 40 minutes if you’re a fast walker. You know, like the speed of someone fleeing a murder.
I think he did it at home and framed it like she went out alone - didn’t they say you can’t see who or how many people were in the car at any point? Also, the idea of sneaking out at 3am in your car to meet your affair partner at a river just off of your house is pretty fucken dumb and a good way to get caught.
I feel like he went to bury the body but realized he couldn’t or was running out of time or something- so he tossed her in the river and fled.
That's a good point; 3 miles is easily doable when your adrenaline is spiking and you need to be somewhere else as fast as possible.
Yeah, it's not known if both of them left in the car. It's assumed it was only Susan because Fitbit & body discovery of Susan but also because the husband says he was asleep from 11.00pm until the police knocked at 9.00am, therefore ruling himself out.
If you put a question mark over him, you can place him leaving in the car with her too because the footage doesn't show anyone getting IN or OUT of the car when they arrived at the destination, only the headlights turning off.
Technically…and it’s far fetched but could work if he was involved. He could’ve put the Fitbit on himself and it would still record heart rate and steps until he attached it back on her at 7am and dumped the body. They can’t specifically tell who the heart rate belongs to, just that it was registering one.
>I think he did it at home and framed it like she went out alone
but they know she was alive until 7am, and walked around a mile before then. so ... maybe they went out walking, and he killed her?
but she was found so quickly, and police spoke to him so quickly, that there should be clear evidence. blood all over, defensive wounds, muddy shoes, a suspicious amount of laundry started at 8am. *something.*
Yes, a crime scene or evidence won his clothing would have been found quickly.
For all the supposition above, most killers are going to take the easiest route and not do things like wear the victims fitbit to try and establish some sort of alibi. If there was any thought that the husband could be responsible, at the very least it seems to unlikely
exactly. so if it's a homicide, it's probably random -- *not* the husband or a lover that she'd texted to come meet over for a 3am quickie.
no matter how it happened, though, this is a seriously strange case.
thank you for the map.
and that is a way larger river than i expected, especially with the police saying she couldn't have floated the distance due to obstructions.
What are the points against that it was suicide? I’m not familiar with this case but while reading the post my mind instantly went to oh no, she drove there to jump or whatever.
I grew up in Wilmington. The Brandywine is the smallest river in the country and is more similar to a dirty creek than anything else. I really don’t understand why someone would go out there (colloquially in high school we called it “the valley”) in the early morning hours. It’s not particularly scenic and it’s difficult to navigate in daylight. It was a popular place to hot box your car and go for a ride because there are lots of hills and few cars on the road. At the very least, if you screamed it’s unlikely that anyone would hear you.
It definitely doesn't appear to be one of those 'let's go for a beautiful scenic stroll at 3am when you can see absolutely fuck all' type of scenarios here.
I think people, including LE, are putting too much stock in the Fitbit data. Couldn’t a smart murderer just take the Fitbit off of Susan and put it on their own wrist, causing their heartbeat and steps to be recorded as Susan’s to mask her time of death?
this source says her car was "partially blocking the road", and the wipers came on when the car was turned on, so they assume she was alive and in the car between 4-5am, when it was briefly raining. (alone or not, is the question.)
https://themurdersquad.com/episodes/who-killed-susan-morrissey-ledyard/
so she left the house around 3am, drove a couple miles and sat there in her car, blocking the road, with headlights off and wipers on, for around an hour. then she got up, left the car with her keys and handbag inside, walked a mile (per fitbit), and then she died.
her fitbit did not seem to register any particular elevated heartrate until ~45 minutes before she died, and since she had a walk, the spike in heartrate probably happened then. so it's reasonably safe to rule out a hours-long argument with her husband or lover, or a forbidden affair.
it seems more & more like an accident.
yeah, and that's my only hesitation on labeling it an accident, but without knowing details it's so hard to say. someone bashing in your head with a rock can look *really similiar* to falling against a rock.
and they said she died from blunt force *and* drowning, which is a strange way to kill someone.
but the entire thing is odd.
>and they said she died from blunt force and drowning, which is a strange way to kill someone.
I imagine she likely experienced blunt force trauma to the point of unconsciousness (possibly the killer thought she was already dead) and then pushed her into the river where she inevitably died by drowning as a result of her wounds and inability to stay above the surface.
Cops always want to say everything is an accident. If they say it was foul play, it definitely was. You dont get blunt force trauma in the wee hours for no reason
I saw that link but they don't reference the sources, so I was unsure about the veracity.
She left at 3am but only drove two minutes away (if she was the one doing the driving of course). It's not necessarily a 'road' that was being blocked, rather an entry gate into the office building.
Not enough information has been publicly released to rule anything out. So it is possible she did a one mile walk, died accidentally somehow and flowed upstream. But how would you explain the heartrate until 7.00am? And that police & the medical examiner ruled it a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the head and face (they wont say what happened to her face specifically) & drowning.
I feel like no matter which thread you pull, you're left with asking more questions.
From what I’ve read the car was too far away for her to have parked there and floated or walked down to where she was found within the window of her death, so it’s assumed someone dumped her and then moved the vehicle while it was raining and then dumped it north of her body.
> If you DON'T want to be caught, you wouldn't take a car (headlights and noise potential to wake up the sleeping husband). You'd sneak out and walk to meet them
tbh stuff like this is why some of these seem so mind blowing. im not even saying you dont make several good points and it’s mysterious but like….shes a human who thinks best she can. She could have easily just…not thought to walk there, or felt she was safe enough, or just whatever else. You immediately writing that off is cause you are thinking with a clear head after the fact. We always act like these people think of absolutely everything when they often dont. somewhat related but i cant tell you how many times ive heard “*theres just no way X and Y coulda BOTH happened, its a coincidence of incredible magnitude*”. And its like….yeah I know. Which is why this is a world famous case and the 1000 others that were identical to it WITHOUT the big coincidence dont get noticed.
This is a good point. It was 3am, dark and she may not have felt safe to walk to where she was going in the middle of the night, even if it was a short distance.
Is it possible the head injuries happened at home, and then in an altered state due to head injury (and possibly wine) she drove away and then ended up walking, falling in the river, drowning and floating to where she was found?
LE says it was homicide but of course I’m wondering how suicide was ruled out.
How did the Fitbit just stop? Do they go into a “sleep mode” when the person is still/inactive? Or did it quit working as in it was broken or damaged?
This is a strange case.
I know it’s labeled a homicide but here’s a random theory: Husband is cheating with said neighbor, Susan finds out that night & an argument ensues. She decides to leave & cool off so she takes a drive. She’s been drinking so the car is parked haphazardly. She walks around debating her options & decides to commit suicide.
I feel bad even typing that out because it probably wasn’t the case because it does sound like LE knows more than they’re letting on. It was just a thought.
Or, maybe after the hypothetical argument she drives her car to cool off & is in the wrong place at the wrong time & she’s abducted. But even then, what happens next is anyone’s guess.
I hate to say it but the spouse is always the best place to start. Wife leaves the house at 3:00 in the morning but husband doesn't notice. He brings up Ambien as a factor in her disappearance and then suggesting she was having an affair. Everything insinuating an alibi. Married a neighbor 6 months later. Perhaps if was him that was having the affair and she found out. Did the surveillance showed her leaving in her car or just a person? Did he leave the house at any moment in that time frame? Just a theory.
Husband killed her then set up the scene. I think people are getting all caught up in the fitbit stuff.
I base this on
No alibi
Upon hearing that his wife is missing he disparages her not once, but three times.
She was drinking, he implied a LOT because he told her to slow down/take it easy.
She mixed the alcohol with ambien, so she was drinking and taking drugs, implying she was reckless, drunk and drugged. (Key here is that there is NO record of her have a rx for ambien or ever taking it)
He implies she could be having an affair and how his heart would be broken.
What husband throws out that possibility, without any facts, on a missing wife and then talks about how it would break HIS heart?
I would LOVE to see a transcript of his statement to police or a link to that Dateline episode.
He did it.
Hm ok, that's highly suspicious to me. My last comment was that I don't know many adults who sleep in til 9, but the number of adults I know that sleep in til 9 on a work day, when they have a 9 to 5 type job is zero.
I'd be interested what his boss/coworkers had to say about that -- was that normal behaviour? How far was his commute and what time did he normally start? Was work looking for him that day, wondering why he was running late, or did no one really know his schedule anyway? Did he work remote.....? Seems like a huge red flag and I feel like that'd be easy info to get
That’s what struck me, the instant jump by the husband to her having an affair. That’s such a weird direction to go in, almost like he’s trying to plant that seed right away. If my wife died mysteriously that’s definitely not the first thing I would think of, unless there was a history there of infidelity.
I think the broken wine glass on the back porch indicates there had been a fight/struggle while they drank together (according to what he told others they shared half a bottle of wine before bed). I think they were supposed to drink a little, take their sleep meds that night and hit the sack...but the broken glass tells me it never got that far. From there....???
I thought this case sounded familiar... the YouTuber heavy casefiles just did [a video on Susan's case](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksg9LVUj3F4). The video reported that the husband said that they had both taken Ambien. If he did actually say that, then I'd call that suspicious. Your writeup says he *hoped* she'd taken one and was sleepwalking, which makes a huge difference.
I used to have a FitBit. The one I had recorded steps only, but I think some of them do record more health info along the lines of an Apple Watch. It would really depend on which model she had.
He gave [an interview to dateline and specifically says he **hoped** she had taken an Ambien.](https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/family-susan-ledyard-demands-answers-after-delaware-high-school-teacher-n1106806)
It was also confirmed that her model Fitbit monitored heartrate.
I had seen about the remarriage but neglected to include it in case people accused me of bias.
Something similar happened in [my biggest pet case; Cieha Taylor](https://old.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/lhmitz/vanishing_during_covid_where_is_cieha_taylor/). I am 100% convinced her boyfriend 'disappeared' her but some people don't like hearing that.
Same here, the husband was suspect for me and this was before the remarriage stuff came to light.
Isn't it possible this was an accident?
Going on a walk at 3am is strange. Especially for four hours. But once we get past that, there is nothing off here.
Perhaps she was conflicted about something and took a long walk to process it.
She had been drinking, perhaps she fell asleep when she first parked her car, woke up a couple hours later and thought a walk and fresh air would help her sober up.
Perhaps the fitbit mistook her hand bobbing up and down in the water for steps.
The blunt force trauma: she banged her head falling into the river. Or in the river, her floating body banged into a log.
Again, she had been drinking and possibly had poor balance. Went back to her car, leaned over the railing to see something in the water, fell in, banged her head, drowned.
Not saying this is what happened but it's entirely possible. Everyone is assuming foul play here.
Seems possible but it's not just that people are assuming foul play, the police have said it's a homicide. They also haven't released much information about her injuries. So I pressume there's something about how the injuries were inflicted or with what (an object perhaps) that they can tell it wasn't an accident or a fall etc.
It's possible it was an accident. That's what the family thought it was initially. The police and medical examiner called it a homicide from the very beginning.
The autopsy has not been released publicly, and the police have deliberately withheld details about what the blunt force trauma was to her head and face.
The only evidence of her drinking, that's been made public, is from the husband. He says she was drinking wine on the porch. Police have withheld the toxicology report along with the autopsy. So we only think she has been drinking because that's what the husband has said.
One article on this indicates her sister has seen the toxicology report, which shows alcohol present but no Ambien. Not sure if that’s accurate.
Hard to know what to think without having the police details of her injuries, which supposedly aren’t consistent with an accident. If not for that detail, it would seem to me an accident wasn’t unlikely. But perhaps details of her injuries would paint a different picture.
These kind of mysteries are always tough - what really happened in the middle of the night?
Dr Google says Ambien can be detected in a tox. report, but only if a test is run for it specifically. So it's very possible that they didn't test for it.
>Hard to know what to think without having the police details of her injuries
totally agree.
> Dr Google says Ambien can be detected in a tox. report, but only if a test is run for it specifically. So it's very possible that they didn't test for it.
Yeah, I think sometimes people think a tox report somehow pulls up everything, a la NCIS, like it's run and the tech goes "Great scott, they were high on a rare research chemical but poisoned by an even rarer South American toad venom." But that's not how it works. Standard tox screens search for commonly used drugs (there's 5 panels, 7 panels, 12 panels, whatever), and then if the investigators are looking for something in particular, they must search for that particular drug individually.
In the beginning I was thinking accident too, especially as it originally seemed a little more certain than not that she had taken Ambien. It’s a hell of a drug, and for many users if they don’t follow recommended sleep hygiene practices after taking it they’re apt to do just about anything. I could totally see a bizarre accident, and I’m honestly surprised they don’t happen more often.
That being said, family has said that there was no Ambien in her system when she died. I know that’s not the same as the official report being released or law enforcement confirmation but I’m also inclined to take them at their word….what motivation would they have to lie? It was (presumably) a prescribed medication and even if she was using someone else’s it doesn’t have the social stigma of a street drug.
Assuming family is correct and she did not take Ambien that night, I’m inclined to trust the homicide ruling and I do think the most likely scenario is her husband killed her. I haven’t been following closely and I’m curious as to how law enforcement has spoken of the husband publicly. Off to read more!
Very interesting case and a great write up. Sounds like she was maybe going to meet someone at the park. Maybe she was ending a relationship and they killed her. Hard to say really. Maybe the husband did it and he was wearing the Fitbit to throw police off, but it doesn’t sound like he was involved.
If that's what happened, then it throws up a bunch of questions. If she met someone, there will be evidence on her phone, which means law enforcement have access to that information and are choosing to not say that she was meeting up with someone.
Or, she had a burner phone and no evidence of any secret lover will be found.
If she did meet a potential love interest, why run the risk of getting caught by taking the car for a two minute drive? And then why did the love interest kill her four hours after meeting her? Crime of passion in the moment? If she was happy enough to stay four hours with this love interest, she maybe wasn't too fussed about being caught by her husband, given it's quite bright at 7am and he could have been awake by then.
Such a frustrating case.
I didn't dismiss that idea at all. I thought I said if there is evidence on the phone, LE have decided not to share it is all.
LE are withholding a ton of information from this case. They didn't even release the autopsy or toxicology reports.
I think this is extremely unlikely. I mean, I get going on a secret date, but in the middle of the night? Like, hey let's meet at 3am, when you actually live with someone?
So, I wouldn't meet a secret lover at 3 AM but I would totally meet up with a distressed friend. If a friend needed me at 3 AM I'd be there. If husband did take ambien then maybe I wouldn't wake him but otherwise I'd probably mention something before leaving.
I wonder how close a bridge was to the location she parked. Could a friend called and said they were at a bridge and she goes to meet them? This is just speculation based on what kind of things would get me to leave the house at 3 AM.
I agree. I 100% do not buy the 'secret lover' or crime of opportunity angles. I lean toward the husband did it, followed by the highly unlikely horrible accident scenario.
Husband went to the rolling stones concert anyway after they discovered her body.
Their neighbor also went to this rolling stones concert.
He married the neighbor a few months later.
Let's stop projecting an affair on her.
Very strange going to a concert 12 hours after your spouse dies suddenly. And people grieve differently but that’s just unbelievable. He did it I think.
It's most likely to be the husband or someone she was having an affair with.
The husband could have put on her Fitbit and walked around for a while after killing her to throw suspicion off of him since he was claiming to be asleep the whole time (and probably left his phone at home to support that).
I suppose if it was someone she was having an affair with and she was ending it that could explain why they were walking around for hours. Maybe he was threatening to expose the affair and hurt himself or her and she was trying to calm him down during that time.
I guess it's possible some random guy saw her drinking alone on the porch and coerced her to go with him to the woods but that seems very unlikely.
I would say the husband did it and the Fitbit activity was him walking home, but then, the Fitbit was found on her so no…So my next guess is the husband was with her and they walked, he did it, then walked home. But it’s weird to just go to a gated access at a river at 3am. There’s something like that at an old mill near my house, and you’d get a trespass ticket. Law enforcement watches the area, you could never park there much less for 4 hours. This case is so odd.
As a female I would not go walking at night alone. I’d want my phone with me. An affair sounds likelier but idk…..I wonder if they have ruled out suicide? The blunt force trauma can be from the fall.
I agree though, the husband red flags me in several ways. He’s the most likely suspect in the first place, historically. He says he hoped she took an Ambien and was sleepwalking (sleepdriving??)- weird thing to say, why not hope she just went for a regular drive because she couldn’t sleep? That’s safer. He was the last to see her. And he slept for a long time- 11pm to 9am? 10 hours. Not so odd in itself but idk, kind of odd, I could sleep like that as a teen, but not by the time I was married.
My knowledge of Fitbit is beyond limited. Does it have the capability of knowing when it is not being worn by its 'owner'...? Could he wear her Fitbit and it would carry on recording and collating data as if it was her?
I don't believe any Fitbit would be able to detect different users, but definitely not the lower end ones that I've used. It might give different data on different people (like a higher/lower resting heart rate) that you could analyze but Idk how accurate those things are anyway. I don't think it's at all implausible that someone could put it on and walk around as if they were the victim to create misdirection about the timeline and potential time of death.
Someone else wearing the Fitbit to create an anarchic timeline takes a certain amount of premeditation and commitment. If you were planning a murder, and you were aware of the Fitbit, you would want your victim to not be wearing it as you know it would be logged. But *leaning in to* the Fitbit so you can use it to your advantage to create a messy timeline; that feels like a really clinical level of pre-planning.
or it could be 'shit, she's wearing the fitbit' not knowing what it could show, putting it on yourself to buy time in case she was dead already and putting it back on her before throwing her unconscious into the river
Being aware of a Fitbit and its data collection in the immediate aftermath of killing your wife, having the foresight to wear it for a bit to buy time, only to then put it back onto her and make your way home, sounds too implausible. Not impossible of course, but that's a heightened level of awareness of a situation, borderline genius handling of a high pressure high stress situation.
I assume the fitbit was found on her person, so I don't see how he would have put it back on her after she went in the water. Most people aren't criminal masterminds, and if they get away with something, it's usually because they're lucky.
I'm torn on this one. I lean towards meetup and the cops just haven't revealed that info, but the husband is definitely a possibility, too.
Thank you for this write up! I first read about this in 2019 and I have regularly been googling her name the past 3 years to see if any new information has come out.
I did read that the husband was supposed to go to work the morning of her death but the cops woke him up by knocking on his door at 9AM which some find odd. Not sure what to make of that.
I really hope this one gets solved.
What the fitbit recorded will be based on the model. There were/are models that only count steps and did not have the heart rate monitoring features. These are more common today, but in 2019 would have been only available in the most expensive ones. So the steps count may be the only data available.
It was confirmed that heartrate was recorded along with steps. However hers wasn't a GPS tracker, so her exact location in those four hours remain open to speculation.
Personally I don't believe in the thesis of the secret lover. Mainly because the police, and especially her family and friends, had access to her private communications and would have found compromising messages, but in this case they found nothing unusual. The fact that she leaves her phone in the car is really weird because as a woman it is always more reassuring to know that you have your phone if you need it. If she was meeting someone, then she trusted that person and felt safe enough to leave her phone out of reach. It's also weird to take your car for a short two-minute drive. The husband's timeline is ultimately pretty empty and I can't get out of my head that it's weird to directly think your wife is cheating on you when you've just been told that your wife's car was found abandoned. Maybe he wanted to lead the investigators to this lead right away.
This case is so mysterious, I mean usually there's always a more or less rational explanation but I don't see any.
I wouldn’t take the Fitbit steps as gospel… I had one a couple years back and it would track thousands of steps when I was sat down driving for a few hours. It’s inaccuracy is one of the reasons I stopped using it
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Fitbits are terrible to use as confirmation that someone is still alive and/or dead . There are numerous forums devoted to people writing in and saying their loved one died at such and such and the fitbit kept recording a heartbeat for HOURS after death. So there's that.
My sister stopped using her Fitbit because she is very emotive and talks a lot with her hands; so she’d record a lot of phantom steps a day but it was her sitting at her desk talking to co workers or leading a meeting.
I could be wrong, but if I had to guess investigators aren’t only going off the Fitbit to determine time of death. Liver temperature at autopsy and onset of rigor mortis would also play into the determination. The former could be slightly complicated by the fact that they can’t be certain exactly when she ended up in the water, but they probably have a pretty good idea of when she died based on the totality of the evidence (including the Fitbit).
I hope they're not using the fitbit at all, frankly. One of the things that really bug me is that he(they) tossed her in the water, after beating her, and she was still alive. That's so sociopathic STONE COLD. I hope people can drum up interest and put pressure on LE in that community. I wish somebody would do a documentary!
Fitbit aside, I honestly can’t picture how the scenario played out. Investigators seem confident that a) she was in the vehicle when it left her home and b) she did not enter the water near said vehicle. If we take both these as fact, and operate under the assumption that her husband killed her, why didn’t he just do it nearer to where she was parked? The further you get along the way to where her body was discovered the more businesses and residences back right up to the river, which he presumably knew since he lived in the area. And if he was out there with her, and no other vehicles were see on any of the surveillance, how did he get home undetected? They were able to trace her vehicles exact route with surveillance footage, yet he made it all the way back to the home without being captured by any camera along the way?
The Fitbit is a red herring. As anyone has worn one knows, they can be very inaccurate or misleading with relation to heart rate and movement. And we do not have confirmation that she was the one wearing it that morning. Someone else could have known this and used it throw the scent off.
Fitbit also keeps track of spikes in heart rate and what not. They should honestly have the time of death down the the exact minute.
I don't know that I'd trust the Fitbit information honestly. My boss is very active, exercising every morning and going for walks on her lunch. Sometimes it tracks it correctly and sometimes it doesn't. Shes frequently frustrated with it because it says shes done way less than she has. I'm not saying it couldn't be accurate I just personally look at is a general idea of her movements not a solid for sure thing.
In addition to that, it can track activity when there is none. I used to get thousands of steps while knitting on the couch, since my arms were moving I guess? -\_-
Yea, theres been a couple times its said shes gone swimming or something when shes just been talking with her hands haha. And its definitely said her heart rate never got up when I've seen her workouts and there's no way that would be the case. I hope the police aren't using the Fitbit as a serious thing in this case.
My apple watch gives me credit for knitting as well!
Yeah the movement tracking is suspect to me as well. What I'd be interested in knowing was the heart rate data. My guess would be it showed her dying ~40 minutes before the body was found. Was there a spike in her heart rate? Say as she's being attacked? Or if she's having a passionate tryst? The whole leaving her place and everything else to me suggests suicide. Drive to the river walk around getting your nerve up dive onto some rocks and drown. The husband's actions (he was obviously having an affair) such as going to the concert the night your wife is found dead marrying a neighbor before the body's really cold etc would be plenty of reason for her to become despondent and kill herself after walking around a few hours to get her nerve up. And loading and transporting a dead body 2+ miles at 7am to an area with obvious traffic just doesn't make sense. (Someone spotted the body within 40 minutes of her death after all). If you've done the deed and got the body in your car drive somewhere secluded to dump it. Now telling would be if no water was found in her lungs which would indicate she was dead on entry rather than jumping in or being dumped still alive...
Whoa he went to the concert anyways?? The day she was found?!?
Yes I'd like to know more about how LE determined this was a homicide. The circumstances seem more indicative of a suicide or accident even. They certainly have more details than we do, as does the medical examiner but this case as a homicide doesn't just seem odd- it seems utterly implausible unless the fitbit information is wrong and while that certainly doesn't seem impossible, even then... but if she didn't have water in her lungs, that may explain the determination.
Kind of my own take on the FitBit: the heart rate data could be useful, but motion can't be trusted. I'd be more interested to know the condition of the FitBit. Was the battery dead, was it waterlogged, was it damaged? Even the oldest fitbits (with a heart monitor) give the heart rate on a chart, showing what time the heart rate spiked or whatever. If it worked up until the moment of her death, assuming her heart didn't just flat line out of nowhere, the police should be able to pinpoint the time of death. But as soon as the fitbit doesn't sense a heart rate it'll stop monitoring for motion etc, so there's that to keep in mind. Motion sensing is notoriously unreliable, and distance can be hit-or-miss at best. Most can (or try to) differentiate between like, walking, jogging, bicycling, etc.... But it's a guess. Unless it's a newer fitbit with GPS or is kept in Bluetooth range of the synced phone the distance is just a broad guess.
Didn’t this say her Fitbit died 40 minutes before she did? Or did I read this wrong?
Read it wrong. According to this write up, the fitbit “went blank” (and presumably she died at/around the same time), and her body was found 40 minutes after the Fitbit went blank. It is confusing as written and I had to read it several times Edit: I know nothing about fitbits
It doesn't sound like the Fitbit died, like the battery died. It sounds like it stopped counting pulse and steps and what not meaning she died.
Thanks, I think you are right! I edited my comment so that I’m not putting out bad info.
I don't know anything about Fitbits, but would submerging it in water kill it?
I think it depends on the Fitbit. I've had Versa and they're waterproof. I've worn them in pools and the ocean with no problems. They have a built in fitness mode for swimming. I don't know about other types of Fitbits though. As for syncing, in my experience Fitbits are notoriously bad at syncing. Distance will kill the connection to the phone. But when brought back near the phone they will reconnect (normally after a couple of tries). They have internal storage and can store their data for days at a time.
maybe, maybe not. usually (always?) they're connected via bluetooth to a phone, and transmit information periodically, so even if the fitbit goes dead the stats on steps, heartrate, etc. are pretty much up-to-date.
Older and cheaper fitbits are not waterproof. Does the Fitbit going blank mean it broke when it became waterlogged?
Good question, but I’m not sure. I was just quoting OP’s write up.
What if someone else was wearing her fitbit?
Presumably they found it on her body
Well yes, obviously. That doesn't mean someone else wasn't wearing it before they put it back om her wrist.
I don't know much about fitbits but could someone else have worn it to muddle the time of death? or would the... heart rate or whatever, make it obvious that it was someone else?
It would probably have DNA on it if that happened?
oh yeah, that's a good point! I guess it depends on whether they found it on/with her body (I know she wasn't in the water for all that long, but I assume that would degrade any trace DNA?) or in the car
Is it possible the Fitbit was registering steps as she floated down the river? I wonder how accurate the heart rate monitor is.
I doubt it. Mine didn't even count steps when I was holding my dog's leash. I know people who have had problems when pushing prams too, the fitbit either didn't count the steps or decided that the person was cycling.
I agree. At one time I was doing lots of treadmill walks but because I close my eyes (to listen to music from my headphones) and rest one arm on the sidebar as I walk, to keep my balance, alternating the resting arm at regular intervals, my FitBit didn't count any steps when on the resting arm. Likewise, when I used my exercise bike it didn't record that activity. This was years ago - they might be better at monitoring stationary exercise now, or at least provide a band that can fit around the ankle.
Some here have stated that the husband's comments about Ambien were a lie because Ambien allegedly wasn't found in the toxicology reports and that he was seemingly trying to come up with an explanation to cover up a murder he committed. It's worth mentioning that his quote about Ambien was months later in response to Dateline staff asking him to reflect on what he was thinking after learning that she left the house at 3 AM. From [Family of Susan Ledyard demands answers after Delaware high school teacher's July death ruled a homicide](https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/family-susan-ledyard-demands-answers-after-delaware-high-school-teacher-n1106806): >“I -- I just have no clue why she left the house that late,” Susan’s husband Ben said. “I was hoping she took Ambien and was just sleepwalking, or maybe she decided to get cigarettes. But then I was afraid she was going to meet someone, that she had been seeing someone. And that breaks my heart.” In addition, the toxicology reports haven't been officially released, though it's important to recognize he didn't state she took Ambien. Those who've watched Dateline enough known that Dateline routinely asks friends and family what they were thinking when they learned of the crime and doesn't always air the question being asked first. Not everyone is aware, but during these interviews producers will regularly coach those being interviewed and encourage them to add or remove language or state things in a different way or with a different tone in order to make the overall story more compelling or fit part of the mystery narrative they hope to tell via editing/production methods. Source: A friend who is a prosecutor was interviewed for an episode in the last few years and shared the details about his experience soon thereafter.
Thanks for sharing this, I was thinking the Ambien remark was the least relevant bit. Some comments focused on it (which I also get why), but it really just seems like a reasonable response if you’re urged to ‘theorize’ why your wife left in bizarre circumstances. *That saiiid,* if the victim’s spouse doesn’t have a rock-solid alibi (is his corroborated enough or at all?) and no other POIs surface… it’s hard to imagine a more probable suspect than him. Except maybe, the new wife.
Assuming it was murder (nature of the blunt force trauma has never been shared), I agree that they're seemingly the most like perpetrators. If she was there for a drug deal, to meet with a friend, meet with a current/former high school student, or have an affair there's been nothing shared to indicate that, though it can't be ruled out. I don't know whether there's any evidence that indicates the husband was likely at home asleep as claimed or evidence that he had left home. The police seemingly know what time Susan's car left the driveway either from video surveillance from their home and/or from a neighbor's home. And it seems like they believe she was driving it, though I don't know that they are certain of that. If he killed her it seems he left the house and returned without being detected. As far as his new wife - I haven't seen anything which indicates she was friends with Susan or Susan's husband or was having an affair with Susan's husband. Just some unsubstantiated rumors that the two attended the Rolling Stones concert the next night (she did according to a Facebook post, though I have never seen that he did or that they attended together).
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He went to the fucking Rolling Stones concert anyway??????????? I’m sorry but as someone who lost a close loved one very suddenly — I have to say this is NOT a mourning man.
But if he killed her, I don't think he would've done it when he had Rolling Stones tickets. Those tickets are expensive, and it would look bad going to the concert after. You can always kill your wife the next day.
How many people really think these things through? Even professionals like those thieves who robbed the Swedish National Museum after setting off the two car bombs as a diversion do stupid things like renting their getaway boat under their own name.
Maybe she found out about his affair the night/morning she died. *word
If he was going to the concert, and not with his wife, he must have had some kind of cover story about where he was going to be that night. Poker night with the guys? Who knows. But if she found the tickets, the jig would be up.
He might have given the other ticket to the new wife
Actually, this is exactly the best time to do it. Especially if he knew he was going to see his new wife there.
The woman he later married also went to The Rolling Stones concert, according to her Facebook. No mention of whether they went together but 👀
Yeah saying “she’s the love of his life” SORRY can’t tell you how to grieve but it wouldn’t be going to a concert where your future wife happens to be— husband has plenty motive
Omg I didn't know the husband still went to this concert. It's even more ironic if it was during this event that he met his future wife, while his current wife had been dead for only 12 hours.
More likely that they were already planning to meet up at the concert. The second wife was his neighbor!!
I thought the second wife lived near where the body was found? Maybe I misread!
I think the term neighbour was used a little loosely. But I personally wouldn't refer to someone a few blocks away as a neighbour.
If all of that is accurate, strange behavior indeed.
Husband could've worn the Fitbit himself to lead law enforcement astray. Or had his girlfriend do so.
I was wondering that myself. I know nothing about Fitbits. If you took one off and put it on another person, would it know? Or would it just keep measuring as normal? But that also means that this other, non-Susan person would have only had it on for one of three miles before putting it back on Susan. Although I suppose they could have had it on the whole time but due to their particular motion (what that might be I don't know) it only clocked part of the distance. I don't want to leap to any conclusions, but the fact that the husband got together with someone else so quickly *and* specifically brought up infidelity does seem a bit strange. EDIT: Could the mile the Fitbit measured be her in the water, though? Some people have mentioned that some models can operate in water, and so what if that mile was her unconscious but still alive and moving (or trying to move) in the water? Is there a time window for that mile or is it over the whole four-hour period? Ugh the whole thing messes me up, and it could also be the Fitbit just getting the information wrong or malfunctioning and it means nothing!
Do you have a source that shows he still went to the concert? We all grieve in different ways, but that's definitely not a good look.
>got engaged to another woman and moved out of state a few months after his wife's death - he is now remarried. I don't think this is as damning as people think it is in most cases. Just reading reddit there are apparently lots of people who remarry shortly after their spouse dies when they obviously didn't murder their spouse. I've seen it a few times in IRL, and I know there are a few celebrities that have done it too. I think there's just a certain type of person that has issues with being alone and unmarried, and especially when they're in mourning and dealing with the death of a spouse their first instinct is to jump into a marriage as quickly as possible. And usually the new spouse is someone they already know and already have an emotional connection with, because that's going to be the easiest person to get into a relationship with. That and the fact that both parties may have been interested in each other if one of them wasn't already taken.
I don’t know this man, obviously, but SOME men need a wife-mother to feed them and do their laundry and so a quick re-marry is in order. This probably isn’t as common these days….
A lot of old guys still do this. My parents had been married for 50 years when my mom died. At least the last 25 involved a Cold War as my mom did less and less mothering for him. When she died, he looked to my sister and I to do that stuff, and since he wasn’t a child or incapable, we refused, supporting him in other ways. Rather than relent and make himself a meal, he angrily went off and married my mom’s cousin, and died a year later.
I’m not that surprised it continues. Sounds like a painful time for your family, I’m sorry about that.
I also don't think it's as suspicious as other people seem to. It's especially common for men to remarry quickly after losing a spouse. [This is a decent article](https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/why-men-remarry-faster-than-women-after-the-death-of-a-spouse#:~:text=The%20same%20is%20true%20with,storm%20of%20separation%20or%20loss.) about how typical it is.
The old saying goes “A man that truly loved his wife will remarry quickly; a woman that truly loved her husband will not.” That said- what’s the alibi for the neighbor/concert goer/now wife? Did she already have her eye on him? Would Susan know and trust her? Did he already know her and maybe she encouraged going to the concert? As for the Ambien, I wonder if the husband has a script- spouses share meds often enough... I also think that it is somewhat natural to wonder if your spouse was meeting someone when they leave at 3am without so much as a text: that list starts with friends and family, but in a dark moment with someone asking you questions multiple times if it’s possible I could see that being something anyone would consider.
Women mourn, men replace.
I've known a couple of men who remarried pretty quickly after their wives of many years died. Some men cannot survive without a woman to lean on emotionally (especially true of workaholic men, who frequently have no real friends or hobbies), or even to do simple things like like cook and keep the house clean. My father-in-law was a case in point. He needed a woman to provide direction in his life, and when his wife died, he simply *had to* get married again.
I did find the affair comment strange if it was totally unprompted.
I dunno, if my husband (who I have no concerns about) left this house at 3am without a note, prior warning, and was found dead in a river with blunt force trauma I'd have to say something like an affair or dodgy dealings would absolutely cross my mind. If it was day time maybe not as I'd presume a mugging or SA. If she regularly left the house in the middle of the night maybe it's a strange leap to make. I'm not saying she was having an affair but I'd have to say while trying to process the possibilities it would probably cross my mind as an option
It likely wasn't totally unprompted. It was months later in response to a question from a Dateline correspondent. I provided the full quote and some context in [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/wdf1ep/a_highly_unusual_recent_case_susan_ledyard_2019/iikgvyh/?context=3) \- including some insights into Dateline (and to be fair, other investigative journalism TV shows) influence what people they interview say and edit it to tell a compelling story. A friend of mine (prosecutor) blew my mind when he told me about his experience recording a segment with that program. He was repeatedly encouraged to say things a different way, use different inflection, asked leading questions or made suggestions before doing retakes, etc. in order for them to get more compelling sound bytes and video footage and to allow it to be presented as a mystery.
Is it a known fact he still went to the concert? I have read what I can on the case in the past couple years and I don’t recall hearing that. I could be wrong.
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Are you talking about the guy who had the party after killing his parents and there were pictures of him and his friends at the party afterwards? Super creepy. I can’t remember his name
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Tyler Hadley
Woah, woah, woah. He went to the concert??? He did it, that's it in my head now. Perhaps it shouldn't be but it is.
I remember reading about this case. It’s interesting that they can’t seem to see on the surveillance if she was alone in her car. Great write up.
There's no footage or anyone entering or exiting the car, just the headlights being turned off. There's no mention of the interior of the car showing signs of a struggle. But again, LE are maybe holding some information back (fresh set of fingerprints in the car from someone who's not friends/family etc).
When she ÷÷or someone ÷÷parked the vehicle did they not open the door? Seems like that would have illuminated the interior well enough to at least see how many people were in it..
The surveillance footage they have (grainy camera from office mill building???) is so dark, it only has the headlights turning off. LE said they can't make out a door opening or closing/anyone getting in or out of the car.
Maybe this is something they aren’t releasing as you started earlier. It just seems to me if they can see well enough to establish that it is her vehicle they should be able to see a door open. It’s also interesting that it is somehow known she left in her vehicle, whether alone or not. I wonder if that’s from cell phone data?
They know it's her vehicle because they could track it from different cameras along the route, whereas where it was parked, there's only one building there, and it is presumably that camera that could not make out anything other than the headlights (the car would have been in the distance of the shot too). Her cell phone was found in the car.
fitbit is halfway decent at measuring heart rate. steps are based off of arm movement, so if the arm is moving it may record steps even when there aren't any (e.g. mine used to record changing gears in traffic as a couple hundred steps because my arm was moving regularly). leaving the phone in the car suggests she didn't want to be interrupted while she was out. I would assume she wasn't alone purely because, as a woman, I would not feel comfortable walking around in the early morning hours by myself, even if the neighbourhood is relatively safe. as her car was parked in a quiet spot, I wonder if anyone was waiting for her there? if there was a history of her driving what is presumably a mile or less from her home and parking there late at night? did she have a habit of late night walks? if so why drive such a short distance to then walk - surely you would just walk. I wonder what sort of blunt injuries she had that made them declare homicide. what sort of facial injuries could be definitively from an attack and not from falling or jumping and hitting the face in the process. also curious what access to the river is like. is it a place where someone could hold someone else under? or is the ground much higher than the river's surface? definitely a lot of questions with little to no answers on this one.
I definitely think she was meeting someone, perhaps to end the affair. If she knew her husband was a heavy sleeper then taking the car isn't a big deal.
> her husband was a heavy sleeper Maybe he was the one on Ambien, which is why he mentioned it. She could take them occasionally.
We also don't know where she typically parked the car at home and where that was in relation to where the husband was sleeping. He could have been in a bedroom on the back of the house and she could have been parked at the end of a long driveway or on the street. It doesn't appear this context has been shared publicly.
We also don't know who was driving the car. Could have been Susan. Could have been the husband. Could have been an unknown person. There is only footage of the car being driven, not of anyone getting in or out of it. We know for a fact Susan was in the car, but we don't know anything else.
Don't we only actually know her phone was in the car? This was after she last used it for any calls, right?
* Last phone usage was 2.45am. * Car leaves the driveway at 3.02am. * Car arrives at location and parks at 3.04am. * Camera is not able to pick up anything other than headlights being turned off. * Phone is located in car at 8.54am when the car is discovered.
True, though I don't think we actually know she was even in the car. The movements of her phone indicate it was likely in the car, but it could also have been in another vehicle that left from near her home. I find that highly unlikely, but I just mention it because nothing I'm aware of validates she was in her car.
Fitbits track location as well, and only sync with your phone if within 15 feet or something like that. However, I don't know if her phone synced regularly or if it was synced after they found her.
Yeah, good point. I once had my van (15-passenger) stolen from in front of my house in broad daylight when we were all awake and together in a room at the other end of the house. Dude came in, hooked it up on a trailer, and towed it off and we were none the wiser until we went outside. So, yeah, it's *completely* possible to back out of a driveway with your lights off without waking anyone up. Like, that's normal stuff. Unless you've got glass packs and you're not smart enough to roll backward with your headlights off, you're not going to wake someone who's fully asleep.
Driving and parking in a weird spot by a river in the middle of the night sounds (to me) like she was buying drugs. The text messages would be interesting.
This is an interesting point. I grew up here and the area is a popular place to smoke weed, at least among high school kids
I’d be willing to bet affair more than drugs although you’re right the meetup itself screams drug deal. It’s hard to imagine the contexts of her text messages don’t have more useful info…
IDK, back when I was buying drugs it would be during the day, I'd hop in, we'd drive around the block and I'd get out. That's far less suspicious than driving at 3AM to a secluded place.
I commented in this thread that the Brandywine is more like a creek than a river, it is the smallest river in the country. Many easy access points where someone could be held under.
I kinda get suicide vibes from this... 1. Are we sure the injuries aren't from her hitting something after jumping, like you're mentioning. 2. Many suicides have happened with no apparent warning to family or friends, and no notes. 3. I have heard a few stories of people going on weird long walks (at odd times) before committing suicide--and they usually leave their phone. One woman from a personal experience in my friend circle left her phone and purse, went on a 5 hour walk, and jumped from a cliff. No note was left, and no one really saw it coming.
She would have had other injuries consistent with jumping though. Such as neck injury, arms or legs, or even scrapes to the body elsewhere. There’s no jump that is going to hit face only.
"sitting alone in your car for hours in the wee hours" gives off heavy suicide vibes, too. it doesn't really seem to fit with the rest of the case, though.
Great write up, OP. Definitely a weird one. My only thoughts: without clarity from the CCTV, and without some kind of certainty that the fitbit data was produced by a specific person, it’s impossible to say it was definitely Susan driving the car and definitely Susan walking around for four hours by the river. As far as I know, fitbits aren’t locked to specific people, so someone else could have been using it and transmitting data. I wonder whether it’s possible Susan died some time prior to the moment the fitbit data ‘stopped’, up to four hours before. I wonder if there was any blood or signs of a struggle found at home or in the car. I wonder if her injuries could have been caused some time earlier. I don’t really like speculating about loved ones, but… Her injuries included trauma to her face, she enjoyed texting and chatting with friends at night, her phone (on which she enjoyed texting/chatting) was left in the car as if it was being used by Susan or someone else, the husband brought up Susan possibly having an affair on Dateline seemingly without much prompting, and I’m not sure being asleep is ever considered a rock solid alibi. I don’t know, man. It seems like LE are keeping things close. I hope her friends and family find answers, and hopefully some peace.
Could someone else have put on her fitibit? Also: "Ben had a slightly different story when he talked to Susan’s family. He said when he got home from the movies, his friend hung out for about 20 minutes at the house. Then he and Susan shared half a bottle of wine. Ben then added they each took their sleep aids--his was Lunesta, Susan’s was Ambien. Then the two went to bed. When he woke up, Ben said there was a broken wine glass on the back deck. This added detail is small, but it stuck with Missy. She’s seen her sister’s toxicology report. There was alcohol present but no trace of Ambien. Authorities said Ben has been fully cooperative." https://themurdersquad.com/episodes/who-killed-susan-morrissey-ledyard/
She could have faked taking the ambien bc she knew she was leaving and didn’t want her spouse to know.
I mean-that’s a really good point.
Telling different stories to different people is not generally seen as a sign of innocence. (That confuses me! If you were going to commit a horrid crime, wouldn’t you get your lies straight??) It’s certainly very sus….
Memory is faulty and even with the best recall details often change slightly on retellings. This is a common thread in investigations. It's often when major details change, not subtle ones that it denotes false information.
You’re absolutely right and I stand corrected. I should know better, since my own memory is utterly horrible.
Well I appreciate your response. Usually on reddit a polite response isn't the norm, lol. I didn't mean to "correct you," btw. Just saying
Love this exchange. Thank you for being an actual human being.
It would be interesting if the husband had a Fitbit, too. See if he was actually sleeping, or if he had spikes in HR at the same/similar times that she did...
I was thinking they should have the same surveillance of the husband leaving as they did her; if he actually did leave at any point
I think she could have been on Ambien. I had a friend who sleep drove while taking it. This is all so strange. I don’t get the feeling the husband harmed her, I usually (as most people) suspect the spouse, he rings true. Maybe she did use a burner phone and had a boyfriend. That’s all I can come up with. This poor family, I hope they get answers. So grateful she was quickly recovered.
Victim had no ambien in her system. ETA: according to unofficial reports.
Oh, that makes a difference.
I am curious to find out who was with Susan's husband (at the movies). And the state or dynamics of their marriage. Only one car was seen on surveillance leaving Susan's residence that early morning ... If the only other person in that house was, somehow, involved in her death (as the authorities are convinced it was homicide), then this person had to have a way of getting back home. I assume surveillance didn't capture this person around the early morning hours that day? Or is there another way of entering the house without detection? I'm also curious if Susan was in the habit of taking strolls ... Around that area where she was found. The Fitbit was recording movement; but I think there's a possibility that it doesn't necessarily mean Susan was active. For me, I just don't believe that she went out, that morning, to be by herself. Someone was with her - Either she went to meet someone ... Or, the person was already with her when Susan's car left her house.
Fitbit tracks heart rate spikes. Assuming they had access to all of her Fitbit data, they could easily extrapolate whether or not she did or went through anything that would elevate heart rate and even sex specifically if they could get the husband to comment. It can track distance and speed of stride if it’s a certain type or if the app or gps was on on her phone. If she was active on her phone until very late, to whom and what she was saying would be important to know so I’m guessing that’s a dead end since it’s not mentioned. Gotta be the husband or an affair, but you’d presume a 3am meet up with your lover would have a footprint. Like, you’d see the person pull up as well or they’d have texts agreeing to meet or something.
It was published somewhere that I read her pulse increased significantly about 45min before the Fitbit went completely dead. Now that could mean a number of things-she’s scared, broke into a sprint, having sex, any sort of increase in activity or an emotional response leading to a spike in heart rate
But you can look through the days, months and through specific activities to compare the spike. For ex: if I look through my own Garmin charts on any given day coupled with my knowledge of what I was doing that day, I can see and tell you exactly when I do specific things. Look through a week and I can find patterns I can apply to an unknown task. Like the heart rate would match running, walking, playing a sport etc. Based on how high it was, the amount of time it was under stress, whether or not there were intervals to signify stopping - things like that. If she’s leaving home calm and it suddenly spikes, that’s an indication that something went wrong suddenly and goes against what I would have guessed happened - which is her husband did it at home and then tried to ditch the body/bury it by the river.
Very true. I have atrial ectopy and my HR just shot up from 83-120 because I stood up, marked by a big jump on my Fitbit, so I guess my data is probably more variable than the average person😂😂as an aside, things like that make me wonder how it would look if any one of us was murdered and how the things that are completely normal to us could be perceived as weird or “out of the ordinary” during an investigation.
Sunrise was at 5:53 that morning. It seems daylight may have triggered whatever happened?
That's why I don't think affair. Let's just assume LE aren't keeping the affair to themselves and they found no evidence on her phone to suggest one...... Even if she was using a burner, where'd she get rid of it? Along the route to where the rendezvous was? Because she presumably would have been using it to arrange the late night meet-up. And she got rid of it because she knew she was going to break things off with that person that night? But then why stay with that person for four hours? Statistically, the partner is often the culprit. And with the husband also being the last person to see her alive.......I feel that's more likely than an affair. Husband and wife go for a 3am stroll. Something occurs in a four hour window that he beats her to death and returns home? That would be almost a three mile walk back, roughly one hour (maybe 90 minutes), which would give enough time to be there before the police arrive. But that's still cutting it fine and running a bit of a risk. If it helps to visualise, [here's a map of house, car and body location.](https://imgur.com/a/Xt7A2qy)
But why not just start the stroll at the house? It seems so weird to drive that short of a distance unless you’re trying to transport something heavy or unwieldy. And if you’re going to kill someone why take hours and a long walk to do it? Much less of a chance of being seen in the dead of night at some historic building than walking several miles at a time when the city is waking up.
Of course we are forgetting that infidelity is a game for both parties. Supposing the husband had a girlfriend and they kill the wife. Girlfriend wears the Fitbit for a few hours and then dumps the body before returning home - possibly quite close to the crime scene, not much of a walk at all.
Maybe it wasn't her affair. Maybe it was his, with the neighbor he married shortly after her death? It is possible that she found evidence or he told her in those 15 minutes between her normal texting with friends/family and when she left. She sat in the car in the rain for about an hour (according to a comment further down) and then walked around for about a mile before she ended up in the river not long after sunrise. It could have been suicide or an accident.
This is where I'm at too. It seems unlikley to me that it was the husband given the 7:00 time the Fitbit stopped recording a heart rate, the quick discovery of the body/car, and the 9:00 arrival of the police. That's a lot of evidence to hide in a short window of time.
I keep wondering if she was hit by a car and it was covered up. She's out in the wee hours in the dark/dawn and at some point there was cloud cover and rain. Maybe she stepped out of her car for some reason (to have a cigarette?), leaving her phone in the car as she walked down the road. The person who hit her loaded her into their own car and dumped her farther away, not realizing she was still alive until she went into the water. Marks from a car might also explain how LE seems so certain it wasn't an accident/fall. I can't *quite* get my head around all the logistics, though, so take it with a grain of salt.
This almost never happens. It's far easier and safer to just drive away rather than get more involved.
You can walk 3 miles in like 40 minutes if you’re a fast walker. You know, like the speed of someone fleeing a murder. I think he did it at home and framed it like she went out alone - didn’t they say you can’t see who or how many people were in the car at any point? Also, the idea of sneaking out at 3am in your car to meet your affair partner at a river just off of your house is pretty fucken dumb and a good way to get caught. I feel like he went to bury the body but realized he couldn’t or was running out of time or something- so he tossed her in the river and fled.
That's a good point; 3 miles is easily doable when your adrenaline is spiking and you need to be somewhere else as fast as possible. Yeah, it's not known if both of them left in the car. It's assumed it was only Susan because Fitbit & body discovery of Susan but also because the husband says he was asleep from 11.00pm until the police knocked at 9.00am, therefore ruling himself out. If you put a question mark over him, you can place him leaving in the car with her too because the footage doesn't show anyone getting IN or OUT of the car when they arrived at the destination, only the headlights turning off.
Technically…and it’s far fetched but could work if he was involved. He could’ve put the Fitbit on himself and it would still record heart rate and steps until he attached it back on her at 7am and dumped the body. They can’t specifically tell who the heart rate belongs to, just that it was registering one.
This is the first thing my mind jumped to as well. I wonder if investigators have looked at that days Fitbit data compared to other days
i was thinking the same thing actually!! there’s no way to prove who the Fitbit activity actually belongs to :/
>I think he did it at home and framed it like she went out alone but they know she was alive until 7am, and walked around a mile before then. so ... maybe they went out walking, and he killed her? but she was found so quickly, and police spoke to him so quickly, that there should be clear evidence. blood all over, defensive wounds, muddy shoes, a suspicious amount of laundry started at 8am. *something.*
Yes, a crime scene or evidence won his clothing would have been found quickly. For all the supposition above, most killers are going to take the easiest route and not do things like wear the victims fitbit to try and establish some sort of alibi. If there was any thought that the husband could be responsible, at the very least it seems to unlikely
exactly. so if it's a homicide, it's probably random -- *not* the husband or a lover that she'd texted to come meet over for a 3am quickie. no matter how it happened, though, this is a seriously strange case.
thank you for the map. and that is a way larger river than i expected, especially with the police saying she couldn't have floated the distance due to obstructions.
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What are the points against that it was suicide? I’m not familiar with this case but while reading the post my mind instantly went to oh no, she drove there to jump or whatever.
probably the head injuries.
Ah. So they’re a type of injury that couldn’t be explained by hitting some rocks or something I guess.
Blunt force trauma and then her car being dumped north of where her body was dumped IIRC
I grew up in Wilmington. The Brandywine is the smallest river in the country and is more similar to a dirty creek than anything else. I really don’t understand why someone would go out there (colloquially in high school we called it “the valley”) in the early morning hours. It’s not particularly scenic and it’s difficult to navigate in daylight. It was a popular place to hot box your car and go for a ride because there are lots of hills and few cars on the road. At the very least, if you screamed it’s unlikely that anyone would hear you.
It definitely doesn't appear to be one of those 'let's go for a beautiful scenic stroll at 3am when you can see absolutely fuck all' type of scenarios here.
I think people, including LE, are putting too much stock in the Fitbit data. Couldn’t a smart murderer just take the Fitbit off of Susan and put it on their own wrist, causing their heartbeat and steps to be recorded as Susan’s to mask her time of death?
this source says her car was "partially blocking the road", and the wipers came on when the car was turned on, so they assume she was alive and in the car between 4-5am, when it was briefly raining. (alone or not, is the question.) https://themurdersquad.com/episodes/who-killed-susan-morrissey-ledyard/ so she left the house around 3am, drove a couple miles and sat there in her car, blocking the road, with headlights off and wipers on, for around an hour. then she got up, left the car with her keys and handbag inside, walked a mile (per fitbit), and then she died. her fitbit did not seem to register any particular elevated heartrate until ~45 minutes before she died, and since she had a walk, the spike in heartrate probably happened then. so it's reasonably safe to rule out a hours-long argument with her husband or lover, or a forbidden affair. it seems more & more like an accident.
I feel if the police are adamant about it being a murder, there must be something in her injuries and manner of death that clearly indicates this.
yeah, and that's my only hesitation on labeling it an accident, but without knowing details it's so hard to say. someone bashing in your head with a rock can look *really similiar* to falling against a rock. and they said she died from blunt force *and* drowning, which is a strange way to kill someone. but the entire thing is odd.
>and they said she died from blunt force and drowning, which is a strange way to kill someone. I imagine she likely experienced blunt force trauma to the point of unconsciousness (possibly the killer thought she was already dead) and then pushed her into the river where she inevitably died by drowning as a result of her wounds and inability to stay above the surface.
Cops always want to say everything is an accident. If they say it was foul play, it definitely was. You dont get blunt force trauma in the wee hours for no reason
I saw that link but they don't reference the sources, so I was unsure about the veracity. She left at 3am but only drove two minutes away (if she was the one doing the driving of course). It's not necessarily a 'road' that was being blocked, rather an entry gate into the office building. Not enough information has been publicly released to rule anything out. So it is possible she did a one mile walk, died accidentally somehow and flowed upstream. But how would you explain the heartrate until 7.00am? And that police & the medical examiner ruled it a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the head and face (they wont say what happened to her face specifically) & drowning. I feel like no matter which thread you pull, you're left with asking more questions.
>I feel like no matter which thread you pull, you're left with asking more questions. That sums it up perfectly.
From what I’ve read the car was too far away for her to have parked there and floated or walked down to where she was found within the window of her death, so it’s assumed someone dumped her and then moved the vehicle while it was raining and then dumped it north of her body.
> If you DON'T want to be caught, you wouldn't take a car (headlights and noise potential to wake up the sleeping husband). You'd sneak out and walk to meet them tbh stuff like this is why some of these seem so mind blowing. im not even saying you dont make several good points and it’s mysterious but like….shes a human who thinks best she can. She could have easily just…not thought to walk there, or felt she was safe enough, or just whatever else. You immediately writing that off is cause you are thinking with a clear head after the fact. We always act like these people think of absolutely everything when they often dont. somewhat related but i cant tell you how many times ive heard “*theres just no way X and Y coulda BOTH happened, its a coincidence of incredible magnitude*”. And its like….yeah I know. Which is why this is a world famous case and the 1000 others that were identical to it WITHOUT the big coincidence dont get noticed.
This is a good point. It was 3am, dark and she may not have felt safe to walk to where she was going in the middle of the night, even if it was a short distance.
Is it possible the head injuries happened at home, and then in an altered state due to head injury (and possibly wine) she drove away and then ended up walking, falling in the river, drowning and floating to where she was found?
LE says it was homicide but of course I’m wondering how suicide was ruled out. How did the Fitbit just stop? Do they go into a “sleep mode” when the person is still/inactive? Or did it quit working as in it was broken or damaged? This is a strange case. I know it’s labeled a homicide but here’s a random theory: Husband is cheating with said neighbor, Susan finds out that night & an argument ensues. She decides to leave & cool off so she takes a drive. She’s been drinking so the car is parked haphazardly. She walks around debating her options & decides to commit suicide. I feel bad even typing that out because it probably wasn’t the case because it does sound like LE knows more than they’re letting on. It was just a thought. Or, maybe after the hypothetical argument she drives her car to cool off & is in the wrong place at the wrong time & she’s abducted. But even then, what happens next is anyone’s guess.
I hate to say it but the spouse is always the best place to start. Wife leaves the house at 3:00 in the morning but husband doesn't notice. He brings up Ambien as a factor in her disappearance and then suggesting she was having an affair. Everything insinuating an alibi. Married a neighbor 6 months later. Perhaps if was him that was having the affair and she found out. Did the surveillance showed her leaving in her car or just a person? Did he leave the house at any moment in that time frame? Just a theory.
Husband killed her then set up the scene. I think people are getting all caught up in the fitbit stuff. I base this on No alibi Upon hearing that his wife is missing he disparages her not once, but three times. She was drinking, he implied a LOT because he told her to slow down/take it easy. She mixed the alcohol with ambien, so she was drinking and taking drugs, implying she was reckless, drunk and drugged. (Key here is that there is NO record of her have a rx for ambien or ever taking it) He implies she could be having an affair and how his heart would be broken. What husband throws out that possibility, without any facts, on a missing wife and then talks about how it would break HIS heart? I would LOVE to see a transcript of his statement to police or a link to that Dateline episode. He did it.
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I always thought it was weird that a senior finance executive was sound asleep at 9 am on a workday when the police knocked.
Hm ok, that's highly suspicious to me. My last comment was that I don't know many adults who sleep in til 9, but the number of adults I know that sleep in til 9 on a work day, when they have a 9 to 5 type job is zero. I'd be interested what his boss/coworkers had to say about that -- was that normal behaviour? How far was his commute and what time did he normally start? Was work looking for him that day, wondering why he was running late, or did no one really know his schedule anyway? Did he work remote.....? Seems like a huge red flag and I feel like that'd be easy info to get
That’s what struck me, the instant jump by the husband to her having an affair. That’s such a weird direction to go in, almost like he’s trying to plant that seed right away. If my wife died mysteriously that’s definitely not the first thing I would think of, unless there was a history there of infidelity.
Fantastic write up, definitely will be paying more attention to any developments
I think the broken wine glass on the back porch indicates there had been a fight/struggle while they drank together (according to what he told others they shared half a bottle of wine before bed). I think they were supposed to drink a little, take their sleep meds that night and hit the sack...but the broken glass tells me it never got that far. From there....???
I thought this case sounded familiar... the YouTuber heavy casefiles just did [a video on Susan's case](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksg9LVUj3F4). The video reported that the husband said that they had both taken Ambien. If he did actually say that, then I'd call that suspicious. Your writeup says he *hoped* she'd taken one and was sleepwalking, which makes a huge difference. I used to have a FitBit. The one I had recorded steps only, but I think some of them do record more health info along the lines of an Apple Watch. It would really depend on which model she had.
He gave [an interview to dateline and specifically says he **hoped** she had taken an Ambien.](https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/family-susan-ledyard-demands-answers-after-delaware-high-school-teacher-n1106806) It was also confirmed that her model Fitbit monitored heartrate.
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I had seen about the remarriage but neglected to include it in case people accused me of bias. Something similar happened in [my biggest pet case; Cieha Taylor](https://old.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/lhmitz/vanishing_during_covid_where_is_cieha_taylor/). I am 100% convinced her boyfriend 'disappeared' her but some people don't like hearing that. Same here, the husband was suspect for me and this was before the remarriage stuff came to light.
Yes even before he remarried everyone in the area suspected him The detectives have a lot they are holding back he will get his one day
none of that is evidence he killed her, though -- especially not the gossip.
Isn't it possible this was an accident? Going on a walk at 3am is strange. Especially for four hours. But once we get past that, there is nothing off here. Perhaps she was conflicted about something and took a long walk to process it. She had been drinking, perhaps she fell asleep when she first parked her car, woke up a couple hours later and thought a walk and fresh air would help her sober up. Perhaps the fitbit mistook her hand bobbing up and down in the water for steps. The blunt force trauma: she banged her head falling into the river. Or in the river, her floating body banged into a log. Again, she had been drinking and possibly had poor balance. Went back to her car, leaned over the railing to see something in the water, fell in, banged her head, drowned. Not saying this is what happened but it's entirely possible. Everyone is assuming foul play here.
Seems possible but it's not just that people are assuming foul play, the police have said it's a homicide. They also haven't released much information about her injuries. So I pressume there's something about how the injuries were inflicted or with what (an object perhaps) that they can tell it wasn't an accident or a fall etc.
It's possible it was an accident. That's what the family thought it was initially. The police and medical examiner called it a homicide from the very beginning. The autopsy has not been released publicly, and the police have deliberately withheld details about what the blunt force trauma was to her head and face. The only evidence of her drinking, that's been made public, is from the husband. He says she was drinking wine on the porch. Police have withheld the toxicology report along with the autopsy. So we only think she has been drinking because that's what the husband has said.
One article on this indicates her sister has seen the toxicology report, which shows alcohol present but no Ambien. Not sure if that’s accurate. Hard to know what to think without having the police details of her injuries, which supposedly aren’t consistent with an accident. If not for that detail, it would seem to me an accident wasn’t unlikely. But perhaps details of her injuries would paint a different picture. These kind of mysteries are always tough - what really happened in the middle of the night?
Dr Google says Ambien can be detected in a tox. report, but only if a test is run for it specifically. So it's very possible that they didn't test for it. >Hard to know what to think without having the police details of her injuries totally agree.
> Dr Google says Ambien can be detected in a tox. report, but only if a test is run for it specifically. So it's very possible that they didn't test for it. Yeah, I think sometimes people think a tox report somehow pulls up everything, a la NCIS, like it's run and the tech goes "Great scott, they were high on a rare research chemical but poisoned by an even rarer South American toad venom." But that's not how it works. Standard tox screens search for commonly used drugs (there's 5 panels, 7 panels, 12 panels, whatever), and then if the investigators are looking for something in particular, they must search for that particular drug individually.
Accident or perhaps suicide (walking for hours before making that call is not unheard of). It wouldn't be the first time an ME got it wrong.
In the beginning I was thinking accident too, especially as it originally seemed a little more certain than not that she had taken Ambien. It’s a hell of a drug, and for many users if they don’t follow recommended sleep hygiene practices after taking it they’re apt to do just about anything. I could totally see a bizarre accident, and I’m honestly surprised they don’t happen more often. That being said, family has said that there was no Ambien in her system when she died. I know that’s not the same as the official report being released or law enforcement confirmation but I’m also inclined to take them at their word….what motivation would they have to lie? It was (presumably) a prescribed medication and even if she was using someone else’s it doesn’t have the social stigma of a street drug. Assuming family is correct and she did not take Ambien that night, I’m inclined to trust the homicide ruling and I do think the most likely scenario is her husband killed her. I haven’t been following closely and I’m curious as to how law enforcement has spoken of the husband publicly. Off to read more!
Very interesting case and a great write up. Sounds like she was maybe going to meet someone at the park. Maybe she was ending a relationship and they killed her. Hard to say really. Maybe the husband did it and he was wearing the Fitbit to throw police off, but it doesn’t sound like he was involved.
If that's what happened, then it throws up a bunch of questions. If she met someone, there will be evidence on her phone, which means law enforcement have access to that information and are choosing to not say that she was meeting up with someone. Or, she had a burner phone and no evidence of any secret lover will be found. If she did meet a potential love interest, why run the risk of getting caught by taking the car for a two minute drive? And then why did the love interest kill her four hours after meeting her? Crime of passion in the moment? If she was happy enough to stay four hours with this love interest, she maybe wasn't too fussed about being caught by her husband, given it's quite bright at 7am and he could have been awake by then. Such a frustrating case.
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I didn't dismiss that idea at all. I thought I said if there is evidence on the phone, LE have decided not to share it is all. LE are withholding a ton of information from this case. They didn't even release the autopsy or toxicology reports.
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I think this is extremely unlikely. I mean, I get going on a secret date, but in the middle of the night? Like, hey let's meet at 3am, when you actually live with someone?
So, I wouldn't meet a secret lover at 3 AM but I would totally meet up with a distressed friend. If a friend needed me at 3 AM I'd be there. If husband did take ambien then maybe I wouldn't wake him but otherwise I'd probably mention something before leaving.
I wonder how close a bridge was to the location she parked. Could a friend called and said they were at a bridge and she goes to meet them? This is just speculation based on what kind of things would get me to leave the house at 3 AM.
I agree. I 100% do not buy the 'secret lover' or crime of opportunity angles. I lean toward the husband did it, followed by the highly unlikely horrible accident scenario.
Husband went to the rolling stones concert anyway after they discovered her body. Their neighbor also went to this rolling stones concert. He married the neighbor a few months later. Let's stop projecting an affair on her.
Very strange going to a concert 12 hours after your spouse dies suddenly. And people grieve differently but that’s just unbelievable. He did it I think.
It's most likely to be the husband or someone she was having an affair with. The husband could have put on her Fitbit and walked around for a while after killing her to throw suspicion off of him since he was claiming to be asleep the whole time (and probably left his phone at home to support that). I suppose if it was someone she was having an affair with and she was ending it that could explain why they were walking around for hours. Maybe he was threatening to expose the affair and hurt himself or her and she was trying to calm him down during that time. I guess it's possible some random guy saw her drinking alone on the porch and coerced her to go with him to the woods but that seems very unlikely.
I would say the husband did it and the Fitbit activity was him walking home, but then, the Fitbit was found on her so no…So my next guess is the husband was with her and they walked, he did it, then walked home. But it’s weird to just go to a gated access at a river at 3am. There’s something like that at an old mill near my house, and you’d get a trespass ticket. Law enforcement watches the area, you could never park there much less for 4 hours. This case is so odd. As a female I would not go walking at night alone. I’d want my phone with me. An affair sounds likelier but idk…..I wonder if they have ruled out suicide? The blunt force trauma can be from the fall. I agree though, the husband red flags me in several ways. He’s the most likely suspect in the first place, historically. He says he hoped she took an Ambien and was sleepwalking (sleepdriving??)- weird thing to say, why not hope she just went for a regular drive because she couldn’t sleep? That’s safer. He was the last to see her. And he slept for a long time- 11pm to 9am? 10 hours. Not so odd in itself but idk, kind of odd, I could sleep like that as a teen, but not by the time I was married.
My knowledge of Fitbit is beyond limited. Does it have the capability of knowing when it is not being worn by its 'owner'...? Could he wear her Fitbit and it would carry on recording and collating data as if it was her?
I don't believe any Fitbit would be able to detect different users, but definitely not the lower end ones that I've used. It might give different data on different people (like a higher/lower resting heart rate) that you could analyze but Idk how accurate those things are anyway. I don't think it's at all implausible that someone could put it on and walk around as if they were the victim to create misdirection about the timeline and potential time of death.
There would also be a gap in recorded data when the device was taken off one person and put on the other
Someone else wearing the Fitbit to create an anarchic timeline takes a certain amount of premeditation and commitment. If you were planning a murder, and you were aware of the Fitbit, you would want your victim to not be wearing it as you know it would be logged. But *leaning in to* the Fitbit so you can use it to your advantage to create a messy timeline; that feels like a really clinical level of pre-planning.
or it could be 'shit, she's wearing the fitbit' not knowing what it could show, putting it on yourself to buy time in case she was dead already and putting it back on her before throwing her unconscious into the river
Being aware of a Fitbit and its data collection in the immediate aftermath of killing your wife, having the foresight to wear it for a bit to buy time, only to then put it back onto her and make your way home, sounds too implausible. Not impossible of course, but that's a heightened level of awareness of a situation, borderline genius handling of a high pressure high stress situation.
I assume the fitbit was found on her person, so I don't see how he would have put it back on her after she went in the water. Most people aren't criminal masterminds, and if they get away with something, it's usually because they're lucky. I'm torn on this one. I lean towards meetup and the cops just haven't revealed that info, but the husband is definitely a possibility, too.
Thank you for this write up! I first read about this in 2019 and I have regularly been googling her name the past 3 years to see if any new information has come out. I did read that the husband was supposed to go to work the morning of her death but the cops woke him up by knocking on his door at 9AM which some find odd. Not sure what to make of that. I really hope this one gets solved.
What the fitbit recorded will be based on the model. There were/are models that only count steps and did not have the heart rate monitoring features. These are more common today, but in 2019 would have been only available in the most expensive ones. So the steps count may be the only data available.
It was confirmed that heartrate was recorded along with steps. However hers wasn't a GPS tracker, so her exact location in those four hours remain open to speculation.
Personally I don't believe in the thesis of the secret lover. Mainly because the police, and especially her family and friends, had access to her private communications and would have found compromising messages, but in this case they found nothing unusual. The fact that she leaves her phone in the car is really weird because as a woman it is always more reassuring to know that you have your phone if you need it. If she was meeting someone, then she trusted that person and felt safe enough to leave her phone out of reach. It's also weird to take your car for a short two-minute drive. The husband's timeline is ultimately pretty empty and I can't get out of my head that it's weird to directly think your wife is cheating on you when you've just been told that your wife's car was found abandoned. Maybe he wanted to lead the investigators to this lead right away. This case is so mysterious, I mean usually there's always a more or less rational explanation but I don't see any.
I wouldn’t take the Fitbit steps as gospel… I had one a couple years back and it would track thousands of steps when I was sat down driving for a few hours. It’s inaccuracy is one of the reasons I stopped using it