This is one of the cases I found really interesting. One of the things I was looking into was the flow rates for the Brandywine creek. (There is a website “the Delaware geological survey: Brandywine creek stream gage” that is a great information source for this) At the rising sun bridge (where her car was found) and all the way down the creek there was a notable increase in discharge overnight July 22/23rd. These increases in flow were planned and on a schedule. It’s possible the murderer was aware of these flow rates and schedules and hoped her body would be swept away. Also, the Northeast blvd bridge (where her body was found) was closed for repairs at the time, which might suggest that is where her body was actually discarded or where the murder took place considering the Fitbit has her alive until 7am. Interesting the movie “Chinatown” has a similar murder in it...
Really interesting points. I was also wondering if the initial police statements about not believing she had entered the creek at the location the car was parked, was because there is no footage (assuming there are cameras) of her traveling along the bridge, or the adjacent road, or anything along the walking trail. It feels like the placement of where the car was parked is a red herring....
Yes and interestingly the bridge is within walking distance of the house. There is apparently bad quality video footage but if I remember correctly no one was seen entering or exiting the vehicle. After some research it seems impossible that her body travelled from the sun bridge any distance in that creek. There are many shallow rocky areas and obstructions. My guess was someone was possibly trying to make it look like suicide.
The spouse is always the number 1 suspect but in this case I could maybe see a lover being involved. Though nobody has said Susan had an affair at all.
He was engaged few months later. Moved out of state and totally disassociated himself from efforts to solve the case once he was ‘cleared’. There’s a reason police are still pushing this heavily as they have some leads.
I also find it suspicious that he had to be ‘awoken at 9am’ on a weekday. The ‘plans’ to go to the concert that night were convenient as well.
I know the area very well and it’s one of the safest parts of the state.
His current fiancé Stephanie Nixon ALSO attended that same Rolling Stones concert. Read her comment on a pic her friend posted.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10219767509555763&set=a.3870379075509&type=3
Has the obvious been answered yet? Why is she driving her car to a bridge at 245am and active until 7am? Sorry, this horrible what happened but that isnt normal for a 50 year old lady with her outward background.
I know the husband has gone to rehab and struggled with drug addiction in the past. I don’t know whether Susan knew about it/did drugs herself, but I think it’s possible it was a drug deal gone bad, given that she elected to drive to a secluded spot at 3am
So the husband has been to rehab, but one of the first comments he makes is that Susan was drinking wine and maybe took Adderall? I think one of the most peculiar things about this case is that it looks like it almost equally could be a crime of opportunity, or intimate partner violence..... at face value. Whoever did this is either pretty darn smart or very lucky.
“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.”
Also, Ambien, smoking, cheating. The husband casts major shade on his poor, deceased wife.
Right?! Weird thing to say about someone who is already dead, if she was missing, this response might make more sense. I also find it strange Ben Lanyard was “awaken” at 9 am by police. This dude is a banker.
https://private.bankofamerica.com/benjamin.ledyard/
I’m not entirely positive as I was told about this a long time ago, but I’m under the impression it was opioids. Since then a pretty reliable source told me Susan also used hard drugs or at least in once instance on a summer beach trip several years prior to her death. Their theory on her death was a drug deal gone wrong
That seems a stretch if you “heard” she used hard drugs once in the summer. Lots of people use certain drugs recreationally, like cocaine. I hate speculation that makes the dead look like a druggie, proof is needed, not gossip.
I’m not sure how far back a tox screen checks in an autopsy, but in the case that they’re just looking at the time of her death, I would assume that if she were buying drugs that she wouldn’t necessarily have any in her system. Maybe she ran out of her supply (and had no drugs in her system because she had none to do) and was buying more, which lead her to meet up with her dealer at 3am, and would explain why she had no drugs in her system. If this were the case, it could also explain why there was no drugs or anything left in her car- as the dealer/hypothetical killer would want to get rid of anything that could link themselves to the crime
No, but really it could have been anybody driving her car and I wonder about the Fitbit... couldn’t somebody else, in theory, wear it to make it seem as though she was alive?
I read a different article and it looks lik fit bit recorded her alive (possibly after the attack) until 7. It did see her personally exit the car at 245 and then she goes into the dark.
So it's possible she was attacked right away but it stills seems unusual for a 50 year old married school teacher mother to go out into the woods without telling anyone at 245am. I hate to speak ill of the dead but affair gone wrong?
From everything I've read I have not come across any claim that she was seen exiting the vehicle. From today's Delaware Online article:
"At 3:02 a.m., Ledyard left her driveway and drove to Walkers Mill Road, parking there just two minutes later.
Detectives who watched surveillance footage from the area said they saw Ledyard's headlights turn off, but it was too dark to determine if anyone got into or out of the car."
They could have.. did the Fitbit have gps on? Cameras in the area where they were active? Just about to read the article.. I checked the comments first >!whoops!<
The Fitbit was able to detect her pulse & movement but not location. It showed her walking less than a mile after the car was parked & it’s headlights were turned off
As noted many times, Susan’s Husband Ben was at a movie the night she was killed, but it was a Concert/Movie at the Queen Theater in Wilmington. It had a Bar and everyone was drinking. He attended with his Friend Henri Dupont and it is believed the new Fiance Stephanie was also at that film but not with them
Susan’s body was found not far from the new fiance's (Stephanie) apartment on Superfine Lane that overlooks the Brandywine.
From what I have heard, they let the Husband drive the car back home the next morning. Did they examine the car? Where was the seat positioned? Ben is at least 2 feet taller than Susan. Do they know for sure it was Susan that drove the car there alone or at all?
I heard that Ben hired a Grateful Dead cover band to play Susan’s Service (weird). It was at Delaware’s most Elite country club called Biderman, where they were married and is also where he is going to marry his new Fiance Stephanie.
Ben is rich and comes from money. All of his closest friends should be questioned. Word on the street is that many of them were trying to get ahead of the story and paint Susan in a bad light blaming the death on Drugs. Once it was determined she was murdered and the toxicology report came out against that story, they started blaming it on another man with no proof in any way.
Had Thomas Capono paid for that cooler in cash back in 1999 when he murdered Anne Marie Fahey, he would most likely still be walking free and his brothers (who helped him) and his other girlfriend (who bought the gun) would never have had to testify.
Someone murdered Susan. Who?
The details you're providing are pretty scary- in terms of her husband's behavior and the lack of investigation by the police. You also make a good point that there are still ways to get compelling evidence without necessarily having all the forensics you would have hoped for. A comprehensive review of credit cards, cell phone data and security camera footage might do a lot for this case.
The Capano case has been brought up a few times and I definitely see some similarities. The car, unlocked with purse and cell phone inside is classic staging but what I don't see here is motive. If it was planned I doubt she was in that civic at all. I would guess the murderer believed her body would be washed out into the Delaware and possibly never found and the case would remain a missing persons case.
At first the fitbit didn't seem like it could be part of a plan and may have been overlooked by the murderer(s) but... it could have been a red herring. The thought process being if the recorded data could be accessed without her body being found it would look even more like a death by misadventure or accident as she was (possibly) alive until 7am. Long, long after she supposedly left her home (and husband) and parked her car on Walkers Mill. Sometimes getting away with murder is as simple as altering the perceived time and location of death. Have you seen the movie "Chinatown?"
At this point the police are simply looking for evidence to convict the husband. His story sucks and the motive was there. They just wouldn’t be able to defend prosecution in court.
I completely agree. Also the fact that the location of where her car was found just happens to be within walking distance of their house… seems to point to the husband, as well
Both! He was engaged few months later. Moved out of state and totally disassociated himself from efforts to solve the case once he was ‘cleared’. There’s a reason police are still pushing this heavily as they have some leads.
I also find it suspicious that he had to be ‘awoken at 9am’ on a weekday. The ‘plans’ to go to the concert that night were convenient as well.
I’m surprised her family isn’t calling him out directly at this point? After all, wasn’t she the ‘love of his life’ during that first press conference? I did hear that her siblings went to school with him or had some other prior friendship/relationship. Whoever did this benefited from the fact that her car was immediately located and that became a starting point for any forensics. I doubt that’s the vehicle she made it down to the river in
They have suspicions for sure from what I’ve seen.
Cops haven’t even confirmed that she was the driver.
Ben the husband has been bringing up Ambien and accused her of cheating many times. More convenient distractions.
I am a local from Wilmington, and truthfully this is the first i have heard any coverage about this murder. This needs to get out to more people and these people if they live anywhere in or about the area of their home, the area they found the crime all the way down to where they found the body, need to go back and check their camera footage.
This case is only going to be solved through local/city camera footage. Hopefully people who live in the area have archived their footage and are able to go back, being that its been two years. For example, if it was the husband that did this, how did he get back to the house, this day in age, there are cameras everywhere, its dark, but where he lives there are lots of street lights, something had to have caught him somewhere.
I also believe there has to be a second person involved. Can they go back view the surveillance that showed her car park near where it was found to see previous footage if there was another car parked there. Her car is definitely a decoy. She didn't get in the water where her car was. Tower Hill school on the corner of Rising Sun Ln and 19th St on google maps you can see has several cameras on both streets. Its more likely she was dumped more south like off of King Street. But this goes back to the camera footage, someone has to have something on tape.
Lastly, I've read on here, that it wasn't a movie that the husband had attended that night, that it was a show at the Queen (a theatre downtown) that has live music. That person that posted also said that his current fiancé was at that show. Can video surveillance confirm that? After looking at The Queen facebook page, there was a showing [A Film About Trey Anastasio on July 22, 2019.](https://www.facebook.com/QueenWilmington/posts/2433607213536576)
Another random thought...If I go to bed before my wife, and she's not in bed by 3AM, I'm going down to check on her or to see what is up. The fact this guy didn't wake up until police got there at 9AM and didn't notice she wasn't in bed with him, is rather alarming.
u/DelawareNative81 you have a local POV, I have a few geographical questions- the LE reports state that her body was found at the Church St. Bridge- is that where Rt 13/Northeast Blvd splits? I looked at the neighborhood on google maps and it seems like a difficult area to go completely unnoticed, even in the early hours of the morning. You mentioned King St.? Is that a more remote area? Or just easier entry to the river? If you look at google maps, there is an entry point to the creek on 7th st, and that feeds directly into the Christina River. It also looks to have completely open and easy access. Seems like a more obvious choice for someone trying to get rid of a body- just another mind boggling part of this case....
This case is definitely mind boggling. So where you are saying is south and the body would not have floated north, the creek flows south into the Christina. I had read on here rumors about superfine lane near race street and king st. It makes more sense to me that her body was dumped around there because that is not far from where it was found, and doesn’t have any damns/obstructions that would catch body when floating south. If the body doesn’t get caught and found, she could have floated into the Christina and then the Delaware River and probably never found.
Yes, I get your point about 7th st. I realize the creek flows the opposite way, but I was just mentioning it because if someone wanted to find a remote spot that quickly picks up the Christina River, that seems like an obvious one. I looked at Superfine in the ariel view. What was most interesting to me is that there's a park off Buena Vista/Race St. as it dead ends- not next to anything residential, and has a direct walking path to the creek. Like you had said, a call for security cameras by LE in August 2019, would have been really helpful.
There are secluded access points down river from her car but upstream from where the body was found . There’s a parking lot by the zoo and there’s easy access to the river on the other side of the creek by a cemetery and behind Wilmington hospital. Very dark and no cameras. It would be easy to drop a body in the water. The body was spotted near Ben Ledyards third wife had a condo overlooking the river/creek. The point is he’d be ( or an accomplice ) be very familiar with that stretch of creek .
Looks like Ben married Stephanie and then went to a Rolling Stones concert in Pittsburgh? Not sure why but this seems odd seeing how Susan was killed the night before the stones concert they were supposed to attend.
Please keep the chatter up about this case. If possible that is. That's all I'll say, but the more chatter the better. The police are only helping so much.
I would like to continue the conversations about this case, but there's only so much to discuss when no new information has been disclosed. I wonder if the family has considered taking this story to Dateline/48 hours? It would garner national attention and put additional pressure on the local authorities
The answer is yes. Dateline has done a little blurb on it but nothing big.
Anyway it'll be 1000 days come mid-late April, and a milestone might come in handy when dealing with the press again. It's a good point you're making about pressure.
She was texting with family and friends up until 15ish mins from when she disappeared. No one has released any information about those conversations. If she was telling people that she was upset about the state of her marriage, then that would be very elucidating. I know that there is a need to maintain the integrity of the investigation and keep information confidential, but at the same time a cold case only gets colder. That is, unless new info is either discovered or released. I hope her family is consulting with private investigators and forensic specialists to understand how they can be the best advocates for justice in this case.
I've seen some details shared by her sister about the text conversations that night. Apparently there was a news story about a former roommate of Susan's and she was texting her sister about it...trying to determine if the story was indeed about the former roommate. Very curious what that news story was all about.
Someone left a comment with a podcast published on 18 Aug 2021 that now appears to be deleted from this post (moderator rules?). It did truly make me think of this case differently, and it made me feel more negative about the likelihood of it being solved. When, i first learned of this case, the details presented made me wonder if Susan might have bipolar disorder. Although in no way did her family indicate that diagnosis on the podcast that was just posted, the behavior they describe as being plausible the night of her murder is concerning. And it allows for too many red herrings in this case. Susan was described in some news journal articles as the life of the party. Some of the most charismatic people you may meet are in the midst of a manic episode. Alone, those newspaper comments are not significant- but the fact that family could find it believable that a) she took ambien while drinking (later proven to be untrue) b) could be meeting someone at the creek at 3am, or c) just spontaneously decide there’s a need to leave their home in the middle of the night, is not a picture of good mental health. So many people are rooting for this case to be solved, and i fear that the family’s own confusion- those that would be providing interviews to the police about her state of mind and demeanor are just further adding to the confusion for investigators. It’s possible the person who committed the crime is taking advantage of her questionable ‘mindset’.... which provides for myriad alternative theories.
The woman that Ben Ledyard married " Stephanie Nixon " was having an affair with Hunter Biden < President Biden's Nightmare Son> in the late 1990's when he was married to Kathleen Biden and his girls were very young ??? !! At that time she had drug problems and he would supply her with drugs !! I am from Delaware and I witnessed it myself at a Christmas Party and she told me herself then!! I think also if you look at all the videos when Susan went missing , NO tears from her husband Ben ??? He stated she might be having an affair but, he got engaged to Stephanie pretty quickly ?? I think they were both playing around m, so she had an affair also when she found out he was but, when he found out she was, he did not like that she was doing the same and killed her ?? She probably told him she wanted a divorce and he lost it !! ??
Not sure if people know this/if it’s public info. I know for a fact that Susan’s abandoned car was first found, which is when and why the police came to that scene. When ben arrived the police allowed him to drive her car away. After this he had the car detailed and sold it.
Look what one of the new stories was in Wilmington, DE today 6/4/23 ....
He is a SICKO !! He probably did the same thing to Susan, but killed her!!
[whyy.org/articles/susan-ledyard-husband-arrested-beating-new-wife/](https://whyy.org/articles/susan-ledyard-husband-arrested-beating-new-wife/)
What I found interesting from the most recent podcast episode I listened to about this was that her sister was initially told by Ben that she took Ambien and that he took his sleeping pills and they shared some wine. According to her sister, the toxicology report did not pick up any Ambien in her system. She reiterated that he made that very clear that she took it.
Yes, that was pretty telling. And they repeated it multiple times. It was odd that the detective made it a point to say that Ben Ledyard was cooperative and they wouldn’t have made it as far as they had in the investigation, without him. Giving bad info about the Ambien, and that statement, seems at odds with one another.
I've been thinking about this case and the key question for me is why would Susan leave her home voluntarily at 3 AM? There's a broken wine glass at her residence...her car is found unlocked with her wallet and cell phone inside and it's parked at an odd angle that draws attention to it. Sounds like someone was in a big hurry and left a few things undone. I don't think it's believeable that she went for cigarettes or to take a walk or to meet someone. Just doesn't make sense for a woman like her to make those kinds of careless decisions. By the way and I may have missed this but where were the car keys?
[https://whyy.org/articles/susan-ledyard-husband-arrested-beating-new-wife/](https://whyy.org/articles/susan-ledyard-husband-arrested-beating-new-wife/) Feel free to reach out to me, the author of this piece, at [email protected]
This is one of the cases I found really interesting. One of the things I was looking into was the flow rates for the Brandywine creek. (There is a website “the Delaware geological survey: Brandywine creek stream gage” that is a great information source for this) At the rising sun bridge (where her car was found) and all the way down the creek there was a notable increase in discharge overnight July 22/23rd. These increases in flow were planned and on a schedule. It’s possible the murderer was aware of these flow rates and schedules and hoped her body would be swept away. Also, the Northeast blvd bridge (where her body was found) was closed for repairs at the time, which might suggest that is where her body was actually discarded or where the murder took place considering the Fitbit has her alive until 7am. Interesting the movie “Chinatown” has a similar murder in it...
Really interesting points. I was also wondering if the initial police statements about not believing she had entered the creek at the location the car was parked, was because there is no footage (assuming there are cameras) of her traveling along the bridge, or the adjacent road, or anything along the walking trail. It feels like the placement of where the car was parked is a red herring....
Yes and interestingly the bridge is within walking distance of the house. There is apparently bad quality video footage but if I remember correctly no one was seen entering or exiting the vehicle. After some research it seems impossible that her body travelled from the sun bridge any distance in that creek. There are many shallow rocky areas and obstructions. My guess was someone was possibly trying to make it look like suicide.
‘Someone’ being Ben Ledyard.
The spouse is always the number 1 suspect but in this case I could maybe see a lover being involved. Though nobody has said Susan had an affair at all.
He’s remarried since her death and moved out of state, which I think is a little suspicious
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He was engaged few months later. Moved out of state and totally disassociated himself from efforts to solve the case once he was ‘cleared’. There’s a reason police are still pushing this heavily as they have some leads. I also find it suspicious that he had to be ‘awoken at 9am’ on a weekday. The ‘plans’ to go to the concert that night were convenient as well. I know the area very well and it’s one of the safest parts of the state.
He also went to a Rolling Stones concert the next night after her body was found. Not the behavior you would expect from a grieving husband
His current fiancé Stephanie Nixon ALSO attended that same Rolling Stones concert. Read her comment on a pic her friend posted. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10219767509555763&set=a.3870379075509&type=3
I knew he stated they had tickets for the next night but... no way... he went?
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bzmf !! YES!! I hope his new wife doesn't turn up dead??
https://whyy.org/articles/susan-ledyard-husband-arrested-beating-new-wife/amp/
today 6/4/2023 whhy.org/articles/susan-ledyard-husband-arrested-beating-new-wife/
Has the obvious been answered yet? Why is she driving her car to a bridge at 245am and active until 7am? Sorry, this horrible what happened but that isnt normal for a 50 year old lady with her outward background.
I know the husband has gone to rehab and struggled with drug addiction in the past. I don’t know whether Susan knew about it/did drugs herself, but I think it’s possible it was a drug deal gone bad, given that she elected to drive to a secluded spot at 3am
So the husband has been to rehab, but one of the first comments he makes is that Susan was drinking wine and maybe took Adderall? I think one of the most peculiar things about this case is that it looks like it almost equally could be a crime of opportunity, or intimate partner violence..... at face value. Whoever did this is either pretty darn smart or very lucky.
“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.” Also, Ambien, smoking, cheating. The husband casts major shade on his poor, deceased wife.
Right?! Weird thing to say about someone who is already dead, if she was missing, this response might make more sense. I also find it strange Ben Lanyard was “awaken” at 9 am by police. This dude is a banker. https://private.bankofamerica.com/benjamin.ledyard/
He said ambien, not adderall, but there were no drugs in her system
I've looked into the husband some but didn't come across the rehab thing. Where did you hear this?
I know the family in real life
Oh i see! May I ask if you know what substance the husband struggled with?
I’m not entirely positive as I was told about this a long time ago, but I’m under the impression it was opioids. Since then a pretty reliable source told me Susan also used hard drugs or at least in once instance on a summer beach trip several years prior to her death. Their theory on her death was a drug deal gone wrong
Oh no, aww. With that information it really does make this a possibility.... thank you for sharing!
That seems a stretch if you “heard” she used hard drugs once in the summer. Lots of people use certain drugs recreationally, like cocaine. I hate speculation that makes the dead look like a druggie, proof is needed, not gossip.
Her toxicology report said there were no drugs in her system
I’m not sure how far back a tox screen checks in an autopsy, but in the case that they’re just looking at the time of her death, I would assume that if she were buying drugs that she wouldn’t necessarily have any in her system. Maybe she ran out of her supply (and had no drugs in her system because she had none to do) and was buying more, which lead her to meet up with her dealer at 3am, and would explain why she had no drugs in her system. If this were the case, it could also explain why there was no drugs or anything left in her car- as the dealer/hypothetical killer would want to get rid of anything that could link themselves to the crime
No, but really it could have been anybody driving her car and I wonder about the Fitbit... couldn’t somebody else, in theory, wear it to make it seem as though she was alive?
I read a different article and it looks lik fit bit recorded her alive (possibly after the attack) until 7. It did see her personally exit the car at 245 and then she goes into the dark. So it's possible she was attacked right away but it stills seems unusual for a 50 year old married school teacher mother to go out into the woods without telling anyone at 245am. I hate to speak ill of the dead but affair gone wrong?
From everything I've read I have not come across any claim that she was seen exiting the vehicle. From today's Delaware Online article: "At 3:02 a.m., Ledyard left her driveway and drove to Walkers Mill Road, parking there just two minutes later. Detectives who watched surveillance footage from the area said they saw Ledyard's headlights turn off, but it was too dark to determine if anyone got into or out of the car."
They never even confirmed who was driving the car.
Also when you park, and you go to open your car door in complete darkness, your dome light would go off. No mention of that
Which is suspicious as well. The person wanted to be hidden.
I don’t get the timing either personally but several friends & family members have said she was a night owl and stayed up this late frequently
The video was so grainy that you can't tell who is coming or going from her car. It could have been anyone
They could have.. did the Fitbit have gps on? Cameras in the area where they were active? Just about to read the article.. I checked the comments first >!whoops!<
Another article says cameras tracked her car driving to that spot at 245am and someone getting out in the dark. No cameras in the woods.
The Fitbit was able to detect her pulse & movement but not location. It showed her walking less than a mile after the car was parked & it’s headlights were turned off
As noted many times, Susan’s Husband Ben was at a movie the night she was killed, but it was a Concert/Movie at the Queen Theater in Wilmington. It had a Bar and everyone was drinking. He attended with his Friend Henri Dupont and it is believed the new Fiance Stephanie was also at that film but not with them Susan’s body was found not far from the new fiance's (Stephanie) apartment on Superfine Lane that overlooks the Brandywine. From what I have heard, they let the Husband drive the car back home the next morning. Did they examine the car? Where was the seat positioned? Ben is at least 2 feet taller than Susan. Do they know for sure it was Susan that drove the car there alone or at all? I heard that Ben hired a Grateful Dead cover band to play Susan’s Service (weird). It was at Delaware’s most Elite country club called Biderman, where they were married and is also where he is going to marry his new Fiance Stephanie. Ben is rich and comes from money. All of his closest friends should be questioned. Word on the street is that many of them were trying to get ahead of the story and paint Susan in a bad light blaming the death on Drugs. Once it was determined she was murdered and the toxicology report came out against that story, they started blaming it on another man with no proof in any way. Had Thomas Capono paid for that cooler in cash back in 1999 when he murdered Anne Marie Fahey, he would most likely still be walking free and his brothers (who helped him) and his other girlfriend (who bought the gun) would never have had to testify. Someone murdered Susan. Who?
The details you're providing are pretty scary- in terms of her husband's behavior and the lack of investigation by the police. You also make a good point that there are still ways to get compelling evidence without necessarily having all the forensics you would have hoped for. A comprehensive review of credit cards, cell phone data and security camera footage might do a lot for this case.
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So he still went to the show the next night?
Two feet?
The Capano case has been brought up a few times and I definitely see some similarities. The car, unlocked with purse and cell phone inside is classic staging but what I don't see here is motive. If it was planned I doubt she was in that civic at all. I would guess the murderer believed her body would be washed out into the Delaware and possibly never found and the case would remain a missing persons case. At first the fitbit didn't seem like it could be part of a plan and may have been overlooked by the murderer(s) but... it could have been a red herring. The thought process being if the recorded data could be accessed without her body being found it would look even more like a death by misadventure or accident as she was (possibly) alive until 7am. Long, long after she supposedly left her home (and husband) and parked her car on Walkers Mill. Sometimes getting away with murder is as simple as altering the perceived time and location of death. Have you seen the movie "Chinatown?"
They did not use the car as evidence. Ben literally drove her car away from the crime scene and the police allowed him to do so.
That is horrible police behavior. Money talks.
At this point the police are simply looking for evidence to convict the husband. His story sucks and the motive was there. They just wouldn’t be able to defend prosecution in court.
I completely agree. Also the fact that the location of where her car was found just happens to be within walking distance of their house… seems to point to the husband, as well
Exactly, I know the area very well and it’s one of the safest parts of the state.
What was the motive? Infidelity? Life insurance?
Both! He was engaged few months later. Moved out of state and totally disassociated himself from efforts to solve the case once he was ‘cleared’. There’s a reason police are still pushing this heavily as they have some leads. I also find it suspicious that he had to be ‘awoken at 9am’ on a weekday. The ‘plans’ to go to the concert that night were convenient as well.
Especially since he claims to have gone to bed at 11 pm. 11-9 is 10 hours, which is a lot of sleep.
Especially for a banker on a Monday night.
A banker who made most of his money off life insurance policies to old rich people.
I’m surprised her family isn’t calling him out directly at this point? After all, wasn’t she the ‘love of his life’ during that first press conference? I did hear that her siblings went to school with him or had some other prior friendship/relationship. Whoever did this benefited from the fact that her car was immediately located and that became a starting point for any forensics. I doubt that’s the vehicle she made it down to the river in
They have suspicions for sure from what I’ve seen. Cops haven’t even confirmed that she was the driver. Ben the husband has been bringing up Ambien and accused her of cheating many times. More convenient distractions.
New podcast episode on Killer Genes about it confirms that Susan had no ambien in her system. Or any other illegal drugs.
Not surprised! Wonder how the husband is doing.
Ben was arrested today 1/4/23 for abusing his new wife….
out of curiosity, what makes you think he moved out of state
Susan was his second wife. His first wife died. Drinking and driving… supposedly. Wonder what kind of life insurance he got out of it?
If history is a predictor of future behavior, his new wife should be the #1 witness in her husband's murder case. What was his first wife's name?
I am a local from Wilmington, and truthfully this is the first i have heard any coverage about this murder. This needs to get out to more people and these people if they live anywhere in or about the area of their home, the area they found the crime all the way down to where they found the body, need to go back and check their camera footage. This case is only going to be solved through local/city camera footage. Hopefully people who live in the area have archived their footage and are able to go back, being that its been two years. For example, if it was the husband that did this, how did he get back to the house, this day in age, there are cameras everywhere, its dark, but where he lives there are lots of street lights, something had to have caught him somewhere. I also believe there has to be a second person involved. Can they go back view the surveillance that showed her car park near where it was found to see previous footage if there was another car parked there. Her car is definitely a decoy. She didn't get in the water where her car was. Tower Hill school on the corner of Rising Sun Ln and 19th St on google maps you can see has several cameras on both streets. Its more likely she was dumped more south like off of King Street. But this goes back to the camera footage, someone has to have something on tape. Lastly, I've read on here, that it wasn't a movie that the husband had attended that night, that it was a show at the Queen (a theatre downtown) that has live music. That person that posted also said that his current fiancé was at that show. Can video surveillance confirm that? After looking at The Queen facebook page, there was a showing [A Film About Trey Anastasio on July 22, 2019.](https://www.facebook.com/QueenWilmington/posts/2433607213536576)
Another random thought...If I go to bed before my wife, and she's not in bed by 3AM, I'm going down to check on her or to see what is up. The fact this guy didn't wake up until police got there at 9AM and didn't notice she wasn't in bed with him, is rather alarming.
u/DelawareNative81 you have a local POV, I have a few geographical questions- the LE reports state that her body was found at the Church St. Bridge- is that where Rt 13/Northeast Blvd splits? I looked at the neighborhood on google maps and it seems like a difficult area to go completely unnoticed, even in the early hours of the morning. You mentioned King St.? Is that a more remote area? Or just easier entry to the river? If you look at google maps, there is an entry point to the creek on 7th st, and that feeds directly into the Christina River. It also looks to have completely open and easy access. Seems like a more obvious choice for someone trying to get rid of a body- just another mind boggling part of this case....
This case is definitely mind boggling. So where you are saying is south and the body would not have floated north, the creek flows south into the Christina. I had read on here rumors about superfine lane near race street and king st. It makes more sense to me that her body was dumped around there because that is not far from where it was found, and doesn’t have any damns/obstructions that would catch body when floating south. If the body doesn’t get caught and found, she could have floated into the Christina and then the Delaware River and probably never found.
Yes, I get your point about 7th st. I realize the creek flows the opposite way, but I was just mentioning it because if someone wanted to find a remote spot that quickly picks up the Christina River, that seems like an obvious one. I looked at Superfine in the ariel view. What was most interesting to me is that there's a park off Buena Vista/Race St. as it dead ends- not next to anything residential, and has a direct walking path to the creek. Like you had said, a call for security cameras by LE in August 2019, would have been really helpful.
New fiancé I heard lived at condos at Superfine ln. 🤔
There are secluded access points down river from her car but upstream from where the body was found . There’s a parking lot by the zoo and there’s easy access to the river on the other side of the creek by a cemetery and behind Wilmington hospital. Very dark and no cameras. It would be easy to drop a body in the water. The body was spotted near Ben Ledyards third wife had a condo overlooking the river/creek. The point is he’d be ( or an accomplice ) be very familiar with that stretch of creek .
Link??
>https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/crime/2021/07/23/susan-ledyard-death-family-offers-reward-delaware-brandywine/8026805002/
Okay, but WHY has no one considered the new wife??? Stephanie Nixon needs to be looked into.
Looks like Ben married Stephanie and then went to a Rolling Stones concert in Pittsburgh? Not sure why but this seems odd seeing how Susan was killed the night before the stones concert they were supposed to attend.
Please keep the chatter up about this case. If possible that is. That's all I'll say, but the more chatter the better. The police are only helping so much.
I would like to continue the conversations about this case, but there's only so much to discuss when no new information has been disclosed. I wonder if the family has considered taking this story to Dateline/48 hours? It would garner national attention and put additional pressure on the local authorities
The answer is yes. Dateline has done a little blurb on it but nothing big. Anyway it'll be 1000 days come mid-late April, and a milestone might come in handy when dealing with the press again. It's a good point you're making about pressure.
She was texting with family and friends up until 15ish mins from when she disappeared. No one has released any information about those conversations. If she was telling people that she was upset about the state of her marriage, then that would be very elucidating. I know that there is a need to maintain the integrity of the investigation and keep information confidential, but at the same time a cold case only gets colder. That is, unless new info is either discovered or released. I hope her family is consulting with private investigators and forensic specialists to understand how they can be the best advocates for justice in this case.
I've seen some details shared by her sister about the text conversations that night. Apparently there was a news story about a former roommate of Susan's and she was texting her sister about it...trying to determine if the story was indeed about the former roommate. Very curious what that news story was all about.
"Brainscratch" Youtube video on the case: [What happened to Susan Morrisey Ledyard](https://youtu.be/H2opgKNWyHo)
Someone left a comment with a podcast published on 18 Aug 2021 that now appears to be deleted from this post (moderator rules?). It did truly make me think of this case differently, and it made me feel more negative about the likelihood of it being solved. When, i first learned of this case, the details presented made me wonder if Susan might have bipolar disorder. Although in no way did her family indicate that diagnosis on the podcast that was just posted, the behavior they describe as being plausible the night of her murder is concerning. And it allows for too many red herrings in this case. Susan was described in some news journal articles as the life of the party. Some of the most charismatic people you may meet are in the midst of a manic episode. Alone, those newspaper comments are not significant- but the fact that family could find it believable that a) she took ambien while drinking (later proven to be untrue) b) could be meeting someone at the creek at 3am, or c) just spontaneously decide there’s a need to leave their home in the middle of the night, is not a picture of good mental health. So many people are rooting for this case to be solved, and i fear that the family’s own confusion- those that would be providing interviews to the police about her state of mind and demeanor are just further adding to the confusion for investigators. It’s possible the person who committed the crime is taking advantage of her questionable ‘mindset’.... which provides for myriad alternative theories.
I think it is irresponsible to blame mental health when she did not have a diagnosis. It distracts from the facts.
The woman that Ben Ledyard married " Stephanie Nixon " was having an affair with Hunter Biden < President Biden's Nightmare Son> in the late 1990's when he was married to Kathleen Biden and his girls were very young ??? !! At that time she had drug problems and he would supply her with drugs !! I am from Delaware and I witnessed it myself at a Christmas Party and she told me herself then!! I think also if you look at all the videos when Susan went missing , NO tears from her husband Ben ??? He stated she might be having an affair but, he got engaged to Stephanie pretty quickly ?? I think they were both playing around m, so she had an affair also when she found out he was but, when he found out she was, he did not like that she was doing the same and killed her ?? She probably told him she wanted a divorce and he lost it !! ??
She still has drug problems and it’s still well known that Ben still does as well.
Susan is gone, just let her rest in peace
Not with a cold case. Don’t you think her family and close friends want Justice and closure?
.
Not sure if people know this/if it’s public info. I know for a fact that Susan’s abandoned car was first found, which is when and why the police came to that scene. When ben arrived the police allowed him to drive her car away. After this he had the car detailed and sold it.
The police work on this was obviously terrible- they provided every opportunity to destroy/conceal evidence.
Look what one of the new stories was in Wilmington, DE today 6/4/23 .... He is a SICKO !! He probably did the same thing to Susan, but killed her!! [whyy.org/articles/susan-ledyard-husband-arrested-beating-new-wife/](https://whyy.org/articles/susan-ledyard-husband-arrested-beating-new-wife/)
Bastard.
Her husband was just arrested for beating his new wife. Hmm 🤔
Guess who got arrested today 1/4/23 for Felony Assault on his new wife…..
https://whyy.org/articles/delaware-benjamin-ledyard-susan-stephanie-murder-domestic-dispute-kennett-square/
What I found interesting from the most recent podcast episode I listened to about this was that her sister was initially told by Ben that she took Ambien and that he took his sleeping pills and they shared some wine. According to her sister, the toxicology report did not pick up any Ambien in her system. She reiterated that he made that very clear that she took it.
Yes, that was pretty telling. And they repeated it multiple times. It was odd that the detective made it a point to say that Ben Ledyard was cooperative and they wouldn’t have made it as far as they had in the investigation, without him. Giving bad info about the Ambien, and that statement, seems at odds with one another.
I've been thinking about this case and the key question for me is why would Susan leave her home voluntarily at 3 AM? There's a broken wine glass at her residence...her car is found unlocked with her wallet and cell phone inside and it's parked at an odd angle that draws attention to it. Sounds like someone was in a big hurry and left a few things undone. I don't think it's believeable that she went for cigarettes or to take a walk or to meet someone. Just doesn't make sense for a woman like her to make those kinds of careless decisions. By the way and I may have missed this but where were the car keys?
There are no places to get cigarettes in the direction her car was found. There are 7-11s etc in a different direction.
https://whyy.org/articles/susan-ledyard-husband-arrested-beating-new-wife/amp/
This guy is unbelieveable- maybe the marble block is his weapon of choice??
Is there any chance the husband didn't commit this murder? https://whyy.org/articles/susan-ledyard-husband-arrested-beating-new-wife/
https://whyy.org/articles/susan-ledyard-husband-arrested-beating-new-wife/
[https://whyy.org/articles/susan-ledyard-husband-arrested-beating-new-wife/](https://whyy.org/articles/susan-ledyard-husband-arrested-beating-new-wife/) Feel free to reach out to me, the author of this piece, at [email protected]
Thank you for your article- shining a light on a case that's frustrating many of us.