Still Missing CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *arrest* #96

[Diddian]

I preferred as far as TV shows the Dateline to the 20/20. They used the information that is known that is fact with very little speculation. The bike is fact how it got there is speculation at this point, the garbage dumps, the tranquilizer gun, the chlorine smell at the hotel, Barry’s return from Broomfield and the searches. They interviewed 2 from from Suzanne’s family and one family member and friend from Barry’s family. They touched on Suzanne’s marital grievances, pen and affairs and that the marriage was rocky. They touched on the unknown DNA which is fact that is still unresolved by the court. And they touched on the telematics and GPS used in the preliminary and affirmed the judge sent the case to trial. They did not elaborate on things that didn’t “pan out” like his truck, bobcat and the huge search at the river house. They left people who haven’t deep dived the prosecution theory wondering what happened. I assume they will update the episode after trial which they often do. As journalists they would never have “tried” the case ahead of the actual trial. Someone mentioned they left something out and I was trying to remember what they left out. They used the interviews to touch on their early history, Suzanne’s bouts of cancer, his work ethic, their reason for the move to Colorado and his lack of participation in the searches.

They left out that all of SM's communications, including those she was currently in the middle of, abruptly stopped when BM arrived home Saturday afternoon and there have been none since.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

They left out that all of SM's communications, including those she was currently in the middle of, abruptly stopped when BM arrived home Saturday afternoon and there have been none since.

They did include the last known communication…the pic she sent to JL that was in evidence at the preliminary. They did not connect that time to Barry leaving in the early morning other than a reference to the truck doors opening and closing. So they only chose the two facts…her last communication and Barry leaving in the morning. The trial will have more as there is no case without the truck telematics so I think prosecution has to use the truck telematics.

 

[OldCop]

I saw only parts of the trailer, and I had to vomit: She had cancer, when 20 yo, and he cared for her and carried her (in short version).
Of course, because of that -29 years ago- BM is a real saint, and he will always bask in it until his end, also thanks to Dateline. IMO

BM is such a typical narcissist. SM’s sister talks about how wonderful he was during SM’s first bout with cancer.
Even she didn’t understand that BM didn’t dote on SM, take care of her, carry her, because he was such a good person and loved her so much. BM carried her so he could say, “Look at me! Aren’t I wonderful?

 

[marylamby]

The general contractor in an interview with Lauren and MG said the job was scheduled and planned but not for Sunday. That is the fact that is unexplained. There was a job…just not Sunday. The materials had not been ordered to be delivered Monday. That is a fact.

The fact is, the job was NOT scheduled, he did NOT have a work order. He was supposed to go back to the job to fix the work they'd previous done but the exact date wasn't scheduled.
The fact that Barry had never bothered to order the bricks and other material only further proves that he NEVER intended to do the job, even though he lied to MG by saying they would be delivered on Monday.

 

[jakat]

I’m not sure we know Barry forbade the relationship, but I can imagine once he was arrested it would be difficult for MH to go along with the “my dad is innocent” narrative, especially if he read the AA. No doubt MH and his dad began questioning BM’s innocence early on but wanted to be supportive of MM2. Right off the bat MH cast doubt on BM’s story of where SM rode her bike. If MM2 believed without a doubt that her dad was innocent, it would be hard for MH to play along indefinitely. That alone could have helped dissolve the relationship. I think MH’s dad clued in pretty quickly that BM’s narrative didn’t add up and although he may not have shared those suspicions right away they surely played on his mind. That ridiculous video BM put out was so utterly cringe worthy who could not smell BM was a rat?? Most of us here felt right from the beginning he was guilty and even more so after reading the details of the AA. I’m sure the Harveys suspected it too.

@Kemug. Are there any rats in the zoo? They can dine on dropped popcorn as we watch the big show, not this irritating one.
I missed the first 15 minutes of Dateline. I didn't miss much I guess. I would have been even more irritated.

 

[jakat]

Yup, just added a barracuda - only one, we don't want them to eat each other!

 

[genuineusa77]

They left out that all of SM's communications, including those she was currently in the middle of, abruptly stopped when BM arrived home Saturday afternoon and there have been none since.

That doesn't puzzle me. Do you think she would be texting JL after her husband got home! She was with him for the rest of the day and evening.

 

[DizzyB]

They left out that all of SM's communications, including those she was currently in the middle of, abruptly stopped when BM arrived home Saturday afternoon and there have been none since.

That was the glaring omission for me. I think that Suzanne’s sister was very thoughtful in what she shared, and a powerful voice for Suzanne. Barry’s sister shared what Barry told her, and was there as a character witness for him. If she was telling the truth, I want to know who else he frantically called on his drive back from Broomfield.

 

[Diddian]

That doesn't puzzle me. Do you think she would be texting JL after her husband got home! She was with him for the rest of the day and evening.

She had also periodically been responding to Snapchat messages from her best friend whose daughter was marrying the next day - a wedding SM was to attend virtually. Those responses stopped too. And she did not attend that wedding, nor did she notify her friend about any change in the plan to attend, or about any reason she had been out of reach.

I doubt SM stopped speaking to her best friend just because BM arrived home.

It's also notable to me that, after SM's messages to JL abruptly stopped after her last message (inviting him to wa after sending him a nude or near-nude selfie), JL attempted to reach SM multiple times that afternoon and the next day - about double the number of times BM tried to reach her on Mother's Day.

Why? IMO, SM's best friend and her sometime lover - who both knew about the marital troubles SM and BM were having and that SM wanted out - were worried that SM had disappeared without notice. IMO, BM wasn't worried because he knew.

 

[Aloe]

I went through the call log provided in the defense Exhibit II and converted from UTC and put the calls in order and this is what I got for May 10. I do not see a call to his sister. However, the call log does not go all of the way up until he arrives at Puma Path, so I suppose he could have called her in the time period right before getting back?

I tried to correlate the times listed in this exhibit with text from the AA and it looks problematic to me. Below, I tried to color code some of the times in the list with text in the AA to try to match them, but it sure looks like sometimes the text references UTC-7 local time (highlighted in pink), and sometimes it seems to reference UTC -6 local time (highlighted in blue). I don't even know what to think anymore. Please, if someone sees something I did wrong in my time conversions or whatever else, please correct me. The UTC Listed column contains the times listed in Exhibit II. I created the two Local Time columns as I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on. Why can't anything on this case be straight-forward?

View attachment 334796

View attachment 334797
View attachment 334798
View attachment 334799
The call logs start on page 20 of 83:
https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/11th_Judicial_District/Chaffee/cases of interest/21CR78/Defense Prelim Hearing Ex Rest.pdf

ETA
Arrest Affidavit:
https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/11th_Judicial_District/Chaffee/cases of interest/21CR78/21cr78 Morphew Redacted Affidavit.pdf

Great work! Thanks @Tumbleweed !

 

[Momofthreeboys]

She had also periodically been responding to Snapchat messages from her best friend whose daughter was marrying the next day - a wedding SM was to attend virtually. Those responses stopped too. And she did not attend that wedding, nor did she notify her friend about any change in the plan to attend, or about any reason she had been out of reach.

I doubt SM stopped speaking to her best friend just because BM arrived home.

It's also notable to me that, after SM's messages to JL abruptly stopped after her last message (inviting him to wa after sending him a nude or near-nude selfie), JL attempted to reach SM multiple times that afternoon and the next day - about double the number of times BM tried to reach her on Mother's Day.

Why? IMO, SM's best friend and her sometime lover - who both knew about the marital troubles SM and BM were having and that SM wanted out - were worried that SM had disappeared without notice. IMO, BM wasn't worried because he knew.

I think that she did not attend the wedding that she had been communicating about will show up in trial. I do not know how deep defense will go but if she was in the habit of not texting and snap chatting when Barry was around and it was something she typically did when alone that could be a potential issue. We do not know of patterns just that Barry got home on Saturday and she stopped her social activities. Prosecution’s contention is she was gone before morning. The fact that she did not resume texting on Sunday is important. The coffee cup is important also. Was it from Saturday morning or Sunday morning. If Saturday why was it not in the dishwasher with the Saturday dishes? Did she wash her cup or was she one of those that just rinse and repeat everyday? Did they check it for DNA and poison?

 

[MrsWatson]

That doesn't puzzle me. Do you think she would be texting JL after her husband got home! She was with him for the rest of the day and evening.

And she never communicated with anyone else, ever, after BM got home. That puzzles me.

 

[Skigh]

And she never communicated with anyone else, ever, after BM got home. That puzzles me.

Puzzles me too!

 

[CGray123]

IMO showing up 1/2 hour late for court, missing Court ordered discovery deadlines, having the DA violate pre-trial publicity orders, having a lead investigtor with a Brady letter are all terrible strategies if you are seeking justice for a victim.

The government has all the power and resources available to make sure when they prosecute people that they have all their ducks in a row. In 90% of most criminal cases, the state has overwhelming evidence against a defendant.

That is especially true in a murder case seeking justice for a victim. Once jeopardy is attached, there is no going back for the state, so they better be 99.9% sure that their case is ready to present and that they can obtain a conviction.

The DA in this case, IMO, has dropped the ball on several occassions and do not appear to be very organized. In contrast, the Defense is prepared, organized and litigating the heck out of the case. They are the aggressor and usually it is the other way around.

This close to trial the state should be hitting their stride, not potholes.

IMO

I am not a fan of the current DA and I agree that she has had an adverse impact on this prosecution from the very beginning. I hope she limits her role to making sure her prosecutors have the resources they need for a successful prosecution.

However, I question your belief that in this case, the government has all the resources necessary to assure a successful prosecution.

In fact, limitations on the resources available to law enforcement in the sparsely populated 11th Judicial District of Colorado may play a larger role than we will be able to know.

The 11th Judicial District's tax base consists of a population of less than 90,000 and a small struggling business community that gets more Than it gives in terms of public resources. These resources must serve four counties comprising tens of thousands of square miles, trying cases in four county seats that are a minimum of an hour's drive from the DA's office in Canon City. The last time I checked, the DA's staff consisted of 11 attorneys, a couple of paralegals and a few administrative assistants.

In this context, I suspect that counsel for both sides are frequently late arriving in court, since they are stretched thin. I am not inclined to judge their individual performance as lacking on this basis.

Aside from this observation, which may be based on urban expectations, I don't understand the basis for your observation that the prosecution does not seem well organized. Have you attended the hearings? Have you read the transcripts? If you have, please support your insights with specific examples.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

Nothing from her on Saturday concerns me. Saturday night is not as important depending on their normal habits if they stay off their phones at night but Sunday is odd by itself. Does she normally communicate with people in the morning, check her email, attend church virtually, drink coffee?. Significant.

 

[waldojabba]

I am not a fan of the current DA and I agree that she has had an adverse impact on this prosecution from the very beginning. I hope she limits her role to making sure her prosecutors have the resources they need for a successful prosecution.

However, I question your belief that in this case, the government has all the resources necessary to assure a successful prosecution.

In fact, limitations on the resources available to law enforcement in the sparsely populated 11th Judicial District of Colorado may play a larger role than we will be able to know.

The 11th Judicial District's tax base consists of a population of less than 90,000 and a small struggling business community that gets more Than it gives in terms of public resources. These resources must serve four counties comprising tens of thousands of square miles, trying cases in four county seats that are a minimum of an hour's drive from the DA's office in Canon City. The last time I checked, the DA's staff consisted of 11 attorneys, a couple of paralegals and a few administrative assistants.

In this context, I suspect that counsel for both sides are frequently late arriving in court, since they are stretched thin. I am not inclined to judge their individual performance as lacking on this basis.

Aside from this observation, which may be based on urban expectations, I don't understand the basis for your observation that the prosecution does not seem well organized. Have you attended the hearings? Have you read the transcripts? If you have, please support your insights with specific examples.

@CGray123
Thanks for calling that out about the Resources
The OP totally lost me with that statement
The State has all the resources they need ?
What?
Esp in this case -it is not close to an equal playing field economically
IMO

 

[Skigh]

It was not just Saturday night. It was from early afternoon on Saturday. Barry has given no explanation about their activities until the single plate steak dinner followed by sex.
Suzanne obviously did not go on her usual afternoon bike ride, contact her daughters,friends or family.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Nothing from her on Saturday concerns me. Saturday night is not as important depending on their normal habits if they stay off their phones at night but Sunday is odd by itself. Does she normally communicate with people in the morning, check her email, attend church virtually, drink coffee?. Significant.

IF we play devil's advocate and pretend that she was home/alive all Saturday afternoon and BM was there with her starting at 2:43pm (or whenever it was), then I could see her not communicating with JL any more that day but the likelihood she wouldn't have had at least a few texts with SO later that afternoon or evening is near zero, IMO.

And then if we pretend SM woke up Sunday morning and BM had already left for Broomfield, IMO there is **less than zero** chance she wouldn't have reconnected with JL, at least briefly to explain about disappearing on him the day before, not to mention being in touch with SO and the wedding livestream. Plus any Sunday "usuals" such as online church as you say.

 

[Knox]

Well, the Dateline piece wasn’t terrible. I would have been happier if TS didn’t get his fifteen minutes of bromance. Suzanne going dark as soon as Barry arrived home wasn’t factored in at all, which to me was the worst omission. Oh and true crime followers are insane and hateful. I think if I had watched it and knew nothing about the case, I would still think he murdered Suzanne.

I love me some Keith Morrison, but I hate the condensed way they are forced to present the facts. Funny that we heard from Marcy and not TN's Mom, she's his sister of course, what else would she say - check that box.

TS and his "it's all about Barry-ness" came across as uninformed in my opinion. Based on what all we know about the marriage being in trouble today, it was silly to make those statements. His snide remarks about secrets and social media, please ... he was posting on facebook too, and made baseless accusations against two of Suzanne's family members.

Once again Malinda was solid. She seems to be the best one to speak for Suzanne, besides SO.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

It was not just Saturday night. It was from early afternoon on Saturday. Barry has given no explanation about their activities until the single plate steak dinner followed by sex.
Suzanne obviously did not go on her usual afternoon bike ride, contact her daughters,friends or family.

Right mid afternoon I recall and her last text was around 15-20 minutes before he got home if I recall and she was going to switch from LinkedIn to WA but never connected with JL. I did find that gap odd also since her plan was to continue chatting with JL. If she was going to go take a shower why not just say to JL “heading for the shower talk to you later” she definitely did not plan that to be the end of the conversation. So there is that strange gap before Barry got there.