Still Missing CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *arrest* #97

[mom2chloe]

If Barry wanted to take Suzanne hiking for an accidental push (were thry communicating both by phone and text?), Suzanne may have thwarted his plan simply by insisting on two cars. He may have emvisioned taking the older RR and no phones, going together and coming home alone.

We don't know how many times and ways Suzanne may have been in the cross hairs.

JMO

Also we assumed that Suzanne’s text about summer tires was in reference to her RR but what if it was to MM2’s RR and having that taken care of before her return?

 

[sk716]

I don't disagree one bit with your theory. I don't think texts like the ones they had back and forth prove he murdered Suzanne however. I think they need something more...maybe the actions AFTER the 9th will be enough, but I've not seen anything prior factual that would sway me. They aren't going to be able to have behavaioralists talk about emotional abuse and at the time of the AA (and we don't know much after) they had not found evidence of Barry cheating and they hadn't found accounts other than Monex which Suzanne knew about in his name only. Defense will make sure the jury hears and remember that he claimed to love her and was trying to make her happy again and not divorce him. They have data from him saying he'd pay her back her inheritance money. So in my mind the crux of the prosecution's case is the 9th and after for proving he murdered Suzanne through his actions after the 9th. But we don't have long before we find out just how prosecution makes their case.

I think there is still quite a bit we (the sleuthing community) don't know. Not really big a-ha things, but big enough that they could sway a jury. The financials were only glossed over in the AA, a lot of data hadn't even been sifted through. It's all already in discovery, so we just have to wait and see what Hurlburt opens with.

 

[sk716]

They have no proof that we know about. No body, no physical evidence tied to a crime, just innuendos. I think he did it but don't see how they can convict.

In the modern age, while not everyone is attached to their phones, Suzanne was isolated from her loved ones most of the time, her phone was her lifeline. When her digital footprint died, so had she.

 

[DeDee]

According to SM’s sister, MB things were pretty bad before the move.
Page 12
https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/11th_Judicial_District/Chaffee/cases of interest/21CR78/21cr78 Morphew Redacted Affidavit.pdf

Also, SM’s cancer had returned right before the move.
JL said he doesn’t think she was looking for a romantic relationship when she reached out to him with the “ Howdy, Stranger” message, but was more needing someone she could talk to.
When she learned he worked for Pharmaceutical company, she sent him some of her lab results and asked for advice.
I think it didn’t take long for SM to realize that moving to Colorado hadn’t changed anything in her marriage.
I can see her wondering how her life would be if she had married someone else.
JMO

I, too, doubt Suzanne was looking for romance when she first contacted JL. I recall her comment that, paraphrased, BM was simple minded. She and JL had stimulating conversations about various things such as books they'd read, iirc. What a delight that had to be for her!

We've commented on BMs lack of proper usage of the English language. Being a teacher, it had to bug Suzanne each time she heard him use improper terms. However, I doubt she ever corrected him while knowing she'd face his wrath, in one way or another, if she did. Narcs never let you forget them.

BM used the word codependent when describing her sister. Is this what she meant?

"a person with an excessive emotional or psychological reliance on a partner, typically one who requires support on account of an illness or addiction"

"Codependency
In sociology, codependency is a concept that attempts to characterize imbalanced relationships where one person enables another person's self-destructive tendencies and/or undermines the other person's relationship. Definitions of codependency vary, but typically include high self-sacrifice, a focus on others' needs, suppression of one's own emotions, and attempts to control or fix other people's problems. People who self-identify as codependents exhibit low self-esteem, but it is unclear whether this is a cause or an effect of characteristics associated with codependency." Codependency - Wikipedia

moo

 

[sk716]

Hi @sk

Hi @sk716,
Thank you for your excellent work on the timeline, it’s awfully well done!
May I ask if you are aware of any LE interview with BM wherein he was questioned about the computer reset on his truck?
If so, can you direct me to the page, and if not what do you make of it?
Thank you !

I don't think Grusing got anything out of him about it.

Barry Morphew Redacted Arrest Affidavit – Find Suzanne Morphew

 

[Love Never Fails]

If MM2 seriously thought that Barry might have killed her mother, I wish she would have said to him "What have you done?! What have you done to her?!" when she saw him. Would have saved heaps of trouble.

How do we know she didn't? BM would have just held her with fakes tears and feigned innocence.

 

[OldCop]

I agree with this - all the abusive signs are there in that text.

When that approach didn't work - he made his final decision.

He decided to kill her before Saturday - like you say - probably on the 6th and 7th

Agreed. BM was like a ticking time bomb. His anger and rages would build up and build up until he exploded. SM knew him. She had learned some tricks to diffuse the bomb, but they didn’t always work. I think she would sometimes calm him down with sex. She knew he had a strong sex drive and admitted to JL that she wouldn’t deny him sex. I think she might coax him into bed when he was angry. However, I think she was weary, she was tired of always being on edge, tired of walking on eggshells. She told SO that she was sorry she had let it go on so long.
Once SM told BM she was done, the fuse was lit. He tried sweet talking her, he threatened suicide, but she had finally made up her mind. As we have talked about before, BM was all about control. He was losing control of SM. That was not acceptable. He began his descent to the point of no return. MOO

 

[Kemug]

How do we know she didn't? BM would have just held her with fakes tears and feigned innocence.

I meant in front of LE.

 

[Kemug]

I guess you're all correct that Barry planned it for a few days, not hours. It would have taken that long to plan. I'm just an optimist by nature, and don't like to think of him plotting evil for that long. Not that it makes any difference to his evil soul I suppose.

 

[Cindizzi]

Agreed. BM was like a ticking time bomb. His anger and rages would build up and build up until he exploded. SM knew him. She had learned some tricks to diffuse the bomb, but they didn’t always work. I think she would sometimes calm him down with sex. She knew he had a strong sex drive and admitted to JL that she wouldn’t deny him sex. I think she might coax him into bed when he was angry. However, I think she was weary, she was tired of always being on edge, tired of walking on eggshells. She told SO that she was sorry she had let it go on so long.
Once SM told BM she was done, the fuse was lit. He tried sweet talking her, he threatened suicide, but she had finally made up her mind. As we have talked about before, BM was all about control. He was losing control of SM. That was not acceptable. He began his descent to the point of no return. MOO

Excellent summation. I totally agree she had learned how to diffuse the situation. BM told Grusing many times that he and SM would fight,often by angry texts, but she would always be “fine.. like nothing ever happened “ later.
He’s so self-absorbed that I’m sure her being “ fine” to him meant that she didn’t continue the argument with him in person and she always had a meal ready for him.
She had learned how and when to pick her battles.
JMO
How I wish she had gotten out.

 

[marylamby]

dbm

 

[OldCop]

Well, I don't think she would have been thinking that one of them was dead, JMO. More likely, she thought that they were arguing for hours, with maybe yelling and sobbing. And even "only" that would be particularly sad on Mothers Day.

This also seems to indicate she thought her father was at home, not at his big, important job in Broomfield.

 

[Kingsley]

I really don’t know how common it is for LE not to have bags for evidence or searches, but at the time this was considered a missing person’s case not a homicide, so that might have something to do with it. Good point about perhaps wanting to get BM out of room after spotting door frame damage or shell, I could see them wanting to get a closer look at those things when BM was out of the room.

Thanks for the clarification that MH said SM had several outfits. When the officer told BM at the front door before entering the home, I heard it as the officer told BM they needed something SM wore today, and my takeaway was the officer was testing BM. As in, officer already had the knowledge from BM telling them he last saw SM at 5am sleeping in bed so would have expected BM to either show/give him what she was wearing in bed that morning when he last saw her, and/or for BM to have said something to the effect she slept in the nude and that he didn’t know which biking outfit she put on/wore that day. I think either of those things would have made sense to the officer. Because BM didn’t do/say either of those things, he failed the test leading the officer to be suspicious that BM went right to the closet and pointed to the biking shorts on the floor because not only should BM not know what she wore biking that day, they obviously also shouldn’t be there because they’d still be on her wherever she was (with her abductors, sex traffickers, etc.), which is why I said whoops! thinking BM messed up and didn’t think that one through. Unless the officer meant they were going to let BM go in just for today similar to what Cindizzi mentioned, and wanted BM to show them something that SM wore recently, and not what she specifically wore that day. If that’s the case, then the pointing to the biking shorts on the floor, ok makes sense. I don’t know if it makes sense the way I’m explaining it, and it’s also totally possible I misinterpreted the exchange at the door between the officer and BM. I don’t know that it’s hugely important in the grand scheme of things as gosh knows there’s more than enough evidence of BM’s provable lies and inconsistencies, but I am going to watch and listen to the body cam video footage again on high volume and with my earbuds in this time lol.

As far as the helmet, I was referring to the missing flyer put out early on which was not an LE sponsored flyer. It was the flyer BM put together with TN? Daughters? help that had “last seen wearing this helmet” on it. My point was, noone, not a soul, reported seeing SM on a bike nor wearing any helmet that day because she never went for a bike ride that day. Dead people don’t ride bikes and the “last seen wearing this helmet” BS was just more of BM gaslighting the masses and trying to push the phony bike ride narrative.

IMHOO

#FindSuzanne
#BringSuzanneHome
#JusticeForSuzanne

eta-clarity, punctuation

Yes, I agree and understand.
I was being a bit annoying about clarifying your assumption on numbers of outfits . It’s a bad habit. Sorry.
I do think that LE quickly picked up on some hinkiness (word?) to the situation vs the narrative being put forth.

 

[Kemug]

SA Grusing investigated and testified in that case as well.

The court permitted introduction of evidence related to Henthorn misrepresenting what he did for a living and his success at it, his controlling and isolating behavior in his marriages, as well as previous incidents involving Henthorn and his wives that demonstrated an unusual pattern of circumstances surrounding their deaths. Both suffered the accidents that led to their deaths in the presence of only Henthorn and the accidents occurred in remote areas of Colorado where cell service was weak and help would take a long time to arrive.

Before the long fall from a rock ledge that led to her death on a hike Henthorn had last-minute surprised her with to celebrate their 12th anniversary, Henthorn's second wife had suffered an earlier unusual accident where he asked her late at night to check a light bulb below a deck and he claimed he had "accidentally" dropped from the deck above a heavy piece of lumber that hit the back of her neck as she bent down to do what he asked. She suffered lasting injury from that accident. The first wife died when the Henthorn's vehicle fell off an unstable boat jack that had been used to lift the vehicle to change a tire. Henthorn claimed his wife had been reaching for lug bolts that spilled beneath the car when he threw the flat tire into the back of the vehicle and the vehicle fell off the jack and crushed her. Both wives lives were well-insured.

I wonder what Grusing's success rate is?

 

[marylamby]

Which is precisely what matters. Everything before simply proves the marriage was crumbling, and Suzanne wanted out. It's the context for what came next.

And, an innocent man has no need to lie. A "perfect marriage" it was not.

 

[marylamby]

They have no proof that we know about. No body, no physical evidence tied to a crime, just innuendos. I think he did it but don't see how they can convict.

"just innuendos"? I beg to differ. A staged bike, a make-believe and badly executed alibi, text messages that contradict his recall, Suzanne's phone pings, his truck telematics, his trash dumps and a gazillion lies to LE are hardly innuendos.
IMO

 

[Warwick7]

This also seems to indicate she thought her father was at home, not at his big, important job in Broomfield.

Why is it, in just a few sentences, I feel like I've been smacked up the side of my head??

@OldCop this is plain, simple and logical....bam!

"...seems to indicate she thought her father was at home, not at his big, important job in Broomfield."

 

[Warwick7]

BM said it was the "perfect marriage."

Yet in a text, in the AA, he wanted her to go back to how she used to be.

 

[fcavanaugh]

Yes, I agree and understand.
I was being a bit annoying about clarifying your assumption on numbers of outfits . It’s a bad habit. Sorry.
I do think that LE quickly picked up on some hinkiness (word?) to the situation vs the narrative being put forth.

No apology necessary @Kingsley. I understand and appreciate the clarification because I did miss that in the body cam video footage. I’ve watched it twice so far and remember MH discussing SM’s normal bike ride routines and him speaking about SM/BM arguments and that there’d been talks about separation/divorce, but somehow missed the part about him discussing the outfits likely due to getting distracted by something else. At any rate, I’m sure I’ll probably be watching it a few more times to make sure I absorb everything, similar to having to read the AA many, many times to take it all in.

Oh yes, I think LE’s hinky meter was on high alert from virtually moment one due to the narratives being put forth and BM’s overall demeanor that first night at the scene as he seemed to be more concerned about where the bike was, a Lion, and whether they found the phone, than he was about his missing wife. He’s so transparent. He also thought he could fool/outsmart all LE involved, yah sure, NOT!
BM is a legend in his own mind.

IMHOO

#FindSuzanne
#BringSuzanneHome
#JusticeForSuzanne

 

[marylamby]

I rewatched the body cam video last night, and apologies if this has already been discussed. When the officer and BM were at the door of the home, the officer says (paraphrased) we’ll need to have something of hers that she wore today. They then proceed to enter the home and BM follows the officer down the hallway to Master closet and BM points down to the floor to biking shorts. The officer says something to the effect are those hers, BM mutters an affirmative response. Then as instructed by the officer, BM goes and gets a plastic bag from the kitchen, biking shorts are placed into the bag.

IMO, BM once again tells on himself here i.e., his story is that he last saw SM at 5am in bed sleeping. so he should have led the officer to SM’s pajama’s and/or if she slept in the nude, his response should have been, I don’t know what she wore today. I would assume SM had more than one pair of biking shorts, but say she only had that one pair, is another huge red flag they were on the floor when she supposedly disappeared from a bike ride. Either way, if BM’s story about last seeing her in bed sleeping were true, he should have either given the officer SM’s pajama’s or said he didn’t know which biking outfit she wore that day. And again, if she only had that one pair of biking shorts, they should not have been there!!
Whoops!

IMO, reminds me of the flyer that was put out by him early on shortly after SM ‘disappeared’ which said, “last seen wearing this helmet”. SMDH.

IMHOO

#FindSuzanne
#BringSuzanneHome
#JusticeForSuzanne

Brilliant. It was a badly hand written note that he gave a local deli/store/whatever I believe, but yes, it was extremely telling that he ASSUMED she'd been riding THE BIKE. THE BIKE HE STAGED. The bike he asked his neighbor to see if it were there. The same bike he had his nephew ask about the condition of the bike.
IMO