Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *Case dismissed w/o prejudice* #108

[10ofRods]

I’m very rusty on this case. They don’t know the unknown males identify, and he hasn’t been ruled out? How did his dna get in her vehicle?

I've posted about this several times - including yesterday. So I'll make this brief.

We all have stranger DNA in our cars.

It's a PARTIAL match.

All of us will have a sex offender "partially matching" some of the DNA in our homes and cars, if we cast the net wide enough. A partial match to TWO different felons (both of whom, I believe were incarcerated at the time of the murder) is not a big deal.

"Partial match" is not a scientific term. Humans are 99.999% or more identical to each other. Othram uses 600,000 SNP markers (CODIS uses considerably) to get more specific results. CODIS is only interested in matching crime scene DNA to felons. CODIS cannot unlock magic results - the matches are generally "partial" (unless someone in the database is the actual murderer - which they WERE NOT, because it was only a partial match to the glove box DNA). No felon in CODIS was a direct match for the glove box. And I bet there were OTHER partial matches (from other types of felons...but the Defense wants to play up that sex offender thing).

There are 750,000 sex offender felons in the US database. One of them is a relative of the guy who put the owners' manual in the glove box, most likely (I do recall that there was info about where in the glove box the DNA was found - not that it matters exactly). If it had been the actual sex offender felon, it would not be a partial match (unless, of course, it was only partial DNA in the first place - which is also quite common).

 

[katydid23]

And why were they looking for a woman last seen on foot 30 miles away in an empty field?

Woman may be missing in Colorado mountains, last seen May 3 | OutThere Colorado

According to Saguache County Search and Rescue, Edna Quintana may be missing in the mountains surrounding the San Luis Valley town of Saguache.

denvergazette.com

Some have speculated that maybe someone called in a report that they saw bones at that location---and it ended up being Suzanne instead of Edna.

Even if Edna was last seen on foot 30 miles away, if she had been grabbed by a predator/kidnapper. she could have traveled that far.

 

[Boxer]

I’m very rusty on this case. They don’t know the unknown males identify, and he hasn’t been ruled out? How did his dna get in her vehicle?

On the service manual. In the glove box but no where else -

 

[Chimera]

Intersting section here:

"Eytan and other sources close to the investigation confirmed that GPS from Morphew’s truck and cellphone evidence from his phone show that he was not in Saguache on May 9th or 10 — the weekend Morphew went missing."

Perhaps there is an accomplice

Yep.

OR .. he used someone else's vehicle and left his phone in his truck ?

 

[kittythehare]

I believe Suzanne was about to celebrate her last chemo treatment.

There were many convos about this in the early threads - that she was basically cancer free, and was going to be able to move on with her life. She could now go to another place, if she wished (hard to transfer one's chemo to a new place - can be done, but she was almost finished).


Ha- no, no street lights anywhere near mile marker 113 on Highway 17. Or in much of rural Colorado. Pitch dark at night.

Plenty of dark places nearer to Puma Path, but he knew they'd search that area and the Monarch Pass area, and of course, it was indeed searched.

BM helped in the search. He knew where Suzanne actually was, of course (IMO) and got lots of "support" from others during the search near Puma Path.

I'm going to say something slightly off-the-wall. Anthropologically speaking, when a family member choose a burial site, they often have deep preferences. Indiana is flat and my dad (who is from the flat part of Colorado) had all his ancestors and siblings buried in cemeteries that were...flat. Here in SoCal, there are plenty of hilly cemeteries (much preferred by some Californians). But, growing up in Flat Colorado - with the mountains in the distance (the way it looks on Highway 17), his heart ran to wanting a flat expanse of...grassiness.

I am assuming that cemeteries in Indiana are flat and grassy.

Highway 17 runs parallel to the mountains - beautiful mountains off in the distance. It's very peaceful out there. Various kinds of songbirds. I think BM is an evil manipulator, but I do not believe he is completely heartless. I don't think he would want to be seen as heartless. If he did indeed bury her out there, early in the morning hours the day after Mother's Day, he had to know that the body would be subject to predation, but he made some attempt at an actual burial.

I certainly hope her bones tell a story about her cause of death. The Big Questions I have are all around manner of death. But the burial, to me, says "BM did it" and he could not quite allow the "Love of his life, Angelic Suzanne" to be without a burial. He wanted to quell his own conscience with that act.

IMO.

Aye, buried with appropriate biblical quotes as was his way...

When they argued, she complained Barry would use Biblical scriptures whenever it suited him to guilt-trip her into forgiving him.

Suzanne Morphew spent the afternoon before she vanished texting lover

Day 2 of Barry Morphew's preliminary hearing in Colorado revealed that his missing wife Suzanne had been texting her lover, Jeff Libler, and sending him bikini photos on the day of her disappearance.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Chimera]

If a person thinks they have limited time to stage a crime scene, hide evidence, and create some kind of alibi....something is going to give. JMO.

Ita.
An "oopsie-poopsie"; I think someone is sweating profusely right now.
Or, more than one person ?
Mistakes will have been made.
I'm curious now if someone will 'roll' on BM ?
Omo.

 

[charminglane]

Thank you, So from the way I see it, this just adds to Barry NOT knowing or caring about Suzanne at all. Unfortunately from knowing someone who has successfully gone through some treatments here recently, she may not have wanted a steak dinner. It might not have even tasted like meat; she could have also not have even been able to finish a big meal. Had Barry known Suzanne and what those treatments do, he would have known that if she ate a full dinner there was no jumping in the sack later on like he claims.

Just my thoughts

Thank you for sharing this very important point, @Hoss569.
Blessings and good health to the person that is close to you.

 

[Curiousobserver]

I've posted about this several times - including yesterday. So I'll make this brief.

We all have stranger DNA in our cars.

It's a PARTIAL match.

All of us will have a sex offender "partially matching" some of the DNA in our homes and cars, if we cast the net wide enough. A partial match to TWO different felons (both of whom, I believe were incarcerated at the time of the murder) is not a big deal.

"Partial match" is not a scientific term. Humans are 99.999% or more identical to each other. Othram uses 600,000 SNP markers (CODIS uses considerably) to get more specific results. CODIS is only interested in matching crime scene DNA to felons. CODIS cannot unlock magic results - the matches are generally "partial" (unless someone in the database is the actual murderer - which they WERE NOT, because it was only a partial match to the glove box DNA). No felon in CODIS was a direct match for the glove box. And I bet there were OTHER partial matches (from other types of felons...but the Defense wants to play up that sex offender thing).

There are 750,000 sex offender felons in the US database. One of them is a relative of the guy who put the owners' manual in the glove box, most likely (I do recall that there was info about where in the glove box the DNA was found - not that it matters exactly). If it had been the actual sex offender felon, it would not be a partial match (unless, of course, it was only partial DNA in the first place - which is also quite common).

Exactly right.

Here is a great (but rather technical) article that describes how this works.

Forensic DNA Profiling: Autosomal Short Tandem Repeat as a Prominent Marker in Crime Investigation

Short tandem repeat (STR) typing continues to be the primary workhorse in forensic DNA profiling. Therefore, the present review discusses the prominent role of STR marker in criminal justice system. All over the world, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) profiling ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[10ofRods]

It appears she was "buried" pretty close to Saguache County Landfill signs. That seems well thought out. These signs (one on each side of hwy 17) are between mile marker 112 and 113. Sorry if this was already mentioned. MOO

I don't think it has been! Thank you! Kind of makes me want to amend my previous theory, but I'll leave it up as things evolve.

I wonder if cheapskate Barry used Saguache Landfill (whose rates were pretty low back then). In fact, the rates are still astonishingly low compared to many other places have to pay:

Landfill & Recycling Center | Saguache County

saguachecounty.colorado.gov

It's a sparsely populated region with no tourist economy to speak of (Salida is more touristy and is of course near a ski area).

 

[waldojabba]

Statement by from the Moorman family.
Authentic and classy. Contrast it with IE statement which was Defensive and trashy.
Imo.

Edit: in the statement when they use the word sage I think they mean saga? Prob just a typo in the article I suspect

Suzanne Morphew's family shares statement after remains found more than 3 years after disappearance

The family of Suzanne Morphew has released a statement after remains found in Moffat have been identified as that of the missing Colorado mom.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

Can I ask where the idea that he used some kind of tranq or IV drug came from?

 

[10ofRods]

Yep.

OR .. he used someone else's vehicle and left his phone in his truck ?

He had one of his own vehicles (the older SUV) that he could have used. IMO.

The daughters had taken one of the Range Rovers on their cabin trip in Idaho IIRC. Suzanne had another (with GPS). Barry's truck had GPS. But they had an older model SUV (can't remember the brand) that did not have GPS.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that's been my understanding for 3 years. There were rumors that he tried to involve another person in that night's cover-up, and that person was certainly interviewed by LE, but we don't know the results of those interviews (and now I can't remember the person's name - which is good, because they are not a suspect in this case at this time and need to have their life return to normal - if possible).

He easily could have left his phone in his truck - or on his nightstand (to support the "I was sleeping" alibi).

IMO

 

[Purdue19]

"Barry stated he owns a black 2013 Ford F-350, one gray 2015 Ford F-250, one white 2015 range-rover (Suzanne's vehicle), and one White 2007 Range Rover"

I was rereading the AA from 2021 and this stuck out to me.

The F-250 and 2007 Range Rover were MM and MM's vehicles, but they were out of town on a camping trip, did they drive or did their friends?

Which vehicles were at the house?

Did telematics function on the F-250 and 2007 Range Rover? Was said data recorded?

We know Barry's truck, the F-350 had no telematic data register from 2:43 PM until 3:25 AM.

Where were the F-250 and the 2007 Range Rover during this time period and more specifically during the time Barry's phone was off (10:17 PM - 3:56 AM)?

Essentially, is there a logical possibility that either the F-250 or 2007 RR were/was at the house and could have been used for the drive to Saguache County?

MOO

 

[Area52]

I’m very rusty on this case. They don’t know the unknown males identify, and he hasn’t been ruled out? How did his dna get in her vehicle?

If I remember correctly, it was touch DNA, which could have come from a repairman or something. It would have been explained away by prosecuters at a trial, had it gotten that far !

 

[Lyanna]

Yep.

OR .. he used someone else's vehicle and left his phone in his truck ?

At some point he was in Crestone though, ( not to far away I think?) between 7th and 11th May, it's in defences own filings

Home | Colorado Judicial Branch

www.courts.state.co.us

It's titled other defense exhibits (3rd one down) and on page 22, near the bottom of the page

imo

ebm

 

[Lyanna]

Hope this works

 

[10ofRods]

I was rereading the AA from 2021 and this stuck out to me.

The F-250 and 2007 Range Rover were MM and MM's vehicles, but they were out of town on a camping trip, did they drive or did their friends?

Which vehicles were at the house?

Did telematics function on the F-250 and 2007 Range Rover? Was said data recorded?

We know Barry's truck, the F-350 had no telematic data register from 2:43 PM until 3:25 AM.

Where were the F-250 and the 2007 Range Rover during this time period and more specifically during the time Barry's phone was off (10:17 PM - 3:56 AM)?

Essentially, is there a logical possibility that either the F-250 or 2007 RR were/was at the house and could have been used for the drive to Saguache County?

MOO

The 2007 Range Rover *may* have had telemetrics (I think it might be an add-on package). The F-250 though, might not have (I don't know the year). I don't think F-250's had GPS in 2006-2007 (but again, I don't know what year that smaller truck was).

I really do wish we knew more about those two other cars. It's daunting to go back over all those early threads to try and find the info.

 

[Love Never Fails]

My hope is that the shovel that Barry is seen bringing into the hotel...is part of evidence right now. I assume all those tools were collected. He may have cleaned them well before leaving them in the lobby - but given Barry's state of tidiness and attention to detail, probably not.

At any rate, a soil expert would be able to say whether the shovel was used in similar soil as that where Suzanne was found.

I just wish they could find microscopic particles of the specific soil from near Moffat.

I had not realized that cadaver dogs hit on Barry's truck (the one he will soon sell, in order to buy another one almost exactly like it).

It will be very interesting to see how BM and daughters organize a funeral. Will they be there for her burial in full mourning? Will there even be a funeral? Will it be organized by Suzanne's faithful friends and not BM? Will IE attend? Will SD? Whole situation is mind-bogglingly crazy and morbid.

@10ofRods. Isn’t it true that if he used bleach on the tools in the hotel, that would have erased any sign of blood or soil?

 

[PaulaDC]

Fair enough. I don't recall that rumor being dismissed. Even if the pool was closed there could still be chemicals stored in closet or pool room where the pumps and filters are kept.

I do think it matters who touched the tools. Yes, you bM on tape bringing them into the hotel but he had a plausible explanation for that. And once they are out of his possession anyone could have taken them and used them elsewhere, thus contaminating any dirt residue that was one them. But hey, if they found something useful on them, and they can use it to prove anything, I'm all for it. I just see the defense picking it apart.

That was the plan Stan. Executed perfectly.

 

[GoJacks]

Can I ask where the idea that he used some kind of tranq or IV drug came from?

AA mentions them finding a tranq dart in dryer.