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

[DenverToCali]

Knowing MM2’s boyfriend spoke truthfully when asked about the situation between Barry and Suzanne, this interview calls into question the truthfulness of the response given by the girls starting around the 3:25 min mark. Selective memory? We know why Barry’s lying, but has MM2 seriously forgotten what transpired in the weeks/months prior to her mother’s disappearance and now confirmed murder?

I think that a lot of gaslighting can really make a person question their reality. Especially in a situation like there where Barry is a skilled manipulator and the girls are young and very impressionable. And that coupled with the trauma their brain and body have gone through.

 

[Knox]

I will try and figure out a really simple graphic. I am just at the part of my semester where I can explain it to my students (we are 6 weeks in, with 4 weeks on genes and DNA, so that now they know what an SNP is, and which regions of the genome are specifically human (although...they really KNOW know that yet, they're trusting me when I say that's what we're looking at - the rest of the course is going to be week by week, slowly getting what it means to be genetically human.

So, it's not like it's easy to explain or reduce.

But here's a math example:

Partial DNA = 112 339 889

Matched to CODIS suspect find = 112 669 848

It doesn't actually MATCH the 9 digit series. It contains PART of the 9 digit series

(In real life, it's coded as letters and there are tens of thousands of digits to match). Finding the exact number of "digits" used by CODIS is a long term project for any scholar - as they change the formula occasionally, and, well almost no one has the whole human genome (billions of digits?) memorized.

CODIS doesn't look at the whole sample or the whole human genome (neither do any of the IGG companies). Instead, it's SNP's (the places in the human genome where we have the most individual variation.

Everybody gets their SNP variations from two and only two people (their parents), who will be "close matches" (and that's what I'd call siblings, cousins, grandparents, and so on. All of us have alleles (specific genes) from our ancestors. Some of those alleles go back to before we were even H. sapiens. Some of those alleles, we may share with other species.

I am a "partial match" for a certain celebrity (whom I've always admired), we are something like fourth cousins, 3X removed. Yay? And I"m a "partial match" for a famous basketball coach (second cousin, once removed). I am a "partial match" for an Australian aborigine family.

I do not know and have never met the people I just mentioned. And I could go on - my own IGG results have about 5000 people I've turned up in a database, to whom I am related.

Maybe this will help. All people (ALL of them) on Planet Earth who have blue eyes have one of a handful of alleles that cause the formation of eyes that appear blue (there is no blue pigment, it's actually a lack of melanin and the Rayleigh light scattering effect that makes eyes appear blue). So ALL blue-eyed people are a partial match for each other!

We know approximately when and where that blue allele first mutated and it was in Northern Europe, and using the math behind the study of adaptive radiation, we know the epicenter and first appearance of the allele was near what is now Pskov, Russia. It appeared at ~8000 BP (before present). By 6000 BP, it was also in Denmark. From there it spread to Scandinavia (and it sure looks like the early inhabits of Denmark/Sweden/Norway were ALL blue-eyed, so direct descendants of those people from Pskov). Later, the blue-eyed Vikings (Scandinavian explorers and pirates) would return (with a Y chromosome pattern that's unique to them - but closely related to the other blue-eyed people) and go down the riverways of Eastern Europe, bringing blue eyes to those regions (and Northern Germany, and later, during the times of Rollo and Peppa (my own ancestors), into Alsace, Holland, Belgium - and during the Norman Conquest, into England. Vikings arrived earlier in Ireland and Scotland, btw, so slightly different (but closely matching) allele for those blue eyes.

ALL of these people are "partial matches" for each other, insofar as the codons in the alleles are all very similar.

CODIS looks at 18 or so single regions of human DNA and if a suspect sample matches ALL 18, it's considered a CODIS match (so then, they can go look at each of the full matches - and see if they have alibis).

Partial matches on fewer than 18 SNPs are not sufficient to warrant an investigation, IMO. If we decide to go there, as a society, we're doomed. And the FBI and LE agree with me. It's my understanding that this particular partial match wasn't even to a known felon, but to rape kits/sexual assault evidence in three different cities (where a FULL profile was gained from some unknown rapist, so he can be matched to himself in three places, but he's a PARTIAL (cousin) match to the glove box DNA - who is likely the lowly technician who worked at the auto dealership, writing in or handling the owner's manual and perhaps putting it inside the glove box after).

There was also male DNA on the helmet (which she bought from a man so of course there would be).

Clear as mud? Or better?

Refresh my memory. Why didn't LE simply tap the geneology sites to see if they could track down the person who deposited the DNA on the glovebox? If the answer is as simple as - the DNA belonged to a service tech who replaced the cab air filter during a service. Seems like a simple thing to eliminate or explain?

 

[10ofRods]

In lots of situations like this, they wind up not recovering a significant amount of the bones. That’s why I imagine they returned yesterday, but I suspect there are bones much further out than that.

Yes, I would think (possibly graphic info ahead):

Spoiler: Possibly graphic info ahead

...coyotes and rodents came upon the body first. Rodents seek bones to chew them to keep their teeth at a preferred size and are a major scatterer of bones. They also live underground and are not the least bit put off by a body being underground - indeed - it gives them a decided advantage. But coyotes have a keen sense of smell, obviously and are great diggers. They will use a thin layer of gold and a special type of MRI-style machine to look microscopically at each bone, and every animal's tooth marks leave slightly different patterns. While it would be hard to tell a dog tooth mark from a coyote, it would not be hard to tell coyote from prairie dog or desert rat/mouse.

As all this is going on, carrion birds will arrive and try to steal or remove the bones dropped by the coyotes. Coyotes are capable of dragging off a part of a human body to a new location, but usually feed in place upon arrival. Coyotes win over carrion birds, although coyotes definitely move bones to locations where their pups can feed. Since most animals don't take a skull but may still attempt to gnaw it, it's often a kind of rosetta stone to which major animal groups arrived (and even who came first). None of this is relevant to the case except to explain the scattering and the fact that, as Barry knew, the bones would be scattered in any case out there.

In my own experience, many people who do go out to visit a crime scene after it's been processed by LE will turn what they find over to LE. Or to someone who will then turn it over. At any rate, what we hope they found would be the pelvic bones and leg bones (good marrow bearing bones). I"m also reading that some parts of the skull can harbor evidence of poisoning - but it's usually long term poisoning. I am really more optimistic about finding chemical evidence in the port...than in the bones.

If there is such evidence.

Your view that he strangled/smothered her back at the house is certainly plausible and statistically very likely. I sure hope she was tranquilized first, truly. But if that's what happened, sheesh. What a conniving monster that man really is, IMO.

 

[Knox]

"Barry's sister, Marcie, ended up claiming the bracelet belonged to her."

Was this the same sister who confronted Lauren Scharf and blamed HER for all of BM's problems? Denial..., or absolution because he is a Morphew?

No, the older sister confronted Lauren. Marcie is the younger sister.

 

[Megnut]

Dan Abrams interviewed George Brauchler, a former district attorney in Colorado. Brauchler said, "taking the case to a grand jury would likely yield the best results in a renewed investigation".

That's a given IMO. Any thoughts on how they will connect Barry to the location? No cell phone pings, vehicle telemetics. Is this going to end up being within the missing six hours? Is it necessary to the success of the case to have evidence linking him to the location? How did he get her there?

Simplest answer: he didn't trust his monkey business with his truck so he used another.

The question is, whose?

 

[K9Enzo]

In lots of situations like this, they wind up not recovering a significant amount of the bones. That’s why I imagine they returned yesterday, but I suspect there are bones much further out than that.

Yes, and critters will take shredded/tattered clothing for nesting. imo

 

[K9Enzo]

I hate even typing this type of stuff out, but in my mind I imagine an animal taking limbs away from the body first/easiest. If they found her head/torso in one location still semi buried and then other bones like legs/arms/feet/hand bones spread out.. maybe they returned to dig deeper in the central area looking for her hyoid bone. If her head and most of the torso were found still fairly in the burial location then maybe they feel confident they could find that bone in that same area if they dig and sift?

An expert well versed in a bone trajectory paths can advise LE on on where specific bones are likely to be and at what distance away from the original resting location of the body. imo

 

[10ofRods]

Refresh my memory. Why didn't LE simply tap the geneology sites to see if they could track down the person who deposited the DNA on the glovebox? If the answer is as simple as - the DNA belonged to a service tech who replaced the cab air filter during a service. Seems like a simple thing to eliminate or explain?

Because

1) they only had PARTIAL DNA. Partial. Othram needs a full sample and so does every other IGG site I know of. That's why they needed Kohberger's dad's DNA (different case, but most of you are familiar with it).

They didn't even have 18 SNP's! Othram uses...600,000.

So here's the problem with even considering this.

How would you feel if your relative (who has uploaded to Othram) is identified as a possible match (and therefore, we turn to regular pedigrees and family lines - as happened in the DeAngelo case) YOU are identified as a possible match. You are contacted by FBI. You try to remember where you were that day that they're interested in. Does this sound like a good way to do law enforcement? No matter what your alibi, you are still on a list of potential suspects and the alibi needs to be really good (you have proof you were not anywhere near the crime, you were at work, with a camera on you, hundreds or thousands of miles away). Now your name is in the LE files (which can become public under various circumstances),

Yikes. If you sent 18 out of 600,000 SNP's to Othram, it would match thousands and thousands of people. Maybe tens of thousands (more likely, really). What is LE supposed to do with that? Attempt to verify alibis for 10,000 people each time there's DNA found somewhere at a crime scene?

Why not do that with the helmet DNA too? And then the bike DNA? (The answer there, I believe, is that the person whose DNA matched those came forward and that cleared him - because he had a reason to have his DNA on the helmet - he sold it to Suzanne).

Does anyone here really think that the bike shop owner in Salida should have been treated as a suspect and should be named publicly (say, by the Defense)? The Defense knows this partial match is bogus and that the person to whom it belongs isn't even a felon and no one has his identity. Perfect Patsy. But tomorrow, that person could be charged with a felony and have his complete DNA put in CODIS, and now...he'd need an alibi. But if his actual DNA is still a partial match - he walks free, it isn't him.

To put it another way, Glovebox Guy is not that sex offender. Glovebox guy only PARTIALLY matches the CODIS sex offender. But does it matter? Glovebox Guy is SOMEONE. Should he be hunted down via IGG? Why?? His whole life turned upside down because a distant relative of his is a sex offender and he touched an owners manual while doing his job? No evidence of criminal activity in the car at all. ALL owners' manuals have some DNA on them that comes from the manufacturing process (so does most underwear, although I will say that many Chinese manufacturers and some in Germany are now trying to prevent employee DNA from getting on products for just these reasons. It's very very expensive to do, though (you exhale your DNA as you breathe, so they have to basically be in space suits).

If that sex offender is found, the CODIS results will still not be a complete match to the Glovebox DNA, because it wasn't a complete match on the 18 markers CODIS uses (I may be off a little on my number there, because I haven't been to CODIS today, it changes once in a while and it makes no difference to this discussion - but others can feel free to try and understand the multi-volume work behind CODIS if they want to, it's quite the rabbit hole.) If the sex offender is apprehended and charged and typical procedure is followed, then his entire profile goes into CODIS (but CODIS STILL won't be using his entire genome to make their match - it's merely an investigative tool, sex offender will match his other crimes - but he will not match the Glovebox Guy's full profile, which is why GG is only a PARTIAL match in the first place.

 

[rainbowshummingbird]

Refresh my memory. Why didn't LE simply tap the geneology sites to see if they could track down the person who deposited the DNA on the glovebox? If the answer is as simple as - the DNA belonged to a service tech who replaced the cab air filter during a service. Seems like a simple thing to eliminate or explain?

If I recall, some of the men whose DNA were included in the partial were located and ruled out as suspects. One of the men had a lawyer and planned to sue if any information about him was made public.

Does anyone else remember more about this?

 

[gliving]

If I recall, some of the men whose DNA were included in the partial were located and ruled out as suspects. One of the men had a lawyer and planned to sue if any information about him was made public.

Does anyone else remember more about this?

What about the DNA on her helmet and bike? Was it ID'd? Did it match the DNA from her SUV?

Remains of missing mother Suzanne Morphew found in Saguache County, CBI says

The remains of Suzanne Morphew have been found in Saguache County, CBI announced today. After she disappeared in May 2020, her husband was arrested before his case was dismissed in 2022.

www.denver7.com

CBI forensic analysis determined that an unknown male DNA on the bike helmet, bike, Suzanne’s car’s glovebox and the backseat of the car did not belong to Barry. That DNA was later determined to partially match DNA found in three out-of-state unsolved sexual assault investigations.

 

[Charlot123]

Knowing MM2’s boyfriend spoke truthfully when asked about the situation between Barry and Suzanne, this interview calls into question the truthfulness of the response given by the girls starting around the 3:25 min mark. Selective memory? We know why Barry’s lying, but has MM2 seriously forgotten what transpired in the weeks/months prior to her mother’s disappearance and now confirmed murder?

OK, how old is the girl? I think she was 17 when it happened, right? After that, lots of things occurred. Is her BF with her? Probably, not. Her sister was close to dad. Consider public pressure, scary BM with his new GF, the arrest, IE who can push, fear of losing her family name, her name.

As to the her mom’s side of the family. I don’t know MM2, but maybe her interests and lifestyle are different from their?

So: - this girl, who visually took after her mother,

- had to go through mother’s disappearance and before, had a conversation with the mom
- somehow ended with little support
- financially depends on her father
- lives with two avid hunters
- everywhere she goes, people discuss what happened in her family

I don’t think it is easy. If her mother could not leave the father for years, maybe it is not easy for a girl?

Don’t underestimate the manipulation she has to go through.

She might be asking herself about the reality of this situation, or she might have accepted what we are discussing here, but her father and sister are all that’s left of her family.
-

 

[Diddian]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>

I don't like that they are so defensive of BM, or distancing themselves so much from SM's family after the loss of SM.

But I think based on everything observed so far that those two young women have been seriously gaslighted by BM their entire lives. Imagine the twisted distortions this guy introduced in his quoting of scripture, and he likely similarly distorted or criticized anything that didn't make him king of everything (thus the distancing from SM's family). That is seriously messing with minds that are still being formed and presenting a view of the world that is far from reality.

Once their mother disappeared and it was increasingly apparent at the hands of another person (an extraordinarily traumatic experience), they sought refuge in their sole remaining parent and his family who've been very defensive of BM, and all that has been reinforced by his attorney who has been likewise.

Ordinarily, young women their ages would just be launching into their lives and gaining a lot more experience making judgments independent of their parents... thus, building their own integrity based on their own observations and experiences and the input of their own peers and other associates. However, the need of these two for refuge - from the pain and trauma of the loss as well as the impact of the investigation into what caused it - has instead blinded them to objectively considering anything that reveals they are taking their refuge with the monster who is responsible for all of it and the protectors of his monstering.

 

[10ofRods]

If I recall, some of the men whose DNA were included in the partial were located and ruled out as suspects. One of the men had a lawyer and planned to sue if any information about him was made public.

Does anyone else remember more about this?

I don't remember the lawsuit guy, but not surprised. A lot of people would sue. I think I would sue. I'm about to upload to Othram and give consent for my DNA to be used in criminal investigations and missing persons reconstructions, but NOT to be made public. I really don't think most judges would allow it to become public, though, and I trust Othram implicitly.

I do remember a point where I thought there were three partial matches (I'm going to keep calling them "cousins") of the Glovebox Guy. I thought those matches came from CODIS and that two of them were convicted felons, the third was from a rape kit. The felons were in prison at the time of Suzanne's disappearance and that was their alibi.

It's one of the best alibis there is. IMO. So the tech who touched the owner's manual has three cousins (probably quite distant, given how CODIS works) who are either convicted felons or sex offenders.

I know a lot of people that think they could never have such a terrible person on their family tree. Then I ask them to show me their family tree (and they barely have their grandparent data, and only know SOME of their aunts and uncles, etc). These partial matches result from genealogies that go back several (even many) generations.

Found a graphic:

Partial Matches • Overview

But for me, it's this quote (from that site) that tells the tale:

A partial match occurs when a Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) search is conducted and the results clearly show that the offender profile is not the source of the crime scene profile (also referred to as a forensic profile), but the possibility does exist that a close biological relative of the offender might be the source of the crime scene profile.

Whew. I just copied and pasted it into my notebook so I can use it again.

 

[TIGER0822]

Does anyone know how far away SM body was found from the (Salada?) jobsite Barry was ‘working’ on. The job where he forgot to deliver tools and bricks, and basically he gave his employees a couple of free nights hotwk accommodation, before they packed up and headed home.

 

[Puzzles8]

Her brother knew immediately upon arriving in Colorado and seeing where the bike was found that it had been staged .. and the mountain lion theory was ridiculous.
View attachment 450529View attachment 450530

I wonder if Barry's bleach was also used to get rid of skunk spray smell.

[...]
Skunk stink comes from a family of sulfur molecules called thiols. Hydrogen peroxide or bleach changes the molecule "to something that does not stink" by oxidizing it, said Theodore Stankowich, assistant professor at California State University, Long Beach, who runs a lab that studies skunk behavior.
[...]

Easy household remedy removes skunk smell

Buddy is a New York City dog, accustomed to bedtime walks around the block on a leash. But on family vacations in rural Maine, I let her out the back

pantagraph.com

IMO, it's actually pretty fitting to have Barry smelling like a skunk....

JMO

 

[10ofRods]

Exactly. Were the mechanics that have worked on this car in the past tested for DNA? That should have been done a long time ago to eliminate this “other male” theory!

It probably produced no results. People who work at car dealerships come and go frequently. So do the people who reach for the owners manual at oil change time.

It's impossible to eliminate people from a partial match, in any case.

And personally, I think disrupting the lives of every person who ever touched a belonging of a missing person is an ill-conceived way to go about using fragmentary DNA.

Do you feel strongly enough about it to advocate that Judges give broad warrants to take biological material from every workplace that is associated with stranger DNA on consumer products?

 

[Diddian]

Does anyone know how far away SM body was found from the (Salada?) jobsite Barry was ‘working’ on. The job where he forgot to deliver tools and bricks, and basically he gave his employees a couple of free nights hotwk accommodation, before they packed up and headed home.

That job site was in Broomfield, 3 hours north of the Morphew home near Salida.
SM's remains were found in the opposite direction, around 45 miles south of Salida.

Moffat, where SM's remains were found, is just short of 4 hours south of Broomfield.

 

[Bodhi]

He has a degree in Horticulture Production from Purdue.

I read the old arrest affidavit the other night. People interviewed in Indiana said planted trees at his nursery too deep or too shallow for the type of tree and they didn't do well. So a horticulture degree surprises me.

 

[Bodhi]

He was a student athlete at a college where most student athletes took the major of "landscaping/plant management."

He got into some trouble by assaulting a major client in Indiana and I don't think his reputation ever recovered. His landscaping of his own place on Puma Path was...desultory and not a good advertisement for his skills. He tended to concentrate on grading, gravel, concrete work, walls, etc. Not so much on actual landscape design (a college degree in landscaping makes one think...landscape design; with Barry it was "Bobcat skills, excavation, rock moving" (and to be fair, those skills are needed in CO).

Retaining walls made NOT according to code are the reason that the State of Colorado (where a friend of his got him a subcontract) rejected his build near the freeway in Broomfield. If you look at what he did and what is there now, you'll see why.

He was living off Suzanne's money (her father distributed her part of his children's inheritance early, IIRC). Not that he made NO money - he did. But he spent it really fast too.

I have no idea how he's making a living now.

Interesting. Thanks.

 

[justtrish]

Well isn’t that a forensic detective’s job? Find out the last maintenance date and test all mechanics that were present in the shop on that day. Just to rule out the “unknown male abductor” theory. How hard can it be?

We’re talking about a murder investigation here.

I'd say why even bother doing that if this DNA is a partial match. I have my DNA in 23andme. I have 4000+ partial matches for relatives of mine. Most of those are only matching a few tiny segments. So if some mechanic at a shop that worked on Suzanne's car is a partial match to a random sex offender.. how does knowing who that mechanic is lead to any possible single person? That random sex offender is not the person that left DNA. IT just sounds good for the defense to say they didn't investigate this "partial" match person. That would be like someone showing up to my house saying I am a partial match to one of those 4000 "relatives" I have in 23andme.. I don't know a single one of those people and have nothing to do with any of them other than some of their dna matches some of mine. If my DNA came up somewhere that was a partial match to some crime across the country.. how would talking to me help anything? The sex offender did not leave the DNA in her glove box some random relative of that sex offender did.

The defense will use any possible crumb to accuse LE of not investigating something. Meanwhile, Barry was leaving entire cookies of evidence of why they needed to look at him.