As we languish in forensic limbo awaiting some new relevant information, the link between Mr. Morphew and the burial site seems fertile ground for speculation. Here are a few dots that might be connected to a possible timeline and route of the disposal run.
I’ve plotted four locations from pages 22 and 23 in the Defense Preliminary Hearing Exhibit D. These represent the last four locations (other than a gas station and 8 minutes at a lot in Poncha Springs) of Mr. Morphew’s “Barry Skid”, i.e., Bobcat, just prior to Suzanne’s final independently verifiable communication around 2 PM on May 9 .
6900-7064 County Road 105, Salida (the “beach site”, later excavated by LE) -- On May 9 from 7:47 to 9:35AM (13:06 to 15:00 UTC, which is -6 hours from CO time)
10309 Hutchison, Poncha Springs – On May 9 from 12:06 to 1PM
19507 Puma Path -- On May 9 from 1:29 to 1:34PM
11-30 Rex Circle/7625 Hwy. 50, Salida (Diesslin Structures) -- On May 9 from 1:56 to 2:10PM
Mr. Morphew arrived at the marital home at 2:42PM.
Before delving into what the above locations might mean for the dump run, one wonders why the machine was briefly taken back home (17 minutes to the west) and then almost immediately back to the east (it’s 19 minutes from Puma Path to Diesslin Structures). This may have been thoroughly hashed out previously, but if not, more fertile speculative ground.
Back to the dots. There are several backroad routes from the beach site project to Highway 50 south of Poncha Springs (i.e., route to grave site). These slightly different routes are about 10 miles.
I found it interesting that these several back routes all go directly past the job site on Hutchison Lane as shown on figure below. From the point where the backroad route hits Highway 50, it is 37 miles south to the disposal ground. So, if Mr. Morphew was aware of these backroads, which I think is more than possible, these routes might have figured into his disposal plan.
Side note: the easiest beginner mountain bike trail in the Salida area is along one of the possible backroad routes; this area might have been known to Mr. Morphew from Suzanne’s then recently acquired mountain bike hobby.
So hypothetically, a possible timeline based on the report of a machine firing up at the beach site after midnight on May 10 could be:
- 12.30AM Leave beach site, take backroads past the Hutchison location (more on this below).
- Arrive at junction of County Rd. 115 and Highway 285 by 1:00AM or slightly earlier (10 miles)
- Arrive at burial site south of Moffat (37 mi) by 1:30AM or earlier.
- Shallow burial by 2:00 – 2:15AM
- Return to Puma Path by 3:00AM or so.
I would suggest the travel times could have been shorter if he was jamming and also, since we don’t really know the depth of burial, that time could have been relatively short.
So, if Mr. Morphew took this route, I’m wondering if the Hutchison Lane job site has anything to do with the choice or could lead to other corroborative evidence.
Some things I’m actively speculating upon –
1. How much Mr. Morphew considered the likely presence of cameras along main roads in selecting his route.
2. Did he take a quad to get to the Hutchison Lane site where something (like a vehicle or quad) might have been available to assist in the crime?
3. If the Hutchison site figures into his plan, it implies pre-planning, which may conflict with other theories about the murder (i.e., that he wigged out and spontaneously killed her when he came home on Friday afternoon and found her sexting with boyfriend).
4. Were there vehicles available to him at Diesslin Structures?
5. Even if he didn’t go from the beach site, could the Hutchison site figure into his disposal run somehow, given that it’s only about 2 miles by backroad from Highway 50.
Hopefully, the group can place some realistic constraints on this wild speculation.
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