Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *Case dismissed w/o prejudice* *found in 2023* #110

[Megnut]

Curious if she shared her location with Barry or the girls when she went biking for safety. Maybe not with BM if both SM and BM were having affairs and wanted privacy but in order for her to see the girls locations, I think she would need to share hers to them. So they may have wondered what was going on when they could not text her or see her location. I do wonder what they are hoping to find with her remains.

Perhaps that is why he had MM2's phone.

 

[Seattle1]

Perhaps that is why he had MM2's phone.

I want to say we learned somewhere that SM and MM2 shared locations but it wasn't iPhone find my friend/phone but the other service -- Life360. I'm also unsure how effective these search apps were around Salida with spotty cell coverage. JMO

‎Life360: Find Friends & Family

‎Stay connected and secure with Life360, the ultimate friend and family locator and location-tracking app. Whether at home, online, or on the move, our comprehensive family safety features bring peace of mind to your loved ones AND help safeguard your personal belongings. Experience location...

apps.apple.com

 

[Megnut]

Remember when the LEO was asking Barry questions that first night, about Suzanne's biking habits, wanting to know her routes? Barry was punting.

But in trying to remember-- the LEO says something about maybe sending someone up one way to check out basically where she might have been coming from IIRC. Barry cut that off. Which direction was that? I'm wondering now if it wasn't a tell. Nope, nobody look in that direction, look over here where all the stuffs are....

And wasn't it just a couple weeks later, Barry & Co had swept like 200 alps, from here to Switzerland?

Man, did he want her gone.

Peel it all back, that's all there was. He wanted her gone.

JMsadO

 

[SleuthBee]

Thank you everyone for your insightful posts. While we wait for more information on Suzanne’s remains, which fact based arguments you would use if you were on the Defense and the Prosecution side?

Prosecution: List every single lie BM was caught telling during the investigation. Innocent people DO NOT lie to LE and especially during an investigation of their missing loved one.

Lie #?: Barry repeatedly told LE he deleted arguments between he and SM on his phone because his daughters always look in his phone. But LE already askeded MM if she ever read the text messages on her parents phones and she stated that she never looks at their messages. AA pg 6

Lie #??: MM told LE her parents discussed divorce. BM told LE that divorce was never discussed. AA pg 6

Defense: Once the jury is convinced that BM lies about his lies, it's likely they won't believe anything that comes from him. Most people do not appreciate insults to their intelligence.

 

[al66pine]

A quarter of the deaths investigated?

Annual Coroner's Report

coroner.elpasoco.com

Found some of the info, facts, statistics etc interesting in these
Moo

@Lyanna Thanks for your post.
Anything in particular that's interesting?

This tidbit caught my attn.
"While many natural deaths can be certified by the decedent’s physician, approximately one quarter of deaths require further investigation to determine cause and manner of death and ensure public health and safety."

Annual Coroner's Report

coroner.elpasoco.com

A quarter of the deaths investigated? Not necessarily autopsied. Still,
that seems like a high % of deaths.

Nevertheless maybe autopsy report on SM will reveal CoD & MoD.
Hoping, hoping, hoping.

ETA: several places.
___________________________

BTW
Oct 5, when I posted same link as yours, most recent Annual Report posted online was 2020.
Since then, Coroner, PIO, or webmaster catching up by posting 2021 & 2022 reports?

2021 & 2022 reports did show higher numbers of autopsies than 2020 report.
From 2020 report:
"In addition to performing 920 autopsies on El Paso County Deaths, the office performed 373 autopsies for a fee for 21 surrounding counties."
"TOTAL CASES INVESTIGATED = 6037
TOTAL AUTOPSIES PERFORMED = 1293
(9% Increase over 2019)"

Found Deceased - CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *Case dismissed w/o prejudice* #109

I agree completely. If JL had come forward as soon as Suzanne went missing, the investigation may have had a different result. I’m curious why you think that, can you explain why?

www.websleuths.com

 

[SleuthBee]

From 2020 report:
"In addition to performing 920 autopsies on El Paso County Deaths, the office performed 373 autopsies for a fee for 21 surrounding counties."
"TOTAL CASES INVESTIGATED = 6037
TOTAL AUTOPSIES PERFORMED = 1293
(9% Increase over 2019)"

@Lyanna Thank you for the link to the El Paso Cnty 2022 Coroner's Report.

@al66pine Your post inspired me to dig a bit further for the reason for the surrounding county autopsy requests and I learned something I didn't realize before. A coroner is not a medical professional. Why I thought otherwise is a mystery to me.

A coroner is an elected or appointed official who investigates deaths in a specific jurisdiction. They may notify the family of the deceased, sign the death certificate, and return belongings to the family. Coroners usually work in association with the sheriff's depart.

Saguache County Coroner's office consists of one coroner, where El Paso County's has:

• 5 Board certified forensic pathologists
• 3 Associate Coroners (All physicians)
• 3 Administrative staff
• 10 Death Investigators
• 4 Toxicologists
• 1 Histologist
• 6 Morgue techs

And the average number of days for an autopsy is 40 days with some taking longer than 60. Suzanne's body was discovered on 9/22, so there's a way to go. Maybe the end of November (?). So for those who can become glued to a case, it might be wise to get holiday shopping done early.

Nevertheless maybe autopsy report on SM will reveal CoD & MoD.
Hoping, hoping, hoping.

Me too. Suzanne deserves justice

 

[Hilt]

Thank you everyone for your insightful posts. While we wait for more information on Suzanne’s remains, which fact based arguments you would use if you were on the Defense and the Prosecution side?

It seems to some (i.e. me) that the prosecution’s case has a lot to work with, so there are many options for how they tell the story and the order of witnesses and evidence presentation. I offer a crude outline of sorts for some big points. The collective knowledge (and likely better memory) of this group can no doubt expand this 10 or 100-fold.

Means

• Tranquilizers
• Guns
• Physical strength

Motive

• Divorce
• Suspicions or knowledge of affair
• Money
• Self esteem (image) issues if she left

Opportunity

• Long period of unaccounted for time alone with Suzanne
• Children gone
• Occurred in dead of night in very remote area
• Neither communicated directly with anyone from the afternoon of 9th to late morning (or possibly later) on the 10th.

Conscious of Guilt

• Proven falsehoods (state of their marriage, previous physical abuse and many more)
• Many changes in his story during his interviews with LE made to try and conform with what he knew or thought LE had proof of (like turning west and going by the helmet dump location)
• Ridiculous amount of things he “can’t recall” (among them broken bedroom door and daughter's stripped bed).
• Trash disposal at multiple points, including many things he couldn’t recall, though he did remember tranquilizer waste and “old boots”. ((likely the one’s he’d been wearing vey recently until they rather abruptly wore out).
• Illogic and falsehoods about the wall job (need to leave at 5AM, employees unaware of work schedule, spends 20 minutes at site, the lie about call to neighbor from jobsite….….."
• Staging bike “incident” (no indication of crash, helmet far away, her shades, wallet, camel back in car, cell phone gone)
• Selling assets, hooking up with new woman rather rapidly (given she was still technically missing)

There is no other remotely plausible perpetrator.

• No one known to Suzanne, other than her husband, had motive, means or opportunity (the boyfriend has been conclusively ruled out)
• No one unknown to Suzanne would stage the bike and helmet (but obviously Mr. Morphew would have clear M,M & O to do so and admits driving past the locations of both bike and helmet in the dark the day Suzanne is reported missing).

I’ve got to think a bit more about what will comprise the case for the defense (have to pick up an economy sized bottle of Pepto Bismol first). One would think it should include explaining away the above as innocent coincidence, misunderstandings, shaken memory due to the trauma of his wife’s disappearance, flawed police work, bad cell phone reception, and unreliable witnesses (the meth heads and drug addicts).

I would expect various affirmative defenses as well (such as his truck and phone records suggesting he couldn’t have travelled to the burial site). Gonna give this some more thought, but I’m anticipating theatrics, ala the OJ trial. I could see the defense strategy including homage to Johnny Cochrane, something like:

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the State has not been able to prove the precise location where Suzanne was murdered! I submit you must find Mr. Morphew not guilty because, If they can’t say where he did it, they can’t say Barry did it!!”

 

[Kemug]

Remember when the LEO was asking Barry questions that first night, about Suzanne's biking habits, wanting to know her routes? Barry was punting.

But in trying to remember-- the LEO says something about maybe sending someone up one way to check out basically where she might have been coming from IIRC. Barry cut that off. Which direction was that? I'm wondering now if it wasn't a tell. Nope, nobody look in that direction, look over here where all the stuffs are....

And wasn't it just a couple weeks later, Barry & Co had swept like 200 alps, from here to Switzerland?

Man, did he want her gone.

Peel it all back, that's all there was. He wanted her gone.

JMsadO

So, I wonder if he's happy now that she's gone?

 

[Megnut]

So, I wonder if he's happy now that she's gone?

He's probably found new things to control and be angry about.

Bobcats don't change their... spots.

JMO

 

[Lyanna]

A quarter of the deaths investigated?

@Lyanna Thanks for your post.
Anything in particular that's interesting?

This tidbit caught my attn.
"While many natural deaths can be certified by the decedent’s physician, approximately one quarter of deaths require further investigation to determine cause and manner of death and ensure public health and safety."

Annual Coroner's Report

coroner.elpasoco.com

A quarter of the deaths investigated? Not necessarily autopsied. Still,
that seems like a high % of deaths.

Nevertheless maybe autopsy report on SM will reveal CoD & MoD.
Hoping, hoping, hoping.

ETA: several places.
___________________________

BTW
Oct 5, when I posted same link as yours, most recent Annual Report posted online was 2020.
Since then, Coroner, PIO, or webmaster catching up by posting 2021 & 2022 reports?

2021 & 2022 reports did show higher numbers of autopsies than 2020 report.
From 2020 report:
"In addition to performing 920 autopsies on El Paso County Deaths, the office performed 373 autopsies for a fee for 21 surrounding counties."
"TOTAL CASES INVESTIGATED = 6037
TOTAL AUTOPSIES PERFORMED = 1293
(9% Increase over 2019)"

Found Deceased - CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *Case dismissed w/o prejudice* #109

I agree completely. If JL had come forward as soon as Suzanne went missing, the investigation may have had a different result. I’m curious why you think that, can you explain why?

www.websleuths.com

Hi
nothing in particular stood out, just found the stats interesting
Never read a coroners annual report before

Moo

 

[Lyanna]

@Lyanna Thank you for the link to the El Paso Cnty 2022 Coroner's Report.

@al66pine Your post inspired me to dig a bit further for the reason for the surrounding county autopsy requests and I learned something I didn't realize before. A coroner is not a medical professional. Why I thought otherwise is a mystery to me.

A coroner is an elected or appointed official who investigates deaths in a specific jurisdiction. They may notify the family of the deceased, sign the death certificate, and return belongings to the family. Coroners usually work in association with the sheriff's depart.

Saguache County Coroner's office consists of one coroner, where El Paso County's has:

• 5 Board certified forensic pathologists
• 3 Associate Coroners (All physicians)
• 3 Administrative staff
• 10 Death Investigators
• 4 Toxicologists
• 1 Histologist
• 6 Morgue techs

And the average number of days for an autopsy is 40 days with some taking longer than 60. Suzanne's body was discovered on 9/22, so there's a way to go. Maybe the end of November (?). So for those who can become glued to a case, it might be wise to get holiday shopping done early.



Me too. Suzanne deserves justice

Was on there trying to see if the report could be requested, which it can. Can take 4 - 12 weeks from autopsy to completion of report iirc. Won't release homicide autopsy without written approval from the DA office.
We have a long wait ahead, will wait for as long as it takes to see Suzanne have her justice and voice heard.

Moo

 

[FromGermany1]

He's probably found new things to control and be angry about.

Bobcats don't change their... spots.

JMO

BM has to control all the people, who still think, he murdered Suzanne. He has a lot to do with it, for years. Meanwhile always fearing, his own family might one day in the future get a light bulb light up above their head. He will have many sorrows - right so, IMO.

 

[Hilt]

A Tale of Two Pities

The contrast between the two family announcements upon the discovery of Suzanne’s remains is stark in the extreme.

Mr. Morphew’s statement (via counsel) on September 28 and the Moorman family in Indiana’s statement both acknowledge their deep love for Suzanne and sorrow/heartbreak at this final confirmation of her death. But from there the tone and substance of the two statements diverge wildly.

One half of Mr. Morphew’s statement, was essentially a trashing of LE:

"Neither the DA nor the authorities notified Mallory and Macy Morphew about the recovery of their mom."

"From what we know, Barry is as innocent as he was from Day 1. DA Stanley and law enforcement got it wrong. We hope the authorities will quickly admit their wrongful persecution of Barry, an innocent man, to treat the Morphew's like the victims they are, and charge the person(s) responsible for Suzanne's killing."

Contrarily, the Moorman family statement included a special shout out to Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze, his staff, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, and the FBI for their work.

Mr. Morphew’s statement also failed to mention two points that the Moorman’s loudly called out:

1. Gratitude to the many volunteers and citizens of the County who searched and provided support to the cause of finding Suzanne.

2. Justice for Suzanne in the form of a successful prosecution of “those involved in her disappearance.” (it’s worth noting that there is no finger-point at Mr. Morphew here)

The cavernous divergence between the two statements, I would suggest, reflects the two obviously different motives in their crafting.

One is a sincere and truthful call for justice. The other is a deceitful stratagem to circumvent justice.

 

[Lyanna]

The other is a deceitful stratagem to circumvent justice

It's disgusting, isn't it?

MOO

 

[Kemug]

A Tale of Two Pities

The contrast between the two family announcements upon the discovery of Suzanne’s remains is stark in the extreme.

Mr. Morphew’s statement (via counsel) on September 28 and the Moorman family in Indiana’s statement both acknowledge their deep love for Suzanne and sorrow/heartbreak at this final confirmation of her death. But from there the tone and substance of the two statements diverge wildly.

One half of Mr. Morphew’s statement, was essentially a trashing of LE:

"Neither the DA nor the authorities notified Mallory and Macy Morphew about the recovery of their mom."

"From what we know, Barry is as innocent as he was from Day 1. DA Stanley and law enforcement got it wrong. We hope the authorities will quickly admit their wrongful persecution of Barry, an innocent man, to treat the Morphew's like the victims they are, and charge the person(s) responsible for Suzanne's killing."

Contrarily, the Moorman family statement included a special shout out to Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze, his staff, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, and the FBI for their work.

Mr. Morphew’s statement also failed to mention two points that the Moorman’s loudly called out:

1. Gratitude to the many volunteers and citizens of the County who searched and provided support to the cause of finding Suzanne.

2. Justice for Suzanne in the form of a successful prosecution of “those involved in her disappearance.” (it’s worth noting that there is no finger-point at Mr. Morphew here)

The cavernous divergence between the two statements, I would suggest, reflects the two obviously different motives in their crafting.

One is a sincere and truthful call for justice. The other is a deceitful stratagem to circumvent justice.

I should imagine the two families were always very different. Part of what went wrong with the marriage.

 

[Verboten]

As we await some fresh information to emerge after the recovery of Suzanne’s remains, I would like to get some group speculation on whether the finding of her remains actually occurred while LE was “searching” for Edna Quintana.

I'd say it’s certainly possible that a drone/aerial search may have detected the area as a possible disposal site, or that someone stumbled on some remains and alerted LE, who assumed they were related to Ms. Quintana, at least during the initial dispatch. However, I wonder if it might be some “fake news”.

LE is known to give false information in press releases if circumstances warrant. As such, one wonders if there could be some tactical reason for misrepresenting the origins of the discovery. The reason I think this is not entirely implausible is the location in relation to the Quintana disappearance.

I believe it's highly likely LE does not want to reveal what REALLY led them to the area (protection of witness, etc). I definitely do wonder if the press release was misleading in this respect.

 

[FromGermany1]

I believe it's highly likely LE does not want to reveal what REALLY led them to the area (protection of witness, etc). I definitely do wonder if the press release was misleading in this respect.

IF, one can be thankful for every witness, who comes forward despite of fear.

 

[rainbowshummingbird]

IF, one can be thankful for every witness, who comes forward despite of fear.

Yes, I wondered the same. There was a new flyer released after Suzanne’s remains were recovered. The flyer stated that LE “had no new information“ on the case. I suspect that if they actually had no new information, then they wouldn’t explicitly state it.

 

[Boxer]

I believe it's highly likely LE does not want to reveal what REALLY led them to the area (protection of witness, etc). I definitely do wonder if the press release was misleading in this respect.

The announcement did have something about it that invited questioning.
But it's also true if someone parked at the corner for some reason they might have seen a bone and called it in.
I have seen a lot of critter bones out walking in terrain like that, and I think a many bones of a human would immediately cause an observer to wonder. Like a skull for sure, but other ones too.

 

[Megnut]

Reiterating my theory -- because I can't shake it.

I think Barry left PP around 11 pm. With a cooler. Used an ATV to gain access to another truck. Fire house....

Barry's attempt to bury Suzanne under the foundation at the beach site, thwarted.

Why Moffat? It's all he had time for.

Entirely possible he expected to go back and do a better job later, when no one was looking, but didn't dare after all eyes were on him. Too paranoid to risk returning to the scene.....

It's possible he was driving another truck at 11, drove back to PP, hitched his trailer, and drove to the beach site... this would account for the dog alerts. Early for cadaverine, but he'd be 9 hours out so maybe...

If he left the beach at 12:30am, he had to book it out toward Moffat in order to do his deed and get the rogue vehicle back, ATV home again, and be ready for his fake start to his fake work day.

IMO Barry started with about 4 hours to work with. Ate up a chunk at the beach site, a wasted effort, leaving him barely 2 hours to get Suzanne as far away as the time would allow.

Rush job.

JMO