Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #56 *ARREST*

[Area52]

Inmate Morphew has definitely had plastic surgery, specifically blepharoplasty (eye surgery) looking at a comparison of photos. Vain little *******! MOO

I guess he was trying to fix those "Lying EYES " IMO it didn't work!

 

[Stripehaven]

Reminds me of the Karen Ristevski case here in Australia.

I still can’t wrap my head around that daughter. And there was another case here in the US (can’t recall the names) where a man hired someone to shoot his wife as she answered the door. The woman survived but was terribly injured. The man had a GF (surprise!) and wanted the wife gone. Their daughters were on Dateline and acted like, “Oh, that dad! He’s such a scamp!” Unnerving.

 

[MsBetsy]

I think they did likely find some blood/tissue evidence at the house, @MsBetsy. The problem was, BM had created an alibi and if the evidence was fresh, it may not have been possible to prove right away if it had been left before or after 5:00 am on Mother’s Day when BM said he had left SM sleeping. Labs for both forensic and digital testing were experiencing months long delays due to COVID-19.
LE got a second search warrant for the home on July 9th, almost two months to the day that SM went missing. I think they finally got some lab results from the first search which gave them enough probable cause to get a second warrant. A simple example might be that they found a stain which could be blood but it was not confirmed until 2 months later. This coupled with some digital evidence that was starting to trickle back in and evidence that BM had lied to LE could have been enough to get them the second search warrant.
The digital analysis can take many months. You have phones, tablets, computers, certain watches like Fitbit, vehicle gps, security footage, etc. once you see what is on those devices, you have to track that information back. For instance, if BM made a call at 4:00 am on 5/10, who did he call? Where did he call from? Was he in his vehicle? The person he called has to be interviewed. They may need to get a warrant for that person’s phone records and they have to wait again. Or SM’s phone shows a text to a friend in IN at such and such a time on Saturday. That person has to be interviewed. It is one thing to get the records back, it is another thing to analyze those records to decipher what they are telling you. Then you have to go to conduct interviews in several states.
If LE got a call to the home and BM was standing there with a smoking gun and SM was dead on the floor, you could probably make a quick arrest. However, with crafty alibis, planted evidence, lies and deceit, it does take a good deal longer.
Remember, LE has one shot at this and they want to get it right.
MOO

That could be. I think it depends on the cause of death. If he stabbed, shot or bludgeoned her I think they would definitely find evidence pointing to that. If the cause of death was asphyxiation or drowning, I don't think there would be much blood or tissue to be found. Imo

 

[MsBetsy]

Delete double post.

 

[DizzyB]

I still can’t wrap my head around that daughter. And there was another case here in the US (can’t recall the names) where a man hired someone to shoot his wife as she answered the door. The woman survived but was terribly injured. The man had a GF (surprise!) and wanted the wife gone. Their daughters were on Dateline and acted like, “Oh, that dad! He’s such a scamp!” Unnerving.

“Oh, that dad! He’s such a scamp!”

Oh that Barry! This is going to be in my head forever.

 

[EggSalad]

If BM were to obtain new counsel, a filing related to that would appear here, right?

Colorado Judicial Branch

 

[K9Enzo]

I listened to a Dateline (podcast) episode Window of Opportunity where a MI man was arrested and convicted of murdering his wife. One of the children (daughter 21-ish) was interviewed by Dateline. Even after her dad continued to lie after accepting a plea deal, she still supports and loves her dad. Sounds like she continues a relationship with him in prison. It was interesting to hear her explain how she separated his actions (murder) of her mother, and her relationship with him as her dad. IIRC a friend of the mom described the dad as a "Disney dad". IMO

https://podcasts.podinstall.com/nbc-news-dateline-nbc/202105111000-window-opportunity.html

 

[Error505]

If they have proof she’s not alive, I think they have evidence of her blood loss that is substantial enough to be incompatible with life.

I think most of the evidence will be based on technology and will center around digital records - cell, text, and GPS.

Suzanne’s phone not being found will play a role in proving the alleged bike ride was staged. Had she been biking, she would have likely had her phone with her. (If not, then it would have been found at the house.) If it was not at the house, then why was it not found at the scene of the “mountain lion attack”?

If she were abducted, the phone would have pinged beyond the point of the bike scene, unless it were immediately turned off, which again - would have shown a last ping at the scene. If she had been abducted and forced into a vehicle, her phone records would indicate that her rate of movement would have increased in speed rapidly, as if she went from running to traveling in a car.

jmo

Yes, 11 days processing the home on 1st search warrant and the smell of bleach in the home, I tend to think definitely evidence was found!

I’m pretty confident that the 2 searches of the PP home will be major drivers of the evidence.

It seems like blood or DNA evidence found in the home will be very important.

I have a feeling that troves of digital evidence will also come into play. Messages sent prior and during that weekend, data, locations, on/off network, gps, social media, devices used and by whom, etc...

And I think there could be a wild card; something like evidence found at that Salida job site dig the FBI did or maybe a search we do not know about such as an of the M’s vehicles.

Agree with evidence in the home. Digital evidence will be huge, agree!

I think there was a good amount of blood somewhere in the Morphew home and Barry cleaned it up with bleach or some other cleaning product. The FBI then used luminol to find any traces of blood and I think they found a lot of it.

I do think the Morphew home is where the crime was committed. When the FBI was doing search warrants on the home, Barry was seen acting crazy and observing on the hill above their house. I personally don’t think no innocent person would be acting like that. And the fact that he sold the house so quickly. I bet he was having nightmares that was eating him alive. Suzanne was haunting him

All MOO

I agree the major crime scene was in the home. Something was found. Delays of lab results can account for time putting case together.

Generally in a no body case they need to find enough blood, tissue, bone fragments, etc to indicate the person could not have survived. I don't think LE found enough physical evidence in the house or they would have charged him sooner.

I do think they have an abundance of circumstantial evidence but I'm not sure what the physical evidence could be.

Another thing that can prove a no body case is a confession to another person. It's possible that Barry could have said something incriminating to someone close to him. Imo

Agree, circumstantial evidence will be abundant. A possible confession to maybe a gf? I can only hope she was wearing a wire! HA! I’d be over the moon with a taped confession!

 

[Error505]

I think they did likely find some blood/tissue evidence at the house, @MsBetsy. The problem was, BM had created an alibi and if the evidence was fresh, it may not have been possible to prove right away if it had been left before or after 5:00 am on Mother’s Day when BM said he had left SM sleeping. Labs for both forensic and digital testing were experiencing months long delays due to COVID-19.
LE got a second search warrant for the home on July 9th, almost two months to the day that SM went missing. I think they finally got some lab results from the first search which gave them enough probable cause to get a second warrant. A simple example might be that they found a stain which could be blood but it was not confirmed until 2 months later. This coupled with some digital evidence that was starting to trickle back in and evidence that BM had lied to LE could have been enough to get them the second search warrant.
The digital analysis can take many months. You have phones, tablets, computers, certain watches like Fitbit, vehicle gps, security footage, etc. once you see what is on those devices, you have to track that information back. For instance, if BM made a call at 4:00 am on 5/10, who did he call? Where did he call from? Was he in his vehicle? The person he called has to be interviewed. They may need to get a warrant for that person’s phone records and they have to wait again. Or SM’s phone shows a text to a friend in IN at such and such a time on Saturday. That person has to be interviewed. It is one thing to get the records back, it is another thing to analyze those records to decipher what they are telling you. Then you have to go to conduct interviews in several states.
If LE got a call to the home and BM was standing there with a smoking gun and SM was dead on the floor, you could probably make a quick arrest. However, with crafty alibis, planted evidence, lies and deceit, it does take a good deal longer.
Remember, LE has one shot at this and they want to get it right.
MOO

Excellent post @OldCop it’s easy to forget the enormous team effort from investigators to lab technicians put into solving these murders and the length of time it takes just getting results from labs.

 

[Janeumayer]

I still can’t wrap my head around that daughter. And there was another case here in the US (can’t recall the names) where a man hired someone to shoot his wife as she answered the door. The woman survived but was terribly injured. The man had a GF (surprise!) and wanted the wife gone. Their daughters were on Dateline and acted like, “Oh, that dad! He’s such a scamp!” Unnerving.

That was Mary Jo Buttafuoco in the Amy Fisher Case “The Long Island Lolita”.

Sex, Lies and Attempted Murder: an Inside Look at 1992's Shocking 'Long Island Lolita' Case

 

[genuineusa77]

I cannot figure out the evidence they would have. Their house was searched two times awhile back, no arrest, vehicles checked out, no arrest, his alibi for MD checked out, no arrest. By now phones have long been checked out, no arrest. I don't know about Suzanne's phone (not found??) What would they have? Lots of hearsay and gossip but that is not proof.

 

[fcavanaugh]

I think they did likely find some blood/tissue evidence at the house, @MsBetsy. The problem was, BM had created an alibi and if the evidence was fresh, it may not have been possible to prove right away if it had been left before or after 5:00 am on Mother’s Day when BM said he had left SM sleeping. Labs for both forensic and digital testing were experiencing months long delays due to COVID-19.
LE got a second search warrant for the home on July 9th, almost two months to the day that SM went missing. I think they finally got some lab results from the first search which gave them enough probable cause to get a second warrant. A simple example might be that they found a stain which could be blood but it was not confirmed until 2 months later. This coupled with some digital evidence that was starting to trickle back in and evidence that BM had lied to LE could have been enough to get them the second search warrant.
The digital analysis can take many months. You have phones, tablets, computers, certain watches like Fitbit, vehicle gps, security footage, etc. once you see what is on those devices, you have to track that information back. For instance, if BM made a call at 4:00 am on 5/10, who did he call? Where did he call from? Was he in his vehicle? The person he called has to be interviewed. They may need to get a warrant for that person’s phone records and they have to wait again. Or SM’s phone shows a text to a friend in IN at such and such a time on Saturday. That person has to be interviewed. It is one thing to get the records back, it is another thing to analyze those records to decipher what they are telling you. Then you have to go to conduct interviews in several states.
If LE got a call to the home and BM was standing there with a smoking gun and SM was dead on the floor, you could probably make a quick arrest. However, with crafty alibis, planted evidence, lies and deceit, it does take a good deal longer.
Remember, LE has one shot at this and they want to get it right.
MOO

I agree @OldCop. It sure if SM’s death was the result of strangulation or injury with tissue/blood loss. There was enough blood found in Jennifer Dulos’s garage to prove loss of life. They also had FD on video surveillance with his accomplice MT riding shotgun, disposing trash bags of evidence all over Hartford, CT, and cameras catching him on that BIKE in Jennifer’s neighborhood, and monster FD wasn’t arrested until 8-9 months later, and this was pre CV19.
Poor Jennifer, another beautiful soul taken too soon, and her remains still not found. Five small children left Motherless, and selfish coward “Father” decided to off himself rather than face the consequences. It’s all so tragic.

Yes they only get one shot at this, and I also believe CV19 slowed some things down in this case, like getting lab test results etc.


IMHOO

#FindSuzanne
#BringSuzanneHome
#JusticeForSuzanne

 

[Janeumayer]

I wanted to remind our fellow members to update our Suzanne Morphew Media Thread: CO - CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 , MEDIA,MAPS,TIMELINE *NO DISCUSSION* every time they post a media link or article here. Thanks for your help!

 

[nyvictoria]

I agree with evidence is the home, too, especially given that Andy said he was told the house smelled of bleach. I just can’t see Barry going hands-on with strangulation. That takes time and I think for all his macho bravado, he’s really a coward at heart.

While I believe he planned to murder Suzanne for a while, something happened that necessitated the hasty and badly thrown together alibi. Do we know if Barry has a handgun? My Dad was an avid hunter. He owned several rifles, and taught me to shoot at a young age, but he didn’t have any handguns. I can see Barry sneaking up behind Suzanne and shooting her.

 

[EggSalad]

I cannot figure out the evidence they would have. Their house was searched two times awhile back, no arrest, vehicles checked out, no arrest, his alibi for MD checked out, no arrest. By now phones have long been checked out, no arrest. I don't know about Suzanne's phone (not found??) What would they have? Lots of hearsay and gossip but that is not proof.

Serving a search warrant is not going to immediately lead to an arrest in a no body case.

LE has been filling their envelope as AM told us.

Hopefully we get a peak into that envelope today or tomorrow. I suspect it will contain a lot.

 

[Janeumayer]

LE mentioning the word “incident” makes me think they have either video or sound recording of it. MOO

 

[K9Enzo]

I cannot figure out the evidence they would have. Their house was searched two times awhile back, no arrest, vehicles checked out, no arrest, his alibi for MD checked out, no arrest. By now phones have long been checked out, no arrest. I don't know about Suzanne's phone (not found??) What would they have? Lots of hearsay and gossip but that is not proof.

Very much looking forward to the AA as well. I agree with you, there is so much hearsay and gossip in this case. Until LE & the DA, those officially assigned to this case, say so, it's all speculation in my view.

It's possible they had evidence of a crime in the home months ago. I'll even go with blood evidence or other biological evidence, they still had to connect that to BM and not another perpetrator. With his arrest and charges last week they did. The timeline of their evidence will also be interesting. IMO

 

[mrsu]

Inmate Morphew has definitely had plastic surgery, specifically blepharoplasty (eye surgery) looking at a comparison of photos. Vain little *******! MOO

Probably not but it could have been something that was also medically necessary. My MIL had to have this done because her eyelids were starting to impact her vision and Inmate’s do look close to being on his eyelashes. But again, I couldn’t imagine doing such a thing while a loved one was missing.

 

[DizzyB]

Very much looking forward to the AA as well. I agree with you, there is so much hearsay and gossip in this case. Until LE & the DA, those officially assigned to this case, say so, it's all speculation in my view.

It's possible they had evidence of a crime in the home months ago. I'll even go with blood evidence or other biological evidence, they still had to connect that to BM and not another perpetrator. With his arrest and charges last week they did. The timeline of their evidence will also be interesting. IMO

Could former documented incidents of domestic violence play a role?

 

[EggSalad]

Murder one is a pretty high threshold for a no body case, right? I started down the no body murder conviction road to see and stumbled upon the below article, which cites something I remember Chris discussing on PE-the three legs of the stool. I am thinking technology is going to be the first leg. Another leg will be family/friends testimony, but it’s that third leg I am thinking about-did Barry confess to someone? No Corpse? No Problem. Notable Murder Convictions Without a Body

I never figured BM would confess but that is an interesting point. I doubt BM would confess to LE, but I could see a scenario where he might confess to another woman that he had romantic interests in. And maybe LE profiled him well enough to realize chasing after women was one of BM’s weaknesses.

That could explain why CM thought BM was about to flee, had a trailer packed up and his windows open acting paranoid. Maybe in the past few weeks LE got a recording of BM confessing via a CI. Then that woman started distancing herself from BM since they had what they needed and BM realized he screwed himself and was about to run.


Or maybe I watch too many movies.