But Barry was so sure in his own mind that everyone would believe him, as an upstanding Saliva citizen ,that he never thought his mountain lion story would be questioned. I think he really believed local L.E would take minimal time questioning him about his alibi and would take his word he was out of town and Suzanne went out on Sunday morning for a bike ride . I think he would have been totally shocked to have been prevented from entering his home and the subsequent LE investigation. He then was on the backfoot trying to cover up what happened over the whole weekend and answer questions he never thought he would be asked
I think you're on the right track about Barry's state of mind, but I think it goes very deep into his past. He's used to mixing problematic truths with outright lies and having his family (particularly the women) simply believe and trust him. Others out in the world sometimes do the same, but I think he really fails to realize how often people see right through him. His crowd of admiring women and girls keep him from seeing that others find some of his statements bizarre.
So yeah, he's still shocked and blown away by not being able to use his usual tactics of getting away with increasingly antisocial behavior.
For example, he admits to the FBI that yeah, he sent in Suzanne's ballot. He doesn't lie. He gives an excuse that he thinks they'll find acceptable. After a week or so without further contact from the FBI, he figures things are going his way - as usual. He was wrong, he is probably lying in his cell thinking over all the things he did actually admit to...and wondering why he did that. He does it because he knows that truth telling (especially trickle truthing) has worked for him in the past, many many times. I bet he has a whole history of not being where he says he's going to be, not showing up for jobs and making excuses (which he thinks people are believing - they're not).
Only his mom, perhaps his sisters and his wife/daughters were believing all of it. The way loving people do.
As far as I can recall, I have the details straight. It was reported in MSM that he was seen going through the trash, then he knocked on the window after he was seen.
So yes I think he did that in CYA mode to make up some excuse as to why he was there, after hours, going through the garbage can. It couldn't have been a very big secret op since the trash can is directly in front of the store, in full view of the public.
Either way this all went down, I sure do hope we learn what the heck he was really doing there, and how or even if it means anything. It's just another very curious part of the puzzle that still doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense yet.
jmo
@OldCop found the media article you reference - yes, the young man did see him first. But he still did this unusual thing of knocking on the window to talk to them. The way I hear the woman's words is that only then did she realize it was Barry Morphew. Was he that paranoid that he felt he needed to offer an explanation?
From what we can tell via the first reporter on scene (Lauren S has a fairly recent interview with that reporter - I can't remember her name), almost no one in Salida knew Suzanne was missing at that point. So Barry's best bet, were he doing something nefarious in the trash can, would have been to skulk off and hope they didn't properly remember him (maybe he thought they had cameras? maybe they did - but I can't see any on pictures of their store).
Your question about what the heck he was *really* doing there, well, I immediately thought of all the meth heads I've interviewed who dug through trash to recover drugs they'd thrown away in a panic (meth heads are paranoid and tend to think there are cops everywhere - the throwaway event, at the time, is usually part of a sudden desire to overcome their addiction - because they are high at the time; when they come down, they really really *really* want those drugs back).
Obviously, that's a pretty outlandish guess, but it's as good as any guess because the behavior makes no sense. Did he in fact recover something (the helmet?) from the trash can without either employee noticing, take it to his truck, stow it, then come back and knock on the window?
If so, I sure hope they have CC cameras in their parking lot (but I'm not optimistic at all about that).