Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #62 *ARREST*

[iQuill]

Still impatiently waiting ...

 

[rainbowshummingbird]

I think it was a normal camp out that happens all the time where the older went to college even during covid…lotsa open space in Colorado. Lotsa camp outs on weekends and between semesters. And many kids stayed in their off campus apartments in 2020. I think Barry and Suzanne let the younger join her sister and whoever else was camping out. Not everything is going to be suspicious that “sleuths” have speculated about.

Driving to Idaho to camp doesn’t seem that “normal”, especially being that they both already lived nearby numerous camping spots.

 

[Deleted member 222031]

If his defense team is reading websleuths as a source for building their case, BM is in more trouble than I thought.

Right?! No time to redact the AA but plenty of time to lurk here.

 

[10ofRods]

One puzzle piece I look forward to for clarification is who arranged the daughters' trip. Considering that travel was extremely limited at that time, in addition to the MD weekend, that trip has always seemed off. If evidence exists that BM arranged the trip, the circumstances may go far to indicate premeditation.

You and me both. I think it's fair to speculate that it was entirely planned by Barry. But I want to know the exact conditions. Part of me thinks that there was never any plan for the daughters to return for Mother's Day.

There were legal bans against interstate non-essential travel at the time, so that tells us something about whoever organized and paid for it.

I am going to bet tons of internet donuts that Barry organized and paid for it (and may have had help organizing it).

 

[jondaba]

Judge did not sign the AA.

Affidavits are not signed by judges. AA's are signed by investigators (usually the lead LE investigator). There can be more than one signature. I wouldn't be surprised if there is more than one signature on this AA, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's only one signature.

The Judge is making a legal determination based on facts sworn to by. other parties. The document in which those parties swear to the facts is called an Affidavit (not a brief, not a motion, not an order).

The Judge signed an order, not an Affidavit. His order is public. There is no argument about the public nature of the judge's Order. It's signed and delivered.

It's the Affidavit that many of us want to see (IOW, what does LE have against Barry that is so persuasive that a Judge weighed this heavy matter and came down with an ORDER to ARREST Barry Morphew).

Barry is in jail not because the Judge went and investigated him - he is in jail because investigators swore to the Judge that they had the facts to nail him, and the Judge, after deliberation agreed with them.

And the ball really is in the Defense's court now - as the Judge said, they are entitled now to begin their own investigation and to present those findings at the preliminary hearing.

One small point: the Judge did not agree “they had the facts to nail him”. The Judge determined that IF THE SWORN FACTS WERE PROVEN TO BE TRUE AT TRIAL, they will have nailed him.

 

[jondaba]

OMG, I bet his defense team is reading here and getting all kinds of ideas. If I see this during the trial, I'll totally melt down.

I don’t think Les Gals Legals need our help.

 

[Hatch]

It’s my understanding that the DA asked for the arrest warrant to be sealed, so as not to tip off BM via a court filing that he was about to be arrested.

The justification was that he was a flight risk due to the liquidation of assets, and him telling people that he had plans to move to Arizona.

So I could see the judge reading through the AA, realizing at the time that some of the content was problematic, but signing it anyways because it both met the burden, and time was of the essence.

@MassGuy good to hear your to cents! Longtime coming but it happened. The scales of Justice will balance for Suzanne also.IMO

 

[MassGuy]

@MassGuy good to hear your to cents! Longtime coming but it happened. The scales of Justice will balance for Suzanne also.IMO

Yup, it was only a matter of when. It was clear all along this was a homicide investigation, and Barry was the prime suspect.

I started getting excited when the DA said she was going to be speaking with Lauren, and appeared on Mike’s show.

It seemed like a victory lap, just in reverse. Then the shoe dropped, right on Barry’s neck.

 

[jondaba]

Me too.

And the redactions will be almost automatic and uncontroversial (the two sides will not sulk around in front of the Judge, having already agreed).

OTOH, those two lady lawyers who are defending Barry have their hands full. Given that somehow, LE has managed to amass 129 pages against Barry, it's super unlikely they can get even 1/5th of it redacted. Media will sue - again.

Because...we have a right to know what our police are up to, and what they are claiming. If the Judge manages to delay all this until after trial - okay. I guess. But srsly, everyone who is following this case needs to think hard about the fact that LE was able to swear to 129 pages of facts that show Barry Morphew killed his wife. On or about May 10.

Exactly, as the old joke goes, they don’t don’t say that about you and me!

 

[mom2chloe]

I don’t think Les Gals Legals need our help.

I doubt they need our help either but I’m reasonably certain they have a paralegal or two here. It’s certainly been done before. IMO

 

[Hatch]

Yup, it was only a matter of when. It was clear all along this was a homicide investigation, and Barry was the prime suspect.

I started getting excited when the DA said she was going to be speaking with Lauren, and appeared on Mike’s show.

It seemed like a victory lap, just in reverse. Then the shoe dropped, right on Barry’s neck.

Whack!

 

[SouthAussie]

Well, we at the halfway point now. BM has been imprisoned for 7 weeks, and the Prelim Hearing starts in 7 weeks.

 

[MassGuy]

Well, we at the halfway point now. BM has been imprisoned for 7 weeks, and the Prelim Hearing starts in 7 weeks.

I’ve never followed a case where we knew so little at this stage. I’ve also never followed a case that’s going to have this much information.

We’re going to go from knowing practically nothing, to having just about every question answered that can be answered.

Those 7 weeks can’t come fast enough.

Normally these hearings involve reporters relaying the evidence via Twitter, but with these Covid rules in effect, I think there’s a decent chance that we’ll actually be able to watch this thing on WebEx.

Cross your fingers!

 

[Boxer]

I don’t think Les Gals Legals need our help.

They don't.
But Fallis case was lost by either corrupt or incompetent police detectives.
They went with Fallis statement that his wife committed suicide in front of him and conducted no interviews, no gun residue swabbing and no evidence collection.
Years later at trial it was possible to make witnesses look like fools.

 

[Scootie98]

I believe it was the same judge. In the order keeping the AA sealed, he says "[a] significant portion of the information in the Affidavit was not relevant to the Court's finding of probable cause...." A judge would be very unlikely to say that about an arrest warrant issued by a different judge since they wouldn't know exactly what parts of the AA were relevant to their decision.

I think people are misinterpreting his ruling as him saying the prosecution's case is weak. I don't think you can read that into it. He clearly thought there was enough there to issue an arrest warrant. He does seem to be saying that there's extraneous information in the AA that wasn't relevant to probable cause, and he's concerned about releasing that publicly ntheow. That wouldn't have been an issue while granting the arrest warrant, but could become an issue with regards to tainting the jury pool (especially in a small county), etc.

It's hard to know how viable his concerns are without seeing the AA, of course. 130 pages seems pretty excessive. If it was just a hurried info dump by LE because they needed to get a warrant quickly, it could contain prejudicial information about BM that isn't relevant, prejudicial information about witnesses, etc. That would all be stuff that would need to be redacted before the AA is made public. If there's a lot of it, that would take a long time and sealing it for a few months would seem ok to me. But the whole point of appeals is that you can always get other judges to look at it and see what they think.

:

"not relevant to the Court's finding of probable cause" does not equal "irrelevant and/or inadmissable". It is specific to probable cause only, I would think. It doesn't eliminate redacted items from the trial entirely. I would expect anything redacted to be objected to by the defense if and when referenced or introduced in the trial...and the DA will need to present reasons to overrule in order to include certain facts. Being a circumstantial case, there are likely "circumstantial facts" redacted from AA that will find their way into the trial because they are relevant to timelines, physical and forensic evidence, testimony, etc. JMO. This is a case of connecting the dots. The defense wants fewer dots....the DA wants more dots.

 

[Scootie98]

One puzzle piece I look forward to for clarification is who arranged the daughters' trip. Considering that travel was extremely limited at that time, in addition to the MD weekend, that trip has always seemed off. If evidence exists that BM arranged the trip, the circumstances may go far to indicate premeditation.

I agree with this....but with premeditation...there seems to be a need for motive, i.e. girlfriend, money or simply a new life. While motive does not in and of itself need to be proven, the act of planning to kill requires some specific reasoning to explain its existance. A 'heat of the moment" wouldn't include the same ingredients, imo..

 

[Scootie98]

BM was all about money. I would think his financials would not only be dissected for forensics....but overall, his lifestyle and habits can be profiled in his financials. I an interested to see if that "profile" changed. Was Barry spending money on different things in the recent couple of months prior to disappearance? Was there a significant change in the amount of money in that profile? We know that BM was planning a move which likely expedited the arrest....but did that move actually start prior to SM's disappearance? The profile, and any changes, would go to that question.

 

[Scootie98]

Always interesting to see how suspects change their appearance after a crime. Looking at photos of BM over the years...he has had a slight beard or stache...usually during a vacation, but largely, BM had a clean shaven face. Since SMs disappearance, the facial hair has increased. This is a sign of hiding from the outside world. Many suspects wear a baseball cap, when they didn't prior to the crime..(both Petersons, Chris Watts, etc...) I was looking for BM to start wearing a baseball cap, but that didn't happen....he chose facial hair instead.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

..

I’ve never followed a case where we knew so little at this stage. I’ve also never followed a case that’s going to have this much information.

We’re going to go from knowing practically nothing, to having just about every question answered that can be answered.

Those 7 weeks can’t come fast enough.

Normally these hearings involve reporters relaying the evidence via Twitter, but with these Covid rules in effect, I think there’s a decent chance that we’ll actually be able to watch this thing on WebEx.

Cross your fingers!

Oh dear, that just reminded me that trials will not be streamed in CO post COVID IIRC. I wish that these COVID exceptions on media/public access during trials lasted post COVID.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

You and me both. I think it's fair to speculate that it was entirely planned by Barry. But I want to know the exact conditions. Part of me thinks that there was never any plan for the daughters to return for Mother's Day.

There were legal bans against interstate non-essential travel at the time, so that tells us something about whoever organized and paid for it.

I am going to bet tons of internet donuts that Barry organized and paid for it (and may have had help organizing it).

There were no interstate travel restrictions between Colorado, Utah and Idaho during covid although I don't know if it has been totally confirmed they were in Idaho...totally possible it's a pretty easy cruise across Colorado, cut the corner of Utah and into Idaho. And not difficult to find spots to camp outside of state or federal parks even during covid. It is quite common with nonurban kids in Colorado to go camp, raft, hangout....it's what they do for fun especially when the college semester ends.