Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #20

[OldCop]

Me too and I’m leaning towards equipment accessible but the possibility of burial far away is a consideration - water? Possible but there would need to be no chance of surfacing because the goal would be no body - IMO

I’m with you on the water. There’s too many cases of the body resurfacing or washing ashore despite the best efforts of the perpetrator.

 

[OldCop]

Yes,we speculate. But your speculations are high quality. Moo

Awww thanks, @Fireflize!

 

[FelicityLemon]

Control issues.

That goes both ways -
1) one person is a super controller and kills their abused partner
2) one person is a super controller and gets killed by their abused partner

 

[OldCop]

The daughters told me this, but BM told me that.

I also wonder if he thought to call SM's phone during these moments, or at least during that 3 hour drive back to see if HE could reach her. If he knew she wouldnt answer, maybe he forgot that part. I would be ringing that phone constantly hoping she would answer.

Good points, @KLM6!

 

[OldCop]

Welcome to Websleuths .
TN has been discussed of course, but I don't see any indication that he could be guilty of anything other than unwittingly parroting BM's narrative. I believe he wanted to help in the beginning out of pure intention. Something changed his mind and he excused himself from that chore. Just my opinion.

I agree. I think BM used him and TN realized it after a couple of days.

 

[PaulaDC]

Since George Carlin, the freethinker with his “dirty words“, was such a good man and husband, methinks that undefiled lips and preprandial piety might be a poor defense move )))

I got a mouth of a truck driver. That's just the way my brain thinks. It's not the way I act or treat others.

 

[DellaC]

I doubt any Generals have as much war experience as what BM's claiming his friend has.

I do not have a military background. I am amazed at folks who know what rank A in the Air Force translates to in the Army and so forth. One of my children is a USCG SAR pilot. I still can't tell you what the difference between liberty and leave is. Maybe BM has the same military-speak ineptitude (=military misspeak aptitude?) that I have?

 

[JnRyan]

RSBM
Fascinating Al66pine, for anybody else reading….between what is posted here from Al66 and the other opinion posted by @JnRyan…I can chalk this up to everything I thought I knew…but was wrong, about how the law works in Virginia.

That little tidbit of knowledge, “Virginia law did not require a body of the victim to file murder charges, the law does require prosecutors to identify the location of the murder”

I had misinterpreted the reasons why, the actual meaning of the law for so long. I remember being frustrated over the years because Fairfax County prosecutor Robert Horan didn’t have this guy nailed. Robert Horan was held on a pedestal here, like Dan May is in Colorado.

All that above, isn’t meant to be off topic, point is…. without a body they need a serious amount of evidence. I think Barry made a major Faux Pas the first night which gave him away. I think they need additional evidence, doubt at this point it will be enough blood or a body, that would be so simple. So what’s left (?) maybe some serious evidence concerning possible motive, harder to prove and much more complicated and time consuming than finding a body MOO. A witness or second party involved (?)…it’s happened before. Pings where they shouldn't be, his or hers.

No body murder cases and Virginia. The most infamous is the murder in 1980 of Gina Hall in Radford VA. It was Virginia's first no-body murder case with a conviction. When you look at the facts of the case LE knew from the killer's statement that he and Gina were at a cabin. LE knew Gina called a relative from that cabin so that reinforced the fact she had been there. When the cabin was searched LE found signs of massive amounts of blood that someone tried to clean up. This was before DNA analysis came into being and they relied on the fact that the blood matched Gina's blood type. Gina's clothes were found elsewhere and they had a lot of blood.
Search continues for remains of woman missing for decades

Probably more to the point is the conviction of Randy Taylor in the murder of Alexis Murphy. There is a contrast in murder cases. Taylor was the prime suspect in the disappearance of Samantha Clarke 3 years earlier. He was the last person known to have spoken to her. LE never found Samantha and never found a crime scene. They even put a tracking device on Taylor's car in hopes that he would lead them to her body, but Taylor discovered it when his car went in for repairs. Samantha Clarke has never been found and there have been no arrests in her case. Then in 2013, Alexis Murphy goes missing. LE searched the camper where Taylor lived and found forensic evidence of a struggle (broken fingernail from Alexis) and murder (blood). Murphy, like Clarke, has never been found, but Taylor was tried and convicted on the crime scene evidence.
Murder of Alexis Murphy - Wikipedia

That could indicate why LE has been focused on BM's house. Whether he did something or someone else did something to Suzanne if LE can prove it was the crime scene and come up with evidence that Suzanne might not be alive any longer they may not need a body.

 

[Fireflize]

I do not have a military background. I am amazed at folks who know what rank A in the Air Force translates to in the Army and so forth. One of my children is a USCG SAR pilot. I still can't tell you what the difference between liberty and leave is. Maybe BM has the same military-speak ineptitude (=military misspeak aptitude?) that I have?

Quite possible explanation. He may know zip about military details. I don't think he knows much about hunting either. Don't think he knows much about forensic investigations. He may not know what a radius is. He knows landscaping. Moo

 

[rainbowshummingbird]

Just a speculation of course, but that’s what we do here, right?

@OldCop, I have a question for you: would law enforcement, on the scene Mother’ Day, immediately make inquiries into Barry’s alibi? Would they call the fire chief, try to verify his firefighter training or make calls on his job site work at the time? Or is verification of his alibi something that might happen later, or even the next day?

 

[Minordetails]

IMO the canine units are sometimes overrated. Yes, dogs can be trained to sniff out electronics, drugs and dead bodies. In the case of the bike recovery scene, dogs would have been able to track SM, if she was ever there. But it’s not like LE can just ask the dogs, “Can you tell us whether or not BM was here? “And by the way, what time was the bike dropped off?”

 

[Synergizer Bunny]

I agree. I think BM used him and TN realized it after a couple of days.

Perhaps, BM wanted TN to field questions. So, he wouldn't have to speak to anyone. TN has his own company, a wife and young children.

I can imagine that he didn't feel that it was his place to take on the responsibility of fielding questions. Any normal person would think that it is the responsibility of the spouse/partner of the missing person to do so.

I wouldn't want any part of it, either. Here, you have the public donating money to a fund that TN set up. For all we know, BM could have asked him to set up that fund under the guise that the money would be used to hire a PI or search for SM.

From the outside, it looks like BM has done nothing productive with these extra funds except line his pockets.

JMO.

 

[Truecolors]

That goes both ways -
1) one person is a super controller and kills their abused partner
2) one person is a super controller and gets killed by their abused partner

I can think of a few movies and songs with that second plot line.

Would make a very interesting defense strategy in this scenario.....

MOO

 

[Madeleine74]

IMO the canine units are sometimes overrated. Yes, dogs can be trained to sniff out electronics, drugs and dead bodies. In the case of the bike recovery scene, dogs would have been able to track SM, if she was ever there. But it’s not like LE can just ask the dogs, “Can you tell us whether or not BM was here? “And by the way, what time was the bike dropped off?”

Only slightly tongue-in-cheek, I've met a few dogs who were smarter than any corporate VP I worked with or for, and more personable for sure. I bet I'm not the only one who's experienced that. I tend to trust the canines more than people; not that they're infallible, but they're binary. The well-trained and tested ones smell something, they alert. They don't smell something, they don't alert. IMO.

 

[Madeleine74]

Family killer Chris Coleman should put to rest any remaining thoughts that a bible-thumper or "religious man" would not ever hurt his wife or children. Coleman is a minister's son, and at the time of the murders of his wife and two kids, he was the bodyguard for televangelist bible-thumping, Joyce Meyer.

Religion can be a veneer, and what someone believes or doesn't believe doesn't mean a thing when it comes to crime or how they actually treat other people every day outside of Sunday during the hour or so they sit in a building with stained glass windows.

It always comes down to evidence. With enough evidence a crime can be proved and can usually be successfully prosecuted. Will there be enough evidence in the SM case to prove her demise and point to the person(s) responsible? It'll take time, as these things go, but I think it's very possible.

IMO.

 

[Gigi3]

Family killer Chris Coleman should put to rest any remaining thoughts that a bible-thumper or "religious man" would not ever hurt his wife or children. Coleman is a minister's son, and at the time of the murders of his wife and two kids, he was the bodyguard for televangelist bible-thumping, Joyce Meyer.

Religion can be a veneer, and what someone believes or doesn't believe doesn't mean a thing when it comes to crime or how they actually treat other people every day outside of Sunday during the hour or so they sit in a building with stained glass windows.

It always comes down to evidence. With enough evidence a crime can be proved and can usually be successfully prosecuted. Will there be enough evidence in the SM case to prove her demise and point to the person(s) responsible? It'll take time, as these things go, but I think it's very possible.

IMO.

Agreed. Also, the murder of Kari Baker. Her husband Matt, WAS a preacher. He killed her and tried to make it look like a suicide.

Of course, there was a mistress involved, her testimony helped to convict him, but it took quite a while to finally see justice for Kari.

Whatever happened to SM, I do hope there is enough evidence for justice. MOO

 

[AdyStand]

Were there any fires in Colorado in areas close to Salida?

Interesting thought! I did find one near where Suzanne lived a few days before the LE date of her going missing. If you look at the map and the home address it's in the area.

Firefighters save ghost town cabin from burning in wildfire on Colorado mountain pass | OutThere Colorado

 

[FelicityLemon]

I can think of a few movies and songs with that second plot line.

Would make a very interesting defense strategy in this scenario.....

MOO

Yes, it would, but that's not what I was going for since I don't think in terms of BM's guilt or innocence at this point, I'm still processing actual information and facts of which there are precious (and frustratingly) few.

Some additional points to clarify my previous post:
1) FACT: not all controlling/abusive personalities kill their spouse (some here continue posting as if they know for certain he was an abusive person and I'm addressing that specific blurb. It may be true, but at this point, it's gossip)
2) FACT: not all abused people kill their abuser

 

[OldCop]

@OldCop, I have a question for you: would law enforcement, on the scene Mother’ Day, immediately make inquiries into Barry’s alibi? Would they call the fire chief, try to verify his firefighter training or make calls on his job site work at the time? Or is verification of his alibi something that might happen later, or even the next day?

I think the first responding officers began a search of the immediate area right away figuring she might have fallen and been injured. This would be based on what the neighbor told them regarding the bike ride.
I imagine a supervisor was called to the scene pretty quickly. I’m sure he, (and/or the first responding officers), questioned the neighbor as to who SM lived with and where they were. While we don’t know when SM’s daughters arrived home, BM told TD that he arrived from Denver about 9:00 p.m.
Since the call came in at about 5:46 p.m., I would imagine that LE got cell phone numbers from the neighbor and called both BM and the daughters to try to verify when was the last time they spoke to her and to get the complete story. Did something not add up then?
Because finding SM and her safety would be the first priority, they called in other LE agencies and canines from the DOC right away to search the surrounding area. We have heard from the nephew TN that the bike was found Sunday night. We don’t know if it was before or after BM returned home.
So to answer your question, the search would be the first priority, but I’m willing to bet that the side investigation including alibi checks would begin very shortly thereafter, probably the next morning when no sign of SM was found during the initial searches.

 

[Murphy1950]

No body murder cases and Virginia. The most infamous is the murder in 1980 of Gina Hall in Radford VA. It was Virginia's first no-body murder case with a conviction.

RSBM
Fascinating recent development in this case which is a game changer for finding bodies, just written two weeks ago....
"Dr. Arpad Vass, a forensic anthropologist who had invented an instrument to detect DNA buried beneath the surface. Since then, Gina’s remains have been discovered across eight locations throughout the New River Valley using that device."

And while looking for Gina they found DNA for another woman missing since 1977. The other missing person was thought of as a run away at the time, now it doesn't look that way.

Probably more to the point is the conviction of Randy Taylor in the murder of Alexis Murphy. Taylor was tried and convicted on the crime scene evidence.

I remember this, it got a little dicey with Morgan Harrington's murder and Hannah Graham so close by. I was wondering besides blood what type of physical evidence would help? Of course nails, teeth, and brain matter. I also recall (hopefully correctly) from Gannon and Kelsey, that the splatter pattern could possibly help determine the extent of injury and maybe even way the injury was caused...

That could indicate why LE has been focused on BM's house. Whether he did something or someone else did something to Suzanne if LE can prove it was the crime scene and come up with evidence that Suzanne might not be alive any longer they may not need a body.

Agree....