Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #29

[mom2chloe]

That's what the brother claimed, sure. I'd have found him more credible if he would've stated the date(s), time(s) and name(s) of the CBI agent(s) that supposedly told him the information.

As for the 30 hours of interviews w/o a polygraph request: if Barry Morphew is represented by an attorney who arranged the interviews, you can bet that one of the ground rules would be: No mention of polygraphs, either by police or Barry. If police didn't want to accept those ground rules, they could've rejected the interview offers.

Perhaps Barry wasn’t lying about taking a polygraph because maybe his attorney had him take one. Maybe it didn’t turn out well and he and the lawyer are not required to disclose the fact that one took place or what the results were?
Seems like you were a good candidate to ask! TIA

 

[tmar]

He might need the power a diesel would provide to pull heavy equipment in CO.

I bet there is footage of him from security systems along the way, just like Patrick Frazee, Fotis Dulos and Chase Merritt. MOO

Yep, and thankfully 'all ended poorly'.
Let us hope, 'ending poorly' happens here.
MOO.

 

[tmar]

Yes, they are very noisy. I doubt that was the noise she heard. A wood chipper is louder than a chainsaw and would attract attention.

In a suburban block here, I heard very loud noises, and went to investigate.
A tree-guy, had chain sawed the tops of several trees at my next door neighbour's place, then turned on the 'wood chipper'.
I only heard the wood chipper, and missed loads of chain sawing action.

 

[Topppps]

Kids conveniently off at camp.

BM has to go back to a months old job to fix a wall on Mother’s Day when he works for himself.

bike obliviously staged.

Unsubstantiated mountain lion scenario.

kids would have to call BM when no response to their happy Mother’s Day text which sets the stage for him being able to have no prior knowledge of where his wife was enabling him to initiate various searches for his wife.

He conveniently knew to ask the neighbor if her bike was missing to set up the bike story.

GPS not matching BM story.

He knew the kids would not get a response on Mother’s Day so he could pretend to be innocent. He didn’t know he wasn’t there, sets up a case for why he would be looking for her. That’s why he chose Mother’s Day.

 

[MsBetsy]

But it did attract attention. That was, as I understood it, that woman's entire point. She was awakened from a sound sleep, is slow to wake up, and then goes and investigates some really loud noise.

I don't know about you, but my neighbors are closer than the work site was to that neighbor's house and they still can wake me up. I now have a wrist-carried decibel-meter (thank you, Apple Watch!) but I don't need one to tell me a noise is too loud to sleep.

A chainsaw at that distance would certainly wake me up - but I'd try to go back to sleep. Would I know whether it was a chainsaw or a wood chipper? Not initially - I'd have to go look. Both are too darned loud for me to sleep and that that point, that's my main concern.

It could have been any one of a number of loud pieces of machinery (although seriously, I doubt it was just someone revving their car - she makes it sound like machinery).

Plot thickens. Is she a reliable witness? I think so. How could you know what noise she heard or how loud it was - in her scale of loudness?

A chainsaw is an unacceptable night time noise level; as is throwing beer bottles into a trash bin, as is a wood chipper. All would wake me up and make me investigate...but I'd know the beer bottles were breaking glass and call the other two "machinery sounds."

Yeah, I still don't think someone trying to be inconspicuous would be running a wood chipper in the middle of the night. If anything, I would think it would be something like a backhoe or an excavator or something that was currently being used at the construction site.

 

[Ontario Mom]

Barry says that he was not asked to take a polygraph. Suzanne's brother claims that Barry was asked to take a polygraph but refused. Barry has an incentive to lie but there's no evidence outstanding to prove that he lied; Suzanne's brother has not revealed the source of his supposed information, so it cannot be verified. <modsnip>

AM was under the distinct impression that BM had taken both a polygraph and a voice analyses test, and passed. He seems to have had no reason to disbelieve this information until he was told by the CBI agent that it was not true.

Now maybe in a court of law that's just not enough (and it shouldn't be, facts matter for an air tight case), but for the sake of discussion here, the fact that he divulged this information to the public (likely knowing he'd lose all credibility if he were not being honest) is more than enough for me to find him credible, without being verified by getting the name & number of the CBI agent and conducting a follow up with him/her.

jmo

 

[10ofRods]

IIRC, the Morphew property is 7 wooded acres with a river or large creek running between its boundaries and those of the neighbors, who also live on large properties. I'd have to test to be certain, but while I think I could hear a skid steer running on a property that is a couple acres away, I'm not so sure I would hear it if it was the full 7 wooded acres away and there was a running river or stream or creek between.

Well, no neighbor near the Morphew residence has stated anything about hearing anything on any night.

It is a person living on the edge of Salida, not near a creek and not on wooded acreage, who was awakened by machinery sounds sometime around midnight on the night of May 9-10, 2020.

She reported that to police, and police came to investigate.

 

[Gigi3]

BM is being scrutinized because LE is treating him as a POI. SM's family is not being scrutinized because they live in Indiana and there's no suggestion that one of her biological family members traveled from Indiana to Denver to kidnap or murder her on mother's day. The pure fact of proximity will tend to inculpate or exculpate people. I don't see that as a double standard, I see that as following the evidence.

I think you miss that people are only picking apart BM's statements because of the fact of his being the husband of a missing woman who has not been cleared by LE. LE in fact made a strange statement early in the case that they "hope BM will continue to cooperate." That doesn't sound like he has been extremely helpful to me.

The fact is: most women who are murdered are murdered by a spouse or domestic partner. Full stop. Ignoring the statistically most likely person to have committed a crime in some vague effort at "fairness" in criticizing people in a victim's life equally is just not productive, IMO.

Unless there's some indication that SM's family are somehow involved in her kidnapping and likely murder, I think they are rightfully off limits for discussion here.

Excellent post! It wins the day in my book! MOO

 

[FairIsle]

I think I’m having a moment.

I’m thinking about the probably hundreds of times that Suzanne listed Barry as her Emergency Contact, form after form, year after year, from her early 20s to her almost 50s.

And how B “had” her LONGER than her own family.
And how B was the father of her miracle children.

And so who carries the burden of shaking the entire planet until the clues fall out and lead to Suzanne’s discovery...Is it Barry? Or is it her brother Andy?

Barry has utterly and willfully failed as an Emergency Contact. So Andy has stepped up. Thank you, Andy.

And to all, please consider listing a best friend in addition to your spouse as an Emergency Contact. I do.

 

[Janeumayer]

BBM:

Well, if the poor, beleaguered mountain lions didn't have a persecution complex already, they definitely will after reading this post.

First they get falsely accused of having disappeared SM.
Now, they're seeing their ranks threatened by the prospect of free hunting rights!
What next, I ask you? Cat Trafficking?

My sincerest apologies to Tony, Bob, et al. on behalf of the entire WS community.
#FelineLivesMatter

JMO.

MEOW!

 

[waldojabba]

Doesn't make any sense to me. He was the last known to see her. Seems like you are equating the 2 entities. The last person to see her stays quiet, refuses polygraph, and that equates to the other group (who wasn't there) staying silent? In the juror's seat I'd be unconvinced.

ITA false equivalence by OP

 

[Sillybilly]

That being said, unless and until the Moormans' silence -- and reasons thereof -- are given an exception for discussion, the forum rules prohibit prying into the Moormans' motives for silence.

<rsbm>

There won't be an exception given.

The Moorman family are considered victims and WS policy is to remain victim friendly without blaming them for any action or inaction in relation to the case. By contrast, Barry would normally be considered a victim and treated as such under that same policy, except it has been very apparent from the beginning of this case that he is publicly being treated as a POI or suspect by law enforcement. That was the basis for Tricia's decision to allow speculation about Barry.

If circumstances were to somehow change drastically, that decision could be reviewed at that time. This is not that time.

 

[10ofRods]

Yeah, I still don't think someone trying to be inconspicuous would be running a wood chipper in the middle of the night. If anything, I would think it would be something like a backhoe or an excavator or something that was currently being used at the construction site.

We don't have that list of equipment. Nor do we really know whether there was background noise.

I do go read up on decibal levels for different equiipment. Wood chipper is not that much louder than a chain saw (google says 100-110 dB for wood chipper; 95-105 for a chain saw).

90-100dB for a skid steer or Bobcat excavator.

All pretty similar to most human ears (loud).

 

[susiQ]

If they used search dogs to search the surrounding acres, then there’s no way they wouldn’t have searched around the house as well. I was speaking of the surrounding area though.

At some point they clearly believed the bike was staged, so why would they merely start at the bike and move out, and not cover the property itself?

In every single Colorado case I have followed, cadaver dogs have been brought in to the home in question.

That home was sealed immediately for a reason, and we know that the typical strategy is to start at the home and move outwards.

Let’s say that law enforcement inexplicably did not search the morphew property with dogs and LE personnel:

Why did Barry leave so early?
Why does his GPS data not support his story?
Why would he bury her on his property when he knew that area would be swarming with law enforcement?

If Suzanne was buried nearby, I’ll eat my hat. I get the impression we may never know though.

I’m pretty confident we won’t have to eat crow on who we think did this, but if you have to eat your hat MG how would you like it? Boiled, roasted or pan fried?

 

[marylamby]

Thoughts on this scenario?
Posted out on SM, and I have read the same here on Websleuths, is the comment that the police ARE allowed to outright lie to suspects, to achieve a means to an end. And I get that, unfortunately a conversation followed that I have a problem with. A person then took the leap that LE lied to Barry and told him he passed the lie detector test and that is why Barry told his Brother- in- law he passed; therefore, Barry has done nothing wrong.

Would LE lie to Andy about BM taking or refusing to take a test?

No way. IMO

 

[nrbc4]

I think I’m having a moment.

I’m thinking about the probably hundreds of times that Suzanne listed Barry as her Emergency Contact, form after form, year after year, from her early 20s to her almost 50s.

And how B “had” her LONGER than her own family.
And how B was the father of her miracle children.

And so who carries the burden of shaking the entire planet until the clues fall out and lead to Suzanne’s discovery...Is it Barry? Or is it her brother Andy?

Barry has utterly and willfully failed as an Emergency Contact. So Andy has stepped up. Thank you, Andy.

And to all, please consider listing a best friend in addition to your spouse as an Emergency Contact. I do.

This is one of the absolute best posts I’ve ever read on here. Pretty much says it all. IMO

 

[Hair of the Dog]

Can anyone speak to the soil composition and conditions in the Salida area and parts beyond? I am just wondering if it would be hard to dig very deep even with a Bobcat?

 

[10ofRods]

I just wanted to note that the discussion was based on a poster's idea that SM could have been buried on the far reaches of her property. Not the lady who heard heavy equipment at the construction site in Salida. Same question: would someone hear a Bobcat? JMO

ETA further clarification

Oh, okay. I get it.

I don't think it would be easy to hear a bobcat on the far reaches of that property/neighborhood, although apparently there are more houses beyond the river/creek.

I think a person could get away with it. However, then there's the incredible coincidence of noisy equipment (one heard, one unheard) on the same night. Stranger things have happened. In fact, I bet we can think of circumstances where both things could happen.

I can think a really specific scenario, inspired by yesterday's discussion of bobcats and their accessories.

 

[katydid23]

Why would you even have to spend a day doing a re-look and making preparations at a previous job site? If you've been there before, presumably you know the lay of the land, the tasks required of the job, etc. You've even rehearsed before (as in, you've done it previously). You botched a window, you put in a new window. "Team preparation" for this task? Huh?

And how big of a 'crew' would he have needed? He made it sound like he went early to manage an incoming crew. I call BS on that.

 

[OldCop]

Just jumping off of OldCop's post with a related thought.

Does everyone here take it for granted that SM left the home in an automobile? I keep thinking that since she wasn't seen leaving its reasonable to consider that she left (alive or not) the house in a way that didn't involve an automobile. She and her bike left the house somehow and nobody saw either one AFAIK (yes, big caveat). If we just ignore BLM and try to think about the possibilities of what could have happened to SM, is it reasonable to consider that she was conveyed from the home in some other manner? Maybe its not the most likely but is it so unlikely as to be unreasonable?

What are you thinking@RumorMonger? Like a work van, atv, or something else?