I temper my reaction to most of BM’s acts and omissions by reminding myself of a couple of things:
First, BM spoke with investigators at great length without an attorney, even though he had to know they were investigating him. Police interrogations are designed to coerce confessions and inculpatory statements. It’s impressive that he wasn’t arrested and charged after talking to professional investigators for 30 hours. Whatever evidence was produced, it wasn't enough.
Second, BM’S refusal to take a lie detector test cannot be considered lack of cooperation, as AM and PE would have it. Such a test isn’t required; a finding that you were truthful can’t clear your name; and the risk of a false finding that you were untruthful is much too high to consider anyone’s refusal to be unreasonable. Like other interrogation techniques, they are used primarily to coerce confessions.
Third, it seems unfair to compare BM’s activities with AM’s, or with other cases in which relatives who were not being targeted by investigators clamored publicly for justice. That is a human thing to do, and admirable for sure, and something that can be done without risk when you haven’t been put on the defensive by LE, MSM, social media, and the local rumor club. BM’s primary need to clear his name is only natural: he stands accused in the court of public opinion. You would feel the same need in his shoes, and innocent. Inevitably, the message that he wants LE to find his wife is obscured by his defensive statements.
Fourth, he has offered his public statements not through a slick spokesman but in his own voice, repeatedly. No attorney would advise someone in BM’s position to do that, for obvious reasons. He would be taking a huge risk even if he were charming and eloquent, and a savvy media guy. BM is none of these things, and the public reaction is not positive for reasons that are well-articulated on this thread. Yet, he persists in putting himself out there, warts and all, whatever the result. He might - might - just be a guy with very rough edges telling his truth in the only way he knows how.
Fifth, he said that he promised his girls he would look for SM every day. We have seen information that tends to show he did that, from early on, even though the CCSO rejected volunteer help. I have seen nothing to suggest that he stopped looking. When I saw the tweet that he was seen handing out fliers, it made perfect sense to me in this context. It’s winter in the Colorado Mountains, and handing out fliers may be the only thing he can do to keep his promise while the snow, ice, and frozen ground increase the danger and make a successful search unlikely.
I have often found the comments here insightful, the analysis compelling, and the speculation brilliant. But I remain open to the idea that BM won’t be charged because he is innocent in the disappearance and now almost certain death of his wife.
I disagree. Without a body, a witness, or compelling physical evidence, there was zero chance he would have been arrested early on.
They could literally have him on camera dumping that bike, have proof that he lied repeatedly, and that still wouldn’t be enough to prove that Suzanne is dead, and BM killed her.
I think his initial interview did not go well for him, as we saw no indication from law enforcement that they even entertained an abduction scenario. This is a risk that CBI and the FBI simply do not take without strong evidence to the contrary.
That search of his job site was a stunning move by law enforcement. Tasking dozens of law enforcement personnel, to include members of the FBI Evidence Response Team, to spend days excavating private property is a very big deal. This would not have been done on a whim, and would have required probable cause.
As intriguing as the first search warrant being executed on the home was, the second was a much bigger signal. That required new evidence, and a compelling reason.
When we heard that BM was supposedly working in the Denver area at the time, I assumed that we would learn that this was thrown together last minute. That would explain why law enforcement continued to make moves that centered around BM.
What did we learn? BM apparently contacted MG and asked her to assemble a crew on Saturday.
As bad a look as that is, the details are far more damning. He left the wrong tools, didn’t have a permit to work that weekend, didn’t make arrangements for the proper supervision, and apparently didn’t even order the necessary materials.
Then we have Suzanne’s cell phone records, which could have cleared Barry. They obviously did not. That means that Suzanne couldn’t possibly have had cell phone activity after BM left that house.
So on Mother’s Day she doesn’t turn her phone on, doesn’t communicate with a soul, and goes for a bike ride with a phone that must have been turned off (it doesn’t appear that it was ever found).
This jibes with law enforcement behaving as if that bike was staged, although they couldn’t have had the phone records at that point. So that means that something even more glaring guided their hand early on.
Less solid of course, is what Andy has relayed:
Suzanne’s communications with her friend suddenly stopped well before that bike ride was to have happened, when Barry was still around.
His GPS data does not align with what he told law enforcement.
As for his behavior, I would describe it as both unprecedented (for an innocent man), and contrary to human nature.
The single most important thing anyone can do when a loved one is missing, is to immediately get the word out and never stop.
I’m waiting for that to start.
If things are not as they appear, then someone abducted a low risk victim from a low crime area, and fooled everyone. He was of course helped by a staggering amount of coincidences.
I don’t believe that’s the case.