Found Deceased CO - BARRY ARRESTED AGAIN - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *Case dismissed w/o prejudice* *found in 2023* #116

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Suzanne’s older brother, Andrew Moorman, brought up something he’d heard, following a search of the Morphew family home.

From what I understood secondhand, they said there was an overwhelming smell of bleach in the home,” he said.

That information had apparently been relayed to him by initial investigators.

“I’ve heard the FBI lie and I know that they can legally do that in their investigations,” Barry said. “But it just pains me to know that they are doing this to me and my family.”

Moorman said CBI agents brought up other concerns as well.

“They did ask us, ‘why can’t we find any coolers at the house?’ And I said, ‘well I have no idea. I don’t know how many they had to begin with,” he said. “But I assume, as a hunter and a guy that maybe camps, he would have a few, and they couldn’t find a single one.”


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Looks like it was Andy who mentioned it, but he brought it up secondhand, and more in the context of "why aren't there any coolers?" vs. "there are missing coolers," for whatever that's worth.
I thought the overwhelming smell of bleach was in the hotel room?
 
Someone refresh my memory:

Barry claimed Suzanne had planned a bike ride that morning?, but didn't someone (that knew Suzanne - daughter's boyfriend? Barry's co-worker at the volunteer fire department?) contradict that by saying she never rode in the morning, only in the afternoon?

The AA page 5 said:

Barry said that Suzanne "rides her bike regularly and usually leaves between 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM."⁵

⁵Refer to the portion of Suzanne's lnstagram posts and her pattern of life statements from Mallory Morphew, Melinda Baumunk, her sister, and interviews with Barry. Suzanne routinely rode in the afternoons.
 
I'm not convinced that she was going for a bike ride. Barry said she was going biking. Barry told the neighbour to check the garage for her bike. Her bike and helmet were found off her biking trail near her house. Although she enjoyed biking, everything points to Barry concocting the scenario that she was abducted while biking.

Suzanne's last electronic activity was at 2:11 and 3:08 P.M. on May 9, 2020. Barry said that she was going biking on May 10, but she was most likely already dead.

It seems more likely that Barry had an entire scenario figured out where she would go biking, she was abducted, and her body - along with biking clothing - would be discovered later an hour away from the house.

View attachment 596915
View attachment 596918
pg 2,4 - indictment
I don’t believe she went for a bike ride either. Remember the “lion attack” he suggested?
 
Wasn't BM supposedly chasing chipmunks and shooting at them in the yard? I always thought that he was chasing Suzanne with the tranquilizer gun and shot her. She then ran into the house and tried to lock herself in the MBR for protection. IIRC, the MBR door was damaged. BM probably broken open the door. When the tranquilizer set in, he strangled or smothered her. :'( Just my speculation.

JMO.

I recall reading (DailyMail) that a live 22 shell casing was found in the house. Don’t remember any evidence of her blood being found found in the house. He did wash the sheets for a reason though . . . Kinda funny because he thought he was removing evidence but a tranq. dart cap was found in the dryer. Another God Wink.

I’ve wondered if the live 22 ammo found in the main bedroom was from SUZANNE frantically trying to chamber or load a round in a gun before BM got to her in the bedroom.

Just one of the thoughts I’ve had about this case over the last few years.

IMO
 
It's been so long I've forgotten some details. Remind me again who stated the hunting coolers were missing?
I don't think there was ever any confirmation any were missing; rather, extended family members were asked by LE if they knew whether the Morphew family had any coolers because LE expected to find some at Puma Path (given that BM is a hunter) but didn't find any.
 
That shows he owned a mobile home, not that he owned the mobile home park where it was parked. I imagine that's how Daily Mail got the idea he owned the whole park, though. I think it's actually an RV that was parked on a rented spot in that mobile home park.

There appear to be three or four bars quite close by. Interesting that at least one is a "biker bar." I have to wonder about Barry's income stream.

Of interest: the address he gave the assessor for the location of the RV is a gas station near the park. The billing address is back in Indiana. It's not the old family home, but a decent looking house not far from where they used to live.
The home on Buck Drive ( gotta love these road names for BM) in Noblesville was transferred to Mallory last August 2024. I am pretty sure this is where Shirley Barry'sMom lives.
JMO
 
The AA page 5 said:

Barry said that Suzanne "rides her bike regularly and usually leaves between 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM."⁵

⁵Refer to the portion of Suzanne's lnstagram posts and her pattern of life statements from Mallory Morphew, Melinda Baumunk, her sister, and interviews with Barry. Suzanne routinely rode in the afternoons.
Temperatures in Salida at 8-9AM in May are generally in 30s to 50s F, and about 9 degrees cooler up at Puma Path house. Afternoons with temps about 20 degrees warmer would be be most peoples choice one would think.
 
Ahh, sorry. That is not at all what I meant about the port. You have misunderstood why I’m asking.

I was responding to a poster who said it could be verified through serial numbers to match to hers. I was asking if indeed it HAD been matched, or just assumed.

I am in no way questioning if the body is hers.

I want to know if he threw a clean unused port in just as with the ‘running clothes’ found with the body. I want to know this so we can know the extent to which the scene was manipulated.
The port isn’t mentioned in the autopsy as a means of identifying Suzanne. Her dental records and dna were used to confirm ID. I am sure though that I have seen something that confirmed it was Suzanne’s port. I will see if I can find it. Autopsy report at the end of this article.

 

Suzanne’s older brother, Andrew Moorman, brought up something he’d heard, following a search of the Morphew family home.

From what I understood secondhand, they said there was an overwhelming smell of bleach in the home,” he said.

That information had apparently been relayed to him by initial investigators.

“I’ve heard the FBI lie and I know that they can legally do that in their investigations,” Barry said. “But it just pains me to know that they are doing this to me and my family.”

Moorman said CBI agents brought up other concerns as well.

“They did ask us, ‘why can’t we find any coolers at the house?’ And I said, ‘well I have no idea. I don’t know how many they had to begin with,” he said. “But I assume, as a hunter and a guy that maybe camps, he would have a few, and they couldn’t find a single one.”


________________________

Looks like it was Andy who mentioned it, but he brought it up secondhand, and more in the context of "why aren't there any coolers?" vs. "there are missing coolers," for whatever that's worth.
What would the coolers look like?
 
@debrat007:

Page 6 of the 05/04/21 Warrant for Arrest of Defendent Upon Affidavit states that police found an unfired bullet next to the bed in the master bedroom.

0.22 caliber ammunition.webp


And this 05/02/24 article about the coroner's report on Suzanne's remains states the following (as mentioned by @10ofRods in her recent post):

one weathered bullet.webp


However, the 06/18/25 Grand Jury Indictment mentions no bullet at the Morphew residence or among Suzanne's remains.

Perhaps Suzannes bones showed no signs of a shooting. And who really wants to hear Barry chatter on about shooting poor, defenseless chipmunks.

The prosecution doesn't need a bullet to explain Suzanne's death, after all. Indeed, page 6 of the indictment states the following:

ability to breath.webp


With the help of BAM, Barry could have killed his wife in the same way Chad Daybell killed his wife - by suffocating her.

IMO
 
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What would the coolers look like?
Here are several examples of hunting coolers with illustrative photos. According to the accompanying text, one would need a 65 gallon minimum cooler for deer and 120-150 gallon or more for elk.

 
When insects or animals interact with bones, they typically leave evidence. It's microscopic. The method I was trained in involves using a thin layer of gold on the bones and a special, high power microscope. Since then, they have even more powerful scopes.

There would certainly be organic matter from the bugs. The clothing showed no evidence of the byproducts of decomp, so she decomposed somewhere without that set of clothing.

I agree with those saying he put her into one of his large hunting coolers (probably wrapped in something). I think that if bleach or peroxide or similar were poured onto her that this too would be detectable in the bones (if she was left to decompose with those chemicals applied). He likely rewrapped her before transporting her (leaving behind the hair). Knowing Barry, he probably just tipped the contents of the first package into a tarp or something.

The part that's mystifying me, a bit, is how he managed to transport her skeleton to the grave site and whether the bones were scattered in a manner consistent with the bones being still somewhat intact (held together by cartelige fibers?) It has occurred to me that he may have simply dumped what was in the container (unwrapped) at the burial site. We don't know when he put the bones there. They could have sun bleached in situ. Being 3 feet under sandy soil out there would result in fairly warm temperatures in the summer. If the bones were scattered by animals, the most likely animals would be birds and so far, no mention of that in the forensic reports (which have not been fully released).

Microscope marks on the bones should also give evidence of any birds or other wild creatures interacting with the bones. I can see how they might leave that part out, as it's not relevant to establishing guilt and would be hard for family members to read, until they are ready to know all the details.

IMO
The absence of insect activity tells me she fully decomposed while in the cooler. Is that possible?
 
The absence of insect activity tells me she fully decomposed while in the cooler. Is that possible?
I can only go with my experience the smaller coolers used for picnics, though from what I’ve read they are constructed more or less the same as the hunting coolers. I can tell you that if I forget to clean out the picnic cooler, it’s stinks!! Badly!! So yes, I think decomposition in a cooler is possible. Question for me is where did he keep the cooler and how did he get it there?
 
I’ve wondered if the live 22 ammo found in the main bedroom was from SUZANNE frantically trying to chamber or load a round in a gun before BM got to her in the bedroom.

Just one of the thoughts I’ve had about this case over the last few years.

IMO
Thats a great thought. Frantically trying to defend herself, but becoming more impaired by the second from the BAM. Wasn’t the bedroom door frame damaged? Can’t remember if that was disproven or not?
 
In the context of forensic anthropological investigations, "bleached" bones specifically refers to sun exposure and subsequent bleaching (lightening) of the bones. Bleaching on bones tells you that for some period of time, the bones were on the surface (as opposed to buried), were likely outdoors (or under a window that got sun exposure) and subject to UV radiation.
 
I haven’t found this to be the case in my personal experience but happy to learn more.

Can anyone confirm this? Like, we know they found the port, and she had one, but has it been confirmed this one was hers via DNA or drug remnants? Was this done through confirmation from her medical records by matching a serial number? (Not could it be, please, was it.) Or still unknown?
Lots of medical devices have serial numbers, including chemo ports & pacemakers.
 
If chemicals were involved, I think they would have described more uneven decomp rather than the clean skeletal progression. The fact that her remains were mostly skeletal with only small amounts of dried tissue left, and no mention of anything unusual, suggests (to me) decomp happened naturally- ish in a sealed environment that blocked insects (darn blowflies) and critters, not through chemical involvement. imo

I’m still thinking through the timeline of death - first location site (because to me it was clearly away from their home property that was extensively searched) and relocation to the recovery site, which still shocks me. imo
Agree!
 
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