Still Missing CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *arrest* #83

[Charlot123]

When BM was asked, why he didn't follow the way straight to Broomfield, he said, he looked for an elk bull and drove in direction of Garfield, turned there near Garfield and then drove to Broomfield. AA 74/129.
AA 83/129: Barry does know,"the mines in Garfield are open, the ones up 240 are open." (other mines are plugged by a boulder or blown up)
That 2 times Garfield came up in the interviews, I found odd.

what I found odd was his response to both Garfield and the mines. You feel the intonation change, he rambles about the mine behind his house, that is closed, and i just feel that these conversations make him very anxious. I bet specialists listened to him to understand when he was lying and when not, but I have the feeling that he somewhat perseverates on some parts that are true, to make the whole story true. Like, the light snoring - he speaks so much about it as compared to seeing Suzanne - the “lump” under the sheet does not sound true, and he is not sure in it. This is why I wonder if he were driving her in the car, sedated, and listening to her breathing/light snoring? He comes to this part because there is some truth in it…

 

[Charlot123]

I don't remember if they eventually said it was not blood in the affidavit, but there's just no way it's relevant here.

If they had crucial DNA evidence or anything, it would have been presented/mentioned.

Question is whether there was no Barry’s DNA found at the places where it could be expected. And if so, why. Also, DNA can be planted. Any of Suzanne’s things could be used for it.

 

[MassGuy]

Question is whether there was no Barry’s DNA found at the places where it could be expected. And if so, why. Also, DNA can be planted. Any of Suzanne’s things could be used for it.

His DNA was found on the bike and helmet, but it doesn't really move the needle, as that would be expected. He explained it by saying Suzanne asked him to remove her bike from the car on Saturday.

It's a lie of course, but not something that can be proven.

 

[Murphy1950]

Asking a question, for example, the below opinions of former owners, this is in the AA.

Cara and Steve separately said they suspected Bany killed Suzanne after hearing the news of her disappearance based upon multiple observations they made of Barry during and after the sale of the house.


Is there a reason for this comment/opinion being included? Perhaps something that will be brought up at trial? For example, did this couple over hear Barry threaten Suzanne or be nasty with her something along those lines?

 

[WellThen]

I don't remember if they eventually said it was not blood in the affidavit, but there's just no way it's relevant here.

If they had crucial DNA evidence or anything, it would have been presented/mentioned.

Exactly. I remember the same from the arrest affidavit...that it was not Suzanne's blood. The AA mentioned DNA on the bike, dart cap, Suzanne's car, maybe a few other things, but yeah, it was easily explained away, confused the picture, or didn't implicate Barry.

I think Barry was tidy and disposed of whatever little blood evidence there may have been.

 

[Megnut]

I think Suzanne couldn't help but to be caring, considerate... an intermediary.... and she had been planning to carry on until the reported timeline but IMO something happened on May 5th or there's abouts.... wish Barry would join us here and enlighten us. Was it the zipper? Was it the doorframe? What pushed Suzanne to "I'm done"?

I think the Gulch house was for Barry. See, you still get nice things. Maybe she'd rent a nice townhouse....

I think Friday went better than she thought it would, Barry must have been pretending to be civil, so much so that she felt she could mention future real estate. Which tells me that SHE was developing a short term solution that would happen over some weeks/months (get money from Indiana, sell PP, Barry buys a million dollar house, Suzanne gets her inheritance+. Workable, reasonable, fair. Civil.) (And she'd move again in a year.)

He must've sounded VERY conciliatory...on Friday...afternoon.

Timeline had to be closing in. If he could have waited just a few weeks, they could have closed in Indiana with real signatures but maybe he thought that was worse...

I think something very bad happened Thursday night. A serious deal breaker .... hence the Friday text to her sister, hence the long visit next door, hence the text to Barry.

Barry's attorneys say the ground was still frozen. That has to be coming from Barry. So I have to put that through my reverse salad spinner.

Friday Barry did everything he could IMO to first, try to get Suzanne to "come to her senses" and when that didn't work, appeal to her heart (forgiveness, pity, anything) so, while Suzanne thought he agreed, he was likely planning her demise. Friday night. At the beach site. Swapping blades, swapping sims, borrowing machinery to dig a hole. He may have swapped multiple blades....

By Saturday, he needed nothing but a shovel, or two, a vehicle, maybe a cooler, maybe a Bobcat to lift a heavy cooler onto a tailgate....

When Barry backed up his truck, IMO, that was to free up a garage door AND unload a trailer and detrailer CatBob.

He needed it for just one last thing, loading a RR.

Alternately, if he didn't use a RR, he used his own truck first thing Sunday morning, those missing 18 miles (IMO NOTHING to do with a spa run ever, especially because Barry said so). (I think those 18 miles might be the first miles driven after a reset, just like how if your gas cap light goes on, it doesn't go off for two ignition cycles.

So what's 9 miles left of PP? A mine with a hole ... and eventually a boulder....but that's my guess.

JMO

 

[WellThen]

what I found odd was his response to both Garfield and the mines. You feel the intonation change, he rambles about the mine behind his house, that is closed, and i just feel that these conversations make him very anxious. I bet specialists listened to him to understand when he was lying and when not, but I have the feeling that he somewhat perseverates on some parts that are true, to make the whole story true. Like, the light snoring - he speaks so much about it as compared to seeing Suzanne - the “lump” under the sheet does not sound true, and he is not sure in it. This is why I wonder if he were driving her in the car, sedated, and listening to her breathing/light snoring? He comes to this part because there is some truth in it…

I think he anchors on to a tiny sliver of truth and builds a lie upon that. Makes it easier for him to remember his lie story. Sure, Suzanne was in bed at 5am, dead or close to, snoring because he darted her and sedated her to death. Or near death then he strangled her to death. Then he bundled her up in the missing comforter, and indeed she became a lump.

During the "lump" interviews it seemed very clear to me that Suzanne was dead by this point, and his behavior confirmed it. What man who claims they had a happy marriage and she was the love of his life, would ever, especially in the context of a missing/presumed dead wife, refer to his wife as a "lump?" Lump of his life. Soulmate lump. He's truly grotesque.

just my opinion and conjecture.

 

[al66pine]

King Gulch Home Sq. Footage?

...but both Zillow and Trulia show this property at 4464 sq (3 bdrms/3 baths) ...

sbm

Yes @Scootie98 - structurally at 4464 sq ft...."living area" as drafted in the linked realtor reference (i.e., excludes the lower walk-out, partially finished area). Sorry if my post was not clear.

sbm
Per Coldwell Banker listing:* 4464 sf. 3/3 is on main level. "Additional 2160 square feet on lower walk out."
As @Seattle1 said, 4464 sf figure excludes some space.
Imo likely excludes some or all of lower level, as the listing says "mostly finished with space for 2 more bedrooms and baths." bbm
May/may not have been relevant to SM's house browsing.
___________________________________
* "3 bedrooms, 3 baths on main level, additional 2,160 square feet on lower walk-out, mostly finished with space for 2 more bedrooms and baths, as well as large family room adjacent to hot tub pad."
^ 5621 King Gulch Trail, Salida, CO 81201 - MLS 3340405 - Coldwell Banker

================================
O/T-ish. Tedious Detail Alert. Does it matter to anyone else anywhere?
No, for those not home shopping, not improving their lower level.
Yes, for those who are home shopping. If a prospective buyer needs a loan to finance the home purchase, the lender's appraiser determines a $ valuation for the property which in turn lender uses to calculate LTV (loan-to-value) ratio and then the max $ amt of loan the lender will make, secured by the prop.

So the way the lender's appraiser treats the 2160 sf (4464 total less 2,304 main living level = 2160 sf, lower level) may make a big difference to buyers seeking a mortgage. BTW not saying how an appraiser will assign value to lower level, but I’m aware of appraisers in other states giving virtually no value to fully finished lower level bedroom, bath, & family room which met building codes. Just IME.

Second, agent's "space for 2 more bedrooms"
phrasing does not necessarily mean new owner could convert that space into legal bedrooms. By 'legal' I mean complying w building codes for bedrooms. Even if lower level has a door or direct "walkout" to the exterior, a room may not meet code requirements to qualify as a bedroom. "Egress" and window size & placement issues, crucial to emergency exits, may disqualify a lower level room from being classified as a bedroom. Very specific req’mts in codes to facilitate rescues and address livability.*** Can a firefighter in gear go thru window to rescue someone and exit w. person too?

If lender's appraiser cannot include lower level room(s) as "legal" bedroom(s) then after the [hypo] conversion, the new owner/agent should not include them in RE listings as “bedroom(s).” This sort of building code technicality may lead to some rooms being called “bonus rooms” in RE sales listings.

And if house is in community w occupancy permit ordinances, well, that’s another potential issue, if number of residents will exceed maximum occupancy.
jmo, jme, my2cts.
__________________________________
** Loan-to-value ratio - Wikipedia
*** https://www.hunker.com/13711464/building-code-requirements-for-bedrooms. See sections re Egress and Bedrooms in Basements. <--- Plain English.

 

[WellThen]

I think Suzanne couldn't help but to be caring, considerate... an intermediary.... and she had been planning to carry on until the reported timeline but IMO something happened on May 5th or there's abouts.... wish Barry would join us here and enlighten us. Was it the zipper? Was it the doorframe? What pushed Suzanne to "I'm done"?

I think the Gulch house was for Barry. See, you still get nice things. Maybe she'd rent a nice townhouse....

I think Friday went better than she thought it would, Barry must have been pretending to be civil, so much so that she felt she could mention future real estate. Which tells me that SHE was developing a short term solution that would happen over some weeks/months (get money from Indiana, sell PP, Barry buys a million dollar house, Suzanne gets her inheritance+. Workable, reasonable, fair. Civil.) (And she'd move again in a year.)

He must've sounded VERY conciliatory...on Friday...afternoon.

Timeline had to be closing in. If he could have waited just a few weeks, they could have closed in Indiana with real signatures but maybe he thought that was worse...

I think something very bad happened Thursday night. A serious deal breaker .... hence the Friday text to her sister, hence the long visit next door, hence the text to Barry.

Barry's attorneys say the ground was still frozen. That has to be coming from Barry. So I have to put that through my reverse salad spinner.

Friday Barry did everything he could IMO to first, try to get Suzanne to "come to her senses" and when that didn't work, appeal to her heart (forgiveness, pity, anything) so, while Suzanne thought he agreed, he was likely planning her demise. Friday night. At the beach site. Swapping blades, swapping sims, borrowing machinery to dig a hole. He may have swapped multiple blades....

By Saturday, he needed nothing but a shovel, or two, a vehicle, maybe a cooler, maybe a Bobcat to lift a heavy cooler onto a tailgate....

When Barry backed up his truck, IMO, that was to free up a garage door AND unload a trailer and detrailer CatBob.

He needed it for just one last thing, loading a RR.

Alternately, if he didn't use a RR, he used his own truck first thing Sunday morning, those missing 18 miles (IMO NOTHING to do with a spa run ever, especially because Barry said so). (I think those 18 miles might be the first miles driven after a reset, just like how if your gas cap light goes on, it doesn't go off for two ignition cycles.

So what's 9 miles left of PP? A mine with a hole ... and eventually a boulder....but that's my guess.

JMO

I'm thinking along the same lines except I think he planned this weeks/months in advance. He had to ensure the daughters were out of town and wouldn't see anything. He could have spent weeks slowly preparing the body dump site with his bobcat or even by hand. Somewhere along a frequently traveled route and with a reasonable cover story for being there. Digging just a little at a time to avoid drawing attention. So mother's day weekend, all he has to do is dump the body in a hole/mine and maybe shove a large boulder to cover it. He could have set up tree branches and other rocks in order to leverage even a massive boulder into place by hand and without loud machinery.

just my opinion and conjecture

 

[DizzyB]

As for her friend saying SM would never miss the online wedding the next day, her friend didn't even know that SM had a bf for almost 2 years. SM never told anyone. The friend doesn't know SM as much as she thinks she did.

Just because she was cheating on her husband doesn’t mean that she would miss a momentous occasion. Suzanne lied to her friends, because she knew that what she was doing was wrong. I can imagine that she had a crisis of conscience about it, as it went against everything that she appeared to be. Adultery is a pretty big sin to a religious person, and I think she felt incredibly guilty about it. But she continued. Why? Because she saw firsthand that a person can find their Fred at any stage in life?

Maybe between cancer, her kids growing up, moving away to an isolated location away from her support system, she was that miserable. Maybe she didn’t want to give up the secret thing, only for herself, that kept her spirit alive. Maybe JL made her feel things she had not felt in a very long time, and she didn’t want to give it up. You’re not automatically a bad friend because you cheat on your husband, or don’t divulge your affair. Suzanne kept secrets from her friend. If Suzanne told SO, SO would have been lying to her own husband if she didn’t tell him. And they’ll tell two friends… Barry could have divorced Suzanne-publicly shamed her even. He murdered her instead.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

what I found odd was his response to both Garfield and the mines. You feel the intonation change, he rambles about the mine behind his house, that is closed, and i just feel that these conversations make him very anxious. I bet specialists listened to him to understand when he was lying and when not, but I have the feeling that he somewhat perseverates on some parts that are true, to make the whole story true. Like, the light snoring - he speaks so much about it as compared to seeing Suzanne - the “lump” under the sheet does not sound true, and he is not sure in it. This is why I wonder if he were driving her in the car, sedated, and listening to her breathing/light snoring? He comes to this part because there is some truth in it…

If course he isn’t telling the truth. The gps didn’t show him going that way at the time LE claimed. LE was trying to shake him up.

 

[Steelhead]

Barry's first free Saturday for a while, wonder what his plans are...

Sex! Duh!

 

[Ontario Mom]

I hate to say it but I think the prosecution may need to bring the girls to the stand to testify. It's already been admitted their parents fought a lot and weren't in a good place.
I believe they weren't in a good place, SM wanted a divorce, BM discovered the affair and didn't want to lose her or split the assets. Jealousy and money.

Just jumping off your post, but I don't think Barry did actually know about JL. I think it's obvious he suspected something was going on, with someone, but I think when LE actually informed him, he was genuinely surprised. I don't think Barry Morphew needed Suzanne's affair to be his excuse, I think Suzanne taking half of what they had when she divorced him, was all the excuse he needed to remove her, and remove any chance of losing his financial status.

Then... once he knew for sure about JL, then he started in about how God allowed "it" (whatever "it" is, Suzanne's death, disappearance, whatever) almost as if she deserved it, since she was having an affair.

I think he thought saying stuff like that actually made him look like a decent Christian man (oh Barry, not even close, all it did was put your blazing ignorance of genuine Christian faith on full display) and made folks feel sorry for him (strike 2, as he displayed his arrogance in flying colors, as he "forgave" the very woman he is charged with murdering - the audacity there makes me want to throw up, for real). Well, I guess it made a few folks feel sorry for him. Which is even creepier, I think. Whoever mentioned the Manson family girls was spot on. I had the same exact thought.

jmo

 

[Murphy1950]

Just because she was cheating on her husband doesn’t mean that she would miss a momentous occasion. Suzanne lied to her friends, because she knew that what she was doing was wrong. I can imagine that she had a crisis of conscience about it, as it went against everything that she appeared to be. Adultery is a pretty big sin to a religious person, and I think she felt incredibly guilty about it. But she continued. Why? Because she saw firsthand that a person can find their Fred at any stage in life?

Maybe between cancer, her kids growing up, moving away to an isolated location away from her support system, she was that miserable. Maybe she didn’t want to give up the secret thing, only for herself, that kept her spirit alive. Maybe JL made her feel things she had not felt in a very long time, and she didn’t want to give it up. You’re not automatically a bad friend because you cheat on your husband, or don’t divulge your affair. Suzanne kept secrets from her friend. If Suzanne told SO, SO would have been lying to her own husband if she didn’t tell him. And they’ll tell two friends… Barry could have divorced Suzanne-publicly shamed her even. He murdered her instead.

Everything written here, excellent points. IMO. She was desperately trying to keep the spirit/identity of "Suzanne" alive.

 

[CGray123]

I don't know that assuming she wanted it for herself is a "safe" assumption. Quite possibly she wanted it for all of them, she would get "paid back" $500,000 since the "new" house she wanted to look at was cheaper than Puma Path and then she could move on. I don't know that we can draw some of the assumptions that are getting drawn.

Given the context that has been documented it is entirely unreasonable to speculate that SM wanted another property for "all of them" including herself.

Inferences are not assumptions: they are based on evidence. The essential inference, from all the known facts, is that BM intentionally killed SM after deliberation. I refuse the invitation to get lost in the weeds looking for reasons to doubt what is perfectly clear.

 

[sk716]

Agree, the person that probably knew her best is her husband unfortunately. Seems Suzanne was, as her sister said, good at keeping secrets. Really the only issue at hand is proving Suzanne is deceased and proving Barry killed her or for the defense proving that there isn't proof she is deceased and shedding doubt that her husband did it. Some things the prosecution has said didn't prove out. Alot of gossip has been debunked. Some things the prosecution has said they didn't look into. And some things are totally irrelevant and probably won't be introduced at trial. And that is where I sit...once again....waiting

They will say BM came home, and according to him they had a great day and night, had steaks, talked etc. There would be no communications with her lover while her husband is home and same goes for any with her friend if they are having a serious conversation and a great time. As for her friend saying SM would never miss the online wedding the next day, her friend didn't even know that SM had a bf for almost 2 years. SM never told anyone. The friend doesn't know SM as much as she thinks she did.

The fact of the matter is, we're ALL good at keeping secrets. We all have stuff we don't want anyone to know.

No one gets to sit in judgement over Suzanne's terror that Barry would find out about JL.

Why do you think she went to such great lengths to keep JL a secret?

 

[tmar]

Good Night sleuths! Rest easy.

You’re the very best, thank you for all you do!

The 'stayers' are going to continue here, until trial.
Hope during this time, Suzanne's body/parts are found and the Creep is arrested for further charges, losing bail.
I guess we will see, a 'pumped up BM's face', make up etc: he must look good, as so important with vanity +++.
Hope all his money is pouring down the drain.
Hee Hee.

 

[Topppps]

Most damning circumstantial evidence

So Barry left his house at 3:30am on foot/bike was stupid enough to bring his cell phone, planted the bike at the bike location, walked/ran back to the house, got into his car at 4am and then made a wrong turn in the opposite of direction of Broomfield to where the bike helmet was found, which necessitated him making a U turn, then lied about the left turn, then lied again making a BS elk story that was proven false. Damning evidence, damning. Proves he staged the bike/helmet crime scene.
https://twitter.com/LaurenScharfTV/status/1425142561602252800?s=20
https://twitter.com/LaurenScharfTV/status/1438974274233057294?s=20

 

[kkdj]

The fact of the matter is, we're ALL good at keeping secrets. We all have stuff we don't want anyone to know.

No one gets to sit in judgement over Suzanne's terror that Barry would find out about JL.

Why do you think she went to such great lengths to keep JL a secret?

Exactly! She was terrified of him finding out! If you tell no-one then no-one else knows or has the ability to tell someone else and on down the line.
Plus I also think SM felt she would be judged and if someone knew they would have lots of talks with her about what she was doing.
Quite frankly, I think most people would stray at some point if they were being mistreated by their mate long term. We're human.
I don't judge her at all. I understand her better now. Hopefully the jury will too.
moo

 

[Puzzles8]

I think the re-occurrence of Suzanne's cancer in 2018 caused her to completely reevaluate her life. It was a wake up call. She realized if she could beat it for a second time she could completely change the current course of her life and live the rest of her life in happiness.

So sadly, while she was in the final stretch of her new journey, Barry put an end to it. He couldn't stand the fact that Suzanne might be happy and ready to leave him behind. Much less with the cash he had considered his.

JMO