Still Missing CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *arrest* #86

[Tumbleweed]

AA Page 5 of 129

The last cell phone activity was at 4:23 a.m. and the phone appeared to be off, with a general location of 11.5 miles west of a cell tower in Poncha Springs.

Excellent! Using google maps, ~11.5 miles west of verizon cell phone tower in Poncha Springs puts it by Garfield.

Verizon tower location:
Poncha Springs Site 11170 W. Hwy 50 (Lat: 38.519139 , Lon: -106.081194)
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/towers/cell-Poncha-Springs-Colorado.html

 

[MassGuy]

Excellent! Using google maps, ~11.5 miles west of verizon cell phone tower in Poncha Springs puts it by Garfield.

Verizon tower location:
Poncha Springs Site 11170 W. Hwy 50 (Lat: 38.519139 , Lon: -106.081194)
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/towers/cell-Poncha-Springs-Colorado.html

I think that's just the tower it was connected to, and it's the same tower her phone would use if it was active in the home.

I got excited too when this came up during the prelim, but based on other information we learned, I think Barry turned it off when he was still in the house.

It's still damning, but not as damning as it would be if it was traveling before being shut off.

 

[Tumbleweed]

I think that's just the tower it was connected to, and it's the same tower her phone would use if it was active in the home.

I got excited too when this came up during the prelim, but based on other information we learned, I think Barry turned it off when he was still in the house.

It's still damning, but not as damning as it would be if it was traveling before being shut off.

Yeah, I got excited as it seems that her phone was out by Garfield at 4:23 AM and Barry admitted to be out in the same vicinity during the same timeframe. It's almost as if he had her phone with him.

But yeah, wish he hadn't turned it off at the house, for sure.

Question: So since they said they know when her last phone activity was and where, is it pinging even when it is off? If so, is it possible there could be a trail for them to follow?

 

[Cindizzi]

RSBM
I'm with you both on the phone and the Jeff' s.

Bet that was why they had the huge fight on Friday night, Barry had a name, and Suzanne frantically went into FB to friend every Jeff she could find.

I think the phone was also planted when the bike was , which is why he asked about the phone. He wanted them to find her last selfie. He really, really wanted them to find this guy and the phone IMO. And why wouldn't he? If he followed crime at all he would have to know he was already prime suspect so why not drag in a few more people to open up doubt, maybe snag a local, Jeff or someone else Suzanne had been seeing/flirting with. Poor, poor Barry.

I was absolutely convinced that BM did the FB friending on SM’s account, but now I’m thinking like you. I go back and forth on this one.
After seeing in the AA that his phone was pinging down by the river Friday night at the same time….. perhaps it was SM.

 

[sk716]

I really would love to know where he pulled over to get his truck situated (bolded below). Check out this from page 74 of the AA when LE was questioning Barry about the left turn:

SA Grusing explained that Agents have checked and hadn't seen Barry or others go past the Monarch camera. Barry said, "Yeah, I didn't. I turned around there. I turned, I, I went that way because I saw those elk. They were in road right there, before I got up to 50. And I let 'em cross and then there was one good bull in there and I like, 'Man.' And I just missed seeing how good he was. Yeah know, I'm a hunter and I just wanted to see him and I just turned that way to look at him. That's, yeah, that's, that's the only thing and when I went to Broomsfield, I told Joe and Derek everywhere I stopped. I had crap blowing out of the
truck, I pull over at one spot, got my truck situated, went off. .. "

IIRC LE tricked Barry into thinking that they knew that he turned left toward Garfield, so I think he felt he needed to come up with a story explaining why he pulled his truck over for a period. Unfortunately, they don't have GPS data for that part of his trip, correct? But they do have data further along in his travels that day, yes? How is that possible?

As far as I am aware, we do not have accurate GPS of Barry's left turn toward Garfield. LE knew he had 14 extra miles on the odometer and the location of the helmet accounted for a lot (5 miles each way to where Barry says he turned around) of that mileage. Grusing is just a genius, he does that thing where he doesn't ask the question until he already knows the answer. There are still four miles in there unaccounted for.

I believe the "pull over" spot is in reference to the Men's Warehouse trash dump because he say's "got my truck situated" and he spent a lot of time there with lots of door opening and closing. It's an idiotic lie though because the "crap blowing out" line would have only been a good excuse at the first trash dump at the RTD bus stop.

 

[PaulaDC]

"grabbed her at the river and took her up"... up where.... Is he giving us a clue here?

You know I looked up at those mountains and it doesn't make sense to me to go up. What if someone spotted him. He's mentioned going up, or searching "up there" which only because he said up makes me think down. Just moo.

 

[gamma gal]

AA Page 5 of 129

The last cell phone activity was at 4:23 a.m. and the phone appeared to be off, with a general location of 11.5 miles west of a cell tower in Poncha Springs.

Where would that be? Any idea?

 

[gamma gal]

RSBM
I'm with you both on the phone and the Jeff' s.

Bet that was why they had the huge fight on Friday night, Barry had a name, and Suzanne frantically went into FB to friend every Jeff she could find.

I think the phone was also planted when the bike was , which is why he asked about the phone. He wanted them to find her last selfie. He really, really wanted them to find this guy and the phone IMO. And why wouldn't he? If he followed crime at all he would have to know he was already prime suspect so why not drag in a few more people to open up doubt, maybe snag a local, Jeff or someone else Suzanne had been seeing/flirting with. Poor, poor Barry.

Before the night of so many Facebook requests...I wonder when the last time was that she Facebook requested someone?

 

[JosieMae]

Surely the Defence, two smart women, will not put 'idiot' BM on the stand.
He'll drown in his lies, and Prosecutors will have a great time, digging his grave.
I also wish, that he appears on the stand, but NOPE....

MassGuy was referring to putting Grusing on the stand, not BM. As you say, that would be a colossal mistake.

 

[gamma gal]

Excellent! Using google maps, ~11.5 miles west of verizon cell phone tower in Poncha Springs puts it by Garfield.

Verizon tower location:
Poncha Springs Site 11170 W. Hwy 50 (Lat: 38.519139 , Lon: -106.081194)
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/towers/cell-Poncha-Springs-Colorado.html

Can we check all of these mines please...

Garfield County, Colorado Mines

 

[Murphy1950]

Before the night of so many Facebook requests...I wonder when the last time was that she Facebook requested someone?

from the AA page 31
From a cursory review of Suzanne's account dating back to January I, 2020, these friend requests were out of the norm for Suzanne. Though Suzanne received over twenty friend requests from others in 2020, her Facebook account profile initiated no friend requests until May 8tll.

Based on this in the AA page 34
On May 9, 2020, from 7:22 AM to 7:39 AM, Barry's phone registered locations at his "Tailwinds" work site near Poncha Springs. During that time, Suzanne's phone exchanged messages with her friend, Sheila Oliver (7:35 AM), and Greg Fisher accepted her Facebook friends request (7:30 AM).41

Obviously Suzanne was exchanging messages and active early Saturday. She would have noticed the accepted request if she opened FB. If it wasn't her who sent the request, you'd think there would be an exchange with Barry at a minimum or she would have let Sheila know he hacked her account.

 

[gamma gal]

Can we check all of these mines please...

Garfield County, Colorado Mines

Maybe start with the Black Tiger Mine. If he couldn't get and auger, perhaps he used his bucket digger to bury her in gravel, dirt or whatever in an abandoned mine 11 miles west of her last known signal?

 

[Lyanna]

I reckon Barry tried to stage Suzanne's phone, when asked about it in the AA he said somewhere between the bike and helmet (iirc and I can't check cos I'm at work and on my phone) or something along those lines. He really wanted them to find her phone,imo.
I do wonder if he went through her phone deleting their texts and call history for the week up to her disappearance like he did his own?

 

[sk716]

from the AA page 31
From a cursory review of Suzanne's account dating back to January I, 2020, these friend requests were out of the norm for Suzanne. Though Suzanne received over twenty friend requests from others in 2020, her Facebook account profile initiated no friend requests until May 8tll.

Based on this in the AA page 34
On May 9, 2020, from 7:22 AM to 7:39 AM, Barry's phone registered locations at his "Tailwinds" work site near Poncha Springs. During that time, Suzanne's phone exchanged messages with her friend, Sheila Oliver (7:35 AM), and Greg Fisher accepted her Facebook friends request (7:30 AM).41

Obviously Suzanne was exchanging messages and active early Saturday. She would have noticed the accepted request if she opened FB. If it wasn't her who sent the request, you'd think there would be an exchange with Barry at a minimum or she would have let Sheila know he hacked her account.

She wasn't getting those notifications yet. Her phone had a second password reset request on the 9th. The friend requests all went out on the 8th.

"On May 9, 2020 at 11:14 AM, Suzanne’s phone received a second password reset message from Facebook. Shortly after 11:15 AM, Barry’s phone traveled west on HWY 50, arriving at the Morphew residence at around 11:27 AM. Both phones, per CAST, appeared to be at the residence from 1:30 AM through 1:40 PM."

 

[gamma gal]

She wasn't getting those notifications yet. Her phone had a second password reset request on the 9th. The friend requests all went out on the 8th.

"On May 9, 2020 at 11:14 AM, Suzanne’s phone received a second password reset message from Facebook. Shortly after 11:15 AM, Barry’s phone traveled west on HWY 50, arriving at the Morphew residence at around 11:27 AM. Both phones, per CAST, appeared to be at the residence from 1:30 AM through 1:40 PM."

This is damning ...

 

[Murphy1950]

She wasn't getting those notifications yet. Her phone had a second password reset request on the 9th. The friend requests all went out on the 8th.

"On May 9, 2020 at 11:14 AM, Suzanne’s phone received a second password reset message from Facebook. Shortly after 11:15 AM, Barry’s phone traveled west on HWY 50, arriving at the Morphew residence at around 11:27 AM. Both phones, per CAST, appeared to be at the residence from 1:30 AM through 1:40 PM."

Thanks @sk716...So it does appear she was on FB at some point Saturday morning. I would think if it wasn't Suzanne who sent the request she'd be raising hell w/ Barry. To be calmly interacting with Jeff a few hours later and no mention, still tells me she knows what happened on FB.

 

[MassGuy]

Yeah, I got excited as it seems that her phone was out by Garfield at 4:23 AM and Barry admitted to be out in the same vicinity during the same timeframe. It's almost as if he had her phone with him.

But yeah, wish he hadn't turned it off at the house, for sure.

Question: So since they said they know when her last phone activity was and where, is it pinging even when it is off? If so, is it possible there could be a trail for them to follow?

So when a phone is powered down, it connects to a tower one final time (ping). That's how law enforcement is able to track the last known location of a device.

Once its off, it's off, and it cannot be tracked. The one exception is if the phone is previously infected with spyware that allows it to still transmit a signal when the user thinks it's completely powered down. That's spy agency stuff though.

 

[Seattle1]

Thanks @sk716...So it does appear she was on FB at some point Saturday morning. I would think if it wasn't Suzanne who sent the request she'd be raising hell w/ Barry. To be calmly interacting with Jeff a few hours later and no mention, still tells me she knows what happened on FB.

When SM received the password reset msg from FB on Saturday, around 11:14 AM, I wonder if this is when investigators reversed their position that it was SM that sent out the FB friend requests, and not BM, as previously suggested? Their assumption would be that SM was still alive and well on Saturday morning and responsible for initiating the FB password reset request.

But now I'm wondering when the first FB password rest request was received if 11:14 AM was the second request? Would that also have been Saturday -- or perhaps sometime late Friday?

Since the friend requests by SM to random upperclassmen never sat right with me, why couldn't it have been somebody other than BM that hacked SM's FB on Friday night and sent out the friend requests? If SM knew exactly of BM's whereabouts on Friday and could easily eliminate him, no reason to accuse him.

However, as for other candidates, seems to me that there could have been others in either JL or BM's camp that might have a vested interest in making trouble for SM in the social media and Indiana small-town gossip world. I recall that JL has an older brother, and BM an older sister. I'm not on FB but I think I've heard it at least once that those two were classmates and longtime FB friends. Could big sister have hacked SM's FB account and sent those friend requests?

Hmmmm...

 

[tmar]

MassGuy was referring to putting Grusing on the stand, not BM. As you say, that would be a colossal mistake.

OOPS.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

I always thought she might've ran to the car but if the keys weren't there she could've tried to run across the creek but then the tranquilizer took total effect?

Although we've seen the maps showing that in order to drive from PP house to Ritters, one must go out to hwy 50 and east to the next access road, it is also true that Ritters' is just across the creek from PP home.

I suspect that there is at least one easy crossing spot, ie appropriately-located stepping stone boulders, or a downed log sturdy enough to walk across. And in an emergency wading across would not be a problem.

So I think it's reasonable that if (speculating here) SM was mobile and able to run, and especially if her car was blocked in by BM vehicle, she might have tried to run to/across the creek to safety at her friend's home.

Minor league throw came up short.

Ooh, burn!

Also: the photo with BM and the two others at the newly installed gate -- I believe this gate is at hwy 50 at the eastern entrance to Monarch River Estates, the one that accesses, after it forks, the Ritters on the west and the campground on the east. I think this based on seeing the white highway shoulder paint line in the posted photo, and by matching trees and rocks between the posted photo and google maps images. IMO.