Still Missing CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *arrest* #94

[mom2chloe]

I DON’T RECALL would crash the website!

You would think given Suzanne and Barry’s history with the Indiana Jeff that Barry might recall that situation and confrontation too. Apparently not and Barry can’t recall again. I call BS. Maybe Barry was chapped because as JL stated he got rid of all if his Social Media stuff after his daughter discovered messages on his phone. I don’t believe for a second that Barry didn’t know. Likely he couldn’t find the guy on Facebook or elsewhere so convinces himself it was someone else. Barry doesn’t succeed in playing dumb IMO

 

[Kemug]

I have always believed his premeditation goes back to Indiana. I believe Barry did something there to cause her so much grief and pain and he knew he had to get her away from there, make her believe they were starting over. Then she inherited the money for him to put his plan into action.

What better place than the wilderness of Salida, Colorado? He could convince her it’s a great place to hunt so he wouldn’t be traveling anymore. His hunts would be local and they would have time together to start over. (He had to incorporate his hunting into his story).

He ingratiates himself in the people of the small town, becomes a volunteer firefighter, has big hunting buddies. All the while, he is planning where to get rid of her body. He knows the jig is about up as she tries and tries to reach him emotionally but he cuts her off and disappears for days at a time.

He is convinced small town LE, his good ole buddies, will believe his stories. He didn’t realize they have a brain too.

Investigators can’t track his wheelings and dealings and affairs because he uses only cash.
Barry’s hoping the old Suzanne will show up someday and become his dutiful wife again but he knows better. She becomes distant. He suspects there’s someone else.

Finally yes, he snaps. He has to put his plans into action. He believes he has outsmarted LE and CBI. Though his actions appear sloppy and comical, only time will tell.

Whether Barry gets away with this will depend on the 12 jurors. I have little faith in the wrangling of the attorneys and the courts. It appears with enough money, you can buy your way out of anything. I’m praying this is one of the few cases where money won’t buy an acquittal. And remember, it is Suzanne’s money.

Yes, I can believe all this. But sometimes I realise that unfortunately it ain't necessarily so. I really do believe that Barry and his personality are his own worst enemies.

 

[Kemug]

Sorry about your neighbor @DizzyB -- sounds like he's an old-school dude still driving an older model diesel. And if he's idling his truck that long during the summer months, he must have a very important destination! I'm recalling when we left our vehicles idling all night-- and this was while the block heater/battery blankets were plugged in. Personally, I think if you first ask him why he idles his truck every morning, he'd be willing to relocate his truck where it doesn't disturb you. Maybe by moving it, he'll even go for a remote starter kit (they're fairly inexpensive today)! Good luck.

Or if he's an old-school dude driving an old-school truck, then maybe he's just old? And with any luck he'll soon retire, and keep more neighbourly hours.

 

[Cindizzi]

MOO IMO

I wonder if MG cooperated with LE in trying to record BM in the same way SO did.

That would be great if MG had been able to record any conversations with BM, but remember that he fired her by text pretty quickly and trashed her reputation in the Media and she said she was afraid of him and never wanted to see him again.

SO didn’t record him. I don’t think BM would have trusted her with a 10 foot pole ( since she knew all his secrets). He said in interviews that he was disappointed in SO for not counseling SM that marriage was for life. He was also angry at SO for saying something to the girls about a remembrance of life for SM because he didn’t think she should be saying that SM was no longer with us.

It was HW that recorded BM,
Remember when the Daily Mail thought they had a big scandal with a photo at a restaurant and a headline saying “ BM seen about town with mysterious redhead “ ?
That was SM’s friend HW.
JMO

 

[sk716]

The fact that Barry willingly handed the gun over tells me that this particular gun had nothing to do with the murder. I’d like to know which gun was kept in the case found under the bed.

He handed this gun over on February 29th, 2021. Nine months after Suzanne went missing.

 

[sk716]

Oh wow @sk716 this is the first time I’ve looked at what you’ve created here. Thank you for all your efforts and time!

Forgive my ignorance, but are you saying that your version here of the AA is “ searchable “ ? Or that you are working on making it searchable?
If you are asking for search terms or keywords to help find things, one thing I can think of off the top of my head would be SHEETS or BEDDING.
That subject comes up all over the place in the AA in so many interviews and so many bizarre statements IMO.
Thanks!

The best way to search it is with Ctrl+F. Depending on your browser a search bar will appear at the top or bottom. The browser highlights the next instance of the word and counts them all allowing you to click through the result, pretty similarly to the Adobe search but it can go on the fly so you don't have to reload to change your search term.

Any kind of traditional search would return a mess of useless results.

 

[al66pine]

BM's Stmts to LE. Admissible or Not?

Dare I ask-is there absolutely any chance that any of Barry’s statements to LE be ruled inadmissible? Honestly, I think winning this case hinges on Barry’s lies. That scares me-because I don’t know how by the book each interview went.

@DizzyB bbm Several posts say BM was not subjected to LE coercion & I agree.
But LE's coercion is not the only basis a basis for def atty to object to def's pre-arrest stmts to LE & for court to rule it/them inadmissible.

Speaking gen'ly re a def's stmts, not to BM's stmts.
The court may rule some def's stmts inadmissible as
--- immaterial to offenses def is charged w, e.g.,
....At age 10, I cheated on grammar test, stole a candybar. (hypo stmt)

Stmt ^ is (very likely) immaterial to M1, so is (very, very likely) inadmissible.

CO. Rules of Evidence* provide other bases for not admitting some or all a def's pre-arrest stmts to LE.

No time for me this eve. to give further ex's, but maybe others can. my2ct.

* Colorado Court Rules | Article I - General Provisions | Casetext

 

[Kemug]

Oh, no. Do we have to add a hoarse to our collection now?

Oh yes, I've just added a "hoarse"! Or should that be "a little hoarse"?!!

 

[sk716]

That would be great if MG had been able to record any conversations with BM, but remember that he fired her by text pretty quickly and trashed her reputation in the Media and she said she was afraid of him and never wanted to see him again.

SO didn’t record him. I don’t think BM would have trusted her with a 10 foot pole ( since she knew all his secrets). He said in interviews that he was disappointed in SO for not counseling SM that marriage was for life. He was also angry at SO for saying something to the girls about a remembrance of life for SM because he didn’t think she should be saying that SM was no longer with us.

It was HW that recorded BM,
Remember when the Daily Mail thought they had a big scandal with a photo at a restaurant and a headline saying “ BM seen about town with mysterious redhead “ ?
That was SM’s friend HW.
JMO

She did actually. Or tried to, it came up at the PH.

Q Eytan: And prior to that both Ms. Oliver and Ms. Wilson had been interviewed multiple times by law enforcement.

A Harris: Yes, I believe so.

Q Eytan: And in fact after you discover the depth of this relationship with Mr. Libler you didn’t just interview Ms. Oliver or Ms. Wilson you actually worked with them to record secret conversations – well, not secret, but conversations that they were having with Mr. Morphew, is that right?

A Harris: With Ms. Wilson, she was recording those conversations on her own at first for some time and then yes, she eventually recorded on our behalf. And then with Ms. Oliver it was — they were coming out for the visit on their own and offered if we wanted to be able to record the conversation and there was just that one conversation that they recorded.

Q Eytan: Uh-huh.

A Harris: So yes.

Q Eytan: So they work with you, and what do you call those people? Do you call them confidential informants or what do you call them in the FBI?

A Harris: So in the case of Ms. Oliver, she was not a confidential human source. But Ms. Wilson was.

Q Eytan: And when they — when they were conducting these secret recordings of Mr. Morphew you did not advise them of the secret love affair that Suzanne had with Jeff Libler?

A Harris: No, we had played a portion of audio for each of them to see whether they knew who it was, but we didn’t disclose anything about what we thought about the nature of that particular person, just that it was somebody that she was talking to, and I think both of them at that point possibly felt like it was — that there was something there but we did not disclose anything further. But we know about the pen recording content.

Q Eytan: So, they had heard the voice of Jeff Libler but they didn’t understand the depth of the relationship that Ms. Morphew had with Jeff Libler, is that right?

A Harris: Correct.​

 

[Kemug]

In a murder case, it's almost always a good idea for the defense to present an alternate theory of what happened IMO. For lesser crimes, juries may be more comfortable letting defendants off solely on the basis of the state not proving their case well enough. But when someone is dead, juries are generally uncomfortable with letting the likely murderer go free purely based on some holes in the evidence. The defense needs to actually present them with an alternate theory/suspect.

These defense lawyers seem competent, so I think they will present an alternate theory. If I had to guess it will look something like this:

• Suzanne was planning to leave Barry. That's supported by her texts to him, her texts to SO, what she said to JL, etc.
• She enlisted the help of an unknown man (they'll probably imply he was another secret lover). Unfortunately for her, she chose the wrong person. This is the person who left the unidentified DNA on the dashboard of Suzanne's car.
• On Mother's day, this man came to the house after Barry left. Suzanne disabled the security cameras in the house so that Barry wouldn't see him. Hence her DNA on the cables of the security system.
• Something went wrong and this man abducted Suzanne from the house/killed her there and removed her body. That allows them to place the blame for things like the cracked door frame & bullet on this man.
• To draw attention away from the crime scene of the house where his DNA might be present, the man staged the bike and helmet.

A theory like this will allow them to focus on the unknown DNA and on SM's affair.

Obviously there are big holes in this story. It doesn't explain why Suzanne's digital trail stopped on Saturday afternoon. It doesn't explain the odd phone/car activity on the night of 5/9. It doesn't explain the multiple trash stops in Broomfield. It doesn't explain Barry's changing stories. And the explanation for staging the bike is very weak. It's very easy to see why Barry would want to stage the bike (proof that SM was alive on Sunday), but much harder to see why it would be worth it for someone else.

But they'll put on experts to call into question the reliability of the telematics and phone data. And they'll hope that at least one or two jurors buy it.

I don't think it will work as long as the prosecution puts on their case well and focuses on Suzanne going silent the afternoon of the 9th, Barry's bizarre behavior following that and his ever-changing stories. So hopefully they do that.

But at the moment we don't actually know that Suzanne is dead, and if that is still the case at trial, I'm sure Defence won't let us forget it.

 

[Spartygirl]

If it was just to remove the laces, he could have done that in his truck.

He also could have done that at home. Anytime

 

[sk716]

BTW, I decided I was going to go ahead and correct the AA typos because they make me crazy. Oxford Comma 4 Life!

I'm not a great editor, after awhile my eyes glaze over and incredulity trumps thoroughness. So if you note a typo shoot me a line, some are artifacts from the original pdf conversion and not necessarily a typo in the original doc, but the original doc typos can go if I'm going add a "keyword" where applicable.

Barry Morphew Redacted Arrest Affidavit – Find Suzanne Morphew

 

[Kemug]

SM's Remains. Undetectable?
@Scootie98 Thx for your post, and agreeing w you: SM's remains being placed in PP septic tank (hypothetically) would be inconsistent w BM's stmt about burying a body in a nondetectable way. {ETA: not claiming to know where her remains are.}
OTOH - what about BM's penchant for exaggerating & telling big fat porkies?

Plus - not a statement, a boast.

 

[Cindizzi]

She did actually. Or tried to, it came up at the PH.

Q Eytan: And prior to that both Ms. Oliver and Ms. Wilson had been interviewed multiple times by law enforcement.

A Harris: Yes, I believe so.

Q Eytan: And in fact after you discover the depth of this relationship with Mr. Libler you didn’t just interview Ms. Oliver or Ms. Wilson you actually worked with them to record secret conversations – well, not secret, but conversations that they were having with Mr. Morphew, is that right?

A Harris: With Ms. Wilson, she was recording those conversations on her own at first for some time and then yes, she eventually recorded on our behalf. And then with Ms. Oliver it was — they were coming out for the visit on their own and offered if we wanted to be able to record the conversation and there was just that one conversation that they recorded.

Q Eytan: Uh-huh.

A Harris: So yes.

Q Eytan: So they work with you, and what do you call those people? Do you call them confidential informants or what do you call them in the FBI?

A Harris: So in the case of Ms. Oliver, she was not a confidential human source. But Ms. Wilson was.

Q Eytan: And when they — when they were conducting these secret recordings of Mr. Morphew you did not advise them of the secret love affair that Suzanne had with Jeff Libler?

A Harris: No, we had played a portion of audio for each of them to see whether they knew who it was, but we didn’t disclose anything about what we thought about the nature of that particular person, just that it was somebody that she was talking to, and I think both of them at that point possibly felt like it was — that there was something there but we did not disclose anything further. But we know about the pen recording content.

Q Eytan: So, they had heard the voice of Jeff Libler but they didn’t understand the depth of the relationship that Ms. Morphew had with Jeff Libler, is that right?

A Harris: Correct.​

Yikes I stand corrected. Totally forgot this detail about both SO and HW.
My apologies.
You are a fount of information here. Thanks

 

[Cindizzi]

But at the moment we don't actually know that Suzanne is dead, and if that is still the case at trial, I'm sure Defence won't let us forget it.

The Defense will definitely continue to argue that there is no body and no blood trail, therefore no murder. They did that in the Preliminary hearings.
But Judge Murphy said otherwise.

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/ne...-judge-rules-barry-morphew-will-head-to-trial
Around 3 p.m., Chaffee County Judge Patrick Murphy ruled that he found probable cause for the charges of murder and tampering with a body. He said he can do this even if the body of Suzanne Morphew — Barry Morphew's wife, whom he is accused of killing — has not been found.

District Attorney Jeff Lindsey said it was clear that the crime scene had been staged since there was no blood, no body, no damage to Suzanne Morphew's bike or helmet, and the fact that her Camelbak and sunglasses, which she brought on every run, were left at home. He also called a tranquilizer cap, which was found in a dryer in the Morphew home, "a pivotal piece of evidence."



Another very sad case of a missing woman in Colorado had no real hard forensic evidence but the State proved she was murdered:
( Kelsie has not been found to this day). Her Mother fought hard and was able to change the Law in Colorado to make tampering with a deceased body a FELONY.


Donthe Lucas found guilty by jury in Kelsie Schelling's murder
More than eight years after pregnant 21-year-old Kelsie Schelling disappeared in Pueblo without a trace, the man she came to Pueblo to visit that night was convicted of her murder.

Donthe Lucas, 28, was found guilty of first-degree murder Monday afternoon at the Dennis Maes Judicial Building and sentenced to life in the Colorado Department of Corrections without parole.

Schelling went missing Feb. 4, 2013 and several years went by without any discernable progress on the case, but Lucas was charged with her murder Dec. 1, 2017, despite the fact her body was never found.

The trial concluded without any hard forensic evidence showing where and how Schelling was murdered and Chostner said she felt the most compelling evidence the jury heard in the case was the evidence of domestic violence in Lucas and Schelling’s relationship.

 

[mrjitty]

I know the Defense said that’s the reason they asked for another week of Trial, saying it would take 4 or 5 whole days to view/listen to the interviews.

RSBM

The defence says a lot of things, but there is no way a judge will allow this IMO

Interestingly a similar thing was tried in the McStay trial - to bore the jury to death. The defence was allowed to play some extended sequences, but the evidence led has to meet relevance tests. Otherwise if entire exhibits were read out by witnesses things would quickly get silly.

• Not allow any of BM statements at trial

There is no way this will happen IMO

The Judge won't exclude admissible evidence which was all disclosed before the prelim.

If he wants to put the State on the naughty step, there are other ways.

 

[mrjitty]

No...IMO.

Generally anything a defendant says is fair game unless they had requested an attorney or they were coerced and the statement is not "voluntary". Neither appear to be the case here.

The discovery violations being considered by the Judge do not relate to the defendant's statements. If there are sanctions for violations they will likely be related to the discovery in question...IMO.

The defense was smart to insist that all of the defendant's statements be played to the jury.

Even if the state buried some key evidence in the victim's RR telemetrics and it was a very egergious violation and involved exculpatory evidence (like movement in the RR when Defendant is known to be in Denver), the sanctions would not relate to the defendant's statements....IMO.

If there was an egregious violations of discovery involving exculpatory evidence, the judge may dismiss the case. That is rare in my opinion and usually if these things transpire in a serious case, the judge will tip their hand to the DA and give them a chance to dismiss the case before jeopardy attaches.

IMO[/QUOTE]

Thanks for these insights.

This is also my opinion regards the RR telematics. While it is easy for the defence to raise spectres about law enforcement in pre-trial motions, it is most like just the usual bureaucratic SNAFUs which are enhanced in the Corona times. Especially the last 3 months or so when it has been holiday time, winter corona season and Omicron.

Most likely, there is no RR telematics data for the relevant times, which is why the state didn't exhibit it.

 

[mrjitty]

The thing about Necrosearch etc that the book No Stone Unturned makes clear is that here on Websleuths we can underestimate the bureaucratic aspect to finding missing bodies.

For example to check some mineshafts up behind the house, would require someone to sign off on all the expenses of that, which means they will want to know what is the specific new intel to justify it.

The accused had so many options open to him, I can understand why law enforcement isn't looking into these ideas.

 

[mrjitty]

He handed this gun over on February 29th, 2021. Nine months after Suzanne went missing.

Some thoughts about this

• It's a very odd, modified .22 from the image - no stock, and short barrelled - like a pistol
• Bolt action - so you can potentially load a dart in the chamber direct
• Scope seems odd when you have no stock on the thing
• Chasing chipmonks furiously with a single shot bolt action seems unlikely?

One does speculate whether he realised that it didn't add up that LE had not recovered a working dart gun

I wonder if a .22 was recovered that would fit the bill of the supposed chipmonk gun in the original search?

if Barry is indeed the kind of guy to "shoot critters" i'd be surprised if he didn't have a .22 semi-auto of some kind.

 

[Love Never Fails]

Didn't he also delete calls? I thought he said a reason for that was "making space on his phone".. he deleted bad texts because he didn't want his girls to see them. Okay so did he ever delete any other tests or call logs other than those from Suzanne?

And can’t LE get records of all those?