Still Missing CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *arrest* #96

[Seattle1]

Intent to Sue letters are pretty common, especially for police departments and individual officers. They are required by most states to be sent within a certain time period to preserve the right to sue public entities and/or their employees.

IMO an intent to sue letter is not going to cause a long-time detective with a state agency bringing home a good salary, benefits and retirement to suddenly resign.

While Intent to Sue letters may be common, this example is not so common. Perhaps OP is unaware that effective last year, Colorado is the only state to completely bar the legal defense for officers. Colorado is serving as the litmus test for the alarming predictions by police nationwide that eliminating qualified immunity would severely hamper their profession. In comparison, among the seven qualified-immunity bills that became law late last year, Iowa actually strengthened qualified-immunity rights of its officers, and Arkansas did so for its college and university police officers.

In other words, I don't doubt the BM's civil team would like nothing more than to make an example out to Joseph Cahill in their suit against prosecutors and investigators alleging unlawful arrest, malicious prosecution, and defamation. To be clear, I'm not citing this lawsuit as Cahill's reason for resigning but I don't think the new law specific to Colorado can be dismissed as nothing to see here. MOO

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/ne...rphew-intend-to-sue-prosecutors-investigators

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...e546bc-0cdf-11ec-aea1-42a8138f132a_story.html

 

[Seattle1]

When Barbara Thomas went missing in the California desert a few years ago, her husband gave some very awkward statements to LE and to the media. Some of us were convinced he had killed her. But two years later when her body was found, it now seems clear she simply got lost, and her husband was innocent even though awkward in his statements.

This case is different. If we were judging Barry only by the cringy "Oh, Suzanne" video and on how he likes to park his truck at court to block the sidewalk, then yes I would say even though he's awkward and self-centered, a person can be those things and still not a murderer.

But in this case he has given directly conflicting information, and gone out of his way (quite literally, ha) to do things that make no sense otherwise. I don't even mean the "turning left to follow elk" because as weird as that sounds it might actually be what he did. Even the weird trash drops could be him just being weird Barry.

But there is no explanation for why his truck was being moved around, doors opening and closing in the middle of the night when he insists he was sleeping.

There is no explanation for why Suzanne suddenly stopped all communication with everyone in the middle of the afternoon, never to be heard from again, when according to his claim she was supposedly fine until the next morning.

I don't know how the legal case will play out, what with the various burdens of proof and limits on what is admissible, and I hope justice is done, but I don't see any way he could actually be innocent even if he manages to be **shudder** acquitted.

If I recall correctly, Barbara Thomas's case remains open. While her remains were recovered and her autopsy complete, LE has not released either the cause or manner of death.

 

[al66pine]

Entire Dec 17, 2021 Brady Letter was published by Denver Gazzette at the link below. I don't believe the actual CBI incident report was made public. CBI Director Brady Letter

@Seattle1 Thanks for your post w link to the Brady Letter re CBI Agent Cahill.

"...information which may impact the credibility of Agent Cahill..."
Artfully phrased, as we would expect.

 

[nyvictoria]

That's the problem though it's hard to project what "we" would do onto others. It comes up when discussing grief, shock, death...the various perspectives of how people should react. I honestly don't know how I would react...I've never been in the situation but I think Barry was told or knew he would not be returning to the house that night. We don't have that conversation caught on body cam, but the house was emptied when he got there with the cops and they gave him very explicit instructions when they were entering so pick an emotion: was it cold blooded, in shock, dazed and confused....I don't know that we can label it without projecting our own potential reactions. But profiling won't be testified to if I recall the last motions hearing.

I know you’re reasonable and you keep an open mind but…

It seems that whenever there’s a murder and the suspect doesn’t display appropriate grief, the standard excuse is that we can’t expect everyone to break down and sob, not everyone reacts the same.

Had Barry acted even remotely normal at any other point in this saga, I might agree with you. He didn’t. From the beginning, he was more interested in presenting his alibi and trying to convince everyone it was a mountain lion, rapist, ex-employee, etc. When LE didn’t buy his scenarios and eventually focused on him, he then began to update his story to match the evidence.

 

[nyvictoria]

I went way back to the first thread about Suzanne to see what we were saying/posting and what news articles were saying and just to get a feel for how quickly things seemed off.

Right away on the first page the bike ride was being questioned.

The 100,000 reward seemed odd for day 2 of her being missing.

Department of corrections tracking dogs were called in night 1. They found nothing.

The following day 100 searchers (seems no civilian help was requested) from LE, department of corrections, search and rescue type volunteers along with tracking dogs.. nothing.

I think it's fair to say that if she went riding down that road and crashed her bike, her scent would be there. If she walked away disoriented, her scent would be there. This is the same day in an area that would not have been contaminated because it's the middle of nowhere and just a few hours after this bike ride supposedly happened. If those dogs didn't pick up a scent at all, it's fair to assume LE was suspicious and knew she definitely didn't crash, get up disoriented and walk off, heck she didn't even get up and make it to the road and get abducted because the dogs would have picked up the scent at least and lead them to the road.

Search for missing Chaffee County biker continues, public's help sought - by Ark Valley Voice Staff - Ark Valley Voice

Also, didn’t LE specify they did not want Firefighters searching?

 

[Auntie Cipation]

If Barry ditched the bike I agree he could have walked it there. What's puzzling and LE mentioned it that with the traffic to and from Foose's on what was alleged to have been a "nice" day no one saw it. But who knows. People drive by stuff off the road all the time and don't stop and then there are the ones who stop and grab!

It must have been fairly well hidden because Jeanne Ritter had to drive by it twice, on her way to and then from Suzanne's home when she was asked to check on her. (unless she shortcut a foot path across the creek?) In fact, maybe she drove past the bike four times -- didn't she go home to call BM to say "car is home" only to be asked to go back and look for the bike? (or was she on a cell? I think landline but not sure). She certainly would have been keeping her eye out for Suzanne.

Actually, maybe Mrs. Ritter did see the bike and maybe she pointed LE to it when they arrived. I guess there are details like that we might not know until trial.

When you take the oath, you accept the defendant is innocent until proven guilty. There is no burden on the defense to prove anything. They don't need to present a viable explanation as to how she went missing.

RSBM

I agree the defense does not need to prove what happened to SM nor even have a plausible theory about it. But, Suzanne's fate aside, can't the prosecution challenge a direct conflict between BM's alibi and objective data such as vehicle telemetrics?

 

[nyvictoria]

I'm curious why it's going into the hotel room with him though, if that is a hammer.

So he can pour bleach over it?

 

[OldCop]

That would be absolutely devastating. If that vehicle shows any activity at all during that 3 o'clock hour, it's a massive piece of evidence.

Allegedly the data was "helpful," and there are two ways I can think of that make it so:

The first one I mentioned.

No events when Barry left the house, as that would destroy the already weak DNA argument. I mean, you have to open the door in order to touch the dashboard, as random sex offenders apparently love to do for no reason.

Maybe the random sex offender also has a leather fetish?

 

[Diddian]

<modsnip -quoted post removed due to no links>

The ONLY account agents testified that SM had in any way linked to JL was the account with which she communicated to JL on Linked In. (i.e., NOT a bank account, but a social media account).

Reports about testimony in the Preliminary Hearing about the two financial accounts (Greendot and a funds management account with Compass Management) that SM set up after SO recommended she start setting money aside for the time when she'd leave:
prosecutors-outline-barry-suzanne-morphew-movements-disappearance

SUZANNE MORPHEW: Preliminary hearing in Barry Morphew trial reveals new details | FOX31 Denver

FBI agent Harris testified that he did not follow up on those accounts.

Nowhere in the AA or in what I've read coming out of the Preliminary Hearing have I seen anything to support your claim that SM had made JL beneficiary to those accounts.

 

[OldCop]

"The Great Pretender"???
@tmar Ah, a trip down memory lane. Yes, Fats Domino, and The Platters, Roy Orbison, et al. This one, I take it:

"The Great Pretender"
"Oh-oh, yes I'm the great pretender
Pretending that I'm doing well
My need is such I pretend too much
I'm lonely but no one can tell ... "
The Platters - The Great Pretender Lyrics | AZLyrics.com

Now the oldies station is signing off the air for today
__________________
1970's, "The Pretender" a different song, Jackson Browne:
“The Pretender” by Jackson Browne - American Songwriter
2007, "The Pretender" a different song. Foo Fighters:
lyrics the pretender - Google Search

How about “In the Still of the Night of the Night” before you sign off?

 

[nyvictoria]

Colorado is getting good at these no body homicides, though. CBI has got to be putting out fresh guidelines after every case.

Yes they have. I would think that with such vast wilderness, they get more than their fair share of supposedly missing persons cases that turn into no body murder cases.

 

[marylamby]

I really don't think he had anything like that and if he had, LE would've been all over it. If he rented or owned a building or office or storage space, there would've been receipts or a deed.
He was just a subcontractor with a bobcat.
IMO

ETA: I want to walk back the 'receipts'/paperwork. Remember the huge stuffed file Barry walked out of the hotel with? Might've been a spiral notebook too. Lots of stuff. I wonder if he still had that in his truck when LE took it. Could've dropped it off somewhere or handed it over to someone before he arrived to meet LE.
Whatever it all was, he felt the need to take it from the house - which he knew would be searched.
IMO

Quoting myself to add what I was thinking but failed to say...
Did the DA do a forensic accounting of Barry's funds? Bank accts, LLCs and a certain 'foundation' that we know of?
Properties that too may have gone through LLCs?
Going back to our OG's question? You may very well have something. What if he did/does have a property very hard if not impossible to find using his name only.
When I researched the Suzanne Morphew Foundation (with grateful help from another member), there were a few officers who likely knew the ins and outs of creating such companies that would obscure his assets.
Food for thought.

 

[MassGuy]

Quoting myself to say what I was thinking but failed to say...
Did the DA do a forensic accounting of Barry's funds? Bank accts, LLCs and a certain 'foundation' that we know of?
Properties that too may have gone through LLCs?
Going back to our OG's question? You may very well have something. What if he did/does have a property very hard if not impossible to find using his name only.
When I researched the Suzanne Morphew Foundation (with grateful help from another member), there were a few officers who likely knew the ins and outs of creating such companies that would obscure his assets.
Food for thought.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Feds did that. It is their specialty.

 

[al66pine]

How about “In the Still of the Night of the Night” before you sign off?

Okay, the last golden oldie before we sign off the air.
Going out to all our radio fans in Websleuths land.

Now a special request @OldCop made to dedicate this one to pals down at the the old precinct house, this is "In the Heat of the Night" composed by the prolific Quincy Jones as the theme for 1967 movie of the same name and performed here by the late great Ray Charles.

For your listening pleasure, stay tuned to station WS.

==============================
See lyrics, hear song at Ray Charles - In The Heat Of The Night Lyrics | AZLyrics.com

 

[marylamby]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Feds did that. It is their specialty.

If they thought it necessary. Everyone thought this was a open and shut case. Who wouldn't? It should be.
IMO

 

[mom2chloe]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Feds did that. It is their specialty.

I have no doubt that LE and FBI have the information. Again we don’t yet know but it will be interesting what is disclosed during the trial. The financials have been covered and likely we will learn much more. Financials definitely play a part in the story. IMO

 

[marylamby]

I have no doubt that LE and FBI have the information. Again we don’t yet know but it will be interesting what is disclosed during the trial. The financials have been covered and likely we will learn much more. Financials definitely play a part in the story. IMO

My point is LLCs, LLPs and other shell corps are hard to find if only a tax related search is done. If you ask me (and I know you didn't, lol), Barry was about to flee. If he had transferred funds to an international acct before any search, it likely wasn't found if the transfer were done through an LLC or LLP account. That's why they exist.
IMO

 

[Auntie Cipation]

My point is LLCs, LLPs and other shell corps are hard to find if only a tax related search is done. If you ask me (and I know you didn't, lol), Barry was about to flee. If he had transferred funds to an international acct before any search, it likely wasn't found if the transfer were done through an LLC or LLP account. That's why they exist.
IMO

Didn't we learn that BM had taken the Bobcat back to Indiana shortly before he was arrested?

When I see folks doubting that he was going to bolt, I have to wonder why he would do that otherwise. If he was planning on moving to Arizona or some such, wouldn't he just move the Bobcat there, either in advance or along with his other belongings? Putting it far from himself, knowing that it was his always-at-hand go-to machine for his livelihood, kinda seems to imply he wasn't planning on doing that sort of work anymore.

(and yet -- why not just sell it in Chaffee County or nearby? Why go to all the effort to keep it in IN?)

 

[PaulaDC]

Ridiculous how he thought he should be “cleared” within 3 days.

By March 10, 2021 he’s saying there is no evidence of him disposing of her, Just the fact he used that word gives me the willies.
Page 85 of 129
https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/11th_Judicial_District/Chaffee/cases of interest/21CR78/21cr78 Morphew Redacted Affidavit.pdf

So he didn't use his vehicle or disappear her on his way to Broomfield. That's what I hear.

 

[al66pine]

Hold Up a Just a Sec.

If they thought it necessary. Everyone thought this was a open and shut case. Who wouldn't? It should be. IMO

@marylamby Interesting post.
Everyone thought?
While many (most?) on WS may believe BM killed SM, and
many ppl in gen. may believe BM is guilty, personally imo saying "everybody thought" is a s-t-r-e-t-c-h. I could be wrong.

While many (most?) sleuthers here who believe BM killed SM, do all of them also think he will be convicted of M-1, guilty BARD? My guess, no. A significant portion of ^ group may think so, but imo no, not all. I could be wrong.

Open and shut?
This no-body case is an open and shut case???

Not trying to challenge/change anyone's opinions about BM or the evd to date.
Just saying, very respectfully, I doubt everyone here is in mental lockstep w ^ post assessment of the crim case. my2ct, I could be wrong.