Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *Case dismissed w/o Prejudice* #101

[abams]

The awesome panel gathered for LS's video this evening seem to believe the body is buried. This is the reason:

"As an offer of proof, the People and law enforcement believe we are close to discovering the victim’s body. The People were hopeful that the search for, and the discovery of, the victim’s body would be concluded well before trial, but weather has complicated the efforts. Specifically, the area law enforcement has been focused on is in a remote and mountainous region nearby the Morphew residence. This area received a significant amount of snow over the winter months before a search could be completed. To date, the area has 5 feet of snow concealing the location where the People believe Ms. Morphew is located. As a result, the People cannot safely excavate this area and resolve this unanswered question."

https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/11th_Judicial_District/Freemont/Morphew/2022-04-19 08-49-34 Motion to Dismiss Without Prejudice.pdf

To be clear, this suffices as a good faith reason to get their motion to dismiss over the hurdle. But that's all it need be: good faith. If it comes to nothing, and personally I lean that way, then mission accomplished as far as the DA is concerned regarding that.

 

[jakat]

There was various equipment left on the construction site with the keys left in them according to what workers told Mary Branson.
LE dug up the concrete pad and dug various holes around the yard, but I have not seen or heard that they dug up the beach area. LE knew that BM prepped the pad for the concrete pour. The pour was either Monday or Tuesday after SM disappeared. It was logical for LE to assume that he might have buried SM there knowing she’d be covered in concrete within days. BM never suspected that he would be the prime suspect.

Thank you @OldCop. I thought for a while LE found something at the beach site, but no, nothing there. I wonder if he tinkered with the bobcat that was at the site or took something off of it.

The 'beach' that he and MG built was under water months after they had finished it. I did see pictures where the river had risen and flooded a portion of the yard. There was a rumor, but maybe not a rumor that he had planted a tree on that property. I've wondered if LE dug that tree up to see what might be under it.

Thank you for all of your hard work and all of your maps. So appreciated!

 

[jakat]

I have sometimes think that Barry may have put SM’s diamond rings in some kind of small waterproof case and hid it under a rock in the river. He obviously couldn’t be caught with them during those early days. I just don’t see him disposing of SM’s body with her ring on her finger. He is too cheap.
Where Tyson bumped into him the day he came from the river soaking wet was right near where the bike was located. Maybe it was under a rock under the bridge? Searchers in those early days were searching for SM or a whole body, not little things hidden under rocks in streams.
The yellow line in the second photo is BM’s route from home that morning.

Well, if he did do that, I hope her rings broke loose and floated down the Arkansas River to the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean and are under ice in Antartica. Afterall, that would be God's will. Thou shalt not kill or steal your wife's wedding rings, Bary.

 

[crhedBngr]

Great humor on this thread tonight.

Laughs needed; thanks.

JMVHO.

 

[Boxer]

Yes. Why take the Bobcat off the trailer while at home if not to use it or the trailer there?

IIRC he has to use bobcat to get the hitch off the truck.

 

[mrjitty]

I suspect no one with any actual experience with a gun credits the shooting chipmunks alibi.

Unless the animal is a "camp robber" that has lost much of its fear of humans, getting close enough to shoot a chipmunk would be very difficult. They are so small and quick, sighting from any distance would be a great challenge. I don't know of anyone in Colorado who does this as a means of pest control. I think a jury of farmers would roll their eyes if BM were to make this argument.

My extended family includes farmers, and we'd visit regularly. I stayed for whole summers when I was a teenager. I received my NRA firearms training and learned to hunt at that time by participating in family hunts for deer, elk, moose, wild turkey and pheasants.

My cousins and I would hunt small "vermin" including rabbits, groundhogs, and foxes in the same way kids today play video games: spontaneously, and to develop our shooting skills. But we would always be careful that no one else was in the line of fire or at risk from ricochets.

I can attest that killing small game with a rifle is extremely difficult under the best of conditions, and the idea of BM running around the PP house casually shooting chipmunks while SM was present has always seemed preposterous to me. Just one among many lies and prevarications he offered to LE. MOO.

I fully agree as someone who has shot many rabbits with a .22 semi-auto on farmland.

The .22 is best where you can get aimed shots at stationary targets. For close range, e.g. clearing scrub, a shotgun is used - because to aim the .22 and hit the animal on the move, at such close range is too difficult.

The idea that you can chase a small animal, shooting at it with the .22 is silly.

 

[WingsOverTX]

I fully agree as someone who has shot many rabbits with a .22 semi-auto on farmland.

The .22 is best where you can get aimed shots at stationary targets. For close range, e.g. clearing scrub, a shotgun is used - because to aim the .22 and hit the animal on the move, at such close range is too difficult.

The idea that you can chase a small animal, shooting at it with the .22 is silly.

Folks, this whole chipmunk scenario is why BM's defense team is such a good fit for him.

We dissect the obvious obfuscation while the other side knows that will yield nothing. And since they don't have to prove his innocence, like Barry, his defense can say anything. And they do.

Since the defense and their client will do (threaten a civil lawsuit, misrepresent evidence in court, game the system) or say anything, the other side needs a laser focus on the critical pieces of circumstantial evidence that point to Suzanne being dead because of her husband.

Does it matter that his chipmunk statement is absurd & misleading? Only to the extent that he puts a weapon in his hands while phone evidence shows he is closing in on his true prey.

If you are the investigators or the auditor (Grusing), that's all you need. It's basically a confession to the crime by someone who didn't have to say anything but chose to out of hubris.

Counting dead chipmunk bodies only tells me that motive & opportunity - "Are you there?" - met in that moment. While we're analyzing the distraction, BM is planning his next move. And it will be backed by absurd lies too. Laser focus.

JMHO

 

[Kemug]

Tyson said this about seeing Barry that day: "He was totally distraught, completely out of his mind. He had his shirt off, he was banging on the steering wheel, he was soaking wet, bright red in his chest area. I think he was in the water somewhere. He was either looking for her or moving her, and I don't think he was looking for her."

So it doesn't seem like he found SM's rings/phone.

 

[OutWest]

He was there both nights. Friday he was working, but Saturday night and then Suzanne goes missing on Sunday? No.

"Mary Branson lives next door to a home being built by Suzanne's husband, Barry Morphew, and says she shot out of bed when she heard a strange sound coming from the construction site late on May 9."

Woman 'woken by loud machinery' near where woman went missing | Daily Mail Online

I think it is very possible that Barry initially intended to bury the body at the construction site. Then the neighbor's porch light came on and Barry had an "Uh-oh moment" .... so in a panic, he had to quickly develop a Plan B which necessitated that the body be moved to another location. Somewhere in fairly close proximity to the Puma Path home would be likely, given the circumstances.

 

[EggSalad]

Random MOO thoughts:

-I think the noise at the Salida job site was BM working Friday night and getting ahead of schedule, knowing that he had to use his window of opportunity on Saturday to murder SM. Yet, he couldn’t have that project fall behind schedule because concrete was going to be poured early the next week. It’s also why he and MG wrapped up early on Saturday when it was supposed to be a full days work.

-The Garfield mine and Sunday morning 5am trip still baffle me. I don’t think he disposed of the body then. I cant imagine keeping your dead wife from 2:45pm Saturday until 5am on Sunday. But I do wonder if he went to Garfield Mine in the middle of the night with the Range Rover and disposed of the body. Then at 5am before he’s headed to Broomfield, he panics about something he might have left or done at Garfield Mine so he drives back that way for a double check before proceeding to his terrible alibi.

-For some reason though, Garfield Mine just feels like a red herring to me. But it would be great if that is where LE expects to find the body and all of this comes true once the snow clears.

 

[Megnut]

Barry said he drove all the way to Garfield to turn around. That makes no sense.

IMO he went somewhere else.

I am near certain his last actions involved Suzanne's phone, including powering it down. I think he was sitting in his truck in the driveway when he did it.

Helmet and phone.

And perhaps unrecovered clothing.

Where. Did. He. Drive. To?

If I'm not mistaken, as soon as he was done, he took his phone out of airplane mode and continued on to Broomfield.

Wherever he went, IMO, Suzanne will be found in an opposite location.

JMO

 

[Diddian]

Barry said he drove all the way to Garfield to turn around. That makes no sense.

IMO he went somewhere else.

I am near certain his last actions involved Suzanne's phone, including powering it down. I think he was sitting in his truck in the driveway when he did it.

Helmet and phone.

And perhaps unrecovered clothing.

Where. Did. He. Drive. To?

If I'm not mistaken, as soon as he was done, he took his phone out of airplane mode and continued on to Broomfield.

Wherever he went, IMO, Suzanne will be found in an opposite location.

JMO

According to the AA, the last known activity involving SM's phone occurred at 4:23AM around 11.5 miles west of the cell tower in Poncha Springs. The Puma Path home is closer than that (both as the crow flies as well as traveling by road). Here's my earlier post quoting that section of the AA:
Still Missing - CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *arrest* #95

Given that, I think it is likely BM powered down the phone then and there, rather than in the Morphew driveway. IMO, he likely wanted the evidence to point to either an abduction or a voluntary disappearance, with SM and/or whoever was responsible for her disappearance other than BM headed west from where the bike was found.

ETA: Given that BM appeared to be staging the location of the area where SM's phone's last activity occurred, I'm inclined to think that - if her remains still exist such that they can be found - they will be in that same direction.

I think he really screwed up, not realizing his truck telematics would show his brief trip west on HWY 50 in the direction and around the same location that phone was last active.

 

[Diddian]

According to the AA, the last known activity involving SM's phone occurred at 4:23AM around 11.5 miles west of the cell tower in Poncha Springs. The Puma Path home is closer than that (both as the crow flies as well as traveling by road). Here's my earlier post quoting that section of the AA:
Still Missing - CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *arrest* #95

Given that, I think it is likely BM powered down the phone then and there, rather than in the Morphew driveway. IMO, he likely wanted the evidence to point to either an abduction or a voluntary disappearance, with SM and/or whoever was responsible for her disappearance other than BM headed west from where the bike was found.

ETA: Given that BM appeared to be staging the location of the area where SM's phone's last activity occurred, I'm inclined to think that - if her remains still exist such that they can be found - they will be in that same direction.

I think he really screwed up, not realizing his truck telematics would show his brief trip west on HWY 50 in the direction and around the same location that phone was last active.

One more thing to add to my earlier post - about that telematics screw up:
IMO, I don't think BM expected that CBI and FBI would be involved in the case of his missing wife (particularly so early) or that Sheriff Spezzie (sp?) would restrict who could be involved in searching. IMO, BM thought he would be viewed from the outset as the innocent-husband-victim AND that he and his firefighter associates would be involved in the search, thus contaminating search areas as well as any evidence discovered during a search.

That does give me SOME hope that SM's remains (and possibly her phone) may be found. It could be that BM wanted to be in the search team that found her and that his presence during that discovery would weaken any evidence connecting the body to him found with her.

 

[NWLady]

Whatever happens from this point on, Barry has to be living with wondering if and when they are coming for him again, amongst people who most likely have read the AA and believe he is guilty. He can run, but he’ll always be looking over his shoulder until the day comes. I still think he looked like a worried man leaving court, not least that Suzanne may be found I bet.

JMO

Just jumping off your post (but I'm way behind on thread), what bothers me the most is, BM (IMO), knows where Suzanne's body/remains are, so with the prosecution revealing where they feel she is, then BM is either dancing with joy because HE knows she is NOT in the area where the prosecution has stated, or he is very nervous and worried because she IS in the area they have said.

So, to sum it up IMO, BM is either a happy camper right now, or he's very nervous/worried/anxious.

 

[Love Never Fails]

Random MOO thoughts:

-I think the noise at the Salida job site was BM working Friday night and getting ahead of schedule, knowing that he had to use his window of opportunity on Saturday to murder SM. Yet, he couldn’t have that project fall behind schedule because concrete was going to be poured early the next week. It’s also why he and MG wrapped up early on Saturday when it was supposed to be a full days work.

-The Garfield mine and Sunday morning 5am trip still baffle me. I don’t think he disposed of the body then. I cant imagine keeping your dead wife from 2:45pm Saturday until 5am on Sunday. But I do wonder if he went to Garfield Mine in the middle of the night with the Range Rover and disposed of the body. Then at 5am before he’s headed to Broomfield, he panics about something he might have left or done at Garfield Mine so he drives back that way for a double check before proceeding to his terrible alibi.

-For some reason though, Garfield Mine just feels like a red herring to me. But it would be great if that is where LE expects to find the body and all of this comes true once the snow clears.

Anyone living close to Salida have an idea how long it will take for snow to melt? It’s almost May.

 

[Seattle1]

Anyone living close to Salida have an idea how long it will take for snow to melt? It’s almost May.

Although closed for the season, Monarch Mountain webcams are live and currently reporting snow base at 64" -- the mountain is only minutes from PP residence.

Conditions - Monarch Mountain

 

[mom2chloe]

Although closed for the season, Monarch Mountain webcams are live and currently reporting snow base at 64" -- the mountain is only minutes from PP residence.

Conditions - Monarch Mountain

Chiming in. I did the math and that equals 5.33 feet. Monarch Mountain is looking very interesting. IMO

 

[Diddian]

Although closed for the season, Monarch Mountain webcams are live and currently reporting snow base at 64" -- the mountain is only minutes from PP residence.

Conditions - Monarch Mountain

I don't recall, but do you (or does anyone else) remember where the first webcam on HWY 50 that is west of CR225 is?

ETA: I was able to find a Colorado Dept of Transportation roadmap with cameras. The first camera west of CR225 on Highway 50 is USHWY50 MP199.35 EB at Monarch Pass. If others want to view camera locations, you can go to the Colorado Dept of Transportation, Trip/Travel page and enter "from: Maysville to: Gunnison" and then make sure to select "cameras" on "Layers" shown on the map.
COtrip Traveler Information

 

[rainbowshummingbird]

Anyone living close to Salida have an idea how long it will take for snow to melt? It’s almost May.

50 degrees F on Monarch Mountain today and it’s forecasted to be about 50 every day for the next week. Areas that have sun on them should melt pretty soon, but shaded north facing areas can take a lot longer to melt.

 

[Love Never Fails]

Although closed for the season, Monarch Mountain webcams are live and currently reporting snow base at 64" -- the mountain is only minutes from PP residence.

Conditions - Monarch Mountain

Oh that’s just over five feet. Are we looking at August with that elevation?