Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *Case dismissed w/o prejudice* #109

[Teche]

^^rsbm

When your missing spouse becomes a full police investigation, to quote my favorite prosecutor, Matt Murphy, "For an innocent man, there's no reason to lie about anything."

I love Matt Murphy and he’s easy on the eyes.

 

[kittythehare]

Weather is a factor but also the foraging behavior of animals in the area. The specific animal behavior factors are pretty gruesome. But suffice to say, the main scatter issue is whether scavenging animals took remains to a nest (for offspring), or to a more secure location for feeding.

We should look at both .
it's going to be aeons before we hear anything solid regarding forensics...
It will give us some odds on what to expect...

So we need a list of known predators in the area, their numbers and whether their populations changed much in recent years..

She was allegedly buried 3 ft deep, is that accurate or am I imagining it?

I think needs 6 ft for protection from animals?
Amirite?

we have experienced severe weather events in the past 3 years..
Maybe a weather event provided the initial disturbance?
Then the animals came?

She was probably intended for the animals... thus 3ft, not 6?

Yet the grave is still distinguishable as a grave..

 

[Seattle1]

"284. The Defendants authoring the Arrest Affidavit knew from the 2020
Search Warrant Return from Apple that the “second device” identifier is not a
second “device” or phone, but instead likely identifies that Barry and Suzanne’s
iPhones were connected to the same iCloud account for a while."

likely - as in I'm likely to win a race that I'm unlikely to win?

When discussing evidence in a murder investigation, how can the D use the word likely? Either Barry had an extra phone or he didn't. I'm sticking with the AA for the time being.


how can the D claim it likely IDs the two phones were connected when it is just as unlikely that they were.

As used here, I believe the term "identifier" is a unique number or symbol used in industry that they are asserting, via the data from Apple's return warrant, that the identifier recorded, cannot be assigned to a cell phone. But without the plaintiff producing the actual warrant, I don't believe anything from this team. JMO

 

[10ofRods]

It's a civil case, so the standard of proof is only preponderance of the evidence (>50%). So burden of proof means a lot less than it does in a criminal trial.

I'm not saying that I think the case is or was likely to succeed, just that they must have had a strategy for getting past summary judgment and I can't imagine that strategy involved Barry testifying. I don't like IE, but she doesn't strike me as crazy or incompetent.

I guess the other possibility is that Barry just really wanted them to go on the offensive so IE got her friend a payday and is fine with the civil case being dismissed eventually.

She strikes me as competent within a certain range of cases, but not a Federal civil case. So I'm going with "she's incompent in re: filing federal civil cases regarding a county-based criminal investigation, in which she ought to have been more than happy with the result (the case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled - her client's situation was a tad precarious to begin with).

She overstepped and I believe it's due to the most extraordinary, overweening pride I've ever witnesses in a young criminal defense attorney, but that's how some of they try to make their bones in a tight market.

You actually state why I think she's incompetent (in regard to the civil case). "They must have had a strategy." Who must have had one? No one can expect a non-lawyer (Barry) to have one and she's not a civil plaintiff's attorney. I think she did NOT have a strategy and I've thought so all along. There are several things about the suit I've already mentioned that are wonky.

You say, "I can't imagine Barry testifying." And yet that's his primary and ONLY role in his OWN complaint about his own civil rights being violated. He is approaching the Federal Court with a statement that his Civil RIghts have been violated. HUGE claim and in a CIVIL case, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff. Of COURSE he has to testify/respond to large numbers of interrogatories, undergo days (if not weeks) of depositions under oath. You're saying she's not incompetent, and yet that's exactly what she signed her client up for, all in thirst for $$. Yes, it's tempting. But every attorney I've talked to about thinks she's either grandiose or woefully inexperienced at federal civil cases.

If it is true that it is Barry who demanded this (which I doubt) she should have referred him to the best possible federal civil rights lawyer she knew - this is not her bailiwick and it shows. She's the one who organized the filing, not Barry. She advised him. She is responsible for that filing. I don't see how it can be argued that Barry is at the steering wheel and that IE is somehow still a competent lawyer.

A competent lawyer gives their client good legal advice, even when the client doesn't want to hear it. Better to have Client go off to some other attorney (no way Barry was going to go to an actual civil rights attorney on his own, IMO).

What friend got a payday ? No one has a dime from this case, so far. It's ALL expenses (that you and I are paying at the court level) No one has made a dime from this lawsuit so far. Unless Barry paid IE and her two sets of civil lawyers (who aren't even specialists at federal law and typically take things on contingency). I strongly believe that this is a contingency case (no one makes any money unless they win). They haven't even gotten past the motion to dismiss yet. That's the opposite of a win. And with so many defendants, those hapless civil attorneys, working for free, may well silently slink out the door. The number of hours they'll have to spend (and on zero chances of winning, IMO) makes them look...silly.

Can't wait to see what's going to happen next. IE is, imo, quite bright and passed her bar exam. But she is a terrible strategist and has gone one bridge too far, IMO.

All IMO of course. You're a lot more forgiving and/or kind than I am when reviewing lawyers.

 

[rainbowshummingbird]

Do you know that Mr. May did not read the AA?

Why do people just assume someone is not familar with the case simply because they have a different take?

Mr. May has actually prosecuted cases in Colorado. The AA in this case has been questioned for its lenght and use of potentially non-admissible evidence by various professionals, includeing ex-LE and attorneys. The judge bound the case over for trial, but with bail to the defendant. That alone shows the court did not view this as a slam dunk.

Murder cases like this (spouse accussed) are not often dismissed by the State on the eve of trial.

Now, the only thing the State would need to re-file is digital data tying BM to the site where SM was discovered. LE already has all the digital data they would need to perform this analysis. If BM was involved, it seems that his digital data would led to the discovery of the body at some point. That does not appear to be the case in this matter.

To the murderers out there, do not fret if you leave behind a mountain of circumstantial evidence during/after the commission of a felony. As long as you leave your cellphone at home and drive an old car, you are golden.

 

[10ofRods]

We should look at both .
it's going to be aeons before we hear anything solid regarding forensics...
It will give us some odds on what to expect...

So we need a list of known predators in the area, their numbers and whether their populations changed much in recent years..

She was allegedly buried 3 ft deep, is that accurate or am I imagining it?

I think needs 6 ft for protection from animals?
Amirite?

we have experienced severe weather events in the past 3 years..
Maybe a weather event provided the initial disturbance?
Then the animals came?

She was probably intended for the animals... thus 3ft, not 6?

Yet the grave is still distinguishable as a grave..

Some others posted the list of predators/carrion animals yesterday, to include coyotes, various rodents, many types of carrion birds, possible mountain lions (unlikely so close to the road), foxes (unlikely in that terrain), and a lot of insects.

I think the 3 feet deep idea is coming from reporters or others who witnessed an investigator standing in the grave. It's possible that the investigators had already dug down (to retrieve all the soil beneath Suzanne's body). So, very hard to say. It could have been very shallow, but then with the addition of nearby sand and rocks, still thoroughly a covered grave - for the first few hours.

The animals came because they all have exquisite senses of smell. Vultures can smell death from a long way off. Coyotes watch vulture patterns to learn where to go. Eight miles is the usual range given for a vulture smelling cadaverine, putrescine, etc. Eight miles. Bolded, because despite the number of times I've found this fact relevant, I still find it astonishing.

Vultures are not good diggers, but they will land and alert other larger animals as to where a body is. The critters who get there first are often insects and rodents. Small rocks and sand are easily removed to reveal the source of calories sought by the critters. Coyotes, though, are the most reasonable guess (combined with carrion birds). The two species work together on the plains. As I understand it, all coyotes in CO and all vultures are the same species and there are many of them, successful over thousands of years at surviving out there. Coyotes can smell carrion for quite some distance as well.

I think that coyotes and vultures both sense products of decay at greater distances than, say, cadaver dogs. So, while a weather event might have helped, I think the ordinary life on the prairie/plains just took its course. The body was found by some sort of scavenger within days or, at the most, a couple of weeks.

I do think the intent of the person who buried Suzanne was that she would be scavenged, sooner, rather than later. Probably no easy way to dig 6 feet out there - and it's possible it wasn't even 3 feet (my intuition says it was less, due to the far flung nature of the bones and the fact that the searchers would have dug below where they found remains - which probably included a skull, as that is rarely carried off or scavenged; not a lot of wolves in CO). There is only one smallish pack in NW CO (since 2019, barely surviving) because CO waged an extirpation campaign against them in the 19th and early 20th centuries. OTOH, out of scientific curiosity, I do wonder how far south the 2019 wolves might range. I'd bet there are no mountain lions managing to live in that habitat.

IMO.

 

[10ofRods]

mI'm reminded that the wife was planning to run off with her lover to Ecuador.
Both of them were planning to leave children, spouses, and all other family members in the dust.
"...See ya', bye bye. Nice to have known ya'."

Sure Barry looks guilty has heck.
So terrible, since he should have just let her go and he'd have come out looking great comparatively.
Tragic. But, a good lesson: just let 'em go.

Can you say why that information in your first paragraph is important and how you know it? I think they tossed out fantasies to each other, which is a far cry from planning. I do not see that Suzanne was "planning" to leave and go to Ecuador. I assume she was thinking about the future, when there was an empty nest (for both of them?) The way you characterize her thinking is odd to me, I don't think most mothers who leave abusive, controlling relationships are so flippant.

Are you saying that Barry only LOOKS guilty? Can you say why you view it that way?

There should be no world in which a husband makes the decision for his wife's departure - wives should get to make that decision all on their own. The fact that Suzanne was acting outside of what Barry was "letting her" do seems to presume that she needed his permission to leave.

She didn't and doesn't. Not for a long time, in the US.

And he obviously doesn't get a pass on killing her, if he did. She can leave without his permission and he ought not to take vengeance. Thinking in terms of what Barry might "let" Suzanne do is falling into his trap of control (he wanted to ban her from using cannabis for her chemotherapy nausea!!!) Clearly, Barry was so controlling that he couldn't "let" Suzanne do anything unapproved - and when he found out she was thinking about leaving, he took away (forever) her rights - even the right to live. Many of us have lived with a man like this (who thinks we need his permission for major life choices). It's very scary. Poor Suzanne was inching her way to what she hoped would be an amicable divorce, not knowing that her husband many years saw it, apparently, as an issue that only he could decide.

IMO.

 

[Seattle1]

She strikes me as competent within a certain range of cases, but not a Federal civil case. So I'm going with "she's incompent in re: filing federal civil cases regarding a county-based criminal investigation, in which she ought to have been more than happy with the result (the case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled - her client's situation was a tad precarious to begin with).

She overstepped and I believe it's due to the most extraordinary, overweening pride I've ever witnesses in a young criminal defense attorney, but that's how some of they try to make their bones in a tight market.

You actually state why I think she's incompetent (in regard to the civil case). "They must have had a strategy." Who must have had one? No one can expect a non-lawyer (Barry) to have one and she's not a civil plaintiff's attorney. I think she did NOT have a strategy and I've thought so all along. There are several things about the suit I've already mentioned that are wonky.

You say, "I can't imagine Barry testifying." And yet that's his primary and ONLY role in his OWN complaint about his own civil rights being violated. He is approaching the Federal Court with a statement that his Civil RIghts have been violated. HUGE claim and in a CIVIL case, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff. Of COURSE he has to testify/respond to large numbers of interrogatories, undergo days (if not weeks) of depositions under oath. You're saying she's not incompetent, and yet that's exactly what she signed her client up for, all in thirst for $$. Yes, it's tempting. But every attorney I've talked to about thinks she's either grandiose or woefully inexperienced at federal civil cases.

If it is true that it is Barry who demanded this (which I doubt) she should have referred him to the best possible federal civil rights lawyer she knew - this is not her bailiwick and it shows. She's the one who organized the filing, not Barry. She advised him. She is responsible for that filing. I don't see how it can be argued that Barry is at the steering wheel and that IE is somehow still a competent lawyer.

A competent lawyer gives their client good legal advice, even when the client doesn't want to hear it. Better to have Client go off to some other attorney (no way Barry was going to go to an actual civil rights attorney on his own, IMO).

What friend got a payday ? No one has a dime from this case, so far. It's ALL expenses (that you and I are paying at the court level) No one has made a dime from this lawsuit so far. Unless Barry paid IE and her two sets of civil lawyers (who aren't even specialists at federal law and typically take things on contingency). I strongly believe that this is a contingency case (no one makes any money unless they win). They haven't even gotten past the motion to dismiss yet. That's the opposite of a win. And with so many defendants, those hapless civil attorneys, working for free, may well silently slink out the door. The number of hours they'll have to spend (and on zero chances of winning, IMO) makes them look...silly.

Can't wait to see what's going to happen next. IE is, imo, quite bright and passed her bar exam. But she is a terrible strategist and has gone one bridge too far, IMO.

All IMO of course. You're a lot more forgiving and/or kind than I am when reviewing lawyers.

For me, the rub here is knowing that this idea for the Civil Rights Claim was hatched at the conclusion of the preliminary hearing Sept 2021, if not before.

Within only weeks of the Court unsealing the AA, and the document made public, BM's civil team copied the defendants on a 10-page notice of intent to sue the prosecution and investigators for violation of his civil rights.

This was also the beginning of the defense's false claims on partial profile DNA and the damn glove box!

On May 2, 2023 -- BM's team made good on the threat, filing a 185 page Complaint in the U.S. District Court of Colorado.

Exclusive: Barry Morphew attorneys to sue case investigators for false arrest, defamation

Legal papers sent this week allege prosecutors purposefully kept the identity of a sex offender tied to evidence in a Chaffee County killing from murder suspect Barry Morphew’s defense team.

denvergazette.com

10/19/21

Legal papers sent this week allege prosecutors purposefully kept the identity of a sex offender tied to evidence in a Chaffee County killing from murder suspect Barry Morphew’s defense team.

The move comes after a lengthy evidence hearing led to a judge ruling Morphew should stand trial in the death of his wife, Suzanne Morphew, who was reported missing on Mother's Day 2020.

The attorneys allege deputies and prosecutors withheld the identity of a person tied to DNA found on the glovebox of Suzanne Morphew’s Ranger Rover.

A national database of DNA samples taken from inmates showed the DNA was linked to a sex offender who now lives in Arizona, according to the notice of intent to sue filed by the law firm of Fisher and Byrialsen based out of Denver and New York City.

The document contends police didn't chase the DNA lead and look for other possible killers before focusing on Morphew.

The documents filed by Morphew allege new information regarding male DNA found in the Range Rover, saying it was a possible match to a serial sex offender in Arizona.

Morphew’s civil attorneys say investigators knew the man’s identity as early as Aug. 2, a week before the evidence hearing in the murder case. The 10-page document says prosecutors waited until Morphew was ordered to trial before they released it to his defense team. In doing this, Morphew's attorneys contend, prosecutors “conspired to commit a fraud upon the court by withholding exculpatory evidence.”

The DNA issue did come up during Morphew's August evidence hearing. Colorado Bureau of Investigations agent Joe Cahill told Morphew attorney Iris Eytan that the DNA on the glove box is a partial profile.

Barry Morphew Case: October 2021 Notice of Claim | PDF | Defamation | Prosecutor

Barry Morphew Case: October 2021 Notice of Claim

www.scribd.com

 

[Kemug]

BM treated the women in his life (wife and daughters) like trophies. Something to be shown off and a reflection of what a good man he must be.

Trophies like the ones of the dead animals he killed and mounted on the walls. It was a prideful, egotistical showing of his 'property'. Not love and admiration or thoughts of what made them all genuinely happy, just fancy dressings showing how wonderful his life was and how he was worshipped by them.

MOO

I would just love for his daughters to turn against him, that is to at least see him for what he really is, and tell LE everything they may know. If that happens, what would probably hurt BM the most would not be losing their trust/love/loyalty, but losing his power over them. Not being their adored and all-knowing daddy any longer.

 

[Kemug]

I would just love for his daughters to turn against him, that is to at least see him for what he really is, and tell LE everything they may know. If that happens, what would probably hurt BM the most would not be losing their trust/love/loyalty, but losing his power over them. Not being their adored and all-knowing daddy any longer.

PS, this may already be happening, I sure hope so. Justice for Suzanne needs all the help it can get.

 

[Seattle1]

BM is the plaintiff -- he filed the suit. How can the plaintiff remain silent and the case continue?
If IE tells the Court he fears being unjustly prosecuted, there was always the chance of this when his case was dismissed without prejudice. IE gambled and lost.

^^Edit to correct: without prejudice.

 

[Error505]

@Error505 how do you know about the hunting land GD may own 15 mins from the "shallow grave"?

@Procrastinator thsnk you for the question, but we can’t really sleuth GD since he’s not a been charged with a crime. There are ways to search for property owned in most states. MOO

 

[jbc]

Can you say why that information in your first paragraph is important and how you know it? I think they tossed out fantasies to each other, which is a far cry from planning. I do not see that Suzanne was "planning" to leave and go to Ecuador. I assume she was thinking about the future, when there was an empty nest (for both of them?) The way you characterize her thinking is odd to me, I don't think most mothers who leave abusive, controlling relationships are so flippant.

Are you saying that Barry only LOOKS guilty? Can you say why you view it that way?

There should be no world in which a husband makes the decision for his wife's departure - wives should get to make that decision all on their own. The fact that Suzanne was acting outside of what Barry was "letting her" do seems to presume that she needed his permission to leave.

She didn't and doesn't. Not for a long time, in the US.

And he obviously doesn't get a pass on killing her, if he did. She can leave without his permission and he ought not to take vengeance. Thinking in terms of what Barry might "let" Suzanne do is falling into his trap of control (he wanted to ban her from using cannabis for her chemotherapy nausea!!!) Clearly, Barry was so controlling that he couldn't "let" Suzanne do anything unapproved - and when he found out she was thinking about leaving, he took away (forever) her rights - even the right to live. Many of us have lived with a man like this (who thinks we need his permission for major life choices). It's very scary. Poor Suzanne was inching her way to what she hoped would be an amicable divorce, not knowing that her husband many years saw it, apparently, as an issue that only he could decide.

IMO.

From the 48 hr episode.
I said guilty as heck.

 

[Kemug]

Even if Suzanne's grave was dug to 3 feet deep, by the time she was placed in it, and covered with some soil, wouldn't it then be a 2 feet grave?

 

[carolmaria]

I would just love for his daughters to turn against him, that is to at least see him for what he really is, and tell LE everything they may know. If that happens, what would probably hurt BM the most would not be losing their trust/love/loyalty, but losing his power over them. Not being their adored and all-knowing daddy any longer.

Yes—IMO it would take the ability to stand up to a large, very assertive, in-denial family system, a soft place to land emotionally and financially, and safety. Those factors I don’t see… yet. I think they’re in a very precarious position. If they know what their “father” is capable of, fear would be part of the equation.

Parentification of children really gets to me, hence the quotes. MOO

 

[Love Never Fails]

I’m mulling over what an innocent husband would do if his murdered wife’s remains were finally discovered after three years. It’s hard to put oneself in another’s shoes (or in Mr. Morphew’s case, his lace-less boots) but at a minimum I would expect:

• Immediately contact authorities to determine when the remains will be released.
• Begin planning for the Christian burial.

It would be interesting to know if he has done either and if he will be coming to Salida to make arrangements anytime soon.

Some, well me for instance, would want to go to the place she was found and grieve. But that, I’m sure, isn’t for everyone.

I agree from the first time I heard Suzanne was found. I would go there to grieve. I would probably go there often. And I would light up the coroners phone every day asking for information even if I got the same answer. I believe I would do the same if I was her daughter. Maybe they have. I don’t know.

 

[Error505]

Brackley May be right about new eyes on the case. But when he states LS clearly didn’t have the evidence to charge BM and put him in jail I would just say please people! Read the entire AA. Don’t make guesses and assumptions because you are an attorney and don’t know the case history. So irritating.

BBM. Brackley is now a defense attorney so I’m not surprised at that statement, casting doubt on the whole case! MOO
Edited by me correct spelling

 

[Jurisprudence]

Test it to do what with it?

If even one of the unknown sources comes back to an employee at the bicycle shop, it helps them.

Truly curious. I'm trying to imagine testing all the DNA that was found in the Idaho Massacre home at 1122 King in Moscow, ID (the Kohberger case). Or testing all the DNA that would be found at Puma Path. What is the point of that? What do they do with it after they test it?

Not what I said.

Are people really expecting every single person that's ever been at a locale to be inspected and matched to DNA found at that locale? And if not everyone can be located (most won't be without IGG), what then? What is the point?

No

I'm not getting it at all. Even partial DNA? That could be a composite of several people?

The partial is not in question imo. It's just a matter of slapping that down.

Maybe people don't realize that you could probably eventually find 1000 potential donors of that partial DNA - with about 1-3 years of work by a team of Ph.D.'s with great medical equipment.

Yes, we do. We just discussed this a few pages back.

[snipped by me]
What investigation into stranger DNA in Idaho? I think I must be missing your point and am truly sorry. I am very familiar with the Kohberger case and wish there was an "open battle." There isn't. There may be. But it was a FULL MATCH. All 23 pairs of chromosomes present and accounted for. How is that anything like this case?

You'll need to go back and watch the motion hearings about this if you missed it.

Bryan Kohberger's cheek swab 100% matched the DNA found on the knife sheath (of which there was enough to get more than one sample - although there wasn't a heck of a lot of it, it only takes one set of chromosomes - which was present on more than one swab of the use point of the sheath).

3 unknown profiles in that case were not related to the sheath and octillion match. I believe you misread the post.

All jmo

ETA: I think that we are perhaps just looking at this differently. You're looking at this through a forensics lens; I'm looking at it from a legal perspective. For example, to me, she's shown me her defenses in the civil complaint. She laid out her case and I'd be a fool to ignore it. So, I'd be looking to explain away as much of it as I could. I'd also be looking to see if any of the DNA on the nightstand or many bicycle parts with unknown DNA came back as a match to anyone connected to BM. Imo, that could be a boon. It could not only lead to additional charges (e.g., conspiracy), but more importantly could lead to additional indictments that may ultimately result in a defendant turning/flipping. You don't know unless you look. And, in order to look, you have to test DNA in the immediate vicinity of a crime scene. That's all.

jmo

 

[SleuthBee]

I’m hopeful her phone and charger and ring were found also. I know Barry dumped a lot of things in Broomfield. He forgot to remove her port so maybe he messed up in other ways as well.

It's possible. Maybe he didn't forgot to remove her port, he just assumed her body would never be found. I hope that's the case.

"Morgan stated she commented pigs could eat an entire human body in two hours. Barry commented that he would be able to “bury a body” and it “would never be found.”
[AA page 50]

 

[Error505]

Hmmmm, she's been suspiciously quiet, considering everyone is "blindly pointing fingers" at Barry. Wondering what angle she's going to lean towards now?

There's nothing AT ALL suspicious about Barry's resounding silence over the discovery of his "angel's " remains

Moo

It’s just “too soon” to respond to finding the body of the love of his life! /s
MOO
#justiceforSuzanne