Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #18

[Dave F.]

Regarding any K9s used in this case:

I admit I'm a big fan of dogs in general and trained K9s specifically being used to help follow a track or help locate people (or alert if they detect the odor of decomp).

No, K9s not a perfect tool and I don't think I or anyone else has said they are. But *IF* a dog has alerted, that's a piece of the puzzle that gets my attention. And if several trained dogs were used and *none* of them found a track or alerted, that too would also be something that would get my attention. ("hmmm...wonder what that means...")

Just like *IF* there were zero prints found on SM's bike that too would get my attention because that would be unusual and could be a sign of staging.

IMO

I think BM's description of mishandling of the bike was a simple way to express his frustration.
It sounded to me like BM was indicating that he believed the bike was thrown or carried the short distance from the roadway. If that is what happened, the logical method would have been to grab the handlebar at the stem with one hand and the rear of the saddle with the other, which are two very irregular surfaces that are not likely to produce liftable prints. IMO

 

[susiQ]

I view it as a premeditated hit by BM with a lot of subdued passion as driving force. SM final resting place was maybe prepared several months before she disappeared. BM had means and opportunity to bury a 55 gal. drum upright 2ft below ground level on some remote property he had access to. When the time came to "bury" SM it was lose dirt. Could of even had a bush or small tree already planted above. If it had been entirely a thing of in the moment of passion then all the things after the act itself would need to be taken care of with too much room for error. Pure speculation and MOO.

Reminds me of another landscaper/gardener who did a very good job of “planting” his victims, Bruce McArthur of Toronto and I don’t think he had the equipment BM had at his disposal.

 

[Dave F.]

Purely hypothetical question regarding the original FF training in Denver. Could it be as simplistic as BM said he was in Denver for FF training and then had to pivot when LE told him it had been cancelled?

He could have said he was making the trip to Denver to satisfy a relentless craving for a unique Bonnie Brae ICe Cream cone, now available again by online order/pickup..............and it wouldn't have made any difference at all. His drive to Denver, whatever he did there and his drive back is fully verifiable by LE. IMO
<modsnip>

 

[LietKynes]

In the very beginning of this case I was actually in a group on social media and someone brought up the theory. It had not yet been in the news. People were trying to figure out why he was in Denver because that’s all that was being reported. Someone proposed that maybe since Barry was a volunteer firefighter that he was there for some type of training. The next couple of days it spread like crazy and it spread as fact when IMO I believe it was just someone’s theory. I even googled Denver area firefighter info and every calendar is saw has events on each weekend in May but nothing on MD weekend. That’s how I determined he couldn’t have gone for that reason. Someone even mentioned that there was a photo shoot for a calendar going on as well but I never heard much about that either. This is my personal belief as to how that rumor got started. If BM did tell police he was there for training, we don’t know. The way things spread on social media is crazy. DM takes anything and runs with it.

bbm
Yeah I very much doubt he was there for a calendar photo shoot....

 

[Fireflize]

Purely hypothetical question regarding the original FF training in Denver. Could it be as simplistic as BM said he was in Denver for FF training and then had to pivot when LE told him it had been cancelled?

Hypothetically, if BM gave that as his alibi, he either did not think he would ever be considered a suspect or he has a mental defect. Moo

 

[Fireflize]

In the very beginning of this case I was actually in a group on social media and someone brought up the theory. It had not yet been in the news. People were trying to figure out why he was in Denver because that’s all that was being reported. Someone proposed that maybe since Barry was a volunteer firefighter that he was there for some type of training. The next couple of days it spread like crazy and it spread as fact when IMO I believe it was just someone’s theory. I even googled Denver area firefighter info and every calendar is saw has events on each weekend in May but nothing on MD weekend. That’s how I determined he couldn’t have gone for that reason. Someone even mentioned that there was a photo shoot for a calendar going on as well but I never heard much about that either. This is my personal belief as to how that rumor got started. If BM did tell police he was there for training, we don’t know. The way things spread on social media is crazy. DM takes anything and runs with it.

This is a plausible explanation of the evolution of the fire training story, thx, moo

 

[Pak31]

While I tend to lean in that direction, the entire move to CO, away from family and friends, could've been premeditated.
I'm not ruling out anything.

I agree. I don’t know why their move to Colorado bothers me a bit but maybe if there was a better explanation I’d be able to get that out of my mind. These are things that don’t make sense to me: Suzanne was going through a cancer battle, she had doctors in IN. Their youngest was still in the school system there. I know they moved at the end of the school year but she would have been going into high school I think and all her friends were in Indiana that she grew up with. The high school years are the best for many kids. I don’t think Suzanne was employed when they moved but she was involved in her community and her family was in Indiana. Barry didn’t get transferred or have a job that required him to move. The only thing I thought of was they moved to be closer to the older daughter who was entering a Colorado college and that’s what some have said is the reason. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Kids go out of state to college all the time, their parents don’t move with them. Some have said they probably want to retire out there which is fine but wouldn’t you wait until the youngest is done with high school? Sm and BM are only 49 and 52. Then you completely uproot your family and on top of that move to a home on a mountainside completely away from civilization. I’m interested to know if Suzanne has friends in Maysville bedsides the church. She seemed so alone, I’d like to know more. All just my opinion.

 

[kkdj]

Purely hypothetical question regarding the original FF training in Denver. Could it be as simplistic as BM said he was in Denver for FF training and then had to pivot when LE told him it had been cancelled?

I don't recall BM every saying that. I only recall rumors. Is there anything stating that he did say that?

 

[Dr.StClements]

Historically, the odds favor a crime of passion. Given the family travel during a pandemic, I'm not so sure.

Whilst this is conjecture on my part, I think that the SM/BM case is more likely one of premeditation. The fact that the daughters were away (unusual in itself given the pandemic) and that the husband had placed himself away from the home scene, suggests to me that, if BM is the perpetrator, he had looked for windows of opportunity.
Of significance is the fact that no-one was around at the time SM purportedly went missing. I'm not convinced she went missing on MDay; I think she likely "disappeared" a day or more before then. There was no-one around (i.e. daughters) to validate SM being at home in the days immediately prior to MD. This, combined with BM's earlier conflicting accounts (what his family said he'd told them about fire training vis a vis him saying he'd been doing landscaping work), raises red flags for me.
This could be a "crime of passion" in the sense that he wanted her out of his life to make way for newer things; spur of the moment though? - I think not.
I think any actions will likely have been planned in advance to keep the coast as clear as possible for the longest amount of time (to seize the right time, clear up, and formulate plans (lies) to cover tracks.
He's easily capable of that level of planning. It's possible that a spur of the moment crime of passion did occur while the daughters were away. If so, it was to BM's advantage that they were.

This man is highly capable of planning things to suit his agenda and to promote a preferred narrative. We saw that with his appeal broadcast: devoid of collaboration with LE; emphasizing abduction angle; measured, prerecorded script, filmed by a relative.
I believe SM's disappearance was planned in advance.

 

[DizzyB]

I don't recall BM every saying that. I only recall rumors. Is there anything stating that he did say that?

We have heard nothing from BM regarding what he told LE. We know he told the YouTuber that he was in Denver on Sunday to set up for a Monday job. We have two BM things only: the FB plea and the YouTube surreptitiously recorded conversation with TD.

 

[Dr.StClements]

Yeah. I don't think this was a crime of passion. jmo

I agree that this is most likely premeditated and with a sophisticated degree of pre-planning.

 

[rainbowshummingbird]

I don't recall BM every saying that. I only recall rumors. Is there anything stating that he did say that?

DM reported on May 20, “Suzanne’s husband Barry Morphew, 52, has said he was away on a training course for his job as a volunteer firefighter in Denver, Colorado, when she vanished.”
Police search and carry out evidence bags from the $1.5M home of missing Colorado mom | Daily Mail Online

DM is often unreliable in their reporting.

 

[Madeleine74]

I agree. I don’t know why their move to Colorado bothers me a bit but maybe if there was a better explanation I’d be able to get that out of my mind. These are things that don’t make sense to me: Suzanne was going through a cancer battle, she had doctors in IN. Their youngest was still in the school system there. I know they moved at the end of the school year but she would have been going into high school I think and all her friends were in Indiana that she grew up with. The high school years are the best for many kids. I don’t think Suzanne was employed when they moved but she was involved in her community and her family was in Indiana. Barry didn’t get transferred or have a job that required him to move. The only thing I thought of was they moved to be closer to the older daughter who was entering a Colorado college and that’s what some have said is the reason. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Kids go out of state to college all the time, their parents don’t move with them. Some have said they probably want to retire out there which is fine but wouldn’t you wait until the youngest is done with high school? Sm and BM are only 49 and 52. Then you completely uproot your family and on top of that move to a home on a mountainside completely away from civilization. I’m interested to know if Suzanne has friends in Maysville bedsides the church. She seemed so alone, I’d like to know more. All just my opinion.

IMO:

I think what happens when details aren't known: it's very uncomfortable to have gaps in knowledge, and the human mind can be eager to fill in those gaps. Imagined and speculated details often follow.

Projection is also common as one imagines what something may be like if we were in a speculated situation. Examples: she must be lonely, she must not have any close friends, she must have been sad, she probably didn't want to leave Indiana, she must have been doing things to keep the husband happy but didn't want it herself, etc, etc.

A story emerges, but it might not be close to factual.

 

[Dr.StClements]

We have heard nothing from BM regarding what he told LE. We know he told the YouTuber that he was in Denver on Sunday to set up for a Monday job. We have two BM things only: the FB plea and the YouTube surreptitiously recorded conversation with TD.

The fact that BM's boss, the fire chief, went on public record to say that BM could not have been at organised fire training as nothing had been scheduled during the pandemic, suggests that this was more than rumours in the ether. Had I been in BM's shoes, I'd have added the caveat that the suggestion I'd said I was at fire training was untrue, and that the reason for being away from home was to do with landscaping work, not training.
I think it's relevant to take into account what the owner of the searched property said about BM's planning of that job when considering the bigger picture.

 

[Pak31]

Based on actual evidence that has been made public, I am not convinced that Barry Morphew is guilty at all:

1. His demeanor in the self-made video has been dissected ad nauseum. I just can't believe that a 30-second video can lead a person who does not know Barry Morphew to reliably predict whether he is lying or not.

2. The police searches of his home and work location indicate that investigators believe that he may have been involved. However, AFAIK, the search warrant probable cause affidavits are still sealed. Until I can at least read the PCAs, this fact doesn't sway me toward believing that Barry Morphew did anything.

To be honest, the fact that the PCAs are still sealed weeks after the searches makes me suspicious of investigators: The searches are complete, presumably in a professional fashion. What further need compels documents that are legally presumed to be public records to remain hidden from public scrutiny?

3. His behavior/silence since Suzanne went missing doesn't sway me either. The conventional wisdom is that the husband/boyfriend is always suspected. With that in mind, why would a husband/boyfriend make any public statements that are likely to lead to conjecture against him anyway? Heck, Barry Morphew has been crucified for making a video in which he was trying to get Suzanne back!

I'm not saying that I know that Barry Morphew had no involvement. He may have. I am saying that publicly available hard evidence is nil. Moreover, nobody seems to have a factual basis for a motive on Barry Morphew's part to harm Suzanne: neither family member nor friend has come forward with an allegation of a financial need or a marital relationship concern that would create a motive. Until there is some evidence made public or a person goes on the record to establish a viable motive, I'm simply not prepared to suspect Barry.

Great post. I do see other sides to your points based on my feelings. I think for 1. The video...it is very short to determine if he’s lying but what bothers me is this man who told TD that they are totally in love she’s been his best friend since she was 17, waited an entire week to speak out for his wife! I just can’t process that. The first few days are the most crucial but he said it was too soon to talk. His voice had no emotion and he pre recorded it and put it on Facebook. Ugh. Not working with LE and not blasting it over the news channels is beyond odd to me. 2. the searches for the home I felt were thorough and long. They took out a lot of apparent evidence. The fact that they dug and sifted into concrete On a property his company worked on tells me LE had some serious reasons to believe they knew evidence was buried there. They wouldn’t just dig for no reason. IMO.
3. as far as his behavior, the TD video showed me that he’s not being truthful and showed lack of respect when talking about her and her possible demise. I’ve seen nothing else from him publicly. If he loves his wife and he has absolutely nothing to hide or isn’t involved in her disappearance then he shouldn’t care what people say about him on twitter or Facebook or even in His town. His main focus should be out in public spreading her name and face and searching. Maybe he IS doing that but I haven’t seen it. Maybe LE has told him not to speak. If my spouse was missing I would not care what anyone thought of me. All just my opinion. This isn’t aimed at you personally. Lol

 

[Pak31]

Members of BM's own family purportedly reported that BM had told them he was away on fire training. The story of him being away on his landscaping job surfaced after that.
Put together what the owner of the property subjected to the FBI search said about BM's presence on his property (that the planning for same had been last-minute) gives feasibility to the theory that another reason for being away from home emerged after the previous one was outed.

Thank you for this!!! I had not heard about this information before. I always assumed it was a crazy rumor. Very interesting.

 

[Fireflize]

The fact that BM's boss, the fire chief, went on public record to say that BM could not have been at organised fire training as nothing had been scheduled during the pandemic, suggests that this was more than rumours in the ether. Had I been in BM's shoes, I'd have added the caveat that the suggestion I'd said I was at fire training was untrue, and that the reason for being away from home was to do with landscaping work, not training.
I think it's relevant to take into account what the owner of the searched property said about BM's planning of that job when considering the bigger picture.

Do you know where to find the property owners statement about the planning/timing of that job? I've been searching for that for weeks. Tia.

 

[susiQ]

I agree. I don’t know why their move to Colorado bothers me a bit but maybe if there was a better explanation I’d be able to get that out of my mind. These are things that don’t make sense to me: Suzanne was going through a cancer battle, she had doctors in IN. Their youngest was still in the school system there. I know they moved at the end of the school year but she would have been going into high school I think and all her friends were in Indiana that she grew up with. The high school years are the best for many kids. I don’t think Suzanne was employed when they moved but she was involved in her community and her family was in Indiana. Barry didn’t get transferred or have a job that required him to move. The only thing I thought of was they moved to be closer to the older daughter who was entering a Colorado college and that’s what some have said is the reason. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Kids go out of state to college all the time, their parents don’t move with them. Some have said they probably want to retire out there which is fine but wouldn’t you wait until the youngest is done with high school? Sm and BM are only 49 and 52. Then you completely uproot your family and on top of that move to a home on a mountainside completely away from civilization. I’m interested to know if Suzanne has friends in Maysville bedsides the church. She seemed so alone, I’d like to know more. All just my opinion.

I find the move odd for all the reasons you’ve mentioned. Something tells me BM burned a few too many bridges back in IN and HE needed/wanted a new start. His family likely never witnessed the other side of him. I hate to think he pre-planned that far in advance but maybe once in CO other things began to happen that affected the marriage and SM wanted out. MOO

 

[susiQ]

Whilst this is conjecture on my part, I think that the SM/BM case is more likely one of premeditation. The fact that the daughters were away (unusual in itself given the pandemic) and that the husband had placed himself away from the home scene, suggests to me that, if BM is the perpetrator, he had looked for windows of opportunity.
Of significance is the fact that no-one was around at the time SM purportedly went missing. I'm not convinced she went missing on MDay; I think she likely "disappeared" a day or more before then. There was no-one around (i.e. daughters) to validate SM being at home in the days immediately prior to MD. This, combined with BM's earlier conflicting accounts (what his family said he'd told them about fire training vis a vis him saying he'd been doing landscaping work), raises red flags for me.
This could be a "crime of passion" in the sense that he wanted her out of his life to make way for newer things; spur of the moment though? - I think not.
I think any actions will likely have been planned in advance to keep the coast as clear as possible for the longest amount of time (to seize the right time, clear up, and formulate plans (lies) to cover tracks.
He's easily capable of that level of planning. It's possible that a spur of the moment crime of passion did occur while the daughters were away. If so, it was to BM's advantage that they were.

This man is highly capable of planning things to suit his agenda and to promote a preferred narrative. We saw that with his appeal broadcast: devoid of collaboration with LE; emphasizing abduction angle; measured, prerecorded script, filmed by a relative.
I believe SM's disappearance was planned in advance.

I lean heavily in this direction as well. Where I’m unsure is just how long before the actual occurrence did the premeditation begin. In Patrick Frazee’s case we learned it began at least a number of months prior to murdering KB.

 

[Dave F.]

Do you know where to find the property owners statement about the planning/timing of that job? I've been searching for that for weeks. Tia.

It originated with Rick Salinger of CBS4 News Denver on May 22, 2020. That information has been removed since it original editing. Now the only reference to the property owner is:

"The property owner has told others that investigators have been using an x-ray type device to try to see through the concrete."

X-ray type device?

Finding Suzanne Morphew: Investigators Search Husband's Job Site Near Salida