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

[gitana1]

Good post. I was about to say something similar. I can’t say for certain Barry’s the main person being looked at BUT like you said, LE dug up a property he worked on. That’s not something minor. I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to do that unless they knew something was under there. I personally believe they found what they were looking for. I also found it interesting that LE Came right out and confirmed the homeowner has nothing to do with the disappearance but they have yet to confirm Barry had nothing to do with it. But Barry told Tyson he was cleared by police. Hmmmm. I think LE is grateful for that video.

I didn’t even think of that. It’s true. They cleared the property owner but it the husband! That’s significant.

 

[TIGER0822]

I didn’t even think of that. It’s true. They cleared the property owner but it the husband! That’s significant.

He very deliberately mumbled while telling BM he was cleared. I listened to the tape several times trying to decipher what he said.

 

[JnRyan]

Agreed.
If it was wiped clean, the last person touching it, (before LE) wiped it. Assuming it had not just been washed, waxed, oiled, inflated or whatever you do to bikes to keep them in shape. Then one set of prints and hers could be on it. The guys at the bike shop generally don’t wear white gloves loading and unloading a bike. Maybe regular gloves to protect their hands. Even so, they’re rough and tumble. Cut the tips off their gloves for fine work. The last to touch that bike is thinking I better wipe my prints off of here bc they’ll be able to figure out I was around this bike when she went missing. Whoever it was. You wipe down a bike after you get back, if you wipe it down at all. You brush a horse down after you get it back in the barn. You lock a car door with a key or remotely after you’ve parked it. If there are no prints on the car door, or the horse bridle or bit, or the bike, it was after the last stop. Wiped clean where it was located means someone else was there. Or put it there. And was the last to touch it. Who was last? Who has the weakest alibi? Or no alibi?
Have any of you ever heard the fable of the rooster being able to crow at a thief just by the thief putting their hands on the sooty bottom of a big fireplace cook pot?

I believe part of it is going to come down to how "avid" a cyclist Suzanne really was. To someone in the media or LE seeing photos of her in riding attire or hearing non-cyclists to say she is an avid cyclist might just come down to perspective. I have no idea if Suzanne puts in 80-100 miles a week on a decent 29" mountain bike or rides 5-10 miles 3x a week on a 10 year old hybrid with bottom of the line 8spd components and knobby tires replacing the road tires. In the case of the later, I wouldn't actually say Suzanne is an avid rider. Compounding matters is the Cofid-19 crisis and its effect on cycling and the related industry. I know one mobile bike mechanic who was 7 days a week and had an over 50% increase in revenue and that was in March. I know of three bike shops in my town - one is OUT of all bike inventory and isn't taking any more repair work, one had to close and consolidate inventory at another location in another area due to a shortage of inventory and the third did as much repair work in April as they normally do in April, May and June. I see more folks riding a bike in one 90 minute to 2 hour ride now than I used to see in 2 weeks of riding. So does Suzanne have a long history of riding or is she one of the majority that just recently became more interested?

At the rate I'm going now, I hope to have over 4K miles by the time I do my first organized ride early next month. I also race and hold a USAC racing license. If you ask my neighbors and former co-workers I'm the most rabid cyclist they know of. Some of them have even called me crazy. If you ask some of my cycling friends who already have 3-4 100 mile rides and, if the USAC didn't cancel all races this winter/spring, would have 6 or more races by now they would probably say I'm a 'recreational' cyclist. It's all in the perception.

One of the shops that does work on my bikes always has the mechs use latex gloves. BUT when I go to pick up my bike they don't use gloves when they go to the back to retrieve it for me. As for prints on my bikes, I sweat a LOT and as such I've ruined a lot of components on my bikes due to this. Consequently, after EVERY bike ride I hose the bike down and then wipe it dry with an old towel when I bring it in the garage and wash it once a week or after riding in the rain. If someone pulled one of my bikes out of the garage, the lack of prints would not be unusual if the thief used gloves.

I'm just wondering how much Suzanne's biking figures into the LE and the media perception, let alone if she really was out on a bike ride.

 

[LietKynes]

He very deliberately mumbled while telling BM he was cleared. I listened to the tape several times trying to decipher what he said.

Agreed. ^^^

Like ordinary speaking and then :
Oh by the way BM is cleared of any suspicion and he has been open and cooperative with law enforcement, throughout the investigation....

*Cough*

MOO

 

[GordianKnot]

I just spent a little time researching no body murder charges. Lots of hurdles. Witnesses, enough blood evidence that the missing person could not have survived, forensic evidence that shows one manipulated data such as proof that an individual texted as the person or drove their car in the effort to make it seem as if the person was still alive. No slam dunks without a body.

BBM:

The Frazee trial was a no-body case and that was absolutely a slam dunk for the prosecution.

DA May shattered the backboard and broke the rim.

Using another analogy, he hit the ball out of the park. Repeatedly.
Like PF with his victim, DA May didn't observe any mercy rule.
It was great seeing him swinging away repeatedly at PF after what PF did to Kelsey.

That same DA brought murder charges against LS for Gannon's murder before his remains were located.
So, he was fully prepared to prosecute another no-body case.
It was providential that GS's remains were found, but even if they hadn't been, based on what we know so far, I'm convinced that case would have been another slam dunk for the DA, body or no body.
Prosecution had >2,000 pages of discovery even before Gannon's body was found.

No-body cases unquestionably pose unique challenges.

But don't think they can't be won, and won decisively.

JMO.

 

[JnRyan]

Lauren Scharf@LaurenScharfTV

CBI spokesperson tells me there were no searches over the holiday weekend for #suzannemorphew #MissingPerson CBI says the family is cooperative and investigators are still following up on tips.
@FOX21News

10:26 AM · Jul 6, 2020

Interesting. Since the sheriff previously stated that BM is cooperating and "....hope he continues to do so" I've been waiting for someone in the media to ask specifically if BM 'continued to do so'. Since BM is family I wonder if this statement includes him as well or does CBI mean that the majority of the family is cooperating? That just may be me though and I can sometimes be skeptical of general statements and what is not being said.

 

[DizzyB]

BBM:

The Frazee trial was a no-body case and that was absolutely a slam dunk for the prosecution.

DA May shattered the backboard and broke the rim.

Using another analogy, he hit the ball out of the park. Repeatedly.
Like PF, DA May did not observe any mercy rule.
It was great seeing him swinging away repeatedly at PF after what PF did to Kelsey.

That same DA brought murder charges against LS for Gannon's murder before his remains were located.
So, he was fully prepared to prosecute another no-body case.
It was providential that GS's remains were found, but even if they hadn't been, based on what we know so far, I'm convinced that case would have been another slam dunk for the DA, body or no body.

No-body cases unquestionably pose unique challenges.

But don't think they can't be won, and won decisively.

JMO.

As I had said above, if this turns into a no body case, I hope they have some of the evidence like there was in the Frazee case-a witness, blood evidence, a tooth fragment, a burn pile, and then of course the digital footprint as well as cctv footage.

 

[GordianKnot]

As I had said above, if this turns into a no body case, I hope they have some of the evidence like there was in the Frazee case-a witness, blood evidence, a tooth fragment, a burn pile, and then of course the digital footprint as well as cctv footage.

BBM:

Me, too.

Because absent her body, unless there's compelling circumstantial evidence to prove that she's deceased, this case will not go to trial.

More MSM articles r/t No-Body Murder Cases below:

Leesburg murder case with no body a rarity for prosecutors
SABBM:

DiBiase said prosecutors rely on forensic evidence in no-body cases, along with confessions to police, friends or family members.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...a0bffa-206b-11e7-ad74-3a742a6e93a7_story.html
SABBM:

“They are difficult. With a no-body case, you don’t have the essential piece of evidence,” said former D.C. prosecutor Tad DiBiase, author of the book “No-Body Homicide Cases: A Practical Guide to Investigating, Prosecuting, and Winning Cases When the Victim is Missing.”

When prosecutors do decide to file charges in such cases, DiBiase said, it often means they have collected a significant amount of evidence. That can include witness statements, DNA or statements from other defendants.

Getting a murder conviction without a body is tough, but technology is making it easier
SABBM:

Without a body, prosecutors must first prove that someone has died. Then they must persuade a jury of how someone died, or where and when it happened, said DiBiase and Brenda Beadle, the chief deputy Douglas County attorney, who has prosecuted no-body murder cases. <snip>

Circumstantial evidence becomes much more important, the two prosecutors said. But, they added, improvements in DNA evidence, as well as advances in cellphone and Facebook records, are helping fill in the blanks created when there’s no body found. <snip>

Not only do social media and text messages provide insight into someone’s thoughts and emotions, but they provide an “electronic trail” that investigators can use to show where a defendant, and victim, were, and at what time, DiBiase said. Plus, there are surveillance cameras everywhere today, he said. <snip>
____________________________

A lot of the no-body articles I've read that include interviews with Tad DiBiase.
Another article I linked earlier included a quote by him comparing no-body cases to a 3-legged stool.
One of the legs is forensic evidence, like blood, another is a confession to police and the third is a confession to a friend, family member or cellmate/informant.
Ideally, the prosecution has all three.

DiBiase's contention is that if none of those are three are present, the case won't stand up in court.

So, the question becomes:

Do Sheriff Spezze and Co. have any of those requisite legs, and if so, how many?

JMO.

 

[TIGER0822]

Agreed. ^^^

Like ordinary speaking and then :
Oh by the way BM is cleared of any suspicion and he has been open and cooperative with law enforcement, throughout the investigation....

*Cough*

MOO

Correction/clarification to my previous post.. BM mumbled while telling TD he was cleared.

 

[LietKynes]

It'll be interesting to see if there are any informants willing to sell someone out while in CYA mode.

 

[Itsapuzzle]

What would be the odds of someone in a hunting group becoming unhinged .... they have access to guns, bows and arrows, let's not mince words, they like to hunt and kill animals ....makes you think a certain type of personality would/could be attracted to the trophy hunting sport ..... who knows who BM has crossed paths with, just a thought and MOO .... random

 

[Seattle1]

Giving more thought to family and cooperating, to me, family means a group or group of descendants.

I can't help but wonder if the family --for this purpose, encompasses the Mm's and TN (in addition to BM). To my knowledge, they are the only family of SM living in Colorado.

However, I also think that each and every one of them has retained a lawyer.

If you agree to answer any questions by LE with your attorney present, and Investigators respond with thanks, but no thanks, that can't exactly be reported as you're not cooperating. Just sayin....

MOO

 

[rainbowshummingbird]

BBM:
Another article I linked earlier included a quote by him comparing no-body cases to a 3-legged stool.
One of the legs is forensic evidence, like blood, another is a confession to police and the third is a confession to a friend, family member or cellmate/informant.

 

[Madeleine74]

There are other charges that can sometimes be brought against a perp even when no body has been found and those charges can add up to substantial prison time.

Look at the Heather Elvis case. Her body was never found but the couple who killed her both got convicted for kidnapping, the husband got convicted also for obstruction of justice, and each is in prison for 30 years.

 

[Minordetails]

Interesting. Since the sheriff previously stated that BM is cooperating and "....hope he continues to do so" I've been waiting for someone in the media to ask specifically if BM 'continued to do so'.

Just speculating, but I think Sheriff Spezze interjected the.. “hope he continues to do so” statement because sometime prior to that press conference, BM blasted either Spezze or his officers about their ‘handling’ of the bike.
MOO

 

[Minordetails]

For the sake of discussion, let’s say there was a bike and it was ‘moved’ and ‘handled’ by various individuals before LE actually took pictures. If the bike was ‘handled’ wouldn’t it become that much more difficult to prove that the bike was staged?

 

[kay74]

I didn’t even think of that. It’s true. They cleared the property owner but it the husband! That’s significant.

Has anyone noticed this! There you have it.

 

[lamlawindy]

For most of us, that's just one small piece of why BM leaps to mind as a top suspect.

I'm sure you know all the other pieces, but I don't think I know a single WSer who goes by just one fact alone.

We all use fairly complex thinking about these things, and many variables. For me, the 10+ searches and that one road closure up past Puma Path are quite intriguing. Note that these searches were under the auspices of CCSO. In the Gannon Stauch case, we later learned that the FBI was active outside the state (not necessarily searching, but certainly looking into evidence). We also learned that LE, in the Stauch case, was in touch with LE in at least two other states not counting Florida. They didn't announce all this publicly.

We know evidence was taken out of the Morphew home. We don't know what it is.

In the absence of any other locale/person being the focus of the investigation, I'm going to say that BM is definitely under scrutiny - here, and in Salida.

No one should be "convinced" of guilt or innocence of any party at this time. But we can have our opinions and that guides us in what we try to discover (even if it's not admissible in the Court of Websleuths - none of us wants to have rumors governing the discussion).

Several have posted their entire list of suppositions (none of it rumor) as to why BM has their attention as a suspect in this case. No one has used just one fact. However, in this forum format, it's easier to discuss one or two things at a time.

I appreciate your post, but the bulk of the comments reflect a belief that Barry Morphew is suspected/to blame/involved. Probably the contrarian in me rearing its head!

 

[kay74]

He very deliberately mumbled while telling BM he was cleared. I listened to the tape several times trying to decipher what he said.

Who mumbled it the sheriff? Why did he "mumble" it??

 

[kay74]

For some reason WS is doubling my posts so I DBM