Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #34

[HongKongPhooey]

I’m kind of looking at it as three time blocks that we want to dissect:

12:30pm (SM’s convo with best friend stops) - 11:30pm (Salida job site noise)

-11:30pm (Salida noise) - 5:00am Sunday (BM leaves for Broomfield)

-5:00am - 6:00pm Sunday (BM gets call from kids and neighbor).


I think the murder happened close to 12:30pm Saturday. I think BM then did as much of a cleanup as he could do, and puts SM’s body into a cooler. He then realizes he needs additional items for cleanup and off to the store he goes.

Some time close to sun down, BM heads out with the cooler in his truck bed to dispose of the body and evidence. He picks up the bob cat at the Salida job site and heads out towards the fire camp land that he knows so well. Somewhere back in that remote area he buries Susan.

BM arrives to the Salida job site around 11:30pm. In addition to dropping off the bobcat, he buries evidence at the job site. SM’s phone is put into the dirt where concrete would later be poured. LE discovers the phone during their dig/search.

BM gets home after midnight and then does more frantic clean up at the house.

At 5am and after just a couple hours of sleep he heads out to Broomfield. While in Broomfield, he empties out his truck and washes it, buys Chlorine/bleach and goes back to the hotel to clean off his tools. I suspect a heavy blow to the head, possibly from behind, is what killed Susan. BM disposes of some tools on his way back to Mayesville.


completely MOO. I also think at least 2 other people, probably 3-5 were involved in some capacity.

I think this is absolutely plausible.

The only thing I'm not sure of, is if they found her phone in concrete would that be enough for an arrest?

 

[Goldenseal]

Maybe just after 11 is when he was seen shopping, before going home. Can someone local tell me if it's correct that it is 20 miles to town from their house? I don't think he'd be doing a 40 rt to buy cleaning supplies if she was already dead but not buried.
I can't see him driving around with the bobcat in his truck (does it need a trailer?) After she's dead, it doesn't take all that much effort to grab a pick ax and shovel, dig a hole, what he had was "time". I also think he killed her away from the house.
Reading between the lines I think MG's statements about Barry shopping, being in town on Saturday had to come via JP. MG/JP had plenty of time to discuss BM, on the ride to/ from Denver, and then while they probably felt jerked around by him, re no dirt, not the right tools, no brick, and maybe no upfront $$. And maybe both of them were beginning to wonder about MG's noting his mood change, esp on Sunday morning.
We still don't know yet if/when C saw BM, maybe on Saturday, while shopping?

I think all of BM's employees have an idea of how the couple got along, and what were the possible issues. It's hard to work with friends day in and day out without griping a little about your spouse/boyfriends/girlfriends. Especially when working outside of an office and spending time driving around. Long drives with co-workers naturally provide the urge to chat and commiserate, imo.

It's 11 miles from their house to Salida.
I think she died (or bled) in the house because BM had to use bleach (which LE smelled when they conducted the welfare check on Sunday).

 

[Skigh]

Maybe that's why BM dropped to the ground in that certain spot, he may have been overcome with a feeling of remorse or maybe he noticed one of her earring shimmering on the ground. The only thing that bothers me with that theory is the fact that AM indicated that LE mentioned the home smelling of bleach.

Maybe the people , he was with, began asking him some awkward questions he did not wish to answer,so he played the grieving husband as a distraction.

 

[NuttMegg]

It's 11 miles from their house to Salida.
I think she died (or bled) in the house because BM had to use bleach (which LE smelled when they conducted the welfare check on Sunday).

Thx I must have originally heard a roughly 20 mile rt, and forgot the rt part. If he used bleach on Saturday afternoon, wouldn't raised windows have diffused the smell 24 hours later? Unless we're all way off base, and that he actually killed her on Sunday after hours days of fighting about something. Sometimes those deeply wounding arguments and hurt feelings, if that's what it was, go on for days if not weeks, months sometimes.

 

[Skigh]

Just thinking again about him sending MG home at 11am. Perhaps he then changed the bobcat to a digger attachment and dug a hole,thinking he would put Suzanne in it,but later thought about it and decided it was too risky.
He then had to return and fill it in,this might have been on the way back from hiding Suzanne somewhere else,so he did leave some cadaver traces which alerted the dogs who searched the site.

 

[kkdj]

I think it's safe to assume SM was at home when her convo with her friend "abruptly ended" at around 12:30 on Saturday the 9th.

I think it's also safe to assume that when her phone last pinged, it pinged off the same tower it does when she's at home. (did we ever get a date for the last ping?)

We know from MG, around 11am that Saturday, BM said he was headed out to "make the wife happy" who was... at home.

It seems pretty obvious to me, whatever happened to SM, happened in her home, and everything else has been a hastily weaved story (by BM) to answer for this, that and the other.

jmo

This makes the most sense. Something happened at home.

 

[Iwondertoo]

I am wondering why MG had to stop working when BM said he needed to go home to make his wife happy.
Why couldn't she keep working ?

IIRC, MG said that Barry had picked her up Saturday morning for the beach job. So he would have had to give her a ride home when they quit working. MOO.

 

[Fireflize]

I've been enjoying everyone's posts this morning. I'm back to scrutinizing my handy dandy time line.

BM at Salida 1130ish Saturday night.
I've been wondering if it would be possible to bury Suzanna at the Salida work site with the bobcat and not leave detectable signs. Seems like if the sand was raked Saturday morning, it would be obvious that something had happened there, unless you took the time to rerake it. I don't think he was there that long. It would look too suspicious to be seen doin all that, and there are neighbors there.

Maybe his weirdness that MG noticed was not about the beach, but about the fact that he was thinking about murdering his wife.

So I'm thinking he was charging the bobcat, changing the attachment to a digger thingy. The bobcat would be needed to get back down to the base of the work in Broomfield in order to redo it? Is that the 30 minutes of work that he actually did in Broomfield? Did he pull into Puma Path with the bobcat in tow?

So he had a ligitimate reason for getting the bobcat, but could also have used it somewhere around the firecamp before he left for Broomfield. The later the better. I wonder how many homes he would drive past getting to the firecamp? Once he got back in there, there's no homes.

I'm also considering the area where TD saw a drippy red BM tho. He would know the home behind his house was empty. He spoke with the cleaning lady Wednesday. He would know that he could not be seen down in the creek. Could the bobcat be used there? I think it would leave obvious signs. If she's there, I don't think she's very deep. Just weighted down.

Moo

 

[Skigh]

I've been enjoying everyone's posts this morning. I'm back to scrutinizing my handy dandy time line.

BM at Salida 1130ish Saturday night.
I've been wondering if it would be possible to bury Suzanna at the Salida work site with the bobcat and not leave detectable signs. Seems like if the sand was raked Saturday morning, it would be obvious that something had happened there, unless you took the time to rerake it. I don't think he was there that long. It would look too suspicious to be seen doin all that, and there are neighbors there.

Maybe his weirdness that MG noticed was not about the beach, but about the fact that he was thinking about murdering his wife.

So I'm thinking he was charging the bobcat, changing the attachment to a digger thingy. The bobcat would be needed to get back down to the base of the work in Broomfield in order to redo it? Is that the 30 minutes of work that he actually did in Broomfield? Did he pull into Puma Path with the bobcat in tow?

So he had a ligitimate reason for getting the bobcat, but could also have used it somewhere around the firecamp before he left for Broomfield. The later the better. I wonder how many homes he would drive past getting to the firecamp? Once he got back in there, there's no homes.

I'm also considering the area where TD saw a drippy red BM tho. He would know the home behind his house was empty. He spoke with the cleaning lady Wednesday. He would know that he could not be seen down in the creek. Could the bobcat be used there? I think it would leave obvious signs. If she's there, I don't think she's very deep. Just weighted down.

Moo

Some good,interesting thoughts.
If he did take the bobcat to Broomfield,wouldn't he have left it there for the supposed work?

 

[Fireflize]

Some good,interesting thoughts.
If he did take the bobcat to Broomfield,wouldn't he have left it there for the supposed work?

Thanks for asking, skigh. That's smart.
I don't know. Anyone with construction knowledge want to help us out?

 

[Dalgliesh]

I agree that LS has done her job well - placing the essence of the story before the public in the words of important sources. I am hoping there are still a few more stories she can do, in the interest of keeping the case in the public mind, but I don't expect her, the PE guys, or anyone other than LE to put the evidence together and charge someone. Nor do I expect that LE will be baited by MSM into disclosing the evidence they have or naming a suspect before an arrest warrant is issued.

Although statistics and circumstances point to BM as a primary actor in SM's disappearance, and although his participation in news coverage doesn't seem to have moved public opinion about that, criminal charges must be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt by evidence, which will not include domestic homicide statistics or public opinion. And LE gets only one chance to accomplish this once charges are filed. If the jury acquits, the defendant cannot be charged with the same crime again.

I believe without a confession from the perpetrator or the testimony of an accomplice, the case will turn on the forensic evidence. This can take a while to develop, and it sometimes raises more questions that must be answered. Even though I think LE understood the nature of SM's disappearance from the early hours and was diligent and thorough in gathering evidence, we should not expect an arrest until after the searches we know are coming from LE and AS, allowing time for more forensic examination and follow-up investigation. We are talking about the end of this year, maybe after.

 

[Barry]

Regardless of the usage of the bleach/chlorine, depending on the amount used, it's at least possible that BM had containers or left over chemical to dispose of during the timeline. MOO.

 

[K9Enzo]

If it's so common how come there have only been 27 fatal mountain lion attacks in the last 100 years in the US?

IMO, I believe the OP was responding to a comment that mountain lions were nocturnal, making a day time attack less likely. The OP might be right, that any attacks, while very rare, can happen during the day.

 

[steeltowngirl]

I think this is absolutely plausible.

The only thing I'm not sure of, is if they found her phone in concrete would that be enough for an arrest?

IMO yes.
If her phone was buried in concrete he laid, it’s all over except for the handcuffing.

 

[Fireflize]

Maybe her phone was in the creek?

 

[Skigh]

Regardless of the usage of the bleach/chlorine, depending on the amount used, it's at least possible that BM had containers or left over chemical to dispose of during the timeline. MOO.

What else would he have had to dispose of?

Clothes worn by Suzanne when she was killed?
His clothes worn when killing and hiding Suzanne?
Cloths he used in the clean up at home?
Suzanne's phone.
Hide her jewellery.

 

[SeattleStew]

Bobcat Standard Bucket

Bobcat Rake Attachment

 

[Boxer]

There's definitely something to the bleach. I think he filled the tub up and poured bleach in it and soaked the tools. Then dried them with all those wet towels. Or were the towels immersed in the bleach water? Why?
So, if the tools, why did he need to soak the tools in bleach? What the heck happened with the tools? Of course, I have some ideas.

MOO towels were thrown down to deal with splashes and dripping.

 

[K9Enzo]

If SM did in fact end a text/IM conversation abruptly, it also wouldn’t be the first time a spouse or someone else known to the victim, concealed their identity (balaclava mask as an example) and quickly attacked the victim by catching them off guard. Victim thinks they’re home alone. Possibility in this case, probably way down the list but I’ll throw it out there anyway. IMO

 

[EggSalad]

I think this is absolutely plausible.

The only thing I'm not sure of, is if they found her phone in concrete would that be enough for an arrest?

Probably not, but it would be a big piece of evidence. The tricky thing about that site is the number of people that have access to the site, namely the 3 workers that went to Broomfield.

<modsnip>

I also think Barry realized that burying the body at the Salida job site would tie him directly to the murder but maybe something like a phone and jewelry would be less likely to be detected and concrete was getting poured on top in 1 day.

I think something like a phone would also show up clearly on round penetrating radar which explains the precision of LE’s cut and dig operation.

And at the point when LE finds the phone at that site, they don’t know who it belongs to so they can’t trace it to SM’s disappearance at that time. Then after some digital forensics they figure out it belongs to SM. Perhaps those results of the phone data also justify a second search warrant of the home.