Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #35

[Goldenseal]

If the timeline plays out and Barry was in Denver all day Saturday then who threw the bike in the ravine and when?

BM and JP talked to each other in person in Salida sometime Saturday afternoon, so BM was not in Denver before that conversation.

 

[Goldenseal]

Personally, I think the fractures that lead to homicidal domestic violence are longterm and seething. That's why people snap. 'The wife' becomes increasingly viewed as dead weight (by some husbands). Or, the husband becomes increasingly viewed as a nitwit and a spendthrift. It's a long build-up (IMO, I have no specific citations on this).

DV is not just physical violence. My ex only tried to strangle me one time (in 1979 - we remained married until 1991). We both went into therapy/counseling. I was brought up that marriage was forever. After the therapy, the violence was lessened (he had already "accidentally" cracked a rib by pushing me down some stairs - but that was "kind of an accident.")

The violence was lessened, in part, by my near total acquiescence to everything he wanted. Things were good, right? Until they weren't - at some point in the future.

Long term marital issues and the seething things that some spouses keep to themselves often result in violence. I've learned that when people snap, they can actually use fantasy-plans (if only I didn't have a spouse leads to various fantasy scenarios in which the spouse has evaporated - but with no real planning or strategies).

I predict that this was a sudden explosion of rage - but that the rage, itself, had been intermittent and that the person with the rage problem had had many thoughts of harm, vengeance, starting anew, etc. There's probably a sexual element here, as well, although we may never seen evidence or hint of it. I think it's there.

IMO.

This, this, this, all the way.

 

[Dave F.]

If the timeline plays out and Barry was in Denver all day Saturday then who threw the bike in the ravine and when?

Well, exactly! Also, how did BM accomplish about a half hour's worth of work on the wall without tools or materials for the job?

 

[DizzyB]

As long as he was willing to meet with LE, it’s his right to refuse to comment publicly. If I found myself in the middle of a missing person investigation, I would definitely not talk to any media unless LE asked me to. I’m an extremely private person and I wouldn’t enjoy being hounded by the media either. If he hasn’t given LE what they’ve asked for, he’s as bad as BM but I don’t think we know the story on that.

CC is absolutely within his right to not comment publicly. One would assume that if LE has met 5 times with MG, they have met with CC as well. There’s a term for what CC is doing, at least in my opinion. It’s called humble bragging. Posting that you don’t want a reporter to bother you isn’t about being left alone. It’s about telling everybody that a reporter wants to interview you.

 

[Louise369]

This is the first case I have actually ever followed to this extent . I have a question for veteran sleuths. Have you ever seen a case before where a woman goes missing and the family doesn’t update the missing page, there is lack of national media coverage, and her immediate family members aren’t speaking out? I have my reasons for being interested in this particular case. But I just would like to know if this is normal or if I’m
Just insane thinking this is abnormal.

 

[nyvictoria]

Good post! I think if your two strong witnesses are the friend in IN & the brother in IN, who has not had much contact with his sister since moving to CO, we’re off to a bad start. The friend might have heard of marriage issues but the defense will probably argue more than 50% (not sure of the actual number) of marriages in the US fall under that category, tell me something new. Then a thousand reasons a text conversation could end abruptly.

My gut tells me this case will have to come down to strong physical evidence of a murdered SM, hopefully a recovered body, with forensic & digital evidence like you mentioned, that nail the bad guy.

If this case were presented to me today, with just info we’re permitted to discuss on WS and BM was in the hot seat. I would have to vote, not guilty.

IMO

I love your informative posts. I agree there’s not much meat that we’re aware of. The longer Suzanne remains missing, the less evidence there will be if she’s recovered.

 

[DizzyB]

I wonder if it’s a calculated strategy on BM’s part or as weird as it sounds, some ‘respect’ for SM’s brother, a guy he may have been friends with at one point in his life?

I think if BM bad mouths his brother in law, he knows he is toast and the floodgates of Indiana will open. Not to mention that the only thing Andy has asked for is the truth.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

H

If this case were presented to me today, with just info we’re permitted to discuss on WS and BM was in the hot seat. I would have to vote, not guilty.
IMO

Yes and that is why “we the public” are seeing little movement on this case.

 

[MsBetsy]

Got to say...I know nothing about cars. NOTHING. If I happened to bring my car to the shop for some reason, say it was overheating, or making a noise ... and they said "we fixed it...it was a mechanical thingy" I'd be saying AND.....waiting for the explanation, "mechanical thing" wouldn't hit it at all. Probably wouldn't pay them without a further explanation.

He probably said it like that purposely, in order to avoid having to provide a further explanation. If he had said something like, "I was changing the blade on my bobcat," it could have led to all kinds of speculation. Imo

 

[Ontario Mom]

If the timeline plays out and Barry was in Denver all day Saturday then who threw the bike in the ravine and when?

I believe BM was in Salida/Maysville all day Saturday.
At the river front property in Salida until around 11am.
Then dropping MG off from work, then home(?), then seeing JP in person in Salida on Saturday afternoon to discuss the Broomfield job.
I believe sometime between late afternoon Saturday and 5am on Sunday, SM's bike was thrown into the ravine.
I believe BM was then in Broomfield from around 8-9am on Sunday where he was likely caught on security camera footage, stayed for a few hours at least, did around 30 minutes of work at the jobsite, left the hotel room with wet towels & personal mail, before eventually making his way back to Maysville around 9pm.

There are tons of loose ends in this timeline but it makes the most sense to me & jmo & all that, with the facts we have.

 

[Ontario Mom]

This is the first case I have actually ever followed to this extent . I have a question for veteran sleuths. Have you ever seen a case before where a woman goes missing and the family doesn’t update the missing page, there is lack of national media coverage, and her immediate family members aren’t speaking out? I have my reasons for being interested in this particular case. But I just would like to know if this is normal or if I’m
Just insane thinking this is abnormal.

To your bolded question above:

Yes. (woman/child missing)
When?
When a family member was guilty, and they (other family) either knew it, or suspected it, or they suspect the family member that's missing is already dead, and were either intimidated by the suspect family member or were indebted to him/her on some level that kept them from speaking up. Many times, FB "find" pages and FundGoMoneyMe campaigns are set up and then when the media comes sniffing around and pointed questions start being asked... the wheels start to come off.

Quite a few of us that started following this case from day 1 mentioned that LE was definitely not treating this as a missing person's case, and BM was most certainly not acting like an innocent person willing to do "whatever it takes" to get his wife back.

Just my perspective, FWIW.

 

[Error505]

Agreed. Though what if the bike was staged in the wee hours of Saturday night. The DM (if we believe them) say BM had a room on Saturday night. So say he had to get a car to Broomfield for a cleaning so he drove it over night and left it in the parking lot and did some cleaning of tools in the room. Took a quick nap on the bedspread in the room waiting for the dealership to open and cooked up his alibi of the Broomfield job and then grabbed the car from the dealership when it was ready and headed back to Salida (none of the crew say they saw him in Broomfield - what was he driving?) parked the car and did some shopping met & with the crew guy? Lots of driving but it sounds like he wasn't actually prepping the Broomfield job..JMO.

BBM. The Range Rover dealership in Broomfield is closed on Sundays. Is that when you thought he may have had the car detailed/cleaned? Edited to add link
Home Range Rover dealership, Broomfield

 

[Dave F.]

This is the first case I have actually ever followed to this extent . I have a question for veteran sleuths. Have you ever seen a case before where a woman goes missing and the family doesn’t update the missing page, there is lack of national media coverage, and her immediate family members aren’t speaking out? I have my reasons for being interested in this particular case. But I just would like to know if this is normal or if I’m
Just insane thinking this is abnormal.

I've been through it, and know full well the helplessness of acting the best way you know how, cooperating fully with LE that didn't seem to be focused, and yet not handling it in the best way for yourself, or anyone else. It is impossible to redirect it because your mind simply will not allow you to adjust to the awful reality.
Unfortunately, it is also impossible for the public to determine the difference between "totally shell-shocked" and "guilty as hell" merely by sound bytes on the ten o'clock news. IMO

 

[Gigi3]

I believe BM was in Salida/Maysville all day Saturday.
At the river front property in Salida until around 11am.
Then dropping MG off from work, then home(?), then seeing JP in person in Salida on Saturday afternoon to discuss the Broomfield job.
I believe sometime between late afternoon Saturday and 5am on Sunday, SM's bike was thrown into the ravine.
I believe BM was then in Broomfield from around 8-9am on Sunday where he was likely caught on security camera footage, stayed for a few hours at least, did around 30 minutes of work at the jobsite, left the hotel room with wet towels & personal mail, before eventually making his way back to Maysville around 9pm.

There are tons of loose ends in this timeline but it makes the most sense to me & jmo & all that, with the facts we have.

I agree and this makes sense to me, as well.

I think it’s likely JP, at some point, told MG that he saw BM that afternoon in town. It’s also possible others may have seen him in a store buying something on Saturday. I can’t imagine that, IF you just committed a spontaneous murder, you would have everything at the ready for disposal. So, he very likely was in town for something he needed.

Another thing that a poster said up thread (can’t remember who at the moment) was a really good point about firing MG. What would be so important to fire a seemingly loyal employee during a time when you should be consumed with finding your MISSING wife?

I mean all of BM’s attacks on his employees credibility won’t change what happened to SM and it won’t protect who is involved in the end.
Either the employees are telling the truth or not, so why attack their character?

All of this definitely shows me a great deal of BM’s character- guilty or not.
JMO.

 

[Moonchime]

They could have driven up Monday morning, leaving at, say, 5 am, and could have been there by 8. He would have saved the price of the hotel, and he could have done the 1/2 hour of preparation just before they got there or had them do it. The employees with children/spouses could have enjoyed Mother's Day, and the whole job would have been less expensive for the employer. He didn't arrange the dirt and bricks, so they couldn't begin Monday morning anyway.

Indeed. BM's "getting the job site ready for his employees" STINKS!!! He didn't do anything to help prepare for a job, except bleach the tools he used for his nefarious and wicked deed.

However, BM did create a ludicrous alibi. The three employees dutifully waited around for bricks to arrive. That whole time BM knew that no bricks were coming.

MOO

 

[Feistyomi]

I love your informative posts. I agree there’s not much meat that we’re aware of. The longer Suzanne remains missing, the less evidence there will be if she’s recovered.

I was texting with a good friend last Wed, we had quite a few lengthy texts, catching up, then I sent her a text, that she didn’t answer, whell about two hours later , omg! What if? So I zapped her another text, no answer, I’m convincing myself, she’s gotten home, unpacking groceries, etc while I’m thinking about SM; SO one last text, explaining WHY I need just an OK, before I blow up her phone until I know she’s ok...
Point to this, I’m not ready to build a complete timeline around the texts, numerous reasons why they abruptly ended, and SM May have intended to get back to it, she may have gotten caught up in something else, batt died, put it on charger...
I would say our timeline can’t go beyond those conversations, so we do know she was alive until that point, beyond that, not so much...MOO
Even so, the window of opportunity for BM is becoming increasingly smaller, which means BM had to have really timed things incredibly ...just not seeing that precision in any of his actions, especially since we know the amount of LE resources available from get go...JMVHO

 

[EggSalad]

I was texting with a good friend last Wed, we had quite a few lengthy texts, catching up, then I sent her a text, that she didn’t answer, whell about two hours later , omg! What if? So I zapped her another text, no answer, I’m convincing myself, she’s gotten home, unpacking groceries, etc while thinking about SM; SO one last text, explaining WHY I need just an OK, before I blow up her phone until I know she’s ok...
Point to this, I’m not ready to build a complete timeline around the texts, numerous reasons why they abruptly ended, and SM May have intended to get back to it, she may have gotten caught up in something else, batt died, put it on charger...
I would say our timeline can’t go beyond those conversations, so we do know she was alive until that point, beyond that, not so much...MOO
Even so, the window of opportunity for BM is becoming increasingly smaller, which means BM had to have really timed things incredibly ...just not seeing that precision in any of his actions, especially since we know the amount of LE resources available from get go...JMVHO

Fair point but that conversation abruptly ending sent SM’s best friend ‘into panic mode.’ So whatever it was that caused her friend to panic seems extremely significant and seems to point pretty hard at something happening at 12:30pm.

 

[Gigi3]

Fair point but that conversation abruptly ending sent SM’s best friend ‘into panic mode.’ So whatever it was that caused her friend to panic seems extremely significant and seems to point pretty hard at something happening at 12:30pm.

I have to agree with you.
I don’t know SM personally, but if her best friend says it was unusual for this to happen, then I’m gonna have to take her word for it. Why would would she lie about this? She knows her friend and we don’t- bottom line.

 

[MimosaMornings]

I think that as a man who works with heavy equipment would not normally use the words he used in describing "doing a mechanical thing" with the Bobcat. He would just go on and say what he actually did unless it would sound suspicious. It was like he was purposefully not saying what it was that he actually did with the Bobcat. JMO

Yes. Most I worked around would reference - motor, pump, leaks, track, bucket issues.
Not mechanical thing.

 

[al66pine]

Statistics, Admissible as Evidence?

...The friend might have heard of marriage issues but the defense will probably argue more than 50% (not sure of the actual number) of marriages in the US fall under that category ...

@K9Enzo sbm Not sure if I am following your thought correctly.
Are you suggesting def atty -
--- Could introduce peer reviewed literature/studies w statistics about marriages & divorces; or marriages & domestic abuse/domestic violence; or marriages & couples in therapy; info along those lines? Or maybe gov't studies on the subject?
--- Could argue these statistics are relevant and material to BM's guilt?

I'm interested in comments from others, esp'ly our legal professionals on this.
If I am misinterpreting the post, my apologies.