Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #47

[10ofRods]

Thanks for answering. I was curious about this.

I did screw up in my syntax - rates of wife murder dropped more rapidly after no fault divorce (and you can trace it, state by state, nation by nation) - in case that wasn't clear. That's what I was trying to say.

Wife murder is still legal in some places; those places also have no real means of divorce for women.

And we all know that at the time of separation, the rate of wife murder goes up. At least, I hope everyone knows that by now.

 

[Orso49]

lamlawindy, You can defend Barry's obnoxious behavior as being within his rights, but it certainly flies in the face of decency. If he was concerned for his safety, stay at you Poncha Palace. And yes, if you are worried someone is going to damage your property, ask the people their intent. It is mind boggling that he has done so little to aid in the ascertaining what happened to his wife. His behavior has been self-centered and inflammatory.

 

[Minordetails]

I agree, the bike recovery scene and it’s handling won’t be relevant if there is lots of other evidence and if the bike can be proven to have been staged.

I still think it will be a primary focus of the defence team.
JMO

 

[Megnut]

See, here's what BM underscored about himself, when defending his property line against encroachment:

The volunteers were there for Suzanne.

He was there for himself.

Once again, he made it all about him. And not her.

Let that sink in. He made the search for his missing wife all about his interest. Selfish much?

But we already knew that.

JMO

 

[al66pine]

Hunting Out of Season?
Someone posted (sorry, forgot who) --- If BM had carried gun on PP prop, he would have been hunting out of season.
Yes, if he had been hunting for deer/other large game. But per link, some animals can be taken yr round in CO.
Prairie dogs: Black-tailed, white-tailed & Gunnison's. Year-round Private land
Colorado Parks and Wildlife
See also: Colorado Hunting Seasons 2020-2021 - Hunting Season HQ < easier to read chart, not from CO P & W.

If BM hunts on PP site, it brings to mind a comment by a real est agent in a BigTimeDeerHuntingArea who said, someone buying a 10 acre plot for hunting is not hunting on just that land; they're shooting on all their neighbors' properties too. IOW on such a small plot, whatever the prey, shooting is dangerous to hoo-mans in area.

 

[al66pine]

CO. Open Carry Law?

Colorado is an open carry state.

@darring21 Thanks for pointing this out. And verification at link:
Permit required for open carry? Long guns, no. Handguns, no.
"CRS § 18-12; DRMC §§ 38-117(b), 38-118."

More re CO gun laws: Gun laws in Colorado - Wikipedia

 

[10ofRods]

CO. Open Carry Law?

@darring21 Thanks for pointing this out. And verification at link:
Permit required for open carry? Long guns, no. Handguns, no.
"CRS § 18-12; DRMC §§ 38-117(b), 38-118."

More re CO gun laws: Gun laws in Colorado - Wikipedia

As long as you don't menace anyone (make people afraid by carrying a gun).

Menacing people with weapons is illegal in CO.

This applies to all weapons, and not just guns, so does not show up as a "gun law." It also applies to things that can be used as a weapon (e.g. autos, hammers, power tools, hockey sticks and baseball bats). If the intent is to make another person change their behavior through fear (intense anxiety would count), then it's illegal.

It's a good law, IMO. Probably enforced only in rare occasions, but still - it's a law in CO. About guns.

 

[steeltowngirl]

I did screw up in my syntax - rates of wife murder dropped more rapidly after no fault divorce (and you can trace it, state by state, nation by nation) - in case that wasn't clear. That's what I was trying to say.

Wife murder is still legal in some places; those places also have no real means of divorce for women.

And we all know that at the time of separation, the rate of wife murder goes up. At least, I hope everyone knows that by now.

BBM
Wait .. WHAT? Wife murder is legal in some places? YIKES

 

[TIGER0822]

... If only investigators could get MG to open and talk. They have interviewed her five times. She has in her own words been ‘mostly cooperative’. There is so much connecting her with the timelines and locations. The middle of the night visit from BM, The Holiday Inn, raking the beach at the building site, the ‘hush money and paycheck bizzare incident... My guess is that ‘hush money’ was an envelope full of cash . She was everywhere that weekend. Then she moved out of State. I do not think she had intent. I think she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But she is in someway involved and therefore she will ‘mostly cooperate’ with investigators. IMO

 

[Kittybunny]

Respectfully bolded by me. What do you mean?

I just meant it pleases me to see him stick his foot in his mouth repeatedly and contradict himself in the eventual hope that this will all come back to him and result in his downfall.

 

[lamlawindy]

If so, then he needs more than legal counsel. If he's that timid, he needs some psychological help.

What I find interesting about your perspective, though, is your apparent belief that BM was reading social media - specifically, WS. The subreddit for Suzanne wasn't up yet.

Besides WS, the other source for comments came from the Inside Edition youtube offering. I can't find BM's actual video, his own posting, any longer. But Inside Edition picked up the story 2 days after BM posted his plea.

It was the head shaking that most people mentioned. It's probably true that if his body language is going to contradict what he's saying (in the minds of the ordinary public) that he should cease making such offerings.

But...you think it's "scorn" for people to point out that they find his body language counter-intuitive? That's what humans do. They listen and notice and then make inferences. The fact that the inference was not favorable to Barry just seems like common sense to the people who think his head movements contradicted what he said.

Personally, as someone who studies human communication for a living, I don't find it as startling as others do. But I do think it's evidence that either BM produced the video by himself (with a cold edit at the beginning) or that whoever helped him was clueless about how it would be seen.

I appreciate your view, as you indicated that you study human communication professionally. You're correct that people see something & then make inferences. As a defense attorney, it's quite often my job to point out that such inferences aren't always necessarily correct & that convictions must be based on much more.

 

[Megnut]

We also don't know what charges will be leveled. Isn't it possible there's enough probable cause to arrest for manslaughter, but murder in the first degree, premeditated, is in their sights?

I'm willing to be patient.... for LWOP plus 156.

JMO

 

[ethereal*22]

I’m curious how do we “know” BM was out on his property with a “gun shouldered” to meet the searchers? If true, I find the following interesting-
—No one got this on video? Seems someone would have thought to capture this event for a multitude of reasons.
—Surely if BM was going full Rambo on his property, or even menacing or brandishing, heck I think if even one of the searchers saw him with a weapon of any type, the authorities would have been called. Yet there was no such call or report that I am aware.

Exactly how much of this encounter is factual and what is embellished to add drama or impact.

I do not have the Unabomber’s IQ, but I must believe if BM was in any slight way “off” or brandished/menaced so much as a toothpick, I feel the searchers involved would certainly have used their senses and protected themselves from such threat by contacting the local police and or recording the behaviors. This is the world we live in.

My opinion is that this states the obvious, it didn’t happen the way it’s been told, it just makes a better story and follows the narrative. Whatever happened out there was apparently not unlawful, not among that group. Please. Think about it. Or we would all be watching the video and BM would be in the pokey.

 

[marylamby]

Well, "probable cause" is a binomial concept: either they have it or they don't. They may just be missing one piece of evidence to link Barry to Suzanne's disappearance, but -- without it -- they don't have probable cause.

You're 100% right that we don't have actual knowledge of what investigators believe happened to Suzanne. Likewise, you're correct that we have hints. However, even if we knew exactly what police thought, their thoughts are not evidence. Now, their thoughts may be helpful in making sense of the evidence, but a judge or jury isn't constrained by the police's theory of what the evidence means.

I will reiterate that we don't know what evidence LE has or doesn't. The assumption of only theory is presumptive and premature.
imo

 

[al66pine]

Slip & Fall. How Far?

I think if they had gone for a "hike," Suzanne would have "slipped" and had a tragic fall, no cover up required. MOO

@Hair of the Dog Yes, but a different possible 'tragic fall' consequence is titanium hardware implanted to knit the Fallee's broken bones together while mending, first in a wheelchair, then on crutches Many true stories of accidental falls along this line.* Not a certain death, even from several hundred feet.
Result depends on distance, impact surface, which body part hits ground first. And other factors unknown-to-us.
If 90 % of falls from 7 stories or 84 ft are fatal**, seems a would-be killer would scout for a 100 ft-plus rock/cliff face for a launch site. jm2cts.

___________________________________________________________________
* Infographic: No Parachute: The Highest Falls People Survived
5 Tales of Survival from Extreme Falls
Category:Fall survivors - Wikipedia

** I could not access further explanation from this link, so fwiw:
"LD90 for fall=7 stories The median lethal dose (LD50) for falls is 4 stories, or 48 ft, and the lethal does for 90% (LD90) of test subjects is 7 stories, or 84 ft. Reference: Rosen P, ed. Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 4th ed. Mosby-Year Book, Inc; 1998:352."
Trauma Resuscitation
A study of pediatric patients who fell, from Journal of Pediatric Surgery:
"Falls from a height are a major cause of accidental death in urban children. The medical and social data on 61 children admitted over the last decade for falls of one or more stories were reviewed. Seventy-seven percent of the children survived. Of the children who fell three stories or less, all survived (100%). Fifty percent mortality occurred between the fifth and sixth floors."
https://www.jpedsurg.org/article/S0022-3468(83)80210-3/pdf

 

[MsBetsy]

I’m curious how do we “know” BM was out on his property with a “gun shouldered” to meet the searchers? If true, I find the following interesting-
—No one got this on video? Seems someone would have thought to capture this event for a multitude of reasons.
—Surely if BM was going full Rambo on his property, or even menacing or brandishing, heck I think if even one of the searchers saw him with a weapon of any type, the authorities would have been called. Yet there was no such call or report that I am aware.

Exactly how much of this encounter is factual and what is embellished to add drama or impact.

I do not have the Unabomber’s IQ, but I must believe if BM was in any slight way “off” or brandished/menaced so much as a toothpick, I feel the searchers involved would certainly have used their senses and protected themselves from such threat by contacting the local police and or recording the behaviors. This is the world we live in.

My opinion is that this states the obvious, it didn’t happen the way it’s been told, it just makes a better story and follows the narrative. Whatever happened out there was apparently not unlawful, not among that group. Please. Think about it. Or we would all be watching the video and BM would be in the pokey.

As far as I know Andy said Barry was at the edge of his property with a gun over his shoulder. He didn't say that he felt threatened or that anyone felt threatened. He didn't say his behavior was menacing or that he appeared angry. He said that Barry made a comment informing them they were
about to trespass on private property. Nobody crossed the property line and that seemed to be the end of it.

 

[Boxer]

As far as I know Andy said Barry was at the edge of his property with a gun over his shoulder. He didn't say that he felt threatened or that anyone felt threatened. He didn't say his behavior was menacing or that he appeared angry. He said that Barry made a comment informing them they were
about to trespass on private property. Nobody crossed the property line and that seemed to be the end of it.

Cameras quite important to him in September, not so much in May when only his wife's safety was involved.

 

[NWLady]

Here's what makes me think LE knows a lot more and did from the moment the bike was found. 1) It is almost impossible that there were no footprints around where the bike was found. 2) The forensics team would have entered all of the prints around the bike location into Solemate software to determine brand and size. They would have done a search to determine what stores sold this footwear. The would have also noted "accidental indicators" that made these prints unique to the individual. 3)When LE searched the home, they would have taken note of any footwear belonging to the alleged actor and compared it to the forensic evidence developed at the bike location. If there was a footwear match, the footwear would have been checked for the "accidental indicators" seen in the prints. Its as accurate as a finger print and just as easy to prove in court. It would make me a happy person if the actor was reading this and had an "Oh ****" moment.

Link to solemate: https://www.officer.com/command-hq/...te-fpx-30-footwear-mark-identification-system

But if the bike was just thrown down there, it's possible there may not have been any footprints where the bike was found?

 

[steeltowngirl]

As far as I know Andy said Barry was at the edge of his property with a gun over his shoulder. He didn't say that he felt threatened or that anyone felt threatened. He didn't say his behavior was menacing or that he appeared angry. He said that Barry made a comment informing them they were
about to trespass on private property. Nobody crossed the property line and that seemed to be the end of it.

Great memory MsBetsy, just helping out here with the article link.

FOX31 and Channel 2 asked Moorman if Barry Morphew, Suzanne’s husband is involved in the search.

“Yesterday we ran into him as we cross that mountain top of where we found the evidence and he was out hanging trail cams and he had a shotgun on his shoulder and warned us not to go any further because we were about to enter private property. And to answer your question, no, he’s not involved in the search,” shared Moorman.

‘I’m afraid this is domestic abuse’; Suzanne Morhpew’s brother says husband not participating in search, carrying shotgun to keep people off property | FOX31 Denver

 

[10ofRods]

But if the bike was just thrown down there, it's possible there may not have been any footprints where the bike was found?

The person had to get to the point where they threw the bike (they had to stand somewhere on the edge of the little gully or climb down into it). LE would notice right away that the bike appeared to have come from above - on the rim of the gully, it could not have come from somewhere else. They would look immediately for tire tracks. While doing that, they would also look for car tracks and foot prints.

The person who put the bike in the gully had to get near the gully somehow. If LE in fact never looked down at the crowd any where near the bike scene then that was a big error. Personally, I don't think that's the case at all.