Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #74 *ARREST*

[Synergizer Bunny]

According to Former Detective Mains of Unsolved No More YT Channel, there are typically three motives in murders: 1. Greed. 2. Sex. 3. Revenge.

These three motives fit Barry better than OJs leather glove fit.

I've read that the motives for murder are covered by the four L's: Love, lust, loathing and/or loot. I agree with you that Barry's motive falls into more than one of these categories, with "loot" or "greed" being at the top of his list.

JMO.

 

[Seattle1]

I agree. By "close," I mean that he had 2.5 hours total to leave the house and come back, including whatever it is he did with the body. So, I'd predict within a 30-45 minute drive (the whole thing took longer than he had imagined, of course). Still like a needle in a haystack.

Do we know when he unhooked the Bobcat? It was on his truck's trailer when he came back from Salida. He probably used it during disposal of Suzanne. So whatever maneuvers he had to make to park it where we see it in the crime photos, those would be erased as well. I'm assuming he also destroyed the camera data from the garage cams (did he buy new cards for them? toss them? are they missing?)

It's weird that I keep thinking that one of the advantages of tranquilizing Suzanne was that...he hadn't killed her yet, so the sheer panic of what he had done was yet to set in. He could stay on plan. He could stay calm. He hadn't actually killed her...yet.

^^bbm

Except we know from the preliminary that GPS on the Bobcat was used to eliminate the Bobcat from having a part in SM's death or disappearance.

I do think it's possible that BM borrowed equipment belonging to others -- perhaps a loader from the river build site where loud equipment noise was heard by witness Branson. MOO

 

[Momofthreeboys]

^^bbm
I think OP is confusing a trial with the PH. There's nothing to ponder here! The judge will decide immediately on those charges where the state met the burden. Other charges may be downgraded or dropped.

The trial will be where evidence is weighed if SM is deceased. The standard in the PH is whether an ordinary person could have a reasonable belief that the defendant may have committed the crime for which they are charged.

"Preliminary Hearings" In Colorado Felony Criminal Court Cases

I hope he makes a decision quickly. I did not think legally he had to immediately post the preliminary. I am not “confusing” anything.

 

[SouthAussie]

True, and Christians are generally well-taught "Thou shalt not kill". Once he entered that moral abyss I think anything was possible.

Well, I could debate that point (considering all the religious wars around the world, and other murders and behaviour) but I won't.

As a hunter, I think it is very likely that his hunting training came into effect. Suzanne would have been deceased before he disposed of her. imo

(And believe me, I am the last person who would ever support the killing of anything or anyone. Unfortunately, I just know a fair bit about hunting.)

 

[cattlekate]

He might have just been making phone calls. And yes, it’s also possible he was cleaning the bed of his truck with chlorine. I kind of like the latter, as it would explain the costume changes.

Last thread, a clever poster @nodamselindistress suggested the clothing changes were what Fotis Dulos did.

Whether it’s an attempt to dispose of beach-stained clothes, dispose of DNA-linked clothes, disguise dumpster runs, or just change because the day got hotter after the sun rose, hopefully the DA has an explanation.

 

[SouthAussie]

<RSBM>

I'm also guessing that the new data is how they know he spent 40 minutes at Men's Wearhouse (etc).

I watch a true crime show that is all about how CCTV has pinned down a crime. There are many times when investigators can accurately predict how long a person was in a location by CCTV prior to reaching the location, and CCTV after leaving the location. Even at night, they can (mostly) clearly identify vehicles on random CCTV all over the place.

Just offering that as another way that BM's timeline may have been determined/confirmed.

 

[MaisieBella]

My understanding is that it erased GPS up to that point (back to original manufacturer's settings).

So, LE would not have any evidence from the truck as to places Barry had gone in the past year, scouting out...whatever he scouted out.

He probably chose a place for Suzanne within the month before her disappearance - and that would be erased from the truck. But his phone would have continued to collect information (not nearly as good for finding Suzanne, obviously, especially as GPS pings on the phone would be taking place more or less randomly and not linked to whether he was in his truck, moving around, showing entire routes). I notice that there's lots of evidence about where Barry was on Sat/Sun based on his phone.

I think LE has all the data from his truck from after the reset, and none of it from before. But they have his phone GPS data too. Barry clearly worried about LE finding the truck GPS data from his trash dump run, but knew how bad it would look to reset twice - that's why he's buying a new truck. LE got his old truck and took out that computer unit before he had a chance to get rid of it. I think he had no clue how quickly they were going to suspect him (that image of him trying to walk off with GD at around midnight, when the police "still had some questions to ask him" sticks in my mind...)

I'm also guessing that the new data is how they know he spent 40 minutes at Men's Wearhouse (etc).

The fact that he reset the truck when he did makes me think he used that truck to remove Suzanne from PP. He did not use the old RR. It would have been really difficult for him to remove all soil data from the RR in the timeframe he had, and still establish his alibi. For him, resetting the truck data was the lesser of the various evils (and someone here has pointed out he can try to claim that the truck "did it on its own" and "was doing that frequently" but I think experts in Ford trucks and GPS (and the unit itself - which is in evidence, IMO) will put the kabash on that line of defense.

Insects and soil on the RR...vs. tall tale about why truck GPS was reset (he really hoped he'd be rid of the truck by the time LE were onto him).

Thank you @10ofRods
They will certainly have discovered his finger prints on the battery or module too unless it was wiped clean, but that would lead to even greater suspicion.
I’m interested to learn from the manufacturer’s expert the number of times spontaneous resets occur, if ever.
Thanks again!

 

[DeDee]

It seems clear to me that he reset his truck GPS right after the body disposal, as anyone would in his situation. So that gives a good indication of when he did the body disposal. I think it's also clear that this brilliant criminal thought airplane mode turned off the GPS on his phone. If he had reset the truck again after going to Broomfield, boy would that be evidence of criminal involvement.

So yeah, there's his phone giving the overall parameters (obviously didn't take it for the body disposal drive - he needed it to look as if he and Suzanne were both home). Then he messed up later with whatever he did with her phone.

If she did die around 3 pm on Saturday, by 3 am Sunday morning, yep, he would have been really really stupid to put her body in his truck (well, there are some things he could have done to slow decomp, obviously, but yeah, he was on to Stage II - the disposal of evidence - by 5:30 pm on Saturday). He could not have made it plainer than when he reset that GPS on his truck.

This is a brilliant assessment that neatly fits with the TimeLine as we know it to be. So, if Suzanne's dead at 3pm on Saturday, May 9, why can't LEO determine this much? They're carrying her death as: Hours between May 9-10.

Anyone recall the timeframe Barry was Airplane Mode past Saturday at 3pm, please?

jmho

 

[SteelCity91]

I am really looking forward to tomorrow and Tuesday. Does anybody know the start time for tomorrow?

 

[10ofRods]

^^bbm

Except we know from the preliminary that GPS on the Bobcat was used to eliminate the Bobcat from having a part in SM's death or disappearance.

I do think it's possible that BM borrowed equipment belonging to others -- perhaps a loader from the river build site where loud equipment noise was heard by witness Branson. MOO

Right. So he had to leave it behind (which is another strand of evidence that he took the truck and not the RR).

That bit of information about the Bobcat not being involved (perhaps at any time at all, from its own GPS) leads me to think he unhooked it between about 2:45 and 4:45.

So we have three main options:

1. Barry had prepared a place for Suzanne using manual tools, sometime in advance;
2. Barry used someone else's equipment prior to May 9 to prepare a place; or
3. He had no prepared place at all, but had thought about where to push/dump her body in a manner that was consistent with "mountain lion took her up hill," or "abductor got her, killed her, threw her someplace" or "Suzanne had a head injury from her crash and fell off some place."

I am sure there could be one more. But I'm favoring #3, for several reasons. People like Barry play games in their own minds. Barry was constantly scanning his surroundings for...prey (saw an elk Sunday morning, that distracted him?) No, he was discombobulated. Vague in his thinking. Sleep deprived. He had executed all the main parts of his plan.

I also think Barry probably thought good places to toss illegally gotten elk carcasses, or enemies. You know, just as a daily thing. He paid attention to good places on back roads to dump things. In this scenario, he doesn't bury Suzanne at all, but perhaps puts her someplace he knows is frequented by various wildlife, is down a very steep slope, completely covered with brush/trees, and looks like about 1000 other places within an hour of his house.

If he tranquilized then suffocated her (not strangled her), removed her from whatever he carried her in (just in case she died in his truck), if her body had been found in those first weeks (keeping in mind that the first few days of the search were all centered very near the house), each passing day left less forensic evidence. And wild animals did discover her body. Maybe he had a place where he'd been baiting deer so as to attract mountain lions, and where there are mountain lion kills, there will be a host of less lethal scavengers to scatter the remains.

Either that or there's a heavy rectangular object in a body of water within 1 hour of Puma Path...

 

[10ofRods]

I am really looking forward to tomorrow and Tuesday. Does anybody know the start time for tomorrow?

8 am tomorrow Mountain Time, 9:30 the next day, I believe. I am guessing the Judge will video conference with the attorneys either separately or together at 8 am to go over their plans and time usage. I think the attorneys have already been given hints as to what more the Judge needs to hear.

 

[Seattle1]

I hope he makes a decision quickly. I did not think legally he had to immediately post the preliminary. I am not “confusing” anything.

I think the judge will not make an immediate decision unless there is evidence and not speculation to come to support Suzanne being deceased. I think he will review the prosecution's case and the defenses case as given during the preliminary and then make decisions around the charges and what might go forth for trial. I think if it goes to trial he will release a heavily redacted arrest affidavit.

^^bbm

Please don't misrepresent my linked response to direct statements just because OP failed to post something or otherwise changed their mind. That's not cool.

To be clear, during a preliminary, if the evidence is conflicting or the judge can draw any of several inferences, the judge must accept the prosecution's version. [Hunter v. District Court, 190 Colo. 48, 53, 543 P.2d 1265, 1268 (1975)].

There's no pondering or delaying the decision to review each side when the judge must accept evidence in favor of the prosecution.

Although the Rules of Evidence apply during a preliminary, they are loosened to where hearsay is admissible. Hearsay is often speculation. MOO

https://www.denver-colorado-crimina...he-right-to-a-preliminary-hearing-in-colorado

 

[Seattle1]

Right. So he had to leave it behind (which is another strand of evidence that he took the truck and not the RR).

That bit of information about the Bobcat not being involved (perhaps at any time at all, from its own GPS) leads me to think he unhooked it between about 2:45 and 4:45.

So we have three main options:

1. Barry had prepared a place for Suzanne using manual tools, sometime in advance;
2. Barry used someone else's equipment prior to May 9 to prepare a place; or
3. He had no prepared place at all, but had thought about where to push/dump her body in a manner that was consistent with "mountain lion took her up hill," or "abductor got her, killed her, threw her someplace" or "Suzanne had a head injury from her crash and fell off some place."

I am sure there could be one more. But I'm favoring #3, for several reasons. People like Barry play games in their own minds. Barry was constantly scanning his surroundings for...prey (saw an elk Sunday morning, that distracted him?) No, he was discombobulated. Vague in his thinking. Sleep deprived. He had executed all the main parts of his plan.

I also think Barry probably thought good places to toss illegally gotten elk carcasses, or enemies. You know, just as a daily thing. He paid attention to good places on back roads to dump things. In this scenario, he doesn't bury Suzanne at all, but perhaps puts her someplace he knows is frequented by various wildlife, is down a very steep slope, completely covered with brush/trees, and looks like about 1000 other places within an hour of his house.

If he tranquilized then suffocated her (not strangled her), removed her from whatever he carried her in (just in case she died in his truck), if her body had been found in those first weeks (keeping in mind that the first few days of the search were all centered very near the house), each passing day left less forensic evidence. And wild animals did discover her body. Maybe he had a place where he'd been baiting deer so as to attract mountain lions, and where there are mountain lion kills, there will be a host of less lethal scavengers to scatter the remains.

Either that or there's a heavy rectangular object in a body of water within 1 hour of Puma Path...

Brilliant! I believe BM was counting on time being on his side where SM's body would decompose and any evidence of a homicide lost. I believe the tranquilizer was intended to "put her down" without a trace. MOO

 

[Momofthreeboys]

^^bbm

Please don't misrepresent my linked response to direct statements just because OP failed to post something or otherwise changed their mind. That's not cool.

To be clear, during a preliminary, if the evidence is conflicting or the judge can draw any of several inferences, the judge must accept the prosecution's version. [Hunter v. District Court, 190 Colo. 48, 53, 543 P.2d 1265, 1268 (1975)].

There's no pondering or delaying the decision to review each side when the judge must accept evidence in favor of the prosecution.

Although the Rules of Evidence apply during a preliminary, they are loosened to where hearsay is admissible. Hearsay is often speculation. MOO

https://www.denver-colorado-crimina...he-right-to-a-preliminary-hearing-in-colorado

I think my question is the judge, by law, required to decide immediately at the end of the preliminary or is the judge allowed time to render their decision? In other words by the end of court hearing on Tuesday does the law say the judge must render a decision before releasing court.

 

[SeattleStew]

This is a brilliant assessment that neatly fits with the TimeLine as we know it to be. So, if Suzanne's dead at 3pm on Saturday, May 9, why can't LEO determine this much? They're carrying her death as: Hours between May 9-10.

Anyone recall the timeframe Barry was Airplane Mode past Saturday at 3pm, please?

jmho

Using the terrific @NoSI timeline and prelim notes, they say BM's phone was in Airplane Mode from Saturday at 2:47pm until 10:17pm.

 

[tmar]

If we think we're anxious as time moves toward justice for Suzanne, imagine how much indigestion Barry's getting from his bologna sandwiches and Chili Cheese Fritos! Bring on Monday! Pile on the facts!

Very soon, more of this Creep's actions will be fully revealed, for all to see.
His stomach will be doing somersaults, visiting the loo continually, as his collected monies goes down the drain.
Hee Hee.

 

[SteelCity91]

I think my question is the judge, by law, required to decide immediately at the end of the preliminary or is the judge allowed time to render their decision? In other words by the end of court hearing on Tuesday does the law say the judge must render a decision before releasing court.

I think the judge has to decide at the end of the preliminary hearing day. I would think he already has somewhat of a decision. JMO

 

[susiQ]

"And Suzanne trusted the Lord and if one person got saved from this, she would think it was worth it." So it was Barry who was "saved" from suicide.

I have to wonder if it has dawned on BM that he may have been better off committing suicide, leaving Suzanne to care for his girls rather than living out the rest of his miserable days locked up in prison?

On second thought, nah, he still thinks he can beat this and come out of it looking like the victim!

 

[MassGuy]

I have to wonder if it has dawned on BM that he may have been better off committing suicide, leaving Suzanne to care for his girls rather than living out the rest of his miserable days locked up in prison?

On second thought, nah, he still thinks he can beat this and come out of it looking like the victim!

I think his only regret is getting caught.

 

[girlhasnoname]

Very soon, more of this Creep's actions will be fully revealed, for all to see.
His stomach will be doing somersaults, visiting the loo continually, as his collected monies goes down the drain.
Hee Hee.

Thanks for that Tmar,