Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *Case dismissed w/o Prejudice* #102

[justtrish]

I disagree that BM not booking a room can be construed as innocence on his part! MG provided that the wall repair work in Broomfield was going to be completed by BM and MG later in May until he contacted her on Sunday -- requesting she get a crew together to arrive in Broomfield on Sunday evening.

Take note that BM worked with MG on Saturday morning with no plans or mention of the wall when they departed company around noon. IMO, the only reason to advance the Broomfield job to Sunday-- and bring a crew, was that SM was deceased, and BM knew in advance that he would be leaving Broomfield and headed back to Salida on Sunday.

My point was more that him not having it booked didn't mean much with COVID making travel for most unlikely and hotels empty. I did question when was the job decided on, when did he agree to it and when was the original date decided on... those things would be questionable, but just not having a room booked didn't mean much in those early days of COVID. Changing dates on Saturday definitely is suspicious, changing it and not having the right tools very suspicious.

 

[BeckyF]

I haven't heard of this. Can you kindly provide more details? Thank you. I did a search but came up empty.

Very early threads it was discussed.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

I haven't heard of this. Can you kindly provide more details? Thank you. I did a search but came up empty.

It's nothing really and Barry came out on the better side legally or so it's said as they were both charged...the other guy was a local politico and not a happy camper. I can't remember his name, but he's in the AA as one of the characterization witnesses who won't be testifying ever.

 

[Trebor5591]

I could be mistaken, but I would assume that anyone with a gun safe that was as big as Barry’s had guns, plural. He had a love of hunting and I believe he would want to possess his own firearms, rather than borrowing a gun. The bullet on the bedroom floor didn’t seem to be a big shocker in the Morphew home either-although who knows how this would have played out in a trial. If there is an inventory of Barry’s weapons out there, I don’t remember seeing it. I also have no idea what the rules are for transporting guns from Indiana to Colorado.

"I also have no idea what the rules are for transporting guns from Indiana to Colorado."

I moved a few years back from Washington State to Tennessee, and as I recall, the rules to transport guns and ammo are:

1) The weapons are to be unloaded in the vehicle.

2) Ammo is to be stored separately from the guns in the vehicle For example, ammo in the trunk and guns in the back seat, or vice versa.

3) The guns are to be kept out of sight of passerby's--most people store them in cases designed for the specific weapon. Some cases look similar to cases used for storage of musical instruments.

 

[CGray123]

Barry was also counting on LE not questioning his account, well on any front but in regard to the deer. Deer guy, maybe he does tranq deer to steal their antlers.

Half credible except deer don't generally have marketable antlers in April.

But he appears to be no stranger to blaming deer for what ails him, demanding to be believed.

Zipper issue? Just checking my deer.

I wonder if anyone is challenging his explanations directly these days.

JMO

With all the details of his life out there, available to anyone who knows him or thinks they'd like to, he can never get back the confidence he can BS his way into business relationships, let alone "hunting buddy" status with guys, or "sex buddy" status with women.

At the point when real relationships could happen, they'll look him up. Either they'll drop him like a hot rock, or begin asking difficult questions with the BS meter set to Max.

IE was right: it's going to be hard to find anyone new, who doesn't believe he killed his wife. Even SD, who's essentially dependent on him for basic life needs, must know she has a wolf by the ears. That is, if her synapses are functioning, which has always been an open question for me. MOO.

 

[Trebor5591]

Just started reading the AA.


Right away I say an instance when LE overstated the facts:

Yes, Suzanne expressed her unhappiness to her friends, and maybe took steps to gather evidence and document so-called "abuse" by Barry in her phone as the AA states, but why she would do this if Barry indeed "monitored" her phone. It doesn't make sense.

I assume Barry's abuse of Suzanne is clearly stated later on, If not, it's just an accusation with no evidence.

All the steps by Suzanne to divorce Barry were in the early stages , largely complaining to friends about their relationship and gathering evidence by secretly recoding BM. But she never met with an attorney, which I assume she would have done if she was prepared to move forward.

 

[MassGuy]

View attachment 346412
Right away I say an instance when LE overstated the facts:

Yes, Suzanne expressed her unhappiness to her friends, and maybe took steps to gather evidence and document so-called "abuse" by Barry in her phone as the AA states, but why she would do this if Barry indeed "monitored" her phone. It doesn't make sense.

I assume Barry's abuse of Suzanne is clearly stated later on, If not, it's just an accusation with no evidence.

All the steps by Suzanne to divorce Barry were in the early stages , largely complaining to friends about their relationship and gathering evidence by secretly recoding BM. But she never met with an attorney, which I assume she would have done if she was prepared to move forward.

She used LinkedIn and WhatsApp to communicate with JL, as Barry had gone through her phone before.

Suzanne told Sheila that Barry had held a gun to his head during one argument. Suzanne also said that Barry had threatened to jump out of a moving vehicle.

This is an incredible degree of psychological abuse (coercive control) and if for some reason one doesn't believe it, I would argue that his deleted text threatening suicide corroborates it.

Barry did admit to accidentally "clipping" Suzanne's nose, but that pales in example to the suicide threat.

Barry controlled Suzanne by threatening to end his life, and it appears to have worked. Right at the end though, it failed, and Barry realized he'd lost all control.

Suzanne didn't consult with a lawyer because she ran out of time...

 

[BeckyF]

It is not one event or circumstance that proves Barry's guilt. We can go back and forth, explaining if certain aspects of the case happened the way the the prosecution says. The dart/needle theory probably happened, but should have not been included in the AA. The manner of Suzanne's death is not needed. The totality of the evidence points to BM being guilty. I'm not sure why DA got into the weeds with loads of info/theories in the AA. It needs to be concise and direct. Stick with vehicle and cell phone data, failing marriage, timing, BM interviews, Suzanne communications with family and friends .

If they do find her body and there are chemicals similar to one's BM owned, that would be a whole new ballgame. All IMO

BBM I agree that Dart/needle theory should not have been included in the AA if prosecutors could not really cement this as a contributing factor to Suzanne’s disappearance. I’ve thought this for a long time.

 

[Trebor5591]

This is such a bizarre claim that I am nearly at a loss. I don't think it could be true, unless the individual "sawing off the horns" of an immobilized deer was just plain strange--because this is just not the way hunting or trophy hunting works.

I don't hunt myself but I know many hunters. There are "rules" and expectation of behavior regarding the harvesting of trophies. An experienced deer hunter, after dressing the deer and taking the meat for consumption, does claim "trophies" (consisting of head and antlers) of deer he personally shot. The head and antlers are then transformed by a taxidermist into a trophy that is mounted onto the wall in the guys trophy room or den. In some cases, only the antlers and a small portion of the skull upon which the antlers are are mounted because the hunter doesn't want to pay for a full-head reconstruction by a taxidermist.

I've never heard of anyone darting a deer with a tranquiller gun and then sawing off the antlers of the unconscious deer. Would would be the point? So the hunter could boast to his friends "Yes, I darted this huge 12-pointer and sawed off this magnificent rack while he was unconscious"? Other hunters would look at him like he was a bug! Friends would stay quiet but shake their heads later in disbelief. Also, there could be no certainty he had even personally taken the rack--He could get the exact same trophy by waiting for the time antlers are shed and then picking up two similar size antlers from the ground.

Question: did LE find the two "sawed off" deer racks in BMs house? I would guess they did not.

I found the section of the AA relating to tranuiliing frugs and I am pasting it blow for the information of others curious about this area.

 

[BeckyF]

She used LinkedIn and WhatsApp to communicate with JL, as Barry had gone through her phone before.

Suzanne told Sheila that Barry had held a gun to his head during one argument. Suzanne also said that Barry had threatened to jump out of a moving vehicle.

This is an incredible degree of psychological abuse (coercive control) and if for some reason one doesn't believe it, I would argue that his deleted text threatening suicide corroborates it.

Barry did admit to accidentally "clipping" Suzanne's nose, but that pales in example to the suicide threat.

Barry controlled Suzanne by threatening to end his life, and it appears to have worked. Right at the end though, it failed, and Barry realized he'd lost all control.

Suzanne didn't consult with a lawyer because she ran out of time...

She also had made plans to look for homes in Salida.

 

[CGray123]

Just started reading the AA.

View attachment 346412
Right away I say an instance when LE overstated the facts:

Yes, Suzanne expressed her unhappiness to her friends, and maybe took steps to gather evidence and document so-called "abuse" by Barry in her phone as the AA states, but why she would do this if Barry indeed "monitored" her phone. It doesn't make sense.

I assume Barry's abuse of Suzanne is clearly stated later on, If not, it's just an accusation with no evidence.

All the steps by Suzanne to divorce Barry were in the early stages , largely complaining to friends about their relationship and gathering evidence by secretly recoding BM. But she never met with an attorney, which I assume she would have done if she was prepared to move forward.

Where is the overstatement? The AA says she took clear steps to divorce her husband, then lists some of the steps as examples. No need to keep on leaping to conclusions without considering all the evidence, though. Read on for more.

The steps listed immediately include telling her friends, gathering evidence, and telling BM both indirectly (noting instances of abuse in her phone, knowing he would read them) and directly ("I'm done. Let's handle this civilly.").

We should be careful about assumptions without evidence, for sure. For a long time now, smart couples with substantial assets don't waste them by hiring lawyers and duking it out in court. They hire a mediator experienced in both the law and the psychology of divorce, who can help them see clearly and think wisely about their own interests. That's what handling the end of the marriage "civilly" means: in a mutually respectful and considerate way, as civilized people.

But at the end of the day, is there any reasonable doubt, based on a commonsense, reasoned view of the evidence as a whole, that SM intended to divorce BM and that she let him know? There can be no doubt at all, which is the entire point of this evidence.

 

[O.Incandenza]

Respectfully, it would be inconceivable that a prosecution witness for the
state not be prepared by the prosecutor prior to their testimony. The following confirms that Cahill was prepped by the DA's office:

Then we have an obvious dispute between Cahill and the District Attorney. CBI agents testified that because of what Cahill said on the stand at the preliminary hearing Stanley wanted Cahill off the case. Stanley herself was called as a defense witness in March and acknowledged that she expressed disappointment to the CBI as to how Cahill answered questions. Stanley surprised the courtroom when she said Cahill “didn’t answer as he had been prepped”.

Ed Norden: Prosecution missteps in Morphew murder case

About 1,000 jury notices had been mailed out across Fremont County in March in a murder trial that was garnering national attention. All of that changed April 19 in a Cañon City courtroom when Dist…

www.canoncitydailyrecord.com

That may be what Stanley said in March, but Cahill told the IA investigator soon after the hearing that he "had almost no communication with the sheriff's office or the district attorney's office before the hearing." Also, according to him, it wasn't the prosecution who called him, rather "he received a phone call from the Defense attorney on the night of August 23, wanting him to appear at the preliminary hearing."

 

[Scootie98]

With all the details of his life out there, available to anyone who knows him or thinks they'd like to, he can never get back the confidence he can BS his way into business relationships, let alone "hunting buddy" status with guys, or "sex buddy" status with women.

At the point when real relationships could happen, they'll look him up. Either they'll drop him like a hot rock, or begin asking difficult questions with the BS meter set to Max.

IE was right: it's going to be hard to find anyone new, who doesn't believe he killed his wife. Even SD, who's essentially dependent on him for basic life needs, must know she has a wolf by the ears. That is, if her synapses are functioning, which has always been an open question for me. MOO.

There is that unique female specimen out there that is attracted to criminals, jail birds and so forth. Tragically, we just witnessed a case (Vicki White) who threw her life away, literally. I tend to think the personality type is one of delusions that they have some special gift or power to change or support the criminal they are attracted to; or otherwise are convinced of their innocence and therefore needing an advocate. Jailhouse romances are real. These individuals are not normal, by any means. Barry will find someone, if not SD....and that person won't be normal either.

 

[Trebor5591]

Per the AA, when SM was speaking with her friend Sheila, SM says that her daughter mentioned a restraining order. I wonder what that was all about? Because both daughters seemed so supportive of BM after SM disappeared--but here one daughter is speaking of a restraining order, (presumable against BM by SM).

 

[Trebor5591]

Where is the overstatement? The AA says she took clear steps to divorce her husband, then lists some of the steps as examples. No need to keep on leaping to conclusions without considering all the evidence, though. Read on for more.

The steps listed immediately include telling her friends, gathering evidence, and telling BM both indirectly (noting instances of abuse in her phone, knowing he would read them) and directly ("I'm done. Let's handle this civilly.").

We should be careful about assumptions without evidence, for sure. For a long time now, smart couples with substantial assets don't waste them by hiring lawyers and duking it out in court. They hire a mediator experienced in both the law and the psychology of divorce, who can help them see clearly and think wisely about their own interests. That's what handling the end of the marriage "civilly" means: in a mutually respectful and considerate way, as civilized people.

But at the end of the day, is there any reasonable doubt, based on a commonsense, reasoned view of the evidence as a whole, that SM intended to divorce BM and that she let him know? There can be no doubt at all, which is the entire point of this evidence.

Well, the overstatement is that SM did not meet with a divorce attorney, or a mediator, or anyone "official" regarding her desire to divorce BM. Her actions were all discussion things with friends, and buying spy pens, and documenting what the prosecution characterized as abuse on her cell phone "notes" program. I wouldn't really call those as clear steps leading towards divorce--"preliminary steps" would be more accurate.

Meeting with an attorney doesn't have to be preparing to "duke it out" in court. Many divorces are amicable, but an attorney has to be involved in all states, so far as I know, for the filings. Meeting with an attorney would be a logical step to take if someone were really ready to divorce.

 

[Scootie98]

Where is the overstatement? The AA says she took clear steps to divorce her husband, then lists some of the steps as examples. No need to keep on leaping to conclusions without considering all the evidence, though. Read on for more.

The steps listed immediately include telling her friends, gathering evidence, and telling BM both indirectly (noting instances of abuse in her phone, knowing he would read them) and directly ("I'm done. Let's handle this civilly.").

We should be careful about assumptions without evidence, for sure. For a long time now, smart couples with substantial assets don't waste them by hiring lawyers and duking it out in court. They hire a mediator experienced in both the law and the psychology of divorce, who can help them see clearly and think wisely about their own interests. That's what handling the end of the marriage "civilly" means: in a mutually respectful and considerate way, as civilized people.

But at the end of the day, is there any reasonable doubt, based on a commonsense, reasoned view of the evidence as a whole, that SM intended to divorce BM and that she let him know? There can be no doubt at all, which is the entire point of this evidence.

IIRC, Suzanne reached out to Libler just a short time (maybe a couple of months) after they relocated to Colorado. That alone suggests that this marriage had been in trouble for some time. Suzanne also said "I could care less what you're up to and have been for years"....."years"? And on Barry's side, as told to LE...the marriage was "perfect". His adament denial simply fuels the explosive temper which I believe BM possessed till the end. Divorce was not an option...and he made sure SM knew that. Sadly, it wasn't. I believe that Barry has deluded himself into believing that when SM had cancer for the first time...he "nursed her back to health"...i.e.he gave her life. And, likewise, it was his to take.....and he did.

 

[mrjitty]

BBM I agree that Dart/needle theory should not have been included in the AA if prosecutors could not really cement this as a contributing factor to Suzanne’s disappearance. I’ve thought this for a long time.

I think it is important not to take the AA as gospel as far as an actual trial is concerned.

The AA is simply that - the case to support the arrest of the accused on the charges. It made sense to include the theory, as the lies to officers are a key part of the case against him. But this is quite a low bar at that stage.

At the actual trial, the prosecution will need to advance their theory of the case. Given the trial did not happen, we don't know what the final theory of the case was.

To my mind, it makes complete sense to include the dart material at the AA stage given Barry's highly suspicious answers.

 

[Trebor5591]

That may be what Stanley said in March, but Cahill told the IA investigator soon after the hearing that he "had almost no communication with the sheriff's office or the district attorney's office before the hearing." Also, according to him, it wasn't the prosecution who called him, rather "he received a phone call from the Defense attorney on the night of August 23, wanting him to appear at the preliminary hearing."

Great article you posted. It shows, in my view, that DA Stanley was simply not up to the task to handling such a complex, high-profile case. Its not uncommon in business or public affairs for individuals to be "over their heads" and tasked with performing something they don't have the background or experience to perform competently, in my opinion. Looks like this may be the case in the BM prosecution.

 

[MassGuy]

Well, the overstatement is that SM did not meet with a divorce attorney, or a mediator, or anyone "official" regarding her desire to divorce BM. Her actions were all discussion things with friends, and buying spy pens, and documenting what the prosecution characterized as abuse on her cell phone "notes" program. I wouldn't really call those as clear steps leading towards divorce--"preliminary steps" would be more accurate.

Meeting with an attorney doesn't have to be preparing to "duke it out" in court. Many divorces are amicable, but an attorney has to be involved in all states, so far as I know, for the filings. Meeting with an attorney would be a logical step to take if someone were really ready to divorce.

It would be a logical step, if she weren't murdered first.

This divorce conversation took place mere days before Barry murdered her.

 

[mrjitty]

That may be what Stanley said in March, but Cahill told the IA investigator soon after the hearing that he "had almost no communication with the sheriff's office or the district attorney's office before the hearing." Also, according to him, it wasn't the prosecution who called him, rather "he received a phone call from the Defense attorney on the night of August 23, wanting him to appear at the preliminary hearing."

There is definitely something dubious went on with Cahill IMO, but I don't see him as particularly relevant at trial, where experts would slug out the DNA evidence.