Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #11

[MyBelle]

JMO
This case is strange in a few different ways. The silence from LE we have seen in other cases but the silence from immediate family members and any friends seems unusual to me. And the way the nephew went silent as well is a little unusual.

I dont know what to make of all the silence other than I find it sad.

Just like some of us want to hope beyond hope that she can somehow be found safe or even found at all, you would think someone from the family or one of her friends would at least want to make an occasional statement to the media to get the case back in the top of the news headlines to help find her. Even if just locally for them.

Its so strange to me to not see that in this case. Hardly anything like that. We initially had the Nephew doing that but he went silent too. The husband did make a video about the reward but nothing more since then other than a secretly recorded interview which he did not expect to go public so we really cant count that extra interview as family wanting to get the word out again.

The silence is deafening from the immediate family and friends of SM. Its just sad. I can think of a couple reasons why there is silence now and the reasons are sad too.

Hoping LE is getting close to making a break in this case that they can announce soon.

At this point, nothing is to be gained by the family speaking. The reward is up and many tips have poured in. I don't consider the youtube evidence of anything suspicious pointing to BM. He spoke about the bike and sighting of a lion and the search area because the youtuber said he wanted to help and it would be a waste of time to re-search an area which already had been searched by professionals.

JMO

 

[Spartygirl]

I’m game!

I have no facts whatsoever that BM is guilty. I also have no facts whatsoever that BM is not guilty. And there’s that!

What I see is the direction LE have taken in this investigation. Shutting BM out of his home for a week, taking his truck and phone, digging up his work and not giving him the “all clear,” good to go. They never issued a BOLO with a description of SM, her bike or clothing. Strange behaviour if they actually believed a kidnapping, abduction occurred ala BM’s theories.

What I also see is BM “hanging his hat” on SM’s bike and the narrative he is spinning, actually three possibilities, none of which LE seem interested in pursuing, at the moment. BM’s theories all involve the bike and nothing but the bike, while LE are mum on it. That makes me suspicious of the bike story and therefore BM. JMHO

Plus, add in the "mountain lion got her" by BM, several times mentioned by him. One including an email/letter to the church back in Indiana. Maybe he, himself, didn't write it ( I think he did, but JMO) but whoever did, got the verbiage from BM, JMO

 

[GordianKnot]

A number of people have done a good job of answering the question about what "facts" points to Barry, but one thing I would add is that the person who asked that question should be sure to watch all of the available video recordings of Barry, beginning with the Facebook video plea. After watching each carefully, ask yourself to what extent Barry's behavior seems like the behavior of a man who is looking for his beloved missing wife. Do spouses in missing persons cases normally make strange, disorganized, 25-second Facebook videos? Or do they hold press conferences in cooperation with LE and family? Watch his interview with Tyson Draper. Is this a man worried sick about his missing wife? If so, why is he so singularly unconcerned about his missing wife? Why is he rattling off as many (implausible) scenarios of what might have happened to her as he can? There is much more than can be said re analysis of his word choices, his mannerisms, etc. but the bottom line for me is that there is something not quite "right" about pretty much everything Barry says and does. To me, at least.

In BM's interview with TD, one of the more troubling moments is when BM tells TD if he "finds something, don't touch it," "take a picture," etc.

It never occurred to BM to express "If you find her, and she's unconscious or appears injured, don't move her, call 911 immediately," etc.

So, your wife remains missing, and you're not even entertaining the possibility that she might be found?

Is finding your missing wife not your primary focus?
Is it not your first, last, and only mission?

Apparently not.

Instead, it was "If you find something, don't touch it."
Because, you know, DNA and stuff.

But don't worry about coming across SM or anything...
On account of, you're not going to find her here.

In my eyes, that's extremely damning.

That 210k reward ain't in any danger of being collected.

None whatsoever.

JMO.

 

[DBLG]

The discussion of found items has my brain veering in another direction.

Bear with me here.

LE has stated they have recovered a certain item, or items, belonging to SM.

They have not told anyone, including BM, what they have recovered.

Okay. Next:

Let's just say for the sake of argument that you're the perp, and that your motive for disappearing SM was largely a financial one.

That being the case, I think one of two things would be true in this case:

1. SM wasn't wearing her wedding ring when she "went for a bike ride."
2. The perp couldn't bring himself to dispose of that ring along with her body, because it obviously has significant monetary value.

So, what would you do if you knew that SM always wore her wedding ring?

I'm thinking you'd likely squirrel that ring in a spot where you could safely retrieve it down the road, figuratively speaking, if not literally.

Now imagine as the perp that you hear LE has recovered certain item(s) belonging to SM.
But they haven't disclosed what they've found.

Even though you know that the overwhelming odds are that they found the item(s) you intentionally and somewhat conspicuously planted for them to find, would you or would you not fight an almost irresistible urge to go reassure yourself that the ring was still hidden where you had placed it?

You see where I'm going with that?

JMO.

BBM: "urge to go reassure yourself that the ring was still hidden where you had placed it?"

Do you mean like go back to the creek or woods to retrieve "the item? “ On a rainy day? And maybe get soaking wet in the process? JMO

 

[Spartygirl]

A number of people have done a good job of answering the question about what "facts" points to Barry, but one thing I would add is that the person who asked that question should be sure to watch all of the available video recordings of Barry, beginning with the Facebook video plea. After watching each carefully, ask yourself to what extent Barry's behavior seems like the behavior of a man who is looking for his beloved missing wife. Do spouses in missing persons cases normally make strange, disorganized, 25-second Facebook videos? Or do they hold press conferences in cooperation with LE and family? Watch his interview with Tyson Draper. Is this a man worried sick about his missing wife? If so, why is he so singularly unconcerned about his missing wife? Why is he rattling off as many (implausible) scenarios of what might have happened to her as he can? There is much more than can be said re analysis of his word choices, his mannerisms, etc. but the bottom line for me is that there is something not quite "right" about pretty much everything Barry says and does. To me, at least.

I only listened/watched one time so far, but all I got out of it was "mountain lion" (same excuse he sent to church back in Indiana) and how LE messed up the case when finding the "bike".
Nothing about his concern for his missing wife or his daughters.
Nothing. JMO

 

[wheatnotchaff]

Does anyone have info from MSM that tells us whether BM was into biking himself? Am thinking about this in the context of the recovered bike and personal item (supposedly belonging to SM) ... if all were staged by him (or even someone else, for that matter), would he necessarily be close enough to the experience of biking to think through whether or not separating some piece of SM's bike gear from her bike--if in fact it was bike gear that was found, which we don't know--would be logical in the eyes of investigators trying to make sense of the scene? Just doing some thinking about possibilities here. Not making any claims about what happened.

 

[wheatnotchaff]

In BM's interview with TD, one of the more troubling moments is when BM tells TD if he "finds something, don't touch it," "take a picture," etc.

It never occurred to BM to express "If you find her, and she's unconscious or appears injured, call 911 immediately," etc.

So, your wife remains missing, and you're not even entertaining the possibility that she might be found?

Is finding your missing wife not your primary focus?
Is it not your first, last, and only mission?

Apparently not.

Instead, it was "If you find something, don't touch it."
Because, you know, DNA and stuff.

But don't worry about coming across SM or anything...
On account of, you're not going to find her here.

In my eyes, that's extremely damning.

JMO.

I love this insight!! Best post of the day IMO. Excellent observation. And I agree, a very troubling moment in the interview.

 

[Spartygirl]

Excellent points! I need some examples before Suzannes disappearance to compare to his behavior now. IMO he is looking like a very distraught husband, and he is doing anything or everything to get her back, all the while knowing the longer it goes the less chance of that. He was described as quiet fellow, I think. I do not see any claims of innocence because he is still in the search mode. OR he needs an Oscar.

I love your posts @Feistyomi and have since I first saw you in Gannon's Thread.
I am going to go with "he needs an Oscar" at this point. JMO

 

[MyBelle]

I've said this before but I feel like it's worth saying again: the fact that LE (read, the FBI) dug up a home construction site where Barry had laid dirt tells you that LE has decided it's Barry. I guess it's possible they did that search/dig on the basis of a bad tip, but I don't think that's very likely. I think they've concluded that it's Barry, and I think that if they've concluded it's Barry, discussion of the bike is a little moot. If it was Barry, the bike is obviously staging. JMO.

I'll conclude it was BM when I see real evidence to form my conclusion. Cops do follow tips and leads that turn out to be nothing. That's the whole point of asking for tips. A tip is what led LE to the home security video that showed the vehicle of Mollie Tibbetts' killer.

JMO

 

[Tate123]

If LE believes SM is dead, they aren't going to want volunteers searching and possibly contaminating evidence. BM told the youtuber not to touch any possible evidence he found. Did he comply with that request? No.

JMO

What did the youtuber touch?

 

[ar3593]

What did the you tuber touch?

I think they are saying BM didn't comply with possibly contaminating evidence.

 

[WildOrchid]

I’m still on the fence here. What if BM really did go to Denver on Sunday and what if there really was a dirt job that day? What if there’s someone associated who might do that kind of dirt laying and that person came by the M house on assignment to get a piece of work equipment and approached SM knowing she was alone? What if that got violent and that led to whatever happened?
I didn’t think BM’s videos (released or “accidentally” recorded) were necessarily damning. He didn’t seem particularly likable and I wasn’t impressed but in the latest recorded wilderness video, I thought he seemed mostly discombobulated.
I also went over 2 other unsolved cases briefly that I always thought were odd which were the Papini and Powell cases. I’m looking for correlations between those and this case. Surely those husbands would have been closely examined as well and there were miracles of a live return in both of those cases. I’m still hoping for that here.
Though the Broussard case was only 1/2 of a happy ending, many thought the significant other there was also guilty in the early days.
Hoping against hope that these young girls do not have to go on without their mom.

 

[Seattle1]

@MyBelle said: ↑
If LE believes SM is dead, they aren't going to want volunteers searching and possibly contaminating evidence. BM told the youtuber not to touch any possible evidence he found. Did he comply with that request? No.
JMO [bbm]

What did the youtuber touch?

I think they are saying BM didn't comply with possibly contaminating evidence.

I thought SM was blaming the youtuber for touching the meal zip lock bag the deer were picking at. Apparently he picked it up.

ETA: Add OP that this response applies to.

 

[ar3593]

Good point, could be what they meant!

 

[J.M. Bee]

What if there’s someone associated who might do that kind of dirt laying and that person came by the M house on assignment to get a piece of work equipment and approached SM knowing she was alone? What if that got violent and that led to whatever happened?

I like this theory, except for the fact that it doesn't explain the bike. If a stranger had assaulted her at their house, he wouldn't have thought to use her bike to stage a crime scene elsewhere. I don't think that's believable.

 

[Tate123]

Seattle1
Ok... I thought that "dont touch anything" was all show coming from BM. If LE thought there was anything in that area of significance they wouldn't allow randoms to walk around. The yellow tape had been taken down.

 

[oviedo]

Another consideration which I admit may have been discussed and I missed - the game cameras ? Wonder what, if anything, they yielded ?
JMO

 

[WildOrchid]

I wasn’t thinking of a total stranger but I don’t think I can say what kind of professional relationship here without violating the rules. But you’re right, even the role I’m thinking of wouldn’t think to go grab the bike before taking SM elsewhere.

I like this theory, except for the fact that it doesn't explain the bike. If a stranger had assaulted her at their house, he wouldn't have thought to use her bike to stage a crime scene elsewhere. I don't think that's believable.

 

[kiwi50]

How much information would LE give the daughters if BM is POI.
Their silence is deafening, you’d think they would be out there appealing if they thought Suzanne could be alive.

 

[wheatnotchaff]

In BM's interview with TD, one of the more troubling moments is when BM tells TD if he "finds something, don't touch it," "take a picture," etc.

It never occurred to BM to express "If you find her, and she's unconscious or appears injured, don't move her, call 911 immediately," etc.

So, your wife remains missing, and you're not even entertaining the possibility that she might be found?

Is finding your missing wife not your primary focus?
Is it not your first, last, and only mission?

Apparently not.

Instead, it was "If you find something, don't touch it."
Because, you know, DNA and stuff.

But don't worry about coming across SM or anything...
On account of, you're not going to find her here.

In my eyes, that's extremely damning.

That 210k reward ain't in any danger of being collected.

None whatsoever.

JMO.

Bumping this post because it's all that, IMO. Props to GordianKnot for your perceptiveness. <modsnip>