Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #33

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Hello All;
As a former state trial judge doing criminal cases exclusively for over thirty years, I am making my initial foray onto this site. I have a lot of catching up to do but this comment about courts permitting LE to lie to get at the truth of a case was so overboard that I wish to correct its breath. Courts do not operate on the theory that the end justifies the means 'to get at the truth of a case'. It is OK for LE to tell a suspect that their fingerprint was found at the scene in an effort to get an admission or some statement for the suspect. Courts do not sanction lying in court to a judge or jury regarding facts.

Quite correct. Quick question: During closing, do you allow defense counsel -- if police admit to lying to a defendant for investigatory purposes during the cases in chief -- to argue that we don't know whether we can rely on the officers' testimony because they've shown that they have lied during the investigation?
 
Agreed. And also that he left early in the am to set up (and use) hotel rooms that weren't needed until that evening. It makes zero sense.

And this is simply an aside, but who lays on top of a motel bedspread? I'm not exactly a germophobe, but the first thing I do in a hotel room is pull the bedspread down.... they wash those things maybe once a month.. just sayin'

Maybe if your body is reeking of bleach, you don't have to worry so much about germs....
 
There is no way in high hell that BM would allow the search on his property. I would not either. He already is being bombarded by the media,and pursued by LE. Having an angry mob on his property could result in some serious looting, never mind being a personal liability for him.

What? Of course they will not go on his property. But an angry mob? Looting? <modsnip> this a brother, looking for his dead sister and asking if anyone will help him. Good people volunteering their time to help this man out does not make an angry mob. Looting?
 
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I didn't find it strange at all. I think he depends on Andy and was looking to him for reassurance. I can't even imagine how hard this is for Gene, what an awful thing to endure at the end of your life!! I feel very defensive of him, Suzanne goes missing and now a cancer diagnosis.
Agree 100% about Gene, I think he’s dealing with so much. His cancer, missing daughter, no contact with granddaughters... My heart goes out to him!

Thanks @Knox, I always appreciate your posts. This one really got to my feels.
 
There is no way in high hell that BM would allow the search on his property. I would not either. He already is being bombarded by the media,and pursued by LE. Having an angry mob on his property could result in some serious looting, never mind being a personal liability for him.

The folks signing up to volunteer their time to assist AM in finding SM, are not an "angry mob" as you've implied here.

In fact, I'd imagine these are everyday Joes and Janes putting their lives on hold to reach out to a brother, a neighbor, and to help him find his little sister. Folks likely no different than anyone else posting here.

Nor, is there any reason to believe these volunteer searchers would have any kind of "looting" tendencies, as you've also implied. Looters are criminals, seizing sudden tragic circumstances to break the law and steal for their own satisfaction. These are generally not the kind of folks that sign up to be a volunteer searcher for a total stranger, in hard, rocky country in the fall.

It's one thing if BM refuses access to his land for searchers looking for his wife (yeah, that's not ironic), and well within his legal rights to do that, but it's quite another to disparage the character of the volunteer searchers.

jmo
 
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We will probably die of diabetes, before covid, but at least we will be happy, I’ll take two( virtually) and a slice of my hubby’s Kringle;I’m convinced he is slowly bringing me closer to sugar coma each day...
My Hubby occasionally ingests Pork Rinds! With Bbq sauce mind you. He has his vices and I have mine.
Hope we all choose healthy snacks with some intermittent adult beverages too. My vote is for wine/grape juice and cheese. Olives too.
Thinking of Suzanne.
 
Is there a law that can add on an extra 30 years if he is convicted of murder and won't tell where the body is. Probably not, you lawyers need to get to work on that new law. Wink. Moo.
Go all the way... If you don't give up the body death by hanging with in 30 days. Bodies will show up or explanations of disposals. JMHO wish it was that easy.
 
Rumpole22 will respond (if he chooses) to questions directed to him, but I (chastened) feel obliged to further qualify my statement about court decisions allowing investigators to lie to a suspect during questioning. The underlying factual/legal issue appears to be whether a resulting confession is voluntary or coerced. Courts have allowed a wide range of lies by investigators in this context. Interrogators have assembled a phony linup and told the suspect falsely that an eyewitness identified him. They have told a murder suspect the victim had recovered after surgery and identified him. An investigator has posed as a jail inmate and offered to protect the suspect from violent prisoners in exchange for a confession. Courts looking at these tactics under a broad "totality of the circumstances" standard have found the confessions to be admissible. The defendant can argue to a jury that his confession was coerced, but juries (up to now) have given the benefit of the doubt to police officers in the overwhelming majority of cases.

The tactic is not without controversy. Some of the convictions proven to be based on false confessions have involved such lies by interrogators. And one wonders not only whether police who lie to suspects will be inclined to lie on the witness stand as well, and whether the practice will ultimately undermine public confidence in the police.

There is a limit: prosecutors must disclose to the defense whenever an LE witness in the case has knowingly lied in an official capacity - on a search warrant, in testimony, etc. Cops who earn this status are called "Brady cops" after the successful defendant in the Supreme Court case of that name.

I am one whose knowledge of most subjects - including this one - is very thin indeed. I invite more knowledgeable members to complete this discussion.
 
What? Of course they will not go on his property. But an angry mob? Looting? Wtf, this a brother, looking for his dead sister and asking if anyone will help him. Good people volunteering their time to help this man out does not make an angry mob. Looting?

lol
A whole lots of large rocks ring most of it, have to borrow the bobcat to load or maybe someone stuff an elk rack under their jacket? meat still attached or no?

Reminds me of childhood forts in the forest we made, circle the whole area in little pebbles & rocks, crimes against nature
BM and hardscape good buddies
 
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I now think this was very premeditated. I think he planned to get rid of her and he is completely stunned that he wasn’t just taken at his word and treated like a victim from the beginning. I think he had checked out of the marriage and thought he could disappear her so he could go on to live the life he wanted to live, perhaps with someone else even, and with ALL the money. Bonus—he would get all kinds of attention and sympathy for being the poor husband whose wife was taken by a big cat.

As “religious” and concerned with appearances as he seems to be, I think he thought divorce (especially IF he was having an affair) would make him look bad. I think he planned to live in that house so it would be ok that he wouldn’t be able to sell it for 7 years.

I don’t think this was a spontaneous event anymore. Perhaps it happened now b/c of something she found out & planned to divorce him, but I think she was in his way and it served him better for her to be GONE instead of just out of the marriage.

ETA. Also I think he realized it would look bad to divorce a woman who had cancer.
I agree. The more that is revealed, the more I think this was planned.
 
The folks signing up to volunteer their time to assist AM in finding SM, are not an "angry mob" as you've implied here.

In fact, I'd imagine these are everyday Joes and Janes putting their lives on hold to reach out to a brother, a neighbor, and to help him find his little sister. Folks likely no different than anyone else posting here.

Nor, is there any reason to believe these volunteer searchers would have any kind of "looting" tendencies, as you've also implied. Looters are criminals, seizing sudden tragic circumstances to break the law and steal for their own satisfaction. These are generally not the kind of folks that sign up to be a volunteer searcher for a total stranger, in hard, rocky country in the fall.

It's one thing if BM refuses access to his land for searchers looking for his wife (yeah, that's not ironic), and well within his legal rights to do that, but it's quite another to disparage the character of the volunteer searchers.

jmo
Thank you for saying this - I’ve been on several searches and it’s a very solemn process - we aren’t looting- LE helped direct the volunteers to grid searches and its rather insulting to portray these people in this manner so I personally appreciate you standing up for these volunteers
JMO
 
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