Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #56 *ARREST*

[LaineyJ]

I don't think there is blood evidence. I think he strangled her and put her in a cooler or a crate and buried her somewhere remotely. Probably already had site prepared and on a planned route. I believe he has confessed to someone that he trusted.

I’ve also gone with the assumption/guess that he strangled her. To me it just screams power, total control and rage. Whether his rage was a slow burn that simmered until it suddenly boiled over, or an ‘incident’ made him go from 0-100 in that moment, I’m unsure. But when this case first made the news (at least when it reached me, on the east coast), and as time went on and I thought more about BM, I dunno, strangulation just stuck with me. After joining here and reading others thoughts, plus the fact that BM was arrested on 1st degree in a no body case, makes me wonder about the possibility of blood evidence. But I’m standing by strangulation until I read the AA.

Your ideas about the planned or pre-prepared site and route are interesting. I really, really can’t stand this guy. Even if every idea I’ve had about this case is wrong, he’s still a monster for whatever he did.

 

[Puzzles8]

The most interesting thing about LE asking residents ( on May 17 by sending out a reverse 911 call ) to preserve camera footage was the dates they wanted. May 8 through May 12.

May 17 Search Press Release - Chaffee County Sheriff


As the investigation into the Suzanne Morphew’s missing person case moves forward, Chaffee County residents are being asked to preserve any and all video footage from devices such as Ring doorbells, security cameras, game cameras, etc., from May 8th thru May 12th.

Citizens are only being asked to preserve the video at this time. Please do not send these videos to the sheriff’s office or call the sheriff’s office. As search areas are identified, investigators will contact residents in those locations to collect any camera footage within that May 8-12 window.

On May 17, what is the likelyhood those camera's still had footage from 5/8 through 5/12?

What is the normal cycle they would be overwritten?

 

[UnderWhelmed405]

Maybe all the "5" references were for Barry Bobcat getting arrested on Cinco de Mayo ha.

Seriously, though. He looks a little strung out on meth or something. I wouldn't put it past him to be a raging hypocrite amongst all the many other wonderful traits.

 

[Synergizer Bunny]

Chris did mention that he knew some of the guys working surveillance at Barry’s condo. Maybe one of them tipped him off?

I could be wrong in my memory, but I think that Mike of PE mentioned that Chris received some kind of heads up to head to Salida the night before the arrest.

JMO.

 

[LaineyJ]

With his arrest, my mind goes right back to the day Suzanne was discovered missing. The daughter called the neighbor, and the neighbor called the police. He left town, knowing his daughters would be traveling home to discover her missing. For this reason alone, IMO, he’ll never confess. MOO

how terrible for him to put those girls in that position. I genuinely hope that they get all the support they need (and accept) no matter what they choose to believe. Regardless of how it may look or be interpreted about how they’ve acted in the last year, we have no idea what they’ve been feeling or thinking, especially with Barry as the only parent around. I feel so sad for them to have gone through this and to be looking at a long journey ahead.

 

[mom2chloe]

Suzanne posted that they had a cat named Zoe but that was back in August, 2008.

Suzanne Morphew

I bet Barry hated cats and that’s why they didn’t have more. I also agree with others that living in that house would have necessitated a large dog at least for me. IMO In their situation I am thinking a German Shepherd to protect Suzanne and the girls. Also interesting that Barry didn’t own a hunting dog. IMO

 

[Seattle1]

I just wonder whether the black RR was even there the night that LE came for the initial call. Somewhere back in time I remember an inference that the cars present that night could be important. Obviously BM is very cunning and manipulative. Could he have kept that car (black RR) enough out of the picture for the time being ? Saying that it was being used or belonged to one of the girls and using that to explain where it was around this time of Suzanne's disappearance. It sure seemed important to Chris in his video to talk about it and to rather make a call out to who owned it now in Indiana. Stating ' You know who you are.'

Seriously ?? BM sells the black RR only 3 weeks after Suzanne goes missing and to someone in Indiana ?? Plenty of folks with means around Salida - or in Colorado in general - who could have snatched up a good sale on a RR !! Especially if he needed the money fast. Maybe he had a good line on someone who would want to buy it from him in Indiana. Still !! Why was that even a concern at that point ?? His precious wife had been abducted !!! He is spinning in lies and trying to cover tracks. And behind the scenes ?? IMO - getting rid of evidence.

I think selling the RR 3 weeks later was both coincidence and convenience -- BM happened to travel to Indiana 3 weeks after SM went missing to seek Guardianship of SM for the real estate transaction already in progress. Convenient that BM could deliver the RR to Indiana when he needed to be there for an unrelated matter.

 

[Janeumayer]

I could be wrong in my memory, but I think that Mike of PE mentioned that Chris received some kind of heads up to head to Salida the night before the arrest.

JMO.

Correct, I was speculating one of the private investigators staying in the unit next to Barry May be the one who tipped him off. They knew Chris from back in the days. Maybe they saw Barry packing up the condo and thought he was leaving Colorado for good.
So they told Chris to head to Salida cause they were going to arrest Barry the next day. MOO

 

[Diddian]

Down here in Texas and probably other states, in order to register one's car, you have to have proof of insurance or your car cannot be registered. Do you think that Barry let his registrations lapse because he didn't have the proper insurance? If he didn't have insurance cover, he probably was banking on nobody ever getting hurt or filing a claim against his contractor number.

I could be wrong (and often am), but I bet that was a way for him to save money and pretend that he was currently bonded and insured. When you are a bonded and insured contractor, you generally get paid more for a job.

These contractors should be fined if they are working under an expired registration. JMO.

I was checking Secretary of State for business records. Those records are on file so if someone wishes to get in contact with a company for any legal reason, there is a record by which to find them by their current information (principals, registered agent's name and address, and business address). As I think about this more, I assume contractors probably have additional requirements that other businesses don't and so file with another state agency to document the status of their bonding and licensing. But, I have to believe that agency instructs business owners that they must also remain current with the Secretary of State so those looking for them can find them.

Correcting a delinquency with the CO Secretary of State is easy and cheap - it can be done online and costs $100, even if a company has been delinquent for a number of years.

 

[Error505]

Interesting to me that no body murder case result in convictions more than those with. 86% conviction rate for no body cases versus 70% with. I wouldn't want those odds in his seat....



No Corpse? No Problem. Notable Murder Convictions Without a Body

Excellent find and good to know!

 

[LandManatee]

Thanks @LandManatee Did he reveal his source or simply state “it was in a statement to LE”, without citing his source?

Sorry, I do not know or don’t recall if his source was cited. To me it came off as insider info that was relayed to him that he is now sharing with his viewers. He mentioned in the video that he & his wife had been in Indiana and Colorado interviewing friends, maybe family and/or acquaintances of BM for a couple of segments they put together.

I was just responding to your call for the portion of the video that mentions the argument. I’m not able to go through the video right now to determine if he cited his source for the info. Maybe someone else can take that on to determine if he mentions it.

 

[Diddian]

I bet Barry hated cats and that’s why they didn’t have more. I also agree with others that living in that house would have necessitated a large dog at least for me. IMO In their situation I am thinking a German Shepherd to protect Suzanne and the girls. Also interesting that Barry didn’t own a hunting dog. IMO

Hunting dogs would typically be used for hunting birds - pheasant, duck, grouse, and the like. They're trained to retrieve the kill after it falls to the ground (or water).

That black beauty you see as my avatar is a Flatcoated retriever with a very soft mouth - bred so they carry the bird without crunching it. (Although mine has never hunted anything other than frisbees and is afraid of loud noises.)

 

[Synergizer Bunny]

Hunting dogs would typically be used for hunting birds - pheasant, duck, grouse, and the like. They're trained to retrieve the kill after it falls to the ground.

That black beauty you see as my avatar is a Flatcoated retriever with a very soft mouth - bred so they carry the bird without crunching it. (Although mine has never hunted anything other than frisbees and is afraid of loud noises.)

TY for the information. Sounds like your black beauty is pretty spoiled. I had to laugh at your comments concerning him/her.

 

[BeckyF]

Blood in Victim's Home. Arrest Timing?
@BeckyF bbm I can only speak to victim Kelsey Berreth case. Difference imo in evidence leading to faster arrest arrest (that is shortly after LE identifying blood)of perp Pat F was his girlfriend's (of a sort) testimony re:
1. Pat's stmts to girlfriend about his actions re Kelsey's disappearance, and
2. her extensive blood cleanup at Kelsey's home and
3. her disposing of Kelsey's remains (or what she & circumstances indicated were the remains).
Trying not to dive into other cases, but those substantial differences likely contrib'ed to sooner arrest of Pat F.

Re timing of BM's arrest, we don't yet know specific evd CCSO has and when they got it. In pre-trial filings/at trial, we'll likely learn why took longer for LE's investigation to compile evd of probable cause for his arrest. A pool of victim's blood is necessarily a 'smoking gun' meriting immed arrest. my2ct.
Earlier today in his excellent post, @OldCop explained a lot about sequences in LE investigations.

BBM
I don’t really like to dive into other cases on someone else’s thread either. But I do appreciate you breaking it down, especially the part about when CCSO got their evidence. That is very important. IMO.

 

[JosieMae]

Well for one thing, information was clearly and carefully shared with the family, as Andy verifies here. I can see them sharing that there was an argument with Andy and the family, especially considering Melinda’s last contact with Suzanne, which we know she shared with the investigators. I think it’s key here that they asked Andy, why do you believe Barry??? Andy had his personal doubts about some things, but had taken Barry at his word, only to learn he was lying.

No doubt Andy shared with P/E everything he knew…Andy sought them out.

The time I first saw this I had no idea as to the personalities of Chris and Mike. Listen to how carefully Chris crafts his questions so as not to compromise anything Andy has shared with them that they shouldn’t share with the public at the time of the interview. My guess is with the arrest, they can now all relax. Maybe why we haven’t heard from Andy, he’s keeping himself in check. He doesn’t want to give anything away that could compromise the case.

Scroll to the 21 minute mark

Sure. That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the probable explanation!

 

[al66pine]

BBM I don’t really like to dive into other cases on someone else’s thread either. But I do appreciate you breaking it down, especially the part about when CCSO got their evidence. That is very important. IMO.

@BeckyF You are entirely welcome. Sometimes it's hard to compare cases w many similarities and see the distinction. Thx for your post.

 

[mom2chloe]

Hunting dogs would typically be used for hunting birds - pheasant, duck, grouse, and the like. They're trained to retrieve the kill after it falls to the ground (or water).

That black beauty you see as my avatar is a Flatcoated retriever with a very soft mouth - bred so they carry the bird without crunching it. (Although mine has never hunted anything other than frisbees and is afraid of loud noises.)

Black lab? On my phone it’s hard to see. We had a yellow lab when kiddos were little and she was the sweetest gentle giant. She never had a mean bone but when kiddos were little and we would walk or stroll the neighborhood when strangers approached she would softly growl to let people know the kids were hers and she would protect them.
So I suppose Barry never hunted birds just creatures he could kill and subdue on his own. IMO

 

[TIGER0822]

Not sure what to make of this? Melinda, Suzanne’s sister implies that both were unhappy financially and unable to live within their means.


“I think life happens,” Melinda continued. “I think pressures and stresses in life — I think financial pressure bears in on people very heavily. It creates an atmosphere of discontent and strife and sometimes living beyond your means is a very hard thing to do . . . Learning to be content with what you have is a very powerful thing in this life, and it brings great peace, and I don’t think Barry and Suzanne had gotten there yet, and that’s what I think kinda happened — and I can’t really say more than that.”

 

[TIGER0822]

That puzzled me, too. Why tie up all your money in mortgage(s) at all? Financially savvy people almost never do that. We could argue that neither person was financially savvy (SM should have taken her half million inheritance, stuck it in a savings account with only her name on it, and changed her will to leave it to the girls), but when you consider BM's early adulthood where it looks like he hoodwinked an elderly man out of his house, you can imagine that BM wanted all SM's money stashed in something so he could access the cash whenever he wanted. And look at that -- it's exactly what he did. I'm sure this made more than a few cops pretty disgusted with his scheming ways. MOO.

From my recollection withina very short time after the murder he bought a new truck. He then bought a plot of land for his Mom. He sold the house in Indiana (already under contract so no surprise there) and he also sold a rental property they owned. He then sold the family’s home in Colorado. He clearly unleashed a lot of pent up financial dealings.
I was leaning towards domestic violence but now it is very likely financially motivated.

Suzanne’s sister Melinda indicated that she believes the motive was financial
murder. (Per below).

“I think life happens,” Melinda continued. “I think pressures and stresses in life — I think financial pressure bears in on people very heavily. It creates an atmosphere of discontent and strife and sometimes living beyond your means is a very hard thing to do . . . Learning to be content with what you have is a very powerful thing in this life, and it brings great peace, and I don’t think Barry and Suzanne had gotten there yet, and that’s what I think kinda happened — and I can’t really say more than that.”

 

[ar3593]

I thought that I heard Chris M. mention that Barry said that Suzanne and he got into a fight before her disappearance. I was shocked at hearing that statement, too!

Surely, I wasn't imagining this one-liner by Chris. Was I? Did anyone else hear him say it? I can't remember if it was on the "It's a Crime" Y/T where he was a guest or his latest Y/T video.

JMO.

Hello Synergizer Bunny, you did not imagine that. I heard CM say the same if my memory serves me. It was on one of the videos posted here. I apologize in advance everyone as I do not remember which one it was..