Still Missing CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *arrest* #93

[BUF]

Update From Ashley:

A bit about what happened this morning: judge ruled prosecutors must hand over evidence from the system inside Suzanne's Range Rover. It was listed in an email between pros and agents as "helpful" but was never handed over to defense. #BarryMorphew

Prosecutors are also ordered to hand over anything found on Suzanne Morphew's iCloud. Her phone was never found. This was previously ordered to be turned over by Judge Murphy, but apparently wasn't. Prosecutors have 14 days to get defense both. #BarryMorphew

Lastly- prosecutors asked to use evidence in the trial from comments Sheila Oliver made regarding what she says Suzanne explained as #BarryMorphew being "physically violent"

Judge ruled prosecutors can not use any statements Sheila made.
Basically, Sheila told investigators Suzanne made comments about Barry being abusive.

No concrete evidence to prove this like texts or what not. So technically this would be hearsay.

Prosecutors are NOT allowed to use this. She is still allowed to be called as a witness.


https://twitter.com/ashleykktv/status/1491857270770225155?s=21

(SO) She is still allowed to be called as a witness.


Thanks for posting this @MassGuy . I was just checking in reading the last posts first, then saw this. Hopefully the prosecutor can find a creative way to get some of this testimony from her in….I have seen it done in other trials…but with this new judge, who knows.

 

[justtrish]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it speculation that he tampered with the bobcat GPS? We know he changed the blade and when and where and we know LE has made the statement (at least at the time of making the statement) the bobcat was not involved. My question would be if someone helped with the blade change....that person would certainly know if he tampered with the GPS during the blade change. I tend to think that would be known to LE and potentially been discussed or considered in addition to other known information behind the scenes.

I don't believe it's official anywhere that the bobcat SIM was messed with. The data the defense provided shows all the activity and then the very last line shows gps coordinates and lists "other" as the description. In the 20+ pages they provided for the bobcat data, not once is other listed any other time. There is also no data after that. He would have to removed the bobcat from the trailer at the house, but it isn't listed. It could be they just ended the data at that point, but it is curious that this "other" event happened at the location of the blade change. The other descriptors are start up shut down, idle, etc. We know he backed his truck up to the location of where the bobcat and trailer were left after 9pm, but there is no data for the bobcat being turned on, off, idle, etc.

 

[MassGuy]

(SO) She is still allowed to be called as a witness.


Thanks for posting this @MassGuy . I was just checking in reading the last posts first, then saw this. Hopefully the prosecutor can find a creative way to get some of this testimony from her in….I have seen it done in other trials…but with this new judge, who knows.

I don't think it's a huge deal if that testimony is limited. Barry admitted to certain acts of abuse to Grusing, and there may be more confessions that we don't know about.

 

[OldCop]

Yes. At the end of page 5, beginning of page 6 of the AA:
"Sergeant Hysjulien next contacted REDACTED, who stated that she had last talked to Suzanne on the night of May 9, 2020. She had last seen Suzanne at the end of April 2020. REDACTED advised that she had sent a text message to Suzanne wishing her a happy Mother's Day on May 10, 2020, but Suzanne had not replied. She also tried calling Suzanne, but the call went directly to voicemail. At that time, she received a call from Barry, asking if she contacted Suzanne. REDACTED advised him that she attempted to but was not able to reach her. Barry asked REDACTED to let him know if she was later able to reach Suzanne."

ETA: I think it very likely she misremembered which evening she spoke with SM, but LE likely knows for certain based on reviewing cellphone logs.

I find it interesting that she said she hadn’t seen SM since 4/30. You would think they would have talked, however briefly, when SM dropped off MM2 in Gunnison for the camping trip on 5/5. MOO

 

[sk716]

@sk716, is it true that one of the daughters told LE that she chatted with Suzanne on Saturday night?

MM1 tells LE on the scene (as LE never had access to her again):

Sergeant Hysjulien next contacted REDACTED, who stated that she had last talked to Suzanne on the night of May 9, 2020.6 She had last seen Suzanne at the end of April 2020. REDACTED advised that she


Page 5 of 129


had sent a text message to Suzanne wishing her a happy Mother’s Day on May 10, 2020, but Suzanne had not replied. She also tried calling Suzanne, but the call went directly to voicemail. At that time, she received a call from Barry, asking if she contacted Suzanne. REDACTED advised him that she attempted to but was not able to reach her. Barry asked REDACTED to let him know if she was later able to reach Suzanne. REDACTED stated that Suzanne mountain-bikes regularly during the afternoon hours, often using a wide trail across the highway. Suzanne normally took her cell phone, sunglasses and blue backpack/hydration bladder on the bike rides.


When REDACTED was asked if there were any concerns with her parent’s relationship, she denied any concerns or issues. When asked if there was any reason why Suzanne may leave the area, she denied that Suzanne would ever leave for an extended amount of time. She also denied any recent incidents or concerns between Suzanne and anyone else.

6 There are no electronic records of Suzanne communicating by any means with anyone after 14:11 on May 9, 2020 when she sends her last message by LinkedIn to Jeff Libler. Phone records show that the last communication from Suzanne to REDACTED was an iMessage text that Suzanne sent at 13:58 that said “Stunning” in response to some photos REDACTED had sent to Suzanne.
​

 

[waldojabba]

I also wonder about conversations leading up to that one - not a question my dad would ever have asked me that’s for sure!

IMO the girls could not be involved in a more toxic dynamic with their father. Totally inappropriate behavior on BM’s part. I do have to acknowledge however that he has been taken care of by women since birth who all run interference for him. SM unwittingly exhibited the same behavior for years until things became clearer to her. The girls may think they are doing what their mother would have wanted, however odd that sounds.

 

[Diddian]

Will these be admitted? These statements out of the defendant's mouth and out of the mouth of his daughter that affirmed those things SM had told her friend, SO,... things that the defendant's attorneys are now characterizing as lies told by a cheating wife.

BM's admission to LE that he "clipped" SM in the face?
Page 64 of AA: "Barry said, 'Yeah - I remember that, but I wasn't, I wasn't, I didn't mean it. I was just saying it to get to her, to try to get to her.' Barry talked about striking Suzanne once, when he clipped her nose, but that was the only time he was physically abusive."

And the daughter's statement to LE the day after SM disappeared, when she told LE that her parents had discussed divorce, sometimes got in fights (the daughter corrected herself after saying "argue," which seems to me to imply she was describing witnessing conflict that had reached a level of hostility and possibly physical altercation - she says "fights" - beyond mere argument) and there were times when she felt that both her parents were not safe. (Refuting BM's repetitive claim to LE that their marriage was perfect and that they had ever discussed divorce. Recovered texts refuted those claims as well).

Page 6 of AA: REDACTED (presumably MM2) stated, "Him' REDACTED and my dad are different people and they (Suzanne and Barry) argue and, I mean, they get in fights and... I don't know they both have just not felt safe at some point. REDACTED added that Suzanne and Barry "weren't getting along" and had discussed divorce."

And the parallel pair of nail gouge marks documented in photographs by LE 3 days after SM disappeared. ("Scratches on Barry's Arm," page 41 of AA.)

 

[Momofthreeboys]

I don't think it's a huge deal if that testimony is limited. Barry admitted to certain acts of abuse to Grusing, and there may be more confessions that we don't know about.

Then you better hope that the judge doesn't "choose" the option to exclude his conversations.

 

[MassGuy]

Then you better hope that the judge doesn't "choose" the option to exclude his conversations.

That's never going to happen. The defense knows this, which is why they claim to be planning to show the jury all of them.

 

[sk716]

Don't get me started on the dogs (really handlers) from AM's search. One dog handler in particular, not invited by LE, but offered services in AM's search was also part of the Mark Redwine case, she however was never called to testify (very smart move). She would have been shredded in court and rightfully so IMO. She also appeared on a Profiling Evil episode as a dog handler of AM's search (not that poor guys fault, he's a desperate family member of a missing loved one). She makes my blood boil and if you search enough on-line others might come to the same conclusion. Unethical. IMO

Going by your handle, I have a dog search question. The night of the 10th, how late and how far would they have run the dogs looking for a scent of Suzanne?

We're watching Avila bag up the bike clothes at roughly 9:40 pm. I'm wondering if any outdoor scents would have dissipated too much by morning.

Being as Defurio pointed out the bare footprint to Brown, what are the chances that they ran the search dogs over the trailer that night. If they didn't hit on her scent on the trailer or Bobcat than she probably was never on either. Right?

 

[OldCop]

I think those traveling the traffic circle only look at one opening at a time and not the totality of the travel.

Who’s ever in the traffic circle first has the right of way. Motor vehicle law.

 

[justtrish]

Sometimes things just "are". Getting the blade change that day might just be that he got the blade changed that day and has nothing to do with anything. He works...we know this. Someone said he probably had flipped the blade already once so perhaps there was a hole in his schedule, a blade waiting for him and time to do it. Not every single thing we know is going to mean something. Some of it is just life. I like to look for the outliers...like Broomfield....we know there was a job, we know he'd been talking about that week, we know he'd told his apparently number one employee, we know the original contractor knew it was coming up....the outlier is going there at 5 AM on Sunday instead of the beginning of the week as originally discussed and isn't explainable other than when they fight Barry bolts...that's the only explanation short of he was looking for an alibi I can come up with. The bobcat blade right now doesn't present an unexplainable "outlier" for me.

I think I'd feel this was more normal if he actually did what he claimed he did that day. He didn't go home and have lunch with Suzanne. He wandered in the woods and didn't even pull into the driveway. I don't think she even knew he was home, yet he told LE he went home had veggie soup and sunbathed with Suzanne. Then he drives by to look at a backhoe he inquired about like 6 months prior. That seems very random. Maybe the blade change was normal, but something is off there because he needed to lie to LE about that also and commented that he "forgot about something mechanical he did with is bobcat"

The part that bothers me is he rushed home and wandered the land, then left and returned to kill her. I think whatever amped him up happened while he was working about 11am.. he abruptly left to go home, but didn't "go home" He then just goes and does something normal like the blade change and returns home to kill her. Maybe he can turn things on and off just fine, but I don't know. Just feels off to me. You could be right and he just was acting odd, then went on to do a normal task and then returned to murder her.

 

[Megnut]

Barry's claim of veggie soup falls flat. He was up to no good in the back yard and Suzanne was exchanging more than a couple dozen communications with JL. It'd like to see an overlay of that.

JMO

 

[justtrish]

Keep thinking about when BM was killing SM on Saturday afternoon, er, I mean, chasing chipmunks.
Borrowed from @sk716 ’s wonderful timeline:
14:44:02 – 14:44:05 Barry’s phone pings by the western back patio.
14:44:06 – 14:44:09 Barry’s phone pings by the sunning porch where Suzanne took the selfie at 2:03.
14:44:10 – 14:44:11 Barry’s phone is in front of the house
14:44:12 – 14:44:23 Barry’s phone pings inside the garage
14:45:43 – 14:47:43 Barry’s phone pings at the master bed room.

I don’t believe BM is capable of running through walls despite the he man that he (thinks he) is.
This is how I think it may have played out. Remember he is mad, he is pumped up. How dare she not answer his calls. He’s moving quickly.

So you just really gave me an idea. He got out of his truck and left the door open. Maybe he left the keys in it. He goes to the back to get into the house, it's locked (just supposing), then he runs around front, locked, he goes into the garage because he can enter the house that way and it's unlocked, he confronts Suzanne in the bedroom.

Seeing you write out the locations it occurred to me those locations have a door. I bet she raced inside and locked the door. He was trying to get into the house.

 

[girlhasnoname]

Will these be admitted? These statements out of the defendant's mouth and out of the mouth of his daughter that affirmed those things SM had told her friend, SO,... things that the defendant's attorneys are now characterizing as lies told by a cheating wife.

BM's admission to LE that he "clipped" SM in the face?
Page 64 of AA: "Barry said, 'Yeah - I remember that, but I wasn't, I wasn't, I didn't mean it. I was just saying it to get to her, to try to get to her.' Barry talked about striking Suzanne once, when he clipped her nose, but that was the only time he was physically abusive."

And the daughter's statement to LE the day after SM disappeared, when she told LE that her parents had discussed divorce, sometimes got in fights (the daughter corrected herself after saying "argue," which seems to me to imply she was describing witnessing conflict that had reached a level of hostility and possibly physical altercation - she says "fights" - beyond mere argument) and there were times when she felt that both her parents were not safe. (Refuting BM's repetitive claim to LE that their marriage was perfect and that they had ever discussed divorce. Recovered texts refuted those claims as well).

Page 6 of AA: REDACTED (presumably MM2) stated, "Him' REDACTED and my dad are different people and they (Suzanne and Barry) argue and, I mean, they get in fights and... I don't know they both have just not felt safe at some point. REDACTED added that Suzanne and Barry "weren't getting along" and had discussed divorce."

And the parallel pair of nail gouge marks documented in photographs by LE 3 days after SM disappeared. ("Scratches on Barry's Arm," page 41 of AA.)

IANAL but I believe any statements made by BARE and MM2 directly to LE/FBI will come in, as well as the photos of his scratches, er um, I mean injuries taken by LE.

MOO

 

[BDAJAG]

Isn't there court today? Any ideas on timing or the discussions planned? I assume no live tweeting.

I am a bit giddy realizing that the trial is about 3 months away. Less than 100 freedom days! YAY

Alas, and it pains me truly, to express my fear that BM has a plan in place to thwart all that embodies truth, justice, and the American way, i.e., Testing the presumption of his innocence before a judge and jury.
This "plan hypothesis" has been whispered without amplification by a fellow Sleuther or two awhile back.

My view is that Barry started this ball rolling during the 2019 family holiday in Mexico. Recall? When he missed who knows how much kick-back time,[as did Suzanne], because of his being in hot pursuit of her with her phone?...which I seem to recall concluded when she disgustedly - "Here have it!" - threw it at him.
And, too, in that time and place, there's Barry's "associated cellphone" utilization, which does not reoccur until very close to the literal end of things.

But before speculating further, I want benefit from any views the learned readership may wish to share.
Thank you for your consideration.

 

[coastal]

Keep thinking about when BM was killing SM on Saturday afternoon, er, I mean, chasing chipmunks.
Borrowed from @sk716 ’s wonderful timeline:
14:44:02 – 14:44:05 Barry’s phone pings by the western back patio.
14:44:06 – 14:44:09 Barry’s phone pings by the sunning porch where Suzanne took the selfie at 2:03.
14:44:10 – 14:44:11 Barry’s phone is in front of the house
14:44:12 – 14:44:23 Barry’s phone pings inside the garage
14:45:43 – 14:47:43 Barry’s phone pings at the master bed room.

I don’t believe BM is capable of running through walls despite the he man that he (thinks he) is.
This is how I think it may have played out. Remember he is mad, he is pumped up. How dare she not answer his calls. He’s moving quickly.

This is so scary, OldCop. Its almost like we are retracing BMs steps - putting ourselves right into his shoes. Poor Suzanne.

 

[justtrish]

We also have Suzanne's list she had on her phone. She listed physical abuse. Surely that would be admitted?

 

[LandManatee]

It just rubs me the wrong way knowing how pervy Barry is, and that whole dinner table conversation.

Speaking of pervy, was BM’s “dark web” activity/sites visited ever disclosed in the AA?

 

[MassGuy]

Speaking of pervy, was BM’s “dark web” activity/sites visited ever disclosed in the AA?

I don't think that exists. This man was lucky he could conduct a google search.

I've always thought that was a dumb, baseless rumor. I've seen nothing that indicates otherwise (AA or prelim).