Holiday Crimes | "48 Hours" Full Episodes | Forensic Files

[Music] when something like this happens when somebody goes missing you want answers but this case is incredibly
unique when you started to dig a little bit deeper Nothing Is What It Seems Suzanne moru went missing on
Mother's Day in May of 2020 and from there on out it became a nation wide search for her Suzanne moru left for a
bike ride and she never came back she has two beautiful daughters the family looks to be perfect from the outside
every picture you saw of them they were smiling they're laughing they're looking
like they love each other she grew up in Indiana she came to Colorado and she began to mountain bike we see pictures
of a beautiful woman an active physically fit woman taking advantage of the mountains Barry morph
was a business owner he was an avid Hunter and a man's man on May 9th Barry was very happy
because there had been some marital tension but not on May 9th all we have to go on is what Barry says occurred
that's right Barry says they had a nice dinner together they even made love and then they went to sleep and she was
still sleeping the next morning when he left for work so the next day Mother's Day the daughters are out on a camping
trip did that strike people as odd family had told investigators that it was odd that their daughters would not
be with their mom she didn't have anything else to do and all of a sudden her daughters and
her husband are both gone Barry morphe said he texted his wife Suzanne to wish her a happy
Mother's Day he received no reply he had contact with his daughters back and forth can't get a hold of mother and
then someone contacted a neighbor right the neighbor had told Barry that her car
is here she was not home and Barry says well maybe go look for her bike cuz she's an avid mountain biker the
neighbor said he could not find it local law enforcement responds to the scene and they do find her bicycle where was
that bike it's right over here Peter the bike was found at the bottom of this Ravine right here the initial thought is
kidnapping oh Suzanne if anyone is out there that can hear this that has you will do whatever it takes to bring you
back so about 10 days into the investigation they learn about a piece of technology that we have an example of
right in front of you what is that right so they find a spy pin it looks something like this and they find it in
the master bedroom of the morphe home it's like James Bond it's a pen that looks like a regular pen and it
records conversations this spyin was given to Suzanne to record Barry morw in hopes of
catching him in an affair it backfired in fact as a matter of fact it backfired captured on the spy pen is a
conversation between Suzanne morphew and somebody named Jeff and it's clear that
Jeff is her lover they did not know who Jeff was but it put a new wrinkle into the case for sure
[Music] [Music] what happened on this road is a real mystery no one knows where where is
[Music] Suzanne in the days weeks and months after Suzanne morphew was reported missing on Mother's Day 2020 her Trail
went cold but the mother of two's disappearance had become the biggest story in Colorado 49-year-old Suzanne
morw remains missing home of a missing woman from chaffy county is now being searched teams are combing the terrain
even brought in boats to search the local waterways and we're going to Fan out and
we're going to work that area very carefully okay 4 months in Suzanne's brother Andrew Mormon organized a
citizen search he said he felt he had to do something anything I'd hope to find her alive and and at some point you have
to realize when somebody's missing after so long that the chances of that diminished
dramatically the thought that Suzanne may have been abducted hit the piece ful picturesque town of Salida hard I came
home every day and my wife asked me have they found her yet Dan ryau has covered the story for
his local Morning Show hippie radio 975 with Dan good morning 827 Barry and Suzanne morphew were not known well in
Salida Colorado they had only been here for a couple of years before moving to Colorado in 2018
Barry and Suzanne grew up in the small town of Alexandria Indiana where they met in high
school Suzanne competed for homecoming queen Barry was a star baseball player who was drafted by the Toronto
Blue Jays injury ended Barry's dreams of a Major League career they both attended Purdue
University and married in 1994 he started a landscaping business Suzanne taught middle school before
becoming a full-time mother they had a couple of daughters one in college and they had a daughter
in high school Macy 16 years old when her mom disappeared lived at home her sister mallerie attended college and the
morphew told some friends they moved to a home just outside of Salida to be closer to their older daughter but there
were also Rumblings about the state of the morph use marriage maybe a new place a new home new scenery around them would
strengthen their family and therefore strengthen their marriage but the move did not appear to
improve the relationship it was a tough time says her sister Melinda Mormon my sister had
um sent me a text message it was very lengthy it was very powerful it was very revealing in this Zoom interview Melinda
said she received Suzanne's text 2 days before she disappeared and it was boiling over with anger toward Barry the
text read in part he's also been abusive emotionally and physically I feel more angry now anger at what I've
allowed Barry was very dominant in the relationship and my sister was a very passive gentle soul he had a great
tendency to overpower and intimidate people to get what he wanted and what kind of boss was he you
know he was real quiet Stern he knew what he was doing cuz that's what he did in Indiana Cody Cox was part of Barry's
Landscaping crew for nearly 2 years when Barry first arrived in Colorado I talk pretty highly about Barry cuz I was with
him all the time he's like inspiration to me almost he was a real cool guy Cody said he regularly heard Barry talking to
Suzanne as they roove in Barry's truck they seem to communicate pretty well she is a sweetheart she is a real
kind lady she's almost like an angel like something youd see off a Hallmark movie you know like real nice almost too
perfect so when I heard about the news I didn't believe it I heard it actually on the radio and I was like did
they just say suzan and I was like oh my gosh who would even want to hurt her the first day authorities searched
for Suzanne they found her mountain bike close to the morw home where was the mountain bike found
it was found right over this little Cliff right here resting on these Boulders she was new at mountain biking
so an accident is certainly plausible I would only ask where's Suzanne she would have been injured yeah
she would have been injured investigators believe the scene was staged and days later they discovered
Suzanne's helmet roughly a mile away off Highway 50 the helmet was found on the south side of the road this side of the
road which would be to our left so is the thought somebody threw it out of a window perhaps that's the
thinking yes it appeared as though Suzanne could have been abducted and that's when Barry made that public plea
please do whatever it takes to bring you back in those early days Barry had a theory about what happened to Suzanne
that he shared with Tyson Draper who has his own YouTube channel they happened to
meet at the site where Suzanne's mountain bike was found and Tyson secretly videotaped Barry um the first
night there was a mountain lion the officer Seena walk by the car so we thought maybe she got attacked by a lion
a mountain lion killed her if that happened there would have been signs of that there would have been blood there
would have been struggle so that was a very shortlived speculation authorities began to doubt
that Suzanne even took a bike ride especially after her sunglasses and hydration backpack were found in her car
investigators also found her driver's license and credit cards in her Range Rover but her cell phone was missing did
Barry morw cooperate with investigators during the course of this he had been interviewed by in instigators through
the course of it and he talked to investigators almost every time 11 news reporter Ashley Franco is live at the
chaffy county cour Ashley Franco who reported on the case for the CBS affiliate in Colorado Springs has read
the police documents and she says Barry has repeatedly told the same story he came home around 3:00 p.m. on May 9th
2020 and had a pleasant evening with Suzanne the next morning Mother's Day Barry says he drove to a job some three
hours away he says the last time he sees his wife is when she's sleeping in their
bed as investigators began trying to verify Barry's Alibi they were pulled in a New Direction Suzanne's spy pen had
surfaced with that intimate conversation now they needed to figure out the identity of Jeff suzan's
lover could this man have had something to do with Suzanne's disappearance [Applause]
it was just days after Suzanne morw went missing when investigators make that intriguing
Discovery they discover a spy pen a spy pen a spy p a Gruber is a professor of law at the University of Colorado and a
former defense attorney she has closely studied all the public investigative files in the morw case she knows it was
not easy for investigators to find suzan's secret lover a man named Jeff she hid that Affair so well that it took
agents six months to find the man she was having an affair with Jeff turned out to be Jeff lier and he had a wife
and six children in Michigan where he lived he and Susan had a one-time fling After High School decades passed until
Suzanne reached out to Jeff out of the blue in 2018 when Suzanne and Barry moved to
Colorado Suzanne messaged him on Facebook and what did she message him howdy stranger and from that moment they
had talked almost every single day nonstop in the months after Suzanne went missing Jeff kept quiet he only began
cooperating after he was located by investigators who learned Jeff had taken steps to hide the nearly 2-year Affair
what he did was delete all his social media accounts that he had used to communicate with Suzanne he's got a lot
to lose if Revelations of this affair come out Jeff told agents he only took those steps because he did not want to
tarnish suzan's memory and worried he might lose his family and job he was also worried agents considered him a
suspect he asked the agents am I a Target although he did not come forward on his own Jeff did assist agents after
they found him he agreed to provide access to his DNA phone records and his passwords for those deleted accounts by
looking through the couple iCloud accounts and phone records agents were able to piece together their
relationship including the times they met in person investigators also found that suzan on several instances had gone
on vacation to meet up with Jeff in many different states ranging from Louisiana
to Florida investigators also discovered they'd sent intimate photos to each other talked of becoming husband and
wife and even mentioned leaving the the United States Jeff and suzan had talked about moving away moving to Ecuador at
one point if you were an investigator instead of a law professor what would you want to know about this Jeff lier
everything I'd want to know everything about what he was doing what he was thinking here is somebody who arguably
had the last communication with Suzanne before she went missing the love affair between Suzanne and Jeff became a key
part of the investigation as agents tried to figure out what happened to her on that Saturday May 9th
the day before Mother's Day Records show that Suzanne and Jeff messaged each other 59 times that day much more than
usual authorities say at one point Suzanne sends Jeff this selfie investigators dubb it her last proof of
life photo Barry was not home as the lovers texts heat up at 2:05 p.m. Suzanne writes I'm just in
love with you what you up to Jeff's response at 2:06 p.m. want to strip down and get naked
LOL she responds by saying she'll load up her WhatsApp account and then at 2:11 Suzanne writes okay I'm on
wa then at 2:26 p.m. Suzanne gets a text from Barry that he's heading home done headed back no one knows if Suzanne saw
that text or was preoccupied with Jeff but she does not answer Barry follows up appearing to wonder where Suzanne is did
you leave there was still no response from Suzanne and investigators speculate the next few moments are when Barry
returned home they notice that Barry's cell phone appears to be pinging all around the outside of his house was he
chasing Suzanne before a final and fatal confrontation investigators asked Barry
to explain that unusual phone activity and he says well let me think about that I was probably walking around my house
shooting Chipmunks you heard right it was perhaps the world's first Chipmunk Alibi Barry says the Chipmunks were a
constant nuisance at his house and he'd been running around shooting them that day and then that confession to shooting
Chipmunks becomes a major piece of incriminating evidence against him there was no evidence of any chipmunk
shootings around Barry's house part of his problem a says is that Barry granted between 30 and 40 interviews all without
a lawyer to everyone from a county detective to members of the FBI would you have allowed him to do all these
inter interv no absolutely not meanwhile Jeff lier was cleared he told agents he
was in Michigan that weekend and his Alibi checked out when investigators tell Barry of the affair he denies
knowing anything about it but if Barry knew nothing about Suzanne's Affair what motive would he have to kill her one
clue may be a deleted text that investigators found on Barry's phone sent by Suzanne just days before I'm
done I could care less what you're up to and have been for years we just need to
figure this out civil so the only thing that makes sense is that Barry morw lost
it when Suzanne finally said I'm leaving you Barry knew that his daughters would
be away on their camping trip that Saturday afternoon and authorities say he took advantage of that opportunity to
kill Suzanne and clean up the crime scene from 2:47 p.m. until 10:17 p.m. just under 8 hours
Barry's phone goes into airplane mode what do authorities believe was happening during that time authorities
say that they believe when his phone went into airplane mode that he was disposing of possible evidence unable to
track Barry's cell phone investigators tapped into a relatively new in investigative
technique digital vehicle forensics to pull a stream of data out of Barry's Ford
truck and Barry's truck told a different story than what he was telling investigators they were using Barry's
own car against him Ben lamir is an expert in the new field of vehicle forensics give me a sense of how your
technology from your company helps solve criminal cases so a lot of times it's used to you know locate bodies bring
closure lamir is the CEO of the burla corporation helps uh get people convicted um it's helped get people not
convicted investigators from Scotland Yard to the FBI have learned how to use bur software
to tap into the dozens of computers in a car it's accurate enough to be used as evidence in court cases correct yes sir
it's uh it's used every day in cases around the world cases like The Disappearance of Suzanne morw
investigators created a burer report meaning they tapped into the data in Barry's Ford truck to track its
movements after his cell phone went into airplane mode a couple of the pieces of
evidence that I think are very harmful to his case um come from the data in the car the prosecution's case is that Barry
snapped at one point the day before Mother's Day authorities believe Barry killed
Suzanne that afternoon he told agents he went to bed around 8:00 p.m. that night
but the data pull from the truck shows that the truck was put in reverse and moved some 96 ft closer to his house
around 9:30 p.m. investigators think that's when he could have loaded Suzanne's body initially Barry told police that he
set his alarm for 4:30 a.m. on Mother's Day and left the house by five to drive to a job site in Broomfield a town near
Denver 100 50 mil from Salida but the truck's computers show that someone was opening and closing the
truck's doors around 3:30 a.m. investigators believe Barry began driving toward Broomfield much earlier
than he claimed but there is a 4-Hour window approximately 400 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. when no activity was recorded by
the vehicle's computers there are events in the car that aren't recorded so they
can't give sort of a full chronological picture and if Barry hid Suzanne's body during that 4our window the truck's data
does not provide answers why is data missing sometimes well it gets overridden um you know it is a computer
and you know log files they only last so long but Barry helped fill in some of the missing data he told agents he took
a left upon leaving his home instead of a right because even though it was dark he remembered seeing some elk he saw a
herd of elk and he's a hunter so he was interested and he wanted to get an up close look that admission was
significant to agents because it put him in an area where a key piece of evidence
had been recovered investigators found suzan's bike helmet up that road so they believe at that point when he turned
left instead of turning right that he could have been ditching her bike helmet and 8:10 on Mother's Day morning
the trucks computers again began recording data and by then Barry's cell phone had also come back to life agents
are able to track Barry's cell and truck movements and can see that he first pulled over at this Broomfield bus stop
where he discarded something in a garbage can and then he moves on to a hotel trash can a McDonald's trash can a
dumpster in a Men's Warehouse parking lot and then back to the hotel hotel and dump stuff in a dumpster there
investigators believe that during these trash runs he was disposing of evidence in different places within the Denver
area this is a surveillance shot of Barry on one of those trash runs but investigators could not see what he was
throwing away it may have looked incriminating but Barry claims it was just another day at the office he told
agents he was merely being cheap not Criminal and his claim well I just always have a lot of junk in in the
vehicle I don't like to pay to have it uh disposed at a landfill I this is just what I do but it's suspicious that you
would go to five different trash areas to dispose of several things why not just do it at
one after checking out the work site Barry headed back to his room at the Holiday Inn and investigators say he
stayed there from 12:42 to 6:03 p.m. by then he'd already spoken to older daughter Mallie who told him she could
not get in touch with her mother that's when the morphew neighbors were contacted and could find no sign of
Suzanne Barry asked them at that time if the bike was there to go check on her her bicycle is not here Barry asked his
neighbor to call 911 and that's when the call to 911 would was placed that Suzanne is
missing Barry doesn't head home immediately and he is dropping some tools off for his co-workers tools
including a shovel with Suzanne now officially reported missing Barry tells his workers there's a family emergency
and arranges hotel rooms with one of those workers taking over Barry's room when the employee was interviewed he
told investigators that the room that Barry checked out of it had a strong smell of chlorine or bleach which
suggests what that he could be cleaning up a crime scene just after 6:00 p.m. Barry starts driving back to Salida on
the way Barry speaks to sheriff's deputies who advise him they found Suzanne's bike and he arrives at that
Ravine at around 8:40 p.m. and investigators say that when he arrived there he was pretty emot for a few
minutes by Sunday night Suzanne's daughters were back home but Suzanne is nowhere to be found no questions asked
however much they want Barry offered a $100,000 reward for information that was later doubled to
$200,000 investigators later discovered many texts from Suzanne to a close friend that apparently revealed her
tormented feelings about Barry he won't speak of divorce I feel no peace when he's here I wouldn't feel safe alone
with him Barry became the prime suspect and investigators think they know how he
killed Suzanne [Music] the large morw home remained sealed off The Disappearance while investigators
searched the morw home and the family's cars and trucks Barry continued to talk seemingly to anyone with a
badge weeks and months went by and Barry remained at the center of the investigation police are absolutely
correct as a statistical matter to look at intimate Partners when they suspect that a woman might have been harmed or
murdered it's something like eight out of 10 times when a spouse dies the other one's involved
absolutely sometimes the smallest item will turn an investigation and in this case agents seized on this clear plastic
cap that a forensics team had found in the family's dryer prosecutors believe the cap was
from a syringe used to fill a tranquilizer dart how do prosecute uors interpret that the prosecution's theory
is that at some point when Barry came home on the 9th and snapped and decided to murder Suzanne he used a tranquilizer
dart that you would use on animals there was no working tranquilizer rifle found in the morphew
home but Barry told investigators he was an experienced tranquilizer dart gun shooter he knew how to load darts with
paralyzing chemicals having used them to illegally sedate deer and remove their antlers to
sell this is a photo of the inside of Barry's garage with his collection of deer heads and a pile of
antlers we asked Dan ryau to read some of what Barry told investigators Barry said the first thing I thought of when I
came here and saw deer in my yard with big horns I'm like I'm getting them horns and I'll tell you exactly what I
did I shoot them they go to sleep I cut their horns off it's totally illegal but
you're going to find Tran darts around my property because I've done that experts say it can take between 4 and 20
minutes for an animal the size of a deer to drop after being shot with a tranquilizer dart agents theorized that
Barry's phone had pinged from various locations around the house not because he was shooting Chipmunks but because he
was chasing ing suzan after he shot her and what are you holding what I'm holding is a tadat model uh 706 rifle
they use this a lot in Parks throughout the country Andrew cers owner and CEO of
animal care and Equipment Services showed us a tranquilizer rifle he' typically use on
animals so if suzan had been struck by one of these darts it's right here would she have time to run around try to
escape she could but I don't think she would get very far for a human being it could be lethal for
sure bolstering the theory that Barry and Suzanne had a confrontation the day she disappeared were apparent scratches
seen on Barry's left arm agents took the circumstantial evidence they gathered Barry's apparent suspicious Behavior his
contradictory statements the puzzling data from his truck suzan's disturbing text and those five trash runs and
brought it all to the district attorney on nearly the anniversary of Suzanne's disappearance Barry is
arrested the moment captured on a cell phone by a passer by in May 2021 tonight the husband of Suzanne morw
is behind bars accused of killing her the chaffy county sheriff says Barry morw was arrested Ed this
morning Suzanne's body has never been found and prosecutors assume she's dead despite the lack of a body Barry was
charged with first-degree murder tampering with physical evidence and a variety of other allegations he was held
without bail and eventually pleaded not guilty in their arrest affidavit prosecutors spelled out what they
believe happened to Suzanne it had become clear that Barry could not control Suzanne's insistence on leaving
him and he resorted to something he has done his entire life hunt and control Suzanne like he had hunted and
controlled animals Suzanne's sister Melinda reacted to the news of Barry's arrest there are
no winners in this story there are two families who are suffering deeply Barry ultimately hired high-profile lawyers
from Denver and in the summer of 2021 judge Patrick Murphy heard the prosecution's evidence in open
court he decided to hold a preliminary hearing to see if this case had enough evidence to go to
trial the defense tried mightily to blunt the state's case countering that the clear plastic cap found in the dryer
means nothing because no one could say how long it had been there furthermore Barry's DNA a was not found on that cap
and as for that chlorine smell in Barry's hotel room one of the managers from the holiday in had actually
communicated to agents that this smell of chlorine existed before Barry morphe was there because that rooms directly
above an indoor pool and there was one more crucial issue the prosecution had to deal with
one that its own forensic team uncovered DNA evidence made public for the first time now threatened to destroy the case
against Barry this DNA Discovery is so significant the agents swabbed the inside of Suzanne Mor's car and they
found male DNA on the glove box and it wasn't Barry morphe's DNA he was eliminated the DNA also did not match
Suzanne's lover Jeff lier but it was a partial match to the DNA of an unknown male who had attacked other women and it
raised a disturbing question had Suzanne fallen into the hands of a sexual [Music]
[Music] predator in September 2021 at the chaffy County Courthouse in Salida judge
Patrick Murphy heard arguments about whether there was a enough evidence to try Barry morw for murder the judge
named off three different scenarios saying Suzanne morw left willingly Barry morw could have killed his wife or
someone else abducted Suzanne and killed her he said it was unlikely Suzanne had
run off on her own even though she and lover Jeff lier had discussed moving to Ecuador the judge says that because of
the evidence that's been presented about how loving Suzanne was toward her daughters and her family that she could
never do that but the abduction Theory could not be so easily dismissed especially after that mysterious DNA was
found in suzan's Range Rover investigators learned that DNA at least partially match the profile of an
unnamed man connected to three unsolved sexual assault cases in Tempe Phoenix and
Chicago so how can that DNA end up in her car well that DNA can end up in her car if she was the victim for example of
a serial killer or there could also be potentially an innocent explanation but it is very very
curious Barry morphew can stand up and say I'm not your killer the man whose DNA is in my wife's
car tied to past sexual assaults that's your killer Barry morph you absolutely Ely could say that and that's what his
defense is banking on in this case in Frank language judge Murphy gave his opinion of the state's evidence I find
that the proof is not evident nor is the presumption great that Mr morphew committed first-degree
murder despite that the judge ruled there was probable cause to go to trial but this judge was very careful to say
look I'm finding probable cause here but it's only only because I am looking at all the evidence in the light most
favorable to the prosecution at that point Barry had spent months in jail the judge says
$500,000 cash only Bond and are they monitoring him in some fashion Barry morw is wearing an ankle monitor for
them to track him to make sure that he is staying in chaffy County a few days later on September 20th 2021 Barry morw
and daughters mallerie and Macy are all smiles as they leave the jail Barry how does it feel it feel be out they stand
firmly behind their dad Barry declined our request for an interview Barry morph's homicide trial
was to begin on April 28th 2022 but in the months leading up to that date judge Murphy recused himself and judge Ramsey
Lama replaced him and Barry's defense team led by attorney Iris Eton filed motions asking that prosecutors be
sanctioned for failing to produce Discovery in a timely manner including some potentially exculpatory evidence
like the male DNA found in suzan's Range Rover there's DNA that is placed on all the critical
items of evidence in this case on the bike on the bike helmet in the house in the car that is
linked to unknown males in April 2022 judge llama ruled that prosecutors repeatedly had missed deadlines and had
failed to turn over important information in the discovery phase the judge wrote that while he did not find
those actions quote willful the court does find this pattern to be negligent bordering on Reckless unquote the
judge's penalty was to knock out 14 prosecution witnesses including experts in DNA and cell phone and vehicle data
recovery they would not he said be allowed to testify this case is incredibly unique law professor AA
Gruber said the case was going to be an uphill battle for prosecutors even before she heard about the most recent
sanctions there are not many murder cases where the defendant has been charged with first-degree murder where
there is no body no blood evidence of any Foul Play No eyewitnesses on April 19th 2022 as a pre-trial hearing was
about to begin district attorney Linda Stanley filed a motion to dismiss the murder charges against Barry morphew
without prejudice meaning the case could be refiled at a later date in her motion
the da pointed to the Court's decision to Bar several key Witnesses without this crucial evidence and without the
victim's body the people cannot move forward at this time in good faith neither Barry his daughters nor
his lawyer had any advanced warning I didn't know a dismissal was coming today although the writing was on the wall in
her motion for dismissal da Stanley told the judge that officials believe investigators are close to discovering
the location of Suzanne morph's body court papers specifically mention a remote and mountainous region nearby the
morphew residents that will be excavated after 5 F feet of snow melts where is Suzanne morphe's body that is the
million-dollar question remember there was an approximate 4-Hour Gap not recorded by the computers in Barry's
truck on Mother's Day morning 2020 whether investigators ultimately were able to recover some of that missing
data or received a tip about the location of suzan's remains is not known the San Isabel National Forest
again is 1.1 million Acres there's plenty of places to dispose of the body defense attorney Eon denies Barry has
any involvement in his wife's disappearance Barry morphew loves Suzanne morw he loves her and he misses
her and he wants to know where Suzanne morw is after the judge granted the motion to
dismiss homicide charges against Barry he walked out of court a free man flanked as usual by his loyal
daughters Suzanne's sister Melinda says she agrees with the request to dismiss charges against Barry at this point she
said she hoped that with more time Searchers will find Suzanne's body and win a solid conviction in her murder
this would dispel all rumors of her whereabouts and whatever else happens with the case Melinda says she hopes her
nieces keep one thing in mind mallerie and Macy your mother would have laid down her life for you girls she would
never leave you she would never forsake you she loved you with her whole [Music]
being 48 Hours don't miss an episode [Music] he [Music] [Music] did you have anything to do with the
death of your wife Cory I did not 2 minutes I'm with the CBS affiliate in Quincy so we've been covering this
from day w i was a journalist in Quincy for 25 years and I'm now writing a book on the
CH the [Music] touchdown Curtis Loveless was a center on the Quincy High football team the
offensive line Kurt L went to the University of Illinois and became an all big 10 Center well we're just under way
I think we all understand the concept of the play more than in the past he was hired in the Adams County States
attorney's office as an assistant State's Attorney she was a beautiful blond-haired blue-eyed woman thin
perfect face essentially what it was it's you have like the star football player dating the cheerleader that's
what Cory and Curtis were and then they get married and they have these kids everybody thinking he had it all do you
have good memories of any of the time together I do there were good times uh and bad I mean it was n a perfect
[Music] marriage on Valentine's Day 2006 Curtis Loveless found his wife Corey dead in
the bedroom of their home on Kentucky Street in Quincy what was your reaction just utter shock just not knowing what
to do at what point does it change from being this Blissful you know story book relationship to death on Valentine's Day
I think the volatility you know sort of built over time it did escalate to a point where there was a lot of Gossip in
the community about him the case was quickly closed there was no determination for a cause of death and
Curtis went on with his life that's when the Quincy gossip Mill got started going
people wanted to know what happened to her I was sitting in my Newsroom and uh got the call and they said sounds like
Curtis less has been arrested Curtis less was arrested this afternoon and L is accused of
suffocating his former wife Cory Loveless in 20 We Begin tonight with the start of a Curtis Loveless murder trial
to not only be called a murderer but to say that I murdered the mother of my children it's horrible this is a
prosecution that should have never been brought there never should have been an indictment
breaking news here inside the Adams County Courthouse judge Hardwick did just now declare a mistrial it's set for
retrial we plan to retry [Music] it here we are again the beginning of another Loveless trial the retrial we a
year after the first one defendant's first life for a LEL will suffocate that will be our medical
letter you know the age of supposed fake news this is a fake case and there are fake
Witnesses no evidence of any Jenny what do you see as the big difference this time around lovel's
second wife Erica Gomez as we know she was banned from this first trial she is the biggest difference in this case a
lot of people saying that she was the missing puzzle piece to why we're even here to begin with you come up here and
be sworn May 2012 is the first time that attacked me he ripped my shirt and he tried to grab
me again and I kept on trying to fight him off the children were called down to stop me from calling the
police they were lies I told them multiple times that I had nothing to do with Cory's death so
how do you find yourself in this position it's a good question it's a question that we've been asking for the
last 2 and A2 years [Music] [Music] [Music] the way I describe circumstantial evidence is as
follows I like to look at it as pebbles in a mosaic and you're going to step away from that
Mosaic you know what it's going to say murder opening statements are about what the evidence is going to
show the state had an opportunity to explain to you what evidence they have that Kurt love Marg his wife Cory love
and they didn't present him because there is for Curtis Loveless and his family February 14th 2006 might seem like a
long time ago but for the second time in two years the husband and children of Corey Loveless are about to relive those
difficult days after she died with yet another murder trial this time it's in a different courthouse in a different city
but first you need to know how this all [Music] started it's Friday night in Quincy
Illinois and hundreds have come out for the home team [Applause] local journalist Bob gof swaps his
keyboard for a microphone and moonlights as an announcer score Quincy 28 if you're a
local sports star people are always uh wanting to know about you and at Quincy High in the 80s there was no bigger star
than blue Devil's Hall of Famer Curtis Loveless both on the field and in the classroom Curtis Loveless was a very
hardworking kid smart kid fight in the line eye the University of Illinois gave Loveless number 54 a scholarship to play
football but he wasn't just any player Loveless a business administration major was considered one of the top offensive
linemen in the Big 10 a team captain who led the fighting Aline ey to the conference Championship his senior year
he even got a look in free agent camp in the NFL with the Patriots had a bad knee
injury which uh not sure if would have made it or not but that certainly didn't help the situation but being a smart kid
you know Curtis Loveless already had other goals in mind while still in college Curtis started a long-distance
relationship with high school classmate Corey dedrickson who was studying Communications at the University of
Iowa she just had a perfect smile Marty dedrickson Corey's mother spoke to our CBS affiliate
khqa and she just smiled at everybody and she just did stuff Corey was vibrant Dynamic a little bit of stubbornness and
she was a pistol and I loved her for that Steve Belo Beth do brisy and Brett Shader grew up with Corey and Curtis in
Quincy Kurt was easygoing he was a gentleman funloving intelligent uh a gentleman did you think
they were well matched I did I did they well they looked great together they had
a lot of similarities and they seem to have fun together in 1991 just one year after graduation they were married Steve
was Kurt's best man and Beth was Cory's bridesmaid it was one of the best days you know in our lives they were very
happy the pictures you could see on their faces it was a magical night with Corey by his side Loveless
had Grand plans he attended law school and even eventually became an assistant State's Attorney in the city they both
loved Quincy what did Corey want to do with her life what were her dreams Corey was all about family she wanted the big
family the happy marriage being involved in Quincy Corey's Dream came true in 1993 when their first child Lindsay was
born you doing Lindsay that's an ugly dog you got there and continued with the addition of Three Sons L Logan say
something Lincoln hey Lincoln smile and lson Lindsay is now in her 20s she was a
loving person she was involved head room mother PTA always there at our games dance recital everything um our number
one cheerleader do you have a fondest memory of her I always say dancing to Aba in the
kitchen um she always played ABA and we always sang along and twirling around and it was just special and I still
listen because it's everything to me and Curtis continued to chase his dreams as
well in 2005 while still at the State's Attorney's office he started his own law
firm and as if he wasn't busy enough Loveless was elected president of the school board became a captain in the
Illinois National Guard and a Adjunct professor at Quincy University Big Man on Campus and he always kind of had that
air about him was he arrogant he became arrogant more and more yes there was a little bit of a holier than now maybe
you were entitled to this living I I think he lost friends over time because of that and the situation at home was
changing as well Curtis is working long hours away from Corey and the kids was taking a toll on their personal life
they fought as at a young age I thought it was normal but then growing up later on after she was gone I realized that it
wasn't normal neighbors around the Loveless house here on Kentucky Street say that in the months leading up to her
death they had heard loud and contentious arguments between Corey and Curtis by many accounts both were heavy
Drinkers and in this small community it was known that at times there was a tremendous amount of turmoil in their
home I knew that uh she wasn't taking care of herself Cory's family acknowledges she was suffering with an
eating disorder bulimia I was aware of the bulimia benging and the purging late in the day Cory was an alcoholic and
unfortunately so much of alcoholism all of alcoholism is not is not pretty it's it's it's ugly and it brings out often
times the worst in people and it was something that she she struggled with you said you drank would you describe
yourself as an alcoholic I do describe my myself as an alcoholic and I stopped drinking was Corey's death the result of
her alcohol abuse or was it murder it was a question that would go unanswered for almost 8 years until a
rookie detective would take a new look at this old case that's when I went to the Chief and asked him if if I could
take a look at it again and when you saw the pictures what was your first reaction it did not appear to me that
that could have been a natural death I was at the office just reading old case files and the Loveless case
popped into my head in 2014 Adam Gibson as a newly promoted detective decided to take a look at a
file of a case he'd always been curious about the death of Cory less 8 years earlier a death ruled as undetermined
after seeing the photos that's when I went to the Chief and asked him if if I could take a look
at it again the photos of Cory's B show her arms slightly elevated above her chest it didn't really make sense and
there was no real explanation for him in reopening the case Gibson first consulted Adams County coroner James
Keller who was the deputy coroner in 2006 when he was called to the Loveless house the morning of February 14th upon
entering the bedroom I noticed the um female lying on the bed on her back with her hands kind of in an upper right
position a body always tells a story the way you find them what is the story that
Cory's body was telling you that she had passed earlier that prior evening or day
Gibson contacted Dr Jane Turner an assistant medical examiner in St Louis who agreed with Keller's assessment that
Cory's body had stiffened a condition called rigor mortise which only happens over an extended period of time in my
report I stated 10 to 12 hours rigor mortise develops maximally at 12 hours and it was the position of Cory's arms
that led Dr Turner to the theory that Corey had been suffocated what did you determine would have caused the
Suffocation well with the position of the hands it suggests that there was an object between her hands and her body
and it appears that there's a pillow missing so I suppose that a pillow was used to suffocate her Turner theorized
that the pillow had not been removed until much later her after Cory's arms had Frozen around it that her dead body
had laid in bed all night Gibson and Turner's theory of murder was a very different account than the one Curtis
Loveless gave police Curtis says it all started the weekend before before Valentine's Day she had become ill um
she appeared to have the flu Curtis insists Corey was very much alive that morning the vivid memory is
is her coming down one of the one of the kids needed uh a pair of pants she wasn't feeling any better and
we made the decision that I would take the kids to school four-year-old Larsson stayed home
while Curtis dropped off off the other kids Larson would later tell police that on that morning he couldn't wake mommy
up frighten he waited at the top of the stairs for his dad by 9:00 a.m. Curtis returned and that's when he found Corey
dead in their bed what was your reaction um just utter shock uh I in fact uh I'm not even sure how I reacted
I know what I did oddly Curtis did not react by calling 911 what I saw was someone who didn't need help um I just
saw my wife who who had passed away Loveless says at that moment his main concern was to get his youngest child
Larson out of the house at trial Cory's mother Marty testifies that Curtis brought him over to her house which was
just around the corner sometime after nine Curtis's knocks on the door and he asked if I would watch
Larsson so I take Larson and he turns and he said oh and by the way Cory's dead then what
Mr he turned to leave and I'm trying to think I I I think I think I remember the the fact
that on the way I said I want to go and he said everything's been taken care of and he left
did he stay there and expain to you no nothing no did you have anything to do with the death of your wife Cory I did
not but detective Gibson wasn't buying it his investigation would lead to an indictment Curtis Loveless was arrested
afternoon in connection and Curtis less' first trial 10 years after his wife's death following breaking news outside of
the Adams County Courthouse where a mistrial has been declared the jury deadlocked unable to decide if Corey was
murdered how does it feel to be released finally Curtis Loveless was out of jail
but for how long one year later a new trial very dramatic day today here in the segment
County a new jury but the same question did Cory die from alcohol abuse or something more Sinister he
right see folks the second trial would be be the culmination of events that began 11
years ago that Valentine's Day morning she was laying in the bed and her arms were drawn up by her chest the Grim
details of that morning would be embedded in the minds of those who were there EMT Cole Miller was among the
first on the scene I went in there to check for signs of life and checked her cored pulse in her neck and then checked
her wrist and saw that it was cold and stiff I'm Jeff be be was the lead detective in the case in 2006 you
determined that this investigation should be closed because there was no evidence that is what we determined
defense attorney John L asks him to describe the scene did you find anything whatsoever that seem consistent with any
kind of struggle no did you find any evidence of a homicide no no signs of homicide
because the cause of death was ruled undetermined were you surprised she came back undetermined I think it was
unexpected I was expecting to see a death from natural causes related to a health condition be also didn't expect
to see on the day he discovered Corey the condition of her hands and arms and her arms were up in an unnatural
position her hands and arms from the elbow to the hands were leaning or resting against her abdomen and appear
to be up it is this strange position of Cory's arms that would become a critical
and controversial piece of this case there was mild rigor in one of her arms and moderate rigor in the other uh rigor
was also forming in her legs let's be real clear were her arms still pable at 1050 yes yes tell the jury what pliable
is we could move them the defense argues if Cory's arms were pliable it would indicate she could have died that
morning and that is in direct contrast to James Keller's testimony the body was in a full state of rigor rigor mortise
however long Cory Loveless had been dead to Keller it certainly appear that medical rigor mortise had set in the
state of rigor mortise to get in position um generally the rule of stum of anywhere from 8 to 12 hours did it
make any sense to you that they were saying it was that morning it did not it just didn't seem to add up 2 days after
Corey's death her body was cremated and the case was closed a 38-year-old woman was suddenly dead for seemingly no
apparent reason we assume that uh that her her eating disorder that her alcoholism um somehow caused her death
and whether it was checked undetermined uh or natural death really wasn't something that we were concerned about
life went on 6 months later Loveless started dating Erica Gomez who he later married Gomez would become an explosive
figure in his second trial his parents knew that he was abusive that's why they came and got him his
parents probably knew that he killed his first [Music] wife after his wife Corey mysteriously
passed away in 2006 it took Curtis Loveless less than 6 months to find love again this time with one of his students
at Quincy University Erica Gomez I remember my dad coming up to me and saying hey just so you know I've
been seeing this woman and what was your reaction I was shocked but couldn't process it at the same time because what
12-year-old is going to process a parent dating mhm especially so quickly after the loss and looking back it was I think
properly characterized as a the rebound relationship I regret starting the relationship were you lonely absolutely
two years later Loveless and Gomez were married what was your relationship like with Erica not good at all um for some
reason there was some hatred towards my mom like she was Public Enemy Number One
so I would tell her to stop like it's not fair and then I would get punished for that by whom by Erica and what
scared me more was that my dad would sit there and watch it it didn't take long for things to go from bad to much worse
it was Christmas Eve and my mom's side of the family invited all of us to come for family dinner Christmas was my
mom's favorite holiday and I was crying cuz I missed her and I wanted her there and all of a
sudden Erica walks in and says we're leaving now so I get 3 to 5 minutes to calm down get ready go
to walk out the door find out that my dad Erica the boys had left my family was not happy with them
leaving me and that set off a bomb a bomb that blew her family apart it blew up to the point where when I
returned home that evening uh Miss Gomez was throwing Lindsay's stuff out of the
house my clothes were in the street my room is completely trashed I knew my life was never going to be normal ever
again and that's when you moved in with your mom's mom yeah Lov lessen Gomez divorced in
2013 I decided that I'd made a a poor decision um and tried to end that relationship as peacefully and as
amicably as possible unfortunately it just didn't didn't end as peacefully and amicably as it as it should have on the
stand in front of the jury Erica gave the courtroom a sample of her explosive personality he threatened me he
controlled me he is physically abusive to me he had hurling a variety of accusations against Loveless I've
watched him get rid of evidence I've watched him use his children to get rid of evidence used my social security
number to try and still money out of my account heed did you have any concern that they
would buy into what she was saying I didn't have that concern because I knew they were lies he was
poisoning me there was my hair was falling out there were white lines on my fingers I was extremely sick I had to
you were aware Miss Gomez that you were not supposed to mention that because there was no
evidence well Gomez was a witness for the prosecution ultimately her testimony may have done more for the
defense I had a hard time believing that the prosecution actually wanted to put her on the stand also in the courtroom
Curtis lovel's third wife Christine who like Corey Curtis knew from Quincy High they were married in
2013 just months after his divorce from Gomez the behavior was so Outland the accusations were so outlandish the
fake tears the children were called down to stop me calling the police so you felt that the jury would
have zero credibility with absolutely on the stand for the prosecution detective
Adam Gibson would have to defend his credibility and explain just how he found an expert to support his belief
that Corey was murdered it's been implied that you did um do sh yes do you think that's what you did
absolutely not remember do Jane Turner cided with Detective Gibson after studying the evidence Turner believed
that Corey had died the night before police arrived given the circumstances of the state in which her body was found
and the altered scene that it it appears that she did die of homicide from Suffocation a logical conclusion except
for the fact that when questioned by Quincy police the Loveless children except Larsson said they saw their
mother alive on the stairs before going off to school the morning Gibson believed Corey was already dead when
Adam Gibson came to speak to you and he asked you do you remember you told him that you did you remembered seeing her
that morning and you came to believe that the children were wrong correct I didn't say they were wrong I
don't know what they saw and maybe neither did they I had had a story in my head of I saw her sitting on
the stairs waving to us goodbye I love you left and I always said oh it was great I got to say I love you do you
remember seeing your mother that Valentine's Day morning it's a black hole you don't know no how certain are
you now that Curtis Loveless murdered his wife Corey I'm 100% certain but defense Attorney John Loy was about to
challenge everything detective Adam Gibson believed about the death of Corey Loveless Adam Gibson decided to create a
crime where one didn't exist you knew that the case had been closed because nobody found sufficient evidence
ofre I read that it was closed yes prosecutor Ed Parkinson brings in three forensic Pathologists to proed detective
Gibson's theory that Corey was murdered from world-renowned Doctor wner Spitz Miss L died in my view of Suffocation to
Dr Scott Denton the pathologist first consulted when the case was reopened I would determine her cause of death to be
Suffocation and finally to Dr James Turner the outof state expert who also believes Corey was suffocated defense
attorney ly tries to discredit Turner saying she never saw Cory's body and her opinion that Cory's body was in full rig
Morse conflicts with the First Responders on the scene for you to be right Jeff be has to be wrong about his
assessment correct that's correct right yes for you to be right paramedic Ballard has to be wrong about his
assessment that the AR correct yes if Cory less' body was pliable as the defense claims full Ram mortis had not
set in and she did not die the night before when coroner Keller is cross-examined lby belittles his role in
the case you're at the scene of Cory's death for all of five minutes sir probably yes sir lby comes down
hardest on detective Gibson you contined to pursue Mr love right because you had
already decided that this man must be guilty no he grills Gibson about rigor mortise at what point did you learn that
you were wrong that the body was in full rigor at the scene I don't know to the to this day
that I'm wrong I'm going to show you a copy then a new twist ly accuses Gibson of withholding evidence emails that
never made it into the first trial you did delete all your emails in January 2015 did you not yes the defense was
able to recover those emails Loy reads one email from a pathologist who told Gibson he could never make a good murder
case since Corey's death had originally been ruled undetermined that is more than Reasonable Doubt in any reasonable
person's mind all right this email should have been turned over right I believe so it should yes
you didn't turn it over did you I did not but Gibson testified that he never engaged in any intentional wrongdoing
have you ever intentionally deleted or modified emails to manipulate investigation no this time we call Dr
lby calls to the stand he is own noted pathologist Dr William Oliver who was on the OJ Simpson case Oliver had no doubt
how Corey died it is my opinion that she died of the complication of alcohol withdrawal known as acute fatty
liver after a battle of the experts def the defense gambles that the most believable witness might be the accused
killer himself as I approached the bed I could I could see I could see her hands um I
could see um I could see her eyes were open um and she was she was very pale and there was just there was nothing
there Corey was dead um that's that's what I saw um that's what I saw I told them
multiple times that I had nothing to do with Cory's death being accused of a cold blooded murderer of your wife that
reduces your ility Factor correct a little bit do you feel like every thing you said every decision you
made is now being picked over and twisted unfairly um we've been doing this for two and a
half years and it was remembering the time right after Corey died that Curtis became most emotional one of our high
school classmates who was a pastor um he he's he's the one that that that delivered the
eulogy I wrote it but I couldn't couldn't deliver it all three Loveless boys contined to
support their father the two oldest testified they saw their mother that Valentine's morning I remember getting
ready for school walking back and forth getting stuff done sitting on the stairs
with my mother um and head out the door how confident are you though from your memory itself that you saw your mother
100% was this the last time you ever saw your mother yes their sister Lindsay was
not called to testify by either side as the trial goes to final arguments theond Reasonable Doubt ladies
and gentlemen is the standard those words don't have a dictionary definition you're all going to have to apply your
life experiences beyond the Reasonable Doubt doesn't mean probably doesn't mean made Beyond a reasonable doubt what's
that mean because really what the case is about is that lady Cory that's who the case is about she
died at age 38 because a 6' 4 in former football player standing over her muffled her and and forgot to take the
pillow away the question is whether any jury can sort out what exactly happened that
Valentine's Day morning do you think we'll ever know what happened with your mom
no if a verdict comes out this round it comes out I don't think we'll ever fully
know [Music] all murder trials have their clashes between the prosecution and defense I
would like to know who's coming like you Bard pretend like but the spats between Ed Parkinson
and John ly morning were more contentious I objected to his Antics I told him to shut
up I don't like him after 7 Days of testimony in Curtis lovel's second murder trial the jury
continues hearing closing arguments so here we are what is the state showing Cory died from Suffocation and
he didn't prosecutor David Robinson he had a motive she was an alcoholic she yelled at him she yelled at the
kids and that I had enough the state asked me to find ctis was guilty of Mur be there is no evidence in this case
that this woman was smothered she died a natural death they have no murder weapon
they have no forensic evidence I mean he went out trying to prove a case where there was no
crime this is rebuttal and I won't keep you on I got good news for you I'm not going to take long because committed a
stupid crime this B smart smart man here and you can do your job now because the only thing that makes sense here is
if she was suffocated thank and with that the jury began their deliberations this case is stated in
these instructions and it's your duty to follow all of them I believe in everything we did um every step that we
took it was a search for the truth then in little more than two hours all parties were called back to the
courthouse unlike in the first trial this time the jury had reached a verdict we were prepared um uh in our
minds and our heart for for whatever the verdict was so this time at least you know there's going to be an answer we
know there's going to be an answer answer but still knowing that 12 people have our
fate in our future and our children's future in their hands is scary we the jury find defendant Curtis
L Not Guilty by person 11 thank you anybody like to he [Music] more than 10 years after Cory died and
two trials accusing him for the murder of his wife Curtis Loveless surrounded by his three sons walks out of the
courtroom a free man we put our trust in God and uh and we put our trust in the legal system and uh we weren't let down
and so it's a a great day for uh our family um a great day um for all of our friends and uh we're just we're
just thankful Kurt had absolutely nothing to do with his wife's death and the jury saw that prosecutor Ed
Parkinson is clearly upset by the quick decision uh disappointed but but the jury has spoken
so that's the end of it but just days after the verdict Curtis Loveless told 48 hours that he he and Christine still
have a lot of questions about detective Adam Gibson's investigation clearly I don't appreciate
what he's done to uh to me and my family and um uh whatever happens with Adam Gibson um happens with Adam Gibson
there's truth and uh and I believe the truth will come out you intend to pursue how and why this all
happened I I think those are questions we want answered the family remains deeply divided by the legal Saga now
behind them Curtis Christine and the three boys have not spoken to Lindsay since the day Curtis was arrested in
2014 I I don't think by our choice we were advised not to engage in a relationship with people who were
possibly against Kurt so do you see a day when we hope so we talk about together we talk about it often is that
on the docket of things to do you know I I think we we'd all like to see reconciliation I'm just not sure
how that happens it's it's it it it I'm sure it's going to be difficult for now Lindsay says she is
working to move forward with her own life inspired by her mother's memory my mom was a beautiful person
she touched so many people she was passionate but that's the kind of person she was and that's the kind of person I
try to be [Music] [Music] my family owns a beautiful cabin in Oak Utah the sound of the river the horses
that are down in the pasture the birds it's absolutely heaven on Earth to me [Music]
my mom had given it a name Tito's Tranquility because of the Serenity and peace the cabin was an awesome place to
go to as a young child I loved going up there bringing aunts and uncles and cousins the cabin was about 2 and a half
miles off the road you have to snowmobile in during the winter time it was an escape from
the world for our family it was winter of 1990 I was 20 years old and my little sister was
16 it was Christmas time we're off for the holidays there's a large Christmas tree
with lots of gifts around it I have great memories of spending Christmas with my mom and dad my mom even had our
Christmas stockings hung under the fireplace Manel ready for Santa to come 3 days before Christmas our family
had to finish up our Christmas shopping and head back up to our family cabin my mom and grams and I arrived at
the cabin first and my hands were freezing it was a bitter cold winter that year I asked my mom to hurry and unlock
the door I needed to run in and run my hands under some water and I would be right back down to help
her I got to the top of the stairs and saw a gray flash go behind the refrigerator and the first thought that
popped in my mind was oh a cousin's here already and was going to jump out and say
Boo it didn't turn out that way behind the refrigerator came a frizzy headed man in a gray sweatshirt
with his pistol pointed at me I assumed that he would want to just Rob us and be on his
way as soon as my mom came to the top of the stairs out from the back bedroom another robber with thick coke bottle
glasses on was pointing a gun at my mother my mom was saying to him what is it you want why are you here I'll give
you anything seconds after she had said that gunfire started imploding exploding explosion from
everywhere I saw my mom go down I turned at that point and looked over my shoulder to my GRS and
saw her get shot in the head and blood spray everywhere I heard her gasp for some
breath and then it was just dead silence I felt pretty certain that they were dead my thoughts were turned to knowing
that within minutes my dad and sister would be coming I can remember hearing snowmobiles coming in the distance and
my heart sinking to my gut knowing that that was my dad and sister [Music] [Music]
it felt like slow motion and quick all at once I can remember the screams and grams falling off the stool and my mom
reaching over her chest saying I've been shocked I started to plan ahead I knew that there was a car I knew my dad left
the car keys underneath the mat if I got these men out of the cabin and into the
car my dad and my sister would be safe [Music] as the noise of the snowmobiles became
closer the man in the gray sweatshirt grabbed me from behind around the neck put his gun to my
back dad and I arrived at the cabin and as soon as we got off the snowmobiles A man jumped out from the garage with a
full ski mask on and a gun and demanded that we come inside right away don't move don't move don't move
don't do anything my dad could see tears in my eyes and it was an unspoken communication and he knew at that point
that something awful had happened to Mom and grams the man asked my dad if he had any
money he reached into his pockets and pulled out what he had and threw it down to the
ground the man in the coke bottle glasses was in Red by the other to shoot my dad he pulled back the hammer I heard it
and he refused to fire so then the other man straining my sister pulled his gun out pointed at my
Dad pulled the trigger once click no fire twice click no fire and then the third one went and off
that blast was so close I could feel it I had no doubt in my mind that he was dead just like Mom and
grams I was terrified to just think that the trauma would not stop it kept going didn't make any sense to me I had
no idea what was happening or why these men that were in the cabin I knew that they had been there for a while
there was food eaten there was Christmas presents open it wasn't just that we walked in and startled them or scared
them they had actually waited for our family to return home their plan was to destroy their
evidence Burn It To The Ground there was always gas cans full of gas for the snowmobiles
they immediately got busy doing things they pour gas everywhere and set the cabin on
fire I can remember hearing the smoke alarms going off as the fire was already blazing inside the cabin there's a sense
of [Music] urgency they began telling us we got to hurry and load the snowmobiles and get
out of here I had this feeling inside of me that we needed to listen and do what
they said until the moment came to where L and I could make our Escape my sister and I drove these awful
men on the snowmobiles out of the cabin I drove one man behind me and my sister drove the other man behind
her I had all kinds of different plans of how to wreck the snowmobile how to throw him off into a tree how to get rid
of [Music] him but all I could think of is I couldn't leave my sister I can remember wanting to stay close
enough that I could still see my sister I felt a sense of security knowing that she was still
still there there was no one to help us there was nowhere to go we're in the middle of
the mountains on snowmobiles we headed up to the main gate and saw my Uncle Randy I seen the snowmobiles come up the
trail two snowmobiles and I go oh look there's uh my [Music] nieces I knew it was the girls with two
people on the back and I go wow they got boyfriends I walked over there and tried
to greet him and and and say hi and I waved my hands in there and uh they just drove by me and I go
hm that's weird that's not my nieces they don't do that to me I saw my uncle uncle pulled up and he
waved at us and we just kind of looked at him and turned back and the men said who was that somebody that must live up
here just being nice I knew his life could be in danger I knew if these men knew Randy was our
uncle there that they would have killed [Music] him we were up there in the mountains
there was no one around it was just my sister and I and two men that were dangerous that had a
gun there was a feeling of being completely vulnerable once we arrived at the family car they had two
guns each of them had a gun and the dark-headed man loaded his gun in the trunk and as he loaded his gun in the
trunk he pulled his jacket open and he had a knife and he looked at me goes don't worry I'm just as good with a
knife as I am a gun and then I seen the Lincoln come out across the street and uh I go well there
they are again I was walking up to the car as they were pulling out and I seen I was actually looking in the back and I
I I think I see lenee in the back I wav my hands again I go stop I knew that if we were to call out
or asked plead for help or act like we knew Randy that Randy would be shot as well so he was waving his arms and my
sister and I just pretended we didn't know who he was the car just drove right by me I knew
something's something's wrong I don't think it was a minute I seen another snowmobile come up with
this person on it and I look and I look I go well he's no coat on uh you know no
gloves uh no helmet and I go wow who is this and I look I go oh my God it's my brother Ralph and his face is just huge
and full of blood and just just big his eyes swolled shut uh blood sickles uh cuz it was cold he was in
really bad shape and he says I've been shot my wife has been killed and my daughters have been
kidnapped I start heading down the canyon as fast as I could I'm in panic Ralph's in the back full of blood laying
on the back seat 20 years ago your cell service did not work up there what whatsoever in that canyon and I kept
trying and trying and trying there two things on my mind save the girls get him on the Life Flight I come up to the back
of the Lincoln I know the girls are kidnapped I know the guys that got guns in in the car there you know I'm going
what do I do do I run them off the road still trying to call out on the mobile you you know and my mobile kicked
in I got 911 she says tell me what direction they're going we got police we got people in the area I go well they're
turning on the road they're heading towards cus I go I need a helicopter and the phone went
dead I pulled in the gas station went over the pay phone and got 911 uh back on the phone again I go guys I need a
helicopter now we noticed a cop car pass us and turn around and begin to follow us both men
began to panic I remember looking over the speedometer was going over 90 mph we turned right down towards a
canyon and went another mile or so and then fell the car fell off an embankment I remember looking up cuz the car was at
an angle and noticing the entire Road above us we came down was full of of maybe a couple cops mostly people in
common clothes drawn down with pistols and shotguns and rifles at us and I just remember how amazed I was that there are
so many people there so fast there was cops pointing guns at me and my little sister says no no that's
my sister and I don't think they'd received information that there was even hostages in the car I reached back from
my sister's hand and grabbed her hand and said duck and we both ducked and we were praying and squeezing each other's
hand we have always had a connection even as little children uh a special connection where we couldn't fail each
other she's always been a great comfort to [Music] me the suspects were taken from the
vehicle and then were secured by officers who'd arrived at the scene these guys are uh obviously cowards as
long as they were in total control of a situation by use of fear and force uh then they continued to function uh when
that control went away that's when it uh it stopped and they surrendered to authorities the men were down on their
knees with their arms behind their neck and the cops were you know yelling at him to get down get down and surrender
and I started to yell at the cops to kill him I said kill him they just killed my mom my dad and my GRS kill him
shoot him now kill him I remember a feeling of not necessarily being safe but have survived we're no longer
in the custody of those two evil men the helicopter showed up they got Ral out of the back of my blazer and uh
got him into care and uh he was in pretty bad shape critical condition and when it lifted off I'm
just praying that he makes it I can't imagine what had have been going through dad's head after he'd been
shot and then shot again and he's laying there playing Dead trying to breathe as
shallow as possible I later learned that Dad had actually been DED with gasoline
and he caught on fire himself and he had run into the shower and tear off his snowsuit while on fire having the
strength to get on the snowmobile and race down that mountain to save my sister and I how much blood he lost how
he couldn't see getting down the mountain and and freezing temperatures my whole life my dad was my
hero and that just put an exclamation point on that my dad was the most amazing hero that I've ever known
beautiful kind blue eyes he was extremely kind and generous in every way the number one concern in this
particular case is rescuing anybody who might need uh assistance secondly is to preserve the
evidence at the crime scene one of the most significant pieces of evidence was a video camera inside the video camera
was a videotape we had no idea what might be recorded on that so at a number of junctures in that in that film
I was saying oh my God oh my [Music] God hundreds of crime scenes later it still ranked right up
there you know it's still very Vivid to me probably when I got about maybe 10 ft from the
door I picked up a faint smell it was kind of like burnt hair and maybe burnt fabric like clothes burning as I entered
the garage that was maybe a uh 12 to 18 inch puddle of blood that that was fresh as I started up the
stairwell I could see holes in the wall bullet holes coming from one wall across
the stairwell into the other wall there was a blood smear on the wall it looked like a
bloody hand had had wiped down the wall and it it almost looked like a mini war zone there was two
bodies I checked for a pulse but I knew in my mind um they was deceased I actually walked into the
smoke before I really realized that the top floor of that cabin was on [Music] fire then our mindset went to protecting
the victim's property because we we thought the cabin was going to burn down on top of the coffee table was a
VCR camera and some tapes there was a double funeral for my mother and grandmother my grandmother's name is
Beth Tidwell pots my mother's name is k Tidwell tid I remember just so many people and
families that came to love us and help us build their love and support Aunt Claudia was my mom's older
sister when mom passed Aunt Claudia stepped in letting us know that she was there and it gave us all a sense of that
we weren't alone I wanted to be there as much as I possibly could because they needed support this was a horribly
traumatizing thing for them and we were what they had left Gramps had a lot of energy she was
full of life she was a very fun vivacious energe a happy grandma she would give me permanence in my hair and
make it curly [Laughter] [Music] awful I remember Mom called the Asen trees quakies she loved the noise that
the Quaking Aspen Made In The Wind that was one of her Fondest Memories and and and it is mine as well
[Music] my sister was one of the most devoted mothers that I have ever known she would
give up anything for her children she was strong willed and they were strong willed and you know that relationship is
not without conflict but they always worked it [Music] out the morning of the crime
I remember turning and walking over to give my mother a hug as I always did and she and
I had gotten a little argument earlier that morning over something silly and she and I both looked at each other and
me at 16 years old just turned and wasn't going to give her a hug and I turned and walk the
other way and that's last time I saw my mom alive [Music] you tell me what's your justification
for taking these lives and doing this to these people that you don't even know when I watched the videotape that
had been taken from the crime scene I expected to see pictures of family talking playing games
doing what family folks do but as it turns out there were the two suspects how your light
flash I don't know find out they were opening the family's Christmas presents oh wow what is
it I remember thinking of the pure malice and hate that these men must have what heartless jerks why would you
do this to our family the two men were in there early to mid 20s both spent time at Utah State
Penitentiary Von Taylor had been previously convicted of an aggravated burglary what I gather is he was a
normal kid a very normal and and decent family but that at some point he got into some conflict with the law I don't
think I got all of this I'm not aware of a violent history on Mr Edward Deli he had been convicted of an
arson they'd been released from the penitentiary to a halfway house facility so apparently they were given the
ability to go out look for employment at that point they just absconded I later learned these men had
hitchhiked their way up there and chose that area because one of the men had family that had a cabin in the area
they' robbed several cabins and eventually came to our cabin because they knew we were
there they wanted to find a way to get a vehicle and get out of the country they
waited for us all night long to return I'm afraid to go in there and this might appear to be a slam dunk
case to some folks but from an investigator's point of view it was very complicated and very
complex sure it's not a who done it there's no question who committed the crimes but
being able to determine what criminal act each suspect committed that was a challenge
[Music] [Music] [Music] Von Taylor and Ed Deli very much each took their own separate part in
murdering my mom and grams I do not feel one man at any way shap or form was more
responsible they were charged with the murders the aggravated kidnapping the arson the uh high-speed
chase I I don't remember the exact number but in addition to the murders there were something like 8 to 10
felonies and some misdemeanor I wanted them both to be sentenced to the death penalty I wanted both of them to know
that they were going to die approximately 5 months after these crimes Von Taylor pleaded guilty to two
counts of capital murder and the state dropped all of the other charges against him in exchange for that plea I believe
Taylor pled guilty to his crime because there was so much cold evidence against him that that was all that he could
plead was guilty Taylor was an evil man he had no remorse no regard for Life whatsoever
you could see it in his eyes you could see it in his countenance from the moment we saw him
to the last time we saw him in court he just had this air about him of anger and zero remorse Taylor opted to
go to sentencing in front of a jury instead of in front of a judge the jury sentenced him to to a death sentence for
both murders so he has two death sentences I felt relieved that Taylor would be put to death for his crime
Justice had been [Music] served short period of time after that uh a couple of weeks I believe then Mr
Deli uh went to trial we were as prepared if not maybe even a little bit more prepared uh to go into the deli
trial as we were with the Von Taylor trial I felt a great burden I felt like they practically
wanted me to be able to see the bullets coming out of the guns that they expected me to point the exact gun and
the direction of every bullet and where it hit at any given [Music] moment H I actually just had a whole
epiphany of new thoughts come to that that I don't think that that was helpful for a victim to have to put a weapon
that they watched their family murdered with to even have to touch it what is the point the weapons were already on
the table why would I have to touch it those trials are somewhat of a blur to me I was 16 years old and I wanted to
go back and live that life I loved and not having to keep relive a nightmare Del's lawyer argued that he
didn't do any of the shooting these men were guilty they committed a crime they need to be
punished and we needed to move on Len and Trish TAA uh were excellent Witnesses they were very sure about the
things they had seen uh and very articulate able to relate these very very Sensational
things in an unemotional way so they're extremely valuable Witnesses but we had another survivor of
the case Mr ta to survived the assault and the attack incredible guy I remember sitting and watching the
look on deli's face as he came in seeing my father and it was very apparent to me
that he did not know my father had survived and the look on his face was just Priceless like he had been defeated my
dad survived we won he's lucky uh that they used the wrong gun when they shot him they used
bird shot very ineffective they didn't know that you know I think his odds of of having made
it uh and survived an incident like that are probably one in a thousand he was kind of an Ace in the Hole and he
brought the prosecution together in a in an outstanding way I expected uh Edward
Deli to be convicted of first-degree murder the case had been thoroughly investigated and the uh the Prosecutors
Office had done an excellent job [Music] I heard the verdict came out uh second degree murder with life imprisonment and
I never really understood that I said something's wrong it can only be them that that did this how can he be not
sentenced to death Deli was not convicted of first-degree murder he was convicted of second deegree murder and a
death sentence was no longer an option once that conviction came in Edward Deli received second degree
murder instead of first degree due to one jury member deciding to hold [Music] out I
felt like the courts did an injustice to our family I felt like that he deserved
to be on death row as well just like Taylor Deli murdered Taylor [Music] murdered this was such a horrific
experience for everybody here that I think we all didn't know what to say or buried it inside to where we didn't talk
about this a lot I went through periods of anger and frustration and not understanding why and for years and
years that follow I'd cry in silence I I spent a good 10 years hiding that pain and suppressing that pain I
went through trying to find happiness in areas where happiness doesn't exist I went through fear fear of putting my
heart out there fear of loving someone or letting someone love me that they would would abandon
me I believe it was 2001 I received a letter from Deli I thought about it for many many
years and would go to write him a letter and it just never felt [Music] right it took me over 9 years to respond
to deli's letter I held on the letter and I reread it probably 20 30 times I was just very
careful and guarded with my feelings um I basically wanted to get a feel if he was truly
sorry Deli has um shared with me that he has grown into a man not the same uh Evil Boy that committed the crime I
believe that I gained my freedom back for myself by choosing to forgive Deli for me forgiving does not mean
forgetting I do not believe Edward Deli has a place outside of prison but when I
came to the place of forgiveness I felt a tremendous burden relief off my shoulders
I felt free lene is flawed [Music] Perfection Len I've been married a little over 3 years
now she's my best friend she's everything to me um there there is something in her eyes that is
just it's it's like pure and she's as flawed as the rest of us but she has this innocence that still is there that
uh that I just love Nathan changed my life by opening his heart and sharing his true self
and giving me the freedom to do the same I have four kids and five beautiful step
kids and I just feel like it's a beautiful start of a new beginning [Music] for me to be a
Survivor um has become a beautiful gift I believe that I can share it with [Music]
others after the cabin had burnt we went and rebuilt it and made it even better than it was
before I can remember my dad he would say this to me quite often he would say lene I know lightning strikes he says
but lightning never strikes twice in the same location and I would find great peace in
that sometimes um if I ever would have fear I would just hear my dad say Len you're going to be
safe it's fabulous we love it there we need to do a hike before I go down we AB go up there and enjoy family and friends
and we play and we relax we we Bond they're not going to take away from us the things that we love and we enjoy
in our life they took our mom they took our GRS but that's where it ends the cabin's magical the
cabin uh is healing [Music] when my father was diagnosed with cancer our whole family came together
and that last 6 to8 weeks of his life were so absolutely incredible he he pulled me
aside uh spent about an hour and hour and a half with me just me and him probably gave me one of the greatest
compliments I had in my life and I'm still just a touch uneasy about it that he knew lene would be okay and
that he could [Music] go cuz he knew I would take care of [Music] her when my father passed it was very
peaceful I had the privilege of being right by his side as he he took his last breath and his Spirit has never left
me anytime I need my dad he's there he comes in some of the most unique and special
times I very much still feel that my father is [Music] there I have two beautiful little girls
and when I look into their eyes I see both my mother and my father and everything that's loving and pure I
awesome life I love my life now and I wouldn't say that the incident in 1990 defines me but I would say it's help
make me who I am today wind trees can wind it's the leaves I think my sister would be
absolutely delighted if she looked down to see the healing that l and Trisha have gone through and what
they've done with their [Music] lives blow let let it tell you where to go I feel
very much so that this experience has changed me as a person I choose that it's a part of who I am it's my life
story because always demons are behind every door and if you let the wind blow then
the demons a no let the wind what we experienced together that created a bond that obviously I couldn't
have with anybody else and I'm glad that we were there together and I couldn't I
couldn't ask for more Let the wind blow let the wind [Music] blow just don't let the
wind don't Don't Let It Blow You Down [Music] [Music]

“48 Hours" reports on cases involving crimes during holidays. Watch the YouTube mini-marathon, which includes "The Suzanne Morphew Case: Nothing Is What It Seem," "Death on Valentine's Day" and "Live to Tell: "Three Days Before Christmas."

00:00 The Suzanne Morphew Case: Nothing Is What It Seem 42:59 Death on Valentine's Day 1:24:53 Three Days Before Christmas

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Suzanne Morphew vanished in 2020; her husband Barry became the prime suspect amid marital issues and a secret affair.

Key points

Spy Pen Discovery. Investigators find a spy pen in Suzanne's home, revealing her affair with Jeff.
Barry's Alibi. Barry claims he was home with Suzanne the night before she disappeared, but evidence suggests otherwise.
Barry's Arrest. Barry Morphew is arrested, accused of killing his wife Suzanne, whose body has never been found.
Charges Dismissed. Prosecutors dismiss murder charges against Barry Morphew due to lack of evidence.
Corey's Dream Comes True. Corey wanted a big family, and in 1993, her dream was realized with the birth of her first child, Lindsay.
The Mysterious Death. Corey's death was ruled undetermined, leading to questions about whether it was due to alcohol abuse or murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I feel more angry now, anger at what I've allowed.

7:44WatchNov 23, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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