The family of Suzanne Morphew is one step closer to justice after receiving news late last month that her remains had finally been found three years after she went missing. Suzanne disappeared on Mother’s Day, 2020 after allegedly going on a bike ride near her home in Chafee, County, Colorado. On Monday, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced that it has established a new tip line for any information related to the death of Suzanne Morphew.
Morphew’s remains were found Friday, September 22 in a desert area of Saguache County known colloquially as “The Boneyard” due to how often human remains are typically found there. The site was only around 45 miles from where Morphew lived with her husband, Barry Morphew. The discovery occurred during a search for another missing woman, Edna Quintana—who is one of five missing people who either disappeared or were found dead in the same area. The remains were reportedly found “in a shallow grave” in a field of dry grasses, according to a statement from the bureau.
Barry Morphew told police that he was working in Broomfield, Colorado at the time of his wife’s disappearance, but he was eventually accused of and charged with her murder, along with tampering with physical evidence in 2021. However, in April, 2022, prosecutors dropped the charges on the grounds that they wanted more time to find Suzanne’s remains. No other arrests have been made in the case, but the charges were dismissed without prejudice so that prosecutors may file charges in the future. After charges were dropped, Morphew filed a $15 million lawsuit in May, accusing them of “tunnel vision” in finding answers in his wife’s disappearance.
Before dropping the charges, prosecutors were alleging that Barry Morphew murdered his wife following her announcement that she was leaving him. Text messages from Suzanne’s phone illuminated the fact that Suzanna believed her husband to be having an affair in April of 2020. Text messages from March of 2020 also revealed that Suzanne was having an affair of her own with a high school flame. Iris Eytan, Barry Morphew’s attorney, claimed that the high school flame has not been “fully investigated” by law enforcement. District attorney, Anne Kelly, told CNN, “The case is still under active investigation. For that reason, I am unable to comment on the investigation until more information is known.”
Update: John Castic was found deceased in a Brooklyn Creek on Tuesday, August 3, 2023. The New York Police Department pulled him from the creek during their search for him. The city’s medical examiner’s office has not yet released the cause of death. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon remarked in a statement that he would be greatly missed, “We are all shocked and saddened to learn of John’s tragic passing. John was a dedicated, driven member of our Controllers team working closely with our Asset and Wealth Management business. Our thoughts are with his mother Dawn, his father Jeff, and his entire family at this very difficult time.”
The news cycle for American finance has been uniquely impacted this week after a report was filed for a missing Goldman Sachs analyst, who mysteriously disappeared following the conclusion of a New York City concert early Saturday morning. According to police, John Castic, 27, was last seen outside the Brooklyn Mirage in the neighborhood of Williamsburg around 2:30 am last Saturday morning after an electronic music show. The missing person flyer being circulated with his information denotes he was wearing a navy and white button-down floral shirt.
Since his disappearance, friends and family of John Castic have expressed great concern over the circumstances leading up to the moment he vanished. One friend, Sara Kostecka, took to Facebook to plead for the public’s help in finding the missing Goldman Sachs analyst, “One of my best friends, John Castic, went missing after the Zeds Dead show Friday night in NY. Any information would be greatly appreciated, as well as sharing this to anyone in NYC that might have seen him…I’m supposed to walk with him in my brother’s wedding next week…we just want to find John.” In addition to her plea, Kostecka also mentioned that there were rumors swirling about individuals who had been propositioned by “creepy people” to get into unsolicited vehicles like a “taxi/cab” in the area surrounding the Broklyn Mirage. Another friend, Jonah Shales, told Folx News Digital that no one has had any contact with Castic since his phone died after he left the venue on Saturday. Representatives for Goldman Sachs have not yet responded to media requests for comment.
Castic’s disappearance was not the first in recent weeks to be associated with the Brooklyn Mirage, but has not seen the amount of media attention Castic’s has received. On June 11, earlier this year, another young man, Karl Clemente, was turned away from the venue when he was observed to have been drinking alcohol according to EDM Identity, an online publication covering the colorful world of electronic dance music. Tragically, following his disappearance from the vicinity of the venue, Clemente was found dead in a creek bed nearby a week later. Clemente, a 27-year-old psychologist, was observed on surveillance footage entering a lumber warehouse near the Brooklyn Mirage after being denied entry. Police have yet to release a cause of death or a timeline of events leading up to Clemente’s death, nor have they been able to provide an update on the case of John Castic.
The family of a Pennsylvania man who has been missing for nearly 10 years finally has answers in his disappearance after his remains were found in a wooded area not too far from home. Authorities have confirmed the human skeletal remains found in the woods belong to Christopher Story. Story was last seen on August 11, 2013 at his residence in New Castle, PA at approximately 11:00 PM. He was 40 years old. According to the FBI missing person report, Story was last seen wearing a “white t-shirt, khaki shorts, a dark ball cap, and black shoes.” The report also indicates he left behind important personal belongings, like his wallet, phone charger, and medication. Without that medication, the FBI warned, Story “may appear agitated and may also appear confused or suffer hallucinations.”
The New Castle Police Detective Bureau worked in tandem with the FBI and a team of K9 cadaver dogs to search the area where Story was found and the Lawrence County Coroner’s Office was able to identify Christopher Story’s body by comparing the remains to his X-rays and identifying medical characteristics consistent with his history. The FBI did release information at the time of his disappearance that Story had “surgical pins/rods in his spine, and may walk with a limp.”
Even nearly a decade later, the explanation of the machinations of Story’s disappearance and his ultimate fate are still under investigation. Following the confirmation of his identity, his remains are being sent out for forensic testing in order to determine the manner of death. In a Facebook post shared by the New Castle Police Department on Wednesday, authorities said “The NCPD has continued to aggressively investigate this case since that date attempting to find Chris Story and determine what happened to him.”
The search continues for a San Antonio mother who vanished before her work day began last week. Chrissy Powell called into the law office where she works as a paralegal last Tuesday to let them know she was running late, but she never arrived to begin her duties. Now her family and law enforcement have reason to believe that Chrissy may be in danger.
The family was able to obtain a vital clue for law enforcement early on in the investigation by virtue of Chrissy’s front door camera. The video shows Chrissy leaving the house in a rush that Tuesday morning, confirming that she did make it out of the house before vanishing. However, Powell also left her cell phone behind in the home, which the family believes was due to her rushing out around 10:30 that morning. The San Antonio Police Department has put out a BOLO (‘Be on the lookout’) for her black Nissan Rogue that she would have driven to her job.
The uncharacteristic radio silence and failure to appear has family and friends extremely concerned about Chrissy Powell’s whereabouts and well-being. Powell’s close friend, Lauren Leal, told KENS5 that their unanswered questions were terrifying, “The unknown is the scariest part. The fear in my mind right now. It is hard to wrap our minds around where she might be, what could have happened. My fear is not ever knowing anything.”
The San Antonio Police Department has distributed flyers with the name and face of Chrissy Powell to make the public aware of the search. Law enforcement are also gravely concerned, as Powell has a medical condition that requires care by a doctor, and have labeled her a ‘missing endangered adult’ as a result.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Chrissy Powell is encouraged to call SAPD’s Missing Person’s Unit at 210-207-7660
Ohio investigators were embroiled for weeks this June in a search for a 23-year-old Loveland woman who never came back from a walk. According to police, Alicia Kenny was listed as a critically missing person, indicating that investigators believe her to be in danger.
According to Alicia’s family, she is a creative sort who often goes on walks to draw or write in the area’s local parks. Alicia’s mother, Marcy Kenny, told WLWT that the unanswered questions in her daughter’s disappearance were troubling, “It’s just really hard to think about what could happen. She’s just gone.” Prior to her being reported missing, Alicia’s backpack was discovered by a delivery driver in a subdivision in Loveland. The delivery driver turned the backpack over to the police who then returned it to Kenny’s home where she lived with her grandparents. “And that’s when everybody realized she wasn’t there, that when she left on Saturday night, she had never come home,” said Kenny. “In the backpack was her phone, her ID, her wallet, everything.”
The fact that Alicia Kenny was not in possession of her most important personal belongings has only heightened the anxiety for her family. Among the belongings in her backpack was also Alicia’s personal Bible, which her family insists she would never have discarded. “All she has is literally the clothes on her back. Without that backpack, she has absolutely nothing. And honestly…we can’t think of any scenario where she would have put the backpack down and walked away willingly,” claimed Marcy Kenny.
However, in a rare happy ending to a missing person search, police confirmed that they had found Alicia Kenny safe following her disappearance with the explanation that the 23-year-old just needed “a couple days to clear her head.” According to the statement from police, “Alicia Kenny was found this afternoon safe and unharmed and is currently in the care of her family members.”
Following an investigation into his wife’s disappearance, a Boone County man is facing murder charges after a grisly discovery. Andrew Wilhoite has been taken into custody on charges of murder, booked in the Boone County Jail.
On Friday, March 25, the Boone County Sheriff’s Department initiated a welfare check at the home of Elizabeth Wilhoite, Andrew’s wife, following a report from a coworker saying that she failed to show up to work. Tragically, the missing person search rapidly became a homicide investigation, which led to the Boone County Sheriff’s office calling an audible with regards to the investigating agency. “When our investigators realized this could be a possible homicide investigation, we wanted to do discuss the best way to move forward with the investigation since the mother of Andrew Wilhoite is a County Councilwoman, another county elected official,” said Sheriff Mike Nielsen. “To avoid any conflict of interest, it was decided to contact the Indiana State Police and ask them to lead the investigation and we would assist them.”
The investigation lead to Indiana State Police concluding that Elizabeth Wilhoite was the victim of a homicide at the hands of her husband, Andrew Wilhoite. Allegedly, Wilhoite struck his wife in the head with a “blunt object,” then put her body in his vehicle and drove to a nearby creek where he disposed of her in the creek. Elizabeth’s body was found partially submerged in the water and recovered from the creek.
“This is another prime example of working with our law enforcement partners to solve a horrendous crime,” said Sheriff Nelson. “I cannot be prouder of our Investigations team, Crime Scene Investigations team, the entire Sheriff’s Office staff, the Boone County Prosecutor’s Office and the Indiana State Police Investigators. Please keep all families and first responders in your thoughts and prayers.”
