Suzanne Morphew, 49, went missing on Mother’s Day in May 2020. Authorities found her remains in Saguache County in September 2023.
ALAMOSA, Colo. — A grand jury indictment against Barry Morphew, charging him with first-degree murder for the death of his wife, Suzanne Morphew says he was the only private citizen in that entire area of the state who had access to the combination of drugs found in her system during an autopsy.
Suzanne Morphew, 49, was reported missing on May 20, 2020 – which was Mother’s Day. She lived in Maysville in Chaffee County, west of Salida, with her husband, Barry, and their two daughters. When she vanished, the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office said she went for a bike ride but never returned home. Her remains were found in September 2023.
The 12th Judicial District grand jury returned the indictment on Wednesday. Morphew was taken into custody in Gilbert, Arizona, according to a news release. He will be extradited to the San Luis Valley to face charges.
Barry Morphew maintains his innocence, said his attorney, David Beller.
“Yet again, the government allows their predetermined conclusion to lead their search for evidence,” Beller said. “Barry maintains his innocence. The case has not changed, and the outcome will not either.”
> Watch: Officials share details about Barry Morphew’s indictment in death of wife Suzanne
According to the indictment, her last known electronic communication with anyone was at 2:11 p.m. on May 9. Her last activity on a password-protected account was on 3:08 on May 9 – more than 24 hours before she was reported missing, the document says.
Data from Barry Morphew’s devices showed, according the document, that he returned to their home at 2:43 p.m. on May 9 and data from his phone and truck showed he did not leave again until the next morning, May 10.
The indictment says Barry Morphew turned off his phone about four minutes after he returned home and did not turn it back on until 10:17 p.m. that same evening. He also turned his phone off for about an hour on the morning of May 10, according to the document.
Testimony established that the timeframes where location data was unavailable were “periods of time of significance” for the case, the indictment says. There’s also data missing from his vehicle’s system.
Credit: Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office
Suzanne Morphew
Data from Suzanne Morphew’s phone showed it connected to towers near the Morphew home from May 9 until early on May 10. At 4:23 a.m. that morning, her phone stopped connecting to any towers. To date, her phone has never been located.
Barry Morphew was previously arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with her disappearance in May 2021. Days before he was set to stand trial in April 2022, all charges were dropped when Fremont County District Judge Ramsey Lama granted a motion filed by prosecutors that asked to dismiss the case.
During a preliminary hearing in January 2022, prosecutors with the Chaffee County DA’s Office said that on the afternoon of May 9, 2020, Barry Morphew loaded a syringe for a tranquilizer dart, put his phone on airplane mode, and then shot his wife with the dart. He then chased her around the house until the tranquilizer took effect, prosecutors said.
At the time, Suzanne Morphew was missing. Her body was found in a shallow grave in a remote area of Saguache County in September 2023.
An autopsy was conducted, and the manner of death is listed as “homicide by undetermined means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication,” according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine, also known as BAM, is tightly regulated and only sold by one company in the United States, the indictment says.
The indictment notes that Barry Morphew was the only private citizen living in Colorado with access to BAM. Records show no other people or businesses, besides the Bureau of Land Management and Colorado Parks and Wildlife, purchased BAM prescriptions between 2017 and 2020. None of the BAM from the government agencies was unaccounted for.
In a prior interview with 9NEWS, an attorney representing Barry Morphew argued the autopsy results do not incriminate her client.
“Federal, state and local law enforcement have never stopped working toward justice for Suzanne,” said 12th Judicial District Attorney Anne Kelly. “The Twelfth Judicial District Attorney’s Office stands in solidarity with Suzanne’s family and the citizens of Chaffee and Saguache Counties in pursuing the Grand Jury’s indictment.”