A grand jury in Colorado has returned an accusation against Barry Morphew, accusing him of his wife’s murder, Suzanne Morphew, authorities announced on Friday.
Suzanne Morphew disappeared on a bicycle ride on Mother’s Day in May 2020. Their remains were found more than three years later while researchers were looking for in an unrelated case. Subsequently, his death was declared homicide.
Her husband, Barry Morphew, was accused of her murder in 2021, but those charges were retired in April 2022 just before a trial began.
The Grand Jury returned the accusation against Morphew on Wednesday. He was arrested in Arizona and will be extradited to the San Luis Valley to face charges, according to the twelfth office of the Judicial District Prosecutor.
Suzanne Morphew is seen in this photo without date published by the Sheriff’s office of Chaffee County.
Chaffee County Sheriff Office
“The Federal, state and local police have never stopped working towards Justice for Suzanne,” said Judicial District District Anne Kelly on Friday in a statement. “The twelfth office of the Judicial District Prosecutor faces Suzanne’s family and the citizens of Chaffee and Saguache county to carry out the accusation of the grand jury.”
Barry Morphew was the last person to see his wife alive, according to the declaration of probable cause in the accusation.
In early interviews with the police after the disappearance of his wife, Barry Morphew allegedly said that his marriage was “the best”, according to the accusation. Although his statements were “inconsistent with other stories and evidence of witnesses located,” said the accusation, noting that Suzanne Morphew had “trusted the people who were unhappy in marriage in the weeks and months that he led to his disappearance” and had discussed the plans to divorce her husband with a close friend.
The researchers also discovered a screenshot of a text message from Suzanne Morphew on her husband’s phone that declared, according to the accusation: “I have finished. I could not care what you are doing and I have been for years. We just have to solve this civilly.” The screenshot was saved on May 6, 2020, four days before it was reported by a neighbor, according to the accusation.
Suzanne Morphew’s body was found in September 2023 near the city of Moffat, about 90 minutes south where he lived.
It was determined that his death was caused by homicide “by indeterminate means in the context of butorfanol, azaperone and modethomidine poisoning,” according to autopsy.
Police specifically requested that the Forensic Office prove the presence of Butorfanol, Azaperona and Medetomidine, which includes a chemical mixture known as BAM that is used for animal sedatives, according to the accusation.
Before moving to Colorado in 2018, Barry Morphew was a deer farmer in Indiana and used BAM to sedate and transport deer in his farm, according to the accusation. He allegedly admitted to having used BAM in Colorado as recently as April 2020 to reassure a deer on his property, according to the accusation.
According to the accusation, the records of BAM’s recipes showed that Barry Morphew bought BAM lastly by prescription in March 2018, and that no individual or business in the Colorado region where the Morphews lived and where the remains of Suzanne Morphew met BAM recipes from 2017 to 2020.
“Ultimately, the prescription records show that when Suzanne Morphew disappeared, only a private citizen who lived throughout that area of the state had access to BAM: Barry Morphew,” the accusation said.
A photo of Barry Morphew, published by the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office on May 5, 2021.
Chaffee County Sheriff Office
Barry Morphew has denied any participation in the death of his wife.
“Once again, the government allows its predetermined conclusion to lead its search for evidence,” said his lawyer, David Beller, in a statement to ABC News on Friday. “Barry maintains his innocence. The case has not changed and the result either.”
Barry Morphew and his daughters spoke with ABC News in May 2023 after they filed a lawsuit against prosecutors, saying that he was unfairly accused.
“They have a vision of tunnel and looked at a person and have too much pride to say they are wrong and look elsewhere,” he said at that time. “I have nothing to worry about. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
