Husband of a Colorado woman who disappeared in 2020 pleads not guilty to murder
DENVER– The husband of a Colorado woman who disappeared in 2020 has pleaded not guilty to murder for the second time.
Barry Morphew entered his plea in the death of Suzanne Morphew through one of his attorneys, David Beller, during a short hearing in Alamosa, Colorado.
Morphew was first arrested in 2021, almost a year after Suzanne Morphew’s disappearance, and charged with murder and tampering with evidence. But the case was dropped in 2022 as it neared trial after a judge barred prosecutors from calling key witnesses in response to their repeated failure to follow rules on releasing evidence to the defense.
The skeletal remains of Suzanne Morphew were later found on a dirt road in southern Colorado in 2023. Morphew was again charged with first-degree murder following the death of his wife and arrested last year. He maintained his innocence.
While Suzanne Morphew’s remains showed no signs of trauma, investigators found in her bone marrow a drug cocktail used to tranquilize wildlife and for which her husband was the only person, aside from wildlife officials, to have a prescription in their area, according to the indictment.
The coroner’s office determined his cause of death to be “homicide by unspecified means” due to intoxication with three drugs – butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine – contained in the cocktail known as “BAM.”
The mystery surrounding Suzanne Morphew began when the 49-year-old mother of two girls was reported missing on Mother’s Day 2020.
His mountain bike and helmet were initially found in separate locations not far from his home near the mountain community of Salida, Colorado, but investigators suspected the bike had been deliberately thrown into a ravine because there was no indication of an accident. A week after his wife’s disappearance, Barry Morphew posted a video on Facebook pleading for her safe return and the case quickly gained attention.
This time, Morphew is being prosecuted by a different district attorney for the area where Suzanne Morphew’s remains were found, a rural area about 40 miles south of the Morphew home.
Suzanne Morphew had been treated for follicular lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, before passing away. Investigators found a port with her remains through which she could receive drugs to treat cancer. They also found cycling clothing similar to what she was wearing.
Based on the condition of the remains and clothing, a forensic anthropologist speculated that the body had likely decomposed elsewhere before being moved, according to the indictment.
