Barry Morphew Jailed Again After New Incident Raises Bond

A judge raised Barry Morphew’s bond to $10 million after prosecutors said the Colorado man, accused of killing his wife, left the scene of a crash that happened after he went to the airport to pick up his daughter.

Barry Morphew was indicted by a grand jury on June 20, 2025, on a first-degree murder after deliberation charge in the death of his wife, Suzanne Morphew. Suzanne, 49, a mother of two daughters, disappeared on Mother’s Day in 2020 in Colorado, where the couple lived. Authorities later arrested Barry Morphew in Goodyear, Arizona, nearly 11 hours from the area where Suzanne was last seen.

Prosecutors say Barry Morphew was involved in an alleged hit-and-run crash on Aug. 26 at about 7:30 p.m. after a witness reported seeing him drive “aggressively” before hitting two vehicles. CBS News obtained video showing the driver’s encounter with Morphew, during which he declined to provide his name or identification and indicated he did not have insurance. Boulder County sheriff’s deputies arrested him on Sept. 3, and he remains in custody.

According to officials, Barry Morphew offered the other driver $300 to cover the damage to her vehicle, but she refused the money. Video also showed Morphew trying to rub out scratches on the woman’s car using a T-shirt and his hand.

Prosecutors said Morphew had been picking up his daughter from the airport at the time of the incident.

After the other driver rejected the $300 offer and said she planned to call police, prosecutors alleged that Barry Morphew drove away, nearly hitting another person and jumping a curb as he left.

Under the conditions of Barry Morphew’s original bond, he was barred from leaving his home except for limited reasons, including work or a medical emergency, and he was required to be monitored by GPS.

Alamosa County District Judge Amanda Hopkins on Tuesday increased Barry Morphew’s bond to $10 million cash after prosecutor Fred Johnson argued that he is a flight risk and could leave the country.

“Mr. Morphew has shown time and again that he has no respect for any order of this court, and he is not going to comply with it if it is an inconvenience to the lifestyle he wishes to live while out on bond,” Hopkins said.

“We are very, very concerned he has just demonstrated what he’s going to do when push comes to shove,” Johnson said during the hearing.

Barry Morphew’s lawyers argued that he is not a flight risk, stating that he hasn’t fled over a period of five years and said the recent accusation doesn’t warrant an increase in bond.

Prosecutors wrote in the June 2025 indictment that the chemicals butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine were found in Suzanne Morphew’s bone marrow. They alleged that Barry Morphew used “BAM” deer tranquilizer to sedate and transport deer on his farm when he lived in Indiana. He has pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder.

Morphew was also the only person with a prescription for the deer tranquilizer within the area of the state he lived in, prosecutors said. The only two other entities with access to the BAM compound within the surrounding counties were Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the National Park Service, officials said.

“Ultimately, the prescription records show that when Suzanne Morphew disappeared, only one private citizen living in that entire area of the state had access to BAM: Barry Morphew,” the indictment states.

Morphew’s attorney, David Beller, previously told News Outlet Morphew “maintains his innocence.”

“Yet again, the government allows their predetermined conclusion to lead their search for evidence,” Beller said. “The case has not changed, and the outcome will not either.”

News Outlet reached out to Morphew’s lawyer for comment.