The husband of a missing Colorado woman who vanished in 2020 and was found dead in 2023 was arrested on Friday for her murder.
The Gazette has revealed that Barry Morphew has been taken into custody for the murder of his wife, Suzanne Morphew, aged 52. Barry was originally accused of her murder in 2021; however, a judge in Fremont County dismissed the charge the following year, even though prosecutors claimed they were nearing the discovery of her remains.
The judge dismissed the 2021 case without prejudice — allowing the 12th Judicial District grand jury to indict him on Wednesday.
On Mother’s Day in 2020, Suzanne vanished after going for a bicycle ride in Chaffee County, as stated by her husband. Her bike was subsequently found at the bottom of a steep ravine on Chaffee County Road 225. Investigators noted that the bicycle was intact and bore no traces of blood. In the aftermath of her disappearance, Barry Morphew suggested that she had likely been kidnapped.
Conversely, friends informed investigators that the couple had been quarreling over financial issues and that Suzanne might have been involved with another man. It was reported that just a day prior to her disappearance, she had “59 communications” with a man purported to be her boyfriend.
In September 2023, Suzanne Morphew’s skeletal remains were found scattered in a remote area in Saguache County. Reports indicated that she may have been buried in a shallow grave. Officials said dental records were used to identify the bones as Suzanne Morphew.
Last year, El Paso County coroners said testing of Suzanne Morphew’s femoral trabecular bone determined died of “undetermined means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication.”
Suzanne Morphew was reportedly undergoing chemotherapy while in remission for recurrent follicular lymphoma. However, the medical examiner found that the drugs found in her system “are marketed as a compounded injectable chemical immobilizer for wildlife providing pharmacologically reversible analgesia, sedation, and immobilization.”
It is unclear when Barry Morphew will be extradited to Colorado, as he no longer resides in the state.
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[Feature Photo: Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office]
