Barry Lee Morphew

The backstory

Morphew has not been tried on the current charge. Everything in this section about how Suzanne Morphew died is an allegation in a grand jury indictment, a prosecution filing or a finding made for a pretrial purpose. None of it has been tested before a jury.¹⁹

The disappearance

Suzanne Morphew was reported missing on May 10, 2020, Mother’s Day, from the family’s home in Chaffee County, Colorado, according to the indictment, which describes her husband as the last known person to see her alive.¹ Morphew told police he left at 5 a.m. that day for a work trip to Broomfield while she was asleep, and that she had planned a bike ride.¹ Her bike was found that evening down a hillside less than a mile from the home, and her helmet was found May 14 about 10 meters off Highway 50, roughly 1.5 miles west of the home, according to the indictment.¹ Searches of the house that began May 11 found no sign of a break-in or an intruder, the indictment says.¹

The first prosecution

Morphew was arrested on May 5, 2021.³³¹¹ Prosecutors in the 11th Judicial District charged him with first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body, tampering with physical evidence, possession of a dangerous weapon and attempt to influence a public servant.¹⁰ The case was moved from Chaffee County to Fremont County on Feb. 1, 2022, because of pretrial publicity, and trial was set for April 28, 2022.³²

According to the Colorado Supreme Court’s later account, Chief Judge Patrick Murphy found multiple discovery violations by the prosecution in July 2021.¹¹ In February 2022, Judge Ramsey Lama found, and the prosecution conceded, that its expert disclosures did not comply with the rules; in March 2022 he excluded several prosecution experts as a sanction for a pattern of discovery violations and ultimately excluded most of them.¹¹ Prosecutors then moved to dismiss without prejudice, writing: “Without this crucial evidence, and without the victim’s body, the People cannot move forward at this time in good faith.”³² The court granted the motion on April 19, 2022; dismissal without prejudice allowed the charges to be refiled.³²¹¹

Linda Stanley, the district attorney who brought the first case, was later disbarred; the Colorado Supreme Court upheld the disbarment on Sept. 8, 2025, in an opinion that cited, among other things, her public statements about the Morphew case and her supervision of it.¹¹ A federal judge dismissed a malicious-prosecution lawsuit Morphew brought over the first case, finding the prosecution flawed but not malicious, the Deseret News reported.²⁷

The remains and the autopsy

On Sept. 22, 2023, Suzanne Morphew’s remains were found in a shallow grave in Saguache County, a few hundred feet down a dirt road near Highway 17, according to the indictment.¹ Investigators found them while searching in an unrelated case, ABC News reported.²⁹ They were identified as hers; her medical port and bike-style clothing were recovered, and no visible perimortem trauma was observed, the indictment says.¹ A forensic anthropologist concluded it was unlikely that she had decomposed from a fresh body to a skeleton at that site, according to the indictment.¹

The El Paso County coroner’s office performed the autopsy; the report was released on April 29, 2024.²⁹ According to the indictment, toxicology found butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine, a combination known as BAM, in her bone marrow, along with a butorphanol metabolite that the indictment says shows her death was not immediate.¹ The indictment quotes the coroner’s cause and manner of death as “Homicide by unspecified means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication.”¹ The report describes the drugs as “a compounded injectable chemical immobilizer for wildlife,” ABC News reported.²⁹

The indictment

A 12th Judicial District grand jury indicted Morphew on June 18, 2025, on one count of first-degree murder, and he was arrested in Arizona by the Arizona Department of Public Safety on June 20.⁹ The indictment alleges the killing occurred on or about May 9 to May 10, 2020.¹

The indictment alleges that Morphew’s phone returned home at 2:43 p.m. on May 9 and was turned off minutes later until 10:17 p.m., and was off again from 4:32 a.m. to 5:37 a.m. on May 10.¹ It alleges that Suzanne Morphew’s last electronic communication was at 2:11 p.m. on May 9, that her phone showed no user activity after he returned home, and that it stopped connecting at 4:23 a.m. on May 10 and was never found.¹ According to the indictment, his truck’s telematics recorded no activity from 3:49 a.m. to 8:10 a.m. on May 10.¹ It alleges that in the Broomfield area he spent about 30 minutes at the jobsite, drove to various locations and discarded items in separate trash cans.¹

The indictment alleges that Suzanne Morphew was unhappy in the marriage and planned to divorce, contrary to his description of the marriage as “the best.”¹ It cites a screenshot saved on his phone on May 6, 2020, of a text from her: “I’m done. I could care less what you’re up to and have been for years.”¹

On the drugs, the indictment alleges that witnesses from Indiana said Morphew used BAM on his deer farm there, and that he admitted using it in Colorado as recently as April 2020 to tranquilize a deer near his home.¹ It says a tranquilizer dart rifle and darts were found in a gun safe in the garage and a needle cap was found in the dryer.¹ According to the indictment, prescription records show his last BAM purchase was in March 2018, and that from 2017 to 2020 no other private citizen or business in the surrounding counties bought it; only Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the National Park Service did.¹ “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.¹

Morphew pleaded not guilty in Alamosa County on Jan. 12, 2026.²⁵ His lawyers have filed dozens of pretrial motions, including requests to bar witnesses from saying he “looked guilty” or “looked like he is hiding something” and to exclude statements attributed to Suzanne Morphew.²² At a July 6, 2026 hearing, District Attorney Anne Kelly said she intends to introduce evidence of physical abuse in the marriage; defense attorney David Beller said he did not believe domestic violence is “at issue in this case.”²⁰

Bond and the Denver incident

Morphew posted a $3 million bond and was released in September 2025.¹⁷² His release conditions required GPS monitoring and barred him from leaving home except for work and other limited reasons.¹⁶¹⁴

In a Sept. 2, 2026 order, Hopkins wrote that a driver reported that Morphew drove aggressively and struck two vehicles in Denver on Aug. 26, 2026, at about 7:30 p.m.⁷ According to the order, he refused to give his name or identification, said he had no insurance, offered the other driver $300, and left after she said she was calling police, nearly striking another person and driving over a curb.⁷ Having reviewed part of a video of the incident, the court found the person in it was “very clearly the Defendant.”⁷ The same order said no court had yet found probable cause for any felony arising from the incident.⁷ KRDO reported that he faces traffic charges tied to it; the specific charges were not reported in the sources reviewed.¹²

Prosecutors alleged that GPS data showed he had driven to Denver International Airport when he had permission to leave home only for work, and argued that “to go to the airport for any purpose other than work constitutes a breach of his bond.”⁵ His lawyer said it was possible he had gone to pick up his daughter, according to the filing.⁵ Hopkins issued a warrant on Sept. 3, and he was arrested and jailed.⁴¹⁶¹⁵

At the Sept. 8 hearing, Special Deputy District Attorney Fred Johnson argued Morphew could easily have boarded a plane and left the country: “We are very, very concerned he has just demonstrated what he’s going to do when push comes to shove.”¹⁴ Fisher-Byrialsen asked to keep the $3 million bond with home confinement and argued the traffic infractions did not make him a danger to the community.¹³ Hopkins said he had shown a “capacity to commit new offenses while out on bond,” and raised the bond to $10 million, cash only.¹³³ If he posts it, he may not leave the San Luis Valley without the court’s permission, must wear GPS and may leave home only for court or a medical emergency by ambulance.³

Trial scheduling

Trial was first set for Oct. 13, 2026.²⁵ On June 25, 2026, Hopkins granted in part a defense motion to continue, vacated the October trial and directed the parties to propose a new date beginning before July 1, 2027.⁸ Defense attorneys cited a “mountain of discovery,” the Alamosa Citizen reported, and Hopkins cited the “unbelievable amount of information both sides are going through.”¹⁸¹⁹ On July 6, 2026, with both sides’ agreement, she set trial for July 19, 2027, and said she would be “hard-pressed” to grant further continuances.¹⁸¹⁷

The remains dispute

In February 2026, the couple’s daughters asked the court to release their mother’s remains to them for a memorial.²⁴²³ Prosecutors said Morphew had authorized the remains’ release to a funeral home for cremation, and that they recovered them under a search warrant on Feb. 19, the day before the planned cremation.²⁴ Kelly argued the family had no authority to obtain evidence lawfully seized before trial; Morphew’s lawyers said he took no position on the request.²⁴ The court’s case records show the motion was withdrawn in March 2026.²

Personal backstory

Early life and family

Morphew was born Oct. 17, 1967, according to a Chaffee County sheriff’s release reported by WISH-TV.³³ He and Suzanne Morphew grew up in Alexandria, Indiana, met in high school, attended Purdue University and married in 1994, CBS News’ “48 Hours” reported.²⁸ They have two daughters.²⁸ Suzanne Morphew taught middle school before becoming a full-time mother, according to the same report.²⁸

Work and the move to Colorado

He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays, but an injury ended his baseball prospects, and he later started a landscaping business, “48 Hours” reported.²⁸ He had a deer farm in Indiana before the family moved to Colorado in 2018, the Deseret News reported.²⁷ The family moved from Alexandria to the Salida area in the spring of 2018, WISH-TV reported.³³

The ballot case

On July 21, 2022, Morphew pleaded guilty in Chaffee County District Court to forgery, a class 5 felony, for casting his missing wife’s ballot in the 2020 election; two other charges were dismissed under the plea agreement.³⁰ According to court documents, he told an FBI agent in April 2021, “Just because I wanted Trump to win. I just thought, give him another vote. I figured all these other guys are cheating.”³¹

Mental health

No testimony, finding or on-record statement about Morphew’s mental health was found in the sources reviewed.

In custody

According to an Arizona Department of Public Safety arrest report described by Denver7, he had been living in Arizona under the name “Lee Moore” before his 2025 arrest; the indictment lists the name as an alias.²¹¹ He was returned to Colorado and booked in Alamosa County.¹⁷ In seeking a lower bond in August 2025, his lawyers wrote: “He is an honest person who is genuinely eager to clear his name so that his former fine reputation can be restored.”²⁶ He has been jailed since his arrest in early September 2026.¹⁶¹⁴ In a May 2023 interview with ABC News, before the current charge, he said investigators had tunnel vision and that he had done nothing wrong, ABC News reported.²⁹ No public statement by Morphew since the 2025 indictment was found in the sources reviewed.