Case replace: Barry Morphew was arrested in Arizona on June 20, 2025, two days after he was indicted on first-degree homicide fees within the case of his spouse’s dying. This was the second time Barry Morphew has been arrested and charged in Suzanne Morphew’s dying.
In a high-profile case that has already seen quite a few and typically odd twists and turns over the previous three years, together with essential judicial sanctions, a choose agreed to dismiss all fees in opposition to Barry Morphew, with out prejudice, simply 9 days earlier than he was to face trial for the first-degree homicide of his spouse and mom of their two daughters, Suzanne Morphew.
Prosecutors, who can re-file fees sooner or later, filed a movement to dismiss the indictment minutes earlier than a pre-trial convention on April 19, 2022, with D.A. Linda Stanley writing they should examine additional and imagine “we are close to discovering the victim’s body.” Stanley additionally cited the court docket’s resolution to exclude “several key expert witnesses initially endorsed. Without this crucial evidence and without the victim’s body, the People cannot move forward at this time in good faith.”
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“First I want to say that Mr. Morphew not only was presumed innocent and still is presumed innocent, he is innocent,” Morphew’s legal professional, Iris Eytan, mentioned at a press convention after the costs have been dropped. In response to the State pointing to the necessity to discover Suzanne’s physique, she mentioned, “Forever they have stated that they don’t need a body — that a body is irrelevant. But you need to know, that in this case, there has been not a single ounce of physical evidence that has been found connecting Mr. Morphew to this … alleged crime.”
Since Barry Morphew’s arrest, his protection attorneys had requested Choose Ramsey Lama, a number of instances, to dismiss the costs in opposition to him. Over the previous a number of months, they pressed the choose to concern extreme sanctions on the prosecution for failing to show over probably exculpatory proof forward of trial. And the choose imposed damaging sanctions, together with barring 11 of their 16 endorsed skilled witnesses — amongst others, consultants in DNA, automobile information and a cellphone information analyst, as punishment for violating discovery guidelines. In all, the Courtroom excluded 14 of the prosecution’s skilled witnesses. The choose discovered that DA Stanley and her workforce repeatedly missed deadlines and failed to show over vital data, writing, “The People’s actions amount to negligent and arguably, reckless disregard” for his or her discovery obligations.
In earlier filings, prosecutors mentioned that the Courtroom didn’t discover willful misconduct related to any discovery violations, noting “ultimately the sanctions imposed greatly damage the People’s case, tantamount to dismissal, for late disclosures that were not greatly prejudicial, but rather technical in nature.”
“48 Hours” correspondent Peter Van Sant updates the case in “The Suzanne Morphew Case: Nothing is What It Seems,” now streaming on Paramount+.
When Suzanne Morphew, a Colorado mom of two ladies, vanished on Mom’s Day in Might 2020, authorities puzzled if she’d been kidnapped or if her husband Barry — whom she had threatened to divorce — may need killed her.
Investigators by no means anticipated the case would have so many weird twists and turns and ultimately contain a chipmunk alibi, a tranquilizer gun, a “talking” truck, thriller DNA and a spy pen proper out of a James Bond movie.
“This case is incredibly unique,” says Aya Gruber, a regulation professor on the College of Colorado at Boulder. “When you started to dig a little bit deeper, nothing is what it seems.”
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Gruber studied 1000’s of pages of public paperwork from the prosecutor, investigators and protection attorneys.
Suzanne was reported lacking on Might 10, 2020. She’d been alone that day as a result of her daughters, Macy, 16, and Mallory, 20, have been off on a church-sponsored tenting journey and deliberate to return residence later that Mom’s Day.
On the similar time, Barry Morphew instructed investigators he had left the house early within the morning to drive to a job website some three hours away. He mentioned the final time he noticed his spouse of 25 years was when she was sleeping of their mattress.
After Suzanne was formally reported lacking by a neighbor, investigators started to look at Barry’s story. Mates and family instructed investigators that the wedding was troubled, and brokers discovered a deleted textual content from Suzanne to Barry on his cellphone that learn: “I’m done. I could care less what you’re up to and have been for years. We just need to figure this out civilly.”
However 10 days after Suzanne disappeared, brokers have been pulled in a distinct route once they discovered a so-called spy pen belonging to Suzanne. The spy pen has an extended battery life and is designed to look and write like an bizarre pen.
Nevertheless it has one additional characteristic: it’s voice-activated and information conversations. Suzanne had acquired it, she instructed a buddy, as a result of she suspected Barry was having an affair and he or she hoped to make use of the pen to assemble proof. However the plan backfired.
Investigators listened to what the pen had recorded and, though there was no proof of Barry having an affair, they are saying they heard “intimate” conversations between Suzanne and somebody named Jeff.
It was one other twist in a case full of them.
With out understanding who Jeff was or his location when Suzanne went lacking, they might not get rid of him as an individual or curiosity. It took FBI brokers six months earlier than they uncovered his id: Jeff Libler, a person each Suzanne and Barry knew from their Alexandria, Indiana, highschool. Jeff and Suzanne had had a one-time fling after commencement, and he or she’d reached out to him in 2018 after the Morphews moved to Colorado with a Fb message that learn merely: “Howdy stranger.”
“And from that moment they had talked almost every single day nonstop,” mentioned Ashley Franco, a reporter for KKTV, the CBS affiliate in Colorado Springs, who has coated the story from the start.
That was sufficient to ignite an almost two-year love affair. Jeff had a spouse and 6 youngsters. He lived in Michigan and claimed to be there along with his household on the day Suzanne vanished.
Brokers ultimately found the lovers had spoken to one another for dozens of hours, typically speaking by way of secret accounts on WhatsApp and LinkedIn. Jeff additionally admitted that they met for romantic rendezvous in New Orleans, Florida, Texas, Michigan and Indiana.
After Suzanne disappeared in Might 2020, Jeff didn’t contact authorities. As a substitute, brokers say, he deleted the accounts the place he had communicated with Suzanne.
“What he did was delete all his social media accounts that he had used to communicate with Suzanne,” says Gruber. “He’s got a lot to lose if revelations of this affair come out.”
Jeff reportedly instructed brokers he didn’t need to tarnish Suzanne’s reminiscence, however he additionally instructed them he nervous that he’d lose his spouse, youngsters and job. He additionally nervous he may be thought of a suspect. “He asks the agents, ‘Am I a target?’” says Gruber.
After brokers confronted him, he did cooperate, offering a pattern of his DNA and passwords to the deleted accounts. Investigators ultimately have been in a position to retrace the couple’s steps and recovered texts by tapping into the iCloud accounts of Jeff and Suzanne.
Jeff was in a position to present receipts for a house items retailer he’d visited in Michigan on the day Suzanne vanished and he was ultimately cleared.
Investigators nonetheless had their suspicions about Barry Morphew. They by no means uncovered any proof that he was having an affair, however investigators discovered his actions on that Mom’s Day weekend to be suspicious.
Chaffee County District Courtroom
They requested Barry why his cellphone gave the impression to be pinging throughout his home on the day earlier than Mom’s Day and he instructed them he should have been out taking pictures chipmunks, which he mentioned have been a relentless nuisance on the home.
It was maybe the world’s first chipmunk alibi, however Barry stood by it, saying he’d shot 85 chipmunks within the two years he owned that Colorado home.
“And then that confession to shooting chipmunks becomes a major piece of incriminating evidence against him,” says Gruber.
Van Sant requested why. “Because [agents are] saying, ‘Well, you know, now he’s admitting to having run around the house. And this is a ridiculous explanation, so it must be the explanation of a guilty person,’” says Gruber.
What’s extra, there was no proof of any chipmunk shootings round the home and neighbors didn’t recall listening to any sort of disturbance throughout that time frame.
Instances typically activate the smallest of issues and, on this case, brokers seized upon simply such a small merchandise.
Chaffee County District Courtroom
Brokers had discovered a small clear plastic cap within the household’s dryer that they believed was from a syringe used to inject chemical substances right into a tranquilizer dart. Barry acknowledged he knew the way to inject chemical substances right into a dart and that he’d shot many deer for trophies and so he might get their antlers. His storage was full of deer heads and a pile of antlers. Nevertheless, there was no working tranquilizer gun discovered within the residence and authorities say Barry’s DNA was not on that plastic cap.
Even so, investigators developed a concept that Barry had shot Suzanne with a tranquilizer gun after which chased her round the home earlier than she handed out. They discovered a door body that was damaged and suspected there had been a confrontation.
Brokers additionally tapped into a brand new investigative instrument referred to as digital automobile forensics. They pulled information from his Ford truck’s many computer systems and received the truck to “talk” to them. They realized that when Barry mentioned he was sleeping, the truck’s doorways have been opening and shutting.
He was arrested and charged with first-degree homicide and different crimes in Might 2021. Suzanne’s physique has not been discovered and prosecutors presume she is useless. Barry ultimately pleaded “not guilty.”
However on the eleventh hour, there was another twist revealed for the primary time publicly at a preliminary listening to to find out if there was sufficient proof for possible trigger.
Prosecutors admitted at a listening to held in the summertime of 2021 that their very own forensics workforce had uncovered DNA proof that threatened to destroy their case in opposition to Barry. State technicians had discovered DNA on the glove compartment of Suzanne’s automotive that partially matched an unknown male related to a few unsolved sexual assault circumstances in three completely different cities.
Barry Morphew and Jeff Libler have been excluded from that DNA pattern which meant there was an opportunity Suzanne had fallen into the fingers of a sexual predator. “This DNA discovery is so significant,” Gruber mentioned. “All of a sudden, the seemingly implausible becomes more possible.”
Choose Patrick Murphy wwas candid in his evaluation of the case, saying it might go both manner earlier than a jury. He discovered sufficient possible trigger to place it over for trial however ordered that Barry be launched on $500,000 bond, observing that he thought there was not “a fair likelihood” that Barry can be convicted by a jury. Barry entered a plea of not responsible to the costs.
Barry Morphew raised the bond cash and is free awaiting trial. Choose Murphy disqualified himself due to a possible battle of curiosity involving a witness, and Choose Ramsey Lama was appointed in January 2022. Morphew’s trial, which was moved from Chaffee to Fremont County, Colorado, was scheduled to start on April 28.
Then, on April 19, Stanley and her workforce filed the movement to drop all fees, with out prejudice, till they collect extra proof. However Morphew’s legal professional, Iris Eytan, argued that the case needs to be dismissed with prejudice in order that it can not be refiled. The court docket dismissed the costs with out prejudice.
On the press convention outdoors court docket, Eytan made it clear her opinion that her shopper ought to by no means have been charged.
“These charges were false from the beginning … The prosecution was manufacturing a murder case,” she mentioned. “You’ve seen shows called ‘Making a Murderer?’ That’s what was happening here in this courtroom … They absolutely dismissed this case at this point because they knew they were going to lose this trial and Mr. Morphew was going to be acquitted and exonerated.”
“Barry Morphew loves Suzanne Morphew,” Eytan mentioned. “He loves her and he misses her and he wants to know where Suzanne Morphew is. It’s a big question mark … Definitely there was not any evidence, even close to convicting him of murder of his wife.”
As investigators proceed looking for Suzanne Morphew’s physique, specializing in a “remote and mountainous region nearby the Morphew residence,” because the DA wrote in her movement, ready for 5 ft of snow to soften earlier than they’ll safely excavate the world, Barry Morphew, alongside his daughters, walked out of the Fremont County courthouse a free man. With all fees in opposition to him dropped, his bond is lifted, his GPS ankle monitor eliminated, and his passport returned. And about 1,000 individuals who had been summoned to look for jury choice are launched.
In Might 2023, Barry Morphew filed a $15 million federal civil rights lawsuit in opposition to prosecutors and regulation enforcement officers stating he was wrongfully arrested, jailed and prosecuted.
