‘Affairs’, a bungled case, and a $15m lawsuit: What we know about the mysterious death of Suzanne Morphew
Often, finding the body of a missing person can mean the end of a cold case.
When it comes to Suzanne Morphew, a Colorado woman who went missing in 2020, and whose body was discovered this month, her remains may be just the beginning of a new phase of an investigation that has bedeviled police and family members for years, and spawned a high-profile court case, a $15m lawsuit, and accusations of extra-marital affairs and murder.
Here’s what we know about the case.
A chance discovery
Morphew, a mother of two from Chaffee County, was last seen on 10 May, 2020, Mother’s Day.
After an investigation that involved 135 searches across the state and more than 400 interviews across multiple states, as of September of 2023, police still hadn’t cleared up what happened to the missing 49-year-old.
Then, on 22 September, a massive break in the case fell in their lap.
As officers searched in Saguache County for Edna Quintana, a woman who went missing this may, they found a different set of remains.
On Wednesday, 27 September, a coroner positively identified them as belonging to Suzanne Morphew.
"While this case has garnered attention from around the world, it has touched our community and the sheriff’s office deeply," Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze said in a statement to CBS News. "We have never stopped our investigation and will continue to follow all leads in pursuit of justice for Suzanne."
"Although locating Suzanne’s remains is a critical component of this investigation, and for her family, we are left with many more questions than answers, and it would be a disservice to conduct a news conference at this time," he added.
A mysterious disappearance
Morphew was last seen on 10 May, before heading out on a bike ride.
Her bike was later found at the bottom of a steep ravine off Chaffee County Road 225.
Police said the bicycle didn’t appear to have been in a crash, and there was no blood on the scene.
That was only the beginning of the strange circumstances surrounding the case.
It emerged that all was not well in the marriage between Morphew and her husband Barry.
The couple frequently fought over finances.
According to prosecutors, in February of 2020, Suzanne bought a spy pen to see if she could capture Barry in what she believed was an extra-marital affair.
“Oh, I’m sure your mistress has you all happy now so you can say you love me but bully me when you’re with me… yea that’s love," she told Barry in a message later released by officials.
However, in March of 2020, The Denver Gazette reports, she wrote a message to an old flame from high school that seemed to refence an affair of her own.
"Nobody loves you ... like the way I do,” she wrote. “I crave time with you. I crave the feeling I get when we connect. Physically or emotionally. You’re my guy. Always."
On 9 May, the day before Morphew disappeared, she sent a photo of herself sunbathing to the man, the last official proof of life police say they had of her.
Love notes and tranquilizer darts
Barry Morphew, Suzanne’s husband, quickly emerged as the primary suspect, though he has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing and has said he believed she was abducted.
“No questions asked, however much they want, I will do whatever it takes to get you back,” he said in a video on social media after her disappearance seeking help from the public.
The couple’s two daughters have continued to defend their father.
However, prosecutors argued a variety of evidence suggests Barry Morphew was involved in foul play.
Police found a tranquilizer dart cap in the Morphews’ dryer, and said data gathered from cell phones, Barry’s truck, and GPS, showed him opening and closing his truck’s door multiple times on the day Suzanne disappeared between 3 and 4am without leaving the driveway, all while his phone was in airplane mode.
(He has said he was getting ready for work before his wife woke up.)
He was later seen dropping trash in five different receptacles in the town of Broomfield, later telling investigators he couldn’t recall what he threw away.
A 6 May message from Suzanne, found in a cache of deleted messages on Barry’s phone, captured her expressing a wish to end the relationship, while Barry responded with suggestions he might kill himself.
“I’m done I could care less what you’re up to and have been for years,” she wrote, according to CBS. “We just need to figure this out civilly.”
“When I’m dead which won’t be long, you guys will be taken care of,” he responded.
A note on Suzanne’s iCloud account, meanwhile, recorded a list of “grievances,” including an incident in which Barry allegedly melted her wedding ring.
Despite the apparent strife, Barry said the couple remained in love, pointing to a love note Suzanne allegedly sent him in February of 2020.
"Just want you to know – my life would be nothing without your love and the excitement you bring to our marriage and my life. All my love ,” the note reads.
Barry was arrested in May of 2021, but that wasn’t the end of things
A case gone off the rails
The prosecution against Barry Morphew didn’t go as planned.
In December of 2021 the judge presiding over the murder case removed himself, after defence lawyers argued his relationwhip with a lawyer handling a case involving Barry Morphew’s alleged girlfriend could create conflict of interest.
The following February, the case itself was removed to another county, with officials saying the high-profile investigation, which eventually made national headlines, made for an unfair environment for an impartial trial.
"Because of the size of the community and the pervasive negative pretrial publicity since Suzanne Morphew’s disappearance, the Court finds that a fair trial cannot take place in Chaffee County,” a judge ruled at the time. “This is a high-profile case in a relatively small county with a small jury pool. The media saturation is high."
In March, Mr Morphew asked for the case be dismissed, after his team accessed an internal Colorado Bureau of Investigation document describing his arrest as “hasty” and the “worst decision” that could have been made.
The next month, the case was dismissed, after a judge found that prosecutors failed to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence, including DNA evidence and that relating to sexual assault cases in other states that may have pointed to another suspect, Colorado Public Radio reports.
A lawsuit against Colorado police
Now, Barry Morphew has sued Chaffee County, the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office, the CBI, and the FBI, arguing he was wrongfully charged.
He is seeking $15m in damages.
“They’ve got tunnel vision and they looked at one person, and they’ve got too much pride to say they’re wrong and look somewhere else,” he said during an appearance with his daughters on Good Morning America.
