Barry Morphew files $15 million federal lawsuit citing wrongful arrest
May 2—Barry Morphew Tuesday filed a $15,000,000 federal civil rights lawsuit which states that he was wrongfully arrested, jailed and prosecuted for the alleged murder of his wife, Suzanne, nearly two years ago, for "a crime he did not commit."
The lawsuit lists 20 defendants involved in the unsolved case, including the entire prosecution team headed up by 17th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley, law enforcement officials, such as Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze, Chaffee County, and numerous investigators with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI, some of whom no longer work for the organizations.
Mrs. Morphew was reported missing May 10, Mother's Day 2020, but the last proof-of-life photo was a cellphone selfie she sent her lover the day before at around 2 p.m. Hundreds of people turned out to search for her including divers, volunteers on horseback and hikers who combed through sometimes treacherous mountain terrain.
The complaint alleges that Morphew was targeted by law enforcement as Suzanne Morphew's alleged murderer as early as May 13, 2020, around the time they found her bicycle helmet off to the side of the highway just under a mile from the couple's home.
The 185-page complaint was filed by three law firms: Samler and Whitson, Eytan Law and Fisher and Byrialsen. In a prepared statement, Attorney Jane Byrialsen said: "Barry Morphew's Constitutional Rights were trampled on, he and his daughters have suffered great harm, and we will not tolerate such abuses of power."
The complaint alleged that investigators lied, omitted and manufactured information, which would fit their theory that Barry Morphew murdered his wife in a fit of rage over the affair and hid her body sometime between the afternoon of May 9 into the early morning of May 10.
The complaint goes after multiple officers personally and in their official capacities. State law enforcement organizations are also being sued.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said it would have no comment regarding the complaint and similarly, when contacted, the FBI said it "will not comment on pending litigation." A number of the investigative people named in the lawsuit did not return The Denver Gazette's request for comment.
Nearly two years ago, Chaffee County District Judge Patrick Murphy found probable cause for Morphew to be arrested on charges of first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence. Four months later, Murphy found probable cause for Morphew to stand trial on those charges.
Soon after, the 129-page arrest affidavit — which Murphy said was "by far, the lengthiest and most detailed affidavit the Court has ever seen in almost 30 years of experience with criminal cases" — was unsealed. That day, the-then-53-year-old Morphew was released from jail on $500,000 cash bail and walked out of a Chaffee County courtroom flanked by both adult daughters.
In April 2022, on the eve of Morphew's trial, the prosecution filed a motion to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning the case can be filed again.
Suzanne Morphew, 49, disappeared from the couple's Maysville home east of Salida in May 2020. Investigators have not found her remains. It was this fact that led prosecutors to the decision to dismiss the case.
"Without this crucial evidence, and without the victim's body, the People cannot move forward at this time in good faith," they wrote.
Spezze told The Denver Gazette in an earlier interview that investigators continue to look for Suzanne Morphew.
