Overview
- A Colorado grand jury returned the indictment on June 20, charging Barry Morphew with first-degree murder nearly five years after Suzanne Morphew disappeared on Mother’s Day 2020.
- Morphew was arrested in Gilbert, Arizona, and the Twelfth Judicial District Attorney’s Office is arranging his extradition to Colorado’s San Luis Valley to face trial.
- The El Paso County Coroner ruled Suzanne’s 2023 discovery a homicide by unspecified means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication.
- Investigators found a tranquilizer rifle, darts and hypodermic equipment in the Morphew home and prescription records showing Barry was the only local private source of the BAM drug cocktail.
- After initial charges were filed in May 2021 and dismissed in April 2022 without prejudice, prosecutors leveraged new forensic and digital evidence to pursue the renewed indictment.