Overview

• A Colorado grand jury in the Twelfth Judicial District returned a first-degree murder indictment on June 18 after reviewing fresh forensic analysis of Suzanne Morphew’s remains.
• Forensic tests detected BAM—a veterinary tranquilizer combining butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine—in Suzanne’s bone marrow during an initial 2020 autopsy.
• Prosecutors say prescription records show Barry Morphew was the only private individual in the Salida area authorized to possess BAM when his wife vanished on Mother’s Day 2020.
• Morphew was arrested near Phoenix on June 20, waived extradition and is currently held at Alamosa County Jail ahead of his first court appearance.
• Defense attorney David Beller asserts Morphew’s innocence and plans to challenge what he calls circumstantial evidence and investigators’ predetermined conclusions.