The Colorado Bureau of Investigation on Monday said Suzanne Morphew, a mom of two who went missing almost four years ago on Mother’s Day in 2020, died by homicide “in the setting of” drug intoxication.
Authorities announced last year that Morphew’s remains were located in the area of Moffat, Colorado, in Saguache County — about 45 miles south of her home in Maysville, Colorado, where the 49-year-old mother was reported missing on May 10, 2020.
The Caffee County Medical Examiner determined that Morphew’s homicide occurred “by undetermined means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication.”
“The Colorado Bureau of Investigation and our law enforcement partners understand and appreciate the public interest surrounding this case, “said CBI Director Chris Schaefer. “The investigative team assembled to work this case continues to follow the evidence and only the evidence as we seek justice for Suzanne’s death.”
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Morphew’s remains were not “found anywhere in the vicinity of her home, the town nearby, or the county she lived in,” attorney Iris Eytan, who represents Morphew’s husband, Barry Morphew, and his family, said in an October 2023 statement.
“[H]er remains were found in a shallow grave in a dry desert field of sagebrush and natural grasses. Contrary to prior accusations, her remains were not found in a rocky mountainous region near her home, not in a location that was a ‘difficult spot’ to get to,” Eytan said at the time.
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Morphew’s bicycle was discovered in a ravine along Highway 50 and County Road 225 in Chaffee County, near her family’s Maysville home the same day she went missing. Barry said he was working in Broomfield, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, at the time.
Barry was initially accused of killing his wife when he was charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence in 2021 in connection with her disappearance and presumed death.
A year later, prosecutors dropped charges against Barry, saying they wanted more time to find his wife’s body. A judge accused 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley of procedural violations just before Barry was set to stand trial.
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Barry’s legal team filed a $15 million lawsuit against prosecutors and investigators in 2023, accusing them of violating his constitutional rights.
Investigators never found any traces of blood near the Morphew home in Maysville or in their family vehicles. Investigators did, however, find a partial DNA profile on Suzanne Morphew’s glovebox, which matched profiles developed in sexual assault cases out of Chicago, Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona, CBI agent Joseph Cahill said during a hearing in 2021, as The Denver Post reported. Barry’s DNA did not match that sample, his lawyers told KUSA-TV at the time.
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Text messages from Suzanne and Barry that were unsealed in June 2023 suggest they were both having affairs just before her disappearance.
Four days before her disappearance, Suzanne sent Barry a text saying she was “done.” “I could care less what you’re up to and have been for years,” she wrote, adding that they needed to figure things out “civilly.”
No other arrests have been made in the case. The charges against Barry Morphew were dismissed without prejudice, so prosecutors can still decide to pursue charges against him. CBI continues to investigate Suzanne’s homicide.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about the case to contact (719) 312-7530.
