Suzanne Morphew’s disappearance, which seemed stagnant after her husband Barry Morphew faced murder charges that were dismissed in 2022, took a significant turn when investigators found a rare compound in her remains.
Barry Morphew was taken into custody on June 20 near Phoenix, Arizona, following allegations of murdering his wife, a mother of two, who vanished on Mother’s Day in 2020. Suzanne, age 49, lived near Salida, Colorado. He has since waived his extradition hearing and is being held at the Alamosa County Jail in Colorado.
A few months after the charges against Barry were thrown out due to prosecutorial misconduct, Suzanne’s body was discovered in Sagash County, in the southwest part of Colorado, during a search in September 2023.
The indictment from the Great Ju Court dated June 20 charged Barry Morphew with first-degree murder after deliberation. When investigators located her remains, many of her bones appeared to be “substantially bleached.”
During an autopsy conducted in 2020, a deer tranquilizer known as “BAM” was found in Suzanne’s bone marrow. The chemicals butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine were also detected.
Court documents reveal that Barry used the tranquilizer to handle deer on a farm in Indiana. He was the only person in Colorado with a prescription for these tranquilizers, raising questions about access. The indictment noted that, at the time of Suzanne’s disappearance, Barry was the sole civilian with this access in that area.
Barry’s attorney, David Beller, maintained Morphew’s innocence, suggesting that the prosecution’s conclusions were predetermined. He claimed that the case’s fundamentals remain unchanged.
Colin McCullin, a former assistant district attorney in Colorado, pointed out the strong connection between Barry and deer tranquilizers. The forensic evidence from Suzanne’s autopsy showing BAM inside her body complicates the circumstances. McCullin expressed his surprise at the rarity of this compound.
Though BAM tranquilizers are highly regulated substances, often used by veterinarians, Barry’s exclusivity concerning its prescription casts further suspicion on him.
Following the autopsy announcement which confirmed the presence of BAM on April 29, 2024, it took over a year for Barry to face charges again—something McCullin attributed to the meticulous approach of the judicial system.
Eric Fadis, another Colorado lawyer, noted this evidence as crucial, although he acknowledged that the prosecution still faces substantial hurdles in building a case, given potential defense arguments and prior prosecutorial errors that impacted their approach. He expressed that any celebrations for justice are, perhaps, a bit premature.
