CHAFFEE COUNTY, Colo. — A Chaffee County man who is in custody in connection to the disappearance and murder of his wife, Suzanne Morphew, is facing additional charges in the case.
On May 5, 53-year-old Barry Morphew was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, and attempt to influence a public servant.
Additional charges were published in an updated complaint, by Chaffee County District Court, on Tuesday, May 18. Those include tampering with a deceased human body and possession of a dangerous weapon – namely, documents state, a short rifle.
In a press conference earlier this month, Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze said that although no body has been recovered, his “belief is that Suzanne is not alive at this time.”
Suzanne Morphew, 49, was reported missing over Mother’s Day Weekend in 2020. In September, her brother, Andrew Moorman, organized a massive search that covered thousands of miles and included the support of hundreds of volunteers.
“I can’t live with myself if I don’t try,” he said at the time.
As far as his thoughts on his brother-in-law, Moorman said, “I don’t feel like he’s fully cooperating with investigators. He should have taken a lie detector and a voice analysis, anything else they ask him to do. And he’s gone kinda quiet.”
However, in the days and months following Suzanne’s disappearance, Barry Morphew maintained his innocence.
“The Sheriff’s Department screwed this whole thing up from the beginning, and now they are trying to cover it up and blame it on me,” he said, during an exclusive interview with FOX21’s Lauren Scharf, in August.
Morphew hired two attorney’s Iris Eytan and Dru Nielsen. Eytan has brought more than 50 cases to trial. Nielsen just recently represented Krystal Lee Kenney, the former Idaho nurse who helped put away Patrick Frazee. Nielsen helped her get less time behind bars. They both secured an acquittal by jury in the Tom Fallis case. He was wrongfully charged with the murder of his wife in 2012.
In September, Morphew said, “I am devastated. It has crushed me that I cannot find her and don’t know what happened to her. And I understand that the FBI has to look at me because of the statistics and percentages, and I have put up with that with them.”
During multiple interviews with FOX21 News, Morphew expressed many theories as to what may have happened to Suzanne.
“My wife is probably the most beautiful woman in this county, and any bad guy would do that if they had the opportunity,” Morphew said. “How do we know somebody didn’t hit her on her bike and kill her but was on drugs or alcohol and freaked out and panicked and took her. How do we know anything because all the evidence right there is gone, Lauren.”
He was arrested, without incident nearly one year, to the day, of his wife’s disappearance. He is being held without bond in the Chaffee County Jail. Barry is expected to be in court on May 27.
