DENVER (AP) — The husband of a woman who disappeared on Mother's Day 2020 appeared in court in Colorado on Tuesday for the first time since being charged again with murder in her death.
Barry Morphew June 20 in Arizona after being newly indicted in the death of Suzanne Morphew, three years after the initial case against him was dropped because of prosecutorial issues with evidence.
Authorities announced Monday that he had arrived at the jail in the small southern Colorado city of Alamosa, not far from where Suzanne Morphew's off a dirt road in September 2023.
Morphew, wearing an orange and white jail uniform, sat next to his two attorneys, David Beller and Jane Fisher-Byrialsen, at the defense table for the approximately 30-minute hearing before Chief Judge Amanda Hopkins. Morphew waived his right to be advised of his legal rights and was not asked to speak. Much of the hearing was focused on requests made by his lawyers, such as making sure they are given all evidence in the case and their objection to the judge allowing a television camera in court.
Suzanne Morphew's remains were discovered accidentally as authorities were searching for another missing woman a year after prosecutors dropped their initial prosecution of Morphew.
A 2024 autopsy report said Suzanne Morphew died of “unspecified means†but ruled her death a homicide. While her remains showed no signs of trauma, investigators found in her bone marrow a drug cocktail used to tranquilize wildlife that her husband had a prescription for, according to the indictment.
Barry Morphew has maintained his innocence since his wife disappeared.
Beller and Fisher-Byrialsen did not return telephone and email messages seeking comment. Beller has previously criticized prosecutors for allowing “their predetermined conclusion to lead their search for evidence.â€
At Morphew’s request, Hopkins agreed to appoint the state-funded public defender’s office to represent him because he is in jail. However, Beller said the state public defender’s office has a conflict of interest preventing it from representing Morphew and he expects Fisher-Byrialsen and himself to ultimately be appointed to represent Morphew by another state office that pays private attorneys to defend people who can’t be represented by the public defender’s office.
Morphew, who owned a landscaping company when his wife disappeared, was represented by a different private attorney the first time he was prosecuted.
Morphew sold the family home in the mountains near Salida, Colorado, for $1.6 million in 2021. According to jail records, Morphew is self-employed and his home address is in Noplesville, Indiana.
The mystery surrounding Suzanne Morphew began when the 49-year-old mother of two daughters was reported missing on Mother’s Day 2020.
Her mountain bike and helmet were found in separate spots not far from her home, but investigators suspected the bike was purposefully thrown into a ravine because there were no indications of a crash. A week after his wife went missing, Barry Morphew posted a video on Facebook pleading for her safe return and the case quickly drew attention.
In May 2021, prosecutors charged him with murder. They subsequently in 2022 just as Morphew was about to stand trial.
A judge had barred prosecutors from calling key witnesses after the attorneys repeatedly failed to follow rules for turning over evidence in Morphew’s favor.
The latest case is being prosecuted by a different prosecutor in a separate judicial district where Suzanne Morphew's remains were found, a rural area about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of the Morphews’ home.
Investigators found at the site a port through which Suzanne Morphew could receive medicine to treat follicular lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that she had. They also found biking clothes similar to what she was known to wear.
Based on the condition of the remains and clothes, a forensic anthropologist theorized that the body likely decomposed elsewhere before being moved to the site, according to Morphew's new indictment.
