Suzanne Morphew's death was a homicide, coroner determines

DENVER — Suzanne Morphew, the missing Chaffee County woman whose remains were discovered in September in Saguache County, died by homicide and a cocktail of drugs were found in her body, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

The CBI announced the manner of death Monday morning, saying investigators determined she died by “homicide by undetermined means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine intoxication.” Azaperone is used in veterinary medicine.

“The Colorado Bureau of Investigation and our law enforcement partners understand and appreciate the public interest surrounding this case,” CBI Director Chris Schaefer said in a news release. “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.”

Her autopsy report results were shared with family before they were announced Monday.

Suzanne Morphew, 49, disappeared from her home in Maysville in May 2020. Her husband, Barry Morphew, 56, was charged with her murder in 2021, and prosecutors dropped all charges against him in 2022. He’s maintained his innocence and filed a $15 million lawsuit against prosecutors in early 2023, alleging a malicious prosecution.

Suzanne Morphew’s body was not found until September 2023, when Colorado Bureau of Investigation agents discovered her remains near Moffat in Saguache County, about a 45-minute drive from the family’s home in Maysville, where she was last seen alive.

The 12th Judicial District Attorney Anne Kelly is now working with investigators in the case.

In the dropped murder case against Barry Morphew, prosecutors with 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley’s office alleged Barry Morphew killed his wife on the evening of May 9, 2020, after discovering her nearly 2-year extramarital affair, then disposed of her body and staged a bike crash before leaving early the next day to work in Broomfield. Morphew maintained he left his wife asleep in bed on the morning she disappeared and has argued she was abducted or ran away.

The couple’s marriage was deeply troubled before Suzanne Morphew disappeared. She spoke to a close friend about divorce and said she did not feel safe alone with her husband. Prosecutors said Barry Morphew’s behavior on the day his wife disappeared was suspicious: he visited five different dumpsters and trash cans around Broomfield and deposited items. He later said he couldn’t remember what he’d thrown away.

Morphew also had scratches on his arm that appeared to be from fingernails, and the doors of his truck opened and closed around 3:30 a.m. on May 10, 2020. He did not report his wife missing; a neighbor started the search that eventually led to the discovery of Suzanne Morphew’s bike at the bottom of a steep ditch on County Road 225 and her helmet nearly a mile away.

Morphew’s defense attorneys focused on male DNA found on the glovebox of Suzanne Morphew’s car that corresponded with partial DNA profiles found in three unsolved sexual assaults in different states. They pointed out that dogs trained to smell decomposing bodies did not alert to such evidence in Barry Morphew’s truck, and criticized the investigation into her disappearance as biased, flawed and too focused on Barry Morphew as the only suspect. The couple’s daughters stood by their father throughout the case.

Prosecutors never said exactly how they believed Suzanne Morphew died. Investigators did not find her blood in their house or in Barry Morphew’s truck. Prosecutors focused a tranquilizer gun and empty darts found in the home, but never explicitly claimed that was how Suzanne was killed. She was messaging her paramour on the afternoon of May 9, 2020, about being in love with him.

Stanley dropped all charges against Barry Morphew in April 2022 after prosecutors egregiously violated discovery rules and then-Fremont County District Court Judge Ramsey Lama blocked the prosecution from using most of its expert witnesses at trial as punishment.

At the time, prosecutors wrote in court filings they believed Suzanne Morphew’s body was hidden in a mountainous region. It was not.