ARIZONA — Barry Morphew, a Colorado man charged with murdering his wife Suzanne in 2020 after she was reported missing in Chaffee County, was living with a woman in Arizona and using a fake name when he was re-arrested in the summer of 2025.
An arrest report from the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) also states that the Colorado Bureau of Investigation asked the department to keep track of Barry Morphew’s movements in the months leading up to his arrest.
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Scripps News Denver Investigates obtained the arrest report through its media partners at ABC15 in Phoenix and verified it through Arizona DPS.
According to the report, CBI had contacted Arizona DPS in February to provide information on Barry Morphew and to ask for assistance in “monitoring his whereabouts in Arizona.”
On June 18, CBI informed Arizona DPS that they were anticipating a grand jury indictment and that a warrant may be issued for Morphew’s arrest. That evening, Arizona DPS received the warrant, which included a $3 million bond and nationwide extradition back to Colorado.
They also received a warrant to place a GPS tracking device on his truck.
CBI Agent in Charge Gregg Slater went to Arizona for the arrest, according to the report.
Barry Morphew was arrested June 20 during a traffic stop.
The woman, who Scripps News Denver Investigates is not identifying because she is not charged with a crime, told police that Morphew told her his name was Lee Moore. They had met in late December 2024 and he moved in with her in May 2025.
Five days before the arrest, the woman said Barry Morphew told her his real name and that his wife “had been abducted in Colorado.”
Police searched her home and took Barry Morphew’s safe back to the police department. Inside the safe was an AR-15-style rifle and a silencer.
Barry Morphew’s attorney declined to comment on the report. Barry Morphew is due in court Wednesday for a status conference.
He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in January.
Background on the disappearance of Suzanne Morphew
Suzanne Morphew, Barry Morphew’s wife, was 49 when she disappeared and had been missing since May 10, 2020, Mother’s Day, from the Maysville area in Chaffee County. A neighbor called 911 to report that she had gone for a bike ride and never returned.
Investigators started rigorous searches in the area and created a tip line.
Barry Morphew and a family friend said they were offering $200,000 for her safe return. Her bike and helmet were both found, but there was no sign of Suzanne. Investigators obtained DNA evidence from the bike, helmet and Suzanne’s vehicle.
Based on phone data, investigators said that Barry’s cell phone showed that around the time his wife went missing, he turned onto a highway and passed where her bike helmet was ultimately found before turning around to go to work, according to his arrest affidavit.
He told authorities he was following an elk.
Barry Morphew spoke with investigators and did not admit to any wrongdoing.
CBI forensic analysis determined that an unknown male DNA on the bike helmet, bike, Suzanne Morphew’s car’s glovebox and the backseat of the car did not belong to Barry Morphew.
That DNA was later determined to partially match DNA found in three out-of-state unsolved sexual assault investigations.
In late April 2021, CBI learned that the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office was going to arrest Barry, which was strongly opposed by two CBI agents, who cited the need for more forensic testing and evidence collection.
According to the Motion for Discovery, the head of the Major Crimes Division of CBI reached out to the sheriff to advise against arresting Barry Morphew. The CBI director communicated the same afterward.
Almost a year after Suzanne Morphew disappeared, Barry Morphew was arrested on May 5, 2021 on multiple charges, including first-degree murder.
Barry Morphew also faced charges of tampering with physical evidence, attempting to influence a public servant, tampering with a deceased human body, and possession of a dangerous weapon.
Barry Morphew pleaded not guilty to the charges. At the time of his arrest, the Chaffee County sheriff said he did not believe Suzanne was alive and they were not searching for any other suspects.
In a separate case, Barry was also charged with forgery after he allegedly submitted a mail ballot in his wife's name. He later pleaded guilty to forgery of a government-issued document in July 2022 and received a one-year deferred sentence and community service.
Scripps News Denver covered each day of Barry Morphew's preliminary hearing in August 2021. In total, the hearing included 20 hours of testimony and included enough evidence for the murder case to go to trial, Chaffee County Judge Patrick Murphy ruled in September 2021.
Prosecutors had argued that Barry Morphew discovered his wife was having an affair, then killed her, disposed of her body and staged a bike crash in a rural area.
The judge ruled on Sept. 17, 2021 that the case would go to trial. He also set a cash-only bond for $500,000.
Three days later, Barry Morphew was released on that bond and his 130-page arrest affidavit, which detailed the allegations into why he was arrested in connection with his wife's disappearance and alleged death, was made available to the public.
The affidavit was authored on May 4, 2021.
A little more than a week after Barry Morphew’s September 2021 release from jail, a woman who was suspected of having a relationship with Barry was arrested on a trespassing charge after allegedly entering the property of where the Morphews used to live.
The woman was later arrested and identified as Shoshona L. Darke of Salida. She faced a charge of second-degree trespassing.
In October 2021, Judge Murphy disqualified himself from that case, citing that one of the individuals representing Shoshona had a longtime friendship with the judge, which included their time in high school.
As a result of that move, Judge Murphy announced in December 2021 that he had also granted the motion to disqualify himself from the Morphew case due to a friendship with a possible witness's attorney.
In early January 2022, Judge Ramsey L. Lama was appointed to take over the case.
According to documents obtained by Scripps News Denver in October 2021, attorneys representing Barry Morphew said they intended to sue prosecutors and investigators for what they claim was unlawful arrest, malicious prosecution, and defamation.
Attorneys said investigators omitted crucial evidence in the case, including DNA evidence from an alleged sex offender, and engaged in “extreme and outrageous conduct.”
They said they intended to file a lawsuit against 26 individuals associated with the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office, the 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the Colorado Bureau of Investigations, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
The documents indicated the attorneys alleged DNA evidence found in the glovebox of Suzanne Morphew’s car matched “the same profile as a single or multiple individuals across the country involved in sexual assault cases,” and said that after a year of having the evidence, Chaffee County Deputy District Attorney Jeff Lindsey followed up on an individual in Phoenix who appeared to match the DNA profile found on Suzanne’s glovebox, but the Arizona individual refused to cooperate and retained a lawyer.
As the case moved from the investigation stage into the courtroom, it gained more and more local and national attention, media coverage and negative pretrial publicity, according to an order.
As a result of this, the court decided on Feb. 1, 2022 Barry Morphew could not receive a fair trial in Chaffee County, and the case was moved to Fremont County. The case was set to stay in the 11th Judicial District.
About a week after the announcement that the trial would move counties, Barry Morphew's defense team filed a motion to dismiss the first-degree murder case against him, noting that an investigator had recently called the arrest "premature."
His attorneys claimed the remarks made by CBI Agent Joseph Cahill during a Dec. 2, 2021 internal affairs interview were grounds to dismiss the case. Cahill worked on the investigation shortly after Suzanne went missing.
In the defense’s motion, attorneys claimed that Cahill said Barry’s arrest was premature and the “worst” decision that could be made.
On April 19, 2022, a Fremont County judge granted the prosecution's motion to dismiss the murder case against Barry. The motion asked the court to dismiss the charges without prejudice, meaning he could be tried again if prosecutors refile charges.
After this motion was granted, Barry's defense attorney Iris Eytan said there had not been "a single ounce" of physical evidence connecting Barry Morphew to Suzanne Morphew's death. She said her team was going to get Barry Morphew acquitted after a trial.
The two Morphew daughters, who were 20 and 16 at the time of Suzanne Morphew's disappearance, said their father isn’t a killer and celebrated the dismissal of the case.
In mid-April 2023, Barry's attorney, Eytan, called for an investigation into the 11th Judicial District Attorney and the six other prosecutors in that office, citing a pattern of unethical conduct.
Eytan filed a complaint March 29 with the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation asking for discipline for District Attorney Linda Stanley and the other prosecutors who worked on the murder case against Barry.
About two weeks later, Barry Morphew filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in early May 2023 seeking $15 million over his arrest and first-degree murder charge in 2021.
In the 185-page suit, he claimed his Constitutional rights were violated by the defendants and that his arrest affidavit included false and misleading information and, as a result, he was wrongly held in jail for about five months.
A few weeks later, in an interview with “Good Morning America,” Barry Morphew said authorities in Colorado have been wrong to focus on him as the person responsible for the death of his wife.
Suzanne’s remains were found in September 2023 in Saguache County.
The autopsy report confirmed her death was a homicide after a mix of powerful sedatives and an opioid painkiller was detected in her system.
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