Barry Morphew husband of missing Suzanne Morphew, Chafee County, Colorado wife and mom, charged with first degree murder of woman.
The husband of Colorado mom Suzanne Morphew, who went missing on Mother’s Day last year, was on Wednesday charged with first-degree murder in her disappearance.
Barry Morphew was taken into custody and charged by the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office, Fox News 21 reported.
Morphew, 52, is charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence and attempting to influence a public servant, KKTV said in a report. Authorities have scheduled a press conference later on the day.
‘I can confirm that Mr. Morphew has been arrested and I recommend you reach out to Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office for details,’ Courtney Bernal, a spokesperson for the Denver FBI office told KKTV.
‘The FBI continues to work with the Chaffee County SO, the 11th District Attorney’s Office, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.’
‘Honey, I love you and I want you back so bad,’
Morphew had been under suspicion in the case but insisted he was innocent.
‘My first reaction was relief,’ the missing woman’s sister, Melinda Moorman, told Fox News. ‘And grateful. I’m just so grateful.’
‘Today, justice is beginning for my sister,’ she said. ‘It’s been a journey that no one ever imagines that they’ll take.’
Suzanne Morphew, 49, was reported missing by a neighbor after failing to return from a bike ride on May 10, 2020, while her husband was allegedly away on business.
Her bike was found near a bridge close to the home the couple shared with their two children.
The missing woman’s husband launched a campaign to find his wife shortly after her disappearance, including using Facebook to ask for help.
‘Honey, I love you and I want you back so bad,’ the emotional husband was heard saying in posted video (see directly below).
He offered a $100,000 reward for her return and took part in massive efforts to locate his wife — or her body. The couple were parents to two teen girls.
No body was ever found.
Barry has long maintained his innocence, but his behavior has increasingly come under the spotlight and Suzanne’s brother Andrew Moorman said he suspected his brother-in-law abducted and murdered his sister.
Hotel room smelling of chlorine
Of disconcert were reports that Barry left a Denver hotel room scrubbed clean and smelling like chlorine the evening prior to Suzanne Morphew’s disappearance.
That disclosure came from Jeff Puckett, a co-worker of Barry Morphew who said he was summoned to the hotel to work on a project with him.
However, Puckett waited for two days and never met with Barry Morphew, nor did he ever work on the contracting job he was summoned for, he said.
Instead, he said he found a pile of mail in the room — including correspondence from an insurance company — and said ‘the room smelled like chlorine real bad.’
‘It was kind of weird,’ Puckett said. ‘My first thought was that this must be an alibi. That’s what it felt like.’
