Latest news with #ChaffeeCountySheriff'sOffice
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Yahoo
The missing person case that gripped Colorado
The case of a Colorado woman who disappeared on Mother's Day in 2020 that drew the attention of true crime podcasters across the country and programs like '48 Hours' is back in the news. A grand jury in the state's Twelfth Judicial District returned an indictment last week charging Barry Morphew, 57, with the first-degree murder of his wife, Suzanne Morphew. This is the second time Barry Morphew has been charged in the death of his wife. Prosecutors dropped the charges in 2022 without prejudice, meaning they could be refiled. 'Federal, state and local law enforcement have never stopped working toward justice for Suzanne,' Twelfth Judicial District Attorney Anne Kelly said in a statement. 'The Twelfth Judicial District Attorney's Office stands in solidarity with Suzanne's family and the citizens of Chaffee and Saguache counties in pursuing the grand jury's indictment.' Investigators had not found Suzanne Morphew's body the first time Barry Morphew was charged. The investigation captivated the central Colorado community of about 20,000 people, generating more than 1,400 tips and involving 70 officers from the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office, Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI. 'Cold-case homicides are tremendously difficult. They're difficult for the families of the victims and the communities who wait patiently for answers. While it may seem at times that the world forgets about these victims, I can assure you that my law enforcement partners and Colorado's law enforcement community do not forget,' Kelly said at a news conference last week. A neighbor reported Suzanne Morphew missing to police at 5:46 p.m. on May 10, 2020. The last known person to see her alive was her husband, according to the indictment. Barry Morphew told police that she was still asleep in bed when he left their home near Salida at 5 a.m. that morning for a pre-planned work trip in Broomfield where he checked into a hotel. Investigators say he spent little time at the job site during the day. 'Instead, besides two brief visits to the job site area, electronic evidence and cameras from businesses showed him driving around to various locations and discarding unknown items in separate trash cans,' according to the indictment. Per the indictment, Barry Morphew deleted a May 6 text chain with Suzanne Morphew, though a screen shot of one message from her remained reading, 'I'm done. I could care less what you're up to and have been for years. We just need to figure this out civilly.' Suzanne Morphew's last known communication was a text message sent at 2:11 p.m. on May 9 to a man out of state with whom she was having an affair. Barry Morphew arrived home about a half hour after the message was sent and his cell phone was turned off for the next nearly eight hours, the indictment says. The neighbor called Barry Morphew around 5 p.m. on May 10 and told him that his daughters were concerned because they couldn't reach Suzanne Morphew on her cell phone all day, according to the indictment. He told the neighbor to check the house and look for her bike. When they couldn't find her or the bike, he told the neighbor to call the sheriff. Officers responded to the home 45 minutes later. The home was locked, Suzanne Morphew and her bike were gone. Her bike was located less than a mile from the house and her bike helmet was found a mile and a half away from the house just off a highway. In September 2023, Suzanne Morphew's remains were found in and around a shallow grave in Saguache County, Colorado near Highway 17, less than an hour south of her home. The majority of her bones were recovered and were 'significantly bleached,' according to the indictment. In addition to her bones, police recovered a cancer port and items of clothing, including biking clothes Suzanne was known to wear. But, according to the indictment, a forensic anthropologist determined that it was unlikely her body decomposed at that site and the decomposition was 'inconsistent' with her wearing the bike clothing at the time. During an autopsy, the El Paso County coroner's office found the presence of a chemical mixture known as BAM — butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine in Suzanne Morphew's remains. It listed her manner and cause of death as: 'Homicide by unspecified means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine intoxication.' According to the indictment, Barry Morphew used BAM to sedate and transport deer on his farm in Indiana prior to moving to Colorado in 2018. He also used BAM in Colorado as recently as April 2020, to tranquilize a deer in the breezeway of his home. Records show Barry Morphew last bought a BAM prescription in March 2018 and no other private citizens or private businesses in any of the surrounding counties had purchased the drugs from 2017-2020, the indictment says. 'Ultimately, the prescription records show that when Suzanne Morphew disappeared, only one private citizen living in that entire area of the state had access to BAM: Barry Morphew.' Barry Morphew's attorney said the new case isn't unlike the previous one. 'Yet again, the government allows their predetermined conclusion to lead their search for evidence,' said attorney David Beller in a statement, per Colorado Public Radio. 'Barry maintains his innocence. The case has not changed and the outcome will not either.' An attorney who represented Barry Morphew also continues to believe he is innocent. 'Not only is he a loving father, but he was a loving husband,' said Iris Eytan, who defended him in 2021. 'I've handled thousands of cases, and I've never seen prosecutors mishandle a case so recklessly. This case was fumbled so terribly, three prosecutors were penalized. After Barry's case was rightly dismissed, I dedicated the second half of my career to ensure what happened to Barry doesn't happen to another innocent person,' she told Colorado Public Radio. A state disciplinary board disbarred Colorado's 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley in November 2024 for actions she took in the Morphew case, including making improper statements to the media that it said 'threatened to prejudice the defendant and undermine the public's interest in justice,' per The Washington Post. The board also said Stanley did not supervise the prosecution of the case properly. The Morphew's children have stood by their father. Barry Morphew sued the district attorney for malicious prosecution, a case that was dismissed by a federal judge who found that while the original prosecution was flawed, it wasn't malicious, per Colorado Public Radio.
USA Today
21-06-2025
- USA Today
Colorado man arrested again in wife's murder, three years after charges dropped
A Colorado man was arrested again in connection with the murder of his wife years after previous charges were dropped, according to authorities. A grand jury indicted Barry Morphew on a charge of first-degree murder on Wednesday, June 18. He was taken into custody in Arizona on Friday, June 20, according to the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office. In 2021, Morphew was charged with first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence after his wife Suzanne went missing on Mother's Day 2020. Those charges were later dropped in April 2022 before his trial date and a year before her remains were found. The charges were dropped without prejudice, leaving room for prosecutors to charge him in the future with new evidence. "Federal, State and local law enforcement have never stopped working toward justice for Suzanne," Twelfth Judicial District Attorney Anne Kelly said in a news release. Officials plan to extradite Morphew, whose bail price has been set at $3 million, to the San Luis Valley in Colorado where he will face charges. It's unclear why he was in Arizona at the time of the Friday arrest. "Yet again, the government allows their predetermined conclusion to lead their search for evidence," Morphew's attorney David Beller told USA TODAY in a statement. "Barry maintains his innocence. The case has not changed and the outcome will not, either." Suzanne's remains found after three year search Suzanne Morphew, 49, was last seen on Mother's Day, May 10, 2020 in Maysville, Colorado after leaving her home for a bike ride. Neighbors reported the mother of two missing that same day, according to the indictment, which states her husband was the last person to see her alive. Barry Morphew was the only other occupant in their home, as their daughter was out of state on a road trip, the indictment states. Suzanne's mountain bike was found near the home later that evening and her helmet was found in a different spot nearby a few days later. A search for Suzanne went on for over three years until Sept. 22, 2023, when human remains were found in a shallow clandestine grave in Saguache just few hundred feet down a dirt road, the indictment states. The majority of her bones were found. A 2024 autopsy found drugs typically used to tranquilize animals in her system. It was determined she died by homicide. The indictment also cites a deleted text chain with Suzanne found on Morphew's phone during a forensic download. A single text message from Suzanne on May 6, 2020 read: "I'm done. I could care less what you're up to and have been for years. We just need to figure this out civilly." Morphew has repeatedly denied involvement The initial charges against Morphew were dropped after a judge barred prosecutors from calling most of their key witnesses, USA TODAY previously reported. The judge said prosecutors failed to properly overturn evidence including DNA found in Suzanne's SUV from an unknown male linked to other sexual assault cases in different states, raising the possibility of another suspect. Morphew has heavily denied having anything to do with her disappearance. In May 2023, he filed a $15 million lawsuit against prosecutors and investigators, accusing them of violating his constitutional rights. That same month, he spoke with ABC News, saying it was beyond hurtful to see his reputation and integrity battered by the accusations. He also insisted that prosecutors and investigators are too ignorant to look at other suspects and knew it was a possibility for him to be charged again one day. "They're wrong. They got tunnel vision. They looked at one person and they got too much pride to say they're wrong and look somewhere else," he told ABC News. "I was innocent the first time they arrested me so I'm sure it's possible (to be arrested again) but I don't have anything to worry about. I've done nothing wrong." Contributing: Vanessa Arredondo and Elinor Aspegren, USA TODAY
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
Chaffee County: Man left hotel after tear gas used
(CHAFFEE COUNTY, Colo.) — The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) said a deputy on routine patrol located a wanted suspect, causing a brief chase before the suspect was located days later at a hotel, leading to a tactical team response. According to CCSO, on Saturday, April 19, at around 5:30 p.m., a deputy was performing routine patrol on Highway 24 east of Johnson's Village when he got a safety notification from a stationary license plate reader in the Flock camera system. The system informed the deputy that the owner of a vehicle with multiple warrants for his arrest was seen heading eastbound on Trout Creek Pass. License plate readers help law enforcement tackle crime The deputy was able to find the car on Trout Creek Pass and tried to initiate a traffic stop, however, the driver of the car refused to stop, and the deputy pursued the vehicle towards Park County for several minutes. However, due to the driver's erratic and dangerous driving, the pursuit was called off after the deputy got a good look at the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle was identified as 43-year-old Rowland Miller from Denver, the same person who was allegedly wanted for the warrants. Over the next several days, CCSO investigations and the patrol division worked with the U.S. Marshal's Office to find Miller. On Wednesday, April 24, the team was able to find Miller at a hotel in the Johnson's Village area on Highway 24. CCSO said deputies tried to make contact with Miller in his hotel room, but he refused to exit. The Chaffee County Combined Tactical Team was called to assist with Miller's arrest. According to CCSO, tear gas was deployed, and Miller eventually left the building and surrendered without further incident. Miller is being held in the Chaffee County Jail on several bonds: No bond felony parole violation fugitive of justice warrant $1,000 bond misdemeanor warrant out of Chaffee County $500 bond traffic offense warrant out of Boulder $5,000 bond warrant out of Chaffee County for vehicular eluding and reckless driving. 'Our investigations, patrol, and tactical teams remained determined to take Miller into custody. Although they had to let him go a few days earlier to ensure no innocent motorists were injured, they did not give up. Our team was unwavering in their pursuit to ensure that Miller was held accountable for his actions and did so, because of their exceptional training, without loss of life or injury,' said Sheriff Andy Rohrich. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
