Colorado mom who went missing in 2020 died by homicide, autopsy says

A missing Colorado girl whose frame was once found out in September died by murder, with medication continuously used as animal tranquilizers in her gadget, an autopsy file concluded.

Suzanne Morphew, who vanished in May 2020, “died as a result of homicide by unspecified means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication,” in step with the El Paso County Coroner file, received Monday by NBC News.

“The drugs are marketed as a compound injectable chemical immobilizer for wildlife providing pharmacologically reversible analgesia, sedation, and immobilization,” the file said.

Morphew’s frame was once discovered in September close to town of Moffat, in step with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which mentioned companies investigating her dying are acutely aware of the file.

“The investigative staff assembled to paintings this example continues to apply the proof and simplest the proof as we search justice for Suzanne’s dying,” Chris Schaefer, the bureau’s director, said in a statement.

Her husband, Barry Morphew, 56, was charged with murder, but the case was dismissed without prejudice in April 2022, roughly a week before trial, at the request of prosecutors.

A dismissal without prejudice allows prosecutors to refile against a previous defendant when they believe evidence supports it. The Chaffee County Attorney’s Office, which filed the initial case against the husband, did not respond to a request for comment.

Barry Morphew was also charged with tampering with a deceased human body, tampering with physical evidence, possession of a dangerous weapon and attempted influence of a public servant following his wife’s disappearance. 

Prosecutors said the mother-of-two planned a bike ride near Maysville on Mother’s Day in 2020 but was murdered with the help of a tranquilizer gun. They alleged Barry Morphew was the only person with a motive to kill her: She was having an affair, believed he was too and planned to divorce him, authorities said.

Prosecutors said in court that four days before she was reported missing, Morphew sent her husband a text message that read, “I’m completed.”

While the case was rooted in what prosecutors painted as a disintegrating relationship, Judge Patrick Murphy, the Chaffee County jurist presiding in the preliminary hearing in 2022, said it was possible someone else killed Morphew. He noted that DNA found on the glove box of her SUV could be tied to sexual assault evidence in cases in Arizona and Illinois.

Barry Morphew pleaded not guilty and has steadfastly denied he had anything to do with his wife’s disappearance or demise.

One year ago, he filed a $15 million lawsuit against prosecutors, Colorado Bureau of Investigation employees and FBI employees for allegedly violating his civil rights by pursuing him, prosecuting him and, in the case of prosecutors, dropping the case.

A lawyer for Barry Morphew, Iris Eytan, suggested Monday that the autopsy report’s findings on animal tranquilizers may be consistent with remains found in rural Colorado, given the prevalence of hunting and ranching in the state.

“The medication are not unusual use in Colorado with hunters and ranchers — and [Colorado] Parks and Wildlife,” she said by email. Eytan called on investigators to find who may have prescribed them.

Morphew would were 53 on Tuesday, her birthday.