The death of Colorado mom Suzanne Morphew, who disappeared on Mother’s Day 2020, has been ruled a homicide.
Morphew was 49 when she disappeared. Her body was found in rural south central Colorado in September 2023.
Medical examiners determined Morphew died by “homicide by undetermined means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication,” the Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced Monday. The three drugs are typically used together in wildlife tranquilizers.
Police said they found a tranquilizer dart gun in the Morphew family home in Salida when they first investigated Suzanne’s disappearance.
Barry Morphew, Suzanne’s husband, was arrested in May 2021 and charged with Suzanne’s murder, but the charges were dropped in April 2022, about a week before his trial was scheduled to begin.
In filing for the case to be dismissed, prosecutors admitted they were slow to turn over evidence that could have benefitted Morphew. The evidence included DNA found on the glove box in Suzanne’s SUV that matched an unknown man linked to sexual assault cases in other states. Barry Morphew and the man Suzanne Morphew was having an affair with, Jeff Libler, were excluded from that DNA sample.
“The Morphews have prayed the authorities would remove their blinders and not only find Suzanne but find the suspect responsible for her disappearance and murder,” Barry Morphew’s attorney Iris Eytan said Monday in a statement.
Barry Morphew was the last known person to see Suzanne alive on May 10, 2020. Suzanne’s bike and bike helmet were eventually found in two separate places, far from where her remains were located.
After three years of searching, cops found Suzanne Morphew’s remains near the tiny town of Moffat, Colo., about 40 miles south of Salida and 130 miles southwest of Denver. Police were working on an unrelated case when they stumbled across the remains.
With News Wire Services
