Barry Morphew, 53, was arrested earlier this month and charged with the murder of his wife who went missing on Mother’s Day 2020
A friend of a man accused of murdering his wife has said he doubts anyone would be able to find the body if he actually killed her.
The nameless friend told me The sun On Monday that Barry Morphew, 53, “knows the woods and Colorado better than anyone,” and “there’s no way in the world,” police would find the body of his wife, Suzanne.
“If he’s guilty, I doubt anyone will ever find the body,” said the friend, who didn’t mention The Sun. “He knows those forests and Colorado better than anyone else – he hunted and fished every day of his life.”
He added that the police would not be able to “ cover that much ground, ” saying he would be shocked if the police found Suzanne Morphew’s body without anyone coming up and saying, ‘Hey , this is where it is. ‘
Cadaveric dogs searched a two-acre piece of land that Barry owned in Salida in September and collected the penny of the human remains. The property has since been sold and a friend of Barry’s said he doubted the police could ever find Suzanne’s body if Barry killed her.
Morphew was charged with first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and an attempt to influence an official in his wife’s disappearance last Mother’s Day
Morphew had been arrested earlier this month by the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office and the 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, almost a year after a neighbor reported 49-year-old Suzanne missing after taking a bike ride and not returning.
Her body has still not been found.
He is charged with first degree murder, tampering with evidence and attempting to influence an official in his wife’s disappearance.
In the interview with The Sun, the friend said he was ‘shocked’ by Morphew’s arrest.
“I’m honestly shocked that they charged him with murder because you have to be missing for a year to be pronounced dead, so they didn’t have a death certificate when they arrested him,” the friend said.
“They have circumstantial evidence, I guess, but they haven’t released what they have,” he continued. “So if you have so much evidence that she’s dead, why didn’t they get a death certificate?”
The friend also claimed that neither Suzanne nor Barry were ever unfaithful.
“From an outsider’s perspective, they had a great relationship,” he said, “that’s why everyone surprised.
“They weren’t the couple I’d be worried about. I mean, it wasn’t like the police were called to his house for domestic violence or anything like that. ‘
A week after Suzanne’s disappearance, Barry made a video pleading for her safe return
Barry and Suzanne, pictured on their wedding day, were married for 26 years before Suzanne disappeared on Mother’s Day 2020
Prosecutors did not find Suzanne’s body and did not share how to sue Barry Morphew, but cited evidence of an alleged “ incident ” shortly before Suzanne’s apparent death.
A week after Suzanne’s disappearance after taking a bike ride from the luxurious log home she shared with Barry in Poncha Springs, he shot a video pleading for her safe return. He also offered a $ 200,000 reward for information.
Suzanne’s sister Melinda Moorman has said that the Morphews were under “financial pressure” and that family troubles made her “scared” the last day she was seen alive.
She said Inside Edition that her sister had texted her the Friday before her disappearance saying she was afraid of Barry.
‘It took a long time. It was very powerful. It was very revealing, ‘Moorman said of the text message. She’d been willing to share some things close to her chest. She said she was scared. ‘
Moorman also told CBS Denver that money worries put pressure on the 26-year marriage of Suzanne and Barry around the time of her disappearance.
She said, ‘I think the pressures and tensions in life, I think financial pressures are very heavy on people.
‘It creates an atmosphere of discontent and struggle and sometimes life is on a higher plane than you can.
Learning to be content with what you have is a very powerful thing in this life, and it brings great peace, and I don’t think Barry and Suzanne had gotten there yet, and that’s what I think a little bit happened and I can’t really say more than that. ‘
Suzanne ran a non-profit organization and disappeared after taking a bike ride near the house she shared with Barry last Mother’s Day. Her body has still not been found
Suzanne ran a non-profit organization, while Barry ran a landscaping business and worked as a part-time firefighter.
Throughout Wednesday’s investigation and arrest, Barry has maintained his innocence.
He claims he was in Denver for voluntary fire training when his wife disappeared.
DailyMail.com later reported that the hotel room he had stayed in smelled of bleach the next day – even though the hotel said it did not use such products to sanitize its rooms.
Barry repeatedly tried to convince the public, authorities and Suzanne’s family that he had nothing to do with his wife’s disappearance.
He has also thrown out several theories about her whereabouts, including that an animal attacked her while she was cycling, that she was in an accident on the road, or – later – that she was kidnapped by an unknown attacker.
Investigators ignored the theory that Suzanne had been attacked by an animal, saying they found a personal item – presumably a bicycle helmet – while searching along a road about 20 miles from her home.
Barry has also sued the police for ‘screwing up’ the investigation and sharing private photos and love notes between the couple in an attempt to prove his innocence.
But Morphew has also been charged with voter fraud after filing a vote for President Trump on behalf of his wife five months after she disappeared on Mother’s Day.
Authorities say there was no signature of Suzanne on the ballot paper, but listed her husband as a witness.
When questioned by an FBI agent during the vote in April, Morphew said he submitted it because he “ wanted Trump to win. ”
“I know she (Suzanne) would vote for Trump anyway,” he reportedly told the agent.
“I thought all those other guys are cheating,” he said, adding that he thought he was “going to give him one more voice.”
Morphew reportedly said he was unaware that submitting a ballot on behalf of a spouse was illegal.
“I didn’t know you couldn’t do that for your partner,” he said.
It’s not clear whether Morphew submitted the vote because he wanted Trump to win or to make it look like his wife was still alive.
TIMELINE OF SUZANNE MORPHEW’S DISAPPEARANCE
May 8, 2020: Suzanne was last seen by locals in her hometown of Salida, Colorado
May 10th: Suzanne is reported missing after her daughters, Mallory and Macy, return from a camping trip in Idaho and have been unable to connect with their mother. Police theorize that Suzanne left on a solo bike ride because her bike was missing from her house. Her husband, Barry, is reportedly out of town at the time. Her bike was discovered a short distance from her $ 1.5 million home the same day.
11 May: Police are launching a large-scale search in the rural areas around Salida, complete with drones and cadaveric dogs. Suzanne is nowhere to be seen
15 May: A personal item belonging to Suzanne – presumably her bicycle helmet – is discovered a short distance from her home
May 17: Barry Morphew releases a public video tearfully begging Suzanne to come home and offering a $ 100,000 reward for her safe return
May 19: Investigators confiscate Morphew’s home to thoroughly search the property. They are seen leaving the premises with evidence bags. The house is later returned to the family
May 22nd: Investigators conduct a three-day search at a riverside property about 12 miles from Barry and Suzanne’s home. Barry reportedly completed the landscaping work in the home shortly before Suzanne’s disappearance
10th of July: Police are searching Morphew’s house a second time and seizing more evidence of the property
August 11: Barry gives his first interview since Suzanne’s disappearance. He insists he has nothing to do with her mysterious disappearance
September 3: Barry’s colleagues reveal that he spent the night before Suzanne’s disappearance in a cheap Denver hotel and left the room reeked of chlorine
September 24: Suzanne’s brother, Andy Moorman, starts his own six-day quest to find his sister, saying he believes she was ‘murdered’.
14 October: Barry shares old photos and love letters from Suzanne to prove his innocence
November 18: Suzanne’s father, Gene Moorman, dies. Suzanne is ‘presumed dead’ in his obituary
March 5, 2021: Barry and Suzanne’s $ 1.5 million house in Salida will be sold on the market after six months
May 5, 2021: Barry is arrested on charges of murdering Suzanne
This content was originally published here.
