307: SHADY: Did He Tranquilize and Then Murder His Wife? | Barry Morphew & Suzanne Morphew

This week on Serialously with Annie Elise, dive into the shocking new developments in the Barry and Suzanne Morphew case, just as the investigation takes a stunning turn. Nearly five years after Suzanne vanished on Mother’s Day, Barry Morphew has been re-indicted for her murder, and newly unsealed evidence is painting an even darker picture. From the discovery of Suzanne’s remains to bombshell forensic findings to disturbing details suggesting her body may have been moved, Annie breaks down everything prosecutors are now revealing…🚩Announcements🚩Enter to Win 2 Tickets to CrimeCon! 🎟️🕵️‍♀️https://tinyurl.com/AECrimeCon🔎Join Our True Crime Club & Get Exclusive Content & Perks 🔎 Join The Club: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to EXTRA deep dive episodes every week on Apple!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serialously-with-annie-elise/id1519456164🚩Announcements🚩Want to Catch Annie LIVE on Tour? 🎤 🎟Grab your tickets now for a city near you: https://annieelise.com/pages/tour🌸 SPRING MERCH IS OFFICIALLY HERE! 🌸Shop now at https://annieelise.com/collections/shop-allDon't miss out before your faves sell out! 🛒🌷Follow Annie on Socials 📸 🩷Instagram: @ _annieelise, https://www.instagram.com/_annieelise/?hl=en💜TikTok: @_annieelise, https://www.tiktok.com/@_annieelise?lang=en🗞️ Substack: @annieelise, https://substack.com/@annieelise💙Facebook: @10tolife, https://www.facebook.com/10toLIFE⭐️Sponsors ⭐️Function Health: Just visit http://www.functionhealth.com/AE or use code AE100 at sign-up to own your health. Simplisafe: Visit http://SIMPLISAFE.com/ANNIE to claim 50% off a new system with a professional monitoring plan and get your first month free. Mint Mobile: Grab 3 months of service for just $15 a month at http://MintMobile.com/ae. Liquid IV: Go to http://liquidiv.com and use code AE for 20% off your first order. Everyday Dose: Visit http://everydaydose.com/SERIALOUSLY for all the details. Shop Annie’s Closet & Must-Haves! 👗Poshmark: https://posh.mk/Tdbki6Ae0RbShopMY: https://shopmy.us/annieeliseAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/10tolife?ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_aipsfshop_BKN1ZMCMEZHACVFQ2R75&language=en_USDisclaimer ‣ Some links may be affiliate links, they do not cost you anything, but I make a small percentage from the sale. Thank you so much for watching and supporting me.🎙️ Follow the podcast for FREE on all podcast platforms! Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serialously-with-annie-elise/id1519456164Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6HdheEH8WeMTHoe5da34qUAll Other Platforms: https://audioboom.com/channels/5100770-serialously-with-annie-eliseGet Involved or Recommend the Case 💬 About Annie: https://annieelise.com/For Business Inquiries: [email protected] Sources 🔗9News DenverABC NewsCBS ColoradoCBS NewsColorado Bureau of InvestigationCourt TVDenver7Fox NewsInside EditionKOAA News 5Law & CrimePeople.comThe U. S. Sun*Sources used to collect this information include various public news sites, interviews, court documents, FB groups dedicated to the case, and various news channel segments. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember my videos are my independent opinion and to always do your own research. ••••••••••••••••••Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this video are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the creator(s). These views are subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and are not to be held in perpetuity. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this video and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Annie Elise?

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• 0:27Speaker 01

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• 0:53Speaker 02

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• 1:22Speaker 03

  Suzanne Morphew vanished from her home in Chaffee County, Colorado.

• 1:26Speaker 04

  The deputies in Morphew has all the hallmarks of a true crime case. A husband, a missing wife, a suspicious death, a body that wasn't recovered until some years later. The first prosecution, to put it plainly, fumbled the case.

• 1:41Speaker 05

  The chief toxicologist tested Suzanne Morphew's bone marrow for the presence of B.A.M.

• 1:46Speaker 06

  This is literally the proverbial smoking gun. Every single one of those attorneys gets another shot at Barry Morphew.

• 1:53Speaker 07

  We just know our dad better than anyone else, and we know he was not involved in our mom's disappearance.

• 1:59Speaker 04

  I love my girls, and I love my wife, and I just wanted to be good.

• 2:07Annie Elise?

  Hey, true crime besties, welcome back to an all-new episode of Serial Insane.

• 2:30Annie Elise?

  Hey everybody, welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistically with me, Annie Elise. Now today's case is one that I have covered pretty extensively over the last five years over on YouTube, but I've never done a deep dive on this case on the podcast. There also have been, like, there's a plethora of updates on this case over the last few years since I stopped talking about it. So there is a lot of information to go over and I will just say this too. For a few years, it was fairly quiet, but then very recently, there were some very major updates. And that's the reason why I'm back on the mic talking about this case because I feel like I need to do

• 3:11Annie Elise?

  a fresh deep dive for everybody who doesn't know about this case or for those who have forgotten about this case, because it has gone quiet for so many years. And if you saw the title, you already know where we're going with this, but it is none other than the Suzanne Morphew case. And all of the latest headlines that have been happening over the past few weeks have been making some like major news circuits spin their heads. And look, everything I say on this podcast is alleged. Do your own research, but I'm just going to say it right now. Barry Morphew is freaking guilty in my eyes. He is so beyond shady and I've kind of like gone to war with my friends in the true crime world on this case who

• 3:54Annie Elise?

  they've been like, no, he's not, or there's not enough evidence, this and that, that's why it got dropped originally. And look, I get all that, but I'm curious as we go through this, what your thoughts are. And I know I'm jumping ahead a little bit, but it's just one of those cases that ever since I first started talking about it back in 2020. It has, I don't even want to say has been a thorn in my side, but it's been one of those cases that has just like gnawed at me to where I'm just like, why isn't this creep in jail, in prison? Why hasn't there been any justice for Suzanne? Because it seems so clear what really went down here and how it all went down. So I want to just kind of like break down this whole case, start to finish.

• 4:38Annie Elise?

  If you've been hooked on it like me, then you obviously know too, there's like a huge rabbit hole you can go down. And lucky for you, you don't have to do all that. I did it for you and I'm going to break it down for you today. Now, really quickly, before we get into today's case, I did want to let you know that I will be at CrimeCon again this year. This year, it's taking place in Denver, Colorado, the first week of September. And if you listened to last week's headline highlights, you know that I am giving away two free weekend passes to CrimeCon. So if you haven't gotten your tickets yet and you are thinking about going, you definitely should go. There are going to be a lot of amazing panels. The schedule has fully gone live now. The Petitos are speaking, Ethan Chapin's mom is speaking, Kendall Rae is doing a meet and greet.

• 5:23Annie Elise?

  Stephanie Harlow and myself are doing a live episode. There's just going to be a lot of really great educational panels going on and like Dateline's going to be there. Nancy Grace is going to be there. It's like a big thing. So anyway, if you haven't already purchased your tickets, you can either purchase them and get a 10% discount using my code, AnnieElise, or I am giving away two free weekend passes. So just keep listening to this episode. I'm going to let you know in a little bit here exactly how you can enter to win those. And then the winner will be announced on Thursday's episode of Headline Highlights. So make sure you come back and listen to that episode to see if you've won. So that's that for the CrimeCon stuff. And now let's get into the case.

• 6:07Annie Elise?

  So Suzanne Morphew was 49 years old in May of 2020. She was a wife to her husband Barry Morphew and a mother to their two daughters Macy and Mallory, who were 16 years old and 20 years old. And together, the family lived in Salida, Colorado. Now, based on what we know, the Morphew family as a whole was one that just really seemed wholesome and happy to everybody around them. Barry owned a landscaping business and Suzanne was a homemaker. She had been ever since they had kids. She never really looked back. Being a stay-at-home mom was what she loved, what her passion was and what she felt called to do. And everyone who knew the family, whether it was neighbors, friends, people at church, I mean, you name it.

• 6:47Annie Elise?

  They really felt like the Morphew were about as perfect as a family and as a couple as things could ever get. So when tragedy struck, people were not only saddened by the tragedy, but they were shocked by what happened in the aftermath. It was Mother's Day 2020 and Barry woke up and he headed to a job site where he needed to do some work. Even though it was Mother's Day, a holiday, a Sunday, he still had work to do. And he was like the head guy in charge, so he had to head to this job site. Now, their daughters Macy and Mallory were both away on this church-sponsored camping trip. So with everybody out of the house, it really left Suzanne just all by herself. She was just going to celebrate Mother's Day on her own, which is really sad when you think about it.

• 7:31Annie Elise?

  But also, and I get it, people have to work. But also, when you hear about what transpired and the fact that it was Mother's Day, it just takes this to a whole new diabolical level. So she's at home celebrating Mother's Day on her own. And let me also say this. Suzanne was somebody who had had some health issues in the past. By 49 years old, she had already beaten cancer twice. So her health was something that she never took for granted. And she had recently become a pretty avid mountain biker. She was trying to dedicate as much time as possible to biking and to just being in the outdoors, keeping her heart and body healthy and stimulated. So she figured that on this day, Sunday, Mother's Day, while everybody else was away and since she was going to be at home alone by herself the majority of the day,

• 8:17Annie Elise?

  that she would just head out and go for a bike ride, something that she had done countless times before. But by that evening, it would seem that something went very, very wrong. The local sheriff's department had received a phone call from a man claiming that he was concerned his neighbor Suzanne was potentially missing. He explained Suzanne's daughter had called him. She had been expressing some concerns after Suzanne wasn't responding to any of her phone calls or her text messages. Nothing that day. And remember, it was Mother's Day, so she was sending her Happy Mother's Day text messages, trying to call and connect with her and talk to her. And not only could she not get ahold of her mom, but her mom wasn't responding. She wasn't calling back. She wasn't replying to her text messages.

• 8:59Annie Elise?

  So then the neighbor sent his wife over to the Morphew's house to see if she could do just, you know, a quick little check, pop in, see if Suzanne's there. Maybe she had been just having a day of R and R, maybe just sleeping, didn't have her phone nearby. However, when she got to the house, the doors were locked and Suzanne was nowhere to be found. Now, this neighbor didn't want to worry Suzanne's daughter and tell her, "Nobody's home. I can't find her." So they decided to get ahold of Suzanne's husband Barry, hoping that maybe he had heard from her, or maybe at the very least, he knew where she was. But apparently Barry had no idea either. He said, "No, I've been at work since early this morning and I haven't been in contact with her at all." So because of that, that's when the neighbors decided to call the sheriff's department

• 9:43Annie Elise?

  and let them know that they thought that she was missing. Now, right away, the red flags were going off in this case. And, and I'll just say, it's pretty odd that the neighbor felt worried enough about Suzanne that he felt inclined to call the police, yet her own husband Barry hadn't even known that everybody was out there looking for her and that she was even missing, hadn't even spoken to her. Which later Barry would say that he was the one who told the neighbor to call the police and to keep him updated. But still, it just, something doesn't really land for me there. I think that's the first red flag is, "How are all these other people trying to get ahold of your wife on Mother's Day and getting so concerned that they call the sheriff's department, yet you don't even know that she's missing?" Something just, I don't know, doesn't really sit right there.

• 10:25Annie Elise?

  Not to mention, if that's true, and if Barry's the one who said to the neighbor like, "Okay, no, I don't know where she is. Call the police. Let me know what they say. Keep me updated." How is that a decision and an action that you're outsourcing, that you're delegating? Your spouse is missing and you're not the one to call the police yourself and want to be updated and in the know, you're delegating it out to your neighbor saying, "You call the police and keep me updated." Like, I'm sorry, I don't care what the situation is. I don't care how busy the worksite is. I don't care what's going on. If you hear that your wife is missing, you call the fucking police and you get in on that, like, fully like in the trenches of that. You don't outsource it to your neighbor. So, again, for me, ding ding ding, red flag number one. So,

• 11:08Annie Elise?

  when the detectives eventually got in touch with Barry, he told them this. He said, "He had last seen Suzanne at around 5:00 a.m. that morning. He was leaving for work and she was still in bed sleeping." He also told them about her routine of mountain biking and he claimed that she usually did that in the morning, anywhere between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m., sort of alluding to the fact that, you know, she was asleep, maybe she had gone for her ride as she always did, something must have happened on that ride between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m., just alluding to the fact that maybe something had potentially gone wrong on her bike ride that morning. So, with that information, the police had no reason to doubt that and they started retracing Suzanne's steps, checking into what route she would have taken her bike on that morning because they were

• 11:52Annie Elise?

  thinking, "Okay, maybe Barry's onto something. Maybe she had a biking accident. Maybe she fell. Maybe she's injured somewhere. Like, let's try to retrace her steps here." And sure enough, right away, they found something that confirmed that something was very, very wrong. Suzanne herself still hadn't been found, yet the investigators did find her bike. And it wasn't too far from their family home, but it looked as if it had been thrown into a wooded area right there on the side of the road. They knew when they found this bike that it wasn't a bike wreck, not at all. I mean, there were no skid marks, there were no tire tracks, there was no messed up dirt, no blood, no- Broken bike, nothing that would indicate any sort of collision or hit and run or independent

• 12:36Annie Elise?

  bike accident. It just seemed very clear that somebody had thrown her bike, thrown it in this area in some sort of attempt to quickly get rid of it. They also later found her biking helmet in the complete opposite direction. Again, just thrown into this area on the side of the road. So almost immediately, her case was treated as though foul play was involved. And we know how it goes, right? You always look at the husband. You always look at the spouse. The spouse always did it, right? Well, maybe not, because Barry presented himself as nothing but the most concerned husband out there. And that also, to be honest, really fit with the narrative that the Morphews were just this happy, in love, perfect family. You know, the family that everyone from the outside

• 13:20Annie Elise?

  knew so well, and then now was just being torn apart by this horrific tragedy.

• 13:26Speaker 04

  Oh Suzanne, if anyone is out there that can hear this, that has you,

• 13:33Speaker 04

  please, we'll do whatever it takes to bring you back. We love you, we miss you, your girls need you.

• 13:41Speaker 04

  No questions asked, however much they want, I will do whatever it takes to get you back. Honey, I love you. I want you back so bad.

• 13:50Annie Elise?

  But what the detectives were learning behind the scenes was that Suzanne and Barry's marriage and their life together was not as perfect as they had fooled everyone else into believing. And to put it bluntly, their marriage was very close to being completely over. Messages on Suzanne's phone showed that she was more than open and honest with her friends and family members about Barry. More importantly, about Barry being physically and mentally abusive toward her. For example, one text message that she sent a close friend of hers named Sheila read, "He says he loves me and can't handle the pain from me not giving him the love that he needs, but he does not mention all the damage that he's done to me, physically and mentally." Other text messages describe him

• 14:34Annie Elise?

  as being quote "Jekyll and Hyde," and apparently, he was also financially abusive toward her. Again, she was the homemaker, she was the stay-at-home mom, he's the one who owned the business that paid for their life and paid for their family, which- Also paid for their $1.7 million mansion that they lived in in Colorado. So because of that, because he controlled all of the finances, he pretty much controlled all of the aspects of their lives. And according to a report by CBS News, Suzanne's friend Sheila also claimed that Suzanne had brought up a separation to Barry on more than one occasion. But every single time she would bring it up to him, saying that she thinks she's gonna leave or they should get divorced, he would somehow scare her into staying.

• 15:18Annie Elise?

  And not necessarily with physical threats, but with financial threats. And get this, remember how I talked about her health and how she had overcome cancer twice? Well, this dirtbag skeeze ball, one of the biggest financial threats that he would hold over her is that if she left him, she'd have no way to pay for her cancer treatments. I mean, what kind of sick freak does that? Holds cancer over somebody's head? Now, that was all according to Suzanne's friend Sheila. Her sister, on the other hand, well, she had a lot to say about Suzanne and Barry's relationship. And she had a lot to say, literally, from the moment that Suzanne went missing. And she pretty much always said from the get-go, she always felt like he was the one responsible.

• 16:00Speaker 08

  Did you think it had something to do with Barry?

• 16:05Speaker 09

  Yes.

• 16:05Speaker 08

  What made you think that Barry could be the one to blame?

• 16:08Speaker 09

  The Friday before Mother's Day. My sister had sent me a text message that morning. It was very lengthy. It was very powerful. It was very revealing. She was ready to share some things that she'd been keeping close to her vest.

• 16:27Speaker 08

  Was your sister scared of Barry?

• 16:29Speaker 09

  Yes.

• 16:30Speaker 08

  What made her scared of her own husband?

• 16:33Speaker 09

  Barry was very dominant in the relationship and my sister was a very passive, gentle soul. He had a great tendency to overpower and intimidate people to get what he wanted.

• 16:43Speaker 08

  Do you think that Barry killed your sister?

• 16:45Speaker 09

  Yes, I do.

• 16:47Annie Elise?

  Now, it wasn't just these text messages to Suzanne's friends and family that was now starting to concern law enforcement. There were also text messages to Barry himself. One being sent on May 6th, just days before Suzanne went missing. And this text message, it 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. Now, this really sounded like she was done, right? She was pulling the plug on this relationship. She was done. She just wanted out and she wanted to do so with some grace, keeping it civil, according to her own words. But on top of all these text messages illustrating a clearly troubled marriage and toxic situation,

• 17:27Annie Elise?

  one filled with different forms of abuse with her being at her wits' end, as the investigators are combing through everything, it didn't take them very long to learn that Suzanne had been having an affair. She had actually reconnected with somebody that she knew back in high school. They had reconnected sometime around April 2018 and they had been having this affair now for a couple of years at this point, on and off, and they had gone on trips together, they had been in constant communication, just quite literally continuing this affair for years. Now, this was a whole other layer that was now added into this case. Did Barry know about the affair? Was Suzanne trying to do some sort of Gone Girl

• 18:08Annie Elise?

  situation to be with this man and run off with him? And it's very important to know that the only reason they were able to identify this affair was because of a voice-activated spy pen. I know, it sounds like Men in Black, like a movie, right? No, this is real. And if you don't know what a spy pen is, it's exactly what it sounds like, okay? It's a pen that has a built-in camera and recording device for spying on people. And they found this pen in Suzanne and Barry's master bedroom when they were searching everything and looking for Suzanne. It literally had caught some of this affair on tape, at least audio of this affair. However, it took the investigators six entire months to even identify this man

• 18:50Annie Elise?

  that Suzanne was having the affair with. But when they did identify him, his alibi checked out. He was cleared fairly quickly after that, too. But again, it was another layer into this whole entire situation. There was this looming divorce. There was Suzanne cheating on Barry. I mean, surely, had he known, he would have had plenty of motive, right? And sure enough, the detectives slowly started to piece together that Barry's alibi from the night before Suzanne went missing and the morning that she went missing, it wasn't exactly checking out, not the way that it initially was. And it certainly wasn't what he had originally led the detectives to believe.

• 19:35Annie Elise?

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• 20:20Annie Elise?

  or a frame person, but definitely not like a round frame kind of person. And I was quickly humbled with the virtual try-on tool. When I tell you, I was trying all of these different frames on Zenni, because I was like, I need new blue lights, I need new prescriptions. And it saved me so much hassle not ordering the ones that would look horrific on me. And so, I am thankful for that. Plus, they have over 150,000 5-star reviews, and they accept FSA and HSA cards, which is perfect if you have funds to use before the end of the year. So, give the gift of Zenni this holiday season. Glasses, sunglasses, whatever you need. Go to zenni.com/podcast and use code PODCAST15 for 15% off plus free shipping on all US orders over $65.

• 21:05Annie Elise?

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• 21:25Annie Elise?

  Now, at first, it was just the little things in Barry's story that felt off. He said that yeah, their marriage hadn't exactly been thriving, but oddly enough, the night before Suzanne disappeared, he claimed it was one of the best nights that they had had in a really long time. So much so that according to him, they grilled steaks that night, had dinner together, had sex, and then called it an early night. Which, okay, great, but when he was pressed for details, Barry suddenly then had memory loss. Just couldn't remember what kind of steaks they ate, couldn't remember what they did after sex. Not exactly hard things to really recall, you know, if they actually happened. Now, those were the small red flags in this case. But then came the big ones.

• 22:09Annie Elise?

  Barry told the investigators that he left for work around 4:30 that morning, and he last saw Suzanne around 5:00 a.m. He was supposedly headed to a construction site in Bloomfield, about 150 miles away from where they lived, and he claimed to be gone the entire day. Which, okay, that might have held up, if it wasn't for the phone data. Because at 2:44 p.m., records from both his cellphone and his work truck showed that Barry wasn't anywhere near Bloomfield. He was back home, all the way back in Salida. And almost immediately after he got there, things got very weird with his phone activity. His phone started pinging all over the house.

• 22:52Annie Elise?

  I'm not talking walking room to room and maybe his phone's in his pocket. I'm talking it was pinging all over the place like a pinball map, like he was running from room to room, from corner to corner of the house. Then, just three minutes later, at 2:47 p.m., his phone suddenly went into airplane mode. Now, where have we seen this happen before? Uh, I don't know, in almost any homicide case where somebody thinks they're outsmarting the police and they're turning their phone off. Cough cough Brian Koberger turning his phone off on the drive to the King Road residence. So... This does not look good for him. Not only did he say he was gone the entire day 150 miles away, but now his phone data is showing him smack back at home in the middle of his house in the middle of

• 23:37Annie Elise?

  the afternoon and going around like a pinball machine all through his house. And then three minutes later, after all of that activity, his phone goes into airplane mode. Not exactly a green flag, not even a beige flag, right? A red flag. Now, when asked about it, Barry admitted that yeah, he had been running around all over the house. He was there that day. He forgot. He got home earlier than he thought. But get this, he said that the reason he was running all over the house was because he was chasing chipmunks. Okay, chasing chipmunks all over the house at 2:45 in the afternoon. Apparently, according to Barry, these chipmunks were quote terrorizing

• 24:18Annie Elise?

  the house. So he had no other choice but to chase them all over and shoot them. Now tell me, what other case does this sound like to you? To me, as soon as I heard this years ago, I was like, oh, this is Chad Daybell all over again. Remember how he texted his wife Tammy Daybell saying, trying to excuse the fire pit in the backyard, being like, oh, I had to chase that, what was it, like a raccoon, had to shoot him, like, ha, ha, ha, threw it in the fire pit in like the middle of the afternoon? This is essentially like, that was like the blueprint for what Barry is saying right now. He's saying that these chipmunks were terrorizing the house, that he had to shoot them, all sorts of things. Not to mention, this was inside the house. His phone was pinging inside the house. So like, what do you mean you have chipmunks just running

• 25:03Annie Elise?

  around? It made no sense. And needless to say, nobody was buying a single thing that Barry was saying at this point. And then there were the other pieces of evidence, ones that seemed to support the theory that something violent had happened inside that house. For one, there were scratch marks on Barry's body that looked like there had been a struggle. I mean, clear cut signs of a struggle. There was also the bedroom door frame, the door frame that goes to Barry and Suzanne's room. And it had a massive crack running through it, which according to the investigators, that crack was not there when the Morphews bought the home. So was somebody slamming the door, trying to hold it shut, then barricaded themselves inside and somebody trying to break it down?

• 25:45Annie Elise?

  Possibly. Those details were just not ones that were easy to explain away. And honestly, I'm just trying to hit the highlights here so that we can move into the latest updates. I'm just trying to give you a little bit of the backstory. But if you want the full picture, like every single little detail, I have covered this case extensively in past episodes. It's like multiple hours worth of deep dives going into it. So feel free to check those out if you are new here or you want a full refresh. But yeah, all of that to say, things were definitely not looking good for Barry. I mean, he had a very weak alibi. There was a documented history of abuse towards Suzanne. And there was also definitely motive here. However, the one thing that the investigators still didn't have in all of this was a body.

• 26:29Annie Elise?

  There was no body, no confirmed cause of death, no murder weapon, assuming of course that Suzanne was even dead at this point, which most people had come to believe that she was dead early on. But still, no body, no murder scene, no weapon. Could it be a gone girl situation, which a lot of people were trying to push at the time too? Because unfortunately, when you are missing those core pieces, everything else just starts to feel circumstantial, not strong enough. And while circumstantial evidence can absolutely yes, paint a very strong narrative, it doesn't always close the case. It doesn't get a conviction all of the time. So time passed and leads dried up and the trail went cold.

• 27:12Annie Elise?

  Now Barry, for his part, continued to deny having anything to do with Suzanne's disappearance. And instead of naming a specific person as a suspect or even a potential suspect, he mostly just blasted the investigators, kind of making it very, very clear that he thought they were the ones who completely botched the case, that they were too hyper focused on looking at him, that they weren't looking into other leads or other potential suspects, and it was all their fault. Which I really can't help but wonder if after the recent developments, he still feels that way. So for a while, there really was nothing. No new evidence, no news. Suzanne's family did everything that they could do to keep her name out there. They but there was nothing. They held searches, they pushed for answers,

• 27:55Annie Elise?

  and they did refuse to let her memory just fade and disappear. But eventually, that hope did start to fade out. I mean, it was hard not to. But then, May 5, 2021, hit. It was almost exactly one year since Suzanne went missing, and Barry Morphew was arrested. He was charged with first-degree murder after deliberation, tampering with physical evidence, and attempting to influence a public servant. Now, I remember, when this news broke, it was like this collective moment of finally being like, "Finally, finally, finally, there's justice." I mean, it had only been a year, yes, in hindsight, but it felt like it was forever. So many people just wanting answers, wanting justice for Suzanne,

• 28:40Annie Elise?

  and so many people were convinced from the very, very beginning that Barry had done something to Suzanne. But honestly, if he had, and which it indicated he had because he was arrested, he did clearly do a really good job covering her tracks, because at this point, they still had not found Suzanne's body. But even without the body, the prosecution felt like they had enough information, enough evidence, and enough of an idea of what happened to Suzanne to charge Barry with these crimes. So what the prosecution believed happened to Suzanne, it honestly sounded like it was something straight out of a movie. I'll be honest with you, because they said Barry was furious. He was furious that Suzanne was finally leaving him and that she was finally done with the marriage.

• 29:24Annie Elise?

  She wasn't just thinking about leaving him at this point. She was actively taking steps toward getting a divorce. And for years, he had managed to talk her out of it, right? Always coming up with some new reason for her to stay, some new leverage that he would hold over her head. But this time, she was serious. And he knew that. He knew that she was serious. So according to prosecutors, that was the final straw. They believed that on the day that she disappeared, Barry was chasing Suzanne all throughout the house. That's what explains all of those pings going from corner to corner so rapidly. They then believe that he shot her with Animal tranquilizers. Chemicals so strong that they could paralyze a wild animal.

• 30:07Annie Elise?

  Then, once she was completely immobilized, they believe he killed her and disposed of her body. And yes, of course, this theory was largely built around all of those bizarre cellphone pings at the house. The ones that Barry had tried to explain away, saying he was chasing these like rabid chipmunks all throughout the house. But it wasn't just the pings that led investigators to this conclusion. Because inside the family's dryer, you know, washer and dryer, inside the dryer, the investigators found something very chilling. They found a needle cap, the kind of cap that comes from a syringe that is used to load tranquilizer darts. But when confronted with this information, Barry denied it all.

• 30:50Annie Elise?

  He claimed he had no idea how that cap ended up in the laundry. Yet then, once again, when pressed, he casually did admit that, "Oh yeah, you know what? I am familiar with tranquilizer guns after all." In fact, he said that he used them pretty regularly to sedate deer, so that he could sedate them and then remove their antlers and sell them. Which, by the way, is also apparently illegal. But I guess he thought that admitting to one lesser illegal thing is better than murder. I don't know. So after Barry's arrest, it was kind of like this very slow, dragging waiting game. Just pre-trial motions, delays, pushbacks, you know how it goes. But one thing became very clear early on. Barry was not budging.

• 31:34Annie Elise?

  He was just gonna deny, deny, deny. He was not going to budge at all. He continued to just yell out that he was innocent. Meanwhile, Suzanne's family was pleading with him to just come clean. Tell them what happened, plead guilty so that they could finally have some peace and closure. But Barry, he didn't strike anyone as the kind of guy who was gonna go down without a fight. Definitely not.

• 31:58Speaker 10

  Barry Morphew has the full weight of the authorities and the law coming against him. And if he has any kind of sense at all, and he loves his girls at all. I hope he'll do the right thing and confess and save us all more heartache and his self included and his own family included.

• 32:20Annie Elise?

  And then, in a shocking twist, this case took a complete nosedive. In 2022, literally just days before Barry's trial was supposed to start, the charges were completely dropped. No trial, no conviction, no deal, just dropped. And if you are familiar with this case, and if you remember it, this was a moment that a very specific video went viral. Because when these charges were dropped, Barry was seen walking out of the courthouse, hand in hand with both of his daughters. Just like that, he was free. And not only free, but clearly had the support of his two daughters,

• 33:02Annie Elise?

  who also had been very loudly saying he was innocent. Now, I will say this, luckily when the charges were dropped, they were dropped without prejudice, meaning that legally, the door was not closed at all. If the prosecutors ended up finding more evidence against Barry, or more information, more, you know, testimony, cellphone data, body, all of these things. If they found more evidence against Barry down the line, they could absolutely refile these charges. There was no double jeopardy and no loopholes that would, you know, keep him safe and hands off forever. And still, despite everything that had happened, all of the evidence that the prosecution had made public at that point, Barry's two daughters never wavered. They were there, waiting when he walked out of jail, smiling, hugging him,

• 33:47Annie Elise?

  happy to have their dad back. And honestly, look, I can't really fault them for that. They're young, they lost their mom, of course, they were clinging to the only parent that they had left, and they have gone through unimaginable trauma. So, of course, they want to see the best in the only parent that is still around. They're probably in denial to a large extent, too, not believing that their own father could be capable of something like that. Then, these charges are dropped, so they're probably also thinking like, okay, we are right, he is innocent, they are not even taking him to trial. Further pushing this narrative that he's innocent in all of this. And what I will say is what followed the release was a pretty ballsy move. I don't know if it's ballsy or calculated or what.

• 34:29Annie Elise?

  But after Barry's release, he and his girls did a sit down interview with the media. And it was their first time really speaking out publicly, sharing their side of the story and what they believe happened.

• 34:40Speaker 07

  We've been silent for a long time. And we've decided that we finally want to break the silence. It's been an emotional roller coaster. But we feel like we can finally take our first steps in healing, which is a blessing. And yeah, we we just know our dad better than anyone else. And we know he was not involved in our mom's disappearance. We want to heal. We feel like we haven't been able to heal these past two years.

• 35:13Speaker 04

  I just love my girls and I love my wife.

• 35:17Annie Elise?

  This also was not the last time that the daughters would come forward and defend their father. Later, they sat down for a second interview where they doubled down on everything, insisting Barry had absolutely nothing to do with their mother Suzanne's disappearance.

• 35:32Speaker 11

  Did you have anything to do with the disappearance of your wife?

• 35:35Speaker 04

  Absolutely not.

• 35:37Speaker 11

  You never had a shred of doubt that your dad was completely innocent?

• 35:41Speaker 07

  I've never had a shred of doubt, not one.

• 35:43Speaker 11

  Was there any indication before she disappeared that something was amiss?

• 35:48Speaker 07

  No, Macy and I were texting her on her road trip, having the sweetest conversations and sending her pictures of the fun that we were having.

• 35:58Speaker 11

  Did you observe any fights, arguments, disagreements between your mom and your dad that concerned you before?

• 36:05Speaker 07

  No.

• 36:06Speaker 04

  I know that she was going through chemotherapy for the last couple of years before her disappearance. And I know she was going through some hard things and made some. Some bad decisions, but.

• 36:18Speaker 11

  What kind of bad decisions?

• 36:19Speaker 04

  She was, um, she was really having trouble with the chemotherapy and the drugs.

• 36:27Annie Elise?

  So as they're on this media press tour of sorts, Barry's lawyer also jumps into the mix, kind of doing his own version of a press tour, insisting that Barry was innocent and really just slamming the prosecution for allegedly rushing to blame him without having any sort of solid evidence.

• 36:45Speaker 12

  Well, today Barry Morphew is expected to appear in court after being charged for a second time in the death of his wife Suzanne Morphew. She had disappeared on Mother's Day back in 2020. Her remains were found in September of 2023. 90's reporter Courtney Yun is joining us live from the newsroom this morning. Courtney, Barry Morphew has already been extradited back to Colorado from Arizona.

• 37:05Speaker 13

  Yeah, that's right, Jordan. He's currently in custody at the Alamosa County Jail, according to the 12th Judicial District Attorney's Office. This indictment comes three years after the initial case was dropped. Barry Morphew was previously arrested and charged with first degree murder in connection with his wife's disappearance back in May 2021. Then, just days before he was set to stand trial in April 2022, all charges were dropped. A judge had granted a motion filed by prosecutors asking to dismiss the case. Forty-nine-year-old Suzanne Morphew was reported missing on Mother's Day back in May 2020. She lived in Maysville, west of Salida, with her husband and two daughters. When she disappeared, the Chaffey County Sheriff's Office said she went for a bike ride but never came home. Her remains

• 37:48Speaker 13

  were found in a shallow grave in September 2023. The autopsy found sedatives and tranquilizers in her bones. Her death was ruled a homicide. The grand jury indictment against Barry Morphew, charging him with first degree murder of his wife.

• 38:02Annie Elise?

  But as everybody's on their high horse, thinking, you know, we're gonna do all these interviews, we're gonna talk about how innocent he is, that's why they dropped the charges, all these things, everything then changed. Because in September of 2023, three full years after Suzanne went missing, there was a massive break in her case. Her remains were finally found. They were found over 50 miles away from the family's home in a very rugged, very remote area of Colorado.

• 38:31Speaker 14

  Three years of searching and investigators finally found the body of the woman who went missing on Mother's Day 2020.

• 38:37Speaker 15

  It was an unrelated investigation that finally led deputies to Suzanne Morphew' body in Sawatch County. Tonight, a source familiar with the investigation told 9 News they discovered skeletal remains and identified Suzanne based on dental records and her cancer port.

• 38:50Speaker 16

  Our team reached out to several members of Suzanne's family today. We were unable to connect with any of them. We also don't know if investigators have spoken to her husband, Barry Morphew. Our team reached out to his attorney today, but when we spoke with her, all this information about finding the remains was actually news to her at that point. That was mid-afternoon, guys.

• 39:07Speaker 14

  And you mentioned the husband. I mean, we remember very clearly prosecutor saying that this was the missing piece. They needed her body in order to file charges again against him. And I think a lot of people were wondering tonight, will that happen again and potentially how quickly?

• 39:25Speaker 16

  Yeah, that was one of the first questions this friend said to me today is, okay, we have this piece, now what happens next and does it include him?

• 39:31Annie Elise?

  Now, immediately, the big question resurfaced, of course, right? Now that Suzanne had been found, would Barry finally be recharged with her death? Well, his defense team didn't really think so, and so much so that they quickly released a very long statement trying to shut that narrative down. The message being the people were just jumping to conclusions again, saying, "What needs to be done instead of pointing fingers at Barry Morphew is asking the officials about the number of missing people and the number of human remains that have been recovered in or from the county in the recent past." Which, okay, but let's also be honest here, that sounds like a lot of deflection. Like, what exactly are they getting at here?

• 40:14Annie Elise?

  That law enforcement is incompetent? That Suzanne's death was the work of some serial killer roaming around rural Colorado and not the guy who she lived with, who had a motive, who had a history of abuse with her, who had a shady alibi, who had weird phone pings? I mean, it's a wild stretch, right? Well, maybe not as wild as it sounds. Because here's the thing, Suzanne went missing in that same remote part of Colorado. And then, in May of 2023, just a few months before Suzanne's remains were found, Another woman did vanish in that same area. Her name was Edna and she was 55 years old. And as you remember Suzanne was 49 years old.

• 40:57Annie Elise?

  So could there be something more to this location? Or was this all just an eerie coincidence? In fact, it's pretty wild when you start looking into all of it because the investigators were actually searching for Edna when they found Suzanne's remains. And even more bizarre, the spot where Suzanne was found? It was the same general location of where Edna had gone missing. So there were a lot of very weird similarities. Now, the investigators, I will say, have never come out and directly said that these two cases are connected. However, local talk, local gossip, idle speculation, online theories, the true crime community, they definitely have made the connection.

• 41:40Annie Elise?

  So it's not surprising that Barry's defense team was already trying to twist that part into like their narrative to cast some sort of doubt and question. Kind of using it to create just enough doubt to muddy the waters.

• 41:53Speaker 03

  So from my perspective, when I first heard of Suzanne's story, I'm like, this doesn't strike me as an area where you would have one of these crimes of opportunity. Where someone is going for a bike ride or going jogging. It's so remote and then someone would grab them, murder them and get rid of their body. But now you're telling me there's another woman, you know, less than an hour away, who was out for a walk and disappeared. Is there any, um, I don't know, fear out there right now that there could be some sort of mountain serial killer in Colorado?

• 42:36Speaker 17

  You know, I haven't heard that there's any fear, but I don't live down there. It's about four hours away from Denver to the south. I don't live there, so I don't know if there's fear, but Barry Morphew attorney is suggesting that this could be the same person. Especially since this woman was, uh, went missing on May 3rd, which is about the same time that Suzanne Morphew disappeared. That was May, May 9th, 10th. So she, she's wondering if there's a link. I mean, she's trying to connect whatever she can to make sure the attention goes away from Barry Morphew.

• 43:12Speaker 17

  Wow.

• 43:13Annie Elise?

  Now, what's pretty insane in all of this is that Edna's remains were just recently found on June 17th, 2025. I mean, very recent. Her autopsy results and cause of death have not been made public yet. So we don't know if there are any sort of similarities between the two cases, but I am keeping a very close eye on that because that could end up being a huge piece to this puzzle. And not to get all conspiracy theory on you, but I'm just gonna throw it out there. And again, innocent until proven guilty. But my mind, and I try not to be a conspiracy theorist, but my mind goes to, okay, if she went missing in 2023, when Suzanne's remains were found, but her remains weren't even found until now, could

• 43:57Annie Elise?

  that have been Barry trying to cover his tracks? Because at that point, he was released. And I will just say this too. I didn't vet the whole timeline of like, when she went missing versus when he was released and when the charges were dropped. But I could for sure see a world in which someone gets released and they think that they've beat this murder charge and they want to make sure that no more, you know, stink comes on them. So do they commit another murder to try to make it look like there's a serial out there or to do something? I don't know. And again, look, I know I'm getting real crazy in conspiracy theory here, but that's what we also, you know, I talked to you on here like you're my friends, right? You are my friends. And so those are the kinds of thoughts that enter my mind. Like, I know it's a stretch, but could it happen? And anyway, I just want

• 44:42Annie Elise?

  to throw that out there. Let's get back to Suzanne. So after her remains were found, it took nearly a year before we got any type of update. But then finally, in August of 2024, her autopsy was released, the results from that. And her death was officially ruled as a homicide, which no real surprise there. I think we all knew that that was coming. But the cause of death is what really caught everybody off guard and piqued a lot of people's curiosity. Because a mix of three drugs known as BAM were found in her system. And that is an animal tranquilizer. The exact same thing that the prosecutors had originally theorized back when they didn't even have a body.

• 45:24Annie Elise?

  And coincidentally, an animal tranquilizer that would match a potential dart of the cat that was found in the laundry and the chasing the animal all around the yard that day, the chipmunks. See what I mean? Like, just too many similarities, too many things. And that's also what kind of brings me back to the Chad Daybell of it all, right? Because a lot of the times, these killers will think that they're outsmarting the police by just giving nuggets of truth, or outsmarting anybody by giving nuggets of truth in a means to cover up their real story. Chad Daybell did it with his wife Tammy. He said, "Oh, crazy, this raccoon in the yard, I had to shoot it, then I buried it, put it in the fire pit," or whatever the hell he said. I can't remember off the top of my head, so I'm paraphrasing.

• 46:09Annie Elise?

  But telling enough of the truth of really killing the children and then putting Tylee in the fire pit, and to where it's like enough to explain away the circumstance of what, why the yard is the way it is, or why their activity was the way it was, but not giving the full truth. Just like Barry, "I was chasing these wild chipmunks that were terrorizing me. Then I, I, oh yeah, I do sometimes have tranquilizers because of when I tranquilize deer, this and that." Not saying, "Oh, no, I was chasing Suzanne all around the house. I was tranquilizing Suzanne." Just enough to like, make the story plausible and think that they're smart enough getting away with it. But unfortunately for idiot Barry Morphew, he was not smart enough to get away with it because just a few weeks

• 46:52Annie Elise?

  ago, on June 20th, 2025, Barry Morphew was arrested again.

• 46:58Speaker 18

  I appreciate the members of the media that are here today. I scheduled this briefing to provide an update on the investigation that has been in the hearts and minds of the people of Chaffee County since Mother's Day of 2020. Suzanne Morphew was reported missing on Mother's Day five years ago. Law enforcement has never stopped working to obtain justice for this mother of two, this daughter, this sister, and this beloved member of the Chaffee County community.

• 47:42Speaker 18

  Through the tireless efforts of the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office, the Sawatch County Sheriff's Office, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, I can announce today that the 12th Judicial District Grand Jury returned an indictment.

• 48:02Speaker 18

  The grand jury has indicted Barry Morphew on the single count of murder in the first degree.

• 48:10Speaker 18

  Law enforcement, the Chaffee County community, and Colorado as a whole

• 48:18Speaker 18

  has never stopped fighting for justice for Suzanne.

• 48:22Annie Elise?

  And here is where everything really starts to fall back into place.

• 48:32Annie Elise?

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• 49:15Annie Elise?

  because they work directly with ethical factories and they cut out the middleman. So you're giving luxury quality, but without that luxury price tag. I've told you before too, if like you want to maybe not branch out and do clothes because that's a little bit personal of a gift, their cashmere throw blanket, I'm telling you, you will be the favorite daughter-in-law, favorite son-in-law, favorite friend. It is the best gift you could give. Cashmere throw blanket, mark my words. So go ahead, go check it all out at quince.com. Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app exclusivity. offers or go to quince.com get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now

• 49:57Annie Elise?

  available in Canada and the UK too and when quince asks you where you heard about them let them know that it was cerealistly that sent you it is the best way to support the show So when Barry was arrested he was picked up in Arizona but during a court hearing in June he waived extradition and he was sent back to Colorado and as of this recording he is being held on a $3 million bond the indictment was released shortly after all of this and it's not super long it's only about seven pages but it is packed with information and honestly some of the details in there might change your mind if you were still on

• 50:40Annie Elise?

  the fence about Barry's involvement in all of this let me break it down and then you tell me what you think so remember back when Barry was first arrested the prosecutors had laid out a pretty detailed theory of how he killed Suzanne right but at that point they didn't have the body there was also no autopsy it was all based on that circumstantial evidence all of these educated guesses but now they've got both and while Barry's legal team has tried to argue that BAM that tranquilizer is super common kind of implying you know anyone could have used it it's not it's a coincidence anyone could have gotten their hands on it these new court documents basically shut that narrative down because page six of the indictment spells it out pretty clearly and I just want to read it here for you it

• 51:24Annie Elise?

  says records were obtained for BAM prescriptions related to Barry Morphew records were also obtained for BAM prescriptions for all persons within the counties and adjacent counties where the Morphew lived and where Suzanne Morphew remains were located those records show that Barry Morphew obtained and filled several prescriptions for BAM while living in Indiana and just to give a little bit of context Barry and Suzanne lived in Indiana before they moved to Colorado in 2018 So it goes on to say Barry Morphew' last purchase of BAM by prescription was in March of 2018. Barry obtained multiple kits that each contained multiple doses just a few months before the Morphew moved to Colorado.

• 52:09Annie Elise?

  Records further showed that no other private citizens or private businesses in any of the surrounding counties had purchased BAM prescriptions from 2017 to 2020. Colorado Parks and Wildlife and National Park Service were the only entities that even received prescriptions of BAM in those counties from 2017 through 2020. Investigators learned that each of these government entities enforced tight regulations to monitor the BAM prescriptions and their storage and their usages. None of the BAM from those agencies was unaccounted for. So even if there was some sort of implication that, you know, there was a serial killer

• 52:51Annie Elise?

  park ranger out there who had access to these prescriptions and they're the ones who tranquilized Suzanne, they are negating that by saying all of their stuff is accounted for. There is not a single dosage that is unaccounted for. And here's the kicker. They say 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. And that person was Barry Morphew. Now let's just sit with that for a second because only one private citizen had access to BAM. The exact drug that was found in Suzanne's body.

• 53:31Annie Elise?

  The exact method that the prosecutors had theorized all the way back in 2021. And it was Barry. Her husband. Means, motive, and opportunity. I mean, come on, that is not just a coincidence. That is not- Just, you know, a random action. That is a giant neon arrow pointing directly down at Barry. And that wasn't the only jaw-dropping detail that was laid out either. There was a lot of information in this new indictment. And let's go back and talk about Barry's alibi for a moment. The one that is falling apart piece by piece every single day since day one. So originally Barry had told the investigators that when he got that phone call about Suzanne being missing,

• 54:16Annie Elise?

  he was already with workers at that work site in Bloomfield. That's why he told that neighbor to go check on her because according to him, he was quote "too far away" and he was already busy with work. But now, according to the indictment, he wasn't even at that job site when he got that call. He was at a hotel. Which, maybe that doesn't sound super huge at first, but it is. Because it's a totally different location than what he first claimed. And if you're lying about where you were when you found out that your wife was missing and just vanished, what else are you lying about, right? That's a huge problem. And here's the other thing. Barry had told everyone that he was in Bloomfield all day working hard on that job site.

• 54:58Annie Elise?

  And in total, I will say, he was in that area for about nine hours and 45 minutes. So, it sounds legit, right? Except, the indictment says that he only spent 29 minutes at the actual job site. 29 minutes out of that full, almost 10-hour window. How does that math work out? What was he doing for those other nine hours? I mean, it's looking like he wasn't doing much work, right? And even outside of this indictment, investigators have uncovered a lot of sketchy details over the years that make Barry's alibi look even shakier. And these are some of the details that I had talked about way back in 2020 and 2021. But again, it was all circumstantial at the point.

• 55:40Annie Elise?

  But now, laid out with everything, I think it's important to revisit all of these details. Particularly around that hotel, around his tools, dump sites, things like that. So let me break it down. For starters, he told them that he went to Broomfield to work on a retaining wall. That was the job that he needed to do. Yet, he didn't bring the proper equipment with him. Not at all. He brought just these random hand tools, things that wouldn't even be needed to build a retaining wall. And according to construction experts and to the people who were supposed to be working with him there on that job site, there is no way that you would be able to build a retaining wall without heavier machinery. So again, it begs the question, okay, what was he really doing?

• 56:24Annie Elise?

  Why would he go to this job site with tools he didn't even need? Little rinky dinky tools for nine minutes? Even though he said he was working there all day? Like, it does not make sense. But sure enough, there was surveillance camera footage. And that gives us a little bit of a clue, a little bit of insight as to what he was doing and what he was really doing in Broomfield. Because cameras caught Barry roaming all around that area that day, all around Broomfield, throwing unknown items into random trash bin after random trash bin. Just different locations, different dump sites, different dumpsters. And later, he said he was just throwing away wrappers, little trash things here and there. But, I mean, come on.

• 57:03Annie Elise?

  Who drives around from dumpster to dumpster tossing random garbage wrappers out? No. Unless you're trying to split up evidence and dump things in different trash cans. I mean, that's what it looks like. And I know I've been referencing a lot of cases on this. I talked about Daybell, I talked about Coburger. Let's throw one more into the mix for good measure. Fotis Dullos. I don't know if you guys are familiar with that case? If you're not, you should definitely listen to the deep dive. I think it's here on the podcast. I know for sure it's on YouTube. But it was a case in Connecticut where this beautiful mother, Jennifer, went missing. It also tried to be painted as a Gone Girl type situation, as though these asshole guys can like gaslight everybody into thinking their wives are gonna always do this Gone

• 57:48Annie Elise?

  Girl type scenario. But he was caught on CCTV footage with his mistress, girlfriend at the time, or maybe she wasn't the mistress, she was the new girlfriend, because they, I believe, were separated. Not divorced, but separated. And he's throwing stuff from bin to bin, trash can to trash can. And it's like... Look, I've had stuff in my car before that I've needed to throw away. McDonald's wrappers, trash, unfortunately, some art projects for my kids that are not projects, but you know, papers that they colored on. I'm not going from apartment complex to restaurant to industrial area, going to all different dump sites to throw away my garbage. You go to one trash can and you throw it away unless you're being shady. So they caught him roaming from site to site, throwing all of this away.

• 58:32Annie Elise?

  And he says it was just wrappers. I'm not buying it, not for a single second. And this is exactly why very early on, things looked very suspicious and kind of to be honest, why I've been saying he's guilty from the jump. You have his ever-changing alibi. You have his phone pings. You have these weird trash runs. You have this job site that he claims to have gone to that was so important he had to skip Mother's Day for, yet he was only there for nine minutes. I mean, it all looks real suspicious, real fast. But the big question, especially with all of this trash stuff, is what was Barry getting rid of that day? A murder weapon? Bloody clothing? Something else? We still don't know. But since we're on the subject of him going to Broome Field and being in that hotel and

• 59:17Annie Elise?

  that hotel that he was staying at, there's even more. And there's more that we found out early on, but stuff I really do want to talk through again, because what went down at that hotel where he was staying, kind of puts a whole separate weird chapter and wrinkle into this case. So Barry was at the hotel the day that Suzanne vanished, but he wasn't there all day. He actually called up two people who worked with him, his landscaper, Morgan, and one of his contractors, Jeff. And he told them that he needed them to head over to that exact same job site, saying he had already set up a hotel room for them to stay in. He has the tools, everything's good to go, but he needs their help building this retaining wall, so they need to come up. And he claimed that there was a family emergency.

• 1:00:03Annie Elise?

  So because of that, he needed to head home, but that they still should go ahead, go to this job site and complete the work, get the job done. Which, okay, it sounded like no big deal to them at the time, like, yeah, we'll go, we'll get it done. You go deal with what you need. To deal with, so they went. But when Morgan and Jeff arrived at the hotel, Barry was already long gone. And while everything seemed normal at first, they very quickly realized he had left something behind. Inside the hotel room, Morgan and Jeff noticed something immediately. There were multiple towels scattered all over the floor. And these towels weren't just wet, they reeked of chlorine. Not like a faint pool smell, but like burning your eyes, stinging your nose kind of smell.

• 1:00:47Annie Elise?

  So pungent, so strong. Morgan even said that as soon as they opened the door, her eyes were watering from how intense this odor was. Now, at first glance, okay, maybe that doesn't sound super incriminating. I mean, yes, it is weird for sure, but hotels have pools. Maybe Barry went for a dip, maybe he left his towels behind in his rush to get out for the family emergency. I've also been in pools where I've used a couple of towels, maybe they're soaking wet for whatever reason, who knows? I've also been to hotels where sometimes the chlorine is so strong that the towels end up smelling like straight up bleach afterward, or just super strong. I mean, it's not unheard of, that's my point. But here's where things take a turn.

• 1:01:29Annie Elise?

  Because after Morgan and Jeff told the investigators about the chlorine odor and how strong it was, the detectives followed up with the hotel, which was a Holiday Inn. They wanted to confirm these details. How strong are your chemicals in your pool? Like, is there a way we can explain this away? But the hotel told them flat out that the pool had actually been closed at the time that Barry was staying there. Because remember, this was May 2020, this was the height of COVID. They had shut down the pool entirely. No swim, no pool towels, nothing. And these towels weren't just damp, they were soaked, soaking wet. So whatever had happened with these towels had happened very recently.

• 1:02:12Annie Elise?

  And they happened with some sort of chemical agent because they smelled so strong. Was it a cleanup? Was it a wipe down? What was it? And look, just to play devil's advocate and give every sort of, you know, whatever benefit of the doubt here, let's just say, for example, that the towels were cleaned by housekeeping with some sort of bleaching odor stench. I don't know. How did they end up wet, soaking wet on his hotel room floor? There's just something that doesn't add up here. And even the theory of that, of like them being left behind by housekeeping, that theory gets shut down too. Because the hotel told the investigators that they do not use any sort of chlorine

• 1:02:57Annie Elise?

  based cleaning products at all. So whatever caused that smell, it did not come from them. So then it begs the question, what was Barry doing with a bunch of soaked chlorine smelling towels inside his hotel room? Because if it wasn't the pool, and if it wasn't the hotel cleaning staff, the list of explanations starts to get really short.

• 1:03:28Annie Elise?

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• 1:04:13Annie Elise?

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• 1:04:32Annie Elise?

  Okay guys, so it is time, let me give you the scoop on how you are going to win these Crime Con tickets. You're gonna go to the link in the show notes of this episode and you are going to use a password. The password is all caps, one word, STAY SAFE. No space. So, once you get into that form, just fill out your information, bam, you are entered in, locked and loaded, and come back on Thursday for headline highlights and we will be announcing the winner in that episode. Now, later on, when Barry was questioned about the towels in the hotel room, he, like everything else, had an excuse for everything. And, like everything else, none of them had anything to do with him. It was the hotel pool, it was the laundry detergent, it was some cleaning chemical that the hotel had used.

• 1:05:17Annie Elise?

  I mean, whatever the reason, his story was always the same. Not my fault, not me, I didn't do it. But let's just think through that for a second, okay? Barry was caught on surveillance footage tossing who knows what into multiple trash bins. His hotel room reeked of chlorine and the towels were soaked, not just damp. So, to both investigators and, honestly, to me as well, it looked like he was trying to clean something up and get rid of the evidence. And now, bringing Jeff and Morgan to the hotel? That could have been part of the setup as well, maybe trying to create an alibi, making it look like somebody else had been staying there too, maybe hoping that they would just throw the towels into the laundry and not say anything, who knows?

• 1:05:59Annie Elise?

  And as for Jeff, he noticed even more sketchy things. While poking around the hotel room, very clearly weirded out by all of these chlorine towels, Jeff ended up finding a letter in the trash can. It was addressed to Barry and the letter had to do with property insurance. And something about that just felt off, so, he did the right thing. He turned this over to the investigators. And the inconsistencies didn't stop there. Morgan and Jeff both told investigators that Barry had called them out there to work, but that they ended up sitting around for two full days with no real work instructions. No direction, no job site details, nothing.

• 1:06:40Annie Elise?

  And Barry, he had promised to leave them tools that they would need for the site, but he never did. So it begs the question, right? Why even call them out there at all? Was he trying to create the illusion that there was this active project that was happening? Something to make his movements that day seem more normal? I mean, to me, all of this just shows how calculated his actions were, right? Every move felt deliberate. And that, in my opinion, it does scream first degree murder. But even all of that, all of that that we just went over, that's nothing compared to what the investigators found back inside the Morphew family home. Because let's jump back to that indictment for a moment. Inside the house was a locked gun safe.

• 1:07:24Annie Elise?

  And right at the front of the safe, like it had just been used, was a dart rifle and a tranquilizer rifle. And next to those, multiple packages of tranquilizer darts. The exact same kind of needle caps from those darts were found in that dryer. And inside that same dryer, the pair of shorts that Barry was seen wearing in the surveillance footage from the day that Suzanne went missing. So yeah, when you look at all of that, it really does look like he was trying to cover his tracks and clean up any trace of what he had done. And what wasn't found, though, in any of this, was any kind of actual tranquilizer formula. Just the darts, the caps, the lids. Investigators searched the entire house, even Barry's vehicle,

• 1:08:09Annie Elise?

  and they found nothing. So it begs the question, what was he dumping in those public trash cans that day? Could it have been the formula? Was it something else that he didn't want to risk the police finding? Was it Suzanne's clothes? Was it something from a struggle? Was it whatever odor agent had been used with those towels? Any sort of bottle? I mean, whatever it was, either way, it did not look good. And I mean, sure, it could be all one huge, massive coincidence. But let's also call it what it is, right? Highly doubtful. And then there's Barry's phone data. And this isn't necessarily new information, but it is worth bringing up again because it is telling.

• 1:08:49Annie Elise?

  So his phone was off or in airplane mode almost every single key moment of the timeline of Suzanne's disappearance. For example, at 2:47 that afternoon, just moments after Suzanne had sent a selfie of herself to the guy that she was having this affair with, a photo that is actually considered the final proof of life. Barry's phone went dark, airplane mode, disconnected from the world. Now that is not a coincidence. And here's my theory and thought on this. I believe Suzanne was out in the backyard, laying out, sunbathing, doing whatever she was doing, texting and talking with her boyfriend, sending a selfie of herself. I believe she wasn't expecting Barry to come home that afternoon, and I think he surprised her.

• 1:09:32Annie Elise?

  I think he saw her phone or knew that she was talking to him or grabbed her phone or whatever happened. And then that is when the confrontation and fight ensued. I think she was trying to get away from him. He started chasing her around. That explains the phone pings. He goes grabs his tranquilizer dart and gun, or maybe he already had it because maybe this was premeditated. And she's trying to run away from him with the tranquilizing dart, and then he finally gets her. That's my theory. We'll see when it gets to trial, but that's what I think happened. But the last piece that I want to hit on from the indictment is about Suzanne's remains. Because the investigators didn't just recover her body and then stop there and call it case closed. They brought in a board certified forensic anthropologist.

• 1:10:16Annie Elise?

  They also brought in a botanist and an entomologist to examine everything. And what they found was not only very fascinating, but very important as well. First, the bug activity on Suzanne's remains was unusually low. If she had decomposed out there in that remote area, then they would have expected to see far more insect activity. Animals get to her, bugs get to her. It had been years at this point, right? Same goes for animal scavenging. There was like little to none. That's very, very unusual for remains that had supposedly been out there in the remote area for years. And then there was also her clothing, still very largely intact,

• 1:11:00Annie Elise?

  which doesn't really line up with the story that she decomposed outdoors while wearing her biking clothing for years. It's just not tracking. So all of this led experts to believe that Suzanne's body had not been decomposing in that location for that long. And the exact wording from the indictment was, it was unlikely that Suzanne decomposed from a fresh body to a skeleton at this location, which then opens up a whole new chapter in this case. Where was her body at for those first few years? If she wasn't dropped and dumped and decomposed at this location, she has been moved. Where was she before this? Was she hidden at a job site, in a storage unit? Could Barry have somehow

• 1:11:44Annie Elise?

  kept her remains hidden in or near the home, even through the multiple searches? She clearly hadn't been here the whole time. And then why would he have moved her later? Did he panic? Was he trying to stay one step ahead of the investigation, but somehow got sloppy and then buried her in this shallow grave as some sort of last minute move? I don't know where he kept her all that time, but I do have a hard time believing that it wasn't somewhere close, somewhere that he could keep an eye on, somewhere that he could visit to make sure that she hadn't been discovered. But I'm curious what you guys think. Where do you think he could have hidden a body for that long? So right now Barry's next court appearance is scheduled for September 2. His defense

• 1:12:25Annie Elise?

  team asked the judge back on July 1 for 60 days to review all of the discovery. So as of now, we're just kind of waiting to see where things go from here. Now, my biggest concern at this point is whether or not there is finally enough evidence for this case to stick. I mean, yeah, there has been a lot more uncovered since Barry was first arrested and since those charges were dropped, but we've also seen this play out before. And I think we're all hoping that we don't end up with this like part two version of him just walking away a free man. And also for a quick moment, can we just talk about how chipper Barry seemed to look at his recent hearing, like happy almost, smiling ear to ear, like he just won some sort of contest or giveaway or raffle or something?

• 1:13:08Annie Elise?

  I don't know, maybe that's how he's coping and maybe that's a defense mechanism. But honestly, to me, it feels very jarring. And you have to wonder, what is his defense team telling him behind closed doors to make him feel so confident, so sure of himself? Also, are his daughters having any sort of doubt at this point now? Are they starting to wonder if their dad really could be capable of this? Or are they still standing by him? And here's one thing to note. Back during the chaos of his almost first trial, the first time around, his attorneys clung to a very hard piece of evidence. The DNA. Because early in the investigation, the detectives did find male DNA on Suzanne's glove box.

• 1:13:51Annie Elise?

  But the male DNA did not belong to Barry. It also wasn't the guy who Suzanne had been having an affair with. Instead, that DNA had matched somebody completely unknown. However, it was somebody whose genetic profile did pop up in three unsolved sexual assault cases. One in Tempe, Arizona, one in Phoenix, Arizona, and one in the Chicago area. Which yeah, is very, very strange and I don't quite have an answer for that. But it could be somebody that he enlisted to help him. Somebody to do the dirty work to clean up, a hit man, a hit something, a cleanup person, somebody he paid off. Who really knows? But it kind of circles back to what I said earlier about Barry's attorneys suggesting, not so subtly,

• 1:14:36Annie Elise?

  that maybe a serial killer or a serial offender was the one truly responsible for Suzanne's death. And now we also have Edna's case, her remains being found recently. So there's a lot of comparisons that are stacking up. And I think they certainly can throw in the reasonable doubt and this third party culprit situation into their narrative. And let me just be real for a second, because I think we all keep it honest with each other. And I always tell you what I'm thinking and what I'm feeling. I don't deny that the glove box DNA is weird. I mean, it definitely is weird. What are the odds of that and what could it truly mean? Could there be someone else out there targeting women who have a similar profile to Suzanne and to Edna in rural areas?

• 1:15:20Annie Elise?

  Possibly. It's a fair question, absolutely. But that one piece of DNA and that one questionable piece of it, it's not enough to, for me at least, to convince me that everything else that Barry has done is just this long string of coincidences. The bleach soaked towels, the tranquilizer gun, the phone pings, the surveillance footage, the missing formula, the weird stuff at the hotel room, his job site only being there for nine minutes, his phone mysteriously going dark during all the key moments. I mean, it's a lot that would be a very big coincidence, right? I mean, at least for me. But then again, I'm not the one who needs convincing. That's

• 1:16:02Annie Elise?

  going to be up to the jury. And I do think that the glove box DNA will become a major focus for the defense when the case goes to trial. Which makes me wonder, do they have more? Is there more information? Are they holding back even more details like this, just waiting to unleash this full-blown reasonable doubt campaign? We'll see. For now, I'm just thankful that Barry has finally been arrested again. And honestly, I do feel good about the direction that this case is going. But I'm going to be keeping a very close eye on it. I've been watching this like a hawk since 2020. And as always, I will keep you updated on any major developments or pre-trial hearings as they happen. I also think maybe we will go to the trial. Maybe that's going to be one of the next trials

• 1:16:46Annie Elise?

  we cover. Now that we're not going to Idaho, maybe we should cover this because it is a very big case and one that has been on my radar for literally half a decade at this point. So let me know what you guys think about this case. Do you find it bizarre? Pretty clear? Do you know what the motive was? Drop a comment in the Spotify Q and A section, or let me know in the Apple review section. Or of course, if you're watching the video version of this, let me know over on YouTube. I will be keeping you updated on this. So make sure you are following the podcast, whatever podcast app you're listening on, and make sure you are subscribed on YouTube. And let me know if you want us to cover this trial. I think for me, the answer is yes. And let me know, do you think that Barry is the guy? Or do you think that there's some doubt there?

• 1:17:29Annie Elise?

  If you have a few seconds and you're listening on Apple, please leave a rating and review. I love hearing from you guys. And share this podcast with a friend. Alright guys, thanks so much and I will talk with you very soon. Until the next one, be nice. Don't kill people. Don't shoot anybody with tranquilizer darts. And don't soak any towels in bleach or chlorine. Unless you need to for some reason, but not if you're trying to cover something up. Alright, until the next one, stay safe. Bye.

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