Barry Morphew stood in an Alamosa County courtroom Monday and pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Suzanne—for the second time. Nearly six years after she vanished on a Mother’s Day bike ride in Chaffee County, Judge Amanda Hopkins set trial for October 13. Proceedings are expected to last six weeks.
Morphew arrived flanked by his daughters Macy and Mallory, who maintain his innocence. He remains free on $3 million bond with an ankle monitor. His defense waived the right to a speedy trial, citing the volume of evidence—a telling admission about what prosecutors have assembled.
The first prosecution collapsed. Former DA Linda Stanley was disbarred in 2024 for conducting interviews with YouTube true crime channels while charges were pending and launching an investigation into the presiding judge over adverse rulings. Charges were dismissed in April 2022. Morphew walked.
Then Suzanne’s remains surfaced. In September 2023, investigators searching for another missing woman found her body in a shallow grave near Moffat—roughly 50 miles from the Morphew home. A 2024 autopsy ruled her death a homicide. Toxicology found butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine—a cocktail known as BAM, used to tranquilize large animals—metabolized in her bones. According to the grand jury indictment, prescription records show only one private citizen in that region had access to BAM when Suzanne disappeared: Barry Morphew. Investigators found a tranquilizer rifle in the home’s gun safe, along with darts and hypodermic needles. A needle cap turned up in the dryer.
The indictment details cell phone and vehicle telematics data that prosecutors say contradicts Morphew’s account—including evidence the body was moved before discovery.
Defense attorney Bellar is telegraphing his strategy. Outside the courthouse, he argued that because the body was found an hour south of where investigators initially searched, “there’s absolutely no way that Barry could have disposed of the body.” He attacked the forensic evidence, claiming Colorado laboratories have produced “faulty science” that has filled prisons with wrongful convictions.
This prosecution is structured differently. DA Anne Kelly assembled a multi-office team: Boulder County DA assisting, Denver County providing appellate support. The road to October runs through a March 9 status conference, where expect disputes over discovery and whether the trial date holds given the defense’s complaints about data volume. The July 6-10 motions hearing is where the real battle begins—Bellar will likely move to suppress the BAM toxicology and telematics evidence. How Hopkins rules will determine what the jury sees. The six-week trial estimate signals extensive expert testimony: toxicologists, forensic anthropologists, cell phone analysts, and witnesses to Morphew’s access to BAM and his movements during the critical window.
Morphew remains out on bond. Suzanne remains in a grave.
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