Update: Suzanne Morphew
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In 2020, in a small California mountain town, five women disappeared. I found out what happened to all of them, except one. A woman known as Dia, whose estate is worth millions of dollars. I'm Lucy Sheriff. Over the past four years, I've spoken with Dia's family and friends, and I've discovered that everyone has a different version of events.

Hear the story on Where's Dear? Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics, including violence, abuse, and murder.

This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.

Today I'm bringing you an update on the case of Suzanne Morphew, who went missing in May of 2020. Her body was found in September 2023, and last month her autopsy results came back, ruling her death a homicide.

I did two parts on this case back in November of 2023, and this is a case that truly has so many details that all play a pretty crucial role in this story. So if you're not familiar with Suzanne's case, I strongly recommend you go back and listen to those two episodes for a full picture leading up to this point. I am going to summarize the case before getting to the newest information, but again, if you want that most in-depth look, go back to those two episodes.

That being said, let's dive in. This is the newest in the case of Suzanne Morphew. 49-year-old Suzanne Morphew was last seen alive on May 9th, 2020, but she's known for going missing on Mother's Day, which was May 10th that year. Suzanne's husband and her daughters were all out of town and away from Suzanne that day, but when she wasn't answering calls or returning their texts, they became concerned.

Now, just a little bit about Suzanne. She was born and raised in Indiana. She met her husband, Barry Morphew, when she was in high school, and he was a student at Purdue University.

They got married in 1994 and had two daughters. In 2018, the Morphews moved to Colorado for a fresh start after their oldest daughter moved there to attend college. They ended up getting a house in Maysville. It's a really small town with a population of fewer than 150 people. It's just a few miles west of Salida.

Barry Morphew got up between 4 and 5 a.m. and headed to Broomfield, Colorado for a landscaping project his company was set to begin. Broomfield's pretty far. It's about 150 miles from the Morphew's home and takes about three hours to get there.

Both of Suzanne's daughters reached out to their dad saying that they tried to text Suzanne for Mother's Day and never heard back. By the time night came around, one of the girls reached out to a neighbor and asked her to check on Suzanne. But the neighbor didn't find her or her bike at home. Suzanne was known to frequently take mountain bike rides on trails near her home.

so they thought she might just be on a ride. But after the hours began to pass with no sign of Suzanne, as she continued to not answer her phone, she was reported missing that night. Officers get to the Morphew home at about 7.30 and immediately begin searching for Suzanne. It didn't take them long to locate her blue Santa Cruz bike at the bottom of a hill near a ravine, but there was no sign of Suzanne with the bike or signs that any type of struggle had occurred.

In fact, investigators say they immediately thought that the scene might have been staged because there was no physical evidence of a crash. At this point, Barry leaves Broomfield and comes back home to help with the search. But investigators say that he started making strange comments right off the bat. When seeing where Suzanne's bike was found, he suggested that maybe she was attacked by a mountain lion.

And who knows, maybe it was just kind of something he blurted out in the moment, something he was afraid of, but like I said, there were no signs of blood or a struggle, and the investigators did find this strange, which is why I'm mentioning it. Police did track Suzanne's phone pretty much immediately, and found that it last pinged around 4.23am on May 10th. It was in a nearby area about 11.5 miles west of a cell tower in Poncha Springs, but now it appeared to be off.

Investigators also searched the Morphew home and didn't find too much to be out of place. But a few things did stick out. There were no signs of forced entry, and the house was really well kept except for one of their daughter's beds being stripped. In the primary bedroom, an officer found a round of .22 caliber ammunition next to the bed, but it had not been fired.

The next day, they found a high-powered rifle in a closet on the ground floor, and a 12-gauge shotgun lying against the wall in the garage, not secured in a safe. Now, I say that because I want you to keep it in mind for what we learn next.

When Barry was interviewed the next day, he told investigators that he and Suzanne had a great evening the night before. He said they grilled steaks, had sex, and went to bed early. He explains that he left the house around 5 a.m. on the 10th and didn't speak to Suzanne before he left because she was sleeping. But it didn't take long for Barry to make his first discrepancy when talking to investigators.

He admitted that he owned the firearms, but said that they were all locked in a gun safe in the garage, which we know isn't true. Again, maybe not the biggest thing, but definitely a discrepancy that investigators are kind of logging in their heads at this point. And they also noticed something else about him too. He had scratches on his arms and shoulders. Suzanne's daughters were also interviewed, and one of them said that both her mom and dad had felt unsafe in the relationship at some point.

This daughter was asked if her mom would leave home because she felt unsafe, and she answered no, but later changed the answer to say that if her mom did leave, she wouldn't leave without immediately letting her and her sister know that she's okay. Which, from everything I could find about Suzanne, her personality, the way that she loved her kids, moving, states to go be with her kid while she's going to college, it tracks.

The next week, investigators found what they believe is Suzanne's teal bike helmet off of Highway 50 near the Morphew home. At this time, Barry posted a video online publicly pleading for her safe return. He also offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to Suzanne's whereabouts. This was matched by a family friend for a total of $200,000 in reward funds. By all appearances, Barry was trying to help find his wife.

But as investigators began to speak with other people in Suzanne's life, they began to question her relationship with Barry, especially in the months and days leading up to her disappearance.

Suzanne's sister, Melinda, shared a text Suzanne had sent her on May 8th, two days before she was reported missing. It read, "...it's hard dealing with the harsh abrasiveness and having to show respect. He's also been abusive, emotionally and physically. There's so much. I went through a period of acceptance, and I feel more angry now. Anger at what I've allowed."

Melinda says as soon as she found out Suzanne was missing, she knew Barry was responsible. Suzanne's best friend Sheila also shared a number of other messages from Suzanne that made investigators believe she wanted to leave Barry due to him being controlling and abusive.

Now, police never recovered Suzanne's phone, but they were able to access her iCloud account. And one text message in particular really stood out to investigators. On May 6th, Suzanne sent Barry a text message that investigators interpret as her saying she wanted a divorce. It said, quote, I'm done. I could care less about what you've been up to for years. We just need to figure this out civilly, end quote.

They also found a note backed up to her iCloud on May 8th, where she listed 50 grievances she had with Barry. I won't list them all, but a few of them said P-H-Y-S abuse, which I'm assuming is physical abuse, verbal abuse, chase me around resort and threatened, not safe alone with you, can't be trusted, oppressive, took phone, slams on brakes when angry, gun,

threatened to jump out of car, and shame and guilt daily for not meeting expectations. Suzanne suspected that Barry was cheating on her. Her friend Sheila told investigators that she even purchased a spy pen for Suzanne.

Basically a pen that would record audio. Suzanne wanted to buy it herself, but was scared of Barry finding out. So, ten days after Suzanne's disappearance, investigators find this device in Suzanne's closet. From it, they learn that Suzanne herself was having an affair with a man named Jeff. She had apparently recorded herself having some conversations with him.

The problem was, they didn't know who Jeff was, and it would take some time to track him down. So while they're trying to find Jeff, they shift back to Barry. Through interviews, data on Barry's cell phone, his Ford F-350, and local security cameras, investigators were able to piece together a timeline for what he did on the day Suzanne went missing. And not all of it lined up with what Barry said happened.

According to his phone and truck records, Barry arrived home on May 9th around 2.43 p.m., and at 2.47, his phone entered airplane mode, which it stayed in until 10.17 that night, when he powered it off. It turned back on at 4.23 a.m.,

They also began to compare the number of pings Barry's cell phone did receive during those specific hours. Before Suzanne went missing between May 1st and May 8th, it only pinged in 0 to 2 locations during those same hours. But on the night of May 9th through May 10th, Barry's phone pinged in 210 locations.

Data from Barry's truck also shows that between 3.21 and 3.48 a.m., his truck was at the Morphew residence. But over 80 events occurred, many of them being the doors of the truck opening and closing. Barry left his home around 5 a.m. on the morning of the 10th, and investigators know that he turned left on Highway 50 when he would normally turn right to go to Broomfield. He essentially drove in the direction of where Suzanne's bike helmet was found.

He did end up turning around and going to Bloomfield, making one stop along the way at an RTD bus stop, where he threw away some garbage from his truck. He arrived at the Holiday Inn in Bloomfield around 8.15am. Here, he threw away two white trash bags when he first got to the hotel. He leaves the hotel about two hours later around 10.06am.

From here, he goes to a nearby McDonald's, where security cameras saw him again throwing items away in two separate McDonald's trash cans. He was seen on camera pushing something further down into one of those McDonald's trash cans. Next, he heads to a men's warehouse store, where he throws more items away.

He sits in the parking lot for about 40 minutes before going back to the Holiday Inn in a black t-shirt. He exits the room 20 minutes later in a white t-shirt. Then he heads to the job site where he stays for about 30 minutes before going back to the Holiday Inn. When he gets back to the hotel, he throws away another white plastic bag and some black containers.

If you didn't keep track, because I know it is kind of hard to keep track, that is a total of five different locations where he threw away various items from his truck. This was, of course, an immediate red flag to investigators.

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Barry continued to do interviews with investigators in the months following Suzanne's disappearance, and they noted that his story changed drastically. I do detail these interviews pretty thoroughly in the first two episodes about this case, but one of the major things investigators noted was how quickly he switched from saying he had a perfect marriage to saying that he and Suzanne fought frequently due to her use of drugs and alcohol, which he disapproved of.

Officers also noted that he seemed to change his story when presented with evidence that didn't match his original story. Police also interviewed one of Barry's co-workers to get a clearer picture of what he might be like in a professional environment. They interviewed Morgan Gentile, a contractor who was with Barry on May 9th and was part of the Broomfield assignment. And she revealed something pretty big.

Morgan tells investigators that Barry was actually supposed to pick her up and take her to the job site in Broomfield on Sunday evening at 5.30pm, and never gave a reason as to why he went to Broomfield so early in the morning and didn't come get her.

She also discusses a pretty chilling conversation between she and Barry on May 9th. She apparently made a comment to Barry asking if he knew that pigs could eat a whole human body in only two hours. And she says Barry responded that he could bury a body and it would never be found.

Another piece of evidence that investigators believe is crucial is a plastic cap or needle sheath that they found in the dryer of the Morphew home. This was along with the sheets that had been stripped off one of the daughter's beds. They theorize that this came from a tranquilizer dart, and that Barry may have shot Suzanne with a tranquilizer before killing her. He did do a lot of hunting, and was known to use tranquilizer darts to shoot deer and other animals.

And in the house, they find an empty new dart box, a hypodermic cover, a dart found in a box under a bench in the garage, and a new dart book. When asked, Barry said that he had not used tranquilizer darts since moving to Colorado, but he did use them in Indiana to shoot deer. Then, finally, we get to the point in the investigation where they identify Jeff, the Jeff that Suzanne was talking to on the spy pen. This ended up being Jeff Libler, a married man from Michigan.

Now, he willingly provided DNA, phone records, and all the logins for his social media accounts. And pretty quickly, based on credit card data, they were able to determine that he was in Michigan when Suzanne went missing, and he was cleared as a suspect. But he also did support these claims that Barry was abusive and controlling.

Now, a lot of people do want to know why Jeff didn't come forward right away, and I think it's a fair question. Jeff says that when he realized that Suzanne was missing, he knew Barry killed her. And he didn't come forward because he didn't want to hurt his family, or Suzanne's family, or tarnish Suzanne's image. But now that they know who Jeff is, they go back to Barry in January 2021. FBI agents sit down with him to tell him what they've uncovered about her affair.

And when he's confronted about it, Barry says that he had no idea. He says that he wouldn't have had to suffer for nine months if he'd known. Now, it's kind of important to note that Suzanne had only been missing for seven months at this point, so maybe that was just a slip. Maybe he wasn't paying attention. I don't know. But here's where it gets dicey. Here's where it gets...

I'll just say it, it gets weird. He says that Suzanne's disappearance was God's judgment on her for having an affair, and he implied that he now understood why God took Suzanne from him. While they have Barry, they also bring up the tranquilizer darts. But Barry says that this can be explained. He says he shot two deer on his Colorado property. But this contradicts his earlier statements that he had not used tranquilizers since living in Indiana.

They also confronted Barry about his phone movements around the house after he arrived home on May 9th. These showed him running from porch to porch in like a Z-shaped pattern at a really fast rate. Barry explained this by saying that he shoots chipmunks. He says that he's shot over 85 chipmunks on his property since moving to Colorado. Basically, he says that they got into his furnace and it cost him a lot of money to replace it.

So they specifically ask if he was shooting chipmunks when he got home that day, and Barry says yes. This is the first time investigators had heard this alibi. But Barry is cooperative. The next day, he gives investigators the .22 caliber altered rifle that he claims he used to shoot chipmunks. But then Barry asks, quote, and what about immunity? Can you give me immunity if I sit and just open my life to you? End quote.

And of course, agents want to know what he would be granted immunity for. And he responded, quote, I think in case somebody falsely convicts me, end quote. Now, they want to learn more about these tranquilizers, which chemicals he's using. And he answered that he uses BAM and Telazol. A veterinarian was interviewed about these chemicals, and she was shocked that a civilian could get Telazol, saying it was only used in veterinary medicine.

She also said that she had heard of one one-hundredth of a dose of BAM being used to sedate a human, but a full dose would likely be fatal. By April 26, 2021, police say that they've gotten over 1,400 tips. Each one of them investigated, and none of them provide a legitimate suspect other than Barry Morphew.

So, on May 4th, 2021, nearly a year since Suzanne was last seen, Judge Patrick Murphy of Colorado's 11th Judicial District signed an arrest affidavit charging Barry with murder in the first degree, tampering with physical evidence, and attempting to influence a public servant.

Now, I just want to say that in Colorado's 11th District, there is no grand jury used for indictments. Instead, an affidavit must provide sufficient evidence that the accused person has committed a crime. And on May 5th, Barry Morphew was arrested and booked into the Chafee County Jail. Here's what the prosecution believes happened. They say Barry came home on May 9th and found Suzanne outside sunbathing and talking to Jeff Liddler.

They believe he then chased her around the house with a tranquilizer gun, causing this strange pattern on his phone, and eventually shot her with the tranquilizer. They believe that in the hours that his phone was on airplane mode, that's when he disposed of Suzanne's body before heading to Broomfield to dispose of any evidence. On May 18th, Barry was also charged with possessing a short rifle, their band in Colorado, and for tampering with a deceased human body.

By the first hearing in this case in July, things already started to become rocky for the prosecution. In this first hearing, the judge said that Barry's defense was lacking access to evidence that they were supposed to receive in June. Throughout these hearings, Barry's attorney, Iris Eaton, also said that DNA evidence was found inside Suzanne's bike helmet that didn't match Barry.

It was also revealed that Barry's DNA was not a match on the needle sheath found in the dryer. Even more shocking, Eaton revealed that male DNA was found on the glove box of Suzanne's car, and this DNA profile partially matched a man accused of sexual assaults in three different cities.

When called to the stand, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Officer Joseph Cahill admitted that he did not follow up on these CODIS matches, and that CODIS matches should be followed up on as investigative leads.

The prosecution fought back against this, saying it wasn't addressed because it was only a partial profile. But District Attorney Linda Stanley admitted in an official response that when the alert went out on June 2nd that the sample was a potential match to a serial sex offender, the forensics team did not do any work on it. Think what you want in this case, all of these clues, this evidence, it all needs to be followed up on.

Now, despite this, once the four intense preliminary hearings were over, the judge ruled that Barry would stand trial for Suzanne's murder. The prosecution requested a $10 million bond, but the judge reduced it to $500,000 cash only. Barry posted the bail and was let out of jail on an ankle monitor. While Barry awaited trial, his defense team continued to file motions against the prosecution for discovery violations and for not taking the CODIS match seriously.

The prosecution maintained that they didn't intentionally keep the CODIS information from the defense. Another hurdle came when Barry's friend, Shoshona Dark, was set to be a witness in the upcoming trial. She was facing charges for trespassing on the Morphew's former property at the time, so she hired a lawyer. Her lawyer was actually apparently a personal friend of the judge in this case, so he was asked to step down, which he did.

At the beginning of 2022, a new judge was assigned to the case, and he was not as patient with the prosecution as the former judge had been. His first act in the case was to order the prosecution to turn over all police reports and videos from their 20-month investigation. Really, from here, the prosecution's case just continued to fall apart. The new judge ruled that he would not allow Sheila Oliver to testify about domestic violence between Barry and Suzanne.

And things got even worse when one of the main investigators on the case, the same one who admitted to not following up on the CODIS matches, said he thought Barry's arrest was premature. In April, the judge issued a 20-page order, where he basically fried the prosecution for being sloppy and reckless. He also said that the prosecution's offenses were so brazen that he would not allow 14 of the state's 16 expert witnesses to testify.

This seems like it was the final blow for this case, because on April 19th, 2022, only nine days before the trial was set to begin, the state motioned to dismiss the charges without prejudice pending further investigation. The motion was granted, and charges against Barry Morphew were dropped.

Now, dropping the charges without prejudice means that they can refile charges at a later date if more evidence is obtained. At this point, the state says that what they needed was Suzanne's body, and they said that they believed they were close to finding it. All they had to do was wait for the snow to melt so they could excavate an area.

But as they were waiting for the snow to melt, Barry felt like he'd been wronged by the state of Colorado and District Attorney Stanley's team. In May 2023, he filed a $15 million federal civil rights lawsuit against Linda Stanley and her prosecutors, law enforcement officials including the Chafee County Sheriff John Speezy, and several current and former investigators with the CBI and FBI.

The suit alleges that Barry was wrongfully arrested and jailed for a crime he did not commit. Then, in September 2023, they find Suzanne's body. By accident. Investigators conducted a search in Sewatch County, Colorado, but they weren't looking for Suzanne. They were combing an area of Moffett, Colorado, in search of clues on the whereabouts of another missing woman, Edna Quintana.

She was last seen on May 3rd, 2023, walking around Sewatch County. She was 56 years old at the time of her disappearance. As of this update, her body has not been found, and her case remains unsolved. But in their search for Edna, they uncover human remains in a shallow grave. On September 27th, they were confirmed to be Suzanne.

Moffat is a part of Sewatch County, and is about 36 miles south of the Morphew's former home in Maysville. According to Tom Perrin, the Sewatch County coroner, the bones were found in a remote area which he describes as a desert field of sagebrush and natural grasses. He says it appeared that the remains had been buried in a shallow grave before being scattered. And this is where the case stood for over six months. Until April 29th, 2024.

when the Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced that Suzanne's autopsy report was complete. This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by June's Journey. June's Journey is a hidden object mystery game, and you step into the role of June Parker and search for hidden clues to uncover the mystery of her sister's murder. Basically, you engage your observation skills to quickly uncover key pieces of information that lead to chapters of mystery, danger, and romance.

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This is Jessica Knoll, host of the new series Back in Crime. If you're a follower of true crime, you're probably familiar with some of the most shocking stories from our history. Horrific tragedies like the Columbine Massacre. He turned the gun straight at us and shot. Oh my God, the window went out. And the kid standing there with me, I think he got hit. Okay. Oh God. And notorious criminals like cult leader Charles Manson.

In a scene described by one investigator as reminiscent of a weird religious rite, five persons, including actress Sharon Tate, were found dead at the home of Miss Tate and her husband, screen director Roman Poliansky. But what if we were to turn back the hands of time and relive these events as they unfolded? Follow along each week as we take a fresh look at crimes from the past. Back in Crime is available now.

This report doesn't specify how Suzanne died, but it does rule her death a homicide. The autopsy was completed by the El Paso County Deputy Coroner, Dr. Emily Russell Kingsley. While her report does not say for sure what killed Suzanne, it does reveal something critical. Butorphanol, azapirin, and metotopidine were all found in Suzanne's system.

This combination is also known as BAM, the animal tranquilizer that Barry Morphew admitted to using by name. And the thing is, this combination of drugs is not easy for the average person to come by. It's a controlled substance. It's usually prescribed by veterinarians to farmers, wildlife officers, or other professionals who work with large wildlife. It's used to tranquilize animals like deer, bears, and horses. Big animals.

Butorphanol in particular is a severe painkiller with similar effects to opioids. Metatomidine is used in anesthesia. Azapirin is the tranquilizing element, which is often used on horses. Now, one of the experts who was supposed to testify in Barry Morphew's criminal trial was a retired biologist for Colorado's Parks and Wildlife, a woman named Lisa Wolfe.

She says this specific chemical compound has never been tested on humans, but she estimated that it would only take about 10 minutes to sedate a woman Suzanne's size. She says she guesses that they might be sedated for up to 8 hours, and that if Suzanne was injected with these drugs, it would make her wobbly and unstable, kind of like somebody who's drunk.

Now, it was noted that in Barry's interviews, he said that the last time he saw Suzanne, she was asleep and snoring. And Wolf says that someone who was sedated by these drugs would likely snore heavily. Just a little tidbit there.

We also learn something pretty big here. Despite Barry claiming many, many times that Suzanne was doing drugs and drinking alcohol, including saying that she was drunk when he came home from work on May 9th, there was no alcohol or any other drugs found in her system besides the tranquilizers and caffeine. They also found a weathered bullet with Suzanne's remains. Now, it's not clear if the bullet was spent or not, and it hasn't been made public knowledge what kind of bullet it was.

So at this point, we don't know if it matches any of the guns found in the Morphew home. Of course, after nearly four years, Suzanne's remains were purely skeletal. A lot of the information that was found in the autopsy came from testing the bone marrow in her femurs. With Suzanne, they also found a padded sports bra, green Nike tank top, a sweatshirt that said Crested Butte, shorts by the brand Yeti, and a single pink and lightly colored work glove.

It was revealed by one of Barry's attorneys, who told News 9, that none of the bones in Suzanne's feet nor her shoes were recovered. They did find a purple medical port device, which was used for Suzanne's chemotherapy treatments. This port, dental records, and DNA were all how they officially identified Suzanne.

The Morphews were offered Suzanne's remains for burial or cremation, but they said that they wanted the state to keep them in case they could pull more evidence. Suzanne's daughters and Barry held a celebration of life service for Suzanne in Indiana on May 4th, and after this, Barry's defense team got to work pretty quick.

Attorney Jane Fisher by Riausen said in a statement, quote, Barry Morphew is innocent, and he could not have killed his wife. She got up on the morning of Mother's Day, had her cup of coffee. That is now confirmed with the autopsy report.

Also confirmed with the autopsy report is that she put on her bike clothes. She was on a bike ride and abducted. The tranquilizer that was found in her bones, allegedly, is a very common animal tranquilizer that could be used on farms or by hunters, which are people who are very prevalent in that area of Salida. End quote.

Barry's other attorney, Iris Eton, also quickly chimed in to say that she hopes the state is pulling veterinary records to identify all the people who had access to this drug at the time of Suzanne's disappearance. She argues that veterinarians, wildlife officers, and ranchers should be the investigator's main focus, not her client. Barry's defense team went on to say that they didn't know if DNA testing had been conducted on Suzanne's clothes yet.

But they believe this might be the key to finding out who killed her. Their statement reads in part, quote, "...despite the fact that unknown DNA was found in Suzanne's car, where her bike was parked, on her bike grips, handlebars, and bike seat, the authorities will not tell the Morphew family whether Suzanne's bike clothes, collected seven months ago with her remains, have been tested for DNA."

The family is quite skeptical about the integrity of this investigation as the very same investigators that concealed the unknown male DNA continue to be involved in this investigation and were present at the autopsy. The family asks for privacy and implores the authorities to look at the case with fresh eyes, follow all leads, conduct all forensic testing, and solve Suzanne's murder. End quote. So, I think the question is, what now?

We know that Barry can be charged and tried for Suzanne's murder again. At the time the affidavit for his arrest was issued, prosecutors said their investigation did not lead them to any other conclusion other than Barry killing her. We don't know if that's changed.

But one thing we do know that will change is the district the case is tried in. I talked about this briefly, but District Attorney Linda Stanley has faced a lot of backlash for her handling of the Morphew case. Again, I talk about all these claims in a lot more detail in my two-part coverage of the case. But although she's still District Attorney, Stanley is still currently under investigation by the arm of the Colorado Supreme Court, which is the state's most important

which handles complaints against attorneys. Many have come forward to say that she handled Suzanne's case and buries charges unethically and unprofessionally. However, since Suzanne's remains were found in Sawatch County, Stanley tells the Denver Gazette that District 12 DA Ann Kelly would be the one to press charges and prosecute Suzanne's killer. And Kelly confirms that she's been consulting with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation about this case, but has not made any further comment.

I mean, she has a big job on her hands. This case file is at least 80,000 pages of discovery. And that doesn't account for the police body camera footage, the videoed interviews of Barry and his colleagues and Suzanne's friends and family. It could be a while before we see any action in this case. Against Barry or anyone else.

But last week, a group of Suzanne's friends and advocates for the case met at the Poncha Springs Town Hall to celebrate and honor her life as they have for the last three years. This year, things were different. They knew Suzanne had been found, and her true cause of death has been revealed. They had intended to plant a lilac tree in Moffett near where her remains were found, but they weren't able to do so yet because of the snow. Melinda Moorman, Suzanne's sister, wrote a statement to be read at the tree planting.

Today we commemorate Suzanne's discovery. In the arid desolation of the San Luis Valley of Sewatch County, I was blessed to visit the place where you stand today. For me, it was a day of some closure and peace where I no longer had thoughts of my sister being abandoned and left alone. She has been found. I hope you all feel the same comfort today. The planting of this lilac tree is indeed a symbolic reminder of Suzanne.

Like the lilac was sweet in the fragrance of her life, her temperament was breezy and light. She would have loved the choice as the lilac as her commemorative tree. She would have smiled with delight. End quote. Which brings me right to our call to action. Of course, the CBI is still looking into this case.

And if you think you might know anything that might aid in their investigation, no matter how small or insignificant it may be, please reach out to them. There is a dedicated tip phone number and email for Suzanne's case. That number is 719-312-7530. And the email is cdps__suzannemorphew__tipline at state.co.us.

As a reminder,

Suzanne Morphew was last seen on the morning of May 9th, 2020 in Maysville, Colorado. She was white with brown hair and blue eyes. She was 5'4 and weighed approximately 120 pounds. Again, if you have any information, that phone number is 719-312-7530. And the email is cdps__suzannemorphew__tipline at starlight.

But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time. Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice media original. This episode contains writing and research by Brooke Haynes. If you love what we do here, please take a moment to follow, rate, and review the show in your podcast player. It helps us and helps more people find these cases in need of justice.

Welcome to the Secret After Show. The door is open, our emotional support puppies are in the room with us, so I hope you feel a little comforted after what I think is an unsettling case. Let's just get into it. There's a lot I want to say about this case because it does, I mean, it hits close to home. It being dropped, right, because the prosecutors couldn't provide enough evidence is so hard. So hard.

But now, they have some answers, and all I can hope is that it leads to some type of conclusion in this case. Now, I did have one thing I wanted to point out that I thought was just, like, so, uh...

I don't, it just wasn't a good point to make. And this is by Barry Morphew's new lawyer, who is pointing to the fact that caffeine was found in Suzanne's system to like negate, I guess it doesn't really negate everything that Barry said, but it was like, yeah, caffeine was found in her system, just like Barry said it would. Like, come on. Like, I wonder how many people in the U.S. wake up without fail every morning and have a cup of coffee. You know what I mean? Like,

It just felt like kind of the lamest point to make, and that's all I have to say about that. Defense attorneys are going to defense attorney, and I understand why their position is important. But when I read that, I was like, give me a break. Give me a break. Coffee. Coffee confirms it all. Yeah.

And of course, you know, I tried to be extremely fair in this case. I'm not trying to tell you one way or the other what happened. I do think that there's evidence in this case that needs to be tested, that needs to be pursued, just so that everybody gets a fair trial. I also want to say that with this update, I saw a lot of mean comments about Suzanne's daughter standing by Barry. And you can feel however you want about that. Um...

all I can do is offer my unique perspective of, um, telling you that, um, there's nothing worse than losing a family member, a loved one, um, other than losing them to another family member or a loved one. Uh, it absolutely is double the loss. Um, when that happens, you lose two people. You know, I, I very much feel like I not only lost my sister, but I lost my father and all this. And, you know, I could go more into that, but, um,

I just want to say, too, like, it's not easy to come to that conclusion. I had ABC 2020 screaming in my face that my dad did it, and it still took me a solid five years maybe to come around. The entire internet was screaming at me that I was an idiot, that, you know, maybe I helped my dad because I was such an idiot. And it's just not – it didn't help me come around. It didn't. It just made me feel like people suck. So –

Like, just know that if you're out there commenting that Suzanne's daughters are so stupid, one, I don't think she'd like that. I'll make that statement with my full chest. I don't think that she would like that. And two, it's not going to help them come around. So really, you're just being mean. But do you. If you want to go out there and be mean, go for it. I'm just telling you that I don't think it's going to give you the desired result. AKA, lay off. Like, what's the point? Moving on to me.

I feel like I was like, lay off. Now let's talk about me.

So you guys may have seen, I did announce on social media, there's a documentary being made about Alyssa. It's made by Story Syndicate, who is amazing, and I'm just really excited about that. There's been some articles coming out. I published a picture. We don't have a solid date yet. Once I get that, I will get it to you. But I am just over the moon, excited about this and getting Alyssa's story out there to everyone.

a larger audience. It's going to be on Peacock, and it's going to be more than one hour. I'm trying to think of what I can tell you and what I can't tell you, but it's already been out there and published, so I think I can tell you that. But yeah, it's really cool. I am signed on as an executive producer of the project, which is really exciting for me. It will be my first executive producer credit in the film world. I already have, you know, one in podcasting, but

I don't know. It's just, it's like a different venture and I'm excited to see, you know, what, what will be done and what can be done and the final product of what we have done with all these resources. You know, I've told Alyssa's story on some, you know, amazing programs and, you know, really top tier podcasts and YouTube channels and all that. But, you know, this, this feels different and certainly is different. So, yeah.

Stay tuned. I will be giving you more information about that as I have it. Now, this is so random, but what I've been watching and what I've been listening to, I want to share a podcast with you. Let me get the exact name for you because right now I'm just calling it the Mary Kate and Ashley podcast, which is absolutely not what it's called. So if there are any 80s, late 80s, 90s babies out there, please

Who are just fascinated by like the journey of the Olsen twins. My chair is so squeaky. This is for you. So this podcast is called They Thought I Was You. And it's really interesting. You know, the hosts go through it and kind of analyze what Mary-Kate and Ashley had done over the years work-wise. Yeah.

And it's an interesting breakdown because, as you guys know, especially if you guys are part of the Patreon family over there, you guys know that exploiting children in entertainment is something that I will never stop speaking about. I think it's just really gross. And kids can't consent. Like, no.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen couldn't consent to being on Full House when they were like four days old or whatever. So if you're interested in that, if you just are interested in the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen lore, which if you're not familiar, there is lore, and I think it's interesting. Give it a try. It's a nice little reprieve. While still talking about serious subjects, I...

I keep trying to define my interest in things outside of true crime, and I think the best way to put it is I'm interested in this like justice umbrella of topics. You know, I talk about things like the treatment of the actors within the Blair Witch Program, the kids on Kid Nation, which, by the way, one of them reached out to me after hearing my episode. So excited for that.

But again, also like child stars and family channels and stuff. So if you're interested in this like justice umbrella of things, I think that this podcast is for you. I will say, I will say I do feel a little guilty because I am sure Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen do not approve this podcast only because they like don't care to be in the public spotlight.

But I will say, I think it's done extremely well. And I think that these women care a lot for Mary-Kate and Ashley, to be totally honest. So if you are looking for something like that, I recommend this podcast. They Thought I Was You.

Also, if for whatever reason the hosts of that show are listening, I would love to come on and talk about how really my first and heaviest exposure to true crime were the Olsen twins videos back then, the detective videos. I still have the VHS tapes. Yeah.

I love it. I love it. I'm sorry to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. I really hope that you approve this podcast, but I think the topics they're talking about are really important. Oh my gosh. Could you like feel my guilt? I feel guilt, but that is what I'm listening to.

On to our segment of hope, and I'm going to do it again to you guys in this episode. I think this update is the segment of hope. You know, when I research these cases, I do like to look at public opinion. I think it's really important because public opinion does kind of change these cases, right? It changes everything.

how these families go through this journey. Sometimes it changes the way that attorneys address things. It just, it's a part of the story. And, you know, when you read things like, she'll probably never be found or, you know, we'll probably never have answers and stuff like that. It, it does, it like breaks my heart. Like why, why comment that? So I think the segment of hope is like, hey, you never know.

when you're going to find something in a case. It could be four years later, it could be 40 years later. And I think it's important to discuss not only to keep this hope alive within families, but to also fucking scare the perpetrator. Like, hey man, I know that you thought you were some hotshot back in the 70s or whatever. Guess what? Your cousin signed up for Ancestry DNA, we have this, you are caught. It's like twofold, right? It's

so fantastic when there are answers in a case that, you know, hasn't seen a lot of action for a while. But also, again, it keeps the perpetrator scared. If you're out there, I don't know why you'd be listening to this podcast if you're a bad guy, but maybe. My dad, hi dad. If you're out there thinking that nobody is going to find your trail, you're wrong. You're wrong. This stuff changes every day and you might just be caught. So

act right. I don't know. That's my segment of hope. I love seeing breaks in new cases. I usually don't do a lot of updates, but I'm trying to incorporate them more because I do feel like they're important. So this probably should have been a different segment, but let me tell you where I'm coming from. So

Sometimes in the past, when I see an update in a case, especially if it's like one little thing, and then I see a creator make five new episodes about it, that feels gross to me. I'll just say it. It just feels icky to me. And it feels...

I don't know. Like, you don't need five episodes. I don't need five episodes to tell you what happened to Suzanne Morphew in this new update. So I've had my ethical concerns with updates in the past. But I really, I went on a mission to, like, find creators who I thought were doing it great. I was actually inspired by Crime Junkie's Delphi update. Ashley told me that she was doing an update on Delphi. I listened to it. And I texted her and was like, oh, my gosh. Like, I have had such a hard time finding

finding a way to provide updates that it doesn't feel gross or like a money grab or whatever. So I was heavily inspired by that. And I hope that you guys like this update. And I hate saying like, but you know what I mean. I hope that this provided further clarity in the case. And I do aspire to do more updates outside of the annual updates. Because, I mean,

I want people to know that there's hope in these cases, that things are progressing, and to keep sharing. You know what I mean? I'm not sure if I'll do big updates on closed cases, but when there's an opportunity where I feel like here's some more information on a case, we still need some help, I'm going to try to do more like this. And if you liked it, let me know. I

But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.