Colorado man jailed after bond breach in wife's murder case
Barry Morphew, accused of killing his wife, was jailed after a hit-and-run violated his bond terms.
A Colorado man awaiting trial for the alleged murder of his wife has been taken into custody after prosecutors said he violated the terms of his bond by traveling to Denver, where he was involved in a hit-and-run crash.
Barry Morphew was booked into the Boulder County Jail on Friday. He had been free on a $3 million bond, which restricted his travel to work and limited circumstances. According to a court filing by District Attorney Anne Kelly, Morphew was involved in a collision with two other vehicles on August 28 while on a trip to Denver International Airport, possibly to pick up his daughter. The filing states that any airport trip not related to work constitutes a breach of his bond.
Alamosa County District Judge Amanda Hopkins has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday to discuss whether Morphew's bond should be revoked or modified.
Morphew has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Suzanne Morphew, who disappeared in 2020. Her skeletal remains were found in 2023 off a dirt road in southern Colorado. Charges against Morphew had been dropped earlier, but he was re-arrested after the discovery.
Prosecutors allege that Suzanne's bone marrow contained traces of a drug cocktail used to tranquilize wildlife. They note that Barry Morphew was the only person in the area, aside from wildlife officials, authorized to possess those chemicals. No signs of trauma were found on the remains.
Morphew's attorneys did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.