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Barry Morphew Slams Prosecutors' "Tunnel Vision" in Joint Interview with Daughters
"It's very hurtful to lose your reputation and your integrity," Barry Morphew said in a new interview. He previously filed a federal civil suit for $15 million, saying that prosecutors' claims that he murdered his wife Suzanne Morphew have ruined his life.
Barry Morphew, a Colorado man whose wife disappeared in 2020 and who saw first-degree murder charges against him in the case dismissed, has spoken out for the first time since filing a $15 million lawsuit against prosecutors.
Mother-of-two Suzanne Morphew, 49, was last seen alive when she went out on a bike ride on May 10, 2020. Her bike and helmet were recovered near Maysville, Colorado, where she lived with her husband, but her body was never found. She is presumed dead, according to the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office.
Barry was charged with first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and attempting to influence a public servant in connection with Suzanne's disappearance. He pleaded not guilty, and charges against him were dismissed "without prejudice" — meaning that charges could be lodged again at a later date — by prosecutors days before he was supposed to stand trial in April of 2022.
The dismissal came after District Court Judge Ramsey Lama criticized prosecutors for a "continuing pattern" of failing to share discovery materials with the defense, and prevented them from calling many of their key witnesses to the stand.
Male DNA that did not belong to Barry was found in the glove box of Suzanne's vehicle. The unknown male's DNA had been linked to three yet-unsolved rape cases. That evidence, Lama said, wasn't provided in a timely fashion to the court.
Barry spoke publicly for the first time since filing the multi-million dollar suit in an interview with ABC News' Good Morning America that aired on Monday. He claims that his life was ruined by prosecutors' accusations, and said on the show that they were blinded by "tunnel vision."
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"They looked at one person and they've got too much pride to say they're wrong and look somewhere else," Barry said. "I don't have anything to worry about. I've done nothing wrong."
"It's very hurtful to lose your reputation and your integrity," he said on the morning show, his daughters sitting on either side of him and holding his hands.
When asked directly whether he was involved in his wife's disappearance, Barry emphatically told the interviewer: "Absolutely not."
In court, Barry's defense sought that the case against him be thrown out on the grounds that there was no evidence that Suzanne was murdered at all.
Prosecutors had hoped that Suzanne's body would be recovered before trial, according to a motion reviewed by Oxygen.com at the time.
“As an offer of proof, the People and law enforcement believe we are close to discovering the victim’s body,” prosecutors wrote. “The People were hopeful that the search for, and the discovery of, the victim’s body would be concluded well before trial, but weather has complicated efforts.”
The charges against Barry relied on largely circumstantial evidence, including the couple's flawed marriage. Among evidence drawn on by prosecutors were text correspondences between Barry and Suzanne before her disappearance. Just before she was reported missing, she reportedly texted her husband "I'm done," and compared him to "Jekyll and Hyde."
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But Barry denied that the couple's marriage was on the rocks in Monday's interview: "We had a wonderful life, a wonderful marriage. She was just so loving and giving, such a good mother."
Suzanne was going through cancer treatment in the years before her disappearance, Barry said Monday, and "was going through some hard things and made some bad decisions." Among them, he claimed, was a two-year-long affair with another man. Barry said in his GMA interview that he "didn't believe it" when he found out, and that his "heart was broken."
In another text shortly before her disappearance, Suzanne told a friend that she and her daughter Macy "had a very tough talk yesterday."
"She's weary of the tension here," Suzanne wrote at the time. "She knows how he is toward me and almost begged me to divorce him ... He's still pulling Mal in."
Daughters Macy and Mallory Morphew told Good Morning America that they stood by their father, and that the three years since their mother's disappearance have been "literally our worst nightmare."
"I've never had a shred of doubt," Macy said on the show.
"Not one," Mallory added.
Despite the text exchanges, the two daughters said that there was no indication that their parents' marriage was in jeopardy and that they never witnessed any concerning arguments between Barry and Suzanne.
Barry's attorneys Jane Fisher-Byrialsen and Iris Eytan said that they "know he's innocent," according to ABC News.
"I know that $15 million is a huge number but I don't think that, in my mind, that covers any of the damage that's happened to Barry and the girls," Fisher-Byrialsen told the network.
"If they would just look for Suzanne outside of where they hypothesized Barry could've possibly buried her remains, they could find her," Eytan added.
