Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - BARRY MORPHEW CHARGED IN WIFE SUZANNE’S MURDER WALKS FREE

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

Indicted for the first-degree murder of his wife, Suzanne, Barry Morphew has been held in jail with a three million dollar cash-only bond. After turning down Morphew's request to lower his bond to a $500 thousand dollar cash-only bond, Judge Amanda Hopkins changes the bond to allow Morphew to use a 'surety,' a bail bonds company, meaning Morphew would only have to come up with 10 to 15 percent of the $3 million. Friends and supporters provide the funds, and bail bondsman Richard Jordan of Denver's A-1 Bail Bonds gets Morphew out of jail to await his murder trial. Morphew's bond restrictions begin with a GPS monitor, a ban on leaving Colorado, and surrendering his passport. He is also under strict house arrest and can only leave his home for medical emergencies or meetings with attorneys. He's not allowed to consume alcohol or controlled substances. There is a mandatory protection order barring him from contacting witnesses or the victim's family, except his daughters, one of whom was with the bail bondsman to get Morphew out of jail. He cannot possess firearms or dangerous weapons, and he must only use his legal name.  Joining Nancy Grace today: Franz Borghardt  - Criminal Defense Attorney, Founder of Borghardt Law Firm, Former Prosecutor, Adjust Professor at Louisiana State University Teaching Criminal Litigation, website: www.borghardtlawfirm.com, Instagram and Facebook: BorghardtLawFirm  Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker,”  featured in hit show: "Paris in Love" on Peacock, www.drbethanymarshall.com , Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, Twitter: @DrBethanyLive   Koa Lorimor  -  Former Army Sniper Chris McDonough - Director at the Cold Case Foundation, Former Homicide Detective,   Host of YouTube channel, "The Interview Room" www.coldcasefoundation.org/chris-mcdonough  Joseph Scott Morgan  -  Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan", @JoScottForensic  Victoria Churchill -  U.S. Political Reporter for DailyMail.com,  Instagram & Facebook: VictoriaSnitsarChurchill  Sydney Sumner -  Crime Stories Investigative Reporter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Breaking news tonight, Barry Morfew charged in his wife, Suzanne's murder, walks free. Yes, you heard me, walks free after a murder one charge. Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is crime stories. I want to thank you for being with us.

Suzanne Morfew goes missing on Mother's Day, torn off her mountain bike to vanish into thin air. She was shot full of animal tranquilizers before her death. Mary Morphew has walked free. accompanied by his daughters, who are absolutely convinced he's innocent. Then who did kill their mother and drag her remains far, far away? To Gregory Nietojo, joining us, investigative reporter, Fox 31, Denver. He's been on The More Few Stories since the very beginning.

Gregory, could you explain to everyone where her remains were found? It's in an area that's about two and a half hours away from the family home just out of Salida, Colorado. There's really no relevancy in terms of the area and where the family had lived. And so that's part of the theory is that her remains or whomever is responsible for killing Suzanne Morphy, if you wanted to take those remains as far away as possible with the hope that her remains would never be found. Okay, wait a minute. How far away from their home were her remains family? It's a good two and a half hours away. Different county. It's actually two counties over in Sawatch County, which is south of where the family home is, again, outside Salida. Technically, they lived in this town by the name of Maysville, Colorado, just to the south and the west of Salida. But again, considering the amount of time that she had been missing, that nobody had to found her body, her remains for it to be that far away, I think was part of the illusion.

if you will, that perhaps, you know, someone else other than Barry is responsible for her death. How do you get that, Nieto? Well, what I mean by that is I think that's part of the defense plan that if the remains are found a good three years after she first is reported missing and they're found nowhere near Maysville or Salida, Colorado, two and a half hours away. Again, part of that theory is that she'll never be found, right? The other part of it is when she is eventually found that it's less and less of a connection in the defense's eyes that it can be tied to a barrier. Wow, because you know what?

I think the exact opposite to Scott Eicherer joining us, founding member of FBI's Cellular Analysis Survey team. But for purposes of this question, Homicide Detective, Norfolk, Virginia Police Department. And Scott, obviously, it's someone who wanted to stage the murder. When there is a random murder, all the person wants to do is get the hay out of there. For instance, a burglar comes into the house, he sees me, bam, and runs. Forget stealing the TV. I got to get out of here. The person that murdered Suzanne Morfew staged the scene.

the scene which means to me it's not random. I totally agree with that. If it was a burglar coming in, he would have ended up in a scuffle or something that he would run

immediately and not staged the scene. That's evidence of someone that lives there that knows where things are supposed to be in that resident. You know, I want to talk about the staging aspect of this. Mark Tate joining me veteran trial lawyer, defense attorney with the Tate Law Group, who shot

to fame during the Alex Murdoch investigation and conviction, Tate. Okay, I'm not asking you to take the defense hat just yet. I'm asking you to comment on what I'm talking about staging the scene. Her bike was found closer to her home. And at the time, Barry Morphew, who has just walked free, everybody, stated, a mountain lion must have done it. There's her bike. Her helmet was found about a mile away. I guess the mountain line did that too. So somebody went to the effort of putting the bike here, the helmet somewhere else, and the body far, far away. Just go with me on this. The significance of staging the scene.

Who stages? Somebody that doesn't want to be caught. Somebody that thinks they can outsmart police. If it's random, there's no staging. Right. It does look staged. It makes a problem, I think, as you discussed, I'm supposed to take off the defense counsel hat, and I'm willing to do that. But this is the kind of thing that makes it difficult to defend a case. You know, the best type of case, if you're going to defend someone who's accused of murder, is where, number one, the body's not found. Number two, that it's not set up to create and appear to be set up to be a distraction. Obviously, there was something created here to try to make it look like it was a bicycle accident.

it was anything but a bicycle accident, and it gives, you know, this Mr. Morphew, his defense lawyer, a very difficult time, I think, to reckon with explanations that. And, of course, the prescription for the tranquilizers that was found in her or found in her, I think makes all of that difficult. Oh, yeah. Bam. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Very, very difficult. You know, Dr. Bethany Marshall joined us. I want you to follow up on what Tate is saying. We're now psychoanalyst out of the L.A. jurisdiction, author of Deal Breaker. You can see her now on Peacock and find her at Dr. Bethanymartial.com. Dr. Bethany, staging, staging.

It could be anything from, let's see, I had one case where the mom was found dead, naked on her bed, and the perp had put a wicker, the bathroom, wicker, is largely decorative, trash can over her head. It could be as simple as hiding the body with leaves or putting a blanket over the body, putting the body in a trash bag, just all of that is considered staging. Or for instance, in the Ellen Greenberg case, stabbed nearly 30 times. We've got blood dry going from here to here, but somebody had propped her up. The blood would have gone down.

But just propping her up equals staging. Who stages a scene? Person who stages a scene is somebody who obviously doesn't want to be caught, but it's not somebody who is just raped the person or stolen something from them, as you said earlier, or just maybe hit them in a car accident or something like this. This is where it's premeditated and the perp has already prepared a dump site for the body. I listened to the tape of the investigation when Morphew first went out with the investigators to look for his wife. And I was surprised the number of times he said, it must have been a mountain lion. It must have been a mountain lion. It must have been a mountain lion.

So not only was there staging of the body, but there was this suggestive, persuasive influence on the people who were looking for her. That something she had met some demise that was perfectly explainable. It's like Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, Dr. Bethany, clicking heels together. three times saying instead of there's no place like home and suddenly being transported back to Kansas. He's saying it must have been a mountain lion. It must have been a mountain lion. It must have been a mountain lion. That's going to transport him out of the murder investigation. You know what? I appreciate you saying that, Dr. Bethany. But let's hear it from the horse's mouth. I mean, the bike looked at the way it was laying that kind of looked like it, but there's not really

that much damage to the bike. That's the thing. Lion? Yeah. Was that a lion? No way, lion. I didn't see anything, though. They're not letting us go over the site. Because they're getting a track. They're bringing dogs. They're just right down. Did anybody look for foot jacks? I haven't seen anything, really, but, um, people.

You're lying? I didn't really know this, but I won't lie. I'm not like an expert tracker or something, you know. They may not be a mountain lion expert, but I happen to have a mountain lion expert with me right now. esteemed Dr. Gray Stafford joining us. A zoologist has worked with zoos, aquariums, consultant, host of ZooLogic podcast, author of Zumility. It goes on and on, faculty member, Grand Canyon University. Dr. Grace Stafford, the mountain lion.

It must have been a very cunning mountain lion to jerk her off of her bike, take away her body, two and a half hours away. and, oh, yes, on the way through her helmet elsewhere. Yeah, that's not going to happen. They might drag the body away to a more convenient site, but not two and a half hours away. What would you have expected to find at the scene if a mountain lion, oh, good grave. I can't believe everyone talking about a mountain lion.

If a mountain lion had killed Suzanne, more of few. Well, there would be tracks. If they had animals like dogs to track this animal, they would pick up on sense. There would be signs of struggle, of probably injury, bleeding, even if the animal dragged her away, there still would be signs of struggle. Dr. Gray Stafford joining us for now zoologist. Dr. Stafford, isn't it true that a wild animal, such as a mountain lion, typically would only drag its prey X amount of yards away,

so it could eat. It would eat the prey almost immediately. This is not some sci-fi thriller, where the, you know, mythical mountain lion gets her body and much like a griffin then flies off to the mountains to eat it. That's not the way it works with wild animals. They drag the body 30 to 50 yards and they eat it right then and there. They have a buffet there. I'm sure there's a reason for that. Are they afraid another animal will get the carcass from them?

I don't know. I just know that's true. You're absolutely right, Nancy. An animal is going to want to protect its kill. and depending on whether it's a female with cubs or a male, their behavior might change a little bit as far as how far they would drag that prey away. But they're going to protect that prey, and it's not going to be dragging that person or prey miles and miles away. Joining me, Tisha Leeway, a dear friend of Suzanne Morphew, Tisha, when you first heard that Barry Morphew put it out there

that Suzanne had been killed by a mountain. Mountain Lion. Did you believe that for one minute? No, not even a second. It was the most absurd defense that he could even have. First of all, they didn't find any blood, any, you know, anything to do with a mountain lion. You're not going to find it clean space. You would have probably found her probably 100 yards away, if anything, or pieces of her, clothing, blood. There was nothing. Gregory Nietto joining us, Fox 31 Denver. Now, Greg, where did this mountain line theory first come from? I first came from Barry. The first night we were there when Suzanne was first reported missing, it was a twofold theory. It initially started off with, well, perhaps it was a homeless encampment that had dragged Suzanne away from her bicycle and had done away with her. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Gregory, hold on.

the homeless did it? Have you heard the homeless did it before? Okay, what? Yeah. Between the mountain line and the homeless encampment, it's always the homeless, they do it. Tell me about this, I haven't heard this. So we, the first, again, night that she went missing, we head down to Mazeville, Colorado, and I know her best friend there can explain a topography a little better than I can.

But regardless, the further south and west you go, it quickly becomes, I mean, extreme mountainous. At one point, authorities were searching a nearby lake or pond for Suzanne. When we first arrived on scene, it was the focal point was the bicycle, the fact that Suzanne was no longer attached to the bicycle, and the fact that a homeless individual encampment was responsible. That was the theory at the time when we first got down there and dragged her away from that bicycle and is responsible or was responsible for her death. Following up on that vein, Gregory Neato, how far away was the homeless encampment? from where her bike was found? Not very far.

Again, you're talking about a mountainous area where there are plenty of ravines and crevices and whatnot. And her bicycle was found not all that far away from the family home, but just far enough away where, again, the theory was if a homeless individual was responsible for her demise, that it was just far enough away from the house where that individual wouldn't have been seen. But wait a minute, you're saying ravines, mountains.

So the homeless person climbs across the ravine and down the mountain, kill Suzanne, and then what? That's the theory. They went through all that to kill Suzanne Morfew. That was the original or initial theory that that may have been what happened to her. I mean, that area, you know, you look at it on foot, as we did, it doesn't seem like an area that any other individual human being would even if you were homeless, I don't have to get enough access to enough of the, you know, land amenities to survive.

So anybody else living in the area where the bicycle was found? You know, you're making me think of another question, Gregory. Who first came up with the idea that she had disappeared off her bike? Who first said she was going for a ride since she was all alone on Mother's Day, fat chance? Who first put that in everybody's mind that she was. would be attached to her bike. It was buried. And Gregory Nieto, isn't it true that Barry Morphew said that to the neighbor that he called?

Like, where is her bike? She was going to go for a ride, something like that. Yeah, I mean, again, if you remember, Barry was out of town on Mother's Day weekend, up in closer to Denver. And, you know, when we first arrived down there in the Maysville area, one of the prevailing theories was, why would she be riding that bicycle by herself on Mother's Day, Mother's Day weekend? And where was Barry and why was it that she's out there on this bicycle by herself in an area where the further

you get away from the family home? I mean, in theory, you know, it could be, I suppose, a little bit more dangerous just because you're getting further away from the home. But Barry's the first one that established that theory about the bicycle and her being, you know, removed from it. And that's where this all kind of started.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Well, it's happened. Barry Morfew has walked free again. He is out from behind bars again tonight. Wow, it just seems like yesterday he was begging for his wife to come home. Oh, Suzanne, if anyone is out there, I can hear this that has you, Please, we'll do whatever it takes to bring you back. We love you, and you miss you.

Your girls need you. 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. She was in the backyard, and I think that's where he shot her with a tranquilizer gun. I think she got up. I think she ran.

He ain't looking around. for nothing. He's not calling her name. He doesn't say, hey, in case she got hurt on the bike, there was some horrible accident. He doesn't refer to it. He doesn't talk about it. He's not checking anything. Barry Morfew charged in the murder of his wife, Suzanne Morfew, has walked free. Yes, listen. When Barry Morphew is indicted in Colorado for the first degree murder of his wife, Suzanne, Arizona friends who know him as Bruce or Lee Moore, are conflicted when they find out that the guy they had a beer or a dance with is not a local handyman from the trailer park, but a man wanted for first-degree murder of his wife. Finding out Bruce is not his real name,

Harold's Cave Creek Corral Barg, manager Charlie Lute spends hours reading stories about the man from Colorado accused of murdering his wife on Mother's Day. Gregory Nieto, joining us investigative reporter, Fox 31, Denver. Didn't the judge do a complete 180 and about face? What was the first view on bond? Yeah, they were simply trying to get the overall amount reduced, and the judge was not going to go for that. And so ultimately, the shock of everybody, I think,

at least in the state of Colorado, the judge went down the path of this surety, which is really translation for a bail bondsman covering In this case, 10% of that $3 million bond. The first question, of course, to Barry's attorney is, well, who's responsible for raising this money? And imagine the two daughters have that much money. And all the attorney would say is it's his supporters. Well, who are the supporters?

I've been in constant contact with the folks down in Salida, a radio station down there, who has kind of the temperature of the community. And they could not think of anybody that would fit the bill of a very more few supporter outside of his two daughters and perhaps some women in Arizona. What do you mean women in Arizona? Is he now a sugar baby? Is somebody supporting him? The idea has been floated a little bit down there

with the amount of time he was spending in Arizona. And at this point, that's just what some folks are talking about. Somebody had to put up this money. Somebody had to put up the money, half of it, And the bailed bondsman, Denver's A1 bail bonds, agreed to cover the rest. Somebody had to put up something. Yeah, the attorney, that's all he would leave it with, is Barry Murphy supporters. And again, the amount of times I've been down there, Bishop and vouch for this, I mean, being inside the courtroom, being outside the courtroom, I don't think, again, outside of the two daughters who were always there every time Barry is let out of jail, I couldn't remember talking.

into one person who would say, hey, you know, you just don't know Barry, like I know Barry. We support him throughout everything he's going through. So when you talk about Barry Murphy's supporters, I don't know who that would be. But it's not just that the judge did a U-turn in the middle of the road and gave Barry Murphy Bond. He has walked free, all smiles, and why shouldn't he be? But listen to these bond restrictions. Morphew's bond restrictions begin with a GPS monitor,

a ban on leaving Colorado and surrendering his passport. He is also under strict house arrest and can only leave his home for medical emergencies or meetings with his attorneys. He's not allowed to consume alcohol or controlled substances. There is a mandatory protection order barring him from contacting witnesses or the victim's family except his daughters. One of whom was with the bail bondsman to get Morphew out of jail. He cannot possess firearms or dangerous weapons, and he must only use his legal name. What? An ankle monitor?

Are you kidding me? Does anybody on this panel know how to beat an ankle monitor? Anybody? I bet Tate does. Mark Tate, a veteran defense attorney, let me just say, swans don't swim and assess pool, Tate, all right? I'm sure you know how to beat an ankle monitor. Can we start with cutting this track? Can we just start with that?

That's an obvious, or using aluminum foil. You ever heard of that? Well, I would never counsel a client to try to counter his bond measures like that. Oh, no, you would never. But we do have, I wouldn't do that. Now, if it was me that needed to get away and it was, you know, something that would help produce a better show for you, when we could talk about me hiding one of my ankle monitors. But right now I'm not on one, so that's not really something to worry about.

But no, that clearly would be a violation of his body. bond. And, you know, I think that... Take. I think... Suzanne Murphy is dead. I've seen it. And we are dealing, obviously, with the murder. It's a bad situation. No one, I think, is alleged that this was a... We're talking about somebody who's blamed a mountain lion. We've talked about somebody who

has shifted around is using fake names. Come on, Nancy. He's using fake names. He's made a mockery of this system. And if we can figure out a way to... show that he, in fact, is the mockery that increases, I think, the chance of him breaking and being held accountable for what happened to his wife. You know, he's fled the jurisdiction. By the way, the trailer park that he, that we keep talking about was not some squalid trailer park. It's a very campy, glamping park that is a place where people book Little Fun stays. It's not, you know, the squalid trailer park that perhaps we have seen. This guy is a mockery of himself.

And so it's time, I think, to start calling him out of that and saying the ridiculous thing that he's lived in a trailer. So I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not talking about your great grandmother's trailer park. We're talking about where this guy lives. Why am I hearing that? I'm still hearing him. Can we go to Scott Eicher, please?

Iker, founding member FBI cellular analysis survey team. Can we talk about ways to be an ankle monitor? It's not rocket science. It's not brain surgery. Number one, cut the strap. Duh. Number two, use aluminum foil, and it creates basically rudimentary Faraday cage. Explain.

That's true. In a Faraday bag, or Faraday cage is referred to, restricts the radio signal coming from the monitor, and so it basically shuts it down, so none of the devices can receive that data. So you could leave the house that you're supposed to be in. If you cover it up, or as you said, cut it off and leave it at the house, then the authorities don't know that you've left the house. Those are easy ways to beat the anchor monitor. What about using a metal container?

That completely can block the signal. Can it not? It can. Anything that's what a Faraday bag is, basically. And it's like tinfoil, but if you use a metal container, you can use the same thing. Of course, you'd have to kind of feel it up. the radio signals don't get out of it. You know, I'm also thinking about how to beat the ankle monitor.

Sadly, we've already given him several ideas. I still don't get it. Gregory Nieto, why the judge did a 180 before there was a bond in place and then suddenly he's allowed to make bond. What happened? We're all baffled by that. The folks that were listening into that hearing just assumed that once she the judge refused the first request in terms of the overall dollar amount, we just assumed that even though the defense would come back with a counteroffer, if you will, the judge would, again, say, you know, no dice.

But again, it's proving that Barry is almost like Teflon Don, right? I mean, every time we think collectively that we've reached the end of the road in terms of finally getting to a trial, something new happens. Talk to the folks in Salida, who are there every single day. She'll tell you the same thing. Other things in the world were going on last week when the judge first made the decision to go with a surety. And then when Barry's supporters came through with the money to post that bond, other things in the world and the country were going on. And the temperature in Salida was, you know, oh my gosh, this came out of left field.

How in the world does this happen? And again, coming to almost the end of the road legally, if you will. And then once again, it's getting off the highway. Oh, Suzanne, if anyone is out there that can hear this that has you, please we'll do whatever it takes to bring you back. We love you, you miss you, your girls need you. 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. In Cape Creek, Arizona, a town of less than 5,000 people, a man shows up after the COVID epidemic, introducing himself as Bruce and ordering a cold beer at Harold's Cave Creek Corral. Bar manager Charlie Lute says, ladies approach Bruce and flirt, and he would do the same. Libby Spruill is at Harold's when the new man in town asked her for a dance. Libby says, you're Barry Morphew. But the stranger says, no, no, I think you have the wrong person. Later in the evening, an individual introduces the new guy as Lee from Indiana.

Lee from Indiana, my rear end, to Dave Mack joining us Crime Stories, investigative reporter. Who is Lee from Indiana? Well, Lee from Indiana is just a made-up or half-made-up person because, you know, Barry Morphew is from Indiana originally. And he's been in Colorado, but now we're out in Arizona, and this man from nowhere just pops into town and pops up to the bar and gets a cold beer and asks the lady to dance, I'm Lee Moore. Got a new life. Okay, hold on just a moment.

To Dr. Bethany Marshall joining us psychoanalyst out of the Beverly Hills jurisdiction. Dr. Bethany, hold on. Have you ever noticed when people start an elaborate lie? They very often weave in a few true facts, I guess, so they can keep their story straight. He is from Indiana. So, I mean, this is established. Apparently, he's at a bar drinking a coal beer. Women flocked to him.

I don't get it. I do not get it. It's just like, you know, women that, the woman that married Yorne van der Sloot and had his children, the guy that murdered Natalie Holloway. And Stephanie Tocciano Flores, right. I think he's had two babies behind bars. I don't get it. Why do women flock to this guy, number two? Number one, question, so easy to make up a false identity, isn't it?

Weaving parts of the truth into his story. And is it Barry Murphy's middle name, Lee? Mm-hmm. You know, Nancy, I think there's always a sliver of truth in every lie, and that's why it becomes believable to some people. But I have another theory, which is that when people lie, they build it on a foundation of some truth because they're also lying to themselves.

In other words, they have to convince themselves that what they're saying is true so that it becomes believable to the people around them. They have to embrace the lie, live the lie. So if it's tethered to some little, oh, I'm from Indiana, I have size 10 shoes, you know, I have two daughters, whatever it is about his life, then he can build a whole narrative around that and be more convincing to the people around him.

In other words, hook, line, and sinker. Hook line and sinker. How do they do it? I mean, is there some trick to it? When I have lied, I get all hot all over. I can feel it. I feel like I'm suddenly running a fever. I've even stammered when trying to tell.

lie it never works for me but some people just rolls off their tongue oh if you have no conscience it's easy to lie and they're very charming they're very manipulative and i think this is why the women at the bar flock to him that these types of individuals are initially very outgoing they're very talkative words just roll off their tongue and i think the women really like that they're like hey, this is an authentic guy. This guy's telling me all about himself. He's social, unlike my last boyfriend or my last husband who wouldn't go anywhere with me. This guy's out and about and he loves other people.

So they're initially charming until they're not. You know, Mark Tate, don't you just hate it when your client tries to fabricate a big, fat lie about his identity, but he uses his own middle name and his birthplace? whoopsie. Yeah, that's a disaster. This guy is just as an example, I think, once more of really the defendant's own words get himself in trouble. He's obviously got a very skilled criminal defense lawyer who's done a good job for him.

He's got him out on bond. He was successful and apparently pouring out some prosecutorial misconduct possibly before. But again, the words that come out of his mouth that simply are incongruent with the facts as we see them and in somewhat, you know, sort of farcical when we say that a mountain line apparently was carrying a tranquilizer gun. It doesn't make any sense. And those types of things in the course of the investigation and the prosecution, the presentation of their case in chief, I think going to play a big role. And so once again, when a client comes to me, my first word to them is, you don't talk. You have a right of against self-incrimination

and you should exercise it because, you know, we can only work with defending what you make available to us, and they can work with all the words that you use and say to all the investigators involved, and that all comes out. And it's those types of circumstantial statements that you make and ludicrous things that you claim that make a jury have zero, found you have zero credibility and put very little confidence, including making up names when you move 600 miles away to Arizona and start approaching women with fake names at bars. It's disingenuous and nobody on a jury wants to see that or likes to see it. And you know, Dr. Bethany Marshall, you see how he uses tidbits of the truth. His middle name is Lee. I mean, he does not have a very good imagination.

He's Barry Lee Morfew and he says he's Lee Moore from Indiana. I guess he would claim that is the truth. You know, Nancy, we see with prisoners on death row that the longer they're there, they more, they cling to the fact that they were not the perpetrator. I think that in this case, we see somebody who's pumping himself up into somebody he's not using slivers of the truth. But, you know, we're talking about the women who come up to him at the bar. I would be more interested in the women who said, no, I don't want to dance with you. Or no, I don't want to go on a date with you. Or after the second date, we're creeped out. decided not to see him again.

How does he react when somebody says no to him? And how might that be behavioral evidence in terms of how he treated his wife? And one more thing, Nancy, back to the mountain lion, back to that mountain lion, the poor mountain lion. When he's telling the story about the mountain lion, there's no concern or empathy towards the wife who's gone. And that's one of the primary things we look for in homicide when we do inner. interviews, is does the alleged perp have empathy towards the person who's no longer there?

If they start criticizing that person or acting dispassionate, or in this case with a new identity, just dating other women, it shows that there's not a tie to the lost love object, which really goes against human nature. We want to be with and care about the people we love. Dr. Bethany, of course, the defense, a veteran defense attorney like Mark Tate, will argue that someone's behavior or their demeanor, it means nothing. I mean, I think they all stole it from Mark Garrigan. There's no playbook for grief or panic. Okay, fine, tell it to a jury.

But when you look at Barry Morphy, he's like, hey, maybe a Mount Lion did it. You're right. There's no inflection at all. And in these cases, when somebody doesn't show empathy, the rare times that we can say there's no playbook for grief is if the person is dissociated, they're so traumatized. They're so traumatized that they're dissociated, so they show no affect. But in that case, they're not going to make up a big old lie about a mountain lion. They're not going to be excited.

They're not going to be talking about tracks on the road. They're not going to be going to a bar and flirting with other women because people who are traumatized and dissociated usually just withdraw from society. So that's the only reason, only only reason ever, Nancy, that somebody who's lost a loved one shows no affect is because they, are protecting themselves. But that is very rare, unless he has a history of trauma and a dissociative disorder, he would naturally feel grief. He would be pushing those people along to find his wife. He wouldn't have clever words rolling off his tongue in terms of what might have happened to her. Tisha Leeway with us, a very dear friend of Suzanne Morfew. I don't get it. What is so charming, so charismatic? What's the pull of Barry Morphe?

a.k.a. Lee Moore. Was he that charismatic? No. I think he's a narcissistic pig, if I could say that. But I don't understand. I mean, he was dating right after six months she went missing. So, I mean, that tells you a lot. It doesn't surprise me that he's in Arizona trying to pick up on women. And I think he thought he was a man that can get whatever he wants. And obviously so far in this whole thing, he's gotten everything he's asked for. That's including Bond. 600 miles from where Suzanne Murphy was murdered in Colorado, her now widowed husband, once accused of her murder, is making a new life for himself. He tells a bar manager, his name is Bruce, and is introduced to a bar patron Libby Spruill as Lee from Indiana.

Creating distance from his past life as Barry Morphew, suspect in his wife's unsolved murder, the man who is now known around town as Lee Moore, lives at the Stardust trailer park and is self-employed. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Suzanne Morfew's alleged killer has walked free. That would be her husband, Barry Morphew, now using an alias to pick up women at a bar. Straight out to special guests joining us, Dr. Thomas Coyne, Chief Medical Examiner, District 2 Medical Examiner's Office in Florida, forensic pathologist, toxicologist, it goes on. Dr. Coyne, thank you for being with us. In her bones, and I don't know how they did this, I hope you can explain.

Evidence was found that she was saturated with BAM, B-A-M, B-Torphinol, a Zaporon, metatomazine. What is that? So first of all, I'll just answer real quick. Toxicology testing in this case was performed on bone tissue because obviously she was comprised only of skeletal remains. They had no soft tissue, no blood, no urine. So the only thing they could test was bone, and bone can actually be used to identify drugs or compounds. Whether it's the marrow, if there's fat, because all of our bones have fat within the marrow. Sometimes you can test the marrow or you can actually test the bone itself.

The bone mineral drugs will stick to it just based on charge, and so you can identify drugs from bone, thankfully, especially in this case. But with regards to what they identified, the BAM, BAM's an acronym for a combination of three drugs, butorphinol, asaparone, and metatomidine. And those drugs individually all have powerful sedative properties. And they're used preferentially in large animal species to tranquilize an animal and then to, of course, incapacitate the animal. All three of these drugs in large animals are fairly safe. In other words, they work very rapidly within 10 to 15 minutes to bring an animal down and to make that animal immobile so you, the human, can interact. with that animal safely.

And then this drugs are safe enough in large animals that they're expected to allow that animal to recover and then go back into its normal habitat. But these drugs are primarily used in large animals, like deer, elk, even black bear, because they're safe in large animals, they are not safe in humans. The concentrations of the drugs used in this tranquilizer that achieve sedation and immobilization in an animal would be highly toxic in the human. These drugs in combination cause profound respiratory depression and a decrease in your heart rate and blood pressure. In other words, in a human, it would stop that human from breathing and it could also stop that human's heart.

And so because of that, these drugs are contraindicated as a combination in humans. They're only used in veterinary medicine. You would not find these in a pharmacy for humans or in a hospital pharmacy's formulary. It's only used for veterinary purposes. Can I boil it down? Dr. Thomas Coyne with a quote from animal farm, four legs good, two legs bad. Animals can sustain, bam. It's deadly for people, correct?

Yes, that is absolutely correct. And Dr. Coyne, when you refer to getting the DNA from her bone marrow, what is in simple, regular people talk, what is bone marrow? So the inside of our long bones has marrow. Marrow is the part of our body that makes our blood cells, predominantly our red blood cells, but marrow also has a lot of fat, especially in those of us who are above the age of 30, most of our bone marrow is fat. That's why people actually eat bone marrow. It's very tasty because of that fat. So that fat reservoir can contain drugs, especially if you use the test for toxicology, but the bone mineral itself. So let's say a person has been decomposed and their bones have been outside for a long period of time.

all of that fat tissue inside the bone may be gone. So all you're left with is the actual bone itself. You can actually still test that bone because the minerals that make up our bone, drugs will stick to it based on charge. And so even in archaeological samples that are greater than 100 years old, you can sometimes test and find, you know, what a person may have consumed poisons in their environment, things of that nature. So it can still be used for toxicology testing.

Back to Grace Stafford zoologist. Dr. Gray Stafford, tell me about BAM how it's used. Why would anybody even have it? That's not a vet. That's a great question because it is used in wildlife medicine, as your previous guest had mentioned. It's highly concentrated. The three drug cocktail is highly regulated.

It's dangerous around human beings. You have to have high concentration, high efficacy of this drug because, of course, you're shooting a dart. And you can't have large volumes that you're, you're injecting into an elephant from a helicopter or from tree stand, it has to be very potent. So even a small amount can be very catastrophic for a human being. You know, according to the indictment linking Morfew to purchases of BAM, prescription records show that when Suzanne Morfew disappeared, only one private citizen living in the entire

area of the state had access to BAM. One private citizen that was not a veterinarian, and that would be Barry Morphew. Now, according to the evidence, her body was saturated with BAM. To Scott Eicherer joining us, founding member of the FBI's elite cellular analysis survey team, You just heard Dr. Gray's staffer, the zoologist, state that BAM enters the body through a dart. Now, according to cell data, we see erratic movements by Mary Morphew's phone just before Suzanne Morfew disappears. Could you explain? I can. I've seen the photograph that they've presented where there's some GPS points.

it looks like around the house. I guess Barry claimed that at this point in time he's moving around the house shooting chipmunks with darts. One, that's a very hard thing to do, those little tiny guys with a dart. But I can see that that's the GPS points or whatever they might be, you know, put his phone moving around the house.

And that could be from several different things. It could be GPS from the phone. It could be estimated locations from the cellular network, which is not GPS. So he could be just moving around the house, in this case, maybe straightening up or cleaning up to the mess. I don't believe he's obviously out there shooting chipmunks. Barry Morphew's cell phone is pinging all around the house on May 9th. Investigators believe the activity shows Morfew chasing Suzanne around the house after shooting her. with the tranquilizer gun.

Asked about the unusual activity. Morfew claims he was just shooting chipmunks around the property. They're a constant problem. Another problem for Morphew is his timeline of the night of May 9th. He claims he went to bed at 8 p.m. But his truck computer shows the truck in reverse and backing up toward the house around 9.30 p.m. Let me remind everyone that Barry Morfew is considered under the law innocent. He is presumed innocent, and the rest of that sentence is, unless and until the state overcomes that presumption with evidence that proves guilt.

Right now, Barry Morphew is presumed innocent. If you know or think you know anything about Suzanne Morphew's murder, you may think it's insignificant. L.A. law enforcement may think otherwise. It's not too late to come forward. The tip line is 719-3-1-3-0. Repeat. 719-3-1-2-75-30. Nancy Grace, signing off. Good night. Thank you.