Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - BREAKING: Suzanne Morphew Remains Found

Episode Date: September 28, 2023

Suzanne Morphew's remains have been found. Police in Colorado say in the midst of an unrelated search they uncovered the missing mother-of-two, her bones scattered in a remote, desert field of sagebrush and natural grasses. It appears to have been buried in a shallow grave which showed evidence of animal activity.  Dental records and Morphew's cancer port made identification possible.    Joining Nancy Grace Today: Eric Faddis - Partner at Varner Faddis Elite Legal, Former Felony Prosecutor and Current Criminal Defense and Civil Litigation Attorney; Instagram: @e_fad @varnerfaddis; TikTok: @varnerfaddis  Caryn L. Stark -  Psychologist, Renowned TV and Radio Trauma Expert and Consultant; Instagram: carynpsych, FB: Caryn Stark Private Practice Sheryl McCollum – Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder & Host of New Podcast: “Zone 7;” Twitter: @149Zone7 Mike Hadsell – President and Founder of Peace River K9 Search and Rescue; Twitter: @K9River   Joe Scott Morgan – Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, “Blood Beneath My Feet,” and Host: “Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;” Twitter: @JoScottForensic Tyson Draper - The Tyson Draper Show; TikTok: tysondrapershow  Lauren Scharf - Journalist; Twitter: @LaurenScharfTV   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I Heart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Breaking now, in the last hours, the remains of Suzanne Morphew have been found. No question. The remains are Suzanne Morphew. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. Listen. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation won't say the exact location where they found Suzanne's remains last Friday, only that it is near Moffitt. You're looking at an aerial view of that part of Sewatch County. Investigators were on site for a different case when they came across Suzanne's remains,

positively identified on Wednesday by the El Paso County coroner. The FBI, the CBI, you know, the sheriff's department has always, the sheriff especially, department has always said, you know, we need her body to finish this case out. You know, my thing is, is you've got her body, let's finish this case. That's right. You've got her body. Let's finish this case. You're hearing our friends at KUSA 9. Now take a listen to Fox 31.

It was certainly an emotional day here in Salida. Many hoping this is the beginning of closure. They've been waiting for more than three years for now. We did just receive a statement from the Morphew family. We'll get to that momentarily, but first to those new developments from today. According to the district attorney's office, Morphew's body was found near the town of Moffitt by investigators who were working on a completely different case than this one. Now, those remains were not confirmed

to be more fuse until today. Now Moffitt is in Sewatch County, about 40 miles South of where Morphew was last seen here in Salida. People say they're hoping this can help bring justice and closure. This feels at least like information that helps us know that she's

not continuing to suffer. I think there was a lot of concern about whether or not she was still suffering. And I think that that has brought some relief to people. Now, according to the husband, Barry Morphew, and his family, they say they expected her to walk into the door at any moment, just walk through the door. My question would be, were her assets moved into his name? Did he actually vote for her while he was expecting her to walk in the door at any minute? That and a lot of unanswered questions remain on the table, but with me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now, for those of you just joining us, the remains

of missing mom, Suzanne Morphew, have been found. And they are absolutely her remains. First, to Lauren Scharf joining us on the scene with me in Colorado, looking as best we could for clues. Lauren Scharf, tell me about the discovery of Suzanne Morphew's remains. Where were the remains discovered? They were found in a remote dry desert field of sagebrush and natural grasses south of Moffett, according to the Swatch County Coroner, Tom Perrin. Let me take in what you're just saying, Lauren. You always give me so much information. I'm going to take it line by line. Remote, dry desert, a field about 40 miles from her home. Is that correct, Lauren Scharf? Yeah, and it appeared that the remains had been buried in a shallow grave

before being scattered. Okay, that's telling me a lot. I'm going to come right back to you, Lauren Scharf. But to renowned professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, and star of a new hit series, Body Bags, with Joseph Scott Morgan. Joseph Scott, thank you for being with us. Well, there you go.

This was not a suicide unless she fell into a shallow grave and tried to cover her body up. So we know that she was buried by another person. We know she didn't bike there. Her bike was found not too far from her home. So what did she do? Hitchhike? You look at it, you look at this case and you think, you know, the first key here is this word shallow, Nancy. In my experience, when

you hear the term shallow, that means rushed. That means something that's not very well thought out. If you're trying to conceal something and hide it, you're going to take your time, almost excavate the area, if you will, to go as deep as you possibly can, because now not only do they have shallow grave, but from what we're hearing, we're also talking about scattered remains, which means that they were easily accessed by any kind of carnivore or scavengers that are out there. And that creates a problem. But the most important thing is that we have a day that has arrived that I did not see coming. Really? Yes. Because I always thought, I always believed that we would find Suzanne Morphew. I didn't know when. No,

ma'am. This is dumb luck, I think, as far as I'm concerned. You know what I would call it? If you're working on another case. I would call it divine intervention. I would not call it. He's still talking, isn't he? Wow, I thought you could cut his mic. Can you now do that? Straight out to Cheryl McCollum joining us, forensics expert, founder, director of Cold Case Research Institute. You can find her at coldcasecrimes.org.

And she is a star of a brand new podcast, and it's a hit, Zone 7. You know, I want to talk to you about this case going cold, but it's only been three years, and I don't know that I would call that cold. That's something for you and I to talk over, over a game of checkers. Let's talk about the facts right now. Cheryl McCollum, shallow grave. And I like what Joe Scott Morgan just said about it being in haste 40 miles. And I know that your computer brain is analyzing all of this at the same time. Just because I cut your mic, Joe Scott Morgan, doesn't mean you can't keep

thinking. Think, think, think, think. Yes, ma'am. 40 miles away from her home. She didn't go by bike. She didn't go by car. She's buried in a shallow grave that was so shallow it was easy for animals to get to her and tear her remains apart. Analysis. Nancy, being there with you in that area gave me so much information I wouldn't have known before. That ground is hard. It is rough terrain. It would take hours, half a day probably, to get a decent grave going to completely cover somebody. This person did not have time to do that. Okay, hold on. Hold on, Cheryl McCollum. I agree with what you just said. And in a moment, I'm going to go back to Joe Scott on this. Hold on. Hard ground. Analyze that again. Remember just recently you and I were out on a legitimately cold, cold, cold frozen case trying to look with ground penetrating radar to see any anomalies within the soil, and we did see anomalies within the soil. That soil was very easily disturbed.

Not so where Suzanne Morphy's remains had been found. Analyze, Cheryl. It's filled with rocks and difficult terrain. I mean, you couldn't hardly get a shovel in the ground, Nancy, and we always knew the bike was staged. Now we have proof. She never went down that ravine. There was never any real evidence she was on that bicycle.

But here's what I'm really wanting to know. The clothing found on that body, is it the clothing she was wearing for that last selfie? Or was she in pajamas? Because if you remember, Barry said she was asleep when he left. So what clothing is with the remains? This is going to tell you whether or not it was that afternoon that she, you know, went missing wearing those same clothes or pajamas. The other thing is we're going to know, was she shot?

Possibly. There'll be evidence. Stab, Possibly. There'll be evidence. Stab, strangle, there'll be evidence. Was she bound with anything, like rope? Is any jewelry missing? But I'm telling you, the money tree is the clothes she has on, because that's going to tell you whether or not he said something that was not true. Or if she still had on that bikini she was wearing.

I mean, her swimsuit. No, no, you didn't say that. You said PJs. I'm saying her swimsuit. Absolutely. The last selfie she was taken or in pajamas because he said she was still asleep. So if it was the clothing that she had on in that last selfie, then that's going to give us a money tree. We know he came in and busted up in there when she was sitting outside in her swimsuit, we think, taking photos that she sent to a guy that she had been dating. That's what we think may have happened. Do we know that? No. But her clothing is going to be very critical. And Cheryl McCollum is absolutely right. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Unleash Joe Scott Morgan again. Uncut his mic. Let's talk about what we just heard from Cheryl McCollum. Very narrow question. Joe Scott Morgan, you're the expert on this. Her remains have been scattered by animal activity. That's a euphemism for animals tearing her body apart. That's what happened.

Scattered by animal activity is just airbrushing what really happened to Suzanne Morphew's body. But given that, this is going to be tough, Joe Scott Morgan. Can they get a COD if she was stabbed or if she was shot. Okay. Now I know asphyxiation of any type, strangulation, it's going to be very hard to get that COD, but what about stabbing and what about a gunshot? Joe Scott Morgan. Yeah. Let's think about stabbing real quick. If we're talking about stabbing, one of the things that we're going to be looking for, particularly as it applies to the chest area and to the back as well, Nancy, you'll get tool marks that may cross across the ribs. And if you look at it, it's... Hold on, hold on. Fire hydrant. I'm drinking from the fire hydrant. Okay, tool marks across the ribs. Slow down just a second. Let me visualize what you're saying. Okay, go ahead.

Yeah. Let me give you a good visual here. Think about the letter V. Okay. Think about the letter V and with a tool mark. Tool mark means where the knife hits. Hits the bone. Whatever the instrument is, hits the bone and leaves a mark. Right. Like you are trying to open a jar and it won't open. So you bam it on the kitchen counter and whoops, you left a mark on the counter. That's a tool mark. Go ahead. That is a tool mark. Yeah. And so with, if you're talking about an edged weapon and we're talking about stabbing here,

okay, not a slashing, but a stabbing where it passes, say for instance, between the ribs, you'll look for this little V-shaped mark on the leading or the upper, the lower edge of the rib, all right? That could be possible. But if you go into purely soft tissue, say if you twist the blade and turn it so that it goes in between the ribs, there's a lesser of a probability you're going to see that. Also... Wait, Joe Scott, let's just pretend for the moment that we're talking to a jury. Okay. Okay.

So you're saying in regular people talk, if the knife or a bullet even hit her bone, it would leave a tool mark. But if the knife or the bullet went, for instance, through the ribs, it would not leave a mark on the bones. It would not leave a tool mark. Okay, go ahead. Yes. And you mentioned bullet wounds just a moment ago, gunfire. Again, one of the areas that you're going to be looking for here in particular are flat bones, like the sternum, for instance, maybe the scapula, and certainly the skull. The problem with these kinds of cases is that the body is broken up into various elements, very tiny elements, as a matter of fact. I'm hearing probably a 75-yard radius in this particular case.

So they're going to be dispersed. Hey, Judge Scott. I'm sure that they've taken their time. Judge Scott. Yes, ma'am. I don't want to interrupt your train of thought, but I just want to give you illustrations. Do you remember when Kelly Anthony, two-year-old Kelly Anthony's body was found in that swampy area about 10 houses down from top mom Casey Anthony's home? Right.

They worked through the night. They worked, I don't know, maybe two nights in a row they had a tent out there with bright light shining down trying to find all of that little baby's bones including like tiny pieces of her finger what do we have 206 bones in the human body is that right yes yep yeah and for instance the finger that each finger breaks into three pieces i mean just yeah the rule of the rule of thumb in forensic anthropology and recovery is the smaller the bone, the less of the probability is that you're going to recover it. Because I know the word that is hanging in everybody's mind right now is going to be hyoid. And hyoid is one of the most difficult bones to recover on a skeletal recovery. Okay, this is crazy.

That's what I was actually thinking. Can you find the hyoid? Because earlier I said Joe Scott's going to be more difficult with her. She's obviously skeletonized. There's no flesh left on her. Probably hair, yes, but without flesh, you won't be able to tell if pressure has been exerted on her throat. Therefore, you would look to the hyoid bone, which is so fragile.

Yes, it is fragile. And, you know, I know your listeners are so bright and you've probably said this before, but it bears repeating. It's the only bone in the human body that's not connected to another bone. It's the only unarticulated bone. It's kind of like hanging there. Yeah. And the only purpose of this is to hold the tongue in place. And so it's kind of free floating, if you will, particularly in a skeletal state like this. The only other thing I can really think of that we haven't covered is probably blunt force trauma. You really need the skull for that.

If she has sustained some kind of depressed skull fracture or even a skull fracture that's not associated with a gunshot wound, you might be able to pick up on that and it would still be visible to that degree. I have a hard time imagining that there would be any soft tissue and to that degree, any hair left after three years. But that remains to be seen. It will be fascinating to find out as we go along.

I'm very curious about so many things that you just said and I'm in agreement with everything you and Cheryl have brought out. To Lauren Scharf joining me, you can find her at Lauren Scharf TV, very well-known journalist. Lauren, yes, no, do we believe they found Suzanne's skull? Yes. Why do you think that? Because I believe that's how they positively identified her from her dental records. You're absolutely correct. Let's take a listen to our cut 160 KUSA. It was an unrelated investigation that finally led deputies to Suzanne Morphew's body in Sewatch County. Tonight, a source familiar with the investigation told 9 News they discovered

skeletal remains and identified Suzanne based on dental records and her cancer port. She disappeared from her home in Salida in 2020. Prosecutors eventually arrested her husband Barry Morphew to charge him with murder. They dropped those charges last year just nine days before you said to go on trial. They said they wanted to go to trial once they found Suzanne's body. Of course cases have been tried without a body. Take a listen to our cut A. Does the name Kelsey Barreth ring a bell? Frazee told him, quote, I figured out a way to kill her. No body, no crime, right?

Days after Kelsey was reported missing, Frazee told Moore he didn't understand why her disappearance was getting national attention. Moore also told the court that Frazee said, man, if I had known it was going to blow up this big, I never would have. Moore says Frazee never really finished that thought. He also said Frazee never seemed concerned about Kelsey's disappearance. You're hearing our friends at KUSA. And as a matter of fact, that case was prosecuted successfully. Remember Kelsey Barrett, the mom of one, goes missing. And of course, a name that everyone will recall, Kristen Smart. Take a listen to our cut B. It's alleged that Mr. Flores caused the death of Kristen Smart while in the commission of

or attempted rape. No body homicides are obviously complicated and difficult, but we don't make a decision to file unless we believe we can prove the case. Now we asked the DA if he would seek out a plea deal or a lighter sentence in exchange for information leading to Kristen's body, but Dow says it's a little premature at this time. Another case successful without a body. Those were our friends at KSBY. So it can be done. Back to the reason, the identification of Suzanne Morphew's body. Lauren Scharf is correct.

The identification was made through dental records. So we know that the skull was recovered, but also her cancer port, which is heartbreaking that this mom who had been valiantly fighting cancer, a recurrence of cancer, was partially identified by her cancer port. Tyson Draper joining me from the Tyson Draper show on TikTok, Tyson Draper show. Tyson, recall very distinctly when you and I, Lauren, Cheryl McCollum, and others were tromping all across the Salida area, looking for clues, looking for answers, reaction. Well, the first thing i want to say nancy is i am in total agreement with you on this being divine intervention and one of the highlights of that trip of us being all of us going up there to colorado was when we formed a circle there and we all joined hands and you

had me say a prayer and and we prayed specifically that day that we would find the remains of suzanne morphew and honestly nancy as we were standing there in that circle and you looked around in this vast environment we had mountains and trees and streams and everything honestly i it was like a needle in a haystack and honestly my hopes were really thin at that time, but I knew that God was in charge and what a wonderful, glorious day this is. You know, Tyson, I know a lot of people don't understand that what you said to us is so true. It is a wonderful and a glorious day because at that moment when all of us were in a prayer circle, praying for justice, praying that somehow her body would be found because everything had failed up until that moment. You know, we looked around and you're right, it was so vast. All the places where her body could be.

And tick, tock, tick, tock, as every moment passed, it would be less likely she would be found. But that day, I remember you asking, do you think they'll ever find her? I said, oh yeah, they will find her. One day, they will find her. One day they will find her. Yep. I thought it might be 2025 years when hunters were out hunting somewhere and they come across a human bone. Yeah. But I had no idea that it would be this soon. Joining me right now, a high profile lawyer, Eric Faddis, partner at Varner Faddis Elite Legal, former felony prosecutor. You can find him at varnerfaddis.com. P.S. I think your name should be first. Eric Faddis, three years or 20 years, it does make a difference with every day, every minute that passes. And I've tried

cases that are very old before. You lose witnesses. People's memories fade. That's why you've got to write everything down, record every statement, every detail, every measurement, you name it. I remember one case I went to, the scene, of course, Eric Faddis. It was a murder case at that point. It was a suicide case. I was standing in the woman's room looking. She was found dead, naked in her bed, ostensibly dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Of course,

I didn't believe that this lady killed herself, but naked in her bed. I did not believe that, just based on statistics. And I was watching the medical examiner investigators, a whole different crew of investigators measuring how many inches away from the bed that spent shell was. And I was thinking, why, why do they want to know that? Well, obviously, because every detail matters and it did matter. And by the way, she was murdered and it was proven at trial. Eric Faddis, three years seems like a long time, but in the world of criminal prosecution, it's not a long time. A conviction can be had. Oh, heck, absolutely. You know, there are cases that are decades old that go to trial and secure a conviction. Here, we're three years out, and it's problematic for some reasons.

You know, evidence erodes. We don't have the tissue to test to see if there is any sort of tranquilizer material, as has been alleged against Barry Mulkey beforehand. But this is still a critical, critical piece of this prosecution. It was really the reason that law enforcement dismissed beforehand. Now that they've got it, I think it's without question they're going to refile this case. Wow. That was a mouthful, Eric Faddis. And I mean that in a good way. A lot of information. Hey, Nancy, can I jump back in? I can't tell. Oh, could I

stop you? Go ahead. Well, I just want to paint this picture too for people when you're looking at. Uh-oh. Wait a minute. Everybody get comfortable. She's going to paint a picture. There's going to be a lot of brushstrokes. Go ahead. Was this a stranger or somebody that knew her? When you look at the amount of time this person spent, this killer went to her home, got her, got her bicycle, got her helmet, put the bicycle in one place, drove her helmet to another place, drove her helmet to another place, drove her body to another place, attempted to bury her, then attempted to get rid of whatever instruments and tools that he used for that purpose. Does that sound like a stranger would go to that much trouble? O-H-E-L-L-N-O, lady. Karen Stark, joining me, renowned psychologist out of Manhattan TV radio, trauma expert, consultant at KarenStark.com.

That's Karen with a C if you're trying to look her up. Karen Stark, she's so right on. You jumped ahead of me, Cheryl McCollum, but you're right. Everybody on this panel, jump in. We need all of the brainpower we can get. Come on, please. Karen Stark, I have investigated and prosecuted so many cases where, for instance, there's a burglary. The perp sees the homeowner come in and go, where are you in my home? Bam, shoots him and they run. There's no dragging the body 40 miles away and burying it in a shallow grave. There's no

putting the helmet here and the bike here. Uh-uh. No. They want to hightail it and get away from that dead body as fast as they can. Only someone, I believe, connected to the victim is going to take the time to stage the scene. And boy, was this staged. And there's no doubt in my mind, guys, this is a secondary, at best, crime scene. This is not where Suzanne Morphe was killed. Jump in, Karen Stark.

Give me the psychology behind all this staging of the scene. Well, Cheryl was brilliant because it's true that somebody who does not know her would never be able to go back, spend that much time. It's such a risk, Nancy. Find the bicycle, then the helmet, go different places. And also, to me, that shallow grave, in addition to the fact that it was hard to dig a grave, but it's the sign of somebody who could care less about what happened with that body in person. It's just, let me just get rid of this as quickly as I can and get out of here. And to make sure that it was actually Suzanne's bike and her helmet that they grabbed.

Repeat? Making sure that they grabbed the right bike as far as Suzanne's bike and her helmet to hide. How would they know, right? How many bikes were there, Lauren Scharf or Tyson Draper? Well, it's a great question. Well, let me, I'll just, I want to remind everybody too, Nancy, that this was a Sunday morning. This was Mother's Day.

So Sundays are generally really quiet as well. And the population of maysville colorado is 167 people so we're not talking about some metropolitan area that has tons and tons of people and tons of crime this is a very isolated area so you got to take all that into consideration as well i mean it just and it was covid yeah yeah A lot of people were homebound. You are both exactly correct now. You said it was Sunday morning. How do I know she wasn't killed Saturday night, Tyson Draper?

Well, I'm sure she was. We have a window of opportunity there that we've talked about now for years. And, you know, it's just now, you know, when we were in elementary school, we used to always do the connecting the dots, you know, it's just now, you know, when we were in elementary school, we used to always do the connecting the dots, you know, and that's kind of what we've been doing the last three and a half years. And now we've got this huge, you know, this huge piece of the puzzle here where we can start connecting these dots. And it's looking like we were right on track all along. Mike Hadsall joining me. You know his name.

I'm sure you legal eagles out there. President and founder of Peace River Canine Search and Rescue Online. You can find him at prsarpacereversearchandrescue.org. Mike, how often do you find a body that's been in a shallow grave? Well, we find quite a few of them and actually we should be thankful that he buried her because that preserved her for quite a while before the critters were able to get to her and scatter her remains. So if they hadn't, the desert eats things up pretty quickly. So we would not have the success if it hadn't been for the guy burying her, whoever that was. So in the desert, there's rapid decomposure. And I'm going to go to you, Joe Scott, on why. But I want to point out to everybody, no one has been charged since, of course, the charges were dropped against her husband, Barry Morphew, some time ago. No one

is currently named a P.O.Y., person of interest. Nobody has been arrested. Just want to put that out there. Nobody yet. Okay. Joe Scott Morgan. I want to follow up on what Mike Hadsell just said, and he's completely correct. I want you to hit me on how rapidly a body would decompose in the desert, burying her in a shallow grave. Would that have slowed down the decomposure process um i have another question for you too about the staging this is at least a secondary crime scene not where she was killed i don't believe anyway and if the animals had torn her body apart would they have torn apart her clothing as well but wouldn't you expect to find her clothing within that 75-yard radius? Yes, you do. That happens quite a bit. And what's going to be really fascinating from

a forensic standpoint, Nancy, when you talk about the breakdown of any kind of items, whether it's a body or clothing, if she's going out for a bike ride, commonly many people wear things that are synthetics, right? And synthetics can be more resilient many times than natural fibers. So it's possible that you can, you know, locate those. And the disbursement pattern that you're talking about with remains, one of the things that also happens is that if you have small burrowing animals that, you know, exist in this area, they'll actually take some of those items into their burrows. So there are times when you can go back and find even other things after the initial search of that area when you're going out and actually doing an excavation of the

area from a forensic anthropology standpoint. Now as to preservation, it's good and bad. In more arid climates, sometimes soft tissue will last a bit longer than it would, say, down here in the south. Certainly where I train down in south Louisiana, it would. However, the environment is very harsh. Hot is hot out there. You know, you don't deal with a lot of relative humidity. Many times, depending upon the scavenger activity, those bits of soft tissue will go pretty quickly if they're not protected. And being in a grave, I have to say that Mike is right on target here, as opposed to just laying a body

out on the ground. You have some level of protection. However, there would have been more protection if, in fact, you maybe, maybe had gone deeper. I think, and I'll leave it at this, one thing I'd be fascinated to know, Nancy, was the body shrouded in any way. Because, you know, a lot of these cases we cover where we have these clandestine graves, bodies will be wrapped in plastic. I've had shower curtains, trash bags, all these sorts of things. And that just further cocoons the body. And sometimes the critters will dig down into that area, rip the bags open,

and get to the remain that is in there. That's going to be important to see if they recover any kind of plastic that's out on the scene or anything, even a cloth shroud that may have been used. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I haven't heard anything, Lauren Scharf, about her body being wrapped or in any sort of a container. Example, J.J. entirely the victims of cult mom Lori Vallow and her husband Chad Daybell according to police JJ's body was basically her medically sealed not so for Tiley any word on that that you've heard Lauren Scharf or Tyson Draper I haven't Nancy I have not heard anything no I have I haven't either I think that would have somehow leaked out if she had been wrapped in a tarp or any other such enclosure.

I understand, Lauren Sharpe, you have spoken to her sister. Is that true? I have. What did you learn? When she first told me, you know, we both, I was speechless. You know, she told me it was just, we were both just overwhelmed with emotions. You know, the waterworks started and we, you know, you're happy, but then also sad because then it brings up, you know, so much. And it just, it starts over for the family. I mean, I think one of the last press conferences

that Barry Morphy's attorney gave was saying that Barry and the daughters were just now kind of getting back to normal. And so I can't imagine what they're going through now. Why was a search crew in that area? Take a listen to our cut 173 from CBS. They told us they weren't even actually looking for Suzanne when they found her body out there. They're looking for something completely different. But results from the El Paso County coroner's office did come back positive today. They said that it is Suzanne's body. CBI is not saying a specific location of where they found her or what condition her body was in. CBI says investigators were searching near Moffitt for an unrelated investigation when they found those remains

that's northwest of the Great Sand Dunes. They have not said how she died or released a cause of death or really any other information about her. At this point, CBI says it has not made any arrests, but it's just the latest development in a very complicated case. Northwest of the Great Sand Dunes. Okay, to you, Tyson Draper, where's that? What does that mean? Well, what that means is it's just on the outskirts of Salida. It's just, it's where somebody would, you know, drive and looking for a spot to go dump a body. It's very mountainous. It's very you know a lot of prairies. It's very isolated. So if something happened in Maysville or Salida as we know it did it would be the first place that

somebody is trying to get outside of that area, you know, on the outskirts to hide a body. So it's not very far from Salida. It's just kind of over the mountain, over the pass there a little bit. And it's just a small little town, Moffitt, that little area right there, you know, as you're heading back down towards Alamosa. Guys, I'm very curious to figure out how Barry Morphew is responding. Take a listen to our cut 170 Fox 31.

The Morphew family releasing a statement through their attorney just moments ago, saying in part, Barry is with his daughters and they are all struggling with immense shock and grief after learning today that their mother and wife, whom they deeply love, was found deceased. They had faith that their wife and mom would walk back into their lives again. The news is heartbreaking. They go on to say neither the DA nor the authorities notified Mallory and Macy Morphew, those are the daughters, about the recovery of their mom. So they believed that she would walk back into their lives again. Tyson Draper, question to you.

Maybe I'm wrong. Did Barry Morphew move? I'm pretty sure he very quickly sold the home that they shared together. Did he move all of her assets into his name? Yes. Yeah, and that, you know, that statement that you made again there, and you made it at the top of the hour too here, is that Barry and the family, you know, were kind of like Motel 6,

like we're going to leave the light on for you, you know, wait for Suzanne to return. But my, you know, what I viewed is that that wasn't the case at all. Barry was in a hurry to sell all the assets, to sell the home, to sell her cars, to sell everything. And then not only that, but he got, as we all know, he got a girlfriend shortly thereafter as well. So if they're expecting Suzanne Murphy to come walking through that door why did all of this happen why was very actions don't line up with his work here and remember that less than a month after suzanne went missing he filed for guardianship which really rubbed her family the wrong way because they believed she was just missing. Guardianship, explain. Guardianship of Suzanne, so for her assets,

for selling the home in Indiana that they had left so that they could get the money from the sale. So this is for a person that believes his wife is going to walk right back through the door. Does anybody remember Scott Peterson? And again, Barry Morphew has not been recharged. He's not been named a person of interest. He's not been arrested.

Nothing like that. Karen Stark, do you remember that immediately when Lacey went missing, he, let's see, sold her vehicle. He immediately ordered the porn channel. All sorts of expenditures and actions he would never have taken if he really thought she was about to walk back through the door. That's why he was so unbelievable and unsympathetic, Nancy, because he absolutely went and started his life again and acted very clearly as though he didn't expect her to come

back. So when I think about children, they would keep wondering and hoping and thinking that their mom would come back and it would be much better for them to know that she was found and have closure. But I don't get that he felt that way at all because that is not how he proceeded with his life right away. A month, that's no time. Yeah, question on that. Tyson Draper, how quickly did the girlfriend emerge? Oh, it was shortly after Suzanne went missing, I would say within... What do you mean shortly? A week, two weeks, a month, a year? I would say a couple months, maybe a month and a half, somewhere around there.

Eric Faddis, high-profile lawyer joining us, former prosecutor. That's never a good look. Yeah, no, I mean, that's surely problematic. And, you know, one thing that's going to come up, too, Barry's been talking a lot in the media about this case, even since it began. And so the jury, if he is recharged, which he hasn't been yet, is going to hear about all of these inconsistent statements and how they don't really align with Susan's body being found. So I think it's really a tremendous development of the case legally. I think a lot's going to ride on whether we can find out what clothing, if any, she had on at the time her body was disposed in that desert area near the Great Dunes. For right now, let's just take the miracle that's dropped in our laps. Suzanne Morphew has been found.

Now, let's seek justice. Goodbye, friend.