morphews

Suzanne Morphew Was Having Affair With Man Who Did Not Come Forward After She Vanished: Court Reporter

The husband of a missing Colorado woman is in court on Monday for a preliminary hearing related to the murder case against him.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, Barry Morphew has been charged with multiple counts, including first-degree murder, in the disappearance and presumed death of his wife Suzanne Morphew, who vanished in May 2020. Barry Morphew was arrested a year later and remains in custody pending his murder trial.

Barry Morphew is in court in Chaffee County on Monday for a preliminary hearing, during which prosecutors are presenting evidence collected in the investigation and witnesses are providing testimony. Among the items presented in court, according to Fox 21 News reporter Lauren Scharf, is body cam footage from officers who first responded to the missing persons report. Also, Detective Alex Walker, who wrote the 130-page arrest affidavit for Barry Morphew, took the stand Monday morning.

The hearing is not being live-streamed, but Scharf has provided continuous updates on her Twitter feed. According to those updates, Walker testified that Suzanne Morphew had been having an affair with a man she went to high school with for two years prior to her death. This is the first time that investigators have commented on extramarital relationships. The detective reportedly testified that Suzanne had obtained a “spy pen” because she suspected her husband of having an affair.

“Barry wasn’t found having an affair, Suzanne was having an affair for two years,” Walker reportedly said.

 

The reporter said on Twitter that a man by the name of Jeff Libler is believed to have been Suzanne’s lover. The two reportedly went to high school together in Indiana. According to Scharf’s Twitter updates, Libler did not contact law enforcement after Suzanne went missing, but was cooperative with investigators when they contacted him.

Earlier in the proceedings, an image of Suzanne Morphew wearing a blue bike helmet was shown in court, and that the helmet was found on May 15, over 8 miles from where Suzanne’s bike was found on May 10.

According to Scharf’s updates on Twitter, a piece of paper with Suzanne Morphew’s name, address, and family’s contact information was found inside the helmet, which Scharf said was not damaged.

It remains unclear if the paper was damaged in any way, but the Twitter update indicates that what was written on the note was legible at the time it was discovered.

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When Suzanne Morphew first went missing on Mother’s Day weekend in 2020, initial reports, presumably based on family and witness interviews, indicated that Suzanne had gone for a bike ride on the morning of May 10 and did not return. Though detectives found her bike and her helmet, there has been no confirmation that the missing woman did go for a bike ride that morning.

According to Scharf’s Twitter updates, both of Suzanne and Barry Morphew’s daughters were in the courtroom Monday morning. The reporter also stated that investigators said no blood evidence was found in the Morphew’s Maysville home during the investigation.

Suzanne Morphew’s body has not been found, as the investigation continues.

This is a developing story. CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.

Read CrimeOnline’s complete coverage of the Suzanne Morphew investigation here. 

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