On the day Suzanne Morphew was reported missing, her husband Barry Morphew spent the morning throwing away items in trash bins at five locations in Broomfield, a retired FBI agent testified yesterday in Day 2 of a 4 day preliminary hearing.
49-year-old Suzanne Morphew has been missing since May 10, 2020 from the Maysville area after going out for a bike ride and never returning. Her body has yet to be found.
Almost a year to the day following her disappearance, 53-year-old Barry Morphew was arrested and charged with first degree murder after deliberation, tampering with physical evidence, and an attempt to influence a public servant.
Yesterday, retired FBI agent Jonathan Grusing testified in detail about data collected by software on Morphew’s truck and cell phone on May 9 and 10, 2020. Morphew left his home early on May 10 and drove to the Front Range for a landscaping job. Grusing testified that Morphew appeared to make five “trash runs” at various spots near Broomfield.
In the first run, Morphew stopped next to a trash can at an RTD bus station for about 90 seconds and the passenger and driver’s doors on his truck opened. He then went to a hotel, and before checking in, parked along the back next to a trash can, where the truck doors again opened and closed. He then left the hotel and threw items away at a McDonalds restaurant.
After stopping at McDonalds, Morphew went to a large trash bin near a Men’s Warehouse store and spent 40 minutes in that parking lot. Later that afternoon, Morphew placed a full trash bag, tree planter and a camouflage jacket in a trash ben near the hotel.
Grusing also testified that someone used Barry Morphew’s truck at 3:25 am on the day his wife went missing. The truck’s driver and passenger doors opened around that time. Defense attorneys attempted to cast doubt on the truck’s data in part by pointing out that it only recorded some of the truck’s actions, not all of them.
At 3:51 am on May 10, Morphew’s cell phone appeared to move to the area where his wife’s abandoned bicycle was found, although Grusing testified that the data was inconclusive because of the poor cell coverage in the area. The last ping of Suzanne Morphew’s phone was at 4:23 am. Her phone has not been found.
No blood connected to Suzanne was found in the Morphew home, and investigators didn’t find any blood throughout the investigation.
More than 110 search warrants were issued, with the first one on May 11 for the Morphew home and vehicles.
Barry Morphew will be back in front of District Judge Patrick Murphy August 23rd and 24th.
