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Dateline NBC S30E15 Echoes in the Canyon H 264
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00:09I'm Lester Holt. Tonight on Dateline, a mother out for a bike ride vanishes on Mother's Day.
00:17Where is it? Where's the bike?
00:18Oh, it's right there.
00:19Where was it?
00:20He was very emotional and said she went out on a bike ride. She didn't come back.
00:25He sounded frantic.
00:26Yes, frantic.
00:27This is my sister, and there was nothing more important to her than her marriage and those two girls.
00:34Please, we'll do whatever it takes to bring you back.
00:38There's a .22 caliber round by her side of the bed. You begin to wonder what in the world is
00:45going on here.
00:46The husband comes under immediate suspicion.
00:49The investigators told him, we don't believe you did it, but we have to check everything out.
00:55Inside that Range Rover, there is DNA.
00:58That is not Barry Morphew's DNA.
01:01It's incredulous. This is not him.
01:04He would never be capable of doing something like this.
01:07Unless they had some big dark secret.
01:10That's why they call them secrets.
01:22Here's Keith Morrison with Echoes in the Canyons.
01:31These mountains don't give up their secrets easily.
01:35Oh, you can look, bring an army to search if you like, along trails that climb and twist and disappear.
01:44Then the mountains look down from their majesty and give up nothing.
01:49Perhaps you think you know how it will end.
01:56This is where it happened, among the extraordinarily beautiful mountains outside Salida, Colorado.
02:02They were not lit up for fall just then, because it was Mother's Day, 2020, when the sheriff got a
02:10call.
02:11A 49-year-old mother of two had taken her bike for a ride in the rugged pathways over there.
02:19And she didn't come back.
02:23Her name was Suzanne Morphew, and she loved the outdoors.
02:28But now she'd vanished into the thin mountain air.
02:31Her brother, Andy Moorman.
02:33I looked around me, and I was just surrounded by huge mountains.
02:36And I started crying right away.
02:38I thought, oh my God, this is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
02:44It was some kind of magic that had drawn them to this place.
02:47They knew right away when they moved from Indiana.
02:52This was perfect, this mountain house.
02:56Suzanne lived here with her husband, Barry Morphew, and their two daughters.
03:00And that Mother's Day, Barry was working at a landscaped job site 150 miles away.
03:07The girls, 20-year-old Mallory and 16-year-old Macy, were on a camping trip up in Idaho.
03:15In the morning, Mallory, Macy, and Barry texted and called Suzanne to wish her Happy Mother's Day.
03:23They got no response.
03:26By afternoon, Mallory and Macy began to worry and called a neighbor.
03:30Goes over next door, looks, knows Suzanne's not there.
03:34Both cars are in the garage.
03:37Then the neighbor called Barry.
03:40He asked her if the bicycle was home.
03:42So she went back over into the garage and looked, and her mountain bike was gone.
03:46The Morphew's neighbor called the sheriff's department.
03:49Suzanne!
03:50A deputy's body cam captured the search.
03:53Can you try to call the husband and see what type of bike she has?
03:58Before very long, they found Suzanne's mountain bike.
04:01It wasn't far from home, down an embankment off a secluded mountain road.
04:09Something's up with the front tire.
04:12At the house, deputies encountered Macy's boyfriend.
04:15He'd been out looking for Suzanne, and he told them what little he knew.
04:19Yep, so the two daughters are gone right now at the moment.
04:23The dad is in Denver for a job.
04:26Though by that time, Barry Morphew was in his truck, rushing home, phoning his sister,
04:30Marcy McLaughlin, as he drove.
04:32And he was very emotional and said, I don't know what's happening.
04:37I'm driving there now.
04:39She went out on a bike ride.
04:41She didn't come back.
04:42The girls have been calling her, texting her.
04:43I've been calling her, texting her.
04:45She hasn't answered all day.
04:46He sounded frantic on the phone.
04:48Yes, frantic.
04:50Back home, Barry went straight to the deputies, still frantic.
04:54Where is it?
04:55Where's the bike?
04:56Oh, it's right there.
04:57Where was it?
04:57It was like just right down here in this little embankment.
05:00Friends came.
05:02Friends who heard Suzanne was missing.
05:04Barry embraced them, then went right back to the investigators.
05:08Was it a crash?
05:09I mean, the bike looked, the way it was laying, it kind of looked like it,
05:12but there's not really that much damage to the bike.
05:14You're chasing one.
05:15That's the thing.
05:16Lion?
05:16Yeah, it was just like a lion.
05:17Was there no a lion?
05:19Mountain lions?
05:20Such attacks are vanishingly rare, but a lion had been spotted recently nearby.
05:27Hey, Barry, then I'll probably need your help to kind of tell me some of the trails that she frequents.
05:32Then, questions.
05:34When did he last see Suzanne?
05:37And just a confirmation, you left this morning at 5.
05:40She was asleep.
05:41So she was asleep in the bed when you left.
05:43Did you say bye to her or anything?
05:44No.
05:45Feels like the top of the bike was like up this way.
05:48So maybe flipped.
05:50Sir, will we go inside?
05:52Later that evening, Barry brought sheriff's deputies into that beautiful mountain home where he said he'd last seen her.
05:59Have you got a plastic bag?
06:01They collected some of Suzanne's clothes.
06:04The scent would help the search dogs.
06:06They looked around for personal things.
06:08They couldn't find her phone anywhere.
06:11But her wallet and ID were in her car.
06:15And while they went about their work, what little news there was made its awful way to family around the
06:21country.
06:23Suzanne's sister, Melinda Moorman, lives in Tennessee.
06:25She got a call from their dad.
06:28And he said, honey, your sister Suzanne is missing in Colorado.
06:32And I said, what?
06:34He said, your sister is missing in Colorado.
06:37And I am not a profane woman by any stretch of the imagination.
06:42But I said three cuss words following those remarks.
06:46I had a terrible feeling.
06:49Someone called Troy Skinner in Indiana, a friend to Barry and Suzanne for more than 30 years.
06:55They thought maybe a mountain lion was involved.
06:58And that was really all I had heard at the time.
07:01What was that like to hear?
07:02It was very disturbing.
07:05Very disturbing.
07:07In the days that followed, there was no sign of her.
07:10Not a word.
07:11Nothing.
07:12No one heard from Suzanne.
07:15The whole community rallied to help find her.
07:19As the search dragged on, Suzanne's brother huddled with Barry.
07:23I said, Barry, it's not a mountain lion.
07:26This is done by a human being.
07:27He said, I don't want to hear that.
07:29I don't want to hear that.
07:30That means somebody's done something to her.
07:32A week went by.
07:34Barry posted an emotional plea on Facebook.
07:36Suzanne, if anyone is out there that can hear this, that has you, please, we'll do whatever
07:45it takes to bring you back.
07:47We love you.
07:47We miss you.
07:48Your girls need you.
07:51Barry and a family friend offered up a $200,000 reward.
07:58Somebody had seen a suspicious vehicle on the road near where Suzanne's bike was found.
08:03Nothing came of that.
08:06Friends began to lose hope.
08:09I went upstairs on the bed and my wife walked in and she said, are you okay?
08:14And I just started crying.
08:16I just started crying.
08:19So, investigators also began looking 1,200 miles away, where the story really began.
08:28When we come back, could clues from the past hold the key to this mystery?
08:34Barry was a Tom Cruise kind of guy.
08:36A storybook romance, then a devastating illness.
08:41What was that like to have your little sister so terribly afflicted?
08:45Oh, just unbelievable.
08:47Barry was the hero.
09:03In a way, there were two searches for Suzanne Morphew after that Mother's Day 2020.
09:09One of them was the needle in the haystack search up and down the mountains around Salida,
09:14Colorado.
09:16The other was 1,200 miles away, in a Mayberry kind of place, Alexandria, Indiana, where Suzanne
09:23and Barry grew up and seemed somehow destined to help each other survive adversity.
09:30Barry was already a local star years before he met Suzanne.
09:34Here's Suzanne's sister, Melinda.
09:36Barry was a Tom Cruise kind of guy.
09:38I mean, he had it going.
09:40I mean, he had it going.
09:41The beautiful car, you know, he had money.
09:43He was a very, very hard worker.
09:44He still is.
09:45A star athlete in the local high school.
09:49And all the girls...
09:50Boy, that combination is pretty hard to beat.
09:51Exactly.
09:52And all the girls wanted Barry Morphew.
09:53But he was going places.
09:57Barry was a baseball player, so talented, he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays.
10:02But it didn't last.
10:04He was injured, came home to Alexandria, where Suzanne, three years younger, was still in high
10:11school and very popular.
10:13Guys in her class were smitten.
10:16Like this kid in the high school yearbook, a talented golfer named Jeff Libler.
10:21Might want to remember that name.
10:23Was he a good guy, too?
10:25Absolutely.
10:27The Liblers are a great family.
10:29Wonderful reputation.
10:31We admire them.
10:32I believe they admire us.
10:34And then, at a local golf club, quite by chance, Suzanne met Barry.
10:40And that was it.
10:42She made them feel a lot better about things.
10:44Yes, and they became close.
10:47They confided in each other.
10:48They fell in love.
10:52And then, at just 20, Suzanne was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphoma.
10:58What was that like for you, to have your little sister, that sweet little sister, so terribly afflicted?
11:04Oh, just unbelievable.
11:06Suzanne is and was the darling of our family.
11:11Did Barry step up himself to do what he had to do?
11:14Yes.
11:16Remarkably so.
11:17Remarkably so.
11:18Most guys would have considered maybe changing course at that time.
11:23Sure.
11:2323 years old, whatever it was he was, he could have walked away and not be blamed for it.
11:28That's not who he was.
11:29When my sister became very ill with chemotherapy, Barry was the hero of our family.
11:34When she got so weak, she couldn't walk.
11:37He carried her.
11:38He carried her in his arms.
11:40Wow.
11:41Really?
11:41When her hair started to fall out, he cut her hair for her.
11:47Suzanne finally recovered.
11:49And in 1994, she married Barry.
11:53And she wanted a family quite desperately.
11:56Was afraid that cancer treatment might prevent pregnancy, but she hoped and prayed.
12:02Prayed a lot.
12:03And now we have Mallory and Macy.
12:06And for my sister, that was a profound faith-building experience for her,
12:11to be able to conceive those beautiful girls after chemotherapy.
12:17They were both doting parents.
12:19She a stay-at-home mom.
12:21He started a landscaping business.
12:23He worked his butt off and learned the trade.
12:25And then after a couple years, he started to make some real money,
12:28and he used it to pay the house off.
12:30Barry Morphew was solid.
12:33He is a very self-disciplined man.
12:36You know, he was extremely good at whatever he did.
12:39He's a marvelous hunter, a trapper.
12:45Barry loved the outdoors, and they both loved their family and their faith.
12:52Barry and Suzanne have always had a very strong, wonderful relationship.
12:59God was the center of their lives and of their marriage,
13:01and for that reason, it was a strong one.
13:04Then, in 2018, two years before Suzanne vanished,
13:09their eldest, Mallory, was ready for college.
13:11She wanted to go west, to Colorado,
13:15which gave Suzanne a very big idea.
13:19And Suzanne told me in her own words,
13:21she went to Barry and said,
13:22I need to be close to her.
13:24You've always wanted to move out west.
13:26Let's go.
13:27Now's the time.
13:28Let's go.
13:29She found the house on the Internet.
13:31Three bedrooms, 3,200 square feet on seven acres, 1.5 million.
13:36But there was very bad news before they got to Colorado.
13:42Suzanne's cancer had come back.
13:44And the news wasn't enough to make her say,
13:47No, that did not dissuade her, which I, you know, I thought it might,
13:51but it didn't.
13:52She forged ahead.
13:55To Colorado, where her cancer was successfully treated,
13:59and she began a whole new life,
14:01just not one anyone expected,
14:03for more reasons than you might imagine.
14:07Coming up, tough questions for Barry Morphew.
14:11When a wife goes missing,
14:13a husband comes under immediate suspicion.
14:15The investigators told him,
14:17Listen, we don't believe you did it,
14:19but we have to check everything out.
14:21When Dateline continues.
14:35All through the spring and summer of 2020,
14:38friends and family like Barry's sister Marcy
14:41were consumed by the search for Suzanne Morphew.
14:45What was Barry telling you about this search?
14:48That they were going sunup to sundown,
14:51he and his friends.
14:54In July, two months after Suzanne disappeared,
14:57friend Troy Skinner traveled from Indiana to Colorado
15:00to support Barry and the girls.
15:03Mallory Macy came up and hugged me,
15:06I bet, for five minutes,
15:07and those girls just bawled their eyes out.
15:09When Barry and I would just get out,
15:11ride around, and run errands and stuff,
15:13he was okay.
15:14But when we were at the house,
15:16he was more quiet than I'd ever seen him.
15:19That house must have seemed very strange without her.
15:21I'm sure it did.
15:22Barry wouldn't sleep in the bed.
15:23Barry slept on the couch outside the bedroom.
15:25I don't think he ever slept in the bed again.
15:28By the end of summer,
15:30there was still no news.
15:33Suzanne's brother Andy,
15:34back in Indiana, was frustrated.
15:36It's torturous.
15:37Not knowing is horrible.
15:39We need closure.
15:40You can't go to bed.
15:41You can't wake up.
15:42You can't even take a nap without thinking about this.
15:44And it's just horrifying.
15:47So Andy took matters into his own hands.
15:51Four months after Suzanne's disappearance,
15:53Everybody get your phones out.
15:55Andy went to Colorado.
15:57Watch your step.
15:58Don't twist your ankle.
16:00Dateline went along
16:01as he led his own search party of volunteers
16:04with help from the Sheriff's Department
16:06and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
16:09The searchers combed the Morphew's property
16:11at hundreds of acres of surrounding wilderness.
16:14They found some shreds of clothing,
16:17debris they thought could be important.
16:20But most of all,
16:21the search reignited interest in the case.
16:24This story kind of went lame for a while.
16:26And it's back on the front page now.
16:28Finding Suzanne or...
16:29Was it ever?
16:30Today, a renewed search is happening in Chafee County.
16:33The Morphew property has been searched multiple times.
16:37Troy said Barry was in a kind of constant anguish
16:41and was doing whatever he could to help the police.
16:44He told me that he had done approximately 30 hours
16:47of interviews with law enforcement.
16:49It was my understanding from the girls
16:52that law enforcement was coming by on a regular basis
16:54and would actually hang out with them a little bit.
16:57There's always an undercurrent.
16:59A spouse goes missing and the other spouse,
17:02especially when a wife goes missing,
17:04the husband comes under immediate suspicion
17:07by the police, by the public.
17:09Did that concern you at all at the time?
17:11Did that occur to you that that would happen?
17:13It did not concern me.
17:16We were aware of it because the investigators told him,
17:20listen, the husband is always the first suspect.
17:23We have to watch you closely.
17:25We have to check everything out.
17:26We don't believe you did it,
17:27but we have to check everything out.
17:30Troy told investigators he thought the Morpheus
17:32had an ideal marriage.
17:34There's no hint of any trouble at all.
17:37I never saw any.
17:38I never saw a hint of problems.
17:40Did you get a sense at all that here was a man
17:43who was trying to cope with something he had done?
17:45No.
17:46I got a sense of a man that was trying to cope
17:49with the reality his wife is missing.
17:53But over time,
17:54a slow, steady drumbeat of suspicion
17:58echoed across the Colorado canyons.
18:01I never knew the true crime community
18:03was out there like it is,
18:05how there's just groups of people
18:06that follow these cases.
18:08Barry was getting hate mail.
18:09I was there with him at the park one day
18:11and some kid's riding his bike
18:13and stop and lips off to him.
18:16The online world, as everybody knows,
18:19can be scathing.
18:20Armchair detectives went after Barry from the start.
18:23I'm from Arizona.
18:25One guy drove in from out of state,
18:27confronted Barry at his house,
18:29posted it on YouTube.
18:30Oh, not a problem.
18:33No, it's not on, bro.
18:35For Troy, for Barry, for Suzanne's daughters,
18:39Mallory and Macy and other people,
18:40the rush to judgment was beyond unfair.
18:44It's just very disheartening
18:45to see so many people make conclusions
18:49based on so much wrong information.
18:52Mm-hmm.
18:53And that stuff spreads.
18:54No, it spreads like wirefire.
18:56People would post things to Facebook
18:58and social media.
19:00He was at Walmart today,
19:01or they'd take a picture of him eating breakfast
19:04or eating dinner somewhere.
19:05The guy couldn't go anywhere without being hounded.
19:09In fact, the speculation became so intense
19:11that Barry tried to help
19:13by showing the media his love letters
19:15to and from Suzanne.
19:17And in September 2020,
19:19he talked to a reporter from Fox 21
19:22in Colorado Springs,
19:24Lauren Scharf.
19:25Put it on record, Barry, right now.
19:27If people think that you did it,
19:29what would you tell them?
19:30Absolutely not.
19:31I love my wife.
19:33I would never hurt my wife.
19:35She is the light of my and my daughter's life.
19:39But out of the public eye,
19:42it wasn't just outsiders asking questions about Barry.
19:46Some of Suzanne's family members also had doubts.
19:52Coming up.
19:53What have the investigators learned from you?
19:56I've spoken to them a great deal.
19:58Had Suzanne revealed a secret?
20:01My sister was a trophy for Barry Morphew.
20:04She wanted more than just to be a trophy.
20:06And she wanted down off the wall.
20:23The not knowing was terrible.
20:26In the fall of 2020,
20:28half a year after Suzanne Morphew vanished,
20:31there was not a word from the search
20:33or the investigation.
20:35How are their daughters taking it?
20:36How can you take it?
20:38You just have to get up every morning and survive.
20:41I don't know how they did,
20:42except for through God's strength,
20:44but they got up every morning and lived.
20:46And that's about all they could say for a little while.
20:50Innuendo filled the empty space.
20:53They knew rumors were out there.
20:55They were getting hate mail and stuff
20:56in their social media accounts.
20:58But it was made very clear
20:59that they didn't know the rumors
21:01and they didn't want to hear them.
21:02That's a pretty awful spot to be in.
21:04It's a terrible spot.
21:08The girls and Suzanne,
21:09I mean, they were her whole life.
21:11She loved those girls and they loved her.
21:13So I can't imagine the pain they've gone through.
21:18It was agonizing.
21:20But over time,
21:21even Suzanne's siblings began asking questions.
21:24Questions about the brother-in-law they loved.
21:27Barry was the go-to,
21:29take-charge guy who treated Suzanne so well.
21:34But remember that big search run by Suzanne's brother, Andy?
21:39Barry never showed up to help
21:41and didn't come to this vigil.
21:43We ran into him up on the mountain.
21:46I don't know why I'm standing here and he's not.
21:48I don't know why there's a prayer vigil for my sister
21:51and Barry's not standing here.
21:53Getting the support from all the wonderful people
21:55that want to know what happened to her.
21:56I can't understand it.
21:58It just tells me something.
22:01And from the beginning,
22:03Suzanne's brother Andy and sister Melinda
22:05had been talking to authorities.
22:07What have the investigators learned from you
22:09that's helped in this investigation?
22:11I've spoken to them a great deal
22:13about the dynamics of Suzanne and Barry's relationship.
22:16I call it the imbalance of power.
22:19And that imbalance of power was there for many years.
22:23Melinda said Barry's exemplary behavior
22:26during Suzanne's first cancer bout decades earlier
22:29might have played a role.
22:31I think that she entrusted herself
22:34in a very unique way to Barry
22:36because of that cancer journey.
22:40After the cancer, said Melinda,
22:42things just kind of went on that way.
22:44Barry in control of decision-making,
22:47of money, of pretty much everything.
22:51And Suzanne wanted to take back the power of her own life
22:55because she'd given it away.
22:57I spoke with him a lot about that
22:59because for me that is very key in this whole case.
23:05Barry Morphew was an avid hunter.
23:08He had beautiful trophies in his home.
23:11My sister was a trophy for Barry Morphew.
23:13And my sister didn't want to be a trophy anymore.
23:17She wanted a life.
23:19She wanted more than just to be a trophy.
23:22And she wanted down off the wall.
23:25In fact, Melinda wondered if that move to Colorado
23:27was in part Suzanne's attempt to reset the relationship,
23:31save the marriage.
23:32Suzanne seemed to think Barry had been cheating on her.
23:35I said to her,
23:38you know, Suzanne,
23:39that's a big move.
23:41She alluded to me
23:43that there were problems in the marriage.
23:45There were infidelity problems in the marriage.
23:49And as her older sister,
23:51with some experience,
23:53I said to her,
23:54you know, Suzanne,
23:55if a man is unfaithful in Indiana,
23:59he will be unfaithful in Colorado.
24:01You will only take this problem with you.
24:04Well, two of her words were never spoken.
24:06But how did she take that?
24:09She listened.
24:10She listened.
24:14Couples have their secrets.
24:15Was there any hint, though,
24:17that either one of them
24:18had been straying at all,
24:20had been seeing anybody else?
24:21There was never a hint.
24:22And I never witnessed it
24:25in the way they behaved toward each other.
24:26I know that's the rumor
24:28and the insinuation from some people,
24:30but it's not anything I ever witnessed myself,
24:33not anything any of my friends
24:35ever witnessed with them.
24:38As winter rolled in,
24:40snow piled high on the mountains.
24:43And by the time it melted again,
24:45a pile of evidence had grown.
24:49It was May, 2021,
24:51the one-year anniversary
24:53of Suzanne's disappearance approached.
24:56All along, we'd made regular trips to Salida
24:58to keep track of the search, of course,
25:00and to listen to the talk around town
25:02and to check or try to
25:04on an investigation as carefully secret
25:06as any we'd seen.
25:08And then, on the 5th of May, 2021,
25:12we had just arrived in town
25:14and there was an announcement.
25:20Coming up,
25:22new pieces of the puzzle,
25:23a bullet casing,
25:25a tranquilizer gun,
25:27a dumpster run.
25:29Barry Morphew went to
25:31five separate dumpsters.
25:32To stop once to dump trash,
25:35I'd say, okay,
25:36five times, that's ridiculous.
25:39When Dateline continues,
25:53May 5th, 2021,
25:55as we rolled into Salida, Colorado,
25:58phone chirped,
26:00a text.
26:00There was about to be an announcement.
26:03Sheriff John Speezy.
26:05That at 09.15 hours this morning,
26:08the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office
26:10arrested Suzanne Morphew's husband,
26:12Barry Morphew.
26:14Barry Morphew,
26:15arrested, booked, jailed,
26:18charged with murder in the first degree.
26:20He pleaded not guilty.
26:23Suzanne's sister, Melinda.
26:25You're not at all surprised
26:26that he was charged with first degree murder?
26:28I've struggled deeply to believe this.
26:31I did not want to believe this,
26:33but I live in reality.
26:35But Barry's family and friends
26:38staggered at the news,
26:40including Barry's sister, Marcy.
26:42It was not a kind of an expectation
26:44that this was going to happen?
26:45No.
26:47No.
26:48Devastated.
26:48I mean,
26:49as if we weren't devastated enough
26:50that we can't find Suzanne.
26:52No,
26:53we did not expect it at all.
26:54It was a shock to us.
26:56What had investigators discovered?
26:59Three months later,
27:00at the preliminary hearing,
27:02which determines if there's enough evidence
27:03to go to trial.
27:05Prosecutor Linda Stanley
27:06assembled the pieces.
27:08You would try to get the jury
27:09or the judge
27:10to see a puzzle,
27:12which some pieces may be missing
27:14in the puzzle,
27:14but generally speaking,
27:15they can tell what the puzzle is.
27:18Connecting the dots,
27:19putting the puzzle together
27:19without all the pieces.
27:21Puzzle pieces.
27:23Connecting dots.
27:25Incomplete, perhaps,
27:27but pointing at Barry,
27:28she said.
27:29Dot number one.
27:30Unknown to most,
27:32a collapsing marriage.
27:35Prosecutors played this video.
27:37Remember Macy's boyfriend
27:39who police talked to
27:40the day Suzanne went missing?
27:42There's a hint of revelation
27:44in that interview
27:45when he was joined by his dad.
27:48Did Barry and Suzanne
27:49get along pretty well?
27:51Uh,
27:53you can answer wrong.
27:55You know, I think,
27:55I think they've had some problems.
27:57Okay.
27:58Yeah, in the past.
27:59Like, just normal?
28:01Normal husband and wife
28:02type deals.
28:03Oh, they like,
28:04talk about separating
28:05or anything like that?
28:06They have, yeah.
28:09Separating?
28:10Well, more than that.
28:12Investigators had also dug up
28:14scores of text messages
28:15suggesting Suzanne
28:16was about to walk out on Barry.
28:19One from Suzanne
28:20to her best friend
28:21in Indiana
28:22a few days before
28:23she disappeared.
28:24I wouldn't feel safe
28:26alone with him.
28:27Another
28:28to bury himself
28:29on May 6, 2020,
28:31four days before
28:32she vanished.
28:33I'm done.
28:35I could care less
28:36what you're up to
28:37and have been for years.
28:38We just need to figure
28:40this out civilly.
28:41Then,
28:42two days before
28:43she disappeared,
28:44to her sister,
28:46Melinda.
28:46he's also been abusive
28:48emotionally and physically.
28:50I feel more angry now.
28:52Anger at what I've allowed.
28:54I could tell
28:55she was ready
28:56to take some action.
28:58That she was no longer
28:59willing to compromise
29:01her life
29:02to be in a relationship
29:03with Barry.
29:04Suzanne!
29:05Two days after that,
29:07Suzanne was gone.
29:09Suspicious?
29:10Yes.
29:11But grounds
29:12for a murder charge?
29:14From the start,
29:15Barry insisted
29:16he never abused
29:17Suzanne,
29:18not physically,
29:19not emotionally.
29:20But investigators
29:21thought they saw
29:22a pattern.
29:24Ex-Colorado prosecutor
29:25George Brockler,
29:26though not involved
29:27in the case,
29:28has followed it
29:29closely.
29:30To get to the point
29:31where you can allege
29:32a husband
29:33has murdered his wife,
29:35you've got to have
29:35a pretty compelling motive.
29:37And it's not going to be,
29:38hey, honey,
29:39dinner's burnt.
29:39And now,
29:41the investigators
29:42were alleging
29:42that Barry
29:43couldn't keep
29:44Suzanne from
29:44leaving him,
29:45couldn't control
29:46her anymore.
29:47So he resorted
29:48to something
29:49he had done
29:49his entire life.
29:51He hunted her,
29:53they said,
29:54like he had
29:55hunted animals.
29:57Their proof of that?
29:59Well,
30:00there were
30:00circumstantial bits
30:01and pieces.
30:03Prosecutors showed
30:04evidence of Barry's
30:05cell phone
30:05and pinging
30:06in a hurried
30:07and to them
30:08suspicious pattern
30:09around the house
30:10the day before
30:10Suzanne vanished.
30:12So was he chasing her?
30:14There was also
30:15damage to the
30:16master bedroom
30:17door frame.
30:19You seize on a fact
30:20like that and say,
30:21obviously she barricaded
30:23herself in the bedroom
30:24to protect herself
30:25from Barry.
30:27Other bits and pieces,
30:29dots to connect,
30:30an unspent bullet casing
30:32inside the bedroom,
30:34a tranquilizer
30:35dark gun
30:36elsewhere in the house
30:37and a tranquilizer
30:39dark cap
30:39in the clothes dryer.
30:41Legal analyst
30:43and defense attorney
30:43Scott Robinson
30:44also followed the case.
30:46One of the many
30:47pieces of evidence
30:48that casts
30:49enormous suspicion
30:51on Barry Morphew
30:52is the probable
30:54use by him
30:55of a tranquilizer gun
30:57at some point
30:58for some purpose.
31:00But what purpose?
31:03The implication
31:04from prosecutors
31:05was that Barry
31:06shot Suzanne
31:07with a gun
31:08he used to sedate deer.
31:10There was no bike ride,
31:12but he went about
31:13the job of getting rid
31:14of her body.
31:16Between 3 and 4 a.m.
31:18that Mother's Day morning,
31:20electronic sensors
31:21showed the doors
31:22of Barry's truck
31:23opening and closing
31:24multiple times.
31:26Then he drove to a job site
31:28150 miles away.
31:30And on the way,
31:31his cell phone stopped
31:32five times
31:33at five different dumpsters.
31:36To stop once
31:38to dump trash,
31:39I'd say,
31:39okay.
31:40Twice,
31:41maybe the other dumpster
31:43was full
31:43or inaccessible.
31:45Five times?
31:46That's ridiculous.
31:49Later that same day,
31:51Barry joined his employees
31:53at this hotel,
31:54again,
31:55150 miles from home.
31:56This is from
31:57a surveillance camera.
31:59Barry in the hallway.
32:01He went in and out
32:02of the hotel
32:02carrying something.
32:04He stayed part
32:05of the day here
32:06in room 225.
32:08Co-workers
32:09told investigators
32:10the room
32:11reeked of chlorine.
32:13To clean things up
32:15implied the prosecution.
32:17In a lot of these
32:18no-body cases,
32:19you will still have,
32:20well,
32:21in the bathroom,
32:22we found her DNA
32:24and copious amounts of it
32:25in and around the tub.
32:27Or we found a big blood pool
32:28in the carpet
32:30with the victim's DNA.
32:31This one lacks
32:32all that stuff.
32:33And so the prosecution
32:34has tried to make up for it
32:35by saying,
32:35the reason there's
32:36no forensic evidence
32:37is dude covered it up
32:39in the hotel.
32:40Well,
32:41maybe.
32:42But it was the pattern
32:44that mattered,
32:45said the prosecutor.
32:46Connect the dots.
32:48It is the cumulative effect
32:49of each of these things
32:50in the context
32:51of what happened
32:52that makes them seem
32:53incredibly suspicious.
32:55Oh,
32:56but there was more evidence.
32:58And it was a bombshell.
33:00Maybe the most explosive
33:02secret of all.
33:05Coming up,
33:07what had Suzanne Morphew
33:09been hiding?
33:10I was shocked.
33:11I was surprised.
33:11I did not see that coming.
33:13And a stunning DNA twist.
33:17The unexplained DNA
33:18gives the defense lawyers
33:20an enormously powerful argument.
33:38Barry Morphew had been charged with murder,
33:40Barry Morphew had been charged with murder,
33:41accused of killing his wife, Suzanne.
33:44But he insisted he never harmed her,
33:47never cheated on her,
33:48had nothing to do with her disappearance.
33:51And family and friends
33:52continued to support him.
33:54Can't imagine that man
33:55being guilty of such crime,
33:57can you?
33:57No.
33:58Not this guy.
33:59Because I never saw him capable of it.
34:01Their relationship
34:01was the type of relationship
34:03anybody would want,
34:04which makes me think
34:05he would never be capable
34:06of doing something like this.
34:08Unless they had some big,
34:09dark secret
34:09we don't know about.
34:11That's why they call them secrets.
34:14Oh, there were secrets, all right.
34:17During the preliminary hearing,
34:18the prosecution dropped a bombshell
34:20that Suzanne was so suspicious,
34:23Barry was cheating on her,
34:24that she bought this spy pen,
34:27recording device.
34:29Investigators downloaded the data,
34:30and indeed,
34:31they found incriminating audio.
34:33But it wasn't evidence
34:36of Barry having an affair.
34:41The idea that she gets discovered
34:44using the same method
34:45she was trying to discover
34:46her husband in an affair with
34:48is just incredibly ironic.
34:52Suzanne had reconnected
34:54with an old high school friend
34:55on Facebook.
34:56You might remember his name,
34:59Jeff Libler,
35:00the high school golfer,
35:01now a married father of six.
35:04I was shocked.
35:05I was surprised.
35:06I did not see that coming
35:07given everything else
35:08surrounding this case.
35:10According to the prosecution,
35:12Suzanne and Jeff's affair
35:13lasted two years.
35:15They met up in six different states,
35:17exchanged nude photographs.
35:19Suzanne even looked into
35:21running off to Ecuador
35:22with Jeff.
35:24And she'd apparently kept it secret
35:26from everyone she knew.
35:28Never a hint of this
35:30long-term affair.
35:31Never.
35:34On the day before she went missing,
35:36prosecutors said,
35:37Suzanne and Jeff exchanged
35:3859 messages.
35:40Then Suzanne took a picture
35:41of herself sunbathing
35:43and sent it to her lover.
35:45It was the last proof of life
35:47from Suzanne,
35:48prosecutors said.
35:50That photo was sent
35:51Saturday, May 9th,
35:52at 2.19 p.m.
35:54Barry arrived home
35:55at 2.43 p.m.
35:57Prosecutors could not show
35:59if he ever found out
36:00about the affair.
36:02If Barry Morphew knew
36:03that his wife
36:04was carrying on
36:05with another man
36:06and had been doing so
36:07for two years,
36:08that would certainly create
36:09a significant motive
36:11on his part.
36:11I've been having an affair
36:12with another guy
36:13for a couple years
36:14and we've been doing it
36:15all over the country
36:16and you had no idea.
36:18Imagine what that would do
36:19to someone's emotions,
36:20their passion.
36:21But Barry's defense
36:22attempted to rip
36:23that theory apart,
36:25said Barry loved
36:26his wife and family
36:27and didn't know
36:29anything about the affair.
36:31Not until January 2021
36:33when an investigator
36:35told him.
36:37If he didn't know
36:38about it till January
36:39of 2021
36:40and she went missing
36:42on May 10th of 2020...
36:442020.
36:45It's...
36:46It's not a motive.
36:48No, it's not a motive.
36:49He was unaware
36:50of this completely?
36:51He had no clue.
36:54None of us had any clue.
36:56The defense took aim
36:58at all of the prosecution's points,
37:00including the tranquilizer gun theory.
37:03Got an investigator
37:04to admit it didn't look like
37:06it had been used
37:07for some time
37:08and might not even work at all.
37:11Those cell phone pings
37:12all around the house?
37:14Barry said he might have been
37:15going after chipmunks
37:16that were a constant nuisance
37:18on the property.
37:19An expert also testified
37:21the data didn't make any sense.
37:23And the damaged door frame?
37:26All we know is
37:27it looks like the door jam
37:28was damaged
37:29in a way consistent
37:30with someone
37:30who tried to force
37:31the door open.
37:32Don't know when,
37:33don't know how,
37:34don't know why.
37:36The defense said
37:37Barry opening and closing
37:38his truck stores
37:39was just him
37:41loading equipment for work.
37:42And those five dumpster runs?
37:45Barry was a landscape contractor.
37:48He was always disposing of trash.
37:51The explanation here is,
37:52look, this is a guy
37:53whose habit and practice
37:54is to dump stuff
37:55out of his truck
37:56when he's done
37:57doing construction work.
37:58He's got to find him
37:58until he gets it all done.
37:59That's not weird.
38:00That's just what he does.
38:02That chlorine smell
38:04in the hotel room?
38:05Well, that room,
38:07it turned out,
38:07is just above the pool.
38:09In the midst of a pandemic,
38:11a hotel room
38:12that smells of chlorine
38:13and has wet towels
38:15means close to nothing.
38:18So, those dots
38:20the prosecutor tried to connect?
38:22Each one looked suspicious, yes.
38:25But what they don't have
38:27is any evidence
38:28that a homicide actually occurred.
38:31There is no body,
38:34no weapon,
38:35no blood.
38:36And the defense
38:37did have something.
38:40Explosive evidence
38:41pointing away from Barry.
38:43Barry, DNA found
38:45in Suzanne's Range Rover.
38:48It was a partial match
38:49to an unnamed man
38:50connected to three sexual assaults
38:52in Arizona and Illinois.
38:54The defense team pounced.
38:56That DNA could prove
38:58Barry was innocent,
38:59they said.
38:59And they angrily accused
39:01prosecutors of conspiring
39:02to cover up the fact
39:03it even existed.
39:05The prosecution
39:05vigorously denied that.
39:07But...
39:08The unexplained DNA
39:10in Suzanne Morphew's vehicle
39:13linked to unsolved sexual assaults
39:16in two other states
39:18gives the defense lawyers
39:20maybe the greatest tool
39:21in the defense lawyers' toolbox.
39:23It's an enormously powerful argument
39:26in a case where proof has to be
39:28beyond a reasonable doubt.
39:30But even considering the DNA,
39:32the judge ruled
39:33there was enough probable cause
39:35to put Barry on trial
39:37for first-degree murder
39:38with no body.
39:41But the judge granted bail
39:43and even said
39:45the case could go either way
39:47in front of a jury.
39:49So Barry Morphew,
39:51his daughters by his side,
39:52walked out of jail
39:53on $500,000 bail.
39:55Barry's daughters,
39:57Suzanne's daughters,
39:58are very much with their father.
40:00They believe him,
40:01they're sticking with him,
40:02they have no doubt
40:03that he is an innocent man.
40:04Yes.
40:04I mean, what do you do with that?
40:06Well,
40:08the girls love their dad
40:10and they've lost their mother.
40:12They have one parent.
40:14I understand that.
40:17Just yesterday,
40:18Barry's lawyers announced
40:19they filed a motion
40:20to dismiss the case.
40:22For now,
40:23a jury trial is scheduled
40:24to decide
40:25if he will still be able
40:26to spend time
40:27with his daughters
40:28or face a mandatory
40:30life sentence.
40:31Barry Morphew
40:32will learn his fate
40:33later this year.
40:36That's all
40:37for this edition
40:38of Dateline.
40:39We'll see you again
40:39next Friday
40:40at 9, 8 central.
40:42And of course,
40:43I'll see you each weeknight
40:44for NBC Nightly News.
40:45I'm Lester Holt.
40:47For all of us
40:48at NBC News,
40:49good night.
40:51music.
40:56I'm Lester Holt.
40:57I'm Lester Holt.
40:57I'm Lester Holt.
40:58I'm Lester Holt.
40:58I'm Lester Holt.
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