Barry Morphew.Photo: Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP
Now that murder charges in connection to his missing wife, Suzanne Morphew, have been dropped, Barry Morphew and his daughters are speaking out for the first time, demanding that authorities do their best to find her.
“We’ve been silent for a long time and we’ve decided that we finally want to break the silence,” Barry and Suzanne’s daughter Mallory Morphew said in an exclusive interview with ABC News that aired Friday onGood Morning America.
“I just hope that Linda [the assistant district attorney] will step up to the plate and do everything she can to find our mom,” she said,ABC Newsreports, “because what they’ve done is not fair and we’re never going to stop looking for our mom.”
Sitting in between daughters Mallory and Macy during the interview, Barry, 53, added, “I just love my girls and I love my wife and I just want her to be found.”
Nearly two years ago, on May 10, 2020 — Mother’s Day — Suzanne, 49, was believed to have gone on a bike ride while her daughters and husband were away, authorities said. Then, she vanished.
Though her bike and helmet were located, authorities found no trace of Suzanne, who remains missing.
A year later, in May 2021, Barry was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Suzanne’s disappearance.
Suzanne Morphew.Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office
The investigation into what happened to her showed that Suzanne had been having an affair with an old high school classmate and was texting him the day before she vanished, prosecutors said.
They also located surveillance footage showing Barry on what he described as a work trip, getting rid of plastic bags at various trash bins and receptacles.
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But then, in April, just before Barry’s trial was set to begin, Assistant District Attorney Linda Stanley dropped the charges without prejudice, which means he can still be charged at a later date.
Prosecutors said in a court filing that since investigators are close to finding Suzanne’s body, proving that she is, in fact, dead “is the most influential fact of consequence,” ABC7 New York reported.
Evidence found on Suzanne’s body could likely determine Barry’s guilt or innocence, prosecutors said.
“Without the victim’s body, the people cannot move forward at this time in good faith,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
“We just know our dad better than anyone else and we know he was not involved in our mom’s disappearance,” Mallory said.
“It’s been such an emotional rollercoaster and just traumatizing,” said Macy.
Unhappy about the way Barry’s case was handled, attorney Iris Eytan said she is planning on filing a complaint against the prosecutor’s office, ABC News reports.
“Prosecutors need to be held responsible and they need to pay for the damage they’ve caused to Barry, which is, frankly, nearly irreparable at this point, because it’s hard for anybody to believe that Barry is not who they claim he was,” Eytan said.
Eytan added: “If you want to honor Suzanne, and you want to honor the daughters, go find Suzanne.”
source: people.com
