Barry Morphew used fake name, lived with woman until arrest in wife’s murder case exposed him: police
Barry Morphew allegedly used a fake name while living in Arizona before his arrest in his wife's murder case, even moving in with a woman for a month while concealing his true identity, according to a newly released arrest report.
Morphew was indicted by a grand jury on charges of murder in the first degree after deliberation on June 20, 2025, in relation to the death of his wife, 49-year-old Suzanne Morphew, who was also the mother to two daughters. She disappeared on Mother's Day in 2020 in Colorado, where the couple lived. Barry Morphew was arrested in Goodyear, Arizona, nearly 11 hours from where his wife went missing.
He's due in court on Wednesday afternoon for a status conference before his trial in October.
A newly released arrest report obtained by Fox News Digital through a public records request alleges that Morphew was using the alias "Lee Moore" while he was living in Arizona, and states that he moved in with a woman around a month before the arrest.
BARRY MORPHEW EXTRADITED TO COLORADO TO FACE MURDER CHARGES IN WIFE'S 2020 DISAPPEARANCE
Fox News Digital isn't naming the woman, as she hasn't been charged with a crime. The woman told troopers with the Arizona Department of Public Safety that she had only known Morphew as "Lee Moore." She said he began living with her on May 1, 2025, and moved in much of his personal property. Barry Morphew and the unidentified woman met in late December 2024.
On June 15, for unknown reasons, the woman said that Morphew revealed his actual identity and claimed his wife, Suzanne Morphew, was "abducted" in Colorado, the arrest report stated.
According to an arrest report, authorities found an AR-15-style rifle and a silencer inside Morphew's safe that was at the house he was living in.
FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X
Notably, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation first reached out to the Arizona Department of Public Safety in February, asking them to keep tabs on Morphew's movements as a grand jury indictment was expected. A warrant was also obtained to place a GPS tracking device on his truck.
BARRY MORPHEW MAY USE MYSTERY DNA FOR DEFENSE IN WIFE’S MURDER: FORMER PROSECUTOR
As Fox News Digital has previously reported, Morphew paid property taxes for a property at the Stardust Trailer Park in Cave Creek, Arizona, and was self-employed.
SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER
One restaurant employee in Cave Creek, Arizona, told Fox News Digital he knew Morphew by an entirely different name: Bruce.
Charlie Loots, bar manager at Harold's Cave Creek Corral, told Fox News Digital that he didn't know Morphew's real name until June 20, when news reports began to surface about murder charges relating to Suzanne Morphew's death.
"I was shocked that, again, I mean, I was very caught off guard about all of it," Loots said. "I spent, honestly, as soon as I found about it, I spent like two hours reading articles about it. I was like, I was so intrigued, because I was, like, this s--- doesn't happen," he said.
Loots said he began seeing Morphew, or Bruce, as he knew the murder suspect, after the coronavirus pandemic. He said Morphew's go-to drink was beer, often switching between Miller Lite and Coors Light, adding that he was at the bar on June 13, exactly one week before his arrest.
LISTEN TO THE NEW 'CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO' PODCAST
Prosecutors wrote in the June 2025 indictment that the chemicals butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine were found in Suzanne Morphew's bone marrow. They alleged that Barry Morphew used "BAM" deer tranquilizer to sedate and transport deer on his farm when he lived in Indiana. He has pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder.
BARRY MORPHEW ACCUSED OF WIFE SUZANNE’S MURDER: SEE HOW THE 5-YEAR COLORADO MURDER MYSTERY UNRAVELED
Morphew was also the only person with a prescription for the deer tranquilizer within the area of the state he lived in, prosecutors said. The only two other entities with access to the BAM compound within the surrounding counties were Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the National Park Service, officials said.
LIKE WHAT YOU'RE READING? FIND MORE ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB
"Ultimately, the prescription records show that when Suzanne Morphew disappeared, only one private citizen living in that entire area of the state had access to BAM: Barry Morphew," the indictment states.
Morphew's attorney, David Beller, previously told Fox News Digital Morphew "maintains his innocence."
"Yet again, the government allows their predetermined conclusion to lead their search for evidence," Beller said. "The case has not changed, and the outcome will not either."
Fox News Digital reached out to Morphew's lawyer for comment.