The husband of missing Colorado mom Suzanne Morphew has been charged with her murder almost one year after she vanished without trace on Mother’s Day.
Barry Morphew, 52, was arrested Wednesday on charges of first-degree murder, tampering with evidence, and attempting to influence a public servant.
Suzanne, a 49-year-old mom of two, disappeared on May 10 last year after reportedly setting off on a bike ride from the home she shared with Barry in Salida, Chaffee County.
Her husband, with whom she shared two daughters Mallory and Macy, has long maintained his innocence, but his behavior has increasingly come under the spotlight.
On the day of his wife’s disappearance, it later emerged that Morphew was at a hotel in Broomfield, Colorado, and left the room reeking of chlorine and covered in wet towels.
On May 17 – 7 days after she went missing – Barry issued a bizarre video online pleading with her to come home and saying: ‘Honey, I love you and I want you back so bad.’
In March, he sold off the home they shared together for $1.62 million, after putting it on the market in October.
This came one month after he sold a two-acre plot of land in Salida that he had bought just weeks after Suzanne disappeared.
Cadaver dogs had picked up the scent of human remains during a search of the estate where that plot of land was located back in September, DailyMail.com reported at the time.
Suzanne’s brother Andrew Moorman previously said he suspected Barry may have abducted and murdered his sister.
The husband of missing Colorado mom Suzanne Morphew has been charged with her murder almost one year after she vanished without trace on Mother’s Day. Barry and Suzanne together
Her husband has long maintained his innocence, issuing a bizarre video online in the days after she went missing pleading with her to come home and saying: ‘Honey, I love you and I want you back so bad’ (above)
It is not clear what developments in the case led to Barry’s arrest over her murder.
The Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office is expected to give an update Wednesday afternoon.
Suzanne was reportedly last seen by Barry, on the morning of Mother’s Day, May 10 before he left their home and traveled to Denver for a landscaping job.
It was theorized that Suzanne set out on a bike ride some time after Barry’s departure, but no eyewitnesses saw her out.
Her bike was later discovered abandoned on a rural track a short distance from her home.
Suzanne was reported missing after daughters Mallory and Macy were unable to contact her when they returned from an out-of-state camping trip.
Her bicycle was later discovered abandoned on a rural track a short distance from the home.
Barry said he was away on a training course for his job as a volunteer firefighter in Denver when his wife vanished.
Last September, DailyMail.com exclusively reported that the scent of human remains was discovered near the plot of land owned by Barry, which he sold off in February.
That same month, a co-worker exclusively told DailyMail.com that a hotel room that Barry had booked out in Denver for the night of May 10 stank of bleach and was littered with wet towels.
Barry – who has offered a $100,000 reward for Suzanne’s safe return – previously theorized that his wife may have been taken by a wild animal.
Barry and Suzanne pictured together with their daughters Mallory and Macy in a social media snap taken several years ago
A dive team is seen searching a reservoir close to the home of missing mom Suzanne Morphew after her disappearance
He later said he believed she was abducted.
Suzanne’s brother, Andy Moorman, hit out at Barry for his behavior following Suzanne’s mysterious vanishing, implicating him in her disappearance.
‘I don’t think she ever got on her bike. I think she probably died on May 9 and she was hidden somewhere that night… I’m afraid this is domestic abuse,’ Moorman previously told FOX31.
He also told Dr. Phil he believed, ‘based on the behaviors and things that happened,’ that his sister was ‘abducted, and in this case, murdered’ at home.
‘I don’t think she was taken to a second location, I think it happened at home,’ he said, adding that he thought Barry was responsible.
But Barry blasted back in his interview with CBS 4 late last year, alleging that Andy had been a bad brother to Suzanne and had never shown any interest in her prior to her headline-hitting disappearance.
‘I’ve spent many nights… [with] Suzanne crying on my shoulder, asking why her siblings refuse to show her love,’ Barry claimed.
This story is developing