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Barry Morphew, once charged in Suzanne Morphew’s presumed death: “I’ve done nothing wrong”
A man once charged with murder in the presumed death of his missing wife denied having anything to do with her disappearance in an interview broadcast on Monday.
In the interview with “Good Morning America,” Barry Morphew said authorities in Colorado have been wrong to focus on him as the person responsible for the death of Suzanne Morphew, who disappeared three years ago on Mother’s Day.
“They’ve got tunnel vision and they looked at one person, and they’ve got too much pride to say they’re wrong and look somewhere else,” he said, sitting between his adult daughters, who have defended him.
Suzanne Morphew’s disappearance made national headlines and the investigation was featured on the “48 Hours.”
Suzanne Morphew/Facebook
Prosecutors dropped charges against Morphew last year just as he was about to go on trial after a judge barred them from calling most of their key witnesses for repeatedly failing to follow rules for turning over evidence in his favor. That included DNA evidence linked to sexual assault cases in other states that raised the possibility of a different person being involved.
At the time, prosecutors said they wanted more time to find Suzanne Morphew’s body. They have said he is still a suspect as recently as last month, when Morphew’s lawyers announced they had filed a complaint asking that the prosecutors be disciplined for allegedly intentionally withholding evidence in effort to convict him.
This month, Morphew filed a $15 million lawsuit against prosecutors and investigators, accusing them of violating his constitutional rights.
His lawyers previously asked for prosecutors to be disciplined for what they called intentionally withholding evidence in a bid to convict him. They allege in a complaint that District Attorney Linda Stanley and six prosecutors in her office pursued “a political agenda of locking up Mr. Morphew in response to a media frenzy that prosecutors themselves helped create” after his wife disappeared.
Stanley did not immediately return a phone call or email seeking comment.
The charges against Morphew were dismissed without prejudice, so prosecutors can still decide to bring charges against him again. Morphew said he realizes that’s a possibility, since he said he was innocent the first time he was arrested.
“But I don’t have anything to worry about. I’ve done nothing wrong,” Morphew said.
Suzanne Morphew disappeared after leaving her home for a bike ride on Mother’s Day 2020 and what happened next remains a mystery, CBS News Colorado reported. Her bicycle was found down a steep ravine and deputies said that the bicycle did not look like it was involved in a crash and there was not any blood at the scene. After she went missing, Barry Morphew told CBS News Colorado that he believed she was abducted.
During the investigation into her disappearance, friends told detectives that Suzanne and Barry had been arguing about finances and that Suzanne may have had a boyfriend.
CBS Denver
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.
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