An Alamosa County District Court judge on Wednesday ordered Barry Morphew to remain in his home at all times after the murder suspect was apparently involved in a hit-and-run crash in Denver in which he drove aggressively, hit two vehicles and refused to identify himself before leaving the scene.
Morphew, 58, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Suzanne Morphew, who disappeared from the family’s Chaffee County home in 2020. He has been free on $3 million bail for a year while awaiting a jury trial, which is scheduled for July 2027.
On Aug. 26, Morphew was involved in a hit-and-run crash in Denver around 7:30 p.m. in which he struck two vehicles, Chief Judge Amanda Hopkins wrote in a three-page order Wednesday. Denver police have not charged Morphew or identified him as a suspect in connection with the incident, but Hopkins reviewed video footage of the encounter — — and concluded the driver was “very clearly the defendant,” according to the order.
That video showed that Morphew refused to identify himself after striking the other vehicles, Hopkins wrote. He said he did not have insurance, offered another driver $300 in cash for the damage to her vehicle, and attempted to buff out scratches on the damaged vehicle with his hand and a T-shirt, Hopkins wrote in the order.
The other driver refused to take cash from Morphew and said she was calling the police, at which point Morphew drove away, “almost striking another individual and driving over a curb,” according to the order.
Morphew was driving a vehicle with an Indiana license plate that he has been accused of using on multiple vehicles, Hopkins wrote in the order.
Hopkins ordered Morphew — who was already under strict release conditions — to stay in his home at all times unless he experiences a medical emergency, in which case he must call for an ambulance.
Hopkins noted she could not unilaterally modify Morphew’s bail further unless he is charged with a felony.
“While there may potentially be felonious conduct implicated by the actions of the defendant during the traffic incident, no court with venue and jurisdiction over the traffic incident has yet found probable cause for the same,” the judge wrote. “Unless and until that occurs, the defendant may only be remanded into custody, his bond revoked, or the conditions of his release modified upon application of the prosecution or a bonding commissioner and then only after an opportunity to be heard.”
Hopkins wrote in the order that she was alerted to the hit-and-run crash through an email from a concerned citizen just after 10 a.m. Wednesday, and that she ordered the company that keeps track of Morphew’s GPS monitor to provide information on his whereabouts around the time of the crash by 1 p.m., but that the company had failed to do so.
The judge noted that Morphew’s GPS monitoring has shown no previous violations of his bail conditions, which previously allowed him to travel for medical appointments, emergencies, legal meetings and work.
Morphew was originally charged with killing his wife in 2021. That case was dismissed after significant misconduct by prosecutors. Suzanne Morphew’s body was discovered in a shallow grave near Moffat in 2023, and Barry Morphew was again charged with her murder in June 2025.
In the first case against Barry Morphew, prosecutors argued he killed his wife on May 9, 2020, after discovering her nearly two-year extramarital affair, then disposed of her body and staged a bike crash before leaving for work in Broomfield early the next day.
He has maintained that he left his wife sleeping in bed. The couple’s two daughters — who have since supported their father — were out of town at the time. Before her death, Suzanne Morphew told a friend she did not feel safe alone with her husband and that she was contemplating divorce.
Suzanne’s body was found with traces of prescription animal tranquilizers in her bones. Barry Morphew had access to the chemicals used — a formulation known as BAM — and admitted to using the tranquilizer mix to sedate deer, the prior case showed.
His attorney did not return a request for comment Thursday. Denver police spokespeople did not respond to requests for more information Thursday.
