Nearly six years after she vanished on Mother’s Day 2020, Suzanne Morphew’s adult daughters are back in court, asking a judge to make investigators give their mother’s remains back. Mallory and Macy Morphew say law enforcement agents quietly removed Suzanne’s bones from a Colorado Springs funeral home before the family could hold a memorial, even as their father, Barry Morphew, faces a first-degree murder charge and a trial now set for October.
Motion seeks return of remains
In a motion filed this month, the sisters’ attorney blasted the seizure as “outrageous, cruel and shocking to the conscience,” saying investigators took the remains from Swan-Law Funeral Directors before Mallory and Macy could claim them for a service, according to the Denver Gazette. Court filings say the Chaffee County coroner released Suzanne’s bones to the funeral home in April 2024 and that they were stored there for nearly two years. The motion argues that pulling the remains without giving the daughters a chance to proceed with a memorial violated their religious freedoms and their right to grieve their mother on their own terms.
Autopsy found animal tranquilizer chemicals
An autopsy released in 2024 ruled Suzanne’s death a homicide and reported that butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine, a combination prosecutors describe as the wildlife tranquilizer known as BAM, were detected in her bones, according to KOAA. Prosecutors later told a grand jury that toxicology results and prescription records tied that drug cocktail to Barry Morphew and that, apart from wildlife officials, he was the only private person in the area with access to those drugs, as reported by AP News.
Investigators cite evidence concerns
Investigators have told the court they stepped in because they fear cremation would permanently destroy material that could be needed for additional testing, and the motion says the family was given no warning before the remains were removed from Swan-Law, Denver Gazette reports. Sources also told reporters that Barry Morphew had said Suzanne wanted to be cremated and have her ashes scattered in Florida, a possibility authorities say would wipe out any further opportunities for forensic analysis.
Trial date and what's next
Barry Morphew pleaded not guilty in January, and the judge set a trial date of Oct. 13, according to The Gazette. He was arrested in Arizona after a grand-jury indictment in June 2025 and later released under strict conditions while awaiting trial, as reported by AP News. Hoodline also covered the grand-jury indictment last year in a report on Morphew’s grand-jury murder indictment.
Family split and stakes
The case has split the family. Mallory and Macy have publicly backed their father, while Suzanne’s siblings have pressed for accountability and for access to at least some of her remains. Suzanne’s brother, David Moorman, filed a victim-impact statement urging the court not to release Barry, calling him a “soulless, sadistic, amoral predator,” according to reporting by Denver7. Other relatives say they still hope to bring Suzanne home to Indiana for burial, family members told WISH.
What this motion could change
If the judge orders Suzanne’s remains returned, the family could finally move forward with memorial plans, although prosecutors may lose access to material they view as important evidence. If investigators are allowed to keep the bones while the criminal case proceeds, the tug-of-war over her remains becomes one more contested issue heading into the October trial.
