Suzanne Morphew’s Death Ruled A Homicide; Animal Tranquilizers Found In Body

Drugs found during the autopsy of Suzanne Morphew , the 49-year-old Colorado woman whose remains were found in September after she disappeared in May 2020, were consistent with a tranquilizing agent used to immobilize wildlife, according to a report released Monday by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

Morphew’s husband of 25 years, Barry Morphew, who was arrested in May 2021 on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection to her disappearance, previously told investigators who found a tranquilizer dart cap in the couple’s clothes dryer that he tranquilized deer bucks to cut off their horns. Charges were dropped before he went to trial in 2022, according to The Associated Press.

Morphew’s death was ruled a homicide by undetermined means “in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication,” according to the autopsy report.

The three drugs are often compounded in a mixture known by its acronym BAM to immobilize large mammals, such as deer, according to wildlife researchers and the veterinary pharmaceuticals company NexGEN .

Morphew’s remains were found in a shallow grave during an unrelated search roughly 44 miles south of the city of Salida, in Chaffee County, where the mother of two had been reported missing on May 10, 2020 — Mother’s Day. Barry Morphew initially suggested that Suzanne had disappeared after a Mother’s Day bike ride. Authorities, however, alleged that Barry Morphew had killed her the day before, on May 9, after discovering that she was having an affair. Her bike, which investigators said appeared to be undamaged, and a teal helmet were later found separately not far from their home.

There is no evidence that Suzanne Morphew, who days before her disappearance texted her