The request to release Suzanne Morphew’s remains to her adult daughters will be the topic of the next hearing in Barry Morphew’s October murder trial. On March 30, 12th Judicial Chief District Judge Amanda Hopkins will hear from Malory and Macy Morphew on the release of their mother’s remains, which are being held by law enforcement.
Roberta Nieslanik, an attorney representing the Morphew sisters, filed a motion to intervene in late February alleging that the prosecution is violating constitutional law by not turning over Suzanne Morphew’s remains to the daughters.
District Attorney Anne Kelly in her response to that motion said Suzanne Morphew’s remains are “material evidence in this case lawfully obtained by a search warrant.”
Kelly noted that when the remains were originally released from law enforcement’s custody in April 2024, no one was charged with a crime in Suzanne Morphew’s death. With a grand jury indicting Barry Morphew for his wife’s murder and his defense attorneys stating they will challenge the scientific testing of her remains, a search warrant was sought to obtain the remains from the Swan Lake Funeral Home in Colorado Springs.
“This government conduct is outrageous, cruel and shocking to the conscience,” Nieslanik wrote in her motion to intervene.
According to Kelly, before acquiring the remains from the funeral home on Feb. 19, Chaffee County Undersheriff Alex Walker was told that Suzanne Morphew’s remains were set to be cremated the next day.
This prompted Kelly’s office to request additional search warrants for documents from the funeral home. Those search warrants showed that Barry Morphew signed two forms on Feb. 11 and Feb. 13 authorizing the funeral home to cremate Suzanne Morphew’s remains.
During the March 30 hearing, Judge Hopkins will rule if the Morphew sisters have any right to intervene in the case at all, but as they are victims of a crime they have a right to be heard, she said.
Kelly argued that the matter could be settled without a hearing.
Barry Morphew’s attorney David Beller told the court that the defense’s legal position is that “we take no position on it.” He said that the defense supports Barry Morphew’s “intent to support his daughters.”
The trial is still on track as scheduled for October. In addition to the matter of the remains, the short, virtual status conference on Monday provided a brief update on the slow but sure progress of trial preparation. Beller told the court that the defense is currently going through roughly six terabytes of discovery with more on the way from the district attorney’s office.
View the status conference HERE.
