Barry Morphew, the man charged with his wife Suzanne’s murder, personally authorized her cremation in February, just before prosecutors stepped in to stop it, they claim in new court filings.

In June 2025, Barry Morphew was re-indicted by a Colorado grand jury following a failed prosecution in 2021 that resulted in charges being dismissed at the time. He allegedly killed his wife, who vanished on Mother’s Day in 2020 before her remains were later found. 

At the time, the Morphews lived near Salida, Colorado, where Suzanne Morphew, 49, was last seen alive. Barry Morphew pleaded not guilty in January, and is expected to stand trial in October.

In February, attorneys for Macy and Mallory Morphew, who are Suzanne Morphew’s daughters, filed a motion to force the state to release her remains. The motion was withdrawn on Thursday.

SUZANNE’S BROTHER CALLS BARRY MORPHEW ‘SOULLESS PREDATOR’ WITH ‘NO REDEMPTION’ AS JUDGE WEIGHS BAIL REQUEST

Barry Morphew leaves a Fremont County court building in Canon City, Colo., with his daughters, Macy, left, and Mallory, after charges against him in the presumed death of his wife were dismissed, Tuesday, April 19, 2022. In an interview with “Good Morning America” broadcast on Monday, May 15, 2023, Morphew said authorities in Colorado have been wrong to focus on him as the person responsible for the death of Suzanne Morphew. (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP)

Attorneys for both Macy and Mallory Morphew said in their initial filing that their mother’s remains were at Swan Lake Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, and had a funeral service planned for their mother when law enforcement took possession of the body.

The lawyers argued that law enforcement in Colorado had “stopped them from exercising their constitutional rights” to hold a funeral for their mother and bury her remains.

“This government conduct is outrageous, cruel, and shocking to the conscience,” attorneys for Macy and Mallory Morphew argued.

Responding to attorneys for Suzanne Morphew’s daughters, prosecutors said that Barry Morphew signed off on the cremation of Suzanne Morphew. In a court filing, Barry Morphew did not take a position on the release of her body.

Prosecutors said that Suzanne Morphew’s remains are “material evidence” to their murder case against Barry Morphew, asking the court to deny the motion to release her body. 

“The Defendant in a murder case authorized the release of the murder victim’s remains, prior to pending motions litigation and jury trial, and paid to have them cremated prior to disclosures of his experts’ opinions or court rulings on admissibility of scientific testing regarding said remains,” prosecutors wrote.

Fox News Digital reached out to Barry Morphew’s attorney.

Timeline, according to prosecutors:

– Jan. 29, 2026: Barry Morphew signs off on the release of Suzanne Morphew’s remains from the El Paso Coroner’s Office to the Swan-Law Funeral Directors funeral home.

– Feb. 17, 2026: Law enforcement was notified that Suzanne Morphew’s remains were released to a funeral home and began the process to apply for a search warrant to take custody of the remains as “material evidence.”

– Feb. 18, 2026: A court authorized the search warrant for law enforcement to take possession of Suzanne Morphew’s body.

– Feb. 19, 2026: While collecting Suzanne Morphew’s remains, Undersheriff Alex Walker was informed that the remains were set to be cremated the next day.

– Feb. 24, 2026: A court authorized another search warrant for documents related to Suzanne Morphew’s remains, which include “two signed forms with Defendant Barry Morphew’s signature on them.” One of the forms authorized the cremation of Suzanne Morphew.

– March 19, 2026: Suzanne Morphew’s daughters withdrew their attempt to force the state to release their mother’s body.

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Barry Morphew is charged with killing his wife, Suzanne Morphew. (Chaffee County Sheriff)

Notably, Suzanne Morphew’s sister Melinda Balzar and brother David Moorman both “strongly object” to the release of her body, according to prosecutors.

“They both noted concerns with the integrity of the evidence and separately indicated their desire to discuss bringing Suzanne back to Indiana. It was their position that others in their family would agree,” prosecutors wrote.

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Barry Morphew’s booking picture at the Alamosa County Jail. (Alamosa County Sheriff’s Office)

Colin McCallin, a Colorado-based lawyer and former deputy district attorney for the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Colorado, told Fox News Digital he would be concerned as a prosecutor if the remains were released.

“If I were a prosecutor on this case, I would be very concerned if the remains were turned over to the family. [If] Ms. Morphew’s remains were cremated, and then somehow the defense wanted to allege later that they wanted access to the body for their own testing, for their own forensic examination, for example. And then they claim, ‘oh, we can’t do that because we don’t have access to body.'”

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Prosecutors say Barry Morphew tried to have Suzanne Morphew’s remains cremated. (Fox News)

A hearing regarding Suzanne Morphew’s remains is scheduled for March 30. A trial in the case is currently scheduled to begin Oct. 13.

She disappeared from the couple’s home in Chaffee County on May 10, 2020, prompting a massive search that initially turned up few answers.

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Barry Morphew was first charged with her murder in 2021, but those charges were dropped the following year after prosecutors cited issues with the case and said they were close to discovering new evidence that could change its direction. His defense team argued at the time the case was dismissed because prosecutors were unlikely to win at trial.

After the charges were dropped, he left Colorado and relocated to Cave Creek, Arizona — more than 600 miles from where his wife disappeared. While living there, he kept a low profile and used aliases, including “Bruce” and “Lee Moore.” Acquaintances later told Fox News Digital they were unaware of his connection to the high-profile Colorado case until his re-arrest.

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Suzanne Morphew’s remains were discovered in September 2023 in a shallow grave in the San Luis Valley, roughly an hour south of the family’s home. An autopsy later ruled her death a homicide.

According to court records, a powerful animal tranquilizer known as BAM — a combination of butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine — was found in her bone marrow. Prosecutors said the presence of a metabolized form of the drug indicates she was alive long enough to process it, ruling out accidental or environmental contamination.

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Barry Morphew was booked into the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office)

The indictment alleges Barry Morphew had access to BAM through his work with deer and was the only private citizen in the area known to possess the drug at the time of his wife’s disappearance. Investigators have also pointed to evidence involving a tranquilizer dart rifle found in the home, along with phone and vehicle data they say contradict his account of events.

After Barry Morphew was re-indicted, he was arrested in Goodyear, Arizona, extradited to Colorado and later released on bond in September after supporters helped post part of his $3 million bond. He remains under house arrest with an ankle monitor.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., invoked his collegiate soccer career while introducing a package of bills to prevent immigration enforcement behavior in and around World Cup sites this June.

More than a dozen American cities will be hosting World Cup soccer matches, including East Rutherford, N.J., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington – while three Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee want to prevent what they call racial and linguistic profiling that would instill fear in fans.

“How can our country host the World Cup while deporting visiting fans from around the world?” Swalwell said in a statement introducing his “Safe Passage to the World Cup Act.”

“As a former Division I soccer player, I know what an honor it is to host the world’s biggest sporting event.

SENATE DEMS REFUSING TO BUDGE ON DHS FUNDING MAY CAUSE HEADACHE FOR WORLD CUP TRAVELERS

Swalwell, an Iowa native, played goalkeeper in Division I soccer at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina. 

The future liberal firebrand dreamed of being a professional soccer star himself, but ended up breaking his thumbs, which eventually sidelined his prospective career.

After transferring to the University of Maryland in College Park, he interned in neighboring Washington, D.C. for Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat.

“That was a turning point. I knew I didn’t want to play soccer anymore; I wanted to be in Washington,” Swalwell told Diablo Magazine in 2013 in a story now facsimiled on his official congressional website.

Eric Swalwell participates in the 2nd Annual Capital Classic soccer event. (Warren Rojas/Getty Images)

Swalwell’s bill would ban federal DHS funding from being used for civil immigration enforcement activities on public transit or at terminals from June 11 to July 19 in any city hosting a FIFA match or festival.

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The bill does provide a carveout for “hot pursuit” of suspects presenting an “imminent risk to public safety.”

“Our priority should be to showcase our best—not have police commandeering buses, trains, and public spaces,” Swalwell said in a statement.

“This bill ensures ICE cannot turn everyday public transportation into a place of terror. It is shameful for DHS to trap people with political stunts.”

“We are better than this,” he said.

Swalwell sits on the House Homeland Security Committee’s Task Force on Enhancing Security for Special Events in the United States.

That panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Nellie Pou of New Jersey, represents the area around the New York Giants’ stadium, where matches will be held.

Pou crafted a companion bill called the Save the World Cup Act, which bans immigration enforcement near matches or festivals themselves – and would enforce measures to ensure parking lots and fan midways are not encroached upon by ICE enforcement sweeps to “deter attendance and indiscriminately target communities.”

GOP WARNS DEMOCRATS’ DHS SHUTDOWN COULD JEOPARDIZE WORLD CUP SECURITY

“With fewer than 90 days until kickoff, the World Cup should bring the world together and not leave families wondering if ICE agents will be waiting outside stadiums,” Pou said in a statement, adding that she asked ICE Director Todd Lyons if he would assure her of no such enforcement — but that he declined.

A third task force member – Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., — still faces charges over an alleged assault on a federal agent outside Delaney Hall in her hometown of Newark.

The case remains active as of January, according to the New Jersey Monitor, which reported that Biden-appointed Judge Jamel Semper allowed two of three counts to proceed as McIver appeals.

McIver’s companion bill would prohibit state grant programs for being used for civil immigration enforcement near World Cup game sites.

“Fans from around the world and across the country will travel to New Jersey to watch the World Cup, and keeping them safe means protecting them from DHS attempting to turn this global event into a dragnet for the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda,” she said in a statement.

“We fought to secure millions of federal dollars so soccer fans can enjoy the biggest game in the world—they should not be intimidated by immigration enforcement. I’m introducing this bill to draw a clear line that makes sure state and local law enforcement can actually focus on keeping fans safe.”

A DHS spokesperson said the agency still plans to work with local and federal partners to secure the World Cup matches “in line with federal law and the U.S. Constitution as we do with every major sporting event, while showcasing American greatness to the entire world.”

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“International visitors who legally come to the United States for the World Cup have nothing to worry about,” DHS said. “What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the U.S.— full stop.”

The spokesperson called speculation in the legislative package “ill informed” and that foreign visitors must still be “proactive” and have all their forms filed to Washington and their personal documents in order ahead of time to ensure a smooth travel experience.

Russian drone strikes have killed at least two people in Zaporizhzhia and left most of a northern region without power, Ukrainian officials have said.

The news comes as a Ukrainian delegation makes its way to the US for a meeting on restarting peace talks.

Ivan Fedorov, a regional official in Zaporizhzhia, said a man and a woman were killed in the Russian drone strike on Saturday morning.

Two children were also injured in the attack, which struck a private home.

Images posted on Mr Fedorov’s official Telegram channel show a house in ruins and a car damaged.

Elsewhere, governor of the Chernihiv region, Viacheslav Chaus, said that most of his region, which borders Belarus and Russia, had been left without power on ​Saturday after a separate ​Russian drone attack.

He ​said repair works ​were underway to fix the damage.

Read more: The ‘hero city’ 30,000 Russians failed to take

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From February: How Chernihiv defied Putin

Talks between US and Ukrainian delegates are expected to take place in Miami later on Saturday, according to Ukrainian state media.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X on Friday that Kyiv wants “clear dates” for a proposed trilateral meeting with US and Russian representatives.

He added: “Dialogue with the American side must continue in close coordination, because the easing of sanctions by the United States on Russian energy creates risks.

“This increases Russia’s revenues and, accordingly, Russian capabilities on the frontline. This is dangerous. Therefore, from this perspective as well, the meeting in the United States is important.”

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Was Zelenskyy’s UK visit a success?

The Trump administration eased sanctions on Russian oil earlier this month as US-Israeli strikes on Iran sent the oil price soaring.

The White House did not confirm any meeting with the Ukrainian delegation, according to the Associated Press news agency.

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested, however, on Friday that a new round of US-mediated negotiations might take place.

“The pause is temporary, we hope it’s temporary regarding the continuation of the trilateral format,” he said.

Connecticut Democrats recently rushed through an emergency anti-fraud law requiring bottle redemption centers to collect a copy of a person’s driver’s license when they cash in more than 1,000 cans or bottles in a day — a document demand that Republicans say undercuts the party’s attacks on voter-ID rules.

Earlier this month, an emergency certification bill, SB 299, was introduced by top Democratic leaders in the state’s legislature. It was later passed in both chambers in late February and was signed by Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, on March 3. 

It requires people wishing to recycle cans for money to present a copy of their driver’s license, put in place because the state has had issues with non-residents crossing their border to take advantage of it’s higher return rate of 10 cents a can instead of five cents. The issue was reportedly causing the state to lose significant revenue.

Meanwhile, the state still does not require its residents to present a driver’s license, or some other form of formal identification. Instead, residents wishing to vote simply have to attest, under penalty of the law, that they are a citizen of the United States. 

Additionally, both of Connecticut’s senators, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., recently voted against advancing the SAVE Act earlier this week, which Republicans introduced to pass stricter photo-ID requirements for voting in federal elections, including a national proof-of-citizenship requirement for anyone wishing to register to vote.

PENCE URGES SENATE TO ‘RESTORE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE’ WITH NATIONWIDE VOTER ID LAW

U.S. Sens. from Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, are seen pictured next to a pile of recyclable trash. (Getty Images)

“In Connecticut, it seems that they are committed to securing recycling, but not to securing elections,” said Anna Pingel, America First Policy Institute’s Campaign Director for Secure Elections. “Requiring photo ID to collect cash from recycling but opposing photo ID to cast a vote tells you everything you need to know about the hypocrisy of politicians fighting against commonsense legislation like the SAVE Act. What is more important to safeguard—bottles or ballots?”

Fox News Digital reached out to Blumenthal, Murphy and Lamont for comment but only heard back from Blumenthal.

“Let’s be very clear: the SAVE America Act requires a birth certificate or passport to register to vote, which Republicans know 21 million Americans do not have,” Blumenthal told Fox News Digital. “This is not a voter identification bill. It is a voter purge bill.”

Voters cast their ballots during early voting at the Board of Elections Loop Super Site in Chicago, Illinois, on Oct. 4, 2024.KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

STEPHEN A SMITH STUNNED AFTER REP KEVIN KILEY EDUCATES HIM ON CALIFORNIA VOTER ID BAN

Earlier this week, the Senate voted 51-48 to begin a debate on the House-passed SAVE Act vehicle, S. 1383. Blumenthal and Murphy both voted ‘Nay.’ The House had already passed the bill 218-213 on Feb. 11, but the measure still faces the Senate’s 60-vote hurdle to advance toward passage — a threshold Democrats have said they intend to block.

In speeches on the Senate floor trying to downplay the seriousness and scope of illegal citizen voting, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., tacitly acknowledged the existence of a problem they’ve argued is immaterial: that illegal immigrants may be able to unlawfully participate in federal elections.

“The evidence is that almost no illegal aliens vote,” Schumer said in remarks on the Senate floor. Warnock similarly acknowledged the issue while listing statistics about voting records in his home state. “8.2 million people are registered to vote in Georgia. The Republican Secretary of State found 20 instances of non-citizens who were registered, and only nine had ever attempted to vote,” Warnock said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) walk up the Senate steps.  (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Democrats have fiercely opposed the Republican-led bill, citing concerns that its voter integrity measures are overly heavy-handed and could inadvertently burden communities that may struggle to provide documented proof of citizenship.

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Republicans, who argue that lax identity requirements may have already allowed an unknown number of non-citizens onto voter rolls, have launched a marathon standoff over the bill on the Senate floor.

The Senate will be holding weekend sessions as the deadlock continues. 

Fox News Digital’s Leo Briceno contributed to this report.

Wrestling, or “koshti,” is Iran’s national sport, rooted in its pre-Islamic Persian identity and cultural heritage. Its honor code of kindness, chivalry and humility has animated Iran’s epic poetry and prose, merging Iranian nationalism and heroism to emerge as one of Iran’s most enduring cultural treasures.

On March 19, just a day before the arrival of spring and the celebration of the ancient Iranian New Year Nowruz, the Islamic regime executed one of Iran’s most gifted wrestlers, along with two other young men — effectively punishing Iranians for honoring their pre-Islamic past.

The timing could not have been a coincidence. While the smoke was still billowing from the barrels of military-style guns used to carry out the worst massacre in Iran’s modern history this past January, and while wary and wounded Iranians were preparing to welcome Nowruz in a show of resilience, the regime decided to remind Iranians of exactly who is in charge.

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The three young men, 19-year-old champion wrestler Saleh Mohammadi, 21-year-old Saeed Davudi, and Mehdi Ghassemi, were convicted of killing two police officers, inciting violence by joining protesters, and waging war against God. 

Wrestling champion Saleh Mohammadi faces imminent execution in Iran for protest participation as international pressure mounts to save the athlete. (The Foreign Desk)

They were hanged in public in the city of Qom, the Vatican of Iran, the hub of Shi’a doctrines of morality and piety.

History will show that President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu stood firmly between the mullahs and their missiles. To cast this war as unnecessary — and worse, as illegal — by the liberal media and the Democrats in Congress is a dereliction of duty to safeguard the American people.

EXILED IRANIAN WARNS REGIME WAS ‘AGGRESSIVELY PATIENT THREAT WAITING TO POUNCE’ ON AMERICA

The death toll following the massacres of this past January is still rising: soccer player Mohammad Hossein Hosseini, water polo goalkeeper Ali Pishevarzadeh, marathon runner Niloufar Pas, kickboxing champion Benjamin Naghdi, teenage soccer player Abolfazl Dokht, boxer Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani and at least 20 others are reportedly detained in solitary confinement and are at risk of being executed.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has warned the international community that “Iran is facing the risk of a catastrophic human rights crisis,” and has denounced the swift trials as “sham trials based on torture and forced confessions.”

In January, just as now, the condemnation of the Islamic regime fell along party lines, with Republicans decrying the inhumanity of Iranian leaders while Democrats and the liberal media demurred over limits on the responsibility to protect.

PENCE BACKS TRUMP’S IRAN STRIKES, SAYS PRESIDENT ‘IGNORED’ GOP ISOLATIONISTS

This is not the first time the Islamic regime has killed its own athletes. Perhaps the most widely known case is Navid Afkari, a star wrestler who, despite a global campaign led by athletes and human rights organizations, was hanged in September 2020 for the alleged murder of a security guard.

Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad has pointed to the broader regime strategy of eliminating Iran’s heroes so that it could crush Iranians’ spirit. “This is not just about sports,” she pleaded on X, “this is about human dignity. They hanged him without giving him a chance to say goodbye to his family.”

The revolution that toppled the Shah and ushered in “the age of extreme” of Ayatollah Khomeini was, at its core, according to Professor Ali Ansari, the director of Iranian studies at the University of St. Andrews, a battle to “redefine the Iranian identity.” Ayatollah Khomeini saw Iranian nationalism as a negation of Islam and sought to surrender Iran’s history and culture to the life of the prophet Muhammad and the rise of Shi’ism.

His sermons often ridiculed Iran’s pre-Islamic history. “Cyrus the Great was not that great if he allowed Jews to rebuild their temple,” he is quoted as saying in his compilation Sahifeh-ye Imam. Taking a direct jab at the beloved pre-Islamic king, Anushirvan the Just, he said, “He was Anushirvan the unjust because he didn’t know Islam yet. In fact, he was worse than Satan.”

Iranians have cleverly pushed back against the regime’s deliberate encroachment into their cherished history. At the outset of the revolution, they formed human roadblocks to stop bulldozers from reaching the ancient ruins of Persepolis, which dates back to the Achaemenid Empire. More recently, they gathered around the tomb of Cyrus the Great and other historical sites during Nowruz to chant pro-Iranian slogans.

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Perhaps the most telling sign that the Iranian people are winning the battle of nationalism vs. Islamism is in their choice of baby names. Shahan, the plural form of Shah, has replaced Mohammad as the most popular boys’ name in Iran.

Saleh Mohammadi, left, an Iranian wrestling champion was reportedly executed over protest participation earlier this year. On right, a Tehran billboard showing Supreme Leaders Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Ali Khamenei and newly appointed Mojtaba Khamenei, displayed on March 10, 2026. (The Foreign Desk/AFP via Getty Images)

It is sad but unsurprising that Iran’s wrestlers — the symbols of Iran’s ancient history of kings and paladins and the guardians of its “heroic sport” — have also become regime targets. Tehran sees more value in setting them as examples for the rest of Iranians than it does in them bringing Olympic medals back to their country.

Considering that wrestling has become the country’s most successful Olympic sport, accounting for 43 of its 69 total medals, according to United World Wrestling, the regime’s strategy of erasing one of the ancient pillars of Iranian identity is borderline comical — if it were not so tragic.

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The clerics and their henchmen are not after their wrestlers only. They are after making the absurd normal. As one former senior American diplomat told me in a phone call to wish me a happy Nowruz, the execution of Saleh Mohammadi and his two young friends is akin to the U.S. government sending its best Marine and his puppies to the electric chair on July 4 for the crime of complaining about the rising price of hot dogs. “It is absurd.” 

Welcome to the Islamic Republic of Absurdity.

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