A district court judge in Alamosa County on Tuesday granted prosecutors’ request for a $10 million cash-only bail for Barry Morphew after finding the murder suspect had violated his bail conditions when he traveled to multiple areas in metro Denver in August.
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“Mr. Morphew has shown time and again that he has no respect for any order of this court,” Chief Judge Amanda Hopkins said during the hearing.
Morphew was arrested Thursday in Boulder County after prosecutors reviewed GPS data from the 58-year-old’s ankle monitor and discovered he had driven to Denver International Airport to pick up his daughter, in the area of hotels and a mall, and to the spot where a hit-and-run crash happened near East Eighth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver.
Morphew also walked around downtown Denver, and went to a steakhouse, trailheads and a liquor store parking lot, Special Deputy District Attorney Frederick Johnson said during the Tuesday hearing.
Under the terms of his $3 million bail, Morphew was only allowed to leave his home for medical appointments, emergencies and legal meetings. The GPS company had also allowed Morphew to leave his home from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day for work-related purposes.
If Morphew posts the $10 million bail, he would not be allowed to leave his home in the San Luis Valley without permission from the court, unless in a medical emergency. In that case, he would need to call an ambulance, Hopkins said.
Prosecutors looked into Morphew’s travel after he was apparently involved in the Aug. 26 hit-and-run, in which he drove aggressively, hit two vehicles and refused to identify himself before leaving the scene, Hopkins found.
Morphew is facing five charges in the hit-and-run, including careless driving, leaving the scene of a crash and driving without a license, Denver County court records show.
The travel to DIA was particularly concerning, because Morphew could get on a flight, “end up in a border town, and walk across the border,” Johnson argued.
Johnson also said Morphew’s conduct during the hit-and-run crash demonstrated he was a flight risk.
“What we see here is for something as slight as a traffic ticket, the defendant is willing to flee police,” Johnson said.
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Jane Fisher-Byrialsen, one of Morphew’s attorneys, argued against increasing bail and asked the judge to consider allowing Morphew to remain free on total home confinement.
“Setting a bond that high is basically giving him zero opportunity to make it,” Fisher-Byrialsen said.
Morphew doesn’t present a flight risk, she argued.
“He wants his day in court. He wants this to be over,” Fisher-Byrialsen said.
Hopkins is now among Colorado judges who have taken to setting high bail amounts in cases where a suspect is charged with first-degree murder, after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that defendants couldn’t be held without bail.
When setting bail, judges may consider a defendant’s character, support network and prior criminal record, according to state law. Judges can also consider the likely sentence in the case, the likelihood the defendant will commit more crimes if released, and whether they’re likely to harass witnesses or victims. Any monetary bail amount a judge sets must be “reasonable,” state law says.
Morphew 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 had been free on bail for a year while awaiting a jury trial, which is scheduled for July 2027.
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.
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