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Colorado man who was free on bond in wife’s alleged killing is jailed after hit-and-run

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A man in Colorado who had been free on $3 million bond in his wife’s alleged killing was arrested Friday after prosecutors said he got in a hit-and-run crash with two other vehicles in Denver.

Barry Morphew was booked into the Boulder County Jail. Alamosa County District Judge Amanda Hopkins set a hearing to discuss Morphew’s bond Tuesday, online records show.

Under the terms of his bond set last year, Morphew was not supposed to travel away from home in southern Colorado except for work and other limited circumstances.

He got into the crash involving two other vehicles during a trip to Denver International Airport on Aug. 28, possibly to pick up his daughter, prosecutors said in a court filing.

“To go to the airport for any purpose other than work constitutes a breach of his bond,” read the filing by District Attorney Anne Kelly.

Morphew’s attorneys didn’t immediately respond to phone and email messages seeking comment Friday.

Morphew has pleaded not guilty and faces trial next summer in the death of his wife, who disappeared in 2020.

Suzanne Morphew’s skeletal remains were found off a dirt road in southern Colorado in 2023. By then, charges against Barry Morphew had been dropped, but he was charged again with first-degree murder in his wife’s death and arrested.

Investigators found no sign of trauma in Suzanne Morphew’s remains but allegedly found traces in her bone marrow of a drug cocktail used to tranquilize wildlife. Barry Morphew was the only person in the area other than wildlife officials with authorization to use the chemicals, prosecutors allege.

ICE officer pleads not guilty to lying about shooting and is released from custody

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer was released from federal custody Friday after pleading not guilty to lying to investigators about the circumstances that led to the shooting of a Venezuelan man during the Minnesota immigration crackdown last winter. The federal indictment accuses Christian Castro of falsely telling investigators that he was attacked with a broom and shovel before he opened fire, injuring Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in January. Castro was shackled at his wrists, waist and feet during a brief hearing in the federal court in McAllen after he turned himself into authorities Thursday evening. The judge ordered him released on a $75,000 unsecured bond and with a GPS ankle monitor. It's the first Justice Department prosecution of a federal officer for actions taken during this year's massive Operation Metro Surge, which brought thousands of agents to the Twin Cities and led to sweeping protests, arrests and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal officers.
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