A friend of accused murderer Barry Morphew appeared in a Chaffee County courtroom Wednesday morning after being arrested on suspicion of trespassing on Morphew’s former family home.

Officials said surveillance cameras picked up the image of 51-year-old Shoshona Darke as she walked across the driveway and picked up a FedEx package near the front door of the residence and, according to the arrest affidavit, didn’t ring the doorbell. The home is in a remote mountain area with few neighbors. 

Darke was taken into the Chaffee County Detention Center by deputies on Monday night, the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office said. 

According to the arrest affidavit acquired by The Gazette, the owner of the residence at 19057 Puma Path, Emily Love, was not home, as the family bought the $1 million-plus dollar property in March as a vacation getaway.

At 3:51 p.m. Sunday, Love got an email alert from the home surveillance system that came from the motion detector. A little before 6 p.m., Love texted the sheriff’s office, “This person came on the property today. Not sure if they were with you or not.”

After checking the house and reviewing the surveillance video, deputies realized the person on the property was Darke, describing her as “an acquaintance of Barry Morphew” who was employed as a housekeeper for a local realty company.

Love told the sheriff’s office that she wanted to press charges, so Monday night, Darke was arrested on suspicion of criminal trespass, a class 3 misdemeanor. 

In court Wednesday, Darke said she understands the accusations against her and requested a public defender. 

Officials said Darke, most recently of Salida, is well known around town.

“It’s a small town. Everyone knows everyone here, ” Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze told The Gazette, adding Darke was cooperative and that her arrest is separate from the case of missing Maysville mom and Barry Morphew’s wife, Suzanne Morphew. 

Suzanne Morphew, 49, was reported missing on Mother’s Day, May 10, 2020. Her body has never been found.

Barry Morphew faces first-degree murder charges in her presumed death but was released from jail two weeks ago on $500,000 cash bail. His four-week trial is scheduled to begin in May. 

During testimony in a four-day preliminary hearing last month, Darke was seen in photographs checking out of Colorado Springs’ Antlers Hotel with Barry Morphew.

The hotel visit was made before he was arrested in his wife’s presumed death a year after she went missing. In surveillance still photos shown in court, Morphew can be seen in the hotel lobby carrying luggage and Darke walking behind him wearing a wig. 

Darke was released Monday night on personal recognizance bond. She is scheduled to be in court again Wednesday afternoon for a separate charge involving a restraining order.