Suzanne Morphew’s nephew is speaking out for the first time, calling on the public to ask Gov. Jared Polis to appoint a special prosecutor to take over the missing woman’s case.

“Auntie Suzanne deserves justice, and my family desperately wants to end the legal limbo,” said Chris Moorman, 36, in a phone call from Indianapolis.

Attorneys for Barry Morphew — Suzanne’s husband — filed a complaint with the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel last month, asking for prosecutors to face punishment up to and including disbarment. He was at one time arrested on suspicion of murder in the case.

Moorman said that, while he holds no malice toward the current prosecutorial team, “the investigations by the Colorado Supreme Court and the lawsuit filed by Barry Morphew have created an atmosphere wherein justice for Suzanne is not the priority.”

Melissa Dworkin, a spokesperson for the Governor’s office, said Polis is monitoring the case, but added, “The governor does not have any legal authority to remove or discipline a District Attorney for procedural violations in court. The Office of Attorney Regulation has discipline authority over attorneys, including district attorneys.”

Still missing

There’s been no trace of Suzanne Morphew since she disappeared just over three years ago.

Moorman believes his aunt was murdered. So do prosecutors. But in April 2022 — after nearly two years of investigation and court hearings — district attorneys admitted that without a body, they did not have enough evidence to bring the case across the finish line.

At that time, the 11th Judicial prosecution team led by District Attorney Linda Stanley dismissed the murder case against Barry Morphew without prejudice. The term “without prejudice” means that the case can be reopened if investigators find evidence they believe will be enough to take it to trial.

11th Chief Judicial District Judge Patrick Murphy found probable cause for Barry Morphew’s arrest in May 2021 and bound the case over for trial the next September, but the fact that her body was never found complicated the investigation. The case would still be held in the 11th Judicial District if it were to be reopened.

Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze has told The Denver Gazette that the investigation is open, but under Colorado Bureau of Investigation guidelines, any time a case goes unsolved for over three years, it’s deemed cold.

CBI spokesperson Lisa Kohlbrenner said the Suzanne Morphew disappearance investigation does not appear in the state database as a cold case because “they are in the process of moving it over.”

Remembrance event in Salida

The idea that the mystery remains unsolved after three years of national attention does not sit well with the hundreds of people who have followed Suzanne Morphew’s disappearance from the beginning.

On Saturday, they will be holding a remembrance event at the Poncha Town Hall in Poncha Springs.

The vivacious 49-year-old disappeared from her Maysville home, in a remote area west of Salida, sometime from May 9-10, 2020.

The remembrance event is called Shine Bright for Suzanne and will be live streamed on YouTube beginning at noon.

Suzanne Morphew’s sister, Melinda Balzer, provided a statement — obtained by The Denver Gazette — to be read at the gathering.

Balzer remarked that although the wheels of justice turn slowly, she stands by the investigation’s “silent strategic planning, which is taking place behind closed doors.”

Other Colorado mysteries

Though the Morphew investigation appears stalled after three years, there are plenty of well-known Colorado cases that stayed on the shelf before they were solved, including the murders of Annette Schnee and Barbara “Bobbi Jo” Oberholtzer, which sat unsolved for 39 years. Though the women did not know each other, the two vanished while hitchhiking in two different areas of the mountains in Jan. 1982.

After 39 years, Alan Lee Phillips, 71, was convicted this past fall of killing them and sentenced to two terms of life in prison.

Similarly, Paige Birgfeld’s family agonized over her death for nine years before her killer was convicted.

Birgfeld led a double life in Grand Junction, one traditional and the other not-so-much. A mother of three, Birgfeld sold kitchen products during the day but ran a private escort service at night.

Lester Jones, who police said was one of her clients, was convicted of her murder in 2016, nine years after she went on a date with her ex-husband and never came home. It took two trials for Mesa County prosecutor Dan Rubinstein to convict Jones.

What happened to Suzanne Morphew

May 10, 2020 was Mother’s Day. Suzanne Morphew’s daughters, Mallory and Macy, were on a camping trip, and when their Mother’s Day texts went unanswered, they became alarmed and contacted a neighbor to check the house. Morphew’s blue-pedaled bicycle and bike helmet were missing from the garage. At first, it appeared that she had gone for a ride and had possibly been kidnapped.

Barry Morphew had left for Broomfield to do a landscaping job that morning around five and he told investigators that he last saw his wife asleep in their bed, according to court documents.

The Morphew sisters is scheduled to appear with their father on ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday morning, fresh off of a $15 million lawsuit they filed against police and prosecutors in federal court.

The 180-page complaint lists 20 defendants involved in the unsolved case, including the entire prosecution team headed up by 17th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley, law enforcement officials, such as Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze, Chaffee County, and numerous investigators with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI — some of whom no longer work for the organizations.

In legal filings and in court, prosecutors have alleged Morphew, 56, plotted and killed his wife and disposed of her body. He adamantly denies that he killed her.

Barry Morphew’s attorney, Iris Eytan, agrees with Chris Moorman that the investigation into Suzanne Morphew’s death needs a fresh start.

“The Morphews and I support anything that the state of Colorado will put forward to re-initiate an investigation,” said Eytan. “We have to start from scratch. It needs to start from who could have known what, where, when and how.”

Barry, Mallory and Macy Morphew want to believe that Suzanne Morphew is alive, according to Eytan.

Suzanne Morphew overcame Hodgkins Lymphoma twice and had just completed her last chemo treatment six months before she vanished.

Chris Moorman said her “ability to have adventures was pretty limited.” He does not believe she left on her own.

“She did not run off anywhere,” he said.

For three years, Moorman said he kept his opinions to himself, but he came forward because he wants the case brought to a Colorado courtroom sooner than later. He misses the “warm and loving” aunt who gave the best hugs, he said, adding certain melodies bring her memory to the forefront.

“I can’t hear the John Prine song ‘Summer’s End’ without tearing up,” he said. “I just want closure for my family. And for her daughters.”

11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley declined comment.