Barry Morphew is on the receiving end of a civil lawsuit which was filed just days after he filed a $15,000,000 complaint against police and prosecutors alleging wrongful arrest on murder charges in the disappearance of his wife, Suzanne. 

In the latest legal twist, Morphew, 56, is the defendant in a complaint which alleges he defrauded an Indiana couple over an acre strip of land in Indiana which is described by the plaintiffs as “being sandwiched between two properties.” 

The dispute began at least a year before Mrs. Morphew went missing, but the complaint was filed May 8. Jeffrey and Cheryl Titus, who live in Cisneros, Indiana, said in the complaint that Morphew lied about why he wanted the slice of acre which adjoined two properties. 

“Defendant made a representation to Plaintiffs that he needed the 1 acre lot to be able to sell his adjoining parcel. Said statement was false and known by Defendant to be false. Plaintiffs reasonably relied on said statement to their detriment,” the lawsuit stated. 

The Tituses said Morphew promised he would re-deed the land and then never gave it to them. The Tituses say Morphew also trespassed on their adjoining property and “killed the grass and planted trees” on it. 

The couple is asking for damages, including treble damages, and attorney fees — but did not specify an amount. 

As evidence of proof to their claim, the Tituses showed text messages which were written in May 2019, a year after the Morphews had moved from Indiana to Colorado. The couple grew up in Indiana and relocated to a mountain home near Poncha Springs, they said at the time, for a fresh start. 

May 16, 2019, at 5:31 pm, Barry Morphew wrote Jeff Titus: “Hey buddy! Do you still want that acre back? Let me know,” according to the lawsuit.

Nine minutes later, Morphew added: “I appreciate you selling it to me to be able to sell to Jordan. Turns out I didn’t need it for the sale. Like for you to have it back but don’t want to lose too much. Just let me know”

The next day, Titus answered Morphew’s text: “Hey Barry, Jordan and I was (sic) talking about that acre the other day, he and I were under the impression once you got your trees off you were going to deed it back to me sense (sic) he paid you $15K per acre for 10 acres sense (sic) 10 acres was what was needed for him to get the building permit. I really didn’t want to sell that acre but when you said you wanted to build your home I was doing it as a favor to you, if I would have known you were going to sell I would not have sold it.”

The text continued: 

“There is really no value to the acre being sandwiched between two properties plus there will be a lot of work cleaning the property because of the large wild trees that have grown up plus filling in the holes. The right thing to do is deed the property back to me and after you remove the trees you want I will clean up the property. Jeff”

Jeff and Cheryl Titus did not return a request for comment, nor did their attorney, 

Earlier this month, Morphew filed a $15 million federal civil rights lawsuit which states that he was wrongfully arrested, jailed and prosecuted for the alleged murder of his wife, Suzanne, nearly two years ago, for “a crime he did not commit.”

The lawsuit 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. 

He appeared on Good Morning America Monday to profess his innocence.