Suzanne Morphew had been missing since May 10, 2020, yet a ballot was mailed in with her name on it casting a vote for Donald Trump.
“There’s posters all over our town,” Lori Mitchell, the clerk and recorder in Chaffee County, told the Washington Post. “Constant things in the news about her. There’s people at the grocery store passing out fliers.”
Mitchell said that the small Colorado community of 20,000 was shocked when Morphew went missing, but she was even more shocked to see a ballot submitted in her name. While the signature line was blank, the witness line was signed by Morphew’s husband, Barry.
“I was stunned,” Mitchell recalled. “I couldn’t believe it. I was like, what in the world is going on?”
Mitchell’s office reported the news to the police, yet she couldn’t stop thinking about how strange it all was. Then this month, Barry was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, and because Barry was high off the Trump dope, he told FBI agents that he cast his wife’s vote because “all these other guys are cheating.”
“I just thought, give him another vote,” Barry allegedly said.
His arrest came as a shock especially considering Barry had been all over local news stations pleading for his wife’s return.
“I love my wife. I would never hurt my wife,” he told news station KDVR last fall. “She is the light of my and my daughters’ lives. This whole thing is killing us and that is why I want our privacy.”
Barry reportedly told authorities that he cast his wife’s vote “just because I wanted Trump to win.” He allegedly said he “didn’t know you couldn’t do that for your spouse.”
Ummm, I think it’s the “reportedly killing your wife” part for the authorities.
From the Post:
The search for his wife began on May 10, 2020, when a neighbor reported that 49-year-old Suzanne Morphew did not return from a bike ride.
Barry Morphew told the police he was on a work trip that day, away from their home in Maysville, Colo., about a two-and-a-half hour’s drive southwest of Denver. As authorities scoured the hills of Maysville, Morphew pleaded on camera for his wife’s safe return.
“Oh Suzanne, if anyone is out there that can hear this, that has you, please, we’ll do whatever it takes to bring you back. … No questions asked,” he said in the video posted on Facebook.
“However much they want. I will do whatever it takes to get you back. Honey, I love you. I want you back so bad.”
A sprawling investigation ensued. More than 70 investigators from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies would eventually execute more than 135 search warrants across the state and interview hundreds of people, according to the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office.
“To hear that Barry involved himself in voter fraud is beyond comprehension to me,” Melinda Moorman, Suzanne’s sister, told The Post, adding that the family is still reeling from the earlier murder charge.
“It’s a very difficult thing to wrap our minds around, to believe he could have gotten to this level of evil,” she added. “As a family, we did not want to believe he was capable of this, however, everything points to this happening.”
Barry was arrested on May 5, five days shy of the first anniversary of Suzanne’s disappearance. He has been charged with first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and attempt to influence a public servant. He has also been charged with a felony count of forgery and a misdemeanor count of offenses related to mail ballots.