Experts have said that you CAN fire those particular darts from a .22.
Shall we go on with Barry and the tranq darts. Let's:
Barry said, “I shoo–, I shoot chipmunks.”
SA Grusing asked, “You shoot chipmunks?”
Barry said, “Yeah.”
SA Grusing said it looks like he was chasing one.
Barry said, “Yeah, I was, I’ve shot 85 chipmunks because they got into my furnace and cost me a bunch of money. So, when I’m home … ”
SA Grusing interrupted and asked if he used a .22, and Barry replied, “Twenty-two. So, when I’m home I just walk around and shoot ’em. Just keep going around the house.” (Barry made circular motions with his right arm.) He said, “Everytime I go around the house, I’ll see another and I’ll shoot it.”
SA Grusing told Barry that activity would explain his phone’s behavior, adding that he left his driver door open in the garage before he went to the first patio. Barry said, “Mhhmhh,” and said,
“Yeah, shootin’,” while nodding his head during the description of movement. He added, “No, I’m shootin’ chipmunks. I’ve done that ever since we’ve moved in.”
SA Grusing asked Barry if he remembered doing it that day. He nodded his head and said, “Mhhmhh, oh yeah.”
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SA Grusing asked Barry what happened next. He shook his head and said, “I don’t recall.”
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(Barry Morphew Interview – February 29, 2021)
While SA Grusing and SA Harris were parked about one block away from Barry’s condo, Barry drove his truck beside the Agents’ car at about 5:03PM and handed a weathered .22 caliber altered rifle with a newly mounted rifle scope to Agents. Barry said that was the gun he used to shoot the chipmunk and he had to leave to workout at the gym.
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Barry said, “And I gave you my gun. That’s my chipmunk gun. They didn’t even take it.”
SA Grusing said the gun did not appear to have been fired in a long time.
Barry said, “Yeah it has.” He added, “I’m just telling you right now that if I was guilty, I wouldn’t hand over weapons to you guys.”
SA Grusing said Barry’s movements that afternoon, to include the truck door opening, him running from porch to porch and Suzanne not answering texts from her lover look different from investigators’ perspectives.
Barry stated, “I explained that. I mean, there’s, I mean, you can ask anybody that knows me- I’ve sh–, I’ve killed 85 chipmunks at my house. That’s all I do, I mean I can’t sit still. I’m a worker. I’m a busy bee. That’s what I was doing that day.”
SA Grusing asked Barry for permission to ask another question about the chipmunk thing, and Barry said, “Yeah.”
SA Grusing said from 2:44PM to 2:47PM, Barry is going to the porches. Barry said, “Mhhmhh.” SA
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Grusing said at 2:47PM, Barry’s phone went into airplane mode. SA Grusing asked Barry if he placed the phone in airplane mode.
Barry asked, “I don’t, where was, Was it on me? Or was it on the kitchen or what?” SA Grusing said the phone movement was how Agents knew Barry was moving around. Barry said, “Oh, because it was on me?”
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Barry asked for more information about the lover and SA Grusing told Barry he was not cleared as a suspect and would have to be cleared before knowing such things and getting guns back.
Barry said, “I would agree with that, but there’s not one gun in that safe that’s been fired for months.” He added, “The only thing I’ve fired is my chipmunk gun and I guarantee you I fired that, even, be-, even after Suzanne went missing.” Barry confirmed that was the gun he gave Agents.
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SA Grusing said Agents tried to find Barry chasing the chipmunks on the cameras recovered and could not. He said, “well, I don’t think any cameras were there. They were in the safe.” He added, “Everything was in the safe, they took everything from the safe.”
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SA Grusing asked Barry how he knew the chipmunk was outside to chase it that day, and he said, “Oh, they’re always out there. That’s just what I do. I mean, I’ve shot 85 chipmunks at my house. And when I’m bored, I shoot chipmunks.”
SA Grusing said, “Right,” and asked if the chipmunk gun was in the car or truck with him and he said he did not remember.
SA Grusing noted from the evidence it appeared Barry made it from the garage to the porch in seven seconds and asked Barry if he remembered where the gun was.
Barry stated, “I don’t recall. It coulda been in the truck. It might’ve been, but I don’t recall.”
SA Grusing asked if the scope was mounted on the gun at the time and Barry said, “Yeah,” nodding his head.
S Grusing asked Barry what he did with the chipmunk after he killed it and he said he either threw it up on the hill, where the crows come and get them, or down by the river.
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Barry was asked the last time he saw or heard Suzanne prior to that, and he said, “Just probably before we went to sleep. After we had sex.” SA Grusing asked what happened before that, and Barry said, “Before that we had dinner.” When asked where he sat, Barry said, “At the bar.”
Barry was asked what he ate and what she ate. He said, “Uh, we split a steak ’cause she never eats a full meal.”
When SA Grusing asked what else he or she ate, Barry said, “I don’t recall.”
SA Grusing asked, “Before that?” Barry said, “Before that, I think um, it had to be when I got home from doing my bobcat with Crib. And she was outside, laying out in the sun.”
He added, “I think I sat out there with her. I don’t know if that’s when I did the chipmunks or, when the, did the chipmunks before I went to Crib, I don’t recall (unintelligible- UI).”76
SA Grusing said because of Barry’s phone activity, the chipmunks would have occurred after the Crib trip.
Barry stated, “Ok, then the chipmunks, she was layin’ out, I was lookin’- I probably went to sit with her while she was laying out, seen a chipmunk and got my gun and shot the chipmunk.”
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(Barry Interview – May 28th)
On May 28, 2020, CBI Agent Cahill and Agent Derek Graham interviewed Barry and audio recorded the interview.
Barry was asked about the tranquilizer darts in his house. He stated that the darts’ purpose was to tranquilize bucks to sell them. He said the bucks could then be placed in a trailer that has cubicles. The tranquilizer is a sedative/narcotic and he only did this “tranqing” and selling of bucks back in Indiana. Barry said he has not used the tranquilizer or darts in Colorado.32
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Barry replied, “And I, I have shot, and again I have told you I don’t want to get in trouble with the DNR,” SA Grusing inserted he was not. Barry continued, “I’m tellin’ you, I’m telllin’ you right now I’ve shot two deer with my tranq gun, ’cause I used to raise deer, and I collect horns, and I’ll tell you exactly what I did.”
He continued, “They’re in the yard. They’re in the yard. I shoot ’em, they go to sleep. I cut their horns off, and I wake ’em up, and they go off with no horns on their head, and I cut their horns.”
SA Grusing said Barry’s friends in Indiana talked about that and he replied, “And, and it’s totally illegal. And, so I’m not gonna share that with the DNR, the way they are, and (exhale), they come arrest me. So, things like that, in my head, ‘What should I say?’ And nobody even asked me about that tranq dart, but you’re gonna find tranq darts around my property because I’ve done that.”
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SA Grusing said the evidence of the tranq dart was found inside the house. Barry replied, “Yeah, or I, I’ve shot deer from that little breezeway from between the garage and the laundry room, out that back door.”75
SA Grusing asked about the back door and Barry said, “The back door is outside the kitchen window where the bird, uh, bath is. Yeah, yeah, if there was a tranq dart out there or outside or in the house it’s from me shootin’ deer.”
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(Discussion of Exhibit 19)
Barry was shown photos of the dart boxes recovered from the search and asked if he recalled what all areas around the house he fired them.
He replied, “No, I don’t. I know I have fired from the breezeway before and I’ve fired them from the garage at deer that were up on the hill behind the rock wall.” (See Attachment 5)
Barry was asked if he ever missed a shot and he said, “A deer? Oh no.” He continued, “No, I used to raise deer, I’ve shot hundreds.”
SA Grusing asked if it was ever fired in the house.
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Barry said, “Only if it was open in that door in that breezeway. But, not, not inside the house.”
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In case anyone missed Barry's super secret code, Suzanne is the chipmunk.
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