'I'll shoot his balls off and shove them down his throat': What Barry Morphew told his pal after claiming wife Suzanne slept with 'a man in a basement' eight months before he was arrested for her murder

Barry Morphew - who owned multiple firearms - told a friend he would 'shoot his wife's lover's balls off' and 'shove them down his throat' when he found out about their affair 

Barry Morphew told a friend that his wife had slept with a 'man in a basement' and that he wanted to find the lover, 'shoot his balls off' and 'shove them down his throat', months before he was arrested for her murder. 

Morphew has been charged with his wife Suzanne's murder and spent Monday and Tuesday in court in Colorado for a preliminary hearing ahead of his trial. 

He will return to court on August 23rd. 

Barry was charged in June despite the fact Suzanne's body has never been found. She vanished last May, after going for a bicycle ride, according to Barry.

In a bombshell revelation earlier this week, a sheriff's investigator revealed that Suzanne had been having an affair with Jeff Libler, a married father-of-six who both she and Barry went to high school with. 

She'd reconnected with him while she and Barry were having marital problems.  

FBI agent Ken Harris told the court that he interviewed one of Barry's friends, a woman called Holly Wilson, and that he told Holly described a conversation she'd had with Barry in November 2020, eight months before his arrest. 

'Agent Harris is being asked about Holly Wilson and a conversation she had with #BarryMorphew. Barry was accusing #SuzanneMorphew of sleeping with a man in a basement in November.

'He allegedly told Holly, "If I find him, I will shoot off his balls, and shove them down his throat,"' Fox 21 reporter Lauren Scharf tweeted from court. 

Two days before she vanished, Suzanne texted her sister to describe Barry as 'abusive and abrasive'. 

Barry Morphew learned his wife Suzanne (pictured together, left) had been having a two-year affair with one of her high school classmates, Jeff Libler , in the days before allegedly killing her last Mother's Day, police revealed at the first day of his murder trial on Monda

Barry also deleted his search history after visiting notorious dating website Ashley Madison, and a celebrity pornography website called Celebrity Jihad.  

Barry, 53, stands accused of first-degree murder, evidence tampering and other charges in connection with the disappearance of his 49-year-old wife, who had been romantically involved with her former high school friend Jeff Libler for two years and talked about moving with him to Ecuador. 

Suzanne was reported missing on Mother's Day 2020 after going out for a bike ride. Her body has never been found.   

Adding to Tuesday's bombshell developments was DailyMail.com's exclusive revelation that Suzanne, Barry and Libler appeared in the local paper together in 1985. 

Both men attended the same high school as Suzanne, with Barry two grades ahead of his wife and Libler at the Alexandria-Monroe High School in Alexandria, Indiana. 

A newspaper report unearthed by DailyMail.com shows both men won plaudits for their sporting prowess - Morphew in baseball and Libler in golf. Both Suzanne and Libler appear in the 1987 edition of the school's yearbook, with Suzanne appearing in the school's German club, while Libler took Spanish. 

During Tuesday's preliminary hearing, law enforcement officials presented to the court Suzanne's text message exchanges with her lover, in which she told him she had a fine night and was looking at houses for sale. 

When her husband came home from work that day, he found Suzanne sunbathing in the yard. She was sending pictures of herself to Libler via LinkedIn, which the couple had been using to communicate behind her husband's back, reported Fox 21.

The court was then shown a photo of Suzanne that she had sent to Libler that day, which depicted her laying on her front in a bikini and smiling. Suzanne and Barry's daughters were said to have broken down in tears as the photo was shown.

Barry would later tell investigators his wife looked 'drunk' in that photo, which officials said was Suzanne's last proof of life.  

The following day, Libler wished Suzanne Happy Mother's Day and said he knew it would be a hard day for her because she missed her mother. Suzanne never replied.

His last known text to Suzanne was sent on May 11, in which he offered her well wishes for her cancer treatment. That message also went unanswered.

Suzanne had survived two battles with non-Hodgkins' lymphoma decades apart.

Alexandria-Monroe High School 1987 yearbook reveals Suzanne Morphew was classmates with Jeff Libler - the same man she is reported to have had a two-year affair with before she vanished on Mother's Day 2020

Suzanne and Jeff were in the same grade, while her husband Barry Morphew was two years ahead

The hearing also revealed that just days prior, Suzanne texted her husband and apparently signaled to him her intention to end their rocky marriage, which was marked by accusations of infidelity and abuse.

'I'm done,' Suzanne wrote to Barry on May 6. 'I could care less what you're up to and have been for years. We just need to figure this out civilly.' 

It has been revealed that Suzanne suspected her husband of being unfaithful to her and even purchased a spy pen to snoop on him. 

Suzanne Morphew in an undated family photo 

Barry insisted to his wife that he was not cheating on her, writing in one text: 'I promise you, you are wrong about all the crazy thoughts about me. Why would I want another, only a fool would stray from an angel like you.' 

As two days of testimony have shown, both Suzanne and Barry kept secrets. 

Deleted search history on Barry's phone included visits to the cheaters' dating site Ashley Maddison and Celeb Jihad, which features nude photos and videos of celebrities posted by purported Islamic extremists. 

FBI Agent Kenneth Harris noted that the iCloud was shared by the Morphew family, so it's unclear whose searchers those were. 

The court also heard from FBI Agent John Grusing, who detailed Barry's movements around the time of Suzanne's disappearance. 

Grusing said Barry told him he was shooting chipmunks in his backyard, killing some 85 animals, on May 9. The agent also mentioned that a tranquilizer dart cap was found in Morphew's dryer.

Early the next morning, Barry headed to Broomfield, making multiple trash runs in various locations and changing shirts over the next several hours. During one of his trips to a garbage receptacle, Barry said he disposed of tranquilizer material. 

As Tuesday's hearing continued into the evening, the court was also told how:

The first half of the preliminary hearing has wrapped up, and is set to resume on August 23 with more witnesses.

The prosecution said they still have witnesses to call, noting that only three have been called thus far. He believes those three are the “meat and potatoes” for this hearing, but would still like to call other witnesses. However, he says the defense is taking too long and isn't sure if it’ll be done in four days. 

The preliminary hearing is supposed to continue on August 23 and 24. 

The first day of the preliminary hearing revealed that Morphew had researched language schools in Ecuador after her lover, a married father-of-six from Michigan who she went to school with in Indiana, suggested that the Latin American nation had cheap living costs and good healthcare. 

'I'd live in a shack right now,' Suzanne texted her friend, Sheila Oliver, who she had known for 30 years.

'I'm sure he won't make it easy. He has always wanted control.' She was referring to her husband Barry, currently on trial for Suzanne's murder. 

Suzanne was last seen heading out for a bike ride near their home last May. Her body has never been found. 

On Monday the court heard that her marriage to Barry, 53, was full of arguments, domestic violence, distrust and religious guilt-tripping.  

In June Barry Morphew was suddenly arrested for the killing. Prosecutors haven't revealed any of the evidence they used to charge him nor have they laid out a motive. 

Monday's hearing was the first time any of the details that went into their case emerged. They include: 

Chaffee County Sheriff's Commander Alex Walker testified that Suzanne suspected her husband of having an affair so bought a spy pen to put in his car. 

Instead, it was she who was having the affair. 

She and Libler - a married father of six who lives in Michigan - met up seven times in multiple states, sending each other nude photos and saying they were each other's 'soulmate'. 

They communicated over LinkedIn to avoid detection and one of their last conversations involved Suzanne telling him she was in love with him. 

Suzanne wanted to marry Jeff but told him she couldn't because of her religion.  

Sheriffs found out about the affair when they were looking into Suzanne's disappearance in November last year, but it's unclear how.

They then went to Libler and asked him about the affair and he asked if he was a target in the investigation. 

The affair began in 2018 when Suzanne, seemingly out of the blue, contacted Jeff saying: 'Howdy stranger.'  

The first time they met up was in New Orleans, where investigators said they 'fooled around' but did not have sex. 

The relationship turned physical in 2019. As the pair communicated more over text, Barry became suspicious so they started speaking through LinkedIn messages. 

In December 2019, Libler told her that Ecuador was a cheap place to live, and had good healthcare.  

Her internet search records show her looking for language schools in the Latin American country.   

In recent messages, they had discussed going biking together and Suzanne told Libler she was in love with him. 

She also said that she wanted to marry him but couldn't because of religious reasons.   

On May 8 he texted her: 'You look good in biking gear babe. You need to be my wife.' 

On the morning of May 9 she texted him: 'We need to be husband & wife.'

Later that day, he texted her that 'my gang is my home'. There were no texts after that. 

Friends of the missing mother-of-two testified that she'd confided in them about how strained her marriage to Barry was. 

Sheila Oliver said Suzanne wanted to leave him.

Suzanne would tell Barry that she was having a 'girls' weekend' with Oliver, but then go and meet Libler. 

The court was shown text messages between Oliver and Suzanne, which included Suzanne referring to Barry as 'Jekyll and Hyde'. 

'It's Jekyll and Hyde again. He and Mal were together last night. Prob switching it on when he talks with her. Ugh. I feel like I'm crazy. I just had a conversation with him. Pretty much told him I can't be healthy and stay in this,' she said. 

When they argued, she complained Barry would use Biblical scriptures whenever it suited him to guilt-trip her into forgiving him. 

Sheila also described incidents of domestic violence that included Barry smacking Suzanne into a wall and holding a gun to her head. 

Another report described how he'd once held a gun to his own head in an apparent suicide threat. 

One piece of evidence that was mentioned was a spy pen which had previously been vaguely referred to in documents. 

The spy pen belonged to Suzanne and Walker said she had it because she suspected Barry of having an affair.  

The couple with their two daughters, Mallory and Macy, who have been supporting their father 

Barry Morphew is being held in jail without bond. So far the prosecution has kept much of its case secret - his attorneys are protesting against it and say he should be granted bail

'Barry wasn't having an affair. Suzanne was having an affair for two years,' Walker told the court.  

The court was shown screenshots of their text messages where Suzanne called Barry 'unstable'. 

Suzanne told Sheila that Barry would turn their daughters against her, or try to, when they were arguing.  

The court was also shown bodycam footage of people police spoke to in the early stages of their investigations last May, after Suzanne went missing. 

A neighbor called 911 after Mallory, one of the couple's daughters, tried texting her to wish her a Happy Mothers' Day but became alarmed when the texts didn't go through. 

Barry never called 911.  

Shortly afterwards she was reported missing, police interviewed the other daughter Macy's boyfriend, Miles, who told them that Barry and Suzanne had 'problems' and had discussed separating.

'They've had some problems in the past. They have talked about separating. I've known this through Macy,' he said.  

In another conversation, Suzanne told Sheila how Barry would use Bible scriptures about forgiveness against her. 

She also told her that she and Barry argued when she was undergoing chemotherapy treatment while battling Hodgkin's Lymphoma. 

Sheila testified on Monday that Macy, the Morphews' youngest daughter, encouraged her mother to get a divorce and file a restraining order against her father.  

The court also heard that Suzanne had been taking antidepressants before she vanished, and that the pair had argued about money. 

She had inherited the money and the couple used it on a house, according to reporters who were in the court. 

Unlike at past hearings, there were no cameras inside the court for Monday's hearing and the judge is not allowing it to be live streamed. 

Fox 21 reporter Lauren Scharf tweeted on Monday that Barry's sister approached her in court and told her she was 'ruining' their lives. 

The girls Macy and Mallory cried during some of the testimony.

At one point Barry turned to his daughters and mouthed: 'I miss you guys,' and then teared up. 

The hearing will take several days, after which the judge is expected to rule on whether or not to set bail.