How a cocktail of drugs found in Suzanne Morphew’s system could provide crucial clues to her murder
- Murdered mother Suzanne Morphew, 49, had three tranquilizers in her system
- Researchers believe the finding could provide clues about her 2020 death
- READ MORE: Cause of death of Colorado mother Suzanne Morphew has been revealed
A Colorado mother who was murdered four years ago had a deadly cocktail of drugs in her system, reports indicate.
An autopsy released Monday revealed that Suzanne Morphew, 49, had been drugged with a deadly mixture of painkillers and sedatives: butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine.
The mother of two disappeared from her home in Salida, Colorado, on Mother’s Day 2020, and her remains were discovered 50 miles from her home last year.
Colorado law enforcement officials now believe this revelation could provide clues about the murder, for which Ms. Morphew’s husband, Barry Morphew, was initially arrested in 2021. The charges were later dropped.
But how did these drugs in her system lead to her death and do they hold clues that could help police solve her murder?
Police have released Suzanne Morphew’s autopsy report after her skeletal remains were discovered 50 miles from her home last year.
The autopsy showed that she had the tranquilizers butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine in her system. Her body was discovered last year and her husband, Barry, was initially charged with murder before charges were dropped
Butorphanol
This is a synthetic opioid that can be injected, taken orally, or inhaled and is used to treat severe pain in patients recovering from surgery or suffering from diseases such as cancer.
According to the Mayo Clinic, it is usually used when other pain medications do not work or are not well tolerated. It is also commonly used as an anesthetic and cough suppressant in dogs.
The drug binds to certain receptors in the brain that send pain impulses, blocking pain for short periods of time.
As the body relaxes, people who use it may experience a weak pulse, nausea, shallow breathing and drowsiness.
Because it is an opioid, repeated use can be addictive. Overdose can cause breathing to stop completely.
Azaperon
This sedative is usually used as an anesthetic, especially in animals such as pigs and elephants to calm them down before transport.
Rarely it is used in humans as an antipsychotic. Doctors are reluctant to use it because in doses it can cause respiratory depression — that’s when you breathe too slowly or shallowly and prevent oxygen from getting to your blood and other vital organs.
This also prevents carbon dioxide from moving from the blood to the lungs, causing it to build up in the blood.
Over time, this leads to respiratory failure, cardiac arrest and coma.
Medetomidine
This drug is also a sedative and is used as an injection and intravenously in both humans and dogs.
According to the FDA, it can be used to calm anxious animals by reducing their heart rate, and to provide pain relief in humans. Lowering the heart rate puts less strain on the organ, which also lowers blood pressure.
This is often done to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events such as cardiac arrest during surgery.
In some cases it is combined with ketamine to use as a general anesthetic.