Missing on Mother’s Day: Joe Giacalone on the Clues and Contradictions in the Susan Morphew Case

Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum

iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

True Crime

4.4 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On Mother’s Day 2020, Susan Morphew vanished from her Colorado home, leaving behind a community full of questions and loved ones searching for answers. In this episode of Zone 7, Sheryl McCollum sits down with retired NYPD Sergeant and cold case expert Joe Giacalone to revisit the investigation, the early red flags, and the clues that continue to raise quesions, from the discovery of Susan’s bicycle to the inconsistencies that complicated the case.

Highlights:

• (0:00) Sheryl opens with the timeline of Susan Morphew’s disappearance and introduces guest Joe Giacalone

• (1:30) The early facts of the case and first warning signs: missing bicycle, disabled surveillance cameras, and a Mother’s Day that went unnoticed

• (2:00) The 911 call from a neighbor and Barry Morphew's arrival at the scene

• (5:45) Inconsistencies in Barry's statements and the odor of chlorine in his hotel room

• (9:30) Digital breadcrumbs: truck data, phone records, and deleted text messages

• (10:30) The tranquilizer dart, the “chipmunk” story, and the forensic evidence found in the Morphew’s dryer

• (16:45) The recovery of Susan's remains and what investigators believe it reveals• (19:00) Barry's behavior raises more questions: his calm demeanor, the sale of Susan's truck, and the discovery of the spy pen that exposed her affair

• (26:00) How public pressure, social media, and speculation can influence a case

• (28:00) Joe closes with a Mark Twain quote that captures what Barry Morphew failed to grasp: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

Guest Bio:

Joe Giacalone is a retired NYPD Sergeant and former Commanding Officer of the Bronx Cold Case Squad. He serves as an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and is the author of The Criminal Investigative Function: A Guide for New Investigators and The Cold Case Handbook. Giacalone also hosts True Crime with the Sarge and is a frequent media commentator on criminal investigations.

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https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Swans-Dont-Swim-in-a-Sewer/Sheryl-Mac-McCollum/9798895652824

Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an active crime scene investigator for a Metro Atlanta Police Department and the director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, which partners with colleges and universities nationwide. With more than 4 decades of experience, she has worked on thousands of cold cases using her investigative system, The Last 24/361, which integrates evidence, media, and advanced forensic testing. Her work on high-profile cases, including The Boston Strangler, Natalie Holloway, Tupac Shakur and the Moore’s Ford Bridge lynching, earned her an Emmy Award for CSI: Atlanta and induction into the National Law Enforcement Hall of Fame in 2023.

Social Links:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @ColdCaseTips•

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an IHeart podcast.
0:02.3	Guaranteed Human.
0:11.6	May 10th, 2020, Suzanne Morfew was last seen alive.
0:18.9	Her bicycle was missing, later found down a steep ravine. Her home security
0:25.7	cameras had been disabled. Her daughters were out camping. Her husband was out of town
0:32.8	about, I don't know, five hours away or four hours away. And she goes missing and it's Mother's Day.
0:41.5	So lots of red flags for me immediately. But y'all tonight, we have Sergeant Joe Jackalone, retired NYPD.
0:54.2	Y'all, he ran homicide in the Bronx.
0:57.7	He ran the Homicide School.
1:00.3	Medal of Valor, y'all know him.
1:03.1	And he is going to help me on this thing, because when I tell you, there are red flags,
1:08.3	there are red flags and there are updates. and the updates are red flags to me.
1:13.6	Sergeant, how are you? Good. How are you, Cheryl? I am great. I tell you, I've been looking
1:19.5	forward to talking to you all day. This is one of those cases that just, you know, it baffles me
1:26.7	how he wasn't arrested sooner. And I understand they wanted to
1:31.8	wait for a body. I get that part. But talk to me a little bit about his movements on that day.
1:41.5	And again, y'all, I'm going to keep saying it. It was Mother's Day. It was Mother's Day. It was Mother's Day. It was Mother's Day. There should have been a phone call, some flowers, a gift or two. There was none of that. So to me, that's one of those things. I can't get off that train.
2:00.1	Well, I just, I know you're talking about red flags and I always, you know, talk about red flag.
2:04.2	This case has so many red flags.
2:06.5	I always say it looks like China.
2:08.4	So what you, I mean, the biggest red flag is the fact that she was reported missing by a neighbor, not the neighbor. Right, by a neighbor, not the, not the husband, not the kids, right? So it was the neighbor that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, it goes a little bit deeper. He told the neighbor, hey, go check and see her for bikes there. And if it's not, you call 911.
2:36.7	Yeah.
	...

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