Alleged gunman Tyler Robinson wrote in letter, ‘opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk’: Court documents
Tyler Robinson, center, accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, appears during a hearing in 4th District Court on January 16, 2026 in Provo, Utah. (Bethany Baker-Pool/Getty Images)
(PROVO, Utah) — Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, allegedly told his boyfriend, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I took it,” according to newly unsealed court documents.
On Sept. 10, 2025, the day of the shooting, Robinson allegedly sent his boyfriend a message that said, “drop what you are doing, look under my keyboard,” according to the search warrant affidavit.
Robinson’s boyfriend told police that he found a handwritten letter under the keyboard, the documents said.
ABC News first reported on the existence of the letter in September.
Police said they reviewed the boyfriend’s photo of the letter. The note read, according to the documents, “If you are reading this per my text, then I am so sorry. I left the house this morning on a mission, and set an auto text.”
“I am likely dead, or facing a lengthy prison sentence,” the letter continued, according to the documents. “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I took it. I don’t know if I will/have succeeded, but I had hoped to make it home to you. I wish we could have lived in a world where this did not feel necessary.”
Kirk was shot and killed in the middle of his outdoor event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The 31-year-old was the founder of the conservative youth activist organization Turning Point USA, and the Utah Valley event marked the first stop of his “The American Comeback Tour,” which invited students on college campuses to debate hot-button issues.
Robinson allegedly fled the scene of the shooting, prompting a massive manhunt. He surrendered to authorities on the night of Sept. 11.
He was charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child. He has not entered a plea.
Barry Morphew is shown in this booking photo released by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office
(ALAMOSA COUNTY, Colo.) — Barry Morphew has pleaded not guilty for the second time in the alleged murder of his wife, Suzanne Morphew, whose body was found more than three years after the mother of two was reported missing.
The plea was entered on his behalf during his arraignment in Alamosa County, Colorado on Monday.
His trial has been scheduled to start on Oct. 13. He waived his right to a speedy trial, due to the amount of data and anticipated length of the proceedings. The trial is expected to last up to six weeks.
Suzanne Morphew was reported missing on Mother’s Day in May 2020. Her remains were found in September 2023 while investigators were searching in an unrelated case. Her death was subsequently ruled a homicide.
A grand jury returned an indictment against Barry Morphew on a single count of first-degree murder in June 2025. He was taken into custody in Arizona.
He had previously been charged with his wife’s presumed murder in 2021, but those charges were dropped in April 2022, just before the trial was supposed to begin.
Barry Morphew was the last known person to see his wife alive, according to the probable cause statement in the indictment.
The day she was reported missing, he told police she had planned to go on a bike ride while he was out of town on a work trip, according to the indictment. Her bike and helmet were later located in separate locations near the home.
In early interviews with law enforcement following his wife’s disappearance, Barry Morphew allegedly said their marriage was “the best,” according to the indictment. Though his statements were “inconsistent with other witness accounts and evidence located,” the indictment stated, noting that Suzanne Morphew had “confided in people that she was unhappy in the marriage in the weeks and months leading to her disappearance” and had discussed plans to divorce her husband with a close friend.
Investigators also uncovered a screenshot of a text message from Suzanne Morphew on her husband’s phone that stated, according to the indictment: “I’m done. I could care less what you’re up to and have been for years. We just need to figure this out civilly.” The screenshot was saved on May 6, 2020 — four days before she was reported missing by a neighbor, according to the indictment.
Suzanne Morphew’s body was found in September 2023 near the town of Moffat, less than an hour south of where she lived, according to the indictment.
Her death was determined to have been caused by homicide “by undetermined means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication,” according to the autopsy.
Law enforcement specifically requested that the coroner’s office test for the presence of butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine, which comprise a chemical mixture known as BAM that is used for sedating animals, according to the indictment.
Prior to moving to Colorado in 2018, Barry Morphew was a deer farmer in Indiana and used BAM to sedate and transport deer on his farm, according to the indictment. He allegedly admitted to using BAM in Colorado as recently as April 2020 to tranquilize a deer on his property, according to the indictment.
According to the indictment, records of BAM prescriptions showed that Barry Morphew last purchased BAM by prescription in March 2018, and that no individual or business in the Colorado region where the Morphews lived and where Suzanne Morphew’s remains were found had purchased BAM prescriptions from 2017 to 2020.
“Ultimately, the prescription records show that when Suzanne Morphew disappeared, only one private citizen living in that entire area of the state had access to BAM: Barry Morphew,” the indictment stated.
Barry Morphew has denied any involvement in his wife’s death.
“Yet again, the government allows their predetermined conclusion to lead their search for evidence,” his attorney, David Beller, said in a statement to ABC News last year following his indictment. “Barry maintains his innocence. The case has not changed and the outcome will not either.”
His attorney during his initial prosecution by the 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office also maintained her former client’s innocence.
“Not only is he a loving father, but he was a loving husband,” the attorney, Iris Eytan said in a statement. “I’ve handled thousands of cases, and I’ve never seen prosecutors mishandle a case so recklessly.”
The district attorney for the 11th Judicial District at the time, Linda Stanley, was disbarred by the Colorado Supreme Court in 2024 for misconduct regarding the Morphew case and others.
Barry Morphew and his daughters spoke to ABC News in May 2023 after they filed a lawsuit against prosecutors, saying he was wrongfully charged.
“They’ve got tunnel vision and they looked at one person and they’ve got too much pride to say they’re wrong and look somewhere else,” he said at the time. “I don’t have anything to worry about. I’ve done nothing wrong.”
Spencer and Monique Tepe are seen in this undated photo. (Courtesy Rob Misleh)
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The Columbus, Ohio, police chief is speaking out for the first time since the mysterious murders of dentist Spencer Tepe and his wife, Monique Tepe.
The couple was found shot to death in their home on Dec. 30, Columbus police said. Their two young children were found safe inside.
Authorities said they believe the couple was killed between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on their home’s second floor.
Earlier this week, police released video of a person of interest. Police said the video showed an individual walking in an alley near the victims’ house during that 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. timeframe.
A motive hasn’t been identified, the chief said.
“I know it’s frustrating for people, I know they want answers,” Bryant said. “As soon as we’re able to provide more information, we will absolutely be coming back to talk about that. … But right now it’s premature for us to be able to say what the motive is, or, we don’t have a suspect identified at this point.”
She added, “We want to bring some justice to the family.”
The Tepes’ brother-in-law, Rob Misleh, said they spent Christmas together days before the murders.
“We did Christmas night together, and then the following day we just did a, kind of, post-Christmas lounging and watching movies and had dinner. And the next morning they left,” he told ABC News’ “Good Morning America.” “How would I ever know that would be the last time I would’ve hung out with Spence like that?”
“We were totally blindsided by what happened,” he said.
The Tepes’ family and friends will come together on Sunday for a celebration of life service.
Texas State Troopers secure the area after dispersing a crowd protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the South Texas Family Residential Center on January 28, 2026 in Dilley, Texas. (Joel Angel Juarez/Getty Images)
(DILLEY, Texas) — Emergency calls that were placed in recent months from a South Texas family detention center and obtained by ABC News reveal a series of medical emergencies involving pregnant women and young children that advocates say underscore their concerns about the sprawling ICE facility.
The 911 audio calls from Frio County, dating from October 2025 through February 2026, document medical staff at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley requesting ambulances for migrant detainees experiencing seizures, fainting and respiratory distress.
In one call from January, a staff member requested assistance for a 17-month-old child.
“I’m calling for a little kid going through respiratory distress,” the caller told dispatchers.
In other calls, medical staff asked for ambulances for a 6-year-old boy with lethargy and a high fever, a 14-month-old in respiratory distress, and a 22-month-old with a fever and low oxygen levels.
“We need an ambulance,” one caller said. “We have a child with a high fever.”
Immigrant advocates, medical professionals and lawmakers have raised concerns in recent weeks about conditions at the South Texas facility.
ABC News recently interviewed a couple who said their 1-year-old daughter contracted COVID-19 and RSV during their 60-day detention. The family alleges medical staff at Dilley dismissed their daughter’s symptoms.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, who visited 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos while he was detained with his father at Dilley, also recently raised concerns about a 2-month-old infant before the child’s release. After Castro’s statements, detention center staffers made several calls to Frio County regarding the infant.
“Hi, I’m calling about a child that is at the detention center, a baby that is very sick, and I want to know if you guys can go do a child wellness check,” one caller said.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security, which operates the nation’s migrant detention centers, disputed allegations made by detained families and advocates about Dilley. In a statement, DHS said that detainees have “ongoing access to on-site medical professionals, including physicians, pediatricians, nurses, and mental health care providers.”
“The truth is this facility provided proper medical care for all detainees including access to a pediatrician,” Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said. “The fact is being in detention is a choice. We encourage all parents to take control of their departure by using the CBP Home app and receiving a free flight home and $2,600.
The 911 records also detail emergencies involving pregnant detainees. One call reports a woman experiencing a seizure, while another describes a woman three months pregnant who had lost consciousness.
“She is non-responsive. They found her on the ground,” a staff member told the dispatcher.
“We have a middle-aged woman pregnant and she’s seizing,” a medical staffer said in another call.
As of last month, there were about 1,400 people being held at Dilley, including children and parents, according to RAICES, an immigrant legal advocacy group. The facility was closed during the Biden administration and reopened last year as the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement measures increased.
Dr. Anita Patel, a board-certified pediatrician who recently sent a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem calling for the release of all children at Dilley, said detained families “are not receiving the standard of care.”
“What is clearly evident is they have no ability to recognize potentially lethal or emergent situations, and they have no clinical acumen to say when something is a medical emergency,” Dr. Patel said of the calls.
“What I am hearing from families and what we are witnessing is a human rights catastrophe,” she told ABC News. “They don’t have access to medical care, they don’t have access to appropriate nutrition; all of these standard humanitarian policies stated by the U.N. all the way down to laws are not being followed.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News regarding the 911 calls.
