On December 2,2018 Cheryl Berreth contacted Woodland Park Police Department, she requested a welfare check on her daughter Kelsey Berreth (29). Cheryl had been unable to contact Kelsey for over a week and this was highly unusual for her. Upon arrival, Law Enforcement noticed both vehicles at home, her purse and cell phone missing and there were stale, uneaten cinnamon rolls on the counter. Cheryl filed a missing persons report.
Kelsey Berreth was last seen at Safeway (on video surveillance) with her 1 year old Daughter at 12:27 pm on November 22nd in her hometown of Woodland Park. She is 29 years of age. She is 5’3” tall and weighs 110 pounds with brown hair. Kelsey is a pilot and is a flight instructor employed at Doss Aviation, located in Pueblo CO. The Father of her child, Patrick Frazee, age 32, said he last saw her on November 22nd during an exchange of their Daughter. He told Cheryl Berreth, Kelsey’s Mother, that he received a text from her cell phone on November 25th. Her employer also received a text from her cell phone on November 25th stating that she was taking the following week off. Multiple searches reveal evidence that lead investigators to conclude Kelsey is no longer alive. Patrick Frazee, and a woman whom he was romantically involved with (Krystal Kenney) were arrested in connection to Kelseys death.
Timeline of Events
- November 22nd Kelsey is last seen at Safeway with her Daughter at 12:27 pm
- Patrick Frazee states that he saw Kelsey that day during the exchange of their Daughter.
- Kelsey speaks to her Mother on the phone twice on Thanksgiving Day for the last time.
- November 25th Patrick received a text from Kelsey’s phone.
- Her employer at Doss Aviation received a text from Kelsey stating that she was taking the following week off.
- Kelsey’s phone gave a (ping) location near Gooding, ID at about 5:15 pm which is around 800 miles away from Woodland Park, CO.
- December 2ndLE perform a welfare check at her home. Kelsey is not there and her purse and phone are missing. Her make-up, luggage and two vehicles are at the home.
- Cheryl reports her Daughter missing to local LE at 12:37 pm.
- LE contacts Kelsey’s place of employment (Doss Aviation) and it is on this day that they find out about the text received from Kelsey’s phone on the 25th.
- Cheryl reaches out to Patrick and he tells her about the last text received on the 25th.
- December 11thLaw Enforcement hold a press conference. Patrick is not in attendance.
- Patrick is seen leaving an attorney’s office with the baby. He refuses to speak to reporters.
- December 13thCandlelight vigil held for Kelsey. Patrick is not in attendance.
- LE granted a search warrant.
- December 14thLaw Enforcement executes a search warrant on the Frazees’ property. PF red truck is confiscated.
- Patrick’s attorney releases a statement stating that he is cooperating with Law Enforcement.
- LE escalate the case from a “Missing Person’s Case” to “Suspicious”.
- PF has yet to have him sit down with LE. He is communicating via his attorney.
- Kelsey’s Parents have still not seen their Granddaughter.
- Second press conference is held. Patrick chose not to attend.
- December 15, 2018 Woodland Park Police announce a $25,000 reward for information leading to Kelsey’s safe return
- December 16, 2018Investigators said Kelsey remains missing after a search at her fiancé’s 35-acre property over the weekend draws to an end.
- December 18, 2018Investigators returned to Frazee’s ranch for a routine follow up search of his property.
- December 20, 2018Investigators were at Kelsey’s home for hours , carrying out several items of evidence covered by brown paper bags. A ladder was taken inside and neighbors could hear loud noises of hammering as LE searched the townhouse. It was the second follow-up search of Kelsey’s home in two days.
- December 21, 2018 Patrick Frazee is arrested as he was leaving his ranch with his daughter Kaylee and mother, Shirley Frazee.
- Frazee is charged with first-degree murder and solicitation of first-degree murder, and the DA indicated that another arrest in the case is possible. Bail was denied.
- Police did not reveal what evidence led them to arrest Frazee, but did say that they do not believe Berreth is alive, and suspect that a violent crime took place at her townhouse in Woodland Park.
- Kaylee Berreth was removed from the Frazee’s and placed in protective custody of Colorado.
- December 22, 2018The Twin Falls Police Department of Idaho said that the FBI contacted the department and the Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 15 to request assistance with the investigation “to prepare and serve several search warrants as well as processing some items of evidence.”
- December 27, 2018 A Temporary Emergency Custody Order was made by the Teller County Department of Human Services on December 27 that placed Kaylee in the temporary physical custody of her maternal grandparents while granting legal custody to TCDHS.
- A surprise Motion was filed by Sheila Frazee mother of Patrick demanding she wanted parental custody of her granddaughter.
- December 31, 2018 Frazee is formally charged with five counts of murder. He was arraigned on two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of solicitation to commit murder.
- multiple solicitation charges suggest he at least attempted to engage kill Berreth on three occasions. According to charging documents, the solicitations happened between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1.
- January 2, 2019 Krystal Kenney, a 32-year-old Twin Falls, Idaho woman is being investigated for possibly disposing of a cell phone belonging to Kelsey Berreth.
- January 3, 2019 A second hearing for temporary custody was ruled in favor of maternal grandparents, Cheryl and Darrel Berreth for Kelsey’s daughter to remain in their custody.
- Another motion has been filed by Patrick Frazee’s sister to petition custody of Kelsey’s daughter.
- Another custody hearing was set for February 7th, 2019.
- January 7, 2019 Cheryl-Lee Ellen Berreth and Darrell Lynn Berreth filed Wrongful Death suit against Patrick Frazee Friday in Federal Court in Colorado
- “Upon information and belief, Frazee committed and/or collaborated to commit the murder of Kelsey Berreth,” the suit states. The suit seeks damages tied to emotional distress.
- February 7th, 2019 Another custody hearing – The Judge ruled to continue with temporary custody to maternal grandparents. Another hearing will be in April.
- February 8th, 2018 Krystal Jean Lee Kenney, 32, of Idaho, pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with physical evidence (disposing of Kelsey cell phone) in connection to the case of missing Woodland Park mom Kelsey Berreth, 29.
- Kenney agreed to testify in the trial of Patrick Frazee.
- Kenney was in court by a Summons and is not under arrest. She will receive her sentence after the murder trial of Frazee.
- As part of her plea deal, Kenney cannot speak to the media.
“I learned that Patrick Frazee had committed a homicide on approximately Nov. 22 in Teller County. I knew that law enforcement would be investigating that crime. I moved the victim’s cell phone with the intent to impair the phone’s availability in the investigation. I had no right or authority to move the victim’s cell phone that occurred between Nov. 24 and Nov. 25, 2018 in Teller County.”
Krystal Kenney
- February 1, 2019 Wrongful death lawsuit continues – saying a custody dispute was likely a motive to kill their daughter. Kelsey’s parents state they contacted Patrick on Dec 2 and asked about Kelsey. He deliberately communicated false statements, misrepresentations, and/or calculated omissions
- Patrick told Kelsey’s mother that he and Kelsey broke up on Thanksgiving, and Kelsey agreed to evenly share custody of their daughter with him and that when she didn’t respond to a text he sent, he figured she had put her phone on do-not-disturb so that she could study.
- Patrick suggested Kelsey flew somewhere with a friend.
- Patrick allegedly told Cheryl he “had enough and wasn’t going to deal with things anymore.”
- February 19, 2019Preliminary hearing to enter Patrick Frazee’s plea to murder charges.
- Prosecutors alleged he beat Kelsey to death with a baseball bat after trying unsuccessfully to persuade his new girlfriend to end her life.
- Patrick is accused of wrapping a sweater around Kelsey’s head and bashing it in with a bat before burning her body in a water trough.
- Patrick tried convincing Kenney to kill Kelsey. He allegedly told Kenney that Kelsey was a terrible and abusive mother to their daughter as well as a drug user.
- Kenney was to steal drugs and poison Kelsey’s coffee. Patrick gave her the address and a photo of Kelsey, she drove to Kelsey’s home with a Starbucks in hand. When Kelsey answered, she lied about who she was and could not go through with the plan. After three unsuccessful murder attempts Patrick became angry and decided to kill Kelsey himself.
- Krystal said Frazee asked her to go to Kelsey’s apartment to clean up blood. She spent hours scrubbing the home and described it as horrific. Frazee even asked her to search for a tooth near a vent in the home.
- When Krystal refused to help dispose of her body Patrick stuffed Kelsey into a black tote bag and took her to a farm in Fremont County. He then went and celebrated Thanksgiving.
- Patrick then allegedly put the body in a water trough, doused it in gas and added wood before lighting it on fire. He is believed to have left the remains at either a dump or in a river.
- Police investigating Kelsey’s disappearance said they found blood in her toilet, the outside of her bathtub, the bottom of a trash can, on the walls, the floor, a towel rack, the vanity and an electrical outlet.
- Patrick was hit with additional charges, including tampering with a body and counts related to a crime of violence.
- Tuesday, Feb. 26 Midway Landfill is searched for Kelseys remains and any evidence possibly connected to the missing mother
- The search was expected to take several months to complete
- Wednesday March 6 More details in the case are revealed in newly released search warrants
- The last ping from Kelsey’s phone was in Idaho, where it is now known that Kenney disposed of it, by her own admission.
- Wed Aug 21A P-15 form, or a “Proposed Order to Endorse Alternate Suspect,” was filed on July 25 in Teller County District Court in the case of “People of the State of Colorado v. Patrick Frazee.”
- Frazee’s trial is expected to begin Oct. 28
- He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, solicitation to commit first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body and crime of violence in connection to Kelsey’s presumed death.
- Sept 17Frazee’s attorneys had until 11:59 p.m. Monday night to file paperwork to name an alternate suspect. That deadline passed without any paperwork filed.
On October 28th Frazee’s trial began, prosecution focused on text messages, video surveillance and witness testimonies to establish a timeline and prove Patricks guilt. Witness testimonies were heard from Krystal Kenney and Kelseys parents as well as a Verizon store employee, that said Frazee came into his store on Dec. 11 and asked if there was a way to change the PIN on a phone if he didn’t have the phone in his possession and if anybody could recover information from a phone that had been destroyed. A longtime friend of Frazee’s testified that in April 2018 he said that he “figured out a way to kill Kelsey. No body, no crime.’” On Dec 20 Frazee told him “Man, if I had known it was going to blow up this big I never would have…’” then he trailed off. A customer of Frazee’s horseshoeing business, said he visited her on Dec. 20 and said Kelsey was not coming back, and “ he just wants her gone so he can raise Kaylee with someone else.”
On the last day of trial an inmate provided a bombshell testimony. Frazee recently asked him to use his connections to a prison gang to kill a number of witnesses in the case. Frazee’s hit list included detailed instructions on where to find the witnesses and was written on paper towels and napkins.
The hit list included Krystal Lee, Kelsey’sparents and her ex-husband.
“They all need to disappear, unseen until 11/22 after the trial, I’d really like to see Krystal with a bullet in her head. No video, no weapon, no body, no forensics.”
Agent Gregg Slater reads letters written by Frazee to the jury.
The letters then had instructions to flush them down the toilet after they’d been read.
After hearing 10 days of testimony in a TellerCounty Courthouse, it took a jury just 3 short hours to their verdict. PatrickFrazee was found guilty of murder, tampering with a deceased human body andthree counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
Judge Scott Sells gave Frazee life in prison without the possibility of parole plus an additional 156 years on several other charges he was convicted of. Frazee did not show a reaction to the verdict.
Krystal Kenney is slated to appear in court on Dec. 2, but may not be sentenced until later. Her maximum sentence for tampering with evidence is up to three years in prison.
Kelsey Bereths remains have still not been located.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Woodland Park Police Department at 719-687-9262 or Kelsey@city-Woodlandpark.org.
Court Document: https://www.courts.state.co.us/Courts/County/Case_Details.cfm?Case_ID=2867&fbclid=IwAR0ZEUNV6W9QrVHlAT_QczciKkHwIy5eJeMp-LKIjMq6eScHabzi2UM0qSw
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