Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misidentified Patrick Frazee's mom. The story has since been updated.
KUSA – Prosecutors have released the dozens of search warrants that were executed in the days and weeks following the Nov. 22 disappearance of Woodland Park mother Kelsey Berreth, who is now presumed dead.
Berreth’s fiancée, Patrick Frazee, has since been charged with numerous counts, including first-degree murder, solicitation to commit first-degree murder, and tampering with a corpse.
The search warrants offer a glimpse into how the investigation into Berreth’s disappearance developed, from early discussions with Frazee about a relationship in turmoil to an in-depth look at how phone records revealed a trail of deception -- leading police to the key witness: Idaho nurse Krystal Lee Kenney, who claimed that she helped Frazee clean up the crime scene and dispose of Berreth’s cell phone.
Investigators would later seize multiple pieces of evidence from Frazee's home, including multiple pairs of jeans, envelopes full of teeth, and a sheet with possible blood on it, according to the search warrants in the case.
Patrick Frazee lived in the home with his mother, Sheila Frazee.
Sheila Frazee was asked to testify at her son’s preliminary hearing, but the judge ruled she could not be compelled to do so.
Sheila Frazee is one of the five people listed on a handwritten note seized from Frazee’s home that shows the people he would prefer to have care of his and Berreth’s 1-year-old daughter should he be taken into custody. In the search warrants, police said it was notable that Berreth’s name wasn’t on the list.
According to evidentiary information listed in one of the warrants, Sheila Frazee told police that her son paid for Berreth’s cell phone, AAA and car insurance, and also gave her $700 a month in child support payments.
Berreth was last seen alive in Safeway surveillance video on Nov. 22, 2018. Patrick Frazee told police that he last saw her in-person while they exchanged their young daughter in the alley outside of her home, and that his final communication with her was a Nov. 25 text message that said, “Do you even love me?”
According to cell phone records detailed in the warrants, Patrick Frazee responded and said he did. However, prosecutors allege that Berreth had been killed days before the text was sent, and it instead was written by Kenney, who was driving back to her Idaho home from Colorado.
Both Kenney and Berreth’s phones pinged in Gooding, Idaho on Nov. 25. This was the last activity ever recorded on Berreth’s cell phone. Kenney has pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence in regards to this case, and has agreed to testify against Patrick Frazee.
According to the search warrants, Kenney initially lied to investigators about her relationship with Patrick Frazee, which is believed to have dated back more than a decade. Kenney’s ex-husband told police that she was known to be having an affair with Frazee as recently as 2017 – all while prosecutors claim Kenney told police he was merely a business acquaintance.
Kenney, who was implicated by the cellphone communication and tower locations between her and Patrick Frazee, eventually came clean to investigators. According to Slater, Kenney told police that Patrick Frazee had asked her to kill Berreth as early as September 2018. He claimed, Kenney said, that Berreth abused their young daughter.
Slater testified that Kenney claimed she couldn’t bring herself to end Berreth’s life – prompting Patrick Frazee to say he would do it himself. According to Kenney, Frazee called her on Nov. 22, 2018 and said she “had a mess to clean up.”
Kenney said she would later drive from Idaho to Colorado and clean up the grisly crime scene inside of Berreth’s Woodland Park apartment. According to one of the search warrants, investigators seized bleach and a Swiffer from Patrick Frazee’s ranch.
Prosecutor’s claim that after Berreth’s disappearance, Patrick Frazee wrote messages to himself from her phone. According to the search warrants, some of the texts were mundane, discussing plans to go for a run. Two days after Berreth was last seen alive, the warrant said Patrick Frazee texted her: “If this is truly what you want, I’ll respect your wishes and give you space. Let me know if you change your mind. I’ll leave you alone now, you can call me when you decide what you want to do.”
During initial interviews with police, investigators said Patrick Frazee told them he and Berreth were essentially broken up, and had a loose custody agreement of their daughter.
But, in the text messages listed in the warrant, the pair were texting up until Berreth’s disappearance, and seemed to be planning on celebrating Thanksgiving together.
Slater said that Kenney alleged on Nov. 22, Patrick Frazee went to Berreth’s apartment and put a blindfold over her eyes, telling her to guess flavors of candles. Kenney told Slater that Frazee claimed to have beaten his fiancée to death while their child was inside of the same condominium.
Kenney told police that Patrick Frazee stored Kelsey Berreth’s body in a black tote and left it in a barn near Cripple Creek. A few days later, Kenney said he burned the body and her personal belongings in a trough on his property.
Berreth wasn’t reported missing until Dec. 3, when her mother told police she had difficulty getting ahold of her. Early search warrants indicate police entertained the notion that Berreth had taken her own life – something prosecutors claim Frazee tried to engineer by telling officers he gave his fiancée her gun back.
According to the warrants, Berreth's mother told police that the day her and Patrick Frazee's daughter was born, he went into a rage because they weren't allowed to see her right away. Berreth's mother claimed Patrick Frazee's behavior concerned medical professionals so much that social services was called to ensure he wasn't abusing his fiancee.
Berreth's mother claimed Frazee joked about the incident at his daughter's first birthday party.
Evidence of foul play in Berreth's disappearance wasn’t discovered until Dec. 6, when Berreth’s mother texted investigators a photo of what was believed to be blood on her daughter’s toilet. That photo is included in the search warrants.
DNA evidence would later indicate that profiles matching Berreth, Frazee and an unknown woman were likely in the bathroom of her home. The unidentified woman is believed to be Kenney, according to the search warrants.
A cadaver dog also found the scent of a decomposed body near Berreth’s Toyota Corolla.
In the warrants, investigators asked to access to the Facebook accounts associated with Frazee, Berreth and Kenney, as well as their Google search history.
Frazee and Kenney were believed to have used GChat to communicate, according to the warrants.
The trial against Patrick Frazee has not yet been scheduled. He is slated to appear in court again in April for an arraignment hearing, and could enter a plea.
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