Patrick Frazee confessed to tying a sweater around the face of his fiance and the mother of his 1-year-old child before beating her to death with a baseball bat, a woman who said she loved him told investigators.
Frazee then burned Kelsey Berreth’s body on his Colorado ranch, Idaho nurse Krystal Jean Lee Kenney told investigators. She said she watched him pour gas and oil onto the fire as a large plastic tote bag burned away, revealing a “lump” she believed was Berreth’s body, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Gregg Slater testified in court on Feb. 19, reported the Denver Post.
The hearing is the first time the details of the alleged murder were made known to the public.
Frazee, 30, was charged with two counts of murder and three counts of solicitation to commit murder after he was arrested on Dec. 31, 2018. Berreth vanished from Woodland Park on Thanksgiving Day and is believed to be dead.
Kenney, 32, was charged on Feb. 5 with tampering with physical evidence in the case, after investigators deemed her responsible for a ping that Berreth’s cellphone gave off in Idaho several days after her disappearance more than 700 miles away from Woodland Park.
A friend of Kenney later said that the nurse was scared of Frazee and thought that he would kill her if she didn’t help him.
During the testimony on Tuesday, agent Slater said Kenney told investigators that Frazee asked her to kill Berreth several times, at one point suggesting she put poison in her coffee. Kenney said she went to Starbucks, bought Berreth’s favorite mocha, took it to Berreth’s townhouse, and gave it to her while claiming she had just moved next door. But, Kenney said she didn’t actually poison the coffee.
When Frazee learned that Kenney didn’t poison his fiance, he was upset, Kenney said. Slater told the court that Kenney texted Frazee and apologized, prompting him to tell her she’d have another chance. He gave her a metal pipe on Oct. 15 and told her she should beat Berreth to death and put her body in a dumpster.
Kenney drove to Berreth’s townhouse twice to kill the woman but couldn’t go through with it. Frazee had told the nurse that Berreth was a terrible mother who physically abused their 1-year-old daughter several times.
Slater, the agent, said authorities hadn’t received any reports of abuse of Kaylee, the girl, and said she appeared to be a happy girl with no prior injuries, reported The Coloradoan.
After Kenney failed three times to kill Berreth, Frazee called her and said, “I guess if you can’t do it, I’ll have to do it.” On Nov. 22, he called her and told her to come back to Colorado. “You’ve got a mess to clean up,” he said.
She gathered cleaning supplies and drove to the area, picking up a key to Berreth’s house at Frazee’s ranch. When she opened the door, she saw a horrific scene, with blood splattered across the walls, floor, toys, and furniture.
She said she cleaned the townhome for four hours, but told investigators she left blood splatters in some places because she “was hoping law enforcement would find them sooner and that she would be contacted sooner.”
Frazee confessed to the nurse, she told investigators, and said that their daughter was in the room while he killed her mother. After cleaning the house, Frazee told her to come back to the ranch, which is when he burned what Kenney believes was Berreth’s body.
Law enforcement found blood in multiple places in Berreth’s house, including on the bathtub, a doorknob, and beneath a trash can. Tests showed it was Berreth’s blood.
The case against Frazee is largely dependent on Kenney and Berreth’s cell phone. Frazee told investigators he last spoke with Berreth at 12:27 p.m. on the day she vanished.
“She requested to basically give her space,” Frazee said. “That was the last time we spoke.”
But through pings investigators determined the phone ended up at his ranch in Florissant that night. Kenney admitted she took the phone to Idaho to try to throw off investigators and her cell phone was matched with the location of Berreth’s phone through pings.
Frazee is scheduled to appear again in court on April 8 to be arraigned.
