Krystal Lee's Friends Testify In Murder Trial; Patrick Frazee Accused Of Killing Fiancee Kelsey Berreth
TELLER COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - The murder trial of Patrick Frazee, accused of killing his fiancee Kelsey Berreth, resumed Tuesday after the Veterans Day holiday. Friends of the key witness for the prosecution, Krystal Lee, are taking the stand.
One friend loaned Lee her car when she traveled to Colorado for Thanksgiving. That vehicle showed up in several surveillance videos.
Prosecutors believe Berreth was murdered in her Woodland Park home in Colorado. She was last seen on Thanksgiving Day 2018 on security video at a grocery store.
Other co-workers of Lee told jurors that she looked tired and sad when she returned to work after Thanksgiving last year. They said Lee told them that she had gotten herself into trouble.
RELATED: Krystal Lee Testifies About Relationship With Patrick Frazee Before Kelsey Berreth's Murder
Last week, Lee told the court she did not kill Berreth, but said Frazee asked her to. She said he claimed Berreth was being abusive to their young daughter. There has been no proof of that.
Lee said the murder took place at Berreth's condominium. She said helped clean up the crime scene, at Frazee's request.
"Krystal Lee says that when she walked into Kelsey Berreth's town home, she saw blood everywhere. … She was cleaning up this massive crime scene," CBS affiliate KKTV reporter Ashley Franco reported Friday.
"[Lee] said she grabbed several blood-spattered items from Berreth's home to be burned, including a stuffed animal, children's building blocks and what she thought was a Bible," CBS News quoted the Gazette as reporting. "She also testified that Frazee and Berreth's baby daughter was in the home when the blindfolded mother was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat."
K-9 handlers have testified a trained dog picked up the scent of human decomposition at that condo. The same scent also was found by another dog in a barn that Frazee rented.
Lee said Frazee put Berreth's body in a metal trough and burned it. Lee said she left to go back to Idaho while the fire was still burning.
Along the way, Lee said she sent text messages to Berreth's mother and employer from Berreth's phone, acting as Berreth. Lee pleaded guilty to evidence tampering, saying she took Berreth's phone to Idaho -- at Frazee's request -- to make it look like Berreth had left the state.
After her testimony, Frazee's attorney attacked Lee's testimony -- saying she had every reason to lie to get plea deal for zero to three years. If convicted of attempted murder. Without making a deal, she could been sentenced to more than 150 years.
Frazee has entered a not guilty plea to charges of first-degree murder, solicitation to commit murder and tampering with a body. He faces life in prison if convicted.