Fiance pleads not guilty in presumed death of missing Colorado mom Kelsey Berreth
A Colorado man suspected of killing his fiancee has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge. Patrick Frazee entered the plea Friday in the city of Cripple Creek in the case involving the killing of Kelsey Berreth, a 29-year-old flight instructor who was last seen alive last year on Thanksgiving Day.
Investigators said in a February court hearing Frazee urged a woman he was having an affair with for months to kill Berreth, and then killed her himself, beating her to death with a baseball bat and then calling the woman to help clean up blood. The woman, Krystal Jean Lee Kenney, told investigators Frazee then burned Berreth's body and planned to dump the remains in a landfill or river, according to the testimony.
Kenney, a 32-year-old nurse from Idaho, has pleaded guilty to helping thwart the investigation by tampering with evidence and has agreed to testify against Frazee.
Investigators later discovered traces of blood belonging to Berreth in several places in her bathroom, according to testimony at the hearing. Her body hasn't been found.
Frazee has been in custody in Teller County since his arrest in December 2018. Berreth's parents claim in a civil lawsuit Frazee had motive to kill Berreth because she refused to give him custody of their 1-year-old daughter. The child is in the custody of Berreth's parents.
Now that Frazee has entered the plea, the Teller County District Attorney's office will have nine weeks to determine whether or not to seek the death penalty, reports CBS Denver.