Horrific Testimony Heard in Case of Missing Colo. Mom

Nurse told police Patrick Frazee beat fiancee Kelsey Berreth to death with baseball bat
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 20, 2019 2:47 AM CST
Horrific Testimony Heard in Case of Missing Mom
This undated booking photo provided by the Colorado Springs Police Department shows Krystal Jean Lee Kenney.   (Colorado Springs Police Department via AP)

Colorado man Patrick Frazee was ordered to stand trial for the murder of fiancee Kelsey Berreth on Tuesday after gruesome testimony was delivered at a court hearing. Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Gregg Slater testified that former nurse Krystal Jean Lee Kenney, who had been having an affair with Frazee, said he pressured her for months to kill Berreth, but she found herself unable to go through it, the Denver Post reports. According to Slater, she said Frazee eventually told her he would have to do it himself—and then called her Thanksgiving Day to say she "had a mess to clean up." She told police that after driving from her Idaho home to Colorado and letting herself into Berreth's home with a key Frazee provided, she discovered a horrific scene, with blood all over the walls and furniture.

Slater testified that Kenney—who agreed to testify against Frazee as part of a plea deal—said it took her four hours to clean the crime scene. She said Frazee told her he had tied a sweater over Berreth's face and beaten her to death with a baseball bat. She said he told her the couple's 1-year-old daughter was in a walker in the room at the time. Slater testified that Kenney said she later went with Frazee to retrieve Berreth's body from a barn where he had stashed it and watched as he burnt it at his ranch, the AP reports. Kenney, who has pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence, said she drove back to Idaho with the murdered woman's phone and disposed of it. She told investigators that Frazee said Berreth had been abusing their daughter, but police have found no evidence to support the claim. (More Kelsey Berreth stories.)

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