Landfill Search for Missing Colorado Mom’s Remains Ends

L: Patrick Frazee (Teller County Jail); Kelsey Berreth Courtesy of Family of Kelsey Berreth's family via CNN

COLORADO SPRINGS—Police have ended the search of a Colorado landfill for the remains of a woman thought to have been beaten to death by her fiance.

The Colorado Springs Gazette reports the search for 29-year-old Kelsey Berreth’s remains at a landfill about 90 miles south of Denver started in late February, and investigators sifted through nearly 40,000 cubic feet of trash.

Crews start searching in a specific area of the Midway Landfill for the remains of Kelsey Berreth in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Feb. 26, 2019. Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette/File via AP

Berreth was last seen in public Nov. 22 with her 15-month-old daughter.

Her fiance, 32-year-old Patrick Frazee, has been charged but has not entered a plea.

Kelsey Berreth, 29, was last seen in Woodland Park, Colorado on Nov. 22, 2018. Woodland Park Police Department

Investigators say Frazee’s girlfriend, Krystal Jean Lee Kenney, a 32-year-old former nurse, told them he used a baseball bat to fatally beat Berreth at her townhome in Woodland Park, then burned her body and planned to dump the remains in a landfill or river.

Frazee asked Kenney to kill Berreth three times, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Gregg Slater.

Krystal Lee Kenney, an Idaho nurse, pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence in the case of missing Colorado mother Kelsey Berreth. Krystal Lee/Facebook—Colorado Springs Police Department via AP

Slater said Kenney reported that Frazee suggested using a poisoned drink from Starbucks in September. Kenney told police that Frazee later told her to hit Berreth in the head using a metal pipe or a baseball bat.

Kenney said he was angry each time she failed to act. She loved Frazee and wanted to make him happy but could not hurt Berreth, Slater said.

Kenney received a call from Frazee on November 22, demanding that she drive to Colorado, Slater said.

“You got a mess to clean up,” Frazee said according to Kenney’s account to police.

She said she arrived two days later and found a “horrific” scene with blood spattered on the walls and floors of Berreth’s townhome, Slater said.

Kenney told police that Frazee had wrapped a sweater around Berreth’s head before beating her to death with a baseball bat and stashing her body on a ranch.

After she cleaned the house, Kenney said she went with Frazee to retrieve Berreth’s body and watched as Frazee burned it on his property along with the wooden bat, Slater said.

She said Frazee later told her he planned to throw the remains in a dump or river.

Kenney has pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and is required to testify against Frazee as part of her plea agreement with prosecutors.

Patrick Frazee leaves the Teller County District Court in Cripple Creek, Colo. Frazee, charged with murder and solicitation to commit murder in the death of his missing fiancee, Kelsey Berreth, is scheduled to appear in court, on Feb. 19, 2019. Chappin Everett/The Gazette via AP

Police acknowledged that Kenney did not see Berreth’s body or a baseball bat. They also said Kenney denied knowing Berreth or having a personal relationship with Frazee when investigators first contacted her in mid-December.

Defense attorneys also highlighted a lack of blood or other physical evidence detected in Frazee’s truck and questioned the Berreth family’s access to Kelsey’s townhome following initial police searches. Blood in the bathroom identified as Berreth’s was discovered on December 6, days after police turned the property over to her family.

Apart from Kenney’s account, the prosecution’s case relies heavily on data from cell phone towers charting the physical location of phones belonging to Berreth, Frazee, and Kenney. Investigators testified that data showed Berreth’s cell phone was always in the same location as Frazee’s phone or Kenney’s phone after November 22.

The hearing did not reveal why prosecutors believe Frazee killed Berreth. Her parents argue in a wrongful death lawsuit that they believe Frazee wanted full custody of the couple’s 1-year-old daughter. The child has remained with them while the criminal case proceeds.