The Disappearance

Kelsey Berreth was last seen alive on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2018. Surveillance footage from a local grocery store showed her shopping with her daughter, Kaylee, earlier that day before returning home where she had a brief interaction with Patrick Frazee to hand over Kaylee for the weekend. According to Frazee, this was the last time he saw her.

In the days following Thanksgiving, Kelsey’s family became increasingly concerned when they couldn’t reach her. Initially, Frazee claimed that Kelsey had texted him on November 25, stating she needed some time away, but this seemed suspicious given her dedication to her daughter. On December 2, Kelsey’s mother, Cheryl Berreth, reported her daughter missing, setting off a frantic search.

As investigators began looking into Kelsey’s disappearance, Patrick Frazee’s behavior became increasingly suspicious. He never joined the search efforts or seemed concerned about Kelsey’s whereabouts. Deepening the mystery, Kelsey’s phone pinged in Idaho days after she was last seen.

 

The Investigation

As police continued to investigate, the evidence started to point toward Patrick Frazee’s involvement in Kelsey’s disappearance. Phone records showed that both Kelsey’s and Frazee’s phones had been in close proximity on Thanksgiving Day, and further forensic analysis suggested that Kelsey had never left her home alive after that day including traces of her blood under the floorboards in her house.

Then came a significant break.  A woman by the name of Krystal Lee Kenney, a nurse from Idaho and Frazee’s secret lover, came forward to confess her role in the crime. Kenney revealed that Frazee had been planning to murder Kelsey for months and admitted that Frazee had asked her to kill Kelsey on three separate occasions, providing her with details on how to carry out the murder. Each time, Kenney backed out, but according to court documents, she feared for her life so she continued to assist Frazee and his Thanksgiving plans.

It started on Thanksgiving Day in 2018: Frazee lured Kelsey to her home under the pretense of wanting to reconcile. Once there, he allegedly blindfolded Berreth with a sweater, telling her he wanted her to guess the fragrance of a scented candle. Instead, he brutally bludgeoned her to death with a baseball bat, while their daughter was in another room. After killing Kelsey, Frazee called Kenney and asked her to come to Colorado to clean up the crime scene and make it look like Kelsey had left town — by sending text messages from the victim’s phone. According to Kenney’s testimony, when she arrived at Kelsey’s townhouse, the walls, floor and toys were splattered with blood. She spent three to four hours cleaning the floors and walls of Berreth’s townhome but insists that she left behind some blood evidence for authorities to find. 

Frazee then disposed of Kelsey’s body by burning it in a metal trough on his ranch, along with several of her personal items. He gave her phone to Kenney so that she could text from Kelsey’s phone in the days following her death to create the illusion that she was still alive. In court testimony, Frazee apparently told Kenney, “You don’t know how hard it is to go have Thanksgiving dinner after killing her,” according to testimony by Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Greg Slater.

 

Frazee’s Arrest and Trial

With Kenney’s confession and mounting physical evidence, authorities arrested Patrick Frazee on December 21, 2018, and charged him with first-degree murder. Kenney agreed to testify against Frazee in exchange for a plea deal, admitting her role in tampering with evidence. 

Frazee’s trial began in November 2019, and prosecutors laid out a case that portrayed him as a manipulative and controlling individual who saw Kelsey as an obstacle to his life. They argued that Frazee wanted to eliminate Kelsey so he could gain full custody of their daughter and continue his relationship with Kenney without interference. They also presented evidence from a jailhouse snitch indicating that Frazee had written him notes that stated he wanted the key witnesses, including Kenney and Berreth’s mother, in the case to “disappear”. 

Kenney’s testimony was critical to the prosecution’s case, providing a detailed account of the murder and Frazee’s cold, calculated actions afterward. Frazee’s defense team attempted to discredit Kenney, painting her as the true perpetrator, but the jury was ultimately unconvinced. 

In November 2019, Patrick Frazee was found guilty of first-degree murder, solicitation of murder, and other charges. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 156 years.

Kelsey Berreth’s mother, Cheryl Berreth, was granted custody of Kelsey’s daughter ensuring that the little girl would be raised in a loving and stable environment far away from the horror of her father’s actions. Thus closing the chapter on one of the most brutal homicides in Colorado history.