By Trevor Phipps
Weeks ago, an extensive search for Kelsey Berreth’s body began at the Midway trash landfill located south of Colorado Springs.
No body or remains have yet to be found, but new information surrounding the case continues to surface. In addition, Patrick Frazee, suspected of killing Berreth, appeared in court again two weeks ago for yet another hearing during which more restrictions were lifted on law enforcement information pertaining to the case.
Berreth was reported missing last December by her mother after she received a text from Kelsey’s phone saying that she would call her mother the next day and was never heard from since. Weeks after the missing person case surfaced national media sources, police arrested Florissant resident Patrick Frazee on five felony charges including first degree murder. Authorities then announced to the public that they did not believe that Berreth was alive even though her body or any remains had not yet been located.
At first, all of the details relating to why Frazee was arrested for murder were sealed to the public. But during Frazee’s preliminary hearing held in Cripple Creek last month, most of the gruesome details of the murder came out. After the preliminary hearing, all of the arrest warrant information was released. During the arraignment two weeks ago, a judge ordered that all of the search warrant information would be released as well.
After the judge released all of the documents relating to the murder and Frazee’s arrest, several media sources have come out with different versions of stories about the tragic incident. The accounts include testimonies of a plethora of people that have connections to the three individuals related to the story that is being called a love triangle that took a turn to the dark side.
Recently, the case has been all over national news television shows including at least two hour-long episodes. The tragic case has been featured on Dateline NBC and on a special put out by HLN called Vanished: Kelsey Berreth’s Nightmare.
During the two television series, a few local residents were interviewed and others related to Frazee’s mistress Krystal Kenney and Berreth were all featured. The shows portrayed people who gave accounts on all sides of the case.
One Cripple Creek resident, Clint Cline has been featured in local news articles and on both of the national news programs speaking out in support of Frazee. Cline, who is the president of the Two Mile High Club which is the organization that cares for the donkeys that roam the streets of Cripple Creek, says that he knew Frazee because the murder suspect was the farrier that took care of the town’s beloved jackasses.
During the TV interviews Cline describes Frazee as being a “nice guy” and a “good father.” He said that he had met Berreth and the daughter of the two when Frazee brought them both out to the donkey pins on separate occasions. Cline claims that Berreth had disappeared before and that when she first went missing he thought that she would eventually show back up.
Even after the arrest and after Cline was present at Frazee’s preliminary hearing and heard firsthand all of the brutal details of the case, he still stands by his farrier friend. “I’m not going to speculate. I’m going to wait and see what kind of evidence is presented,” he said on national television. “If the evidence comes out, OK, and I’m going to be shocked and amazed. But if it comes out the other way, there’s a lot of people that are going to have to eat a lot of crow.”
Others who knew Frazee however, say the exact opposite about the first degree murder suspect. On Dateline, an ex-girlfriend of the Florissant rancher told the NBC journalist over a phone call from a state prison that Frazee “is a monster.” She claims that at first the two had a good relationship but then Frazee started cheating on her and playing mind games with her.
During their relationship the ex-girlfriend claims that the murder suspect told her that he knew of several places he could “get rid of a body” where nobody would ever find. She said that as soon as she had heard about the case she instantly thought that her ex-boyfriend had something to do with Berreth’s disappearance.
Another recent article that went viral on the web, claims that there was yet another woman involved in the incident. According to an article first published by the Daily Mail, Frazee’s phone contacted a 39 year old woman from Idaho, who worked in the medical field, multiple times around the time of the murder. The identity of the woman and her exact connection to the murder have yet to be discovered but many speculate that she could be a friend of Kenney, the woman whose testimony helped prosecutors file charges against Frazee.
Based on the information received by Kenney, police went to the Midway landfill and sectioned off an area to search. According to police, the region of the landfill is approximately four football fields in size. However, according to the news shows, the police have a primary search area of only about two tennis courts in size.
The investigators will have to sort through up to 10-feet deep of trash in the rather large area in order to locate the body. One setback in the efforts is the fact that the area being searched had already been covered with dirt forcing the authorities to conduct excavation procedures before they could even started digging through the layers of trash.
Since the crime took place in Woodland Park, the city’s police department is leading the search and the city is paying the bill. Recently, police departments in Pueblo and Fountain sent investigators to the landfill to help the Woodland Park police with the search
