WOODLAND PARK – He was never named a suspect or a person of interest in the case, but early Friday morning, Patrick Frazee was arrested on charges of first degree murder and solicitation of murder, connected to the disappearance of his fiancé Kelsey Berreth.
At a morning press conference, Woodland Park Police Chief Miles De Young said detectives from his department, the Teller County Sheriff’s Office, Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) gathered enough information to implicate Frazee. They will continue investigating all leads over the next several weeks, which includes finding Berreth’s body.
De Young said the couple’s 1-year-old daughter is in protective custody, and that custody will be given to the Berreth family.
The arrest comes 29 days after Berreth was last seen, and after nearly three weeks of investigation.
De Young said his investigation has also gathered information on where they think the crime happened.
“Investigators have recovered a number of items that make us suspicious that the crime did occur at Kelsey’s residence, and that’s why we have been coming back to her residence as we get additional information that leads us to various locations.
De Young, joined by District Attorney Dan May of the Fourth Judicial District, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell and FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge, declined to release what evidence led to Friday’s arrest.
He did, however, credit cell phone data analysis for helping implicate Frazee, which was also the subject of a KOAA report this week, viewed as a major piece of evidence in the case.
Investigators were helped by a myriad of federal resources, from people to technology.
“The FBI has provided our evidence response team, expertise from our behavioral analysis unit, technical analysis and investigative resources from multiple field divisions across several states,” Nordwall said.
But the investigation is still far from over. Detectives are still searching for Berreth’s body.
“While we have not found Kelsey at this time, information has been developed that is helping to narrow down our search. As you can tell from the arrest, sadly, we do not believe Kelsey is still alive,” De Young said.
Officers were back at Berreth’s home for several hours Friday, finishing their evidence collection a little after 3:30 p.m.
So far, De Young said only one arrest has been made in the case. Officers may also be looking for another person that helped Frazee commit the crime.
Frazee is due for his first appearance in court on Dec. 31 at 9:00 a.m.
